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 .