,,the ,,queen ,,of ,,the ,,air    ,being
 a ,study of the ,greek ,myths of ,cloud
 and ,storm    ,,by    ,,john ,,ruskin1 
,,ll4,d4              ,,table ,,of      
,,contents          ,,preface    ,i4    
,,athena ,,chalinitis4        7,athena  
in the ,heavens47  ,lecture on the      
,greek myths of ,storm1 given 7partly7  
in ,university  ,college1 ,london1      
,march #i1 #ahfi4    ,,ii4  ,,athena    
,,keramitis4        7,athena in the     
,earth47  ,study1 supplementary to the  
preceding lecture1 of the supposed and  
actual  relations of ,athena to the     
vital force in material organism4       
,,iii4  ,,athena ,,ergane4              
7,athena in the ,heart47  ,various notes
 relating to the ,conception of ,athena 
as the ,directress of  the ,imagination 
and ,will4          ,,preface      ,my  
days and strength have lately been much 
broken2 and ,i never more felt  the     
insufficiency of both than in preparing 
for the press the following  desultory  
memoranda on a most noble subject4  ,but

 ,i leave them now as  they stand1 for  
no time nor labor would be enough to    
complete them to my  contentment2 and ,i
 believe that they contain suggestions  
which may be  followed with safety1 by  
persons who are beginning to take       
interest in  the aspects of mythology1  
which only recent investigation has     
removed  from the region of conjecture  
into that of rational inquiry4  ,i have 
some advantage1 also1 from my field     
work1 in the interpretation of myths    
relating to natural phenomena2 and ,i   
have had always near me1 since we  were 
at college together1 a sure1 and        
unweariedly kind1 guide1 in my  friend  
,charles ,newton1 to whom we owe the    
finding of more treasure in  mines of   
marble than1 were it rightly estimated1 
all ,california could  buy4  ,i must    
not1 however1 permit the chance of his  
name being in any  wise associated with 
my errors4  ,much of my work as been    
done obstinately  in my own way2 and he 
is never responsible for me1 though he  

has often  kept me right1 or at least   
enabled me to advance in a new          
direction4  ,absolutely right no one can
 be in such matters2 nor does a day pass
  without convincing every honest       
student of antiquity of some partial    
error1 and showing him better how to    
think1 and where to look4  ,but ,i  knew
 that there was no hope of my being able
 to enter with advantage on  the fields 
of history opened by the splendid       
investigation of recent  philologists1  
though ,i could qualify myself1 by      
attention and sympathy1  to understand1 
here and there1 a verse of ,homer's or  
,hesiod's1 as the  simple people did for
 whom they sang4    ,even while ,i      
correct these sheets for press1 a       
lecture by ,professor  ,tyndall has been
 put into my hands1 which ,i ought to   
have heard last #afth  ,january1 but was
 hindered by mischance2 and which1 ,i   
now find1 completes1  in two important  
particulars1 the evidence of an         
instinctive truth in  ancient symbolism2

 showing1 first1 that the ,greek        
conception of an  therial element       
pervading space is justified by the     
closest reasoning of  modern physicists2
 and1 secondly1 that the blue of the    
sky1 hitherto  thought to be caused by  
watery vapour1 is1 indeed1 reflected    
from the  divided air itself2 so that   
the bright blue of the eyes of ,athena1 
and  the deep blue of her gis1 prove to 
be accurate mythic expressions of       
natural phenomena which it is an        
uttermost triumph of recent science to  
have revealed4    ,indeed1 it would be  
difficult to imagine triumph more       
complete4  ,to form1  within an         
experimental tube1 a bit of more perfect
 sky than the sky  itself6 here is magic
 of the finest sort6 singularly reversed
 from that  of old time1 which only     
asserted its competency to enclose in   
bottles  elemental forces that were--not
 of the sky4    ,let me1 in thanking    
,professor ,tyndall for the true wonder 
of this piece  of work1 ask his pardon1 

and that of all masters in physical     
science1 for  any words of mine1 either 
in the following pages or elsewhere1    
that may  ever seem to fail in the      
respect due to their great powers of    
thought1 or  in the admiration due to   
the far scope of their discovery4  ,but 
,i will be  judged by themselves1 if ,i 
have not bitter reason to ask them to   
teach us  more than yet they have       
taught4    ,this first day of ,may1     
#ahfi1 ,i am writing where my work was  
begun  thirty-five years ago1 within    
sight of the snows of the higher ,alps4 
,in  that half of the permitted life of 
man1 ,i have seen strange evil brought  
upon every scene that ,i best loved1 or 
tried to make beloved by others4  ,the  
light which once flushed those pale     
summits with its rose at dawn1  and     
purple at sunset1 is now umbered and    
faint2 the air which once inlaid  the   
clefts of all their golden crags with   
azure is now defiled with  languid coils
 of smoke1 belched from worse than      

volcanic fires2 their  very glacier     
waves are ebbing1 and their snows       
fading1 as if hell had  breathed on     
them2 the waters that once sank at their
 feet into  crystalline rest are now    
dimmed and foul1 from deep to deep1 and 
shore to  shore4  ,these are no careless
 words--they are accurately1 horribly1  
true4  ,i know what the ,swiss lakes    
were2 no pool of ,alpine fountain at its
  source was clearer4  ,this morning1 on
 the ,lake of ,geneva1 at half a mile   
from the beach1 ,i could scarcely see my
 oar-blade a fathom deep4    ,the light1
 the air1 the waters1 all defiled6  ,how
 of the earth itself8  ,take this one   
fact for type of honour done by the     
modern ,swiss to the  earth of his      
native land4  ,there used to be a little
 rock at the end of  the avenue by the  
port of ,neuchtel2 there1 the last      
marble of the foot  of ,jura1 sloping to
 the blue water1 and 7at this time of   
year7 covered  with bright pink tufts of
 ,saponaria4  ,i went1 three days since1

 to gather  a blossom at the place4     
,the goodly native rock and its flowers 
were  covered with the dust and refuse  
of the town2 but1 in the middle of the  
avenue1 was a newly-constructed         
artificial rockery1 with a fountain     
twisted through a spinning spout1 and an
 inscription on one of its              
loose-tumbled stones1--          ,aux   
,botanistes1        ,le club            
,jurassique1    ,ah1 masters of modern  
science1 give me back my ,athena out of 
your vials1  and seal1 if it may be1    
once more1 ,asmodeus therein4  ,you have
 divided  the elements1 and united them2
 enslaved them upon the earth1 and      
discerned them in the stars4  ,teach us 
now1 but this of them1 which is  all    
that man need know1--that the ,air is   
given to him for his life2 and  the     
,rain to his thirst1 and for his        
baptism2 and the ,fire for warmth2 and  
the ,sun for sight2 and the ,earth for  
his ,meat--and his ,rest4    ,,vevay1   
,may #a1 #ahfi4          ,,the ,,queen  

,,of ,,the ,,air4        ,i4    ,,athena
 ,,chalinitis499  7,athena in the       
,heavens47      99 ,athena the          
,restrainer4  ,the name is given to her 
as having helped  ,bellerophon to bridle
 ,pegasus1 the flying cloud4            
,,lecture ,,on ,,the ,,greek ,,myths    
,,of ,,storm1 ,,given 7,,partly7 ,,in   
,,university        ,,college1 ,,london1
 ,,march #i1 #ahfi4      #a4 ,i will not
 ask your pardon for endeavoring to     
interest you in the  subject of ,greek  
,mythology2 but ,i must ask your        
permission to approach  it in a temper  
differing from that in which it is      
frequently treated4  ,we cannot justly  
interpret the religion of any people1   
unless we are  prepared to admit that we
 ourselves1 as well as they1 are liable 
to  error in matters of faith2 and that 
the convictions of others1 however      
singular1 may in some points have been  
well founded1 while our own1  however   
reasonable1 may be in some particulars  
mistaken4  ,you must  forgive me1       

therefore1 for not always distinctively 
calling the creeds  of the past         
superstition1 and the creeds of the     
present day religion2  as well as for   
assuming that a faith now confessed may 
sometimes be  superficial1 and that a   
faith long forgotten may once have been 
sincere4  ,it is the task of the ,divine
 to condemn the errors of antiquity1 and
 of  the philologists to account for    
them2 ,i will only pray you to read1    
with  patience1 and human sympathy1 the 
thoughts of men who lived without blame 
in a darkness they could not dispel2 and
 to remember that1 whatever  charge of  
folly may justly attach to the saying1  
,there is no ,god1 the  folly is        
prouder1 deeper1 and less pardonable1 in
 saying1 ,there is no  ,god but for me4 
#b4 ,a myth1 in its simplest definition1
 is a story with a meaning attached  to 
it other than it seems to have at first2
 and the fact that it has such  a       
meaning is generally marked by some of  
its circumstances being  extraordinary1 

or1 in the common use of the word1      
unnatural4  ,thus if ,i  tell you that  
,hercules killed a water-serpent in the 
lake of ,lerna1 and  if ,i mean1 and you
 understand1 nothing more than that     
fact1 the story1  whether true or false1
 is not a myth4  ,but if by telling you 
this1 ,i mean  that ,hercules purified  
the stagnation of many streams from     
deadly  miasmata1 my story1 however     
simple1 is a true myth2 only1 as1 if ,i 
leftit  in that simplicity1 you would   
probably look for nothing beyond1 it    
will  be wise in me to surprise your    
attention by adding some singular       
circumstance2 for instance1 that the    
water-snake had several heads1 which    
revived as fast as they were killed1 and
 which poisoned even the foot  that trod
 upon them as they slept4  ,and in      
proportion to the fulness of  intended  
meaning ,i shall probably multiply and  
refine upon these  improbabilities2 as1 
suppose1 if1 instead of desiring only to
 tell you  that ,hercules purified a    

marsh1 ,i wished you to understand that 
he  contended with the venom and vapor  
of envy and evil ambition1 whether in   
other men's souls or in his own1 and    
choked that malaria only by supreme     
toil1--,i might tell you that this      
serpent was formed by the goddess whose 
pride was in the trial of ,hercules2 and
 that its place of abode as by a        
palm-tree2 and that for every head of it
 that was cut off1 two rose up  with    
renewed life2 and that the hero found at
 last that he could not kill  the       
creature at all by cutting its heads off
 or crushing them1 but only  by burning 
them down2 and that the midmost of them 
could not be killed  even that way1 but 
had to be buried alive4  ,only in       
proportion as ,i mean  more1  ,i shall  
certainly appear more absurd in my      
statement2 and at last  when ,i get     
unendurably significant1 all practical  
persons will agree that  ,i was talking 
mere nonsense from the beginning1 and   
never meant anything  at all4    #c4    

,it is just possible1 however1 also1    
that the story-teller may all  along    
have meant nothing but what he said2 and
 that1 incredible as the  events may    
appear1 he himself literally            
believed--and expected you also  to     
believe--all this about ,hercules1      
without any latent moral or history     
whatever4  ,and it is very necessary1 in
 reading traditions of this kind1  to   
determine1 first of all1 whether you are
 listening to a simple person1  who is  
relating what1 at all events1 he        
believes to be true1 7and may1          
therefore1 possibly have been so to some
 extent71 or to a reserved  philosopher1
 who is veiling a theory of the universe
 under the grotesque  of a fairy tale4  
,it is1 in general1 more likely that the
 first  supposition should be the right 
one3 simple and credulous persons are1  
perhaps fortunately1 more common than   
philosophers2 and it is of the  highest 
importance that you should take their   
innocent testimony as it  was meant1 and

 not efface1 under the graceful         
explanation which your  cultivated      
ingenuity may suggest1 either the       
evidence their story may  contain 7such 
as it is worth7 of an extraordinary     
event having really  taken place1 or the
 unquestionable light which it will cast
 upon the  character of the person by   
whom it was frankly believed4  ,and to  
deal  with ,greek religion honestly1 you
 must at once understand that this      
literal belief was1 in the mind of the  
general people1 as deeply rooted  as    
ours in the legends of our own sacred   
book2 and that a basis of  unmiraculous 
event was as little suspected1 and an   
explanatory symbolism  as rarely traced1
 by them1 as by us4    ,you must1       
therefore1 observe that ,i deeply       
degrade the position which  such a myth 
as that just referred to occupied in the
 ,greek mind1 by  comparing it 7for fear
 of offending you7 to our story of ,st4 
,george and  the ,dragon4  ,still1 the  
analogy is perfect in minor respects2   

and though  it fails to give you any    
notion of the ,greek faith1 it will     
exactly  illustrate the manner in which 
faith laid hold of its objects4    #d4  
,this story of ,hercules and the ,hydra1
 then1 was to the general ,greek  mind1 
in its best days1 a tale about a real   
hero and a real monster4  ,not  one in a
 thousand knew anything of the way in   
which the story had arisen1  any more   
than the ,english peasant generally is  
aware of the plebeian  original of ,st4 
,george2 or supposes that there were    
once alive in the  world1 with sharp    
teeth and claws1 real1 and very ugly1   
flying dragons4  ,on the other hand1 few
 persons traced any moral or symbolical 
meaning in  the story1 and the average  
,greek was as far from imagining any    
interpretation like that ,i have just   
given you1 as an average ,englishman  is
 from seeing is ,st4 ,george the ,red   
,cross ,knight of ,spenser1 or in the   
,dragon the ,spirit of ,infidelity4     
,but1 for all that1 there was a certain 

undercurrent of consciousness in all    
minds that the figures meant more  than 
they at first showed2 and1 according to 
each man's own faculties of  sentiment1 
he judged and read them2 just as a      
,knight of the ,garter reads  more in   
the jewel on his collar than the ,george
 and ,dragon of a  public-house         
expresses to the host or to his         
customers4  ,thus1 to the  mean person  
the myth always meant little2 to the    
noble person1 much2 and  the greater    
their familiarity with it1 the more     
contemptible it became to  one1 and the 
more sacred to the other2 until vulgar  
commentators  explained it entirely     
away1 while ,virgil made the crowning   
glory of his  choral hymn to ,hercules4 
,around thee1 powerless to infect thy   
soul1        ,rose1 in his crested      
crowd1 the ,lerna worm4                 
,non te rationis egentem        ,lernus 
turb capitum circumstetit anguis4       
,and although1 in any special toil of   
the hero's life1 the moral              

interpretation was rarely with          
definiteness attached to the event1 yet 
in the whole course of the life1 not    
only for a symbolical meaning1 but  the 
warrant for the existence of a real     
spiritual power1 was apprehended  of all
 men4  ,hercules was no dead hero1 to be
 remembered only as a victor  over      
monsters of the past--harmless now as   
slain4  ,he was the perpetual  type and 
mirror of heroism1 and its present and  
living aid against every  ravenous form 
of human trial and pain4    #e4  ,but1  
if we seek to know more than this and to
 ascertain the manner in  which the     
story first crystallized into its shape1
 we shall find  ourselves led back      
generally to one or other of two        
sources--either to  actual historical   
events1 represented by the fancy under  
figures  personifying them2 or else to  
natural phenomena similarly endowed with
  life by the imaginative power usually 
more or less under the influence of     
terror4  ,the historical myths we must  

leave the masters of history to  follow2
 they1 and the events they record1 being
 yet involved in great1  though         
attractive and penetrable1 mystery4     
,but the stars1 and hills1 and  storms  
are with us now1 as they were with      
others of old2 and it only  needs that  
we look at them with the earnestness of 
those childish eyes to  understand the  
first words spoken of them by the       
children of men1 and  then1 in all the  
most beautiful and enduring myths1 we   
shall find1 not  only a literal story of
 a real person1 not only a parallel     
imagery of  moral principle1 but an     
underlying worship of natural phenomena1
 out of  which both have sprung1 and in 
which both forever remain rooted4       
,thus1  from the real sun1 rising and   
setting1--from the real atmosphere1 calm
 in  its dominion of unfading blue1 and 
fierce in its descent of tempest1--the  
,greek forms first the idea of two      
entirely personal and corporal gods1    
whose limbs are clothes in divine flesh1

 and whose brows are crowned with       
divine beauty2 yet so real that the     
quiver rattles at their shoulder1 and   
the chariot bends beneath their weight4 
,and1 on the other hand1  collaterally  
with these corporeal images1 and never  
for one instant  separated from them1 he
 conceives also two omnipresent         
spiritual  influences1 as the sun1 with 
a constant fire1 whatever in humanity is
  skilful and wise2 and the other1 like 
the living air1 breathes the calm  of   
heavenly fortitude1 and strength of     
righteous anger1 into every human       
breast that is pure and brave4    #f4   
,now1 therefore1 in nearly every myth of
 importance1 and certainly in  every one
 of those which ,i shall speak to-night1
 you have to discern  these three       
structural parts1--the root and the two 
branches3 the root1  in physical        
existence1 sun1 or sky1 or cloud1 or    
sea2 then the personal  incarnation of  
that1 becoming a trusted and            
companionable deity1 with  whom you may 

walk hand in hand1 as a child with its  
brother or its  sister2 and1 lastly1 the
 moral significance of the image1 which 
is in all  the great myths eternally and
 beneficently true4    #g4  ,the great  
myths2 that is to say1 myths made by    
great people4  ,for the  first plain    
fact about myth-making is one which has 
been most strangely  lost sight         
of1--that you cannot make a myth unless 
you have something to  make it of4  ,you
 cannot tell a secret which you don't   
know4  ,if the myth  is about the sky1  
it must have been made by somebody who  
has looked at  the sky4  ,if the myth is
 about justice and fortitude1 it must   
have been  made by someone who knew what
 it was to be just or patient4          
,according to  the quantity of          
understanding in the person will be the 
quantity of  significance in his fable2 
and the myth of a simple and ignorant   
race  must necessarily mean little1     
because a simple and ignorant race have 
little to mean4  ,so the great question 

in reading a story is always1 not  what 
wild hunter dreamed1 or what childish   
race first dreaded it2 but  what wise   
man first perfectly told1 and what      
strong people first  perfectly lived by 
it4  ,and the real meaning of any myth  
is that which it  has at the noblest age
 of the nation among whom it is current4
  ,the  farther back you pierce1 the    
less significance you will find1 until  
you  come to the first narrow thought1  
which1 indeed1 contains the germ of the 
accomplished tradition2 but only as the 
seed contains the flower4  ,as the      
intelligence and passion of the race    
develop1 they cling to and nourish      
their beloved and sacred legend2 leaf by
 leaf it expands under the touch  of    
more pure affections1 and more delicate 
imagination1 until at last the  perfect 
fable burgeons out into symmetry of     
milky stem and honied bell4    #h4  ,but
 through whatever changes it may pass1  
remember that our right  reading of it  
is wholly dependent on the materials we 

have in our own  minds for an           
intelligent answering sympathy4  ,if it 
first arose among a  people who dwelt   
under stainless skies1 and measures     
their journeys by  ascending and        
declining stars1 we certainly cannot    
read their story1 if  we have never seen
 anything above us in the day but smoke1
 nor anything  around us in the night   
but candles4  ,if the tale goes on to   
change clouds  or planets into living   
creatures1--to invest them with fair    
forms and  inflame them with mighty     
passions1--we can only understand the   
story of  the human-hearted things1 in  
so far as we ourselves take pleasure in 
the  perfectness of visible form1 or can
 sympathize1 by an effort of            
imagination1 with the strange people who
 had other loves than those of  wealth1 
and other interests than those of       
commerce4  ,and1 lastly1 if the  myth   
complete itself to the fulfilled        
thoughts of the nation1 by  attributing 
to the gods1 whom they have carved out  

of their fantasy1  continual presence   
with their own souls2 and their every   
effort for good  is finally guided by   
the sense of the companionship1 the     
praise1 and the  pure will of immortals1
 we shall be able to follow them into   
this last  circle of their faith only in
 the degree in which the better parts of
 our  own beings have been also stirred 
by the aspects of nature1 or            
strengthened by her laws4  ,it may be   
easy to prove that the ascent of        
,apollo in his chariot signifies nothing
 but the rising of the sun4  ,but  what 
does the sunrise itself signify to us8  
,if only languid return to  frivolous   
amusement1 or fruitless labor1 it will1 
indeed1 not be easy for  us to conceive 
the power1 over a ,greek1 of the name of
 ,apollo4  ,but if1  fir us also1 as for
 the ,greek1 the sunrise means daily    
restoration to the  sense of passionate 
gladness and of perfect life--if it     
means the  thrilling of new strength    
through every nerve1--the shedding over 

us of a  better peace than the peace of 
night1 in the power of the dawn1--and   
the  purging of evil vision and fear by 
the baptism of its dew2--if the sun     
itself is an influence1 to us also1 of  
spiritual good--and becomes thus  in    
reality1 not in imagination1 to us also1
 a spiritual power1--we may  then soon  
over-pass the narrow limit of conception
 which kept that power  impersonal1 and 
rise with the ,greek to the thought of  
an angel who  rejoiced as a strong man  
to run his course1 whose voice calling  
to life  and to labor rang round the    
earth1 and whose going forth was to the 
ends  of heaven4    #i4  ,the time1     
then1 at which ,i shall take up for you1
 as well as ,i can  decipher it1 the    
traditions of the gods of ,greece1 shall
 be near the  beginning of its central  
and formed faith1--about #ejj ,b4,c41--a
 faith of  which the character is       
perfectly represented by ,pindar and    
schylus1 who  are both of them          
outspokenly religious1 and entirely     

sincere men2 while  we may always look  
back to find the less developed thought 
of the  preceding epoch given by ,homer1
 in a more occult1 subtle1              
half-instinctive1 and involuntary way4  
#aj4  ,now1 at that culminating period  
of the ,greek religion1 we find1  under 
one governing ,lord of all things1 four 
subordinate elemental  forces1 and four 
spiritual powers living in them and     
commanding them4  ,the elements are of  
course the well-known four of the       
ancient world1--  the earth1 the waters1
 the fire1 and the air2 and the living  
powers of  them are ,demeter1 the ,latin
 ,ceres2 ,poseidon1 the ,latin ,neptune2
 ,apollo1  who has retained always his  
,greek name2 and ,athena1 the ,latin    
,minerva4  ,each of these are descended 
from1 or changed from1 more ancient1 and
  therefore more mystic1 deities of the 
earth and heaven1 and of a finer        
element of ther supposed to be beyond   
the heavens299 but at this time  we find
 the four quite definite1 both in their 

kingdoms and in their  personalities4   
,they are the rulers of the earth that  
we tread upon1 and  the air that we     
breathe2 and are with us closely1 in    
their vivid  humanity1 as the dust that 
they animate1 and the winds that they   
bridle4  ,i shall briefly define for you
 the range of their separate dominions1 
and  then follow1 as far as we have     
time1 the most interesting of the       
legends  which relate to the queen of   
the air4      99 ,and by modern science 
now also asserted1 and with probability 
argued1  to exist4      #aa4  ,the rule 
of the first spirit1 ,demeter1 the earth
 mother1 is over the  earth1 first1 as  
the origin of all life1--the dust from  
whence we were  taken2 secondly1 as the 
receiver of all things back at last into
 silence  --,dust thou art1 and unto    
dust shalt thou return4  ,and1          
therefore1 as  the most tender image of 
this appearing and fading life1 in the  
birth and  fall of flowers1 her daughter
 ,proserpine plays in the fields of     

,sicily1  and thence is torn away into  
darkness1 and becomes the ,queen of     
,fate--not  merely of death1 but of the 
gloom which closes over and ends1 not   
beauty  only1 but sin1 and chiefly of   
sins the sin against the life she gave2 
so  that she is1 in her highest power1  
,persephone1 the avenger and purifier   
of blood--,the voice of thy brother's   
blood cries to me out of the  ground4   
,then1 side by side with this queen of  
the earth1 we find a  demigod of        
agriculture by the plough--the lord of  
grain1 or of the thing  ground by the   
mill4  ,and it is a singular proof of   
the simplicity of  ,greek character at  
this noble time1 that of all            
representations left to  us of their    
deities by their art1 few are so        
frequent1 and none perhaps  so          
beautiful1 as the symbol of this spirit 
of agriculture4    #ab4  ,then the      
dominant spirit of the element water is 
,neptune1 but  subordinate to him are   
myriads of other water spirits1 of whom 

,nereus is  the chief1 with ,palmon1 and
 ,leucothea1 the white lady of the sea2 
and  ,thetis1 and nymphs innumerable    
who1 like her1 could suffer a sea       
change1 while the river deities had each
 independent power1 according  to the   
preciousness of their streams to the    
cities fed by them1--the  fountain      
,arethuse1 and thou1 honoured flood1    
smooth sliding ,mincius1  crowned with  
vocal reeds4  ,and1 spiritually1 this   
king of the waters is  lord of the      
strength and daily flow of human        
life--he gives it material  force and   
victory2 which as the meaning of the    
dedication of the hair1 as  the sign of 
the strength of life1 to the river or   
the native land4    #ac4  ,demeter1     
then1 over the earth1 and its giving and
 receiving of life4  ,neptune over the  
waters1 and the flow and force of       
life1--always among  the ,greeks        
typified by the horse1 which was to them
 as a crested  sea-wave1 animated and   
bridled4  ,then the third element1 fire1

 has set  over it two powers3 over      
earthly fire1 the assistant of human    
labor1 is  set ,hephstus1 lord of all   
labor in which is the flush and the     
sweat of  the brow2 and over heavenly   
fire1 the source of day1 is set ,apollo1
 the  spirit of all kindling1 purifying1
 and illuminating intellectual wisdom1  
each of these gods having also their    
subordinate or associated powers1--     
servant1 or sister1 or companion muse4  
#ad4  ,then1 lastly1 we come to the myth
 which is to be our subject of  closer  
inquiry1--the story of ,athena and of   
the deities subordinate to  her4  ,this 
great goddess1 the ,neith of the        
,egyptians1 the ,athena or  ,athenaia of
 the ,greeks1 and1 with broken power1   
half usurped by ,mars1  the ,minerva of 
the ,latins1 is1 physically1 the queen  
of the air2 having  supreme power both  
over its blessing of calm1 and wrath of 
storm2 and1  spiritually1 she is the    
queen of the breath of man1 first of the
 bodily  breathing which is life to his 

blood1 and strength to his arm in       
battle2  and then of the mental         
breathing1 or inspiration1 which is his 
moral  health and habitual wisdom2      
wisdom of conduct and of the heart1 as  
opposed to the wisdom of imagination and
 the brain2 moral1 as distinct  from    
intellectual2 inspired1 as distinct from
 illuminated4    #ae4  ,by a singular   
and fortunate1 though ,i believe wholly 
accidental1  coincidence1 the           
heart-virtue1 of which she is the       
spirit1 was separated  by the ancients  
into four divisions1 which have since   
obtained acceptance  from all men as    
rightly discerned1 and have received1 as
 if from the  quarters of the four winds
 of which ,athena is the natural queen1 
the name  of ,cardinal virtues3 namely1 
,prudence 7the right seeing1 and        
foreseeing1 of events through darkness72
 ,justice 7the righteous bestowal  of   
favor and of indignation72 ,fortitude   
7patience under trial by pain72  and    
,temperance 7patience under trial by    

pleasure74  ,with respect to these  four
 virtues1 the attributes of ,athena are 
all distinct4  ,in her  prudence1 or    
sight in darkness1 she is ,glaukopis1   
owl-eyed499  ,in her  justice1 which is 
the dominant virtue1 she wears two      
robes1 one of light1  and one of        
darkness2 the robe of light1 saffron    
color1 or the color of  the daybreak1   
falls to her feet1 covering her wholly  
with favor and  love1--the calm of the  
sky in blessing2 it is embroidered along
 its edge  with her victory over the    
giants 7the troublous powers of the     
earth71 and  the likeness of it was     
woven yearly by the ,athenian maidens   
and carried  to the temple of their own 
,athena1 not to the ,parthenon1 that was
 the  temple of all the world's         
,athena1--but this they carried to the  
temple of  their own only one who loved 
them1 and stayed with them always4      
,then her  robe of indignation is worn  
on her breast and left arm only1 fringed
 with  fatal serpents1 and fastened with

