On a crisp spring afternoon my 16-year-old son Ned and I left the Acropolis, strode through the Agora, and headed down the remains of the Panathenaic Way towards Piraeus and beyond in the footsteps of so many legendary Athenians. Every now and then modernity intervened: a railway track has long since sliced off a sliver of the Agora; a few hawkers lined the upper reaches of the ancient road. But as we neared the 2,400-year-old gate leading through the still imposing walls of classical Athens the subsequent centuries disappeared — as did other tourists — and we found ourselves in a tussocky park brimming with cats, wild flowers, and the marble remnants of a monumental past.
那是个春天下午，我与16岁的儿子内德离开雅典卫城(Acropolis)，来到阿古拉古集市区(Agora)闲逛，而后沿着雅典昔日诸多传奇名人的足迹、经由泛雅典之路(Panathenaic Way)前往比雷埃夫斯港(Piraeus)以及周边地方游玩。一路上，现代的东西不时“鸠占雀巢”：一条铁轨长期“占据”了Agora古集市一隅，占据了历史悠久的泛雅典之路上游两旁的几个小贩正沿街叫卖。但我俩走近连接雅典古城（残存城墙至今依然十分壮观）、具有2400年历史的古城门时，历史仿佛在这里戛然而止（其他游客也是如此感受）：我们发现自己置身于杂草丛生的公园，里面野猫杂窜、野花遍布，还有一座昔日的大理石纪念残碑。