Argolis

Already old two thousand years ago this amphitheatre climbing to the sky where fourteen thousand at a time heard Aristophanes' bold sausage-seller reporting senatorial discourse: With anchovies so cheap thatm was no time to talk of peace. Language transfusion. The school exercise revived. And Agamemnon lives again. And whether he was actual or myth or a composite, I feel it all recurring. The Indian girl in the sari who shares the marble block on which I sit asks me, "Was Homer telling history or mostly legend like the Ramayana?" Who can be sure? The words of a miniskirted archaeologist ring out (not paced hexameter of Homer) carrying to the rim. No need of microphone to fetch an answer from the student group. No coup d'etat in Attica can destroy that freedom of the Delphic "Know thyself!" and "Nothing in excess!" Anchovies cheap today? Well, there are some to whom that news is not of prime importance.