 ,gorgonian cold1 turning men to stone2 
physically1 the lightning and hail of   
chastisement by storm4  ,then in her    
fortitude she wears the crested and     
unstooping hemlet29999 and lastly1 in   
her temperance1 she is the queen of     
maidenhood--stainless as the air of     
heaven4      99 ,there are many other   
meanings in the epithet2 see farther on1
 #ia1 pp4  #acc1 #acd4  9999 ,i am      
compelled1 for clearness' sake1 to mark 
only one meaning at a  time4  ,athena's 
helmet is sometimes a mask1 sometimes a 
sign of anger1  sometimes of the highest
 light of ther2 but ,i cannot speak of  
all this  at once4      #af4  ,but all  
these virtues mass themselves in the    
,greek mind into the two  main ones1--of
 ,justice1 or noble passion1 and        
,fortitude1 or noble  patience2 and of  
these1 the chief powers of ,athena1 the 
,greeks have  divinely written for them1
 and for all men after them1 two mighty 
songs1  --one1 of the ,menis199 ,mens1  
passion1 or zeal1 of ,athena1 breathed  

into a  mortal whose name is ,ache of   
heart1 and whose short life is only the 
incarnate brooding and burst of storm2  
and the other is of the foresight  and  
fortitude of ,athena1 maintained by her 
in the heart of a mortal whose  name is 
given to him from a longer grief1       
,odysseus1 the full of sorrow1  the much
 enduring1 and the long-suffering4      
99 ,this first word of the ,iliad1      
,menis1 afterwards passes into the      
,latin  ,mens2 is the root of the ,latin
 name for ,athena1 ,minerva1 and so the 
root of the ,english mind4      #ag4    
,the minor expressions by the ,greeks in
 word1 in symbol1 and in  religious     
service1 of this faith1 are so many and 
so beautiful1 that ,i  hope some day to 
gather at least a few of them into a    
separate body of  evidence respecting   
the power of ,athena1 and of its        
relations to the  ethical conception of 
the ,homeric poems1 or1 rather1 to their
 ethical  nature2 for they are not      
conceived didactically1 but are didactic

 in  their essence1 as all good art is4 
,there is an increasing insensibility   
to this character1 and even an open     
denial of it1 among us now which is  one
 of the most curious errors of          
modernism1--the peculiar and judicial   
blindness of an age which1 having long  
practised art and poetry for the  sake  
of pleasure only1 has become incapable  
of reading their language  when they    
were both didactic2 and also1 having    
been itself accustomed to  a professedly
 didactic teaching1 which yet1 for      
private interests1  studiously avoids   
collision with every prevalent vice of  
its day 7and  especially with avarice71 
has become equally dead to the intensely
  ethical conceptions of a race which   
habitually divided all men into two     
broad classes of worthy or              
worthless1--good1 and good for nothing4 
,and  even the celebrated passage of    
,horace about the ,iliad is now misread 
or  disbelieved1 as if it were          
impossible that the ,iliad could be     

instructive  because it is not like a   
sermon4  ,horce does not say that it is 
like a  sermon1 and would have been     
still less likely to say so if he ever  
had  had the advantage of hearing a     
sermon4  ,i have been reading that story
  of ,troy again 7thus he writes to a   
noble youth of ,rome whom he cared      
for71 quietly at ,prneste1 while you    
have been busy at ,rome2 and truly  ,i  
think that what is base and what is     
noble1 and what useful and useless1  may
 be better learned from that1 than from 
all ,chrysippus' and ,crantor's  talk   
put together499  ,which is profoundly   
true1 not of the ,iliad only1  but of   
all other great art whatsoever2 for all 
pieces of such art are  didactic in the 
purest way1 indirectly and occultly1 so 
that1 first1 you  shall only be bettered
 by them if you are already hard at work
 in  bettering yourself2 and when you   
are bettered by them1 it shall be partly
  with a general acceptance of their    
influence1 so constant and subtile  that

 you shall be no more conscious of it   
than of the healthy digestion  of food2 
and partly by a gift of unexpected      
truth1 which you shall only  find by    
slow mining for it1--which is withheld  
on purpose1 and  close-locked1 that you 
may not get it till you have forged the 
key of it  in a furnace of your own     
heating4  ,and this withholding of their
 meaning  is continual1 and confessed1  
in the great poets4  ,thus ,pindar says 
of  himself3 ,there is many an arrow in 
my quiver1 full of speech to the  wise1 
but1 for the many1 they need            
interpreters4  ,and neither ,pindar1    
nor schylus1 nor ,hesiod1 nor ,homer1   
nor any of the greater poets or         
teachers of any nation or time1 ever    
spoke but with intentional  reservation2
 nay1 beyond this1 there is often a     
meaning which they  themselves cannot   
interpert sic1--which it may be for ages
 long after  them to intrepert sic1--in 
what they said1 so far as it recorded   
true  imaginative vision4  ,for all the 

greatest myths have been seen by the men
  who tell them1 involuntarily and      
passively1--seen by them with as great  
distinctness 7and in some respects1     
though not in all1 under conditions  as 
far beyond the control of their will7 as
 a dream sent to any of us by  night    
when we dream clearest2 and it is this  
veracity of vision that  could not be   
refused1 and of moral that could not be 
foreseen1 which in  modern historical   
inquiry has been left wholly out of     
account2 being  indeed the thing which  
no merely historical investigator can   
understand1  or even believe2 for it    
belongs exclusively to the creative or  
artistic  group of men1 and can only be 
interpreted by those of their race1 who 
themselves in some measure also see     
visions and dream dreams4      99 ,note1
 once for all1 that unless when there is
 question about some  particular        
expression1 ,i never translate          
literally1 but give the real  force of  
what is said1 as ,i best can1 freely4   

,so that you may obtain a more truthful 
idea of the nature of ,greek  religion  
and legend from the poems of ,keats1 and
 the nearly as beautiful1  and1 in      
general grasp of subject1 far more      
powerful1 recent work of  ,morris1 than 
from frigid scholarship1 however        
extensive4  ,not that the  poet's       
impressions or renderings of things are 
wholly true1 but their  truth is vital1 
not formal4  ,they are like sketches    
from the life by  ,reynolds or          
,gainsborough1 which may be demonstrably
 inaccurate or  imaginary in many       
traits1 and indistinct in others1 yet   
will be in the  deepest sense like1 and 
true2 while the work of historical      
analysis is  too often weak with loss1  
through the very labor of its miniature 
touches1 or useless in clumsy and vapid 
veracity of externals1 and  complacent  
security of having done all that is     
required for the portrait1  when it has 
measured the breadth of the forehead and
 the length of the  nose4    #ah4  ,the 

first of requirements1 then1 for the    
right reading of myths1 is  the         
understanding of the nature of all true 
vision by noble persons2  namely1 that  
it is founded on constant laws common to
 all human nature2  that it perceives1  
however darkly1 things which are for all
 ages true2  that we can only understand
 it so far as we have some perception of
 the  same truth2 and that its fulness  
is developed and manifested more and    
more by the reverberation of it from    
minds of the same mirror-temper1 in     
succeeding ages4  ,you will understand  
,homer better by seeing his  reflection 
in ,dante1 as you may trace new forms   
and softer colors in a  hillside1       
redoubled by a lake4    ,i shall be able
 partly to show you1 even to-night1 how 
much1 in the  ,homeric vision of        
,athena1 has been made clearer by the   
advance of time1  being thus essentially
 and eternally true2 but ,i must in the 
outset  indicate the relation to that   
central thought of the imagery of the   

inferior deities of storm4    #ai4  ,and
 first ,i will take the myth of olus    
7the sage ,hippotades of  ,milton71 as  
it is delivered pure by ,homer from the 
early times4    ,why do you suppose     
,milton calls him sage8  ,one does not  
usually think  of the winds as very     
thoughtful or deliberate powers4  ,but  
hear ,homer3  ,then we came to the olian
 island1 and there dwelt olus           
,hippotades1  dear to the deathless     
gods2 there he dwelt in a floating      
island1 and  round it was a wall of     
brass that could not be broken2 and the 
smooth  rock of it ran up sheer4  ,to   
whom twelve children were born in the   
sacred  chambers1--six daughters and six
 strong sons2 and they dwell foreer with
  their beloved father and their mother1
 strict in duty2 and with them are  laid
 up a thousand benefits2 and the misty  
house around them rings with  fluting   
all the day long4  ,now1 you are to note
 first1 in this  description1 the wall  
of brass and the sheer rock4  ,you will 

find1  throughout the fables of the     
tempest-group1 that the brazen wall and 
the  precipice 7occurring in another    
myth as the brazen tower of ,dana7 are  
always connected with the idea of the   
towering cloud lighted by the sun1  here
 truly described as a floating island4  
,secondly1 you hear that all  treasures 
were laid up in them2 therefore1 you    
know this olus is lord of  the          
beneficent winds 7he bringeth the wind  
out of his treasuries72 and  presently  
afterwards ,homer calls him the steward 
of the winds1 the  master of the        
store-house of them4  ,and this idea of 
gifts and  preciousness in the winds of 
heaven is carried out in the well-known 
sequel of the fable3 olus gives them to 
,ulysses1 all but one1 bound in         
leathern bags1 with a glittering cord of
 silver2 and so like bags of  treasure  
that the sailors think they are so1 and 
open them to see4  ,and  when ,ulysses  
is thus driven back to olus1 and prays  
him again to help  him1 note the        

deliberate words of the king's          
refusal1--,did ,i not1 says  he1 send   
thee on thy way heartily1 that thou     
mightest reach thy country1  thy home1  
and whatever is dear to thee8  ,it is   
not lawful for me again  to send forth  
favorably on his journey a man hated by 
the happy gods4  ,this idea of the      
beneficence of olus remains to the      
latest times1 though  ,virgil1 by       
adopting the vulgar change of the cloud 
island into ,lipari1  has lost it a     
little2 but even when it is finally     
explained away by  ,diodorus1 olus is   
still a kind-hearted monarch1 who lived 
on the coast  of ,sorrento1 invented the
 use of sails1 and established a system 
of storm  signals4    #bj4  ,another    
beneficent storm-power1 ,boreas1        
occupies an important place  in early   
legend1 and a singularly principal one  
in art2 and ,i wish ,i  could read to   
you a passage of ,plato about the legend
 of ,boreas and  ,oreithyia199 and the  
breeze and shade of the                 

,ilissus--notwithstannding its  severe  
reflection upon persons who waste their 
time on mythological  studies2 but ,i   
must go on at once to the fable with    
which you are all  generally familiar1  
that of the ,harpies4      99           
,translated by ,max ,mller in the       
opening of his essay on ,comparative    
,mythology4--,chips from a ,german      
,workshop1 vol4 ii4      ,this is always
 connected with that of ,boreas or the  
north wind1 because  the two sons of    
,boreas are enemies of the ,harpies1 and
 drive them away  into frantic flight4  
,the myth in its first literal form     
means only the  battle between the fair 
north wind and the foul south one3 the  
two  ,harpies1 ,stormswift and          
,swiftfoot1 are the sisters of the      
rainbow2  that is to say1 they are the  
broken drifts of the showery south wind1
 and  the clear north wind drives them  
back2 but they quickly take a deeper and
  more malignant significance4  ,you    
know the short1 violent1 spiral gusts   

that lift the dust before coming rain3  
the ,harpies get identified first  with 
these1 and then with more violent       
whirlwinds1 and so they are called      
,harpies1 the ,snatchers1 and are       
thought of as entirely destructive2     
their manner of destroying being        
twofold1--by snatching away1 and by     
defiling and polluting4  ,this is a     
month in which you may really see a     
small ,harpy at her work almost whenever
 you choose4  ,the first time that      
there is threatening of rain after two  
or three days of fine weather1  leave   
your window well open to the street1 and
 some books or papers on  the table2 and
 if you do not1 in a little while1 know 
what the ,harpies  mean1 and how they   
snatch1 and how they defile1 ,i'll give 
up my ,greek  myths4    #ba4  ,that is  
the physical meaning4  ,it is now easy  
to find the mental  one4  ,you must all 
have felt the expression of ignoble     
anger in those  fitful gusts of storm4  
,there is a sense of provocation in     

their thin  and senseless fury1 wholly  
different from the nobler anger of the  
greater  tempests4  ,also1 they seem    
useless and unnatural1 and the ,greek   
thinks of  them always as vile in       
malice1 and opposed1 therefore1 to the  
,sons of  ,boreas1 who are kindly winds1
 that fill sails1 and wave              
harvests1--full  of bracing health and  
happy impulses4  ,from this lower and   
merely greater  terror1 always          
associated with their whirling motion1  
which is indeed  indicative of the most 
destructive winds2 and they are thus    
related to  the nobler tempests1 as     
,charybdis to the sea2 they are         
devouring and  desolating1 making all   
things disappear that come in their     
grasp2 and so1  spiritually1 they are   
the gusts of vexatious1 fretful1 lawless
 passion1  vain and overshadowing1      
discontented and lamenting1 meager and  
insane1--  spirits of wasted energy1 and
 wandering disease1 and unappeased      
famine1  and unsatisfied hope4  ,so you 

have1 on the one side1 the winds of     
prosperity and health1 on the other1 of 
ruin and sickness4  ,understand  that1  
once1 deeply1--any who have ever known  
the weariness of vain  desires1 the     
pitiful1 unconquerable1 coiling and     
recoiling famine and  thirst of         
heart1--and you will know what was in   
the sound of the ,harpy  ,celno's shriek
 from her rock2 and why1 in the seventh 
circle of the  ,inferno1 the ,harpies   
make their nests in the warped branches 
of the  trees that are the souls of     
suicides4    #bb4  ,now you must always 
be prepared to read ,greek legends as   
you trace  threads through figures on a 
silken damask3 the same thread runs     
through  the web1 but it makes part of  
different figures4  ,joined with other  
colors you hardly recognize it1 and in  
different lights it is dark or  light4  
,thus the ,greek fables blend and cross 
curiously in different  directions1 till
 they knit themselves into an arabesque 
where sometimes  you cannot tell black  

from purple1 nor blue from emerald--they
 being all  the truer for this1 because 
the truths of emotion they represent are
  interwoven in the same way1 but all   
the more difficult to read1 and to      
explain in any order4  ,thus the        
,harpies1 as they represent vain desire1
  are connected with the ,sirens1 who   
are the spirits of constant desire2 so  
that it is difficult sometimes in early 
art to know which are meant1 both  being
 represented alike as birds with women's
 heads2 only the ,sirens are  the great 
constant desires--the infinite          
sicknesses of heart--which1  rightly    
placed1 give life1 and wrongly placed1  
waste it away2 so that  there are two   
groups of ,sirens1 one noble and saving1
 as the other is  fatal4  ,but there are
 no animating or saving ,harpies2 their 
nature is  always vexing and full of    
weariness1 and thus they are curiously  
connected with the whole group of       
legends about ,tantalus4    #cc499  ,we 
all know what it is to be tantalized2   

but we do not often think  of asking    
what ,tantalus was tantalized for--what 
he had done1 to be  forever kept hungry 
in sight of food4  ,well2 he had not    
been condemned to  this merely for being
 a glutton4  ,by ,dante the same        
punishment is  assigned to simple       
gluttony1 to purge it away2 but the sins
 of ,tantalus  were of a much wider and 
more mysterious kind4  ,there are four  
great sins  attributed to him3 one1     
stealing the food of the gods to give it
 to men2  another1 sacrificing his son  
to feed the gods themselves 7it may     
remind  you for a moment of what ,i was 
telling you of the earthly character of 
,demeter1 that1 while the other gods all
 refuse1 she1 dreaming about her  lost  
daughter1 eats part of the shoulder of  
,pelops before she knows what  she is   
doing72 another sin is1 telling the     
secrets of the gods2 and only  the      
fourth--stealing the golden dog of      
,pandareos--is connected with  gluttony4
  ,the special sense of this myth is    

marked by ,pandareos  receiving the     
happy privilege of never being troubled 
with indigestion2  the dog1 in general1 
however mythically represents all utter 
senseless  and carnal desires2 mainly   
that of gluttony2 and in the mythic     
sense of  ,hades--that is to say1 so far
 as it represents spiritual ruin in this
  life1 and not a literal hell--the dog 
,cerberus as its gatekeeper--with  this 
special marking of his character of     
sensual passion1 that he fawns  on all  
those who descend1 but rages against all
 who would return 7the  ,virgilian      
facilis descendus being a later         
recognition of this mythic  character of
 ,hades72 the last labor of ,hercules is
 the dragging him up  to the light2 and 
in some sort he represents the voracity 
or devouring  of ,hades itself2 and the 
medival representation of the mouth of  
hell  perpetuates the same thought4     
,then1 also1 the power of evil passion  
is partly associated with the red and   
scorching light of ,sirius1 as  opposed 

to the pure light of the sun3 he is the 
dog-star of ruin2 and  hence the        
continual ,homeric dwelling upon him1   
and comparison of the  flame of anger to
 his swarthy light2 only1 in his        
scorching1 it is  thirst1 not hunger1   
over which he rules physically2 so that 
the fable  of ,icarius1 his first       
master1 corresponds1 among the ,greeks1 
to the  legend of the drunkenness of    
,noah4      99 ,printer's error3 should 
be #bc4      ,the story of ,acton1 the  
raging death of ,hecuba1 and the        
tradition of  the white dog which ate   
part of ,hercules' first sacrifice1 and 
so gave  name to the ,cynosarges1 are   
all various phases of the same          
thought1--the  ,greek notion of the dog 
being throughout confused between its   
serviceable  fidelity1 its watchfulness1
 its foul voracity1 shamelessness1 and  
deadly  madness1 while with the curious 
reversal or recoil of the meaning which 
attaches itself to nearly every great   
myth1--and which we shall presently  see

 notably exemplified in the relations of
 the serpent to ,athena1--the  dog      
becomes in philosophy a type of severity
 and abstinence4    #bd4  ,it would     
carry us too far aside were ,i to tell  
you the story of  ,pandareos' dog--or   
rather of ,jupiter's dog1 for ,pandareos
 was its  guardian only2 all that bears 
on our present purpose is that the      
guardian  of this golden dog had three  
daughters1 one of whom was subject to   
the  power of the ,sirens1 and is turned
 into a nightingale2 and the other two  
were subject to the power of the        
,harpies1 and this was what happened to 
them3 ,they were very beautiful1 and    
they were beloved by the gods in  their 
youth1 and all the great goddesses were 
anxious to bring them up  rightly4  ,of 
all types of young ladies' education1   
there is nothing so  splendid as that of
 the younger daughters of ,pandareos4   
,they have  literally the four greatest 
goddesses for their governesses4        
,athena  teaches them domestic          

accomplishments1 how to weave1 and sew1 
and the  like2 ,artemis teaches them to 
hold themselves up straight2 ,hera1 how 
to  behave proudly and oppressively to  
company2 and ,aphrodite1 delightful     
governess1 feeds them with cakes and    
honey all day long4  ,all goes well1    
until just the time when they are going 
to be brought out2 then there is  a     
great dispute whom they are to marry1   
and in the midst of it they are  carried
 off by the ,harpies1 given by them to  
be slaves to the ,furies1 and  never    
seen more4  ,but of course there is     
nothing in ,greek myths2 and one  never 
heard of such things as vain desires1   
and empty hopes1 and clouded  passions1 
defiling and snatching away the souls of
 maidens1 in a ,london  season4    ,i   
have no time to trace for you any more  
harpy legends1 though they are  full of 
the most curious interest2 but ,i may   
confirm for you my  interpretation of   
this one1 and prove its importance in   
the ,greek mind1  by noting that        

,polygnotus painted these maidens1 in   
his great religious  series of paintings
 at ,delphi1 crowned with flowers1 and  
playing at dice2  and that ,penelope    
remembers them in her last fit of       
despair1 just before  the return of     
,ulysses1 and prays bitterly that she   
may be snatched away  at once into      
nothingness by the ,harpies1 like       
,pandareos' daughters1  rather than be  
tormented longer by her deferred hope1  
and anguish of  disappointed love4      
#be4  ,i have hitherto spoken only of   
deities of the winds4  ,we pass now to  
a far more important group1 the deities 
of cloud4  ,both of these are           
subordinate to the ruling power of the  
air1 as the demigods of the  fountains  
and minor seas are to the great deep2   
but1 as the  cloud-firmament detaches   
itself more from the air1 and has a     
wider range  of ministry than the minor 
streams and seas1 the highest cloud     
deity1  ,hermes1 has a rank more equal  
with ,athena than ,nereus or ,proteus   

with  ,neptune2 and there is greater    
difficulty in tracing his character1    
because his physical dominion over the  
clouds can1 of course1 be asserted  only
 where clouds are2 and1 therefore1      
scarcely at all in ,egypt299 so that    
the changes which ,hermes undergoes in  
becoming a ,greek from an ,egyptian  and
 ,phnician god1 are greater than in any 
other case of adopted  tradition  ,in   
,egypt ,hermes is a deity of historical 
record1 and a  conductor of the dead to 
judgment2 the ,greeks take away much of 
this  historical function1 assigning it 
to the ,muses2 but1 in investing him    
with the physical power over clouds1    
they give him that which the ,muses     
disdain1--the power of concealment and  
of theft4  ,the snatching away by  the  
,harpies is with brute force2 but the   
snatching away by the clouds  is        
connected with the thought of hiding1   
and of making things seem to  be what   
they are not2 so that ,hermes is the god
 of lying1 as he is of  mist2 and yet   

with this ignoble function of making    
things vanish and  disappear is         
connected the remnant of his grand      
,egyptian authority of  leading away    
souls in the cloud of death 7the actual 
dimness of sight  caused by mortal      
wounds physically suggesting the        
darkness and descent  of clouds1 and    
continually being so described in the   
,iliad72 while the  sense of the need of
 guidance on the untrodden road follows 
necessarily4  ,you cannot but remember  
how this thought of cloud guidance1 and 
cloud  receiving souls at death1 has    
been elsewhere ratified4      99 ,i     
believe that the conclusions of recent  
scholarship are generally  opposed to   
the ,herodotean ideas of any direct     
acceptance by the ,greeks  of ,egyptian 
myths3 and very certainly1 ,greek art is
 developed by giving  the veracity and  
simplicity of real life to ,eastern     
savage grotesque2 and  not by softening 
the severity of pure ,egyptian design4  
,but it is of no  consequence whether   

one conception was1 or was not1 in this 
case1 derived  from the other2 my object
 is only to mark the essential          
difference  between them4      #bf4     
,without following that higher clue1 ,i 
will pass to the lovely group  of myths 
connected with the birth of ,hermes on  
the ,greek mountains4  ,you  know that  
the valley of ,sparta is one of the     
noblest mountain ravines in  the world1 
and that the western flank of it is     
formed by an unbroken  chain of crags1  
forty miles long1 rising1 opposite      
,sparta1 to a height of  #h1jjj feet1   
and known as the chain of ,taygetus4    
,now1 the nymph from whom  that mountain
 ridge is named was the mother of       
,lacedmon2 therefore the  mythic        
ancestress of the ,spartan race4  ,she  
is the nymph ,taygeta1 and one  of the  
seven stars of spring2 one of those     
,pleiades of whom is the  question to   
,job1--,canst thou bind the sweet       
influences of ,pleiades1 or  loose the  
bands of ,orion8  ,the sweet influences 

of ,pleiades1 of the  stars of          
spring1--nowhere sweeter than among the 
pine-clad slopes of the  hills of       
,sparta and ,arcadia1 when he snows of  
their higher summits1  beneath the      
sunshine of ,april1 fell into fountains1
 and rose into clouds2  and in every    
ravine was a newly awakened voice of    
waters1--soft increase  of whisper among
 its sacred stones2 and on every crag   
its forming and  fading veil of radiant 
cloud2 temple above temple1 of the      
divine marble  that no tool can pollute1
 nor ruin undermine4  ,and1 therefore1  
beyond  this central valley1 this great 
,greek vase of ,arcadia1 on the hollow  
mountain1 ,cyllene1 or pregnant         
mountain1 called also cold1 because     
there the vapors rest199 and born of the
 eldest of those stars of spring1  that 
,maia1 from whom your own month of ,may 
has its name1 bringing to you1  in the  
green of her garlands1 and the white of 
her hawthorn1 the  unrecognized symbols 
of the pastures and the wreathed snows  

of ,arcadia1  where long ago she was    
queen of stars3 there1 first cradled and
 wrapt in  swaddling-clothes2 then      
raised1 in a moment of surprise1 into   
his  wandering power1--is born the      
shepherd of the clouds1 winged-footed   
and  deceiving1--blinding the eyes of   
,argus1--escaping from the grasp of     
,apollo--restless messenger between the 
highest sky and topmost earth--  the    
herald ,mercury1 new lighted on a       
heaven-kissing hill4      99 ,on the    
altar of ,hermes on its summit1 as on   
that of the ,lacinian ,hera1  no wind   
ever stirred the ashes4  ,by those      
altars1 the ,gods of ,heaven were       
appeased1 and all their storms at rest4 
#bg4  ,now1 it will be wholly           
impossible1 at present1 to trace for you
 any  of the minor ,greek expressions of
 this thought1 except only that         
,mercury1  as the cloud shepherd1 is    
especially called ,eriophoros1 the      
wool-bearer4  ,you will recollect the   
name from the common woolly rush        

eriophorum  which has a cloud of silky  
seed2 and note also that he wears       
distinctively the flap cap1 petasos1    
named from a word meaning to  expand2   
which shaded from the sun1 and is worn  
on journeys4  ,you have  the epithet of 
mountains cloud-capped as an established
 form with every  poet1 and the ,mont   
,pilate of ,lucerne is named from a     
,latin word  signifying specially a     
woollen cap2 but ,mercury has1 besides1 
a general  ,homeric epithet1 curiously  
and intensely concentrated in meaning1  
the  profitable or serviceable by       
wool199 that is to say1 by shepherd     
wealth2  hence1 pecuniarily1 rich or    
serviceable1 and so he passes at last   
into  a general mercantile deity2 while 
yet the cloud sense of the wool is      
retained by ,homer always1 so that he   
gives him this epithet when it would    
otherwise have been quite meaningless   
7in ,iliad1 xxiv4 #ddj71 when he  drives
 ,priam's chariot1 and breathes force   
into his horses1 precisely as  we shall 

find ,athena drive ,diomed2 and yet the 
serviceable and profitable  sense--and  
something also of gentle and soothing   
character in the mere  wool-softness1 as
 used for dress1 and religious rites--is
 retained also  in the epithet1 and thus
 the gentle and serviceable ,hermes is  
opposed to  the deceitful one4      99  
,i am convinced that the 'eri' in       
'eriounios' is not intensitive1 but     
retained from 'erion'2 but even if ,i am
 wrong in thinking this1 the  mistake is
 of no consequence with respect to the  
general force of the  term as meaning   
the profitableness of ,hermes4          
,athena's epithet of  'ageleia' has a   
parallel significance4 ,transcriber's   
note3 words inside  single apostrophes  
are ,greek1 and use the ,greek alphabet4
      #bh4  ,in connection with this    
driving of ,priam's chariot1 remember   
that  as ,autolycus is the son of       
,hermes the ,deceiver1 ,myrtilus 7the   
,auriga  of the  ,stars7 is the son of  
,hermes the ,guide4  ,the name ,hermes  

itself  means impulse2 and he is        
especially the shepherd of the flocks of
 the  sky1 in driving1 or guiding1 or   
stealing them2 and yet his great  name1 
,argeiphontes1 not only--as in different
 passages of the olden  poets--means    
,shining ,white1 which is said of him as
 being himself the  silver cloud lighted
 by the sun2 but ,argus-killer1 the     
killer of  rightness1 which is said of  
him as he veils the sky1 and especially 
the  stars1 which are the eyes of       
,argus2 or1 literally1 eyes of          
brightness1  which ,juno1 who is1 with  
,jupiter1 part of the type of highest   
heaven1  keeps in her peacock's train4  
,we know that this interpretation is    
right1 from a passage in which          
,euripides describes the shield of      
,hippomedon1 which bore for his sign1   
,argus the all-seeing1 covered  with    
eyes2 open towards the rising of the    
stars and closed towards  their setting4
    ,and thus ,hermes becomes the spirit
 of the movement of the sky or          

firmament2 not merely the fast flying of
 the transitory cloud1 but the  great   
motion of the heavens and stars         
themselves4  ,thus1 in his highest      
power1 he corresponds to the primo      
mobile of the later ,italian            
philosophy1 and1 in his simplest1 is the
 guide of all mysterious and  cloudy    
movement1 and of all successful         
subtleties4  ,perhaps the prettiest     
minor recognition of his character is   
when1 on the night foray of ,ulysses    
and ,diomed1 ,ulysses wear the helmet   
stolen by ,autolycus1 the son of        
,hermes4    #bi4  ,the position in the  
,greek mind of ,hermes as the lord of   
cloud is1  however1 more mystic and     
ideal than that of any other deity1 just
 on  account of the constant and real   
presence of the cloud itself under      
different forms1 giving rise to all     
kinds of minor fables4  ,the play of    
the ,greek imagination in this direction
 is so wide and complex1 that ,i  cannot
 give you an outline of its range in my 

present limits4  ,there is  first a     
great series of storm-legends connected 
with the family of the  historic olus   
centralized by the story of ,athamas1   
with his two wives1  the ,cloud1 and the
 ,white ,goddess1 ending in that of     
,phrixus and  ,helle1 and of the golden 
fleece 7which is only the cloud-burden  
of ,hermes  ,eriophoros74  ,with this1  
there is the fate of ,salmoneus1 and the
  destruction of the ,glaucus by his own
 horses2 all these minor myths of  storm
 concentrating themselves darkly into   
the legend of ,bellerophon and  the     
,chimra1 in which there is an under     
story about the vain subduing of        
passion and treachery1 and the end of   
life in fading melancholy1--which1  ,i  
hope1 not many of you could understand  
even were ,i to show it you 7the  merely
 physical meaning of the ,chimra is the 
cloud of volcanic lightning  connected  
wholly with earth-fire1 but resembling  
the heavenly cloud in  its height and   
its thunder74  ,finally1 in the olic    

group1 there is the  legend of ,sisypus1
 which ,i mean to work out thoroughly by
 itself2 its  root is in the position of
 ,corinth as ruling the isthmus and the 
two seas  --the ,corinthean ,acropolis1 
two thousand feet high1 being the centre
 of  the crossing currents of the winds1
 and of the commerce of ,greece4        
,therefore1 ,athena1 and the            
fountain-cloud ,pegasus1 are more       
closely  connected with ,corinth than   
even with ,athens in their material1    
though  not in their moral1 power2 and  
,sisyphus founds the ,isthmian games in 
connection with a melancholy story about
 the sea gods2 but he himself is        
'kerdotos andron'1 the most gaining and 
subtle of men2 who having the  key of   
the ,isthmus1 becomes the type of       
transit1 transfer1 or trade1 as  such2  
and of the apparent gain from it1 which 
is not gain2 and this is  the real      
meaning of his punishment in            
hell--eternal toil and recoil 7the      
modern idol of capital being1 indeed1   

the stone of ,sisyphus with a           
vengeance1 crushing in its recoil74     
,but1 throughout1 the old ideas of  the 
cloud power and cloud feebleness1--the  
deceit of its hiding1--and the          
emptiness of its banishing1--the        
,autolycus enchantment of making black  
seem white1--and the disappointed fury  
of ,ixion 7taking shadow for  power71   
mingle in the moral meaning of this and 
its collateral legends2  and give an    
aspect1 at last1 not only of foolish    
cunning1 but of impiety  or literal     
idolatry1 imagination worship1 to the   
dreams of avarice  and injustice1 until 
this notion of atheism and insolent     
blindness  becomes principal2 and the   
,clouds of ,aristophanes1 with the      
personified  just and unjust sayings in 
the latter part of the play1 foreshadow1
  almost feature by feature1 in all that
 they were written to mock and to       
chastise1 the worst elements of the     
impious 'dinos' and tumult in men's     
thoughts1 which have followed on their  

avarice in the present day1 making  them
 alike forsake the laws of their ancient
 gods1 and misapprehended or  reject the
 true words of their existing teachers4 
#cj4  ,all this we have from the legends
 of the historic olus only2 but1        
besides these1 there is the beautiful   
story of ,semele1 the mother of         
,bacchus4  ,she is the cloud with the   
strength of the vine in its bosom1      
consumed by the light which matures the 
fruit2 the melting away of the  cloud   
into the clean air at the fringe of its 
edges being exquisitely  rendered by    
,pindar's epithet for her1 ,semele1 with
 the stretched-out  hair                
7'tauuetheira'47  ,then there is the    
entire tradition of the  ,danaides1 and 
of the tower of ,dana and golden shower2
 the birth of  ,perseus connecting this 
legend with that of the ,gorgons and    
,grai1 who  are the true clouds of      
thunderous ruin and tempest4  ,i must1  
in passing1  mark for you that the form 
of the sword or sickle of ,perseus1 with

 which  he kills ,medusa1 is another    
image of the whirling harpy vortex1 and 
belongs especially to the sword of      
destruction or annihilation2 whence it  
is given to the two angels who gather   
for destruction the evil harvest  and   
evil vintage of the earth 7,rev4 xiv4   
#ae74  ,i will collect afterwards  and  
complete what ,i have already written   
respecting the ,pegasean and  ,gorgonian
 legends1 noting here only what is      
necessary to explain the  central myth  
of ,athena herself1 who represents the  
ambient air1 which  included all cloud1 
and rain1 and dew1 and darkness1 and    
peace1 and wrath  of heaven4  ,let me   
now try to give you1 however briefly1   
some distinct  idea of the several      
agencies of this great goddess4    #ca4 
,i4  ,she is the air giving life and    
health to all animals4       ,,ii4  ,she
 is the air giving vegetative power to  
the earth4       ,,iii4  ,she is the air
 giving motion to the sea1 and rendering
             navigation possible4       

