GREECE HUBRIS DOESN'T WIN FOR COMMITTING THE SIN OF HUBRIS (OVERWEENING PRIDE), 
THE FATES TOPPLED THE HEROES OF ANCIENT GREECE . LAST WEEK 
GREEK VOTERS DEFEATED THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PREMIER IN THE COUNTRY'S HISTORY, 
HANDSOME, HARD-DRIVING CONSTANTINE KARAMANLIS, WHO HAD SHOWN MORE THAN A TOUCH 
OF HUBRIS WHEN HE SAID IN A CAMPAIGN SPEECH: "THE TRUE 
POLITICAL LEADER DOES NOT NEED THE PEOPLE . THE PEOPLE NEED 
THE TRUE POLITICAL LEADER ." DURING HIS EIGHT-YEAR REIGN, KARAMANLIS HAD, 
AS HE SAID, "TRANSFORMED GREECE FROM AN ORIENTAL VILLAGE TO A 
EUROPEAN COUNTRY ." HE BROUGHT THE NATION INTO THE COMMON MARKET 
AS AN ASSOCIATE MEMBER, BUILT DAMS AND ROADS . ON THE 
AVERAGE, MANUFACTURING HAS GROWN AN IMPRESSIVE 8 PERCENT ANNUALLY IN THE 
PAST DECADE, GOVERNMENT RESERVES SHOT UP BY 400 PERCENT, AND REVENUES 
MORE THAN DOUBLED - - THANKS IN PART TO TOURISM, WHICH 
THIS YEAR GROSSED SOME $90 MILLION . THERE ARE DARK SPOTS 
IN THIS SUNNY PICTURE -- SOME 100,000 YOUNG GREEKS HAVE EMIGRATED 
TO WEST GERMANY TO FIND JOBS, AND POVERTY RETAINS ITS GRIP 
ON PRIMITIVE MOUNTAIN VILLAGES . STREET PEDDLERS IN ATHENS STILL HAUL 
SPONGES, BANANAS AND CHESNUTS -- BUT THEY NOW WALK BENEATH GLITTERING 
NEON SIGNS THAT REVEAL THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF AN INCREASINGLY MODERN ECONOMY: 
IBM, SIEMENS, HAIG & HAIG, DINERS CLUB . REJECTED ADVICE . 
STRONGLY ANTI-COMMUNIST AND PRO-NATO, KARAMANLIS WELDED HIS RIGHT-WING NATIONAL RADICAL UNION 
INTO A POWERFUL PARTY, GAVE GREECE THE LONGEST STRETCH OF POLITICAL 
STABILITY IN MODERN TIMES . BUT THERE WERE PROTESTS, WHEN KARAMANLIS 
WAS RE-ELECTED FOR A FOURTH TERM IN 1961, THAT POLICE IN 
THE BACK COUNTRY HAD INTIMIDATED VOTERS . THOUGH MANY ELECTION BRAWLS 
WERE DELIBERATELY PROVOKED BY LEFTISTS, THEY CONVINCED LEFT-WING BRITISH LABORITES AND 
OTHER ALLIES ABROAD THAT GREECE LIVED UNDER A TYRANNY . LAST 
JUNE, AFTER KING PAUL AND QUEEN FREDERIKA REJECTED KARAMANLIS' ADVICE TO 
CALL OFF A STATE VISIT TO BRITAIN BECAUSE OF THE DANGER 
OF LEFTIST DEMONSTRATIONS IN LONDON, THE PREMIER QUIT IN A HUFF 
. WHILE KARAMANLIS SULKED IN A SWISS VILLA FOR THREE MONTHS 
AND A CARETAKER CABINET LED BY HIS POLITICAL ALLIES RULED THE 
COUNTRY, THE OPPOSITION CENTER UNION PARTY LAUNCHED AN INTENSE ELECTION CAMPAIGN 
. IT WAS LED BY AN AGED DEMOSTHENES, GEORGE PAPANDREOU, 75, 
VETERAN OF SEVERAL PREWAR CABINETS AND THE NATION'S FIRST POSTWAR PREMIER 
. TO KARAMANLIS' BOAST THAT GREECE HAS PROSPERED, PAPANDREOU REPLIED: "NUMBERS 
PROSPER, THE PEOPLE SUFFER ." FARMERS, WHO HAD BENEFITED LEAST FROM 
THE BOOM BECAUSE OF LOW PRICES FOR THEIR GOODS, GOT PAPANDREOU'S 
EASY PROMISE THAT HE WOULD FORGIVE THEIR DEBTS . ABOVE ALL, 
CAMPAIGNER PAPANDREOU CONCENTRATED ON THE OLD 1961 CHARGES OF ELECTION FRAUD, 
CRIED THAT HE WAS DETERMINED TO SAVE THE NATION FROM THE 
"FASCIST AND TERRORIST" POLICIES OF KARAMANLIS . NO THANKS . KARAMANLIS, 
RELYING ON HIS IMPRESSIVE ECONOMIC RECORD, CAMPAIGNED AS THOUGH HE EXPECTED 
THE PEOPLE TO THANK HIM FOR RUNNING . TO THE SURPRISE 
OF ALMOST EVERYONE, THEY DIDN'T . A NEAR-RECORD TURNOUT OF 4,600,000 
VOTERS GAVE PAPANDREOU'S CENTER UNION 140 SEATS IN THE 300-MEMBER PARLIAMENT; 
KARAMANLIS' NATIONAL RADICALS GOT 128 . WINNER PAPANDREOU CELEBRATED BY DANCING 
MOST OF THE NIGHT . KARAMANLIS WAS FURIOUS, HASTILY ANNOUNCED HE 
WAS QUITTING POLITICS . AFTER A TALK WITH KING PAUL AT 
TATOI PALACE, HE CHANGED HIS MIND . AFTER ALL, PAPANDREOU LACKED 
A MAJORITY OF ELEVEN SEATS . THE PREMIER COULD HAVE A 
SAFE MARGIN IF HE ACCEPTED THE EAGER SUPPORT OF 30 PRO-COMMUNIST 
DEPUTIES, BUT SO FAR PRO-WESTERN PAPANDREOU HAS REJECTED THE OFFER . 
BETWEEN NOW AND DEC . 11, WHEN PARLIAMENT CONVENES, KARAMANLIS HOPES 
TO ATTRACT ENOUGH DEPUTIES TO DEFEAT THE OPENING VOTE OF CONFIDENCE, 
IF HE SUCCEEDS, GREECE WILL BE IN FOR NEW ELECTIONS AND 
ANOTHER FREE-SWINGING CAMPAIGN . 