PART I
Life Influences
patras
Kostes Palamas was born in Patras fifty-six years ago. Patras is one of the most ancient towns in Greece, known even in mythical times as Aroe, the seat of King Eumelus, the "rich in flocks." It became especially prominent since the time of Augustus as a centre of commerce and industry. Its factories of silk were renowned in Byzantine times, and its commanding position attracted the Crusaders and the Venetians as a military basis for the conquest of Peloponnesus. The citadel walls that crown the hill, on the slopes of which the modern city — still of the first five cities in Greece — descends amphitheatrically into the sea, are remnants of Venetian fortifications. In the history of Modern Greece, it is a hallowed spot; for it was here that on April 4, 1821, the standard of the War of Liberation was first raised before a band of warriors kneeling before the altar of Hagia Laura, while Germanos, the archbishop of the city, prayed for the success of their arms. The views which the city commands over the sapphire spaces of the Corinthian Gulf and the purple shadows of the mountains rising from its waters in all directions are superb, and the sunsets, that evening after evening revel in colors there, are of the most magnificent in Greece. A beauty worthy of life dwells over the vine-clad hills, while the mountain kings that rise about are hoary with age and fame. The eyes may feast wandering from the purple-laden cliffs of Kylene to the opal mantles of the sea and from the majestic peaks of Parnassus to the lofty range of Kiona. Some of the thoughts which such scenes have stirred in the susceptible soul of the poet are expressed in one of his Hundred Voices, a collection of short lyrics in the volume entitled Life Immovable:
"Far glimmered the sea, and the harvest darkened the threshing floors;
I cared not for the harvest and looked not on the threshing floors;
For I stood on the end of the sea, and thee I beheld from afar,
O white, ethereal Liakoura, waiting lest from thy midst
Parnassus, the ancient, shine forth and the Nine Fair Sisters of Song.