,,iv4  ,she is the air nourishing       
artificial light1 torch or lamplight2   
as opposed to that of the sun1 on one   
hand1 and of consuming99            fire
 on the other4       ,v4  ,she is the   
air conveying vibration of sound4       
99 ,not a scientific1 but a very        
practical and expressive distinction4   
,i will give you instances of her agency
 in all these functions4    #cb4        
,first1 and chiefly1 she is air as the  
spirit of life1 giving  vitality to the 
blood4  ,her psychic relation to the    
vital force in matter  lies deeper1 and 
we will examine it afterwards2 but a    
great number of the  most interesting   
passages in ,homer regard her as flying 
over the earth in  local and transitory 
strength1 simply and merely the goddess 
of fresh  air4    ,it is curious that   
the ,british city which has somewhat    
saucily styled  itself the ,modern      
,athens is indeed more under her        
especial tutelage and  favor in this    
respect than perhaps any other town in  

the island4  ,athena  is first simply   
what in the ,modern ,athens you         
practically find her1 the  breeze of the
 mountain and the sea2 and wherever she 
comes1 there is  purification1 and      
health1 and power4  ,the sea-beach round
 this isle of  ours is the frieze of our
 ,parthenon2 every wave that breaks on  
it  thunders with ,athena's voice2 nay1 
wherever you throw your window wide     
open in the morning1 you let in ,athena1
 as wisdom and fresh air at the  same   
instant2 and whenever you draw a pure1  
long1 full breath of right  heaven1 you 
take ,athena into your heart1 through   
your blood2 and1 with  the blood1 into  
the thoughts of your brain4    ,now1    
this giving of strength by the air1     
observe1 is mechanical as well  as      
chemical4  ,you cannot strike a good    
blow but with your chest full2  and1 in 
hand to hand fighting1 it is not the    
muscle that fails first1 it  is the     
breath2 the longest-breathed will1 on   
the average1 be the victor1  --not the  

strongest4  ,note how ,shakespeare      
always leans on this4  ,of  ,mortimer1  
in changing hardiment with great        
,glendower3    ,three times they        
breathed1 and three times did they      
drink1  ,upon agreement1 of swift       
,severn's flood4    ,and again1         
,hotspur1 sending challenge to ,prince  
,harry3          ,that none might draw  
short breath to-day        ,but ,i and  
,harry ,monmouth4    ,again1 of ,hamlet1
 before he receives his wound3          
,he's fat1 and scant of breath4         
,again1 ,orlando in the wrestling3      
,yes2 ,i beseech your grace        ,i am
 not yet well breathed4    ,now1 of all 
the people that ever lived1 the ,greeks 
knew best what breath  meant1 both in   
exercise and in battle1 and therefore   
the queen of the air  becomes to them at
 once the queen of bodily strength in   
war2 not mere  brutal muscular          
strength1--that belongs to ,ares1--but  
the strength of  young lives passed in  
pure air and swift exercise1--,camilla's

 virginal  force1 that flies o'er the   
unbending corn1 and skims along the     
main4    #cc4  ,now ,i will rapidly give
 you two or three instances of her      
direct  agency in this function4        
,first1 when she wants to make ,penelope
 bright  and beautiful2 and to do away  
with the signs of her waiting and her   
grief4  ,then ,athena thought of another
 thing2 she laid her into a deep  sleep1
 and loosed all her limbs1 and made her 
taller1 and made her  smoother1 and     
fatter1 and whiter than sawn ivory2 and 
breathed ambrosial  brightness over her 
face2 and so she left her and went up to
 heaven4  ,fresh air and sound sleep at 
night1 young ladies6  ,you see you may  
have  ,athena for lady's maid whenever  
you choose4  ,next1 hark how she gives  
strength to ,achilles when he is broken 
with fasting and grief4  ,jupiter       
pities him and says to her1 ',daughter  
mine1 are you forsaking your own        
soldier1 and don't you care for         
,achilles any more8  ,see how hungry and

  weak he is1--go and feed him with     
ambrosia4'  ,so he urged the eager      
,athena2 and she leaped down out of     
heaven like a harpy falcon1             
shrill-voiced2 and she poured nectar and
 ambrosia1 full of delight1 into  the   
breast of ,achilles1 that his limbs     
might not fail with famine2 then  she   
returned to the solid dome of her strong
 father4  ,and then comes the  great    
passage about ,achilles arming--for     
which we have no time4  ,but here  is   
again ,athena giving strength to the    
whole ,greek army4  ,she came as a      
falcon to ,achilles1 straight at him1 a 
sudden drift of breeze2 but to the  army
 she must come widely1 she sweeps around
 them all4  ,as when ,jupiter  spreads  
the purple rainbow over heaven1         
portending battle or cold storm1  so    
,athena1 wrapping herself round with a  
purple cloud1 stooped to the  ,greek    
soldiers1 and raised up each of them4   
,note that purple1 in  ,homer's use of  
it1 nearly always means fiery1 full of  

light4  ,it is  the light of the        
rainbow1 not the color of it1 which     
,homer means you to  think of4    #cd4  
,but the most curious passage of all1   
and fullest of meaning1 is when  she    
gives strength to ,menelaus1 that he may
 stand unwearied against  ,hector4  ,he 
prays to her3 ,and blue-eyed ,athena was
 glad that he prayed  to her1 first2 and
 she gave him strength in his shoulders1
 and in his  limbs1 an she gave him the 
courage--of what animal1 do you suppose8
  ,had  it been ,neptune or ,mars1 they 
would have given him the courage of a   
bull1  or a lion2 but ,athena gives him 
the courage of the most fearless in     
attack of all creatures1 small or great1
 and very small it is1 but wholly       
incapable of terror1--she gives him the 
courage of a fly4    #ce4  ,now this    
simile of ,homer's is one of the best   
instances ,i can give  you of the way in
 which great writers seize truths       
unconsciously which  are for all time4  
,it is only recent science which has    

completely shown  the perfectness of    
this minute symbol of the power of      
,athena2 proving  that the insect's     
flight and breath are co-ordinated2 that
 its wings are  actually forcing-pumps1 
of which the stroke compels the thoracic
  respiration2 and that it thus breathes
 and flies simultaneously by the  action
 of the same muscles1 so that           
respiration is carried on most          
vigorously during flight1 while the     
air-vessels1 supplied by many pairs  of 
lungs instead of one1 traverse the      
organs of flight in far greater  numbers
 than the capillary blood-vessels of our
 own system1 and give  enormous and     
untiring muscular power1 a rapidity of  
action measured by  thousands of strokes
 in the minute1 and an endurance1 by    
miles and hours  of flight499      99   
,ormerod3 ,natural ,history of ,wasps4  
,homer could not have known this2       
neither that the buzzing of the fly  was
 produced1 as in a wind instrument1 by a
 constant current of air  through the   

trachea4  ,but he had seen1 and1        
doubtless1 meant us to  remember1 the   
marvellous strength and swiftness of the
 insect's flight  7the glance of the    
swallow itself is clumsy and slow       
compared to the  darting of common      
house-flies at play72 he probably       
attributed its  murmur to the wings1 but
 in this also there was a type of what  
we shall  presently find recognized in  
the name of ,pallas1--the vibratory     
power  of the air to convey sound1      
while1 as a purifying creature1 the fly 
holds  its place beside the old symbol  
of ,athena in ,egypt1 the vulture2 and  
as  a venomous and tormenting creature  
has more than the strength of the       
serpent in proportion to its size1 being
 thus entirely representative  of the   
influence of the air both in            
purification and pestilence2 and its    
courage is so notable that1 strangely   
enough1 forgetting ,homer's simile1  ,i 
happened to take the fly for an         
expression of the audacity of freedom   

in speaking of quite another subject499 
,whether it should be called  courage1  
or mere mechanical instinct1 may be     
questioned1 but assuredly  no other     
animal1 exposed to continual danger1 is 
so absolutely without  sign of fear4    
99 ,see farther on1 #adh1 pp4 #aed-aef4 
#cf4  ,you will1 perhaps1 have still    
patience to hear two instances1 not of  
the communication as strength1 but of   
the personal agency of ,athena as  the  
air4  ,when she comes down to help      
,diomed against ,ares1 she does not     
come to fight instead of him1 but she   
takes his charioteer's place4    ,she   
snatched the reins1 she lashed with all 
her force1  ,and full on ,mars impelled 
the foaming horse4    ,ares is the first
 to cast his spear2 then--note          
this--,pope says3          ,pallas      
opposed her hand1 and caused to glance1 
,far from the car1 the strong immortal  
lance4    ,she does not oppose her hand 
in the ,greek--the wind could not meet  
the  lance straight--she catches it in  

her hand1 and throws it off4  ,there is 
no instance in which a lance is so      
parried by a mortal hand in all the     
,iliad1 and it is exactly the way the   
wind would parry it1 catching it1  and  
turning it aside4  ,if there are any    
good rifleshots here1 they know         
something about ,athena's parrying2 and 
in old times the ,english masters  of   
feathered artillery knew more yet4      
,compare also the turning of  ,hector's 
lance from ,achilles3 ,iliad1 xx4 #dci4 
#cg4  ,the last instance ,i will give   
you is as lovely as it is subtile4      
,throughout the ,iliad1 ,athena is      
herself the will or ,menis of ,achilles4
  ,if he is to be calmed1 it is she who 
calms him2 if angered1 it is she  who   
inflames him4  ,in the first quarrel    
with ,atreides1 when he stands at       
pause1 with the great sword half drawn1 
,athena came from heaven1 and  stood    
behind him and caught him by the yellow 
hair4  ,another god would  have stayed  
his hand upon the hilt1 but ,athena only

 lifts his hair4  ,and  he turned and   
knew her1 and her dreadful eyes shone   
upon him4  ,there is  an exquisite      
tenderness in this laying her hand upon 
his hair1 for it is  the talisman of his
 life1 vowed to his own ,thessalian     
river if he ever  returned to its shore1
 and cast upon ,patroclus' pile1 so     
ordaining that  there should be no      
return4    #ch4  ,secondly1 ,athena is  
the air giving vegetative impulse to the
 earth4  ,she is the wind and the rain1 
and yet more the pure air itself1       
getting  at the earth fresh turned by   
spade or plough1 and1 above all1 feeding
 the  fresh leaves2 for though the      
,greeks knew nothing about carbonic     
acid1  they did know that trees fed on  
the air4    ,now1 note first in this1   
the myth of the air getting at ploughed 
land4  ,you know ,i told you the ,lord  
of all labor by which man lived was     
,hephstus2 therefore ,athena adopts a   
child of his1 and of the ,earth1--      
,erichthonius1--literally1 the tearer up

 of the ground1 who is the head  7though
 not in direct line7 of the kings of    
,attica2 and1 having adopted  him1 she  
gives him to be brought up by the three 
nymphs of the dew4  ,of  these1         
,aglauros1 the dweller in the fields1 is
 the envy or malice of the  earth2 she  
answers nearly to the envy of ,cain1 the
 tiller of the ground1  against his     
shepherd brother1 in her own envy       
against her two sisters1  ,herse1 the   
cloud dew1 who is the beloved of the    
shepherd ,mercury2 and  ,pandrosos1 the 
diffused dew1 or dew of heaven4         
,literally1 you have in  this myth the  
words of the blessing of ,esau3 ,thy    
dwelling shall be of  the fatness of the
 earth1 and of the dew of heaven from   
above4  ,aglauros  is for her envy      
turned into a black stone2 and hers is  
one of the voices  --the other being    
that of ,cain--which haunts the circle  
of envy in the  ,purgatory3          ,io
 sono ,aglauro1 chi divenne sasso4      
,but to her two sisters1 with           

,erichthonius 7or the hero ,erectheus71 
is  built the most sacred temple of     
,athena in ,athens2 the temple to their 
own  dearest ,athena--to her1 and to the
 dew together2 so that it was divided   
into two parts3 one1 the temple of      
,athena of the city1 and the other that 
of the dew4  ,and this expression of her
 power1 as the air bringing the  dew to 
the hill pastures1 in the central temple
 of the central city of  the heathen1   
dominant over the future intellectual   
world1 is1 of all the  facts connected  
with her worship as the spirit of life1 
perhaps the most  important4  ,i have no
 time now to trace for you the hundredth
 part of the  different ways in which it
 bears both upon natural beauty1 and on 
the  best order and happiness of men's  
lives4  ,i hope to follow out some of   
these trains of thought in gathering    
together what ,i have to say about      
field herbage2 but ,i must say briefly  
here that the great sign1 to the        
,greeks1 of the coming of spring in the 

pastures1 was not1 as with us1 in  the  
primrose1 but in the various flowers of 
the asphodel tribe 7of which  ,i will   
give you some separate account          
presently72 therefore it is that  the   
earth answers with crocus flame to the  
cloud on ,ida2 and the power  of ,athena
 in eternal life is written by the light
 of the asphodel on the  ,elysian       
fields4    ,but further1 ,athena is the 
air1 not only to the lilies of the      
field1 but  to the leaves of the forest4
  ,we saw before the reason why ,hermes 
is said  to be the son of ,maia1 the    
eldest of the sister stars of spring4   
,those  stars are called not only       
,pleiades1 but ,vergili1 from a word    
mingling  the ideas of the turning or   
returning of springtime with the        
outpouring  of rain4  ,the mother of    
,vergil bearing the name of ,maia1      
,vergil himself  received his name from 
the seven stars2 and he1 forming first  
the mind of  ,dante1 and through him    
that of ,chaucer 7besides whatever      

special minor  influence came from the  
,pastorals and ,georgics7 became the    
fountainhead  of all the best literary  
power connected with the love of        
vegetative  nature among civilized races
 of men4  ,take the fact for what it is 
worth2  still it is a strange seal of   
coincidence1 in word and in reality1    
upon  the ,greek dream of the power over
 human life1 and its purest thoughts1 in
  the stars of spring4  ,but the first  
syllable of the name of ,vergil has     
relation also to another group of words1
 of which the ,english ones1  virtue and
 virgin1 bring down the force to modern 
days4  ,it is a group  containing mainly
 the idea of spring1 or increase of life
 in  vegetation--the rising of the new  
branch of the tree out of the bud1 and  
of the new leaf out of the ground4  ,it 
involves1 secondarily1 the idea  of     
greenness and of strength1 but1         
primarily1 that of living increase of  a
 new rod from a stock1 stem1 or root    
7,there shall come forth a rod out  of  

the stem of ,jesse72 and chiefly the    
stem of certain plants--either of  the  
rose tribe1 as in the budding of the    
almond rod of ,aaron2 or of the  olive  
tribe1 which has triple significance in 
this symbolism1 from the  use of its oil
 for sacred anointing1 for strength in  
the gymnasium1 and  for light4  ,hence1 
in numberless divided and reflected     
ways1 it is  connected with the power of
 ,hercules and ,athena3 ,hercules plants
 the wild  olive1 for its shade1 on the 
course of ,olympia1 and it thenceforward
  gives the ,olympic crown of consummate
 honor and rest2 while the prize at  the
 ,panathenaic games is a vase of its oil
 7meaning encouragement to  continuance 
of effort72 and from the paintings on   
these ,panathenaic vases  we get the    
most precious clue to the entire        
character of ,athena4  ,then to  express
 its propagation by slips1 the trees    
from which the oil was to be  taken were
 called ,moriai1 trees of division      
7being all descendents of  the sacred   

one in the ,erechtheum74  ,and thus1 in 
one direction1 we get to  the children  
like olive plants round about thy table 
and the olive  grafting of ,st4 ,paul2  
while the use of the oil for anointing  
gives chief  name to the rod itself of  
the stem of ,jesse1 and to all those who
 were by  that name signed for his      
disciples first in ,antioch4  ,remember1
 further1  since that name was first    
given the influence of the symbol1 both 
in  extreme unction and in consecration 
of priests and kings to their divine    
right2 and thing1 if you can reach with 
any grasp of thought1 what the          
influence on the earth has been1 of     
those twisted branches whose leaves     
give gray bloom to the hillsides under  
every breeze that blows from the        
midland sea4  ,but1 above and beyond    
all1 think how strange it is that the   
chief ,agonia of humanity1 and the chief
 giving of strength from heaven  for its
 fulfilment1 should have been under its 
night shadow in ,palestine4    #ci4     

,thirdly1 ,athena is the air in its     
power over the sea4    ,on the earliest 
,panathenaic vase known--the ,burgon    
vase in the ,british  museum--,athena   
has a dolphin on her shield4  ,the      
dolphin has two  principal meanings in  
,greek symbolism4  ,it means1 first1 the
 sea2  secondarily1 the ascending and   
descending course of any of the heavenly
  bodies from one sea horizon to        
another--the dolphins' arching rise and 
replunge 7in a summer evening1 out of   
calm sea1 their black backs roll  round 
with exactly the slow motion of a       
water-wheel2 but ,i do not know  how far
 ,aristotle's exaggerated account of    
their leaping or their  swiftness has   
any foundation7 being taken as a type of
 the emergence  of the sun or stars from
 the sea in the east1 and plunging      
beneath in the  west4  ,hence1 ,apollo1 
when in his personal power he crosses   
the sea1  leading his ,cretan colonists 
to ,pytho1 takes the form of a dolphin1 
becomes ,apollo ,delphinius1 and names  

the founded colony ,delphi4  ,the       
lovely drawing of the ,delphic ,apollo  
on the hydria of the ,vatican 7,le      
,normand and ,de ,witte1 vol4 ii4 p4 #f7
 gives the entire conception of this    
myth4  ,again1 the beautiful coins of   
,tarentum represent ,taras coming to    
found the city1 riding on a dolphin1    
whose leaps and plunges have partly  the
 rage of the sea in them1 and partly the
 spring of the horse1 because  the      
splendid riding of the ,tarentines had  
made their name proverbial in  ,magna   
,grca4  ,the story of ,arion is a       
collateral fragment of the same         
thought2 and1 again1 the plunge1 before 
their transformation1 of the  ships of  
neas4  ,then1 this idea of career upon1 
or conquest of1 or by  dolphin-like     
ships 7compare the ,merlin prophecy1    
,they shall ride              ,over     
ocean wide        ,with hempen bridle1  
ad horse of tree17    connects itself   
with the thought of undulation1 and of  
the wave-power in  the sea itself1 which

 is always expressed by the serpentine  
bodies either  of the sea-gods or of the
 sea-horse2 and when ,athena carries1 as
 she does  often in later work1 a       
serpent for her shield-sign1 it is not  
so much the  repetition of her own      
gis-snakes as the further expression of 
her power  over the sea-wave2 which1    
finally1 ,vergil gives in its perfect   
unity with  her own anger1 in the       
approach of the serpents against ,laocon
 from the  sea2 and then1 finally1 when 
her own storm-power is fully put forth  
on  the ocean also1 and the madness of  
the gis-snake is give to the            
wave-snake1 the sea-wave becomes the    
devouring hound at the waist of         
,scylla1 and ,athena takes ,scylla for  
her helmet-crest2 while yet her         
beneficent and essential power on the   
ocean1 in making navigation  possible1  
is commemorated in the ,panathenaic     
festival by her peplus being  carried to
 the ,erechtheum suspended from the mast
 of a ship4    ,in ,plate cxv4 of vol4  

ii1 ,le ,normand1 are given two sides of
 a vase1  which1 in rude and childish   
ways1 assembles most of the principal   
thoughts regarding ,athena in this      
relation4  ,in the first1 the sunrise is
  represented by the ascending chariot  
of ,apollo1 foreshortened2 the light  is
 supposed to blind the eyes1 and no face
 of the god is seen 7,turner1 in  the   
,ulysses and ,polyphemus sunrise1 loses 
the form of the god in light1  giving   
the chariot-horses only2 rendering in   
his own manner1 after #b1bjj  years of  
various fall and revival of the arts1   
precisely the same thought  as the old  
,greek potter74  ,he ascends out of the 
sea2 but the sea itself  has not yet    
caught the light4  ,in the second       
design1 ,athena as the  morning breeze1 
and ,hermes as the morning cloud1 fly   
over the sea before  the sun4  ,hermes  
turns back his head2 his face is unseen 
in the cloud1 as  ,apollo's in the      
light2 the grotesque appearance of an   
animal's face is  only the              

cloud-phantasm modifying a frequent form
 of the hair of ,hermes  beneath the    
back of his cap4  ,under the morning    
breeze1 the dolphins leap  from the     
rippled sea1 and their sides catch the  
light4    ,the coins of the ,lucanian   
,heracleia give a fair representation of
 the  helmed ,athena1 as imagined in    
later ,greek art1 with the embossed     
,scylla4    #dj4  ,fourthly1 ,athena is 
the air nourishing artificial           
light--unconsuming  fire4  ,therefore1 a
 lamp was always kept burning in the    
,erechtheum2 and  the torch-race belongs
 chiefly to her festival1 of which the  
meaning is  to show the danger of the   
perishing of the light even by excess of
 the  air that nourishes it2 and so that
 the race is not to the swift1 but to   
the wise4  ,the household use of her    
constant light is symbolized in the     
lovely passage in the ,odyssey1 where   
,ulysses and his son move the armor     
while the servants are shut in their    
chambers1 and there is no one to  hold  

the torches for them2 but ,athena       
herself1 having a golden lamp1  fills   
all the rooms with light4  ,her presence
 in war-strength with her  favorite     
heroes is always shown by the unwearied 
fire hovering on their  helmets and     
shields2 and the image gradually becomes
 constant and  accepted1 both for the   
maintenance of household watchfulness1  
as in the  parable of the ten virgins1  
or as the symbol of direct inspiration1 
in  the rushing wind and divided flames 
of ,pentecost2 but together with this   
thought of unconsuming and constant     
fire1 there is always mingled in the    
,greek mind the sense of the consuming  
by excess1 as of the flame by the  air1 
so also of the inspired creature by its 
own fire 7thus1 again1 the  zeal of     
thine house hath eaten me up--my zeal   
hath consumed me1 because  of thine     
enemies1 and the like72 and especially  
,athena has this aspect  towards the    
truly sensual and bodily strength2 so   
that to ,ares1 who is  himself insane   

and consuming1 the opposite wisdom seems
 to be insane and  consuming3 ,all we   
the other gods have thee against us1 ,o 
,jove6 when we  would give grace to men2
 for thou hast begotten the maid without
 a mind--  the mischievous creature1 the
 doer of unseemly evil4  ,all we obey   
thee1  and are ruled by thee4  ,her only
 thou wilt not resist in anything she   
says or does1 because thou didst bear   
her--consuming child as she is4    #da4 
,lastly1 ,athena is the air conveying   
vibration of sound4    ,in all the      
loveliest representations in central    
,greek art of the birth  of ,athena1    
,apollo stands close to the sitting     
,jupiter1 singing1 with a  deep1 quiet  
joyfulness1 to his lyre4  ,the sun is   
always thought of as the  master of time
 and rhythm1 and as the origin of the   
composing and  inventive discovery of   
melody2 but the air1 as the actual      
element and  substance of the voice1 the
 prolonging and sustaining power of it1 
and  the symbol of its moral passion4   

