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.
那是個春天下午，我與16歲的兒子內德離開雅典衛城(Acropolis)，來到阿古拉古集市區(Agora)閒逛，而後沿著雅典昔日諸多傳奇名人的足跡、經由泛雅典之路(Panathenaic Way)前往比雷埃夫斯港(Piraeus)以及周邊地方遊玩。一路上，現代的東西不時「鳩佔雀巢」：一條鐵軌長期「佔據」了Agora古集市一隅，佔據了歷史悠久的泛雅典之路上游兩旁的幾個小販正沿街叫賣。但我倆走近連接雅典古城（殘存城牆至今依然十分壯觀）、具有2400年曆史的古城門時，歷史彷彿在這裏戛然而止（其他遊客也是如此感受）：我們發現自己置身於雜草叢生的公園，裏面野貓雜竄、野花遍佈，還有一座昔日的大理石紀念殘碑。