Laudator Temporis Acti

Lewis R. Farnell (1856-1934), An Oxonian Looks Back (London: Martin Hopkinson, 1934), pp. 182-183:

It was, I think, through her [the sister of Charilaos Trikoupes] that I got to know [Heinrich] Schliemann and his family; and Pelham and I received an invitation to lunch with him written in modern Greek; as I did not feel quite happy in that language I replied in the purest Demosthenic Greek that I could find handy. The distinguished excavator was deeply impressed, for he was full of reverence for the classical education that he had not received; and he entertained us royally. His house, upon which he was said to have spent £40,000, was a magnificent structure, with colonnades along the upper stories and the walls frescoed in the Pompeian style. Its best feature was the wonderful view of the Akropolis from the library window. We were delighted with the Homeric names of his ménage and family. His door was opened to us by Bellerophon, Talthubios and Pelops waited on us at table, every servant whom he engaged being rechristened out of Homer by Madame Schliemann. His daughter of twelve was Nausikaa and throve under the name; his son Agamemnon was a bright boy with a Greek profile that did not look altogether natural; and we were told that it was the result of much twisting and manipulation of his infant-features.

Hat tip: Eric Thomson.