,whatever in music is measured and      
designed belongs therefore to ,apollo   
and the ,muses2 whatever is impulsive   
and passionate1 to ,athena2 hence her   
constant strength a voice or cry 7as    
when she aids the shout of ,achilles7   
curiously opposed to the dumbness of    
,demeter4  ,the ,apolline lyre1         
therefore1 is not so much the instrument
  producing sound1 as its measurer and  
divider by length or tension of  string 
into given notes2 and ,i believe it is1 
in a double connection with  its office 
as a measurer of time or motion and its 
relation to the  transit of the sun in  
the sky1 that ,hermes forms it from the 
tortoise-shell1 which is the image of   
the dappled concave of the cloudy  sky4 
,thenceforward all the limiting or      
restraining modes of music belong  to   
the ,muses2 but the more passionate     
music is wind music1 as in the  ,doric  
flute4  ,then1 when this inspired music 
becomes degraded in its  passion1 it    
sinks into the pipe of ,pan1 and the    

double pipe of ,marsyas1  and is then   
rejected by ,athena4  ,the myth which   
represents her doing so  is that she    
invented the double pipe from hearing   
the hiss of the  ,gorgonian serpents2   
but when she played upon it1 chancing to
 see her face  reflected in water1 she  
saw that it was distorted1 whereupon she
 threw  down the flute which ,marsyas   
found4  ,then1 the strife of ,apollo and
  ,marsyas represents the enduring      
contest between music in which the words
  and thought lead1 and the lyre        
measures or melodizes them 7which       
,pindar  means when he calls his hymns  
kings over the lyre71 and music in which
  the words are lost and the wind or    
impulse leads1--generally1 therefore1   
between intellectual1 and brutal1 or    
meaningless1 music4  ,therefore1 when   
,apollo prevails1 he flays ,marsyas1    
taking the limit and external bond of   
his shape from him1 which is death1     
without touching the mere muscular      
strength1 yet shameful and dreadful in  

dissolution4    #db4  ,and the          
opposition of these two kinds of sound  
is continually dwelt  upon by the ,greek
 philosophers1 the real fact at the root
 of all music is  the natural expression
 of a lofty passion for a right cause2  
that in  proportion to the kingliness   
and force of any personality1 the       
expression  either of its joy or        
suffering becomes measured1 chastened1  
calm1 and  capable of interpretation    
only by the majesty of ordered1         
beautiful1 and  worded sound4  ,exactly 
in proportion to the degree in which we 
become  narrow in the cause and         
conception of our passions1 incontinent 
in the  utterance of them1 feeble of    
perseverance in them1 sullied or        
shameful in  the indulgence of them1    
their expression by musical sound       
becomes broken1  mean1 fatuitous1 and at
 last impossible2 the measured waves of 
the air of  heaven will not lend        
themselves to expression of ultimate    
vice1 it must  be forever sunk into     

discordance or silence4  ,and since1 as 
before  stated1 every work of right art 
has a tendency to reproduce the ethical 
state which first developed it1 this1   
which of all the arts is most  directly 
in power of discipline2 the first1 the  
simplest1 the most  effective of all    
instruments of moral instruction2 while 
in the failure  and betrayal of its     
functions1 it becomes the subtlest aid  
of moral  degradation4  ,music is thus1 
in her health1 the teacher of perfect   
order1  and is the voice of the         
obedience of angels1 and the companion  
of the  course of the spheres of heaven2
 and in her depravity she is also the   
teacher of perfect disorder and         
disobedience1 and the ,gloria in        
,excelsis  becomes the ,marseillaise4   
,in the third section of this volume1 ,i
 reprint  two chapters from another     
essay of mine 7,the ,cestus of ,aglaia71
 on  modesty or measure1 and on liberty1
 containing further reference to music  
in her two powers2 and ,i do this now1  

because1 among the many monstrous  and  
misbegotten fantasies which are the     
spawn of modern license1 perhaps  the   
most impishly opposite to the truth is  
the conception of music which  has      
rendered possible the writing1 by       
educated persons1 and1 more  strangely  
yet1 the tolerant criticism1 of such    
words as these3 ,this so  persuasive art
 is the only one that has no didactic   
efficacy1 that  engenders no emotions   
save such as are without issue on the   
side of moral  truth1 that expresses    
nothing of ,god1 nothing of reason1     
nothing of human  liberty4  ,i will not 
give the author's name2 the passage is  
quoted in  the ,westminster ,review for 
last ,january #ahfi4    #dc4  ,i must   
also anticipate something of what ,i    
have to say respecting  the relation of 
the power of ,athena to organic life1 so
 far as to note  that her name1 ,pallas1
 probably refers to the quivering or    
vibration of  the air2 and to its power1
 whether as vital force1 or communicated

 wave1  over every kind of matter1 in   
giving it vibratory movement2 first1 and
  most intense1 in the voice and throat 
of the bird1 which is the air           
incarnate2 and so descending through the
 various orders of animal life to  the  
vibrating and semi-voluntary murmur of  
the insect2 and1 lower still1  to the   
hiss or quiver of the tail of the       
half-lunged snake and deaf  adder2 all  
these1 nevertheless1 being wholly under 
the rule of ,athena as  representing    
either breath or vital nervous power2   
and1 therefore1 also1  in their         
simplicity1 the oaten pipe and pastoral 
song1 which belong to  her dominion over
 the asphodel meadows1 and breathe on   
their banks of  violets4    ,finally1 is
 it not strange to think of the         
influence of this one power of  ,pallas 
in vibration 7we shall see a singular   
mechanical energy of it  presently in   
the serpent's motion71 in the voices of 
war and peace8  ,how  much of the       
repose1 how much of the wrath1 folly1   

and misery of men1 has  literally       
depended on this one power of the air2  
on the sound of the  trumpet and of the 
bell1 on the lark's song1 and the bee's 
murmur6    #dd4  ,such is the general   
conception in the ,greek mind of the    
physical  power of ,athena4  ,the       
spiritual power associated with it is of
 two kinds3  first1 she is the ,spirit  
of ,life in material organism2 not      
strength in  the blood only1 but        
formative energy in the clay2 and1      
secondly1 she is  inspired and impulsive
 wisdom in human conduct and human art1 
giving the  instinct of infallible      
decision1 and of faultless invention4   
,it is quite beyond the scope of my     
present purpose--and1 indeed1 will  only
 be possible for me at all after marking
 the relative intention of  the         
,apolline myths--to trace for you the   
,greek conception of ,athena as  the    
guide of moral passion4  ,but ,i will at
 least endeavor1 on some near           
occasion199 to define some of the actual

 truths respecting the vital force  in  
created organism1 and inventive fancy in
 the works of man1 which are  more or   
less expressed by the ,greeks1 under the
 personality of ,athena4  ,you would1   
perhaps1 hardly bear with me if ,i      
endeavored further to show  you--what is
 nevertheless perfectly true--the       
analogy between the  spiritual power of 
,athena in her gentle ministry1 yet     
irresistible anger1  with the ministry  
of anther ,spirit whom we also1 holding 
for the  universal power of life1 are   
forbidden1 at our worst peril1 to quench
 or  to grieve4      99 ,i have tried to
 do this in mere outline in the two     
following sections  of this volume4     
#de4  ,but1 ,i think1 to-night1 you     
should not let me close without         
requiring of me an answer on one vital  
point1 namely1 how far these            
imaginations of gods--which are vain to 
us--were vain to those who had  no      
better trust8 and what real belief the  
,greek had in these creations  of his   

own spirit1 practical and helpful to him
 in the sorrow of earth8  ,i am able to 
answer you explicitly in this4  ,the    
origin of his thoughts  is often        
obscure1 and we may err in endeavoring  
to account or their form  of            
realization2 but the effect of that     
realization on his life is not  obscure 
at all4  ,the ,greek creed was1 of      
course1 different in its  character1 as 
our own creed is1 according to the class
 of persons who  held it4  ,the common  
people's was quite literal1 simple1 and 
happy2 their  idea of ,athena was as    
clear as a good ,roman ,catholic        
peasant's idea of  the ,madonna4  ,in   
,athens itself1 the centre of thought   
and refinement1  ,pisistratus obtained  
the reins of government through the     
ready belief of  the populace that a    
beautiful woman1 armed like ,athena1 was
 the goddess  herself4  ,even at the    
close of the last century some of this  
simplicity  remained among the          
inhabitants of the ,greek islands2 and  

when a pretty  ,english lady first made 
her way into the grotto of ,antiparos1  
she was  surrounded1 on her return1 by  
all the women of the neighboring        
village1  believing her to be divine1   
and praying her to heal them of their   
sicknesses4    #df4  ,then1 secondly1   
the creed of the upper classes was more 
refined and  spiritual1 but quite as    
honest1 and even more forcible in its   
effect on  the life4  ,you might imagine
 that the employment of the artifice    
just  referred to implied utter unbelief
 in the persons contriving it2 but it   
really meant only that the more worldly 
of them would play with a popular  faith
 of their own purposes1 as doubly-minded
 persons have often done  since1 all the
 while sincerely holding the same ideas 
themselves in a  more abstract form2    
while the good and unworldly men1 the   
true ,greek  heroes1 lived by their     
faith as firmly as ,st4 ,louis1 or the  
,cid1 or the  ,chevalier ,bayard4       
#dg4  ,then1 thirdly1 the faith of the  

poets and artists was1 necessarily1     
less definite1 being continually        
modified by the involuntary action of   
their own fancies2 and by the necessity 
of presenting1 in clear verbal or       
material form1 things of which they had 
no authoritative knowledge4  ,their     
faith was1 in some respects like        
,dante's or ,milton's3 firm in  general 
conception1 but not able to vouch for   
every detail in the forms  they gave it2
 but they went considerably farther1    
even in that minor  sincerity1 than     
subsequent poets2 and strove with all   
their might to be  as near the truth as 
they could4  ,pindar says1 quite simply1
 ,i cannot  think so-and-so of the gods4
  ,it must have been this way--it cannot
 have  been that way--that the thing was
 done4  ,and as late among the ,latins  
as  the days of ,horace1 this sincerity 
remains4  ,horace is just as true and   
simple in his religion as ,wordsworth2  
but all power of understanding any  of  
the honest classic poets has been taken 

away from most ,english  gentlemen by   
the mechanical drill in verse-writing at
 school4  ,throughout  the whole of     
their lives afterwards1 they never can  
get themselves quit  of the notion that 
all verses were written as an exercise1 
and that  ,minerva was only a convenient
 word for the last of a hexameter1 and  
,jupiter for the last but one4    #dh4  
,it is impossible that any notion can be
 more fallacious or more  misleading in 
its consequences4  ,all great song1 from
 the first day when  human lips         
contrived syllables1 has been sincere   
song4  ,with deliberate  didactic       
purpose the tragedians--with pure and   
native passion the lyrists  --fitted    
their perfect words to their dearest    
faiths4  ,operosa parvus  carmina fingo4
  ,i1 little thing that ,i am1 weave my 
laborious songs as  earnestly as the bee
 among the bells of thyme on the ,matin 
mountains4 ,yes1  and he dedicates his  
favorite pine to ,diana1 and he chants  
his autumnal  hymn to the ,faun that    

guards his fields1 and he guides the    
noble youth and  maids of ,rome in their
 choir to ,apollo1 and he tells the     
farmer's little  girl that the gods will
 love her1 though she has only a handful
 of salt  and meal to give them--just as
 earnestly as ever ,english gentleman   
taught  ,christian faith to ,english    
youth in ,england's truest days4    #di4
  ,then1 lastly1 the creed of the       
philosophers of sages varied  according 
to the character and knowledge of each2 
their relative  acquaintance with the   
secrets of natural science1 their       
intellectual and  sectarian egotism1 and
 their mystic or monastic tendencies1   
for there is  a classic as well as a    
medival monasticism4  ,they end in      
losing the life  of ,greece in play upon
 words2 but we owe to their early       
thought some of  the soundest ethics1   
and the foundation of the best practical
 laws1 yet  known to mankind4    #ej4   
,such was the general vitality of the   
heathen creed in its strength4  ,of its 

direct influence on conduct1 it is1 as  
,i said1 impossible for me  to speak    
now2 only1 remember always1 in          
endeavoring to form a judgment of  it1  
that what of good or right the heathens 
did1 they did looking for no  reward4   
,the purest forms of our own religion   
have always consisted in  sacrificing   
less things to win greater1 time to win 
eternity1 the world  to win the skies4  
,the order1 ,sell that thou hast1 is not
 given without  the promise1 ,thou shalt
 have treasure in heaven2 and well for  
the  modern ,christian if he accepts the
 alternative as his ,master left it1 and
  does not practically read the command 
and promise thus3 ,sell that thou  hast 
in the best market1 and thou shalt have 
treasure in eternity also4  ,but the    
poor ,greeks of the great ages expected 
no reward from heaven but  honor1 and no
 reward from earth but rest2 though1    
when1 on those  conditions1 they        
patiently1 and proudly1 fulfilled their 
task of the  granted day1 an unreasoning

 instinct of an immortal benediction    
broke  from their lips in song2 and     
they1 even they1 had sometimes a prophet
 to  tell them of a land where there is 
sun alike by day and alike by night1    
where they shall need no more to trouble
 the earth by strength of hands  for    
daily bread2 but the ocean breezes blow 
around the blessed islands1  and golden 
flowers burn on their bright trees for  
evermore4        ,,ii4    ,,athena      
,,keramitis499    7,athena in the       
,earth47      99 ,athena1 fit for being 
made into pottery4  ,i coin the         
expression as a  counterpart of 'ge     
parthenia'1 ,clay intact4      ,,study1 
,,supplementary ,,to ,,the ,,preceding  
,,lecture1 ,,of ,,the ,,supposed ,,and  
,,actual ,,relations ,,of ,,athena ,,to 
,,the ,,vital ,,force ,,in ,,material   
,,organism      #ea4  ,it has been easy 
to decipher approximately the ,greek    
conception of  the physical power of    
,athena in cloud and sky1 because we    
know ourselves  what clouds and skies   

are1 and what the force of the wind is  
in forming  them4  ,but it is not at all
 easy to trace the ,greek thoughts about
 the  power of ,athena in giving life1  
because we do not ourselves know clearly
  what life is1 or in what way the air  
is necessary to it1 or what there  is1  
besides the air1 shaping the forms that 
it is put into4  ,and it is             
comparatively of small consequence to   
find out what the ,greeks thought  or   
meant1 until we have determined what we 
ourselves think1 or mean1 when  we      
translate the ,greek word for breathing 
into the ,latin-,english word  spirit4  
#eb4  ,but it is of great consequence   
that you should fix in your minds--  and
 hold1 against the baseness of mere     
materialism on the one hand1 and        
against the fallacies of controversial  
speculation on the other--the  certain  
and practical sense of this word spirit2
 the sense in which you  all know that  
its reality exists1 as the power which  
shaped you into your  shape1 and by     

which you love and hate when you have   
received that shape4  ,you need not     
fear1 on the one hand1 that either the  
sculpturing or the  loving power can    
ever be beaten down by the philosophers 
into a metal1 or  evolved by them into a
 gas2 but on the other hand1 take care  
that you  yourself1 in trying to elevate
 your conception of it1 do not lose its 
truth in a dream1 or even in a word4    
,beware always of contending for  words3
 you will find them not easy to grasp1  
if you know them in several  languages4 
,this very word1 which is so solemn in  
your mouths1 is one of  the most        
doubtful4  ,in ,latin it means little   
more than breathing1 and may  mean      
merely accent2 in ,french it is not     
breath1 but wit1 and our  neighbors are 
therefore obliged1 even in their most   
solemn expressions1  to say wit when we 
say ghost4  ,in ,greek1 pneuma1 the word
 we  translate ghost1 means either wind 
or breath1 and the relative word  psyche
 has1 perhaps1 a more subtle power2 yet 

,st4 ,paul's words  pneumatic body and  
psychic body involve a difference in his
 mind  which no words will explain4     
,but in ,greek and in ,english1 and in  
,saxon  and in ,hebrew1 and in every    
articulate tongue of humanity the spirit
 of  man truly means his passion and    
virtue1 and is stately according to the 
height of his conception1 and stable    
according to the measure of his         
endurance4    #ec4 ,endurance1 or       
patience1 that is the central sign of   
spirit2 a  constancy against the cold   
and agony of death2 and as1 physically1 
it is  by the burning power of the air  
that the heat of the flesh is sustained1
  so this ,athena1 spiritually1 is the  
queen of all glowing virtue1 the        
unconsuming fire and inner lamp of life4
  ,and thus1 as ,hephstus is lord  of   
the fire of the hand1 and ,apollo of the
 fire of the brain1 so ,athena  of the  
fire of the heart2 and as ,hercules     
wears for his chief armor the  skin of  
the ,nemean lion1 his chief enemy1 whom 

he slew2 and ,apollo has  for his       
highest name the ,pythian1 from his     
chief enemy1 the ,python  slain2 so     
,athena bears always on her breast the  
deadly face of her chief  enemy slain1  
the ,gorgonian cold1 and venomous agony1
 that turns living  men to stone4       
#ed4  ,and so long as you have the fire 
of the heart within you1 and know  the  
reality of it1 you need to be under no  
alarm as to the possibility  of its     
chemical or mechanical analysis4  ,the  
philosophers are very  humorous in their
 ecstasy of hope about it2 but the real 
interest of  their discoveries in this  
direction is very small to humankind4   
,it is  quite true that the tympanum of 
the ear vibrates under sound1 and that  
the surface of the water in a ditch     
vibrates too2 but the ditch hears       
nothing for all that2 and my hearing is 
still to me as blessed a mystery  as    
ever1 and the interval between the ditch
 and me quite as great4  ,if  the       
trembling sound in my ears was once of  

the marriage-bell which began  my       
happiness1 and is now of the            
passing-bell which ends it1 the         
difference between those two sounds to  
me cannot be counted by the number  of  
concussions4  ,there have been some     
curious speculations lately as to  the  
conveyance of mental consciousness by   
brain-waves4  ,what does it  matter how 
it is conveyed8  ,the consciousness     
itself is not a wave4  ,it  may be      
accompanied here or there by any        
quantity of quivers and shakes1  up or  
down1 of anything you can find in the   
universe that is shakable--  what is    
that to me8  ,my friend is dead1 and    
my--according to modern views           
--vibratory sorrow is not one whit less1
 or less mysterious1 to me1 than  my old
 quiet one4    #ee4  ,beyond1 and       
entirely unaffected by1 any questionings
 of this kind1  there are1 therefore1   
two plain facts which we should all     
know3 first1  that there is a power     
which gives their several shapes to     

things1 or  capacities of feeling2 and  
that we can increase or destroy both of 
these  at our will4  ,by care and       
tenderness1 we can extend the range of  
lovely  life in plants and animals2 by  
our neglect and cruelty1 we can arrest  
it1  and bring pestilence in its stead4 
,again1 by right discipline we can      
increase our strength of noble will and 
passion or destroy both4  ,and  whether 
these two forces are local conditions of
 the elements in which  they appear1 or 
are part of a great force in the        
universe1 out of which  they are taken1 
and to which they must be restored1 is  
not of the  slightest importance to us  
in dealing with them2 neither is the    
manner  of their connection with light  
and air4  ,what precise meaning we ought
 to  attach to expressions such as that 
of the prophecy to the four winds that  
the dry bones might be breathed upon1   
and might live1 or why the presence  of 
the vital power should be dependent on  
the chemical action of air1 and  its    

awful passing away materially signified 
by the rendering up of that  breath or  
ghost1 we cannot at present know1 and   
need not at any time  dispute4  ,what we
 assuredly know is that the states of   
life and death are  different1 and the  
first more desirable than the other1 and
 by effort  attainable1 whether we      
understand being born of the spirit to  
signify  having the breath of heaven in 
our flesh1 or its power in our hearts4  
#ef4  ,as to its power on the body1 ,i  
will endeavor to tell you1 having  been 
myself much led into studies involving  
necessary reference both to  natural    
science and mental phenomena1 what1 at  
least1 remains to us after  science has 
done its worst2 what the myth of        
,athena1 as a formative and  decisive   
power1 a spirit of creation and         
volition1 must eternally mean  for all  
of us4    #eg4  ,it is now 7,i believe  
,i may use the strong word7 ascertained 
that  heat and motion are fixed in      
quantity1 and measurable in the portions

  that we deal with4  ,we can measure   
portions of power1 as we can measure    
portions of space2 while yet1 as far as 
we know1 space may be infinite1  and    
force infinite4  ,there may be heat as  
much greater than the sun's1 as  the    
sun's heat is greater than a candle's3  
and force as much greater than  the     
force by which the world swings1 as that
 is greater than the force by  which a  
cobweb trembles4  ,now1 on hear and     
force1 life is inseparably  dependent2  
and ,i believe1 also1 on a form of      
substance1 which the  philosophers call 
protoplasm4  ,i wish they would use     
,english instead of  ,greek words4      
,when ,i want to know why a leaf is     
green1 they tell me it is  colored by   
chlorophyll1 which at first sounds very 
instructive2 but if  they would only say
 plainly that a leaf is colored green by
 a thing which  is called green leaf1 we
 should see more precisely how far we   
had got4  ,however1 it is a curious fact
 that life is connected with a cellular 

structure called protoplasm1 or in      
,english1 first stuck together2  whence1
 conceivably through deuteroplasms1 or  
second stickings1 and  tritoplasms1 or  
third stickings199 we reach the highest 
plastic phase in  the human pottery1    
which differs from common chinaware1    
primarily1 by a  measurable degree of   
heat1 developed in breathing1 which it  
borrows from  the rest of the universe  
while it lives1 and which it as         
certainly  returns to the rest of the   
universe1 when it dies4    #eh4  ,again1
 with this heat certain assimilative    
powers are connected1  which the        
tendency of recent discovery is to      
simplify more and more into  modes of   
one force2 or finally into mere motion1 
communicable in various  states1 but not
 destructible4  ,we will assume that    
science has done its  utmost2 and that  
every chemical or animal force is       
demonstrably  resolvable into heat or   
motion1 reciprocally changing into each 
other4  ,i would myself like better1 in 

order of thought1 to consider motion as 
a  mode of heat than heat as a mode of  
motion2 still1 granting that we have    
got thus far1 we have yet to ask1 ,what 
is heat8 or what is motion8  ,what  is  
this primo mobile1 this transitional    
power1 in which all things  live1 and   
move1 and have their being8  ,it is by  
definition something  different from    
matter1 and we may call it as we choose1
 first cause1 or  first light1 or first 
heat2 but we can show no scientific     
proof of  its not being personal1 and   
coinciding with the ordinary conception 
of a  supporting spirit in all things4  
#ei4  ,still1 it is not advisable to    
apply the word spirit or breathing  to  
it1 while it is only enforcing chemical 
affinities2 but1 when the  chemical     
affinities are brought under the        
influence of the air1 and of  the sun's 
heat1 the formative force enters and    
entirely different phase4  ,it does not 
now merely crystallize indefinite       
masses1 but it gives to  limited        

portions of matter the power of         
gathering1 selectively1 other  elements 
proper to them1 and binding those       
elements into their own  peculiar and   
adopted form4    ,this force1 now       
properly called life1 or breathing1 or  
spirit1 is  continually creating its own
 shell of definite shape out of the     
wreck  around it2 and this is what ,i   
meant by saying1 in the ,ethics of the  
,dust1 you may always stand by form     
against force4  ,for the mere force  of 
junction is not spirit2 but the power   
that catches out of chaos  charcoal1    
water1 lime1 or what not1 and fastens   
them down into a given  form1 is        
properly called spirit2 and we shall not
 diminish1 but  strengthen our          
conception of this creative energy by   
recognizing its  presence in lower      
states of matter than our own2 such     
recognition being  enforced upon us by  
delight we instinctively receive from   
all the forms  of matter which manifest 
it2 and yet more1 by the glorifying of  

those  forms1 in the parts of them that 
are most animated1 with the colors that 
are pleasantest to our senses4  ,the    
most familiar instance of this is the   
best1 and also the most wonderful3 the  
blossoming of plants4    #fj4  ,the     
spirit in the plant--that is to say1 its
 power of gathering dead  matter out of 
the wreck round it1 and shaping it into 
its own chosen  shape--is of course     
strongest at the moment of its          
flowering1 for it then  not only        
gathers1 but forms1 with the greatest   
energy4    ,and where this life is in at
 full power1 its form becomes invested  
with  aspects that are chiefly          
delightful to our own human passions2   
namely1 at  first1 with the loveliest   
outlines of shape2 and1 secondly1 with  
the most  brilliant phases of the       
primary colors1 blue1 yellow1 and red or
 white1  the unison of all2 and1 to make
 it all more strange1 this time of      
peculiar and perfect glory is associated
 with relations of the plants or        

blossoms to each other1 correspondent to
 the joy of love in human  creatures1   
and having the same object in the       
continuance of the race4  ,only1 with   
respect to plants1 as animals1 we are   
wrong in speaking as if  the object of  
this strong life were only the          
bequeathing of itself4  ,the  flower is 
the end or proper object of the seed1   
not the seed of the  flower4  ,the      
reason for seeds is that flowers may be2
 not the reason of  flowers that seeds  
may be4  ,the flower itself is the      
creature which the  spirit makes2 only1 
in connection with its perfectness is   
placed the  giving birth to its         
successor4    #fa4  ,the main fact then1
 about a flower is that it is part of   
the plant's  form developed at the      
moment of its intensest life2 and this  
inner  rapture is usually marked        
externally for us by the flush of one or
 more  of the primary colors4  ,what the
 character of the flower shall be1      
depends entirely upon the portion of the

 plant into which this rapture of       
spirit has been put4  ,sometimes the    
life is put into its outer sheath1  and 
then the outer sheath becomes white and 
pure1 and full of strength  and grace2  
sometimes the life is put into the      
common leaves1 just under  the blossom1 
and they become scarlet or purple2      
sometimes the life is put  into the     
stalks of the flower and they flush     
blue2 sometimes into its  outer         
enclosure or calyx2 mostly into its     
inner cup2 but1 in all cases1  the      
presence of the strongest life is       
asserted by characters in which the     
human sight takes pleasure1 and which   
seem prepared with distinct  reference  
to us1 or rather1 bear1 in being        
delightful1 evidence of having  been    
produced by the power of the same spirit
 as our own4    #fb4  ,and we are led to
 feel this still more strongly because  
all the  distinctions of species199 both
 in plants and animals1 appear to have  
similar connection with human character4

  ,whatever the origin of species  may  
be1 or however those species1 once      
formed1 may be influenced by  external  
accident1 the groups into which birth or
 accident reduce them  have distinct    
relation to the spirit of man4  ,it is  
perfectly possible1  and ultimately     
conceivable1 that the crocodile and the 
lamb may have  descended from the same  
ancestral atom of protoplasm2 and that  
the  physical laws of the operation of  
calcareous slime and of meadow grass1   
on that protoplasm1 may in time have    
developed the opposite natures and      
aspects of the living frames but the    
practically important fact for us  is   
the existence of a power which creates  
that calcareous earth itself1  --which  
creates1 that separately--and quartz1   
separately2 and gold1  separately2 and  
charcoal1 separately2 and then so       
directs the relation  of these elements 
as that the gold shall destroy the souls
 of men by  being yellow2 and the       
charcoal destroy their souls by being   

hard and  bright2 and the quartz        
represent to them an ideal purity2 and  
the  calcareous earth1 soft1 shall beget
 crocodiles1 and dry and hard1 sheep2   
and that the aspects and qualities of   
these two products1 crocodiles and      
lambs1 shall be1 the one repellant to   
the spirit of man1 the other  attractive
 to it1 in a quite inevitable way2      
representing to him states  of moral    
evil and good2 and becoming myths to him
 of destruction or  redemption1 and1 in 
the most literal sense1 words of ,god4  
99 ,the facts on which ,i am about to   
dwell are in nowise antagonistic to  the
 theories which ,mr4 ,darwin's unwearied
 and unerring investigations are  every 
day rendering more probable4  ,the      
sthetic relations of species are        
independent of their origin4            
,nevertheless1 it has always seemed to  
me  in what little work ,i have done    
upon organic forms1 as if the species   
mocked us by their deliberate imitation 
of each other when they met2 yet  did   

not pass one into another4      #fc4    
,and the force of these facts cannot be 
escaped from by the thought  that there 
are species innumerable1 passing into   
each other by regular  gradations1 out  
of which we choose what we must love or 
dread1 and say  they were indeed        
prepared for us4  ,species are not      
innumerable2 neither  are they now      
connected by consistent gradation4      
,they touch at certain  points only2 and
 even then are connected1 when we       
examine them deeply1  in a kind of      
reticulated way1 not in chains1 but in  
chequers2 also1  however connected1 it  
is but by a touch of the extremities1 as
 it were1  and the characteristic form  
of the species is entirely individual4  
,the  rose nearly sinks into a grass in 
the sanguisorba2 but the formative      
spirit does not the less clearly        
separate the ear of wheat from the      
dog-rose1 and oscillate with tremulous  
constancy round the central forms  of   
both1 having each their due relation to 

the mind of man4  ,the great  animal    
kingdoms are connected in the same way4 
,the bird through the  penguin drops    
towards the fish1 and the fish in the   
cetacean reascends  to the mammal1 yet  
there is no confusion of thought        
possible between the  perfect forms of  
an eagle1 a trout1 and a war-horse1 in  
their relations  to the elements1 and to
 man4    #fd4  ,now we have two orders  
of animals to take some note of in      
connection  with ,athena1 and one vast  
order of plants1 which will illustrate  
this  matter very sufficiently for us4  
,the orders of animals are the serpent  
and the bird3 the serpent1 in which  the
 breath or spirit is less than in any   
other creature1 and the  earth-power the
 greatest2 the bird1 in which the breath
 or spirit is more  full than in any    
other creature1 and the earth-power     
least4    #fe4  ,we will take the bird  
first4  ,it is little more than a drift 
of the  air in all its quills1 it       
breathes through its whole frame and    

flesh and  glows with air in its flying1
 like blown flames2 it rests upon the   
air1  subdues it1 surpasses it1 outraces
 it1--is the air1 conscious of itself1  
conquering itself1 ruling itself4       
,also1 in the throat of the bird is     
given the voice of the air4  ,all that  
in the wind itself is weak1 wild1       
useless in sweetness1 is knit together  
in its song4  ,as we may imagine the    
wild form of the bird's wings1 so the   
wild voice of the cloud into its ordered
 and commanded voice2 unwearied1        
rippling through the clear heaven in its
 gladness1 interpreting all  intense    
passion through the soft spring nights1 
bursting into acclaim and  rapture of   
choir at daybreak1 or lisping and       
twittering among the boughs  and hedges 
through heat of day1 like little winds  
that only make the  cowslip bells shake1
 and ruffle the petals of the wild rose4
    #ff4  ,also1 upon the plumes of the 
bird are put the colors of the air2 on  
these the gold of the cloud1 that cannot

