Chapter 4 Greece mourns Greece

It took off from Hong Kong at 10:20 last night, stopped in Bangkok, and then arrived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.After staying in Dubai for more than four hours, I changed planes and departed for Athens.The plane is chasing the night, afraid that it will be caught up by the dawn.So more than ten hours were full of night, and when I didn't want to fly anymore, when I stopped, dawn came with Athens. Athens Airport is too small and outdated, which is too far from the eternal reputation of Athens.Perhaps we have no right to make fun of it. It was brilliant 2,500 years ago, but by the time the airplane appeared, it had already withdrawn from the competition for glory.After leaving the airport, I am still not used to it, and I cannot connect everything in front of me with Greece.When I traveled in Europe before, I always kept Greece out of the way and only looked at Rome, because the beginning of Greece is too sacred to me, and I don’t want to step into it easily.I haven't thought about what it should be like, but it certainly shouldn't be as ordinary as it is in front of me.

You have to find a new beginning, grasp the soul of Greek civilization, and let the whole journey quickly hold your head up.So I made a decisive decision and rushed to the beach immediately without rushing to find a hotel.Only the sea is the cradle of Greek civilization, and it has remained unchanged for a long time.We used to know from books that the most beautiful place on the coast of Greece is called Cape Sounion, where there is a Poseidon Sea Temple, so we opened the map to find it. Saw the Aegean Sea.The water color scene is similar to the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France and Italy. It is vast but not majestic, gentle but not soft. In the hot sun by the sea, it only needs to borrow some clouds and mist to immediately cool off.But in comparison, there are not many villas and white sails here, and there are some houses, all of which are relatively simple, quietly surrounding an ancient sea.

A huge cliff with many white stone pillars appeared by the sea.Compared with the rocks and against the sea, the white stone pillars look so elegant and light, but this is the relic of the fifth century BC. When these stone pillars began to stand, Confucius, Laozi, and Shishi Muni were thinking in the east almost at the same time, while Aeschylus, Sophocles, Socrates, Herodotus, and Plato were wandering by the sea here. .The world in the fifth century BC was still very barren as a whole, but such a dazzling spiritual constellation was brilliant for a while, but it almost left the future generations beyond the reach of human beings forever.

The group of stone pillars stands on a high platform, surrounded by ropes, and there are guards in the distance to prevent people from crossing the ropes.Ms. Xu Gehui and I turned around outside the rope and looked up, and a few words from a tour guide came to our ears: there are many people's names engraved on the stone pillars.including a famous british poet Byron!I blurted it out immediately.Byron loved Greek civilization very much. He not only traveled here, but also participated in the volunteer team when Greece was at war with Turkey.I told Xu Gehui that in Byron's long poem "Don Juan", there is a section in which a Greek troubadour plays and sings, lamenting that the motherland has such a splendid civilization and finally fell. It is very moving. I can still remember the general outline of a section mean:

Motherland, where are you now?How can your wonderful poetry be completely silent?How did your noble strings fall into the hands of a mediocre wanderer like me? Byron's motherland is not Greece, but he is willing to regard Greece as his cultural motherland, so he has become a wanderer who has taken over the strings of Greece.Such a Byron would definitely pay homage to such a magnificent Sea God Temple and solemnly leave his name.Guessing aroused curiosity, and Ge Hui and I both wanted to sneak over the rope to look for it, but when we looked back again and again, we saw that the guards were staring at us both.

The companions who came with us saw the intention of the two of us and used some tricks to lure the guards away. After waving their hands, Ge Hui and I got in.There are many stone pillars, which one will it be?I had an idea, thinking that if Byron engraved his name, there must be many descendants engraved around it, so I only need to find the stone pillar with the most dense engraving.It's easy to tell at a glance, the most densely engraved is the second column from the right, but this column is full of names above and below, where will Byron be?Although I only saw his bust, I guessed that he should be tall and tall, so I looked up at the high place, but I couldn't find it after searching twice. Just when I looked away, I suddenly saw his engraved name on the lower place surrounded by dense layers. .

The engraving is so low, one can imagine his mood when engraving.You must write your name on the skin of Greek civilization, even if it is a relic, you must bow your head and write it, like facing the gods. From Byron's engraved name, I think of Su Manshu.The poet monk translated the stanza about the Greek troubadour in Byron's "Don Juan" into an old Chinese style poem, and named it "Sorrow for Greece", which once had a great influence in China.The time of translation seems to be 1909, which is exactly 90 years from this year. The location of the translation is the residence of Mr. Zhang Taiyan in Tokyo, Japan.Su Manshu used Byron's voice to lament the Chinese civilization. Some translated sentences were full of anger, such as I am ashamed of Greece, and I cry for Greece.

Su Manshu and Zhang Taiyan have never been to Greece, but at the beginning of this century, they already knew that Chinese civilization and Greek civilization are historically comparable.This is a kind of vision beyond the predecessors in China.We came here at the end of the century, just a continuation of their vision.The difference is that today we are no longer heartbroken like Byron and Su Manshu.Greek civilization has long been dedicated to all mankind, and calling it with a narrow national concept has degraded it.In any case, on the first day we came to Greece, we found the sea, the temple, the fifth century BC, Byron, and thus led to Sumanshu and China, which is enough.With this in mind, we can go back to the city and find a hotel.

September 29, 1999, Athens, Greece, overnight at Herodion Hotel