 be gathered by any covetousness2  the  
rubies of the clouds1 that are not the  
price of ,athena1 but are  ,athena2 the 
vermillion of the cloud-bar1 and the    
flame of the  cloud-crest1 and the snow 
of the cloud1 and its shadow1 and the   
melted  blue of the deep wells of the   
sky1--all these1 seized by the creating 
spirit1 and woven by ,athena herself    
into films and threads of plume2 with   
wave on wave following and fading along 
breast1 and throat1 and opened  wings1  
infinite as the dividing of the foam and
 the sifting of the  sea-sand2 even the 
white down of the cloud seeming to      
flutter up between  the stronger        
plumes1--seen1 but too soft for touch4  
,and so the ,spirit of the ,air is put  
into1 and upon1 this created form2  and 
it becomes1 through twenty centuries1   
the symbol of divine help1  descending1 
as the ,fire1 to speak but as the ,dove1
 to bless4    #fg4  ,next1 in the       
serpent we approach the source of a     
group of myths1  world-wide1 founded on 

great and common human instincts1       
respecting which  ,i must note one or   
two points which bear intimately on all 
our subject4  ,for it seems to me that  
the scholars who are at present occupied
 in  interpretation of human myths have 
most of them forgotten that there are   
any such thing as natural myths1 and    
that the dark sayings of men may be     
both difficult to read1 and not always  
worth reading4  ,and1 indeed1 all       
guidance to the right sense of the human
 and variable myths will probably       
depend on our first getting at the sense
 of the natural and invariable  ones4   
,the dead hieroglyph may have meant this
 or that2 the living  hieroglyph means  
always the same2 but remember1 it is    
just as much a  hieroglyph as the other2
 nay1 more1--a sacred or reserved       
sculpture1 a  thing with an inner       
language4  ,the serpent crest of the    
king's crown1 or  of the god's1 on the  
pillars of ,egypt1 is a mystery1 but the
 serpent  itself1 gliding past the      

pillar's foot1 is it less a mystery8    
,is there1  indeed1 no tongue1 except   
the mute forked flash from its lips1 in 
that  running brook of horror on the    
ground8    #fh4  ,why that horror8  ,we 
all feel it1 yet how imaginative it is1 
how  disproportioned to the real        
strength of the creature6  ,there is    
more  poison in an ill-kept drain1 in a 
pool of dish-washing at a cottage door1 
than in the deadliest asp of ,nile4     
,every back yard which you look down    
into from the railway as it carries you 
out by ,vauxhall or ,deptford1  holds   
its coiled serpent2 all the walls of    
those ghastly suburbs are  enclosures of
 tank temples for serpent worship2 yet  
you feel no horror in  looking down into
 them as you would if you saw the livid 
scales1 and  lifted head4  ,there is    
more venom1 mortal1 inevitable1 in a    
single word1  sometimes1 or in the      
gliding entrance of a wordless thought  
than ever  vanti ,libia con sua rena4   
,but that horror is of the myth1 not of 

the  creature4  ,there are myriads lower
 than this1 and more loathsome1 in the  
scale of being2 the links between dead  
matter and animation drift  everywhere  
unseen4  ,but it is the strength of the 
base element that is so  dreadful in the
 serpent2 it is the very omnipotence of 
the earth4  ,that  rivulet of smooth    
silver1 how does it flow1 think you8    
,it literally rows  on the earth1 with  
every scale for an oar2 it bites the    
dust with the  ridges of its body4      
,watch it1 when it moves slowly4  ,a    
wave1 but without  wind6 a current1 but 
with no fall6 all the body moving at the
 same  instant1 yet some of it to one   
side1 some to another1 or some forward1 
and the rest of the coil backwards1 but 
all with the same calm will and  equal  
way1 no contraction1 no extension2 one  
soundless1 causeless1 march  of sequent 
rings1 and spectral processions of      
spotted dust1 with  dissolution in its  
fangs1 dislocation in its coils4        
,startle it1 the  winding stream will   

become a twisted arrow2 the wave of     
poisoned life  will lash through the    
grass like a cast lance499  ,it scarcely
 breathes  with its one lung 7the other 
shriveled and abortive72 it is passive  
to the sun and shade1 and is cold or hot
 like a stone2 yet it can  outclimb the 
monkey1 outswim the fish1 outleap the   
zebra1 outwrestle the  athlete1 and     
crush the tiger49999  ,it is a divine   
hieroglyph of the  demoniac power of the
 earth1 of the entire earthly nature4   
,as the bird  is the clothed power of   
the air1 so this is the clothed power of
 the  dust2 as the bird is the symbol of
 the spirit of life1 so this is the     
grasp and sting of death4      99 ,i    
cannot understand this swift forward    
motion of serpents4  ,the seizure  of   
prey by the constrictor1 though         
invisibly swift1 is quite simple in     
mechanism2 it is simply the return to   
its coil of an opened watch-spring1  and
 is just as instantaneous4  ,but the    
steady and continuous motion1  without a

 visible fulcrum 7for the whole body    
moves at the same instant1  and ,i have 
often seen even small snakes glide as   
fast as ,i could walk71  seems to       
involve a vibration of the scales quite 
too rapid to be  conceived4  ,the motion
 of the crest and dorsal fin of the     
hippocampus1  which is one of the       
intermediate types between serpent and  
fish1 perhaps  gives some resemblance of
 it1 dimly visible1 for the quivering   
turns the  fin into a mere mist4  ,the  
entrance of the two barbs of a bee's    
sting by  alternate motion1 the teeth of
 one barb acting as a fulcrum for the   
other1 must be something like the       
serpent motion on a small scale4  9999  
,richard ,owen4      #fi4  ,hence the   
continual change in the interpretation  
put upon it in  various religions4  ,as 
the worm of corruption1 it is the       
mightiest of all  adversaries of the    
gods--the special adversary of their    
light and  creative power--,python      
against ,apollo4  ,as the power of the  

earth against  the air1 the giants are  
serpent-bodied in the ,gigantomachia2   
but as the  power of the earth upon the 
seed--consuming it into new life 7that  
which  thou sowest is not quickened     
except it die7--serpents sustain the    
chariot of the spirit of agriculture4   
#gj4  ,yet on the other hand1 there is a
 power in the earth to take away        
corruption1 and to purify 7hence the    
very fact of burial1 and many uses  of  
earth1 only lately known73 and in this  
sense the serpent is a healing          
spirit1--the representative of          
sculapius1 and of ,hygieia2 and is a    
sacred earth-type in the temple of the  
native earth of ,athens2 so that  its   
departure from the temple was a sign to 
the ,athenians that they were  to leave 
their homes4  ,and then1 lastly1 as     
there is a strength and  healing in the 
earth1 no less than the strength of air1
 so there is  conceived to be a wisdom  
of earth no less than a wisdom of the   
spirit2  and when its deadly power is   

killed1 its guiding power becomes true2 
so  that the ,python serpent is killed  
at ,delphi1 where yet the oracle is from
  the breath of the earth4    #ga4  ,you
 must remember1 however1 that in this1  
as in every other  instance1 ,i take the
 myth at its central time4  ,this is    
only the meaning  of the serpent to the 
,greek mind which could conceive an     
,athena4  ,its  first meaning to the    
nascent eyes of men1 and its continued  
influence  over degraded races1 are     
subjects of the most fearful mystery4   
,mr4  ,fergusson has just collected the 
principal evidence bearing on the matter
  in a work of very great value1 and if 
you read his opening chapters1 they     
will put  you in possession of the      
circumstances needing chiefly to be     
considered4  ,i cannot touch upon any of
 them here1 except only to point  out   
that1 though the doctrine of the        
so-called corruption of human  nature1  
asserting that there is nothing but evil
 in humanity1 is just  as blasphemous   

and false as a doctrine of the          
corruption of physical  nature would be1
 asserting there was nothing but evil in
 the earth1--  there is yet the clearest
 evidence of a disease1 plague1 or      
cretinous  imperfection of development1 
hitherto allowed to prevail against the 
greater part of the races of men2 and   
this in monstrous ways1 more full  of   
mystery than the serpent-being itself4  
,i have gathered for you  tonight only  
instances of what is beautiful in ,greek
 religion2 but even  in its best time   
there were deep corruptions in other    
phases of it1 and  degraded forms of    
many of its deities1 all originating in 
a misunderstood  worship of lower races1
 little less than these corrupted forms 
of  devotion can be found1 all having a 
strange and dreadful consistency with   
each other1 and infecting ,christianity1
 even at its strongest periods1  with   
fatal terror of doctrine1 and           
ghastliness of symbolic conception1     
passing through fear into frenzied      

grotesque1 and thence into sensuality4  
,in the ,psalter of ,st4 ,louis itself1 
half of its letters are twisted  snakes2
 there is scarcely a wreathed ornament1 
employed in ,christian  dress1 or       
architecture1 which cannot be traced    
back to the serpent's  coil2 and there  
is rarely a piece of monkish decorated  
writing in the  world that is not       
tainted with some ill-meant vileness of 
grotesque1--  nay1 the very leaves of   
the twisted ivy-pattern of the          
fourteenth century  can be followed back
 to wreaths for the foreheads of        
bacchanalian gods4  ,and truly1 it seems
 to me1 as ,i gather in my mind the     
evidences of insane  religion1 degraded 
art1 merciless war1 sullen toil1        
detestable pleasure1  and vain or vile  
hope1 in which the nations of the world 
have lived since  first they could bear 
record of themselves--it seems to me1 ,i
 say1 as if  the race itself were still 
half-serpent1 not extricated yet from   
its  clay2 a lacertine breed of         

bitterness--the glory of it emaciate    
with  cruel hunger1 and blotted on the  
leaf a glittering slime1 and in the sand
  a useless furrow4    #gb4  ,there are 
no myths1 therefore1 by which the moral 
state and fineness  of intelligence of  
different races can be so deeply tried  
or measured1 as  by those of the serpent
 and the bird2 both of them having an   
especial  relation to the kind of       
remorse for sin1 or for the grief in    
fate1 of  which the national minds that 
spoke by them had been capable4  ,the   
serpent and vulture are alike emblems of
 immortality and purification  among    
races which desired to be immortal and  
pure2 and as they recognize  their own  
misery1 the serpent becomes to them the 
scourge of the ,furies1  and the vulture
 finds its eternal prey in their breast4
  ,the bird long  contests among the    
,egyptians with the still received      
serpent symbol of  power4  ,but the     
,draconian image of evil is established 
in the serpent  ,apap2 while the bird's 

wings1 with the globe1 become part of a 
better  symbol of deity1 and the entire 
form of the vulture1 as an emblem of    
purification1 is associated with the    
earliest conception of ,athena4  ,in    
the type of the dove with the olive     
branch1 the conception of the spirit  of
 ,athena in renewed life prevailing over
 ruin is embodied for the whole  of     
futurity2 while the ,greeks1 to whom1 in
 a happier climate and higher  life than
 that of ,egypt1 the vulture symbol of  
cleansing became  unintelligible1 took  
the eagle instead for their hieroglyph  
of supreme  spiritual energy1 and it    
thenceforward retains its hold on the   
human  imagination1 till it is          
established among ,christian myths as   
the  expression of the most exalted form
 of evangelistic teaching4  ,the        
special relation of ,athena to her      
favorite bird we will trace presently2  
the peacock of ,hera1 and dove of       
,aphrodite1 are comparatively           
unimportant  myths2 but the bird power  

is soon made entirely human by the      
,greeks in  their flying angel of       
victory 7partially human1 with modified 
meaning of  evil1 in the ,harpy and     
,siren72 and thenceforward it associates
 itself  with the ,hebrew cherubim1 and 
has had the most singular influence on  
the  ,christian religion by giving its  
wings to render the conception of angels
  mysterious and untenable1 and check   
rational endeavor to determine the      
nature of subordinate spiritual agency2 
while yet it has given to that  agency a
 vague poetical influence of the highest
 value in its own  imaginative way4     
#gc4  ,but with the early               
serpent-worship there was associated    
another1  that of the groves1 of which  
you will also find the evidence         
exhaustively  collected in ,mr4         
,fergussen's work4  ,this tree-worship  
may have taken a  dark form when        
associated with the ,draconian one2 or  
opposed1 as in  ,judea1 to a purer      
faith2 but in itself1 ,i believe1 it was

 always healthy1  and though it retains 
little definite hieroglyphic power in   
subsequent  religion1 it becomes1       
instead of symbolic1 real2 the flowers  
and trees  are themselves beheld and    
beloved with a half-worshipping delight1
 which  is always noble and healthful4  
,and it is among the most notable       
indications of the volition of the      
animating power that we find the ethical
 signs of good and evil set on  these   
also1 as well as upon animals2 the venom
 of the serpent1 and in  some respects  
its image also1 being associated even   
with the passionless  growth of the leaf
 out of the ground2 while the           
distinctions of species  seem appointed 
with more definite ethical address to   
the intelligence of  man as their       
material products become more useful to 
him4    #gd4  ,i can easily show this1  
and1 at the same time1 make clear the   
relation to other plants of the flowers 
which especially belong to  ,athena1 by 
examining the natural myths in the      

groups of the plants which  would be    
used at any country dinner1 over which  
,athena would1 in her  simplest         
household authority1 cheerfully rule    
here in ,england4  ,suppose  ,horace's  
favorite dish of beans1 with the bacon2 
potatoes2 some savory  stuffing of      
onions and herbs1 with the meat2 celery1
 and a radish or  two1 with the cheese2 
nuts and apples for desert1 and brown   
bread4    #ge4  ,the beans are1 from    
earliest time1 the most important and   
interesting of the seeds of the great   
tribe of plants from which came the     
,latin and ,french name for all kitchen 
vegetables1--things that are  gathered  
with the hand--podded seeds that cannot 
be reaped1 or beaten1 or  shaken down1  
but must be gathered green4  ,leguminous
 plants1 all of  them having flowers    
like butterflies1 seeds in 7frequently  
pendent7 pods1  --ltum siliqua quassante
 legumen--smooth and tender leaves1     
divided  into many minor ones2 strange  
adjuncts of tendril1 for climbing 7and  

sometimes of thorn72 exquisitely sweet1 
yet pure scents of blossom1 and  almost 
always harmless1 if not serviceable     
seeds4  ,it is of all tribes  of plants 
the most definite1 its blossoms being   
entirely limited in their  parts1 and   
not passing into other forms4  ,it is   
also the most usefully  extended in     
range and scale2 familiar in the height 
of the forest--  acacia1 laburnum1      
,judas-tree2 familiar in the sown       
field--bean and vetch  and pea2 familiar
 in the pasture--in every form of       
clustered clover and  sweet trefoil     
tracery2 the most entirely serviceable  
and human of all  orders of plants4     
#gf4  ,next1 in the potato1 we have the 
scarcely innocent underground stem  of  
one of a tribe set aside for evil2      
having the deadly nightshade for  its   
queen1 and including the henbane1 the   
witch's mandrake1 and the worst  natural
 curse of modern                        
civilization--tobacco499  ,and the      
strange thing  about this tribe is1 that

 though thus set aside for evil1 they   
are not a  group distinctly separate    
from those that are happier in function4
  ,there  is nothing in other tribes of 
plants like the form of the bean        
blossom2  but there is another family of
 forms and structure closely connected  
with  this venomous one4  ,examine the  
purple and yellow bloom of the common   
hedge nightshade2 you will find it      
constructed exactly like some of the    
forms of the cyclamen2 and1 getting this
 clue1 you will find at last the  whole 
poisonous and terrible group to         
be--sisters of the primulas6      99 ,it
 is not easy to estimate the            
demoralizing effect on the youth of     
,europe of the cigar1 in enabling them  
to pass their time happily in  idleness4
      ,the nightshades are1 in fact1    
primroses with a curse upon them2 and a 
sign set in their petals1 by which the  
deadly and condemned flowers may  always
 be known from the innocent ones1--that 
the stamens of the  nightshades are     

between the lobes1 and of the primulas1 
opposite the  lobes1 of the corolla4    
#gg4  ,next1 side by side1 in the celery
 and radish1 you have the two great     
groups of unbelled and cruciferous      
plants2 alike in conditions of rank     
among herbs3 both flowering in clusters2
 but the unbelled group1 flat1  the     
crucifers1 in spires3 both of them mean 
and poor in the blossom1 and  losing    
what beauty they have by too close      
crowding2 both of them having  the most 
curious influence on human character in 
the temperate zones of  the earth1 from 
the days of the parsley crown1 and      
hemlock drink1 and  mocked ,euripidean  
chervil1 until now2 but chiefly among   
the northern  nations1 being especially 
plants that are of some humble beauty1  
and 7the  crucifers7 of endless use1    
when they are chosen and cultivated2 but
 that  run to wild waste1 and are the   
signs of neglected ground1 in their rank
  or ragged leaves and meagre stalks1   
and pursed or podded seed clusters4     

,capable1 even under cultivation1 of no 
perfect beauty1 thought reaching  some  
subdued delightfulness in the lady's    
smock and the wallflower2 for  the most 
part they have every floral quality     
meanly1 and in vain1--they  are white   
without purity2 golden1 without         
preciousness2 redundant1  without       
richness2 divided1 without fineness2    
massive1 without strength2  and slender1
 without grace4  ,yet think over that   
useful vulgarity of  theirs2 and of the 
relations of ,german and ,english       
peasant character to  its food of kraut 
and cabbage 7as of ,arab character to   
its food of  palm-fruit71 and you will  
begin to feel what purposes of the      
forming  spirit are in these            
distinctions of species4    #gh4  ,next 
we take the nuts and apples1--the nuts  
representing one of the  groups of      
catkined trees1 whose blossoms are only 
tufts and dust2 and the  other1 the rose
 tribe1 in which fruit and flower alike 
have been the  types to the highest     

races of men1 of all passionate         
temptation1 or pure  delight1 from the  
coveting of ,eve to the crowing of the  
,madonna1 above  the                    
,rosa sempiterna1        ,che si dilata1
 rigrada1 e ridole        ,odor di lode 
al ,sol4    ,we have no time now for    
these1 we must go on to the humblest    
group of  all1 yet the most wonderful1  
that of the grass which has given us our
  bread2 and from that we will go back  
to the herbs4    #gi4  ,the vast family 
of plants which1 under rain1 make the   
earth green  for man1 and1 under        
sunshine1 give him bread1 and1 in their 
springing in  the early year1 mixed with
 their native flowers1 have given us    
7far more  than the new leaves of trees7
 the thought and word of spring1 divide 
themselves broadly into three great     
groups--the grasses1 sedges1 and        
rushes4  ,the grasses are essentially a 
clothing for healthy and pure  ground1  
watered by occasional rain1 but in      
itself dry1 and fit for all  cultivated 

pasture and corn4  ,they are            
distinctively plants with round  and    
jointed stems1 which have long green    
flexible leaves1 and heads of  seed1    
independently emerging from them4  ,the 
sedges are essentially the  clothing of 
waste and more or less poor or          
uncultivated soils1 coarse in  their    
structure1 frequently triangular in     
stem--hence called acute by             
,virgil--and with their heads of seed   
not extricated from their leaves4  ,now1
 in both the sedges and grasses1 the    
blossom has a common structure1  though 
undeveloped in the sedges1 but composed 
always of groups of double  husks1 which
 have mostly a spinous process in the   
centre1 sometimes  projecting into a    
long awn or beard2 this central process 
being  characteristic also of the       
ordinary leaves of mosses1 as if a moss 
were  a kind of ear of corn made        
permanently green on the ground1 and    
with a  new and distinct fructification4
  ,but the rushes differ wholly from the

  sedge and grass in their blossom      
structure4  ,it is not a dual cluster1  
but a twice threefold one1 so far       
separate from the grasses1 and so       
closely connected with a higher order of
 plants1 that ,i think you will  find it
 convenient to group the rushes at once 
with that higher order1  to which1 if   
you will for the present let me give the
 general name of  ,drosid1 or           
dew-plants1 it will enable me to say    
what ,i have to say of  them much more  
shortly and clearly4    #hj4  ,these    
,drosid1 then1 are plants delighting in 
interrupted moisture--  or at certain   
seasons--into dry ground4  ,they are not
 among water-plants1  but the signs of  
water resting among dry places4  ,many  
of the true  water-plants have triple   
blossoms1 with a small triple calyx     
holding  them2 in the ,drosid the floral
 spirit passes into the calyx also1 and 
the entire flower becomes a six-rayed   
star1 bursting out of the stem          
laterally1 as if it were the first of   

flowers and had made its way to the     
light by force through the unwilling    
green4  ,they are often required to     
retain moisture or nourishment for the  
future blossom through long times  of   
drought2 and this they do in bulbs under
 ground1 of which some become  a rude   
and simple1 but most wholesome1 food for
 man4    #ha4  ,so1 now1 observe1 you   
are to divide the whole family of the   
herbs of  the field into three great    
groups1--,drosid1 ,carices199           
,gramine1--  dew-plants1 sedges1 and    
grasses4  ,then the ,drosid are divided 
into five  great orders3 lilies1        
asphodels1 amaryllids1 irids1 and       
rushes4  ,no  tribes of flowers have had
 so great1 so varied1 or so healthy an  
influence on man as this great group of 
,drosid1 depending1 not so much  on the 
whiteness of some of their blossoms1 or 
the radiance of others1 as  on the      
strength and delicacy of the substance  
of their petals2 enabling  them to take 
forms of faultless elastic curvature1   

either in cups1 as the  crocus1 or      
expanding bells1 as the true lily1 or   
heath-like bells1 as the  hyacinth1 or  
bright and perfect stars1 like the star 
of ,bethlehem1 or1  when they are       
affected by the strange reflex of the   
serpent nature which  forms the labiate 
group of all flowers1 closing into forms
 of exquisitely  fantastic symmetry in  
the gladiolus4  ,put by their side their
 ,nereid  sisters1 the water-lilies1 and
 you have them in the origin of the     
loveliest forms of ornamental design1   
and the most powerful floral myths  yet 
recognized among human spirits1 born by 
the streams of ,ganges1 ,nile1  ,arno1  
and ,avon4      99 ,i think ,carex will 
be found ultimately better than ,cyperus
 for the  generic name1 being the       
,vergilian word1 and representing a     
larger  sub-species4      #hb4  ,for    
consider a little what each of those    
five tribes99 has been to  the spirit of
 man4  ,first1 in their nobleness1 the  
lilies gave the lily  of the            

,annunciation2 the asphodels1 the flower
 of the ,elysian fields2 the  irids1 the
 fleur-de-lys of chivalry2 and the      
amaryllids1 ,christ's lily of  the      
field2 while the rush1 trodden always   
under foot1 became the emblem  of       
humility4  ,then take each of the       
tribes1 and consider the extent of      
their lower influence4  ,perdita's ,the 
crown imperial1 lilies of all  kinds1   
are the first tribe1 which1 giving the  
type of perfect purity in  the          
,madonna's lily1 have1 by their lovely  
form1 influenced the entire  decorative 
design of ,italian sacred art2 while    
ornament design of war was  continually 
enriched by the curves of the triple    
petals of the ,florentine  giglio1 and  
,french fleur-de-lys2 so that it is     
impossible to count  their influence for
 good in the middle ages1 partly as a   
symbol of  womanly character1 and partly
 of the utmost brightness and refinement
 of  chivalry in the city which was the 
flower of cities4      99 ,take this    

rough distinction of the four tribes3   
lilies1 superior ovary1  white seeds2   
asphodels1 superior ovary1 black seeds2 
irids1 inferior  ovary1 style           
7typically7 rising into central crest2  
amaryllids1 inferior  ovary1 stamens    
7typically7 joined in central cup4      
,then the rushes are a  dark group1     
through which they stoop to the grasses4
      ,afterwards1 the group of the     
turban-lilies1 or tulips1 did some      
mischief  7their splendid stains having 
made them the favorite caprice of       
florists72 but they may be pardoned all 
such guilt for the pleasure they  have  
given in cottage gardens1 and are yet to
 give1 when lowly life may  again be    
possible among us2 and the crimson bars 
of the tulips in their  trim beds1 with 
their likeness in crimson bars of       
morning above them1 and  its dew        
glittering heavy1 globed in their glossy
 cups1 may be loved  better than the    
gray nettles of the ash heap1 under gray
 sky1 unveined by  vermilion or by gold4

    #hc4  ,the next great group1 of the 
asphodels1 divides itself also into two 
principal families3 one1 in which the   
flowers are like stars1 and  clustered  
characteristically in balls1 though     
opening sometimes into  looser heads2   
and the other1 in which the flowers are 
in long bells1  opening suddenly at the 
lips1 and clustered in spires on a long 
stem1 or  drooping from it1 when bent by
 their weight4    ,the star-group1 of   
the squills1 garlics1 and onions1 has   
always caused me  great wonder4  ,i     
cannot understand why its beauty1 and   
serviceableness1  should have been      
associated with the rank scent which has
 been really  among the most powerful   
means of degrading peasant life1 and    
separating  it from that of the higher  
classes4    ,the belled group1 of the   
hyacinth and convallaria1 is as delicate
 as the  other is coarse2 the           
unspeakable azure light along the ground
 of the wood  hyacinth in ,english      
spring2 the grape hyacinth1 which is in 

south ,france1  as if a cluster of      
grapes and a hive of honey had been     
distilled and  compressed together into 
one small boss of celled and beaded     
blue2 the  lilies of the valley         
everywhere1 in each sweet and wild      
recess of rocky  lands1--count the      
influences of these on childish and     
innocent life2 then  measure the mythic 
power of the hyacinth and asphodel as   
connected with  ,greek thoughts of      
immortality2 finally take their useful  
and nourishing  power in ancient and    
modern peasant life1 and it will be     
strange if you  do not feel what fixed  
relation exists between the agency of   
the creating  spirit in these1 and in us
 who live by them4    #hd4  ,it is      
impossible to bring into any tenable    
compass for our present  purpose1 even  
hints of the human influence of the two 
remaining orders of  ,amaryllids and    
,irids2 only note this generally1 that  
while these in  northern countries share
 with the ,primulas the fields of       

spring1 it seems  that in ,greece1 the  
primulace are not an extended tribe1    
while the  crocus1 narcissus1 and       
,amaryllis lutea1 the lily of the field 
7,i  suspect also that the flower whose 
name we translate violet was in  truth  
an iris7 represented to the ,greek the  
first coming of the breath of  life on  
the renewed herbage2 and became in his  
thoughts the true  embroidery of the    
saffron robe of ,athena4  ,later in the 
year1 the  dianthus 7which1 though      
belonging to an entirely different race 
of  plants1 has yet a strange look of   
being made out of the grasses by        
turning the sheath-membrane at the root 
of their leaves into a flower7  seems to
 scatter1 in multitudinous families1 its
 crimson stars far and  wide4  ,but the 
golden lily and crocus1 together with   
the asphodel1 retain  always the old    
,greek's fondest thoughts1--they are    
only golden flowers  that are to burn on
 the trees1 and float on the streams of 
paradise4    #he4  ,i have but one tribe

 of plants more to note at our country  
feast--  the savory herbs2 but must go a
 little out of my way to come at them   
rightly4  ,all flowers whose petals are 
fastened together1 and most of  those   
whose petals are loose1 are best thought
 of first as a kind of cup  or tube     
opening at the mouth4  ,sometimes the   
opening is gradual1 as in  the          
convolvulus or campanula2 oftener there 
is a distinct change of  direction      
between the tube and expanding lip1 as  
in the primrose2 or even  a contraction 
under the lip1 making the tube into a   
narrow-necked phial  or vase1 as in the 
heaths2 but the general idea of a tube  
expanding into  a quatrefoil1           
cinquefoil1 or sixfoil1 will embrace    
most of the forms4    #hf4  ,now1 it is 
easy to conceive that flowers of this   
kind1 growing in  close clusters1 may1  
in process of time1 have extended their 
outside  petals rather than the interior
 ones 7as the outer flowers of the      
clusters of many umbellifers actually   

do71 and thus elongated and  variously  
distorted forms have established        
themselves2 then if the stalk  is       
attached to the side instead of the base
 of the tube1 its base becomes  a spur1 
and thus all the grotesque forms of the 
mints1 violets1 and  larkspurs1         
gradually might be composed4  ,but1     
however this may be1 there  is one great
 tribe of plants separate from the rest1
 and of which the  influence seems shed 
upon the rest1 in different degrees2 and
 these would  give the impression1 not  
so much of having been developed by     
change1 as  of being stamped with a     
character of their own1 more or less    
serpentine  or dragon-like4  ,and ,i    
think you will find it convenient to    
call these  generally ,draconid2        
disregarding their present ugly         
botanical name which  ,i do not care    
even to write once--you may take for    
their principal types  the foxglove1    
snapdragon1 and calceolaria2 and you    
will find they all  agree in a tendency 

to decorate themselves by spots1 and    
with bosses or  swollen places in their 
leaves1 as if they had been touched by  
poison4  ,the spot of the foxglove is   
especially strange1 because it draws the
  color out of the tissue all around it1
 as if it had been stung1 and as if  the
 central color was really an inflamed   
spot1 with paleness round4  ,then  also 
they carry to its extreme the decoration
 by bulging or pouting out  the         
petal1--often beautifully used by other 
flowers in a minor degree1  like the    
beating out of bosses in hollow silver1 
as in the kalmia1 beaten  out apparently
 in each petal by the stamens instead of
 a hammer2 or the  borage1 pouting      
towards2 but the snapdragons and        
calceolarias carry it to  its extreme4  
#hg4  ,then the spirit of these         
,draconid seems to pass more or less    
into  other flowers1 whose forms are    
properly pure vases2 but it affects some
  of them slightly1 others not at all4  
,it never strongly affects the  heaths2 

never once the roses2 but it enters like
 an evil spirit into the  buttercup1 and
 turns it into a larkspur1 with a black1
 spotted1 grotesque  centre1 and a      
strange1 broken blue1 gorgeous and      
intense1 yet impure1  glittering on the 
surface as if it were strewn with broken
 glass1 and  stained or darkening       
irregularly into red4  ,and then at last
 the serpent  charm changes the         
ranunculus into monkshood1 and makes it 
poisonous4  ,it  enters into the        
forget-me-not1 and the star of heavenly 
turquoise is  corrupted into the viper's
 bugloss1 darkened with the same strange
 red as  the larkspur1 and fretted into 
a fringe of thorn2 it enters1 together  
with a strange insect-spirit1 into the  
asphodels1 and 7though with a  greater  
interval between the groups7 they change
 to spotted orchide2 it  touches the    
poppy1 it becomes a fumaria2 the iris1  
and it pouts into a  gladiolus2 the     
lily1 and it chequers itself into a     
snake's-head1 and  secretes in the deep 

of its bell1 drops1 not of venom indeed1
 but  honey-dew1 as if it were a healing
 serpent4  ,for there is an sculapian   
as well as an evil serpentry among the  
,draconid1 and the fairest of  them1 the
 erba della ,madonna of ,venice         
7,linaria ,cymbalaria71 descends  from  
the ruins it delights into the herbage  
at their feet1 and touches  it2 and     
behold1 instantly1 a vast group of herbs
 for healing1--all  draconid in         
form1--spotted and crested1 and from    
their lip-like corollas  named labiat2  
full of various balm1 and warm strength 
for healing1 yet  all of them without   
splendid honor or perfect beauty1 ground
 ives1  richest when crushed under the  
foot2 the best sweetness and gentle     
brightness of the robes of the          
field1--thyme1 and marjoram1 and        
,euphrasy4    #hh4  ,and observe1 again 
and again1 with respect to all these    
divisions  and powers of plants3 it does
 not matter in the least by what        
concurrences of circumstance or         

necessity they may gradually have been  
developed2 the concurrence of           
circumstance is itself the supreme and  
inexplicable fact4  ,we always come at  
last to a formative cause1 which        
directs the circumstance1 and mode of   
meeting it4  ,if you ask an ordinary    
botanist the reason of the form of the  
leaf1 he will tell you that it is  a    
developed tubercle1 and that its        
ultimate form is owing to the           
directions of its vascular threads4     
,but what directs its vascular  threads8
  ,they are seeking for something they  
want1 he will probably  answer4  ,what  
made them want that8  ,what made them   
seek for it thus8  ,seek for it1 in five
 fibres or in three8  ,seek for it1 in  
serration1 or  in sweeping curves8      
,seek for it1 in servile tendrils1 or   
impetuous  spray8  ,seek for it1 in     
woolen wrinkles rough with stings1 or in
 glossy  surfaces1 green with pure      
strength1 and winterless delight8       
#hi4  ,there is no answer4  ,but the sum

 of all is1 that over the entire        
surface of the earth1 and its waters1 as
 influenced by the power of the  air    
under solar light1 there is developed a 
series of changing forms1 in  clouds1   
plants1 and animals1 all of which have  
reference in their action1  or nature1  
to the human intelligence that perceives
 them2 and on which1  in their aspects  
of horror and beauty1 and their         
qualities of good and  evil1 there is   
engraved a series of myths1 or words of 
the forming power1  which1 according to 
the true passion and energy of the human
 race1 they  have been enabled to read  
into religion4  ,and this forming power 
has been  by all nations partly confused
 with the breath or air through which it
  acts1 and partly understood as a      
creative wisdom1 proceeding from the    
,supreme ,deity2 but entering into and  
inspiring all intelligences that  work  
in harmony with ,him4  ,and whatever    
intellectual results may be in  modern  
days obtained by regarding this         

effluence only as a motion of           
vibration1 every formative human art    
hitherto1 and the best states of  human 
happiness and order1 may have depended  
on the apprehension of its  mystery     
7which is certain17 and of its          
personality1 which is probable4    #ij4 
,of its influence on the formative arts1
 ,i have a few words to say  separately3
 my present business is only to         
interpret1 as we are now  sufficiently  
enabled to do1 the external symbols of  
the myth under which  it was represented
 by the ,greeks as a goddess of counsel1
 taken first  into that breast of their 
supreme ,deity1 then created out of his 
thoughts1 and abiding closely beside    
him2 always sharing and consummating    
his power4    #ia4  ,and in doing this  
we have first to note the meaning of the
 principal  epithet applied to ,athena1 
,glaukopis1 with eyes full of light1 the
  first syllable being connected1 by its
 root1 with words signifying sight1  not
 with words signifying color4  ,as far  

as ,i can trace the color  perception of
 the ,greeks1 ,i find it all founded    
primarily on the degree  of connection  
between color and light2 the most       
important fact to them in  the color of 
red being its connection with fire and  
sunshine2 so that  purple is1 in its    
original sense1 fire-color1 and the     
scarlet or  orange1 of dawn1 more than  
any other fire-color4  ,i was long      
puzzled by  ,homer's calling the sea    
purple2 and misled into thinking he     
meant the  color of cloud shadows on    
green sea2 whereas he really means the  
gleaming  blaze of the waves under wide 
light4  ,aristotle's idea 7partly true7 
is  that light1 subdued by blackness1   
becomes red2 and blackness1 heated or   
lighted1 also becomes red4  ,thus1 a    
color may be called purple because it   
is light subdued 7and so death is called
 purple or shadowy death72 or  else it  
may be called purple as being shade     
kindled with fire1 and thus  said of the
 lighted sea2 or even of the sun itself1

 when it is thought of  as a red        
luminary opposed to the whiteness of the
 moon3 purpureos inter  soles1 et       
candida lun sidera2 or of golden hair3  
pro purpureo pnam  solvens scelerata    
capillo2 while both ideas are modified  
by the  influence of an earlier form of 
the word1 which has nothing to do with  
fire at all1 but only with mixing or    
staining2 and then1 to make the  whole  
group of thoughts inextricably complex1 
yet rich and subtle in  proportion to   
their intricacy1 the various rose and   
crimson colors of the  murex dye1--the  
crimson and purple of the poppy1 and    
fruit of the palm1--  and the           
association of all these with the hue of
 blood1--partly direct1  partly through 
a confusion between the word signifying 
slaughter and  palm-fruit color1 mingle 
themselves in1 and renew the whole      
nature of  the old word2 so that1 in    
later literature1 it means a different  
color1  or emotion of color1 in almost  
every place where it occurs2 and cast   

forever around the reflection of all    
that has been dipped in its dyes4       
#ib4  ,so that the world is really a    
liquid prism1 and stream of opal4  ,and 
then1 last of all1 to keep the whole    
history of it in the fantastic  course  
of a dream1 warped here and there into  
wild grotesque1 we moderns1  who have   
preferred to rule over coal-mines       
instead of the sea 7and so  have turned 
the everlasting lamp of ,athena into a  
,davy's safety-lamp in  the hand of     
,britannia1 and ,athenian heavenly      
lightning into ,british  subterranean   
damp71 have actually got our purple out 
of coal instead of  the sea6  ,and thus1
 grotesquely1 we have had enforced on us
 the doubt  that held the old word      
between blackness and fire1 and have    
completed the  shadow1 and the fear of  
it1 by giving it a name from battle1    
,magenta4    #ic4  ,there is precisely a
 similar confusion between light and    
color in  the word used for the blue of 
the eyes of ,athena--a noble confusion1 

however1 brought about by the intensity 
of the ,greek sense that the  heaven is 
light1 more than it is blue4  ,i was not
 thinking of this when ,i  wrote in     
speaking of pictorial chiaroscuro1 ,the 
sky is not blue color  merely3 it is    
blue fire and cannot be painted 7,mod4  
,p4 iv4 p4 #cf72 but  it was this that  
the ,greeks chiefly felt of it1 and so  
,glaukopis  chiefly means gray-eyed3    
gray standing for a pale or luminous    
blue2 but  it only means owl-eyed in    
thought of the roundness and expansion1 
not  from the color2 this breath and    
brightness being1 again1 in their moral 
sense typical of the breadth1 intensity1
 and singleness of the sight in         
prudence 7if thine eye be single1 thy   
whole body shall be full of  light74    
,then the actual power of the bird to   
see in twilight enters  into the type1  
and perhaps its general fineness of     
sense4  ,before the  human form was     
adopted1 her 7,athena's7 proper symbol  
was the owl1 a bird  which seems to     

surpass all other creatures in acuteness
 of organic  perception1 its eye being  
calculated to observe objects which to  
all  others are enveloped in darkness1  
its ear to hear sounds distinctly1 and  
its nostrils to discriminate effluvia   
with such nicety that it has been       
deemed prophetic1 from discovering the  
putridity of death even in the  first   
stages of disease499      99 ,payne     
,knight in his ,inquiry into the        
,symbolical ,language of ,ancient  ,art1
 not trustworthy1 being little more than
 a mass of conjectural  memoranda1 but  
the heap is suggestive1 if well sifted4 
,i cannot find anywhere an account of   
the first known occurrence of the  type2
 but1 in the early ones on ,attic coins1
 the wide round eyes are  clearly the   
principal things to be made manifest4   
#id4  ,there is yet1 however1 another   
color of great importance in the        
conception of ,athena--the dark blue of 
her gis4  ,just as the blue or  gray of 
her eyes was conceived more as light    

than color1 so her aegis was  dark blue1
 because the ,greeks thought of this    
tint more as shade than  color1 and1    
while they used various materials in    
ornamentation1  lapislazuli1 carbonate  
of copper1 or1 perhaps1 smalt1 with real
 enjoyment  of the blue tint1 it was yet
 in their minds as distinctly           
representative  of darkness as scarlet  
was of light1 and1 therefore1 anything  
dark199 but  especially the color of    
heavy thunder-cloud1 was described by   
the same  term4  ,the physical power of 
this darkness of the gis1 fringed with  
lightning1 is given quite simply when   
,jupiter himself uses it to  overshadow 
,ida and the ,plain of ,troy1 and       
withdraws it at the prayer of  ,ajax for
 light2 and again when he grants it to  
be worn for a time by  ,apollo1 who is  
hidden by its cloud when he strikes down
 ,patroclus2 but  its spiritual power is
 chiefly expressed by a word signifying 
deeper  shadow1--the gloom of ,erebus1  
or of our evening1 which1 when spoken of

  the gis1 signifies1 not merely the    
indignation of ,athena1 but the entire  
hiding or withdrawal of her help1 and   
beyond even this1 her deadliest of  all 
hostility1--the darkness by which she   
herself deceives and beguiles  to final 
ruin those to whom she is wholly        
adverse2 this contradiction of  her own 
glory being the uttermost judgment upon 
human falsehood4  ,thus it  is she who  
provokes ,pandarus to the treachery     
which purposed to fulfil  the rape of   
,helen by the murder of her husband in  
time of truce2 and then  the ,greek     
king1 holding his wounded brother's     
hand1 prophesies against  ,troy the     
darkness of the gis which shall be over 
all1 and for ever49999      99 ,in the  
breastplate and shield of ,atrides the  
serpents and bosses are  all of this    
dark color1 yet the serpents are said to
 be like rainbows2  but through all this
 splendor and opposition of hue1 ,i feel
 distinctly  that the literal splendor1 
with its relative shade1 are prevalent  

in  the conception2 and that there is   
always a tendency to look through the   
hue to its cause4  ,and in this feeling 
about color the ,greeks are  separated  
from the eastern nations1 and from the  
best designers of  ,christian times4  ,i
 cannot find that they take pleasure in 
color for its  own sake2 it may be in   
something more than color1 or better2   
but it is  not in the hue itself4  ,when
 ,homer describes cloud breaking from a 
mountain summit1 the crags become       
visible in light1 not color2 he feels   
only their flashing out in bright edges 
and trenchant shadows2 above1 the       
infinite1 unspeakable ther is torn      
open--but not the blue of it4  ,he  has 
scarcely any abstract pleasure in blue1 
or green1 or gold2 but only  in their   
shade or flame4    ,i have yet to trace 
the causes of this 7which will be a long
 task1  belonging to art questions1 not 
to mythological ones72 but it is1 ,i    
believe1 much connected with the        
brooding of the shadow of death over    

the ,greeks without any clear hope of   
immortality4  ,the restriction of  the  
color on their vases to dim red 7or     
yellow7 with black and white1  is       
greatly connected with their sepulchral 
use1 and with all the  melancholy of    
,greek tragic thought2 and in this gloom
 the failure of  color-perception is    
partly noble1 partly base3 noble1 in its
 earnestness1  which raises the design  
of ,greek vases as far above the        
designing of mere  colorist nations like
 the ,chinese1 as men's thoughts are    
above  children's2 and yet it is partly 
base and earthly1 and inherently        
defective in one human faculty2 and ,i  
believe it was one cause of the         
perishing of their art so swiftly1 for  
indeed there is no decline so  sudden1  
or down to such utter loss and ludicrous
 depravity1 as the fall  of ,greek      
design on its vases from the fifth to   
the third century ,b4,c4  ,on  the other
 hand1 the pure colored-gift1 when      
employed for pleasure only1  degrades in

 another direction2 so that among the   
,indians1 ,chinese1 and  ,japanese1 all 
intellectual progress in art has been   
for ages rendered  impossible by the    
prevalence of that faculty2 and yet it  
is1 as ,i have  said again and again1   
the spiritual power of art2 and its true
 brightness  is the essential           
characteristic of all healthy schools4  
9999 'eremnen ,aigida pasi'4--,il4 iv4  
#aff4      #ie4  ,this1 then1 finally1  
was the perfect color-conception of     
,athena3 the  flesh1 snow-white 7the    
hands1 feet1 and face of marble1 even   
when the  statue was hewn roughly in    
wood72 the eyes of keen pale blue1 often
 in  statues represented by jewels2 the 
long robe to the feet1 crocus-colored2  
and the gis thrown over it of thunderous
 purple2 the helmet golden 7,il4  v4    
#gdd471 and ,i suppose its crest also1  
as that of ,achilles4    ,if you think  
carefully of the meaning and character  
which is now enough  illustrated for you
 in each of these colors1 and remember  

that the  crocus-color and the purple   
were both of them developments1 in      
opposite  directions1 of the great      
central idea of fire-color1 or scarlet1 
you will  see that this form of the     
creative spirit of the earth is         
conceived as  robed in the blue1 and    
purple1 and scarlet1 the white1 and the 
gold1  which have been recognized for   
the sacred chords of colors1 from the   
day  when the cloud descended on a ,rock
 more mighty than ,ida4    #if4  ,i have
 spoken throughout1 hitherto1 of the    
conception of ,athena1 as  it is        
traceable in the ,greek mind2 not as it 
was rendered by ,greek art4  ,it is     
matter of extreme difficulty1 requiring 
a sympathy at once  affectionate and    
cautious1 and a knowledge reaching the  
earliest springs  of the religion of    
many lands1 to discern through the      
imperfection1 and1  alas6 more dimly    
yet1 through the triumphs of formative  
art1 what kind  of thoughts they were   
that appointed for it the tasks of its  

childhood1  and watched by the awakening
 of its strength4    ,the religions     
passion is nearly always vividest when  
the art is weakest2  and the technical  
skill only reaches its deliberate       
splendor when the  ecstacy which gave it
 birth has passed away forever4  ,it is 
as vain an  attempt to reason out the   
visionary power or guiding influence of 
,athena  in the ,greek heart1 from      
anything we now read1 or possess1 of the
 work of  ,phidias1 as it would be for  
the disciples of some new religion to   
infer  the spirit of ,christianity from 
,titian's ,assumption4  ,the effective  
vitality of the religious conception can
 be traced only through the  efforts of 
trembling hands1 and strange pleasures  
of untaught eyes2 and  the beauty of the
 dream can no more be found in the first
 symbols by  which it is expressed1 than
 a child's idea of fairy-land can be    
gathered  from its pencil scrawl1 or a  
girl's love for her broken doll         
explained by  the defaced features4  ,on

 the other hand1 the ,athena of ,phidias
 was1 in  very fact1 not so much the    
deity1 as the darling of the ,athenian  
people4  ,her magnificence represented  
their pride and fondness1 more than     
their  piety2 and the great artist1 in  
lavishing upon her dignities which might
  be ended abruptly by the pillage they 
provoked1 resigned1 apparently  without 
regret1 the awe of her ancient memory2  
and 7with only the  careless            
remonstrance of a workman too strong to 
be proud7 even the  perfectness of his  
own art4  ,rejoicing in the protection  
of their  goddess1 and in their own hour
 of glory1 the people of ,athena robed  
her1  at their will1 with the           
preciousness of ivory and gems2 forgot  
or denied  the darkness of the          
breastplate of judgment1 and vainly bade
 its  unappeasable serpents relax their 
coils in gold4    #ig4  ,it will take me
 many a day yet--if days1 many or few1  
are given me--  to disentangle in       
anywise the proud and practised         

disguises of religious  creeds from the 
instinctive arts which1 grotesquely and 
indecorously1 yet  with sincerity1      
strove to embody them1 or to relate4    
,but ,i think the  reader1 by help even 
of the imperfect indications already    
given to him1  will be able to follow1  
with a continually increasing security1 
the  vestiges of the ,myth of ,athena2  
and to reanimate its almost evanescent  
shade1 by connecting it with the now    
recognized facts of existent nature     
which it1 more or less dimly1 reflected 
and foretold4  ,i gather these  facts   
together in brief4    #ih4  ,the deep of
 air that surrounds the earth enters    
into union with the  earth at its       
surface1 and with its waters1 so as to  
be the apparent cause  of their         
ascending into life4  ,first1 it warms  
them1 and shades1 at once1  staying the 
heat of the sun's rays in its own body1 
but warding their  force with its       
clouds4  ,it warms and cools at once1   
with traffic of balm  and frost2 so that

 the white wreaths are withdrawn from   
the field of the  ,swiss peasant by the 
glow of ,libyan rock4  ,it gives its own
 strength to  the sea2 forms and fills  
every cell of its foam2 sustains the    
precipices1  and designs the valleys of 
its waves2 gives the gleam to their     
moving  under the night1 and the white  
fire to their plains under sunrise2     
lifts  their voices along the rocks1    
bears above them the spray of birds1    
pencils through them the dimpling of    
unfooted sands4  ,it gathers out of     
them a portion in the hollow of its     
hand3 dyes1 with that1 the hills into   
dark blue1 and their glaciers with dying
 rose2 inlays with that1 for  sapphire1 
the dome in which it has to set the     
cloud2 shapes out of that  the heavenly 
flocks3 divides them1 numbers1          
cherishes1 bears them on its  bosom1    
calls them to their journeys1 waits by  
their rest2 feeds from them  the brooks 
that cease not1 and strews with them the
 dews that cease4  ,it  spins and weaves

 their fleece into wild tapestry1 rends 
it1 and renews2  and flits and flames1  
and whispers1 among the golden threads1 
thrilling  them with a plectrum of      
strange fire that traverses them to and 
fro1 and  is enclosed in them like life4
    ,it enters into the surface of the  
earth1 subdues it1 and falls together   
with it into fruitful dust1 from which  
can be moulded flesh2 it joins  itself1 
in dew1 to the substance of adamant1 and
 becomes the green leaf  out of the dry 
ground2 it enters into the separated    
shapes of the earth  it has tempered1   
commands the ebb and flow of the current
 of their life1  fills their limbs with 
its own lightness1 measures their       
existence by its  indwelling pulse1     
moulds upon their lips the words by     
which one soul can  be known to another2
 is to them the hearing of the ear1 and 
the beating  of the heart2 and1 passing 
away1 leaves them to the peace that     
hears and  moves no more4    #ii4  ,this
 was the ,athena of the greatest people 

of the days of old4  ,and  opposite to  
the temple of this ,spirit of the       
breath1 and life-blood1 of  man and     
beast1 stood1 on the ,mount of ,justice1
 and near the chasm which  was haunted  
by the goddess-,avengers1 an altar to a 
,god unknown1--  proclaimed at last to  
them1 as one who1 indeed1 gave to all   
men1 life1  and breath1 and all things2 
and rain from heaven1 filling their     
hearts  with rain from heaven1 filling  
their hearts with food and gladness2 a  
,god  who had made of one blood all     
nations of men who dwell on the face of 
all  the earth1 and had determined the  
times of their fate1 and the bounds of  
their habitation4    #ajj4  ,we         
ourselves1 fretted here in our narrow   
days1 know less1 perhaps1  in very deed1
 than they1 what manner of spirit we are
 of1 or what manner  of spirit we       
ignorantly worship4  ,have we1 indeed1  
desired the ,desire of  all nations8 and
 will the ,master whom we meant to seem1
 and the ,messenger  in whom we thought 

we delighted1 confirm1 when ,he comes to
 ,his temple1--  or not find in its     
midst1--the tables heavy with gold for  
bread1 and the  seats that are bought   
with the price of the dove8  ,or is our 
own land  also to be left by its angered
 ,spirit1--left among those1 where      
sunshine  vainly sweet1 and passionate  
folly of storm1 waste themselves in the 
silent places of knowledge that has     
passed away1 and of tongues that have   
ceased8    ,this only we may discern    
assuredly2 this1 every true light of    
science1  every mercifully-granted      
power1 every wisely-restricted thought1 
teach us  more clearly day by day1 that 
in the heavens above1 and the earth     
beneath1 there is one continual and     
omnipotent presence of help1 and of     
peace1 for all men who know that they   
live1 and remember that they die4       
,,iii4    ,,athena ,,ergane499  7,athena
 in the ,heart47      99 ,athena the    
worker1 or having rule over work4  ,the 
name was first give  to her by the      

,athenians4      ,,various ,,notes      
,,relating ,,to ,,the ,,conception ,,of 
,,athena ,,as ,,the ,,directress ,,of   
,,the ,,imagination ,,and ,,will4       
#aja4  ,i have now only a few words to  
say1 bearing on what seems to me        
present need1 respecting the third      
function of ,athena1 conceived as the   
directress of human passion1 resolution1
 and labor4    ,few words1 for ,i am not
 yet prepared to give accurate          
distinction between  the intellectual   
rule of ,athena and that of the ,muses2 
but1 broadly1 the  ,muses1 with their   
king1 preside over meditative1          
historical1 and poetic  arts1 whose end 
is the discovery of light or truth1 and 
the creation of  beauty2 but ,athena    
rules over moral passion1 and           
practically useful art4  ,she does not  
make men learned1 but prudent and       
subtle2 she does not teach  them to make
 their work beautiful1 but to make it   
right4    ,in different places of my    
writings1 and though many years of      

endeavor to  define the laws of art1 ,i 
have insisted on this rightness in work1
 and on  its connection with virtue of  
character1 in so many partial ways1 that
  the impression left on the reader's   
mind--if1 indeed1 it was ever  impressed
 at all--has been confused and          
uncertain4  ,in beginning the  series of
 my corrected works1 ,i wish this       
principle 7in my own mind the           
foundation of every other7 to be made   
plain1 if nothing else is2 and will     
try1 therefore1 to make it so1 as far   
as1 by any effort1 ,i can put it  into  
unmistakable words4  ,and1 at first1    
here is a very simple statement  of it1 
given lately in a lecture on the        
,architecture of the ,valley of the     
,somme1 which will be better read in    
this place than in its incidental       
connection with my account of the       
porches of ,abbeville4    #ajb4  ,i had 
used1 in a preceding part of the        
lecture1 the expression1 by  what faults
 this ,gothic architecture fell4  ,we   

continually speak thus of  works of art4
  ,we talk of their faults and merits1  
as of virtues and  vices4  ,what do we  
mean by talking of the faults of a      
picture1 or the  merits of a piece of   
stone8    ,the faults of a work of art  
are the faults of its workman1 and its  
virtues his virtues4    ,great art is   
the expression of the mind of a great   
man1 and mean art1  that of the want of 
mind of a weak man4  ,a foolish person  
builds  foolishly1 and a wise one1      
sensibly2 a virtuous one1 beautifully2  
and a  vicious one1 basely4  ,if stone  
work is well put together1 it means that
 a  thoughtful man planned it1 and a    
careful man cut it1 and an honest man   
cemented it4  ,if it has too much       
ornament1 it means that its carver was  
too greedy of pleasure2 if too little1  
that he was rude1 or insensitive1  or   
stupid1 and the like4  ,so that when    
once you have learned how to spell      
these most precious of all              
legends1--pictures and buildings1--you  

may  read the characters of men1 and of 
nations1 in their art1 as in a mirror2  
nay1 as in a microscope1 and magnified a
 hundredfold2 for the character  becomes
 passionate in the art1 and intensifies 
itself in all its noblest  or meanest   
delights4  ,nay1 not only as in a       
microscope1 but as under a  scalpel1 and
 in dissection2 for a man may hide      
himself from you1 or  misrepresent      
himself to you every other way2 but he  
cannot in his work3  there1 be sure1 you
 have him to the inmost4  ,all that he  
likes1 all that  he sees1--all that he  
can do1--his imagination1 his           
affections1 his  perseverance1 his      
impatience1 his clumsiness1 cleverness1 
everything is  there4  ,if the work is a
 cobweb1 you know it was made by a      
spider2 if a  honey-comb1 by a bee2 a   
wormcast is thrown up by a worm1 and a  
nest  wreathed by a bird2 and a house   
built by a man1 worthily1 if he is      
worthy1 and ignobly if he is ignoble4   
,and always1 from the least to the      

greatest1 as the made thing is good or  
bad1 so is the maker of it4    #ajc4    
,you will use this faculty of judgment  
more or less1 whether you  theoretically
 admit the principle or not4  ,take that
 floral gable299 you  don't suppose the 
man who built ,stonehenge could have    
built that1 or that  the man who built  
that1 would have built ,stonehenge8  ,do
 you think an old  ,roman would have    
liked such a piece of filigree work8 or 
that ,michael  ,angelo would have spent 
his time in twisting these stems of     
roses in and  out8  ,or1 of modern      
handicraftsmen1 do you think a burglar1 
or a brute1  or a pickpocket could have 
carved it8  ,could ,bill ,sykes have    
done it8 or  the ,dodger1 dexterous with
 finger and tool8  ,you will find in the
 end1  that no man could have done it   
but exactly the man who did it2 and by  
looking close at it1 you may1 if you    
know your letters1 read precisely  the  
manner of man he was4      99 ,the      
elaborate pendiment above the central   

porch at the west end of  ,rouen        
,cathedral1 pierced into a transparent  
web of tracery1 and enriched  with a    
border of twisted eglantine4      #ajd4 
,now ,i must insist on this matter1 for 
a grave reason4  ,of all facts          
concerning art1 this is the one most    
necessary to be known1 that1 while      
manufacture is the work of hands only1  
art is the work of the whole  spirit of 
man2 and as that spirit is1 so is the   
deed of it2 and by  whatever power of   
vice or virtue any art is produced1 the 
same vice or  virtue it reproduces and  
teaches4  ,that which is born of evil   
begets  evil2 and that which is born of 
valor and honor1 teaches valor and      
honor4  ,all art is either infection or 
education4  ,it must be one or other of 
these4    #aje4  ,this1 ,i repeat1 of   
all truths respecting art1 is the one of
 which  understanding is the most       
precious1 and denial the most deadly4   
,and ,i  assert it the more1 because it 
has of late been repeatedly1 expressly1 

and with contumely1 denied1 and that by 
high authority2 and ,i hold it one  of  
the most sorrowful facts connected with 
the decline of the arts among  us1 that 
,english gentlemen1 of high standing as 
scholars and artists1  should have been 
blinded into the acceptance1 and        
betrayed into the  assertion of a       
fallacy which only authority such as    
theirs could have  rendered for an      
instant credible4  ,for the contrary of 
it is written in  the history of all    
great nations2 it is the one sentence   
always inscribed  on the steps of their 
thrones2 the one concordant voice in    
which they  speak to us out of their    
dust4    ,all such nations first        
manifest themselves as a pure and       
beautiful animal  race1 with intense    
energy and imagination4  ,they live     
lives of hardship  by choice1 and by    
grand instinct of manly discipline2 they
 become fierce  and irresistible        
soldiers2 the nation is always its own  
army1 and their  king1 or chief head of 

government1 is always their first       
soldier4  ,pharaoh1 or ,david1 or       
,leonidas1 or ,valerius1 or ,barbarossa1
 or ,coeur de  ,lion1 or ,st4 ,louis1 or
 ,dandalo1 or ,frederick the            
,great1--,egyptian1 ,jew1  ,greek1      
,roman1 ,german1 ,english1 ,french1     
,venetian1--that is inviolable law  for 
them all2 their king must be their first
 soldier1 or they cannot be  in         
progressive power4  ,then1 after their  
great military period1 comes the        
domestic period2 in which1 without      
betraying the discipline of war1 they   
add to their great soldiership the      
delights and possessions of a delicate  
and tender home-life2 and then1 for all 
nations1 is the time of their  perfect  
art1 which is the fruit1 the evidence1  
the reward of their  national idea of   
character1 developed by the finished    
care of the  occupations of peace4      
,that is the history of all true art    
that ever was1  or can be2 palpably the 
history of it1--unmistakably1--written  

on the  forehead of it in letters of    
light1--in tongues of fire1 by which the
  seal of virtue is branded as deep as  
ever iron burnt into a convict's  flesh 
the seal of crime4  ,but always1        
hitherto1 after the great period1  has  
followed the day of luxury1 and pursuit 
of the arts for pleasure  only4  ,and   
all has so ended4    #ajf4  ,thus far of
 ,abbeville building4  ,now ,i have here
 asserted two  things1--first1 the      
foundation of art in moral character2   
next1 the  foundation of moral character
 in war4  ,i must make both these       
assertions  clearer1 and prove them4    
,first1 of the foundation of art in     
moral character4  ,of course art-gift   
and amiability of disposition are two   
different things2 for a good man  is not
 necessarily a painter1 nor does an eye 
for color necessarily imply  an honest  
mind4  ,but great art implies the union 
of both powers2 it is  the expression1  
by an art-gift1 of a pure soul4  ,if the
 gift is not  there1 we can have no art 

at all2 and if the soul--and a right    
soul too--  is not there1 the art is    
bad1 however dexterous4    #ajg4  ,but  
also1 remember1 that the art-gift itself
 is only the result of  the moral       
character of generations4  ,a bad woman 
may have a sweet voice2  but that       
sweetness of voice comes of the past    
morality of her race4  ,that  she can   
sing with it at all1 she owes to the    
determination of laws of  music by the  
morality of the past4  ,every act1 every
 impulse1 of virtue  and vice1 affects  
in any creature1 face1 voice1 nervous   
power1 and vigor  and harmony of        
invention1 at once4  ,perseverance in   
rightness of human  conduct renders1    
after a certain number of generations1  
human art  possible2 every sin that     
clouds it1 be it ever so little a one2  
and  persistent vicious living and      
following of pleasure render1 after a   
certain number of generations1 all art  
impossible4  ,men are deceived by  the  
long-suffering of the laws of nature1   

and mistake1 in a nation1 the  reward of
 the virtue of its sires1 for the issue 
of its own sins4  ,the  time of their   
visitation will come1 and that          
inevitably2 for1 it is  always true1    
that if the fathers have eaten sour     
grapes1 the children's  teeth are set on
 edge4  ,and for the individual1 as soon
 as you have  learned to read1 you may1 
as ,i said1 know him to the heart's     
core1  through his art4  ,let his       
art-gift be never so great1 and         
cultivated to  the height by the schools
 of a great race of men1 and it is still
 but a  tapestry thrown over his own    
being and inner soul2 and the bearing of
 it  will show1 infallibly1 whether it  
hangs on a man or on a skeleton4  ,if   
you are dim-eyed1 you may not see the   
difference in the fall of the folds  at 
first1 but learn how to look1 and the   
folds themselves will become            
transparent1 and you shall see through  
them the death's shape1 or the  divine  
one1 making the tissue above it as a    

cloud of right1 or as a  winding-sheet4 
#ajh4  ,then further1 observe1 ,i have  
said 7and you will find it true1 and    
that to the uttermost7 that1 as all     
lovely art is rooted in virtue1 so it   
bares fruit of virtue1 and is didactic  
in its own nature4  ,it is often        
didactic also in actually expressed     
thought1 as ,giotto's1 ,michael         
,angelo's1 ,drer's1 and hundreds more2  
but that is not its special  function2  
it is didactic chiefly by being         
beautiful2 but beautiful with  haunting 
thought1 no less than with form1 and    
full of myths that can be  read only    
with the heart4    ,for instance1 at    
this moment there is open beside me as  
,i write1 a page  of ,persian           
manuscript1 wrought with wreathed azure 
and gold1 and soft  green1 and violet1  
and ruby and scarlet1 into one field of 
pure  resplendence4  ,it is wrought to  
delight the eyes only2 and does delight 
them2 and the man who did it assuredly  
had eyes in his head2 but not much      

more4  ,it is not didactic art1 but its 
author was happy2 and it will do  the   
good1 and the harm1 that mere pleasure  
can do4  ,but1 opposite me1 is  an early
 ,turner drawing of the lake of ,geneva1
 taken about two miles from  ,geneva1 on
 the ,lausanne road1 with ,mont ,blanc  
in the distance4  ,the old  city is seen
 lying beyond the waveless waters1      
veiled with a sweet misty  veil of      
,athena's weaving2 a faint light of     
morning1 peaceful exceedingly1  and     
almost colorless1 shed from behind the  
,voirons1 increases into soft  amber    
along the slope of the ,salve1 and is   
just seen1 and no more1 on  the fair    
warm fields of its summit1 between the  
folds of a white cloud  that rests upon 
the grass1 but rises1 high and          
tower-like1 into the  zenith of dawn    
above4    #aji4  ,there is not as much  
color in that low amber light upon the  
hillside as there is in the palest dead 
leaf4  ,the lake is not blue1 but  gray 
in mist1 passing into deep shadow       

beneath the ,voirons' pines2 a few  dark
 clusters of leaves1 a single white     
flower--scarcely seen--are all  the     
gladness given to the rocks of the      
shore4  ,one of the ruby spots of  the  
eastern manuscript would give color     
enough for all the red that is in       
,turner's entire drawing4  ,for the mere
 pleasure of the eye1 there is not  so  
much in all those lines of his1         
throughout the entire landscape1 as in  
half an inch square of the ,persian's   
page4  ,what made him take pleasure  in 
the low color that is only like the     
brown of a dead leaf8 in the cold  gray 
of dawn--in the one white flower among  
the rocks--in these--and no  more than  
these8    #aaj4  ,he took pleasure in   
them because he had been bred among     
,english  fields and hills2 because the 
gentleness of a great race was in his   
heart1 and its powers of thought in his 
brain2 because he knew the  stories of  
the ,alps1 and of the cities at their   
feet2 because he had read  the ,homeric 

legends of the clouds1 and beheld the   
gods of dawn1 and the  givers of dew to 
the fields2 because he knew the faces of
 the crags1 and  the imagery of the     
passionate mountains1 as a man knows the
 face of his  friend2 because he had in 
him the wonder and sorrow concerning    
life and  death1 which are the          
inheritance of the ,gothic soul from the
 days of its  first sea kings2 and also 
the compassion and the joy that are     
woven into  the innermost fabric of     
every great imaginative spirit1 born now
 in  countries that have lived by the   
,christian faith with any courage or    
truth4  ,and the picture contains also1 
for us1 just this which its maker  had  
in him to give2 and can convey it to us1
 just so far as we are of the  temper in
 which it must be received4  ,it is     
didactic if we are worthy to  be taught1
 not otherwise4  ,the pure heart1 it    
will make more pure2 the  thoughtful1   
more thoughtful4  ,it has in it no words
 for the reckless or  the base4    #aaa4

  ,as ,i myself look at it1 there is no 
fault nor folly of my life--and  both   
have been many and great--that does not 
rise up against me1 and take  away my   
joy1 and shorten my power of possession 
of sight1 of  understanding4  ,and every
 past effort of my life1 every gleam of 
rightness or good in it1 is with me now1
 to help me in my grasp of this  art1   
and its vision4  ,so far as ,i can      
rejoice in1 or interpret either1 my     
power is owing to what of right there is
 in me4  ,i dare to say it1 that1       
because through all my life ,i have     
desired good1 and not evil2 because ,i  
have been kind to many2 have wished to  
be kind to all2 have wilfully  injured  
none2 and because ,i have loved much1   
and not selfishly2  therefore1 the      
morning light is yet visible to me on   
those hills1 and  you1 who read1 may    
trust my thought and word in such work  
as ,i have to do  for you2 and you will 
be glad afterwards that you have trusted
 them4    #aab4  ,yet1 remember1--,i    

repeat it again and yet again1--that ,i 
may for  once1 if possible1 make this   
thing assuredly clear3 the inherited    
art-gift must be there1 as well as the  
life in some poor measure1 or  rescued  
fragment1 right4  ,this art-gift of mine
 could not have been won  by any work or
 by any conduct3 it belongs to me by    
birthright1 and came  by ,athena's will1
 from the air of ,english country       
villages1 and ,scottish  hills4  ,i will
 risk whatever charge of folly may come 
on me1 for printing  one of my many     
childish rhymes1 written on a frosty day
 in ,glen ,farg1  just north of ,loch   
,leven4  ,it bears date #ast ,january1  
#ahbh4  ,i was born  on the #hth of     
,february1 #ahai2 and al that ,i ever   
could be1 and all that ,i  cannot be1   
the weak little rhyme already shows4    
,papa1 how pretty those icicles are1    
,that are seen so near1--that are seen  
so far2  --,those dropping waters that  
come from the rocks  ,and many a hole1  
like the haunt of a fox4  ,that silvery 

stream that runs babbling along1        
,making a murmuring1 dancing song4      
,those trees that stand waving upon the 
rock's side1  ,and men1 that1 like      
specters1 among them glide4  ,and       
waterfalls that are heard from far1     
,and come in sight when very near4  ,and
 the water-wheel that turns slowly      
round1  ,grinding the corn              
that--requires to be ground1--          
7,political ,economy of the future67    
----,and mountains at a distance seen1  
,and rivers winding through the plain1  
,and quarries with their craggy stones1 
,and the wind among them moans4    ,so  
foretelling ,stones of ,venice1 and this
 essay on ,athena4    ,enough now       
concerning myself4    #aac4  ,of        
,turner's life1 and of its good and     
evil1 both great1 but the  good         
immeasurably the greater1 his work is in
 all things a perfect and  transparent  
evidence4  ,his biography is simply1 ,he
 did this1 nor will  ever another do its
 like again4  ,yet read what ,i have    

said of him1 as  compared with the great
 ,italians1 in the passages taken from  
the ,cestus  of ,aglaia1 farther on1    
#aeh1 pp4 #afd1 #afe4    #aad4  ,this1  
then1 is the nature of the connection   
between morals and art4  ,now1 secondly1
 ,i have asserted the foundation of both
 these1 at least  hitherto1 in war4     
,the reason of this too manifest fact   
is1 that1 until  now it has been        
impossible for any nation1 except a     
warrior one1 to fix  its mind wholly on 
its men1 instead of their possessions4  
,every great  soldier nation thinks1    
necessarily1 first of multiplying its   
bodies and  souls of men1 in good temper
 and strict discipline4  ,as long as    
this is  its political aim1 it does not 
matter what it temporarily suffers1 or  
loses1 either in numbers or in wealth2  
its morality and its arts 7if it  have  
national art-gift7 advance together2 but
 so soon as it ceases to be  a warrior  
nation1 it thinks of its possessions    
instead of its men2 and  then the moral 

and poetic powers vanish together4      
#aae4  ,it is thus1 however1 absolutely 
necessary to the virtue of war that  it 
should be waged by personal strength1   
not by money or machinery4  ,a  nation  
that fights with a mercenary force1 or  
with torpedoes instead of  its own arms1
 is dying4  ,not but that there is more 
true courage in  modern than even in    
ancient war2 but this is1 first1 because
 all the  remaining life of ,european   
nations is with a morbid intensity      
thrown into  their soldiers2 and1       
secondly1 because their present heroism 
is the  culmination of centuries of     
inbred and traditional valor1 which     
,athena  taught them by forcing them to 
govern the foam of the sea-wave and of  
the  horse1--not the steam of kettles4  
#aaf4  ,and further1 note this1 which is
 vital to us in the present crisis3  ,if
 war is to be made by money and         
machinery1 the nation which is the      
largest and most covetous multitude will
 win4  ,you may be as scientific  as you

 choose2 the mob that can pay more for  
sulphuric acid and gunpowder  will at   
last poison its bullets1 throw acid in  
your faces1 and make an  end of you2 of 
itself1 also1 in good time1 but of you  
first4  ,and to the  ,english people the
 choice of its fate is very near now4   
,it may  spasmodically defend its       
property with iron walls a fathom thick1
 a few  years longer--a very few4  ,no  
walls will defend either it1 or its     
havings1 against the multitude that is  
breeding and spreading faster than  the 
clouds1 over the habitable earth4  ,we  
shall be allowed to live by  small      
pedler's business1 and                  
iron-mongery--since we have chosen those
 for  our line of life--as long as we   
are found useful black servants to the  
,americans1 and are content to dig coals
 and sit in the cinders2 and have  still
 coals to dig1--they once exhausted1 or 
got cheaper elsewhere1 we  shall be     
abolished4  ,but if we think more       
wisely1 while there is yet  time1 and   

set our minds again on multiplying      
,englishmen1 and not on  cheapening     
,english wares1 if we resolve to submit 
to wholesome laws of  labor and economy1
 and setting our political squabbles    
aside1 try how  many strong creatures1  
friendly and faithful to each other1 we 
can crowd  into every spot of ,english  
dominion1 neither poison nor iron will  
prevail  against us2 nor traffic1 nor   
hatred2 the noble nation will yet1 by   
the  grace of heaven1 rule over the     
ignoble1 and force of heart hold its own
  against fireballs4    #aag4  ,but     
there is yet a further reason for the   
dependence of the arts  on war4  ,the   
vice and injustice of the world are     
constantly springing  anew1 and are only
 to be subdued by battle2 the keepers of
 order and law  must always be soldiers4
  ,and now1 going back to the myth of   
,athena1 we  see that though she is     
first a warrior maid1 she detests war   
for its own  sake2 she arms ,achilles   
and ,ulysses in just quarrels1 but she  

disarms  ,ares4  ,she contends1 herself1
 continually against disorder and       
convulsion1 in the earth giants2 she    
stands by ,hercules' side in victory    
over all monstrous evil2 in justice only
 she judges and makes war4  ,but  in    
this war of hers she is wholly          
implacable4  ,she has little notion of  
converting criminals4  ,there is no     
faculty of mercy in her when she has    
been resisted4  ,her word is only1 ,i   
will mock when your fear cometh4  ,note 
the words that follow3 when your fear   
cometh as desolation1 and  your         
destruction as a whirlwind2 for her     
wrath is of irresistible  tempest3 once 
roused1 it is blind and                 
deaf1--rabies--madness of anger--       
darkness of the ,dies ,ir4    ,and that 
is1 indeed1 the sorrowfullest fact we   
have to know about our own  several     
lives4  ,wisdom never forgives4         
,whatever resistance we have  offered to
 her loaw1 she avenges forever2 the lost
 hour can never be  redeemed1 and the   

accomplished wrong never atoned for4    
,the best that can  be done afterwards1 
but for that1 had been better2 the      
falsest of all the  cries of peace1     
where there is no peace1 is that of the 
pardon of sin1 as  the mob expect it4   
,wisdom can put away sin1 but she cannot
 pardon it2  and she is apt1 in her     
haste1 to put away the sinner as well1  
when the  black gis is on her breast4   
#aah4  ,and this is also a fact we have 
to know about our national life1  that  
it is ended as soon as it has lost the  
power of noble ,anger4  ,when  it paints
 over1 and apologizes for its pitiful   
criminalities2 and endures  its false   
weights1 and its adulterated food2 dares
 not to decide  practically between good
 and evil1 and can neither honor the    
one1 nor  smite the other1 but sneers at
 the good1 as if it were hidden evil1   
and  consoles the evil with pious       
sympathy1 and conserves it in the sugar 
of  its leaden heart1--the end is come4 
#aai4  ,the first sign1 then1 of        

,athena's presence with any people is   
that  they become warriors1 and that the
 chief thought of every man of them is  
to stand rightly in his rank1 and not   
fail from his brother's side in  battle4
  ,wealth1 and pleasure1 and even love1 
are all1 under ,athena's  orders1       
sacrificed to this duty of standing fast
 in the rank of war4    ,but further3   
,athena presides over industry1 as well 
as battle2 typically1  over women's     
industry2 that brings comfort with      
pleasantness4  ,her word  to us all is3 
,be well exercised1 and rightly clothed4
  ,clothed1 and in  your right minds2   
not insane and in rags1 nor in soiled   
fine clothes  clutched from each other's
 shoulders4  ,fight and weave4  ,then ,i
 myself  will answer for the course of  
the lance1 and the colors of the loom4  
,and now ,i will ask the reader to look 
with some care through these  following 
passages respecting modern multitudes   
and their occupations1  written long    
ago1 but left in fragmentary form1 in   

which they must now  stay1 and be of    
what use they can4    #abj4  ,it is not 
political economy to put a number of    
strong men down on  an acre of ground1  
with no lodging1 and nothing to eat4    
,nor is it  political economy to build a
 city on good ground1 and fill it with  
store  of corn and treasure1 and put a  
score of lepers to live in it4          
,political  economy creates together the
 means of life1 and the living persons  
who  are to use them2 and of both1 the  
best and the most that it can1 but      
imperatively the best1 not the most4  ,a
 few good and healthy men1 rather  than 
a multitude of diseased rogues2 and a   
little real milk and wine  rather than  
much chalk and petroleum2 but the gist  
of the whole business  is that the men  
and their property must both be produced
 together--not  one to the loss of the  
other4  ,property must not be created in
 lands  desolate by exile of their      
people1 nor multiplied and depraved     
humanity1  in lands barren of bread4    

#aba4  ,nevertheless1 though the men and
 their possessions are to be  increased 
at the same time1 the first object of   
thought is always to be  the            
multiplication of a worthy people4  ,the
 strength of the nation is in  its      
multitude1 not in its territory2 but    
only in its sound multitude4  ,it  is   
one thing1 both in a man and a nation1  
to gain flesh1 and another to  be       
swollen with putrid humors4  ,not that  
multitude ever ought to be  inconsistent
 with virtue4  ,two men should be wiser 
than one1 and two  thousand than two2   
nor do ,i know another so gross fallacy 
in the records  of human stupidity as   
that excuse for neglect of crime by     
greatness of  cities4  ,as if the first 
purpose of congregation were not to     
devise laws  and repress crimes6  ,as if
 bees and wasps could live honestly in  
flocks--  men1 only in separate dens6   
,as if it were easy to help one another 
on  the opposite sides of a mountain1   
and impossible on the opposite sides of 

a street6  ,but when the men are true   
and good1 and stand shoulder to         
shoulder1 the strength of any nation is 
in its quantity of life1 not in  its    
land nor gold4  ,the more good men a    
state has1 in proportion to its         
territory1 the stronger the state4  ,and
 as it has been the madness of          
economists to seek for gold instead of  
life1 so it has been the madness  of    
kings to seek for land instead of life4 
,they want the town on the  other side  
of the river1 and seek it at the spear  
point2 it never enters  their stupid    
heads that to double the honest souls in
 the town on this  side of the river    
would make them stronger kings2 and that
 this doubling  might be done by the    
ploughshare instead of the spear1 and   
through  happiness instead of misery4   
,therefore1 in brief1 this is the only  
object of all true policy and true      
economy3 utmost multitude of good men on
 every given space of ground--          
imperatively always good1 sound1 honest 

men1--not a mob of white-faced  thieves4
  ,so that1 on the one hand all         
aristocracy is wrong which is           
inconsistent with numbers2 and on the   
other all numbers are wrong which  are  
inconsistent with breeding4    #abb4    
,then1 touching the accumulation of     
wealth for the maintenance of  such men1
 observe1 that you must never use the   
terms money and wealth  as synonymous4  
,wealth consists of the good1 and       
therefore useful1 things  in the        
possession of the nation2 money is only 
the written or coined sign  of the      
relative quantities of wealth in each   
person's possession4  ,all  money is a  
divisible title-deed1 of immense        
importance as an expression  of right to
 property1 but absolutely valueless as  
property itself4  ,thus1  supposing a   
nation isolated from all others1 the    
money in its possession  is1 at its     
maximum value1 worth all the property of
 the nation1 and no  more1 because no   
more can be got for it4  ,and the money 

of all nations  is worth1 at its        
maximum1 the property of all nations1   
and no more1 for  no more can be got for
 it4  ,thus1 every article of property  
produced  increases1 by its value1 the  
value of all the money in the world1 and
  every article of property destroyed1  
diminishes the value of all the  money  
in the world4  ,if ten men are cast away
 on a rock1 with a thousand  pounds in  
their pockets1 and there is on the rock1
 neither food nor  shelter1 their money 
is worth simply nothing1 for nothing is 
to be had  for it4  ,if they built ten  
huts1 and recover a cask of biscuit from
 the  wreck1 then their thousand pounds1
 at its maximum value1 is worth ten     
huts and a cask of biscuit4  ,if they   
make their thousand pounds into two     
thousand by writing new notes1 their two
 thousand pounds are still worth  ten   
huts and a cask of biscuit4  ,and the   
law of relative value is the  same for  
all the world1 and all the people in it1
 and all their property1  as for ten men

 on a rock4  ,therefore1 money is truly 
and finally lost in  the degree in which
 its value is taken from it 7ceasing in 
that degree to  be money at all72 and it
 is truly gained in the degree in which 
value is  added to it4  ,thus1 suppose  
the money coined by the nation be a     
fixed  sum1 and divided very minutely   
7say into francs and cents71 and neither
  to be added to nor diminished4  ,then 
every grain of food and inch of  lodging
 added to its possessions makes every   
cent in its pockets worth               
proportionally more1 and every gain of  
food it consumes1 and inch of roof  it  
allows to fall to ruin1 makes every cent
 in its pockets worth less2  and this   
with mathematical precision4  ,the      
immediate value of the money  at        
particular times and places depends1    
indeed1 on the humors of the  possessors
 of property2 but the nation is in the  
one case gradually  getting richer1 and 
will feel the pressure of poverty       
steadily everywhere  relaxing1 whatever 

the humors of individuals may be2 and1  
in the other  case1 is gradually growing
 poorer1 and the pressure of its poverty
 will  every day tell more and more1 in 
ways that it cannot explain1 but will   
most bitterly feel4    #abc4  ,the      
actual quantity of money which it coins1
 in relation to its  real property1 is  
therefore only of consequence for       
convenience of  exchange2 but the       
proportion in which this quantity of    
money is divided  among individuals     
expresses their various rights to       
greater or less  proportions of the     
national property1 and must not1        
therefore1 be  tampered with4  ,the     
government may at any time1 with perfect
 justice1  double its issue of coinage1 
if it gives every man who has ten pounds
 in  his pocket another ten pounds1 and 
every man who had ten pence another  ten
 pence2 for it thus does not make any of
 them richer2 it merely  divides their  
counters for them into twice the number4
  ,but if it gives  the newly-issued    

coins to other people1 or keeps them    
itself1 it simply  robs the former      
holders to precisely that extent4  ,this
 most important  function of money1 as a
 title-deed1 on the non-violation of    
which all  national soundness of        
commerce and peace of life depend1 has  
been never  rightly distinguished by    
economists from the quite unimportant   
function  of money as a means of        
exchange4  ,you can exchange goods--at  
some  inconvenience1 indeed1 but you can
 still contrive to do it--without money 
at all2 but you cannot maintain your    
claim to the savings of your past  life 
without a document declaring the amount 
of them1 which the nation  and its      
government will respect4    #abd4  ,and 
as economists have lost sight of this   
great function of money  in relation to 
individual rights1 so they have equally 
lost sight of its  function as a        
representative of good things4  ,that1  
for every good thing  produced1 so much 
money is put into everybody's pocket1 is

 the one simple  and primal truth for   
the public to know1 and for economists  
to teach4  ,how many of them have taught
 it8  ,some have2 but only incidentally2
 and  others will say it is a truism4   
,if it be1 do the public know it8  ,does
  your ordinary ,english householder    
know that every costly dinner he gives  
has destroyed forever as much money as  
it is worth8  ,does every  well-educated
 girl--do even the women in high        
political position--know  that every    
fine dress they wear themselves1 or     
cause to be worn1 destroys  precisely so
 much of the national money as the labor
 and material of it  are worth8  ,if    
this be a truism1 it is one that needs  
proclaiming  somewhat louder4    #abe4  
,that1 then1 is the relation of money   
and goods4  ,so much goods1 so  much    
money2 so little goods1 so little money4
  ,but1 as there is this true  relation 
between money and goods1 or good things1
 so there is a false  relation between  
money and bads1 or bad things4  ,many   

bad things will  fetch a price in       
exchange2 but they do not increase the  
wealth of the  country4  ,good wine is  
wealth1 drugged wine is not2 good meat  
is wealth1  putrid meat is not2 good    
pictures are wealth1 bad pictures are   
not4  ,a  thing is worth precisely what 
it can do for you2 not what you choose  
to  pay for it4  ,you may pay a thousand
 pounds for a cracked pipkin1 if you    
please2 but you do not by that          
transaction make the cracked pipkin     
worth  one that will hold water1 nor    
that1 nor any pipkin whatsoever1 worth  
more  than it was before you paid such  
sum for it4  ,you may1 perhaps1 induce  
many potters to manufacture fissured    
pots1 and many amateurs of clay to  buy 
them2 but the nation is1 through the    
whole business so encouraged1  rich by  
the addition to its wealth of so many   
potsherds1--and there an  end4  ,the    
thing is worth what it ,,can do for you1
 not what you think it  can2 and most   
national luxuries1 nowadays1 are a form 

of potsherd1  provided for the solace of
 a self-complacent ,job1 voluntary      
sedent on his  ash-heap4    #abf4  ,and1
 also1 so far as good things already    
exist1 and have become  media of        
exchange1 the variations in their prices
 are absolutely  indifferent to the     
nation4  ,whether ,mr4 ,a4 buys a       
,titian from ,mr4 ,b4 for  twenty1 or   
for two thousand1 pounds1 matters not   
sixpence to the national  revenue2 that 
is to say1 it matters in nowise to the  
revenue whether ,mr4  ,a4 has the       
picture1 and ,mr4 ,b4 the money1 or ,mr4
 ,b4 the picture1 and ,mr4  ,a4 the     
money4  ,which of them will spend the   
money most wisely1 and which  of them   
will keep the picture most carefully1   
is1 indeed1 a matter of  some           
importance2 but this cannot be known by 
the mere fact of exchange4    #abg4     
,the wealth of a nation then1 first1 and
 its peace and well-being  besides1     
depend on the number of persons it can  
employ in making good and  useful       

things4  ,i say its well-being also1 for
 the character of men  depends more on  
their occupations than on any teaching  
we can give them1  or principles with   
which we can imbue them4  ,the          
employment forms the  habits of body and
 mind1 and these are the constitution of
 the man1--the  greater part of his     
moral or persistent nature1 whatever    
effort1 under  special excitement1 he   
may make to change or overcome them4    
,employment  is the half1 and the primal
 half1 of education--it is the warp of  
it2 and  the fineness or the endurance  
of all subsequently woven pattern       
depends  wholly on its straightness and 
strength4  ,and1 whatever difficulty    
there  may be in tracing through past   
history the remoter connections of event
  and cause1 one chain of sequence is   
always clear3 the formation1 namely1  of
 the character of nations by their      
employments1 and the determination  of  
their final fate by their character4    
,the moment1 and the first  direction of

 decisive revolutions1 often depend on  
accident2 but their  persistent course1 
and their consequences1 depend wholly on
 the nature of  the people4  ,the       
passing of the ,reform ,bill by the late
 ,english  ,parliament may have been    
more or less accidental2 the results of 
the  measure now rest on the character  
of the ,english people1 as it has been  
developed by their recent interests1    
occupations1 and habits of life4        
,whether1 as a body1 they employ their  
new powers for good or evil will        
depend1 not on their facilities of      
knowledge1 nor even on the general      
intelligence they may possess1 but on   
the number of persons among them  whom  
wholesome employments have rendered     
familiar with the duties1 and  modest in
 their estimate of the promises1 of     
life4    #abh4  ,but especially in      
framing laws respecting the treatment or
  employment of improvident and more or 
less vicious persons1 it is to be       
remembered that as men are not made     

heroes by the performance of an act  of 
heroism1 but must be brave before they  
can perform it1 so they are not  made   
villains by the commission of a crime1  
but were villains before they  committed
 it2 and the right of public            
interference with their conduct  begins 
when they begin to corrupt              
themselves1--not merely at the moment   
when they have proved themselves        
hopelessly corrupt4    ,all measures of 
reformation are effective in exact      
proportion to their  timeliness3 partial
 decay may be cut away and cleansed2    
incipient error  corrected2 but there is
 a point at which corruption can be no  
more  stayed1 nor wandering recalled4   
,it has been the manner of modern       
philanthropy to remain passive until    
that precise period1 and to leave  the  
sick to perish1 and the foolish to      
stray1 while it spends itself in        
frantic exertions to raise the dead1 and
 reform the dust4    ,the recent        
direction of a great weight of public   

opinion against capital  punishment is1 
,i trust1 the sign of an awakening      
perception that  punishment is the last 
and worst instrument in the hands of the
  legislator for the prevention of      
crime4  ,the true instruments of        
reformation are employment and reward2  
not punishment4  ,aid the willing1      
honour the virtuous1 and compel the idle
 into occupation1 and there will  be no 
deed for the compelling of any into the 
great and last indolence of  death4     
#abi4  ,the beginning of all true       
reformation among the criminal classes  
depends on the establishment of         
institutions for their active           
employment1  while their criminality is 
still unripe1 and their feelings of     
self-respect1 capacities of affection1  
and sense of justice1 not  altogether   
quenched4  ,that those who are desirous 
of employment should  always be able to 
find it1 will hardly1 at the present    
day1 be disputed2  but that those who   
are undesirous of employment should of  

all persons be  the most strictly       
compelled to it1 the public are hardly  
yet convinced2  and they must be        
convinced4  ,if the danger of the       
principal thoroughfares  in their       
capital city1 and the multiplication of 
crimes more ghastly than  ever yet      
disgraced a nominal civilization1 are   
not enough1 they will not  have to wait 
long before they receive sterner        
lessons4  ,for our neglect  of the lower
 orders has reached a point at which it 
begins to bear its  necessary fruit1 and
 every day makes the fields1 not whiter1
 but more  stable1 to harvest4    #acj4 
,the general principles by which        
employment should be regulated may  be  
briefly stated as follows3       ,i4    
,there being three great classes of     
mechanical powers at our  disposal1     
namely1 7a7 vital or muscular power2 7b7
 natural mechanical  power of wind1     
water1 and electricity2 and 7c7         
artificially produced  mechanical power2
 it is the first principle of economy to

 use all  available vital power first1  
then the inexpensive natural forces1 and
  only at last have recourse to         
artificial power4  ,and this because it 
is  always better for a man to work with
 his own hands to feed and clothe       
himself1 than to stand idle while a     
machine works for him2 and if he  cannot
 by all the labor healthily possible to 
him feed and clothe  himself1 then it is
 better to use an inexpensive           
machine--as a windmill  or              
watermill--than a costly one like a     
steam-engine1 so long as we have        
natural force enough at our disposal4   
,whereas at present we continually  hear
 economists regret that the water-power 
of the cascades or streams of  a country
 should be lost1 but hardly ever that   
the muscular power of its  idle         
inhabitants should be lost2 and1 again1 
we see vast districts1 as  the south of 
,provence1 where a strong wind99 blows  
steadily all day long  for six days out 
of seven throughout the year1 without a 

windmill1 while  men are continually    
employed at a hundred miles to the      
north1 in digging  fuel to obtain       
artificial power4  ,but the principal   
point of all to be  kept in view is1    
that in every idle arm and shoulder     
throughout the  country there is a      
certain quantity of force1 equivalent to
 the force of  so much fuel2 and that it
 is mere insane waste to dig for coal   
for our  force1 while the vital force is
 unused1 and not only unused1 but in    
being  so1 corrupting and polluting     
itself4  ,we waste our coal1 and spoil  
our  humanity at one and the same       
instant4  ,therefore1 wherever there is 
an  idle arm1 always save coal with it1 
and the stores of ,england will last    
all the longer4  ,and precisely the same
 argument answers the common one  about 
taking employment out of the hands of   
the industrious laborer4  ,why1 what is 
employment but the putting out of vital 
force instead of  mechanical force8  ,we
 are continually in search of means to  

pull1 to  hammer1 to fetch1 to carry4   
,we waste our future resources to get   
this  strength1 while we leave all the  
living fuel to burn itself out in mere  
pestiferous breath1 and production of   
its variously noisome forms of  ashes6  
,clearly1 if we want fire for force1 we 
want men for force first4  ,the         
industrious hands must already have so  
much to do that they can do  no more1 or
 else we need not use machines to help  
them4  ,then use the  idle hands first4 
,instead of dragging petroleum with a   
steam-engine1 put  it on a canal1 and   
drag it with human arms and shoulders4  
,petroluem  cannot possibly be in a     
hurry to arrive anywhere4  ,we can      
always order  that1 and many other      
things1 time enough before we want it4  
,so1 the  carriage of everything which  
does not spoil by keeping may most      
wholesomely and safely be done by       
water-traction and sailing-vessels2 and 
no healthier work can men be put to1 nor
 better discipline1 than such  active   

porterage4      99 ,in order fully to   
utilize this natural power1 we only     
require machinery  to turn the variable 
into a constant velocity--no            
insurmountable  difficulty4      #aca4  
7#b;d47 ,in employing all the muscular  
power at our disposal we are to  make   
the employments we choose as educational
 as possible2 for a  wholesome human    
employment is the first and best method 
of education1  mental as well as bodily4
  ,a man taught to plough1 row1 or steer
 well1  and a woman taught to cook      
properly1 and make a dress neatly1 are  
already  educated in many essential     
moral habits4  ,labor considered as a   
discipline has hitherto been thought of 
only for criminals2 but the real  and   
noblest function of labor is to prevent 
crime1 and not to be  ,reformatory1 but 
,formatory4    #acb4  ,the third great  
principle of employment is1 that        
whenever there is  pressure of poverty  
to be met1 all enforced occupation      
should be directed  to the production of

 useful articles only2 that is to say1  
of food1 of  simple clothing1 of        
lodging1 or of the means of conveying1  
distributing1  and preserving these4    
,it is yet little understood by         
economists1 and not  at all by the      
public1 that the employment of persons  
in a useless  business cannot relieve   
ultimate distress4  ,the money given to 
employ  riband-makers at ,coventry is   
merely so much money withdrawn from what
  would have employed lace-makers at    
,honiton2 or makers of something else1  
as useless1 elsewhere4  ,we must spend  
our money in some way1 at some  time1   
and it cannot at any time be spent      
without employing somebody4  ,if  we    
gamble it away1 the person who wins it  
must spend it2 if we lose it in  a      
railroad speculation1 it has gone into  
some one else's pockets1 or  merely gone
 to pay navies for making a useless     
embankment1 instead of to  pay riband or
 button makers for making useless       
ribands or buttons2 we  cannot lose it  

7unless by actually destroying it7      
without giving  employment of some kind2
 and1 therefore1 whatever quantity of   
money  exists1 the relative quantity of 
employment must some day come out of it2
  but the distress of the nation        
signifies that the employments given    
have  produced nothing that will support
 its existence4  ,men cannot live on    
ribands1 or buttons1 or velvet1 or by   
going quickly from place to place2  and 
every coin spent in useless ornament1 or
 useless motion1 is so much  withdrawn  
from the national means of life4  ,one  
of the most beautiful  uses of railroads
 is to enable ,a to travel from the town
 of ,x to take  away the business of ,b 
in the town of ,y2 while1 in the mean   
time1 ,b  travels from the town of ,y to
 take away ,a's business in the town of 
,x4  ,but the national wealth is not    
increased by these operations4  ,whereas
  every coin spent in cultivating       
ground1 in repairing lodging1 in making 
necessary and good roads1 in preventing 

danger by sea or land1 and in  carriage 
of food or fuel where they are required1
 is so much absolute and  direct gain to
 the whole nation4  ,to cultivate land  
round ,coventry makes  living easier at 
,honiton1 and every acre of sand gained 
from the sea in  ,lincolnshire1 makes   
life easier all over ,england4    #dth1 
and lastly4  ,since for every idle      
person some one else must be  working   
somewhere to provide him with clothes   
and food1 and doing1  therefore1 double 
the quantity of work that would be      
enough for his own  needs1 it is only a 
matter of pure justice to compel the    
idle person to  work for his maintenance
 himself4  ,the conscription has been   
used in many  countries to take away    
laborers who supported their families1  
from their  useful work1 and maintain   
them for purposes chiefly of military   
display  at the public expense4  ,since 
this has been long endured by the most  
civilized nations1 let it not be thought
 they would not much more gladly  endure

 a conscription which should seize only 
the vicious and idle1  already living by
 criminal procedures at the public      
expense2 and which  should discipline   
and educate them to labor which would   
not only maintain  themselves1 but be   
serviceable to the commonwealth4  ,the  
question is  simply this3 we must feed  
the drunkard1 vagabond1 and thief2 but  
shall we  do so by letting them steal   
their food1 and do no work for it8 or   
shall  we give them their food in       
appointed quantity1 and enforce their   
doing  work which shall be worth it1 and
 which1 in process of time1 will redeem 
their own characters and make them happy
 and serviceable members of  society8   
,i find by me a violent little fragment 
of undelivered lecture1 which puts      
this1 perhaps1 still more clearly4      
,your idle people 7it says71 as they    
are now1 are not merely waste coal-beds4
  ,they are explosive coal-beds1  which 
you pay a high annual rent for4  ,you   
are keeping all these idle  persons1    

remember1 at far greater cost than if   
they were busy4  ,do you  think a       
vicious person eats less than an honest 
one8 or that it is  cheaper to keep a   
bad man drunk1 than a good man sober8   
,there is1 ,i  suppose1 a dim idea in   
the mind of the public1 that they don't 
pay for  the maintenance of people they 
don't employ4  ,those staggering rascals
  at the street corner1 grouped around  
its splendid angle of public-house1  we 
fancy that they are no servants of ours6
 that we pay them no wages6  that no    
cash out of our pockets is spent over   
that beer-stained counter6    ,whose    
cash is it then they are spending8  ,it 
is not got honestly by work4  ,you know 
that much4  ,where do they get it from8 
,who has paid for their  dinner and     
their pot8  ,those fellows can only live
 in one of two ways--by  pillage or     
beggary4  ,their annual income by       
thieving comes out of the  public       
pocket1 you will admit4  ,they are not  
cheaply fed1 so far as they  are fed by 

theft4  ,but the rest of their          
living--all that they don't  steal--they
 must beg4  ,not with success from you1 
you think4  ,wise1 as  benevolent1 you  
never gave a penny in indiscriminate    
charity4  ,well1  ,i congratulate you on
 the freedom of your conscience from    
that sin1 mine  being bitterly burdened 
with the memory of many a sixpence given
 to  beggars of whom ,i knew nothing but
 that they had pale faces and thin      
waists4  ,but it is not that kind of    
street beggary that is the worst        
beggars' trade4  ,home alms which it is 
their worst degradation to  receive4    
,those scamps know well enough that you 
and your wisdom are  worth nothing to   
them4  ,they won't beg of you4  ,they   
will beg of their  sisters1 and mothers1
 and wives1 and children1 and of any one
 else who is  enough ashamed of being of
 the same blood with them to pay to keep
 them  out of sight4  ,every one of     
those blackguards is the bane of a      
family4  ,that is the deadly            

indiscriminate charity--the charity     
which each  household pays to maintain  
its own private curse4    #acc4  ,and   
you think that is no affair of yours8   
and that every family  ought to watch   
over and subdue its own living plague8  
,put it to  yourselves this way1 then3  
suppose you knew every one of those     
families  kept an idol in an inner      
room--a big-bellied bronze figure1 to   
which  daily sacrifice and oblation was 
made2 at whose feet so much beer and    
brandy was poured out every morning on  
the ground2 and before which1  every    
night1 good meat1 enough for two men's  
keep1 was set1 and left1  till it was   
putrid1 and then carried out and thrown 
on the dunghill2 you  would put an end  
to that form of idolatry with your best 
diligence1 ,i  suppose4  ,you would     
understand then that the beer1 and      
brandy1 and meat1  were wasted2 and that
 the burden imposed by each household on
 itself lay  heavily through them on the
 whole community8  ,but1 suppose        

further1 that  this idol were not of    
silent and quiet bronze only1 but an    
ingenious  mechanism1 wound up every    
morning1 to run itself down into        
automatic  blasphemies2 that it struck  
and tore with its hands the people who  
set  food before it2 that it was        
anointed with poisonous unguents1 and   
infected the air for miles round4  ,you 
would interfere with the idolatry  then1
 straightway8  ,will you not interfere  
with it now1 when the  infection that   
they venomous idol spreads is not merely
 death1 but sin8    #acd4  ,so far the  
old lecture4  ,returning to cool        
,english1 the end of the  matter is1    
that1 sooner or later1 we shall have to 
register our people2  and to know how   
they live2 and to make sure1 if they are
 capable of work1  that right work is   
given them to do4    ,the different     
classes of work for which bodies of men 
could be  consistently organized1 might 
ultimately become numerous2 these       
following  divisions of occupation may  

all at once be suggested3       ,i4     
,road-making4--,good roads to be made1  
wherever needed1 and kept in  repair2   
and the annual loss on unfrequented     
roads1 in spoiled horses1  strained     
wheels1 and time1 done away with4       
,,ii4  ,bringing in of waste land4--,all
 waste lands not necessary for  public  
health1 to be made accessible and       
gradually reclaimed2 chiefly our  wide  
and waste seashores4  ,not our mountains
 nor moorland4  ,our life  depends on   
them1 more than on the best arable we   
have4       ,,iii4                      
,harbor-making4--,the deficiencies of   
safe or convenient harborage  in our    
smaller ports to be remedied2 other     
harbors built at dangerous  points of   
coast1 and a disciplined body of men    
always kept in connection  with the     
pilot and life-boat services4  ,there is
 room for every order of  intelligence  
in this work1 and for a large body of   
superior officers4       ,,iv4          
,porterage4--,all heavy goods1 not      

requiring speed in transit1 to  be      
carried 7under preventative duty on     
transit1 by railroad7 by  canal-boats1  
employing men for draught2 and the      
merchant-shipping service  extended by  
sea2 so that no ships may be wrecked for
 want of hands1 while  there are idle   
ones in mischief on shore4       ,v4    
,repair of buildings4--,a body of men in
 various trades to be kept  at the      
disposal of the authorities in every    
large town1 for repair of  buildings1   
especially the houses of the poorer     
orders1 who1 if no such  provision were 
made1 could not employ workmen on their 
own houses1 but  would simply live with 
rent walls and roofs4       ,,vi4       
,dressmaking4--,substantial dress1 of   
standard material and kind1  strong     
shoes1 and stout bedding1 to be         
manufactured for the poor1 so as  to    
render it unnecessary for them1 unless  
by extremity of improvidence1  to wear  
cast clothes1 or be without sufficiency 
of clothing4       ,,vii4  ,works of    

,art4--,schools to be established on    
thoroughly sound  principles of         
manufacture1 and use of materials1 and  
with sample and1 for  given periods1    
unalterable modes of work2 first1 in    
pottery1 and  embracing gradually metal 
work1 sculpture1 and decorative         
painting2 the  two points insisted upon1
 in distinction from ordinary commercial
  establishments1 being perfectness of  
material to the utmost attainable       
degree2 and the production of everything
 by hand-work1 for the special  purpose 
of developing personal power and skill  
in the workman4    ,the last two        
departments1 and some subordinate       
branches of others1 would  include the  
service of women and children4    ,i    
give now1 for such further illustrations
 as they contain of the points  ,i      
desire most to insist upon with respect 
both to education and  employment1 a    
portion of the series of notes published
 some time ago in  the ,art ,journal1 on
 the opposition of ,modesty and         

,liberty1 and the  unescapable law of   
wise restraint4  ,i am sorry that they  
are written  obscurely--and it may be   
thought affectedly2 but the fact is1 ,i 
have  always had three different ways of
 writing3 one1 with the single view of  
making myself understood1 in which ,i   
necessarily omit a great deal of  what  
comes into my head2 another1 in which ,i
 say what ,i think ought to be  said1 in
 what ,i suppose to be the best words ,i
 can find for it 7which is  in reality  
an affected style--be it good or bad72  
and my third way of  writing is to say  
all that comes into my head for my own  
pleasure1 in the  first words that come1
 retouching them afterward into         
7approximate7  grammar4  ,these notes   
for the ,art ,journal were so written2  
and ,i like  them myself1 of course2 but
 ask the reader's pardon for their      
confusedness4    #ace4  ,sir1 it cannot 
be better done4    ,we will insist1 with
 the reader's permission1 on this       
comfortful saying  of ,albert ,drer's in

 order to find out1 if we may1 what     
,modesty is2 which  it will be well for 
painters1 readers1 and especially       
critics1 to know1  before going farther4
  ,what it is2 or1 rather1 who she is1  
her fingers  being among the deftest in 
laying the ground-threads of ,aglaia's  
cestus4    ,for this same opinion of    
,albert's is entertained by many other  
people  respecting their own doings--a  
very prevalent opinion1 indeed1 ,i find 
it2  and the answer itself1 though      
rarely made with the ,nuremberger's     
crushing  decision1 is nevertheless     
often enough intimated1 with delicacy1  
by  artists of all countries1 in their  
various dialects4  ,neither can it      
always be held an entirely modest one1  
as it assuredly was in the man who      
would sometimes estimate a piece of his 
unconquerable work at only the  worth of
 a plate of fruit1 or a flask of        
wine--would have taken even one  fig for
 it1 kindly offered2 or given it royally
 for nothing1 to show  his hand to a    

fellow-king of his own1 or any other    
craft--as ,gainsborough  gave the ,boy  
at the ,stile for a solo on the violin4 
,an entirely modest  saying1 ,i repeat1 
in him--not always in us4  ,for ,modesty
 is the  measuring virtue1 the virtue of
 modes or limits4  ,she is1 indeed1 said
  to be only the third or youngest of   
the children of the cardinal virtue1    
,temperance2 and apt to be despised1    
being more given to arithmetic1 and     
other vulgar studies 7,cinderella-like71
 than her elder sisters2 but she  is    
useful in the household1 and arrives at 
great results with her  yard-measure and
 slate-pencil--a pretty little          
,marchande des ,modes1  cutting her     
dress always according to the silk 7if  
this be the proper  feminine reading of 
coat according to the cloth71 so that1  
consulting  with her carefully of a     
morning1 men get to know not only their 
income1  but their in being--to know    
themselves1 that is1 in a gauger's      
manner1  round1 and up and down--surface

 and contents2 what is in them and what 
may be got out of them2 and in fine1    
their entire canon of weight and        
capacity4  ,that yard-measure of        
,modesty's1 lent to those who will use  
it1  is a curious musical reed1 and will
 go round and round waists that are     
slender enough1 with latent melody in   
every joint of it1 the dark root  only  
being soundless1 moist from the wave    
wherein          ,null' altra pianta che
 facesse fronda           ,o che 'n     
durasse1 vi puote aver vita499      99  
,purgatorio1 i4 #ajh1 #aji4      ,but   
when the little sister herself takes it 
in hand1 to measure things  outside of  
us with1 the joints shoot out in an     
amazing manner3 the  four-square walls  
even of celestial cities being          
measurable enough by  that reed2 and the
 way pointed to them1 though only to be 
followed1 or  even seen1 in the dim     
starlight shed down from worlds amidst  
which there  is no name of ,measure any 
more1 though the reality of it always4  

,for1  indeed1 to all true modesty the  
necessary business is not inlook1 but   
outlook1 and especially uplook3 it is   
only her sister ,shamefacedness1 who  is
 known by the drooping lashes--,modesty1
 quite otherwise1 by her large  eyes    
full of wonder2 for she never contemns  
herself1 nor is ashamed of  herself1 but
 forgets herself--at least until she has
 done something worth  memory4  ,it is  
easy to peep and potter about one's own 
deficiencies in a  quiet immodest       
discontent2 but ,modesty is so pleased  
with other people's  doings1 that she   
has no leisure to lament her own3 and   
thus1 knowing the  fresh feeling of     
contentment1 unstained with thought of  
self1 she does  not fear being pleased1 
when there is cause1 with her own       
rightness1 as  with another's1 as with  
another's1 saying calmly1 ,be it mine or
 yours1  or whose else's it may1 it is  
no matter2 this also is well4  ,but the 
right to say such a thing depends on    
continual reverence and manifold  sense 

of failure4  ,if you have known yourself
 to have failed1 you may  trust1 when it
 comes1 the strange consciousness of    
success2 if you have  faithfully loved  
the noble work of others1 you need not  
fear to speak  with respect of things   
duly done1 of your own4    #acf4  ,but  
the principal good that comes of art    
being followed in this  reverent feeling
 is of it4  ,men who know their place   
can take it and  keep it1 be it low or  
high1 contentedly and firmly1 neither   
yielding  nor grasping2 and the harmony 
of hand and thought follows1 rendering  
all  great deeds of art possible--deeds 
in which the souls of men meet like  the
 jewels in the windows of ,aladdin's    
palace1 the little gems and the  large  
all equally pure1 needing no cement but 
the fitting of facets2  while the       
associative work of immodest men is all 
jointless1 and astir  with wormy        
ambition2 putridly dissolute1 and       
forever on the crawl3 so  that if it    
come together for a time1 it can only be

 by metamorphosis  through a flash of   
volcanic fire out of the vale of        
,siddim1 vitrifying  the clay of it1 and
 fastening the slime1 only to end in    
wilder  scattering2 according to the    
fate of those oldest1 mightiest1        
immodestest  of builders1 of whom it is 
told in scorn1 ,they had brick for      
stone1 and  slime had they for mortar4  
#acg4  ,the first function of ,modesty1 
then1 being this recognition of  place1 
her second is the recognition of law1   
and delight in it1 for the  sake of law 
itself1 whether her part be to assert   
it1 or obey4  ,for as it  belongs to all
 immodesty to defy or deny law1 and     
assert privilege and  license1 according
 to its own pleasure 7it being therefore
 rightly called  insolent1 that is1     
custom-breaking1 violating some usual   
and  appointed order to attain for      
itself greater forwardness or power71 so
 it  is the habit of all modesty to love
 the constancy and solemnity1 or1       
literally1 accustomedness1 of law1      

seeking first what are the solemn1      
appointed1 inviolable customs and       
general orders of nature1 and of the    
,master of nature1 touching the matter  
in hand2 and striving to put  itself1 as
 habitually and inviolably1 in          
compliance with them4  ,out of  which   
habit1 once established1 arises what is 
rightly called  conscience1 nor science 
merely1 but with-science1 a science with
  us1 such as only modest creatures can 
have--with or within them--and  within  
all creation besides1 every member of   
it1 strong or weak1  witnessing         
together1 and joining in the happy      
consciousness that each  one's work is  
good2 the bee also being profoundly of  
that opinion2 and  the lark2 and the    
swallow1 in that noisy1 but modestly    
upside-down1 ,babel  of hers1 under the 
eaves1 with its unvolcanic slime for    
mortar2 and the  two ants who are asking
 of each other at the turn of that      
little  ant's-foot-worn bath through the
 moss lor via e lor fortuna2 and the    

builders also1 who built yonder pile of 
cloud-marble in the west1 and the       
gilder who gilded it1 and is gone down  
behind it4    #ach4  ,but ,i think we   
shall better understand what we ought of
 the nature  of ,modesty1 and of her    
opposite1 by taking a simple instance of
 both1 in  the practice of that art of  
music which the wisest have agreed in   
thinking the first element of education2
 only ,i must ask the reader's  patience
 with me through a parenthesis4         
,among the foremost men whose power has 
had to assert itself1 though with       
conquest1 yet with countless loss1      
through peculiarly ,english             
disadvantages of circumstance1 are      
assuredly to be ranked together1 both   
for honor1 and for mourning1 ,thomas    
,bewick and ,george ,cruikshank4  ,there
  is1 however1 less cause for regret in 
the instance of ,bewick4  ,we may       
understand that it was well for us once 
to see what an entirely keen and  true  
man's temper1 could achieve1 together1  

unhelped1 but also unharmed1  among the 
black bans and wolds of ,tyne4  ,but the
 genius of ,cruikshank has  been cast   
away in an utterly ghastly and          
lamentable manner3 his superb           
line-work1 worthy of any class of       
subject1 and his powers of conception   
and composition1 of which ,i cannot     
venture to estimate the range in their  
degraded application1 having been       
condemned1 by his fate1 to be spent     
either in rude jesting1 or in vain war  
with conditions of vice too low  alike  
for record or rebuke1 among the dregs of
 the ,british populace4  ,yet  perhaps  
,i am wrong in regretting even this3 it 
may be an appointed lesson  for         
futurity1 that the art of the best      
,english etcher in the nineteenth       
century1 spent on illustrations of the  
lives of burglars and drunkards1  should
 one day be seen in museums beneath     
,greek vases fretted with  drawings of  
the wars of ,troy1 or side by side with 
,drer's ,knight and  ,death4    #aci4   

,be that as it may1 ,i am at present    
glad to be able to refer to one  of     
these perpetuations1 by his strong hand1
 of such human character as  our        
faultless ,british constitution         
occasionally produces in  out-of-the-way
 corners4  ,it is among his             
illustrations of the ,irish  ,rebellion1
 and represents the pillage and         
destruction of a gentleman's  house by  
the mob4  ,they have made a heap in the 
drawing-room of the  furniture and      
books1 to set first fire to2 and are    
tearing up the floor  for its more      
easily kindled planks1 the less         
busily-disposed meanwhile  hacking round
 in rage1 with axes1 and smashing what  
they can with  butt-ends of guns4  ,i do
 not care to follow with words the      
ghastly truth  of the picture into its  
detail2 but the most expressive incident
 of the  whole1 and the one immediately 
to my purpose1 is this1 that one fellow 
has sat himself at the piano1 on which1 
hitting down fiercely with his  clenched

 fists1 he plays1 grinning1 such tune as
 may be so producible1 to  which melody 
two of his companions1 flourishing      
knotted sticks1 dance1  after their     
manner1 on the top of the instrument4   
#adj4  ,i think we have in this         
conception as perfect an instance as we 
require of the lowest supposable phase  
of immodest or licentious art in  music2
 the inner consciousness of good being  
dim1 even in the musician  and his      
audience1 and wholly unsympathized with1
 and unacknowledged by  the ,delphian1  
,vestal1 and all other prophetic and    
cosmic powers4  ,this  represented scene
 came into my mind suddenly one evening1
 a few weeks  ago1 in contrast with     
another which ,i was watching in its    
reality2  namely1 a group of gentle     
school-girls1 leaning over ,mr4 ,charles
 ,hall1  as he was playing a variation  
on ,home1 ,sweet ,home4  ,they had      
sustained  with unwonted courage the    
glance of subdued indignation with      
which1  having just closed a rippling   

melody of ,sebastian ,bach's 7much like 
what  one might fancy the singing of    
nightingales would be if they fed on    
honey  instead of flies71 he turned to  
the slight1 popular air4  ,but they had 
their own associations with it1 and     
besought for1 and obtained it1 and      
pressed close1 at first1 in vain1 to see
 what no glance could follow1 the       
traversing of the fingers4  ,they soon  
thought no more of seeing4  ,the wet    
eyes1 round-open1 and the little scarlet
 upper lips1 lifted1 and drawn  slightly
 together1 in passionate glow of utter  
wonder1 became  picture-like1           
porcelain-like1 in motionless joy1 as   
the sweet multitude  of low notes fell1 
in their timely infinities1 like summer 
rain4  ,only  ,la ,robbia himself 7nor  
even he1 unless with tenderer use of    
color than is  usual in his work7 could 
have rendered some image of that        
listening4    #ada4  ,but if the reader 
can give due vitality in his fancy to   
these two  scenes1 he will have in them 

representative types1 clear enough for  
all  future purpose1 of the several     
agencies of debased and perfect art4    
,and  the interval may easily and       
continuously be filled by mediate       
gradations4  ,between the entirely      
immodeset1 unmeasured1 and 7in evil     
sense7  unmannered1 execution with the  
fist2 and the entirely modest1 measured1
  and 7in the noblest sense7 mannered1  
or moral'd execution with the  finger2  
between the impatient and unpractised   
doing1 containing in itself  the witness
 of lasting impatience and idleness     
through all previous life1  and the     
patient and practised doing1 containing 
in itself the witness  of self-restraint
 and unwearied toil through all previous
 life2 between  the expressed subject   
and sentiment of home violation1 and the
 expressed  subject and sentiment of    
home love2 between the sympathy of      
audience1  given in irreverent and      
contemptuous rage1 joyless as the       
rabidness of a  dog1 and the sympathy of

 audience given in an almost appalled   
humility of  intense1 rapturous1 and yet
 entirely reasoning and reasonable      
pleasure2  between these two limits of  
octave1 the reader will find he can     
class1  according to its modesty1       
usefulness and grace1 or becomingness1  
all  other musical art4  ,for although  
purity of purpose and fineness of       
execution by no means go together1      
degree to degree 7since fine1 and       
indeed all but the finest1 work is often
 spent in the most wanton purpose  --as 
in all our modern opera--and the rudest 
execution is again often  joined with   
purest purpose1 as in a mother's song to
 her child71 still  the entire          
accomplishment of music is only in the  
union of both4  ,for the  difference    
between that all but finest and finest  
is an infinite one2  and besides this1  
however the power of the performer1 once
 attained1 may  be afterwards           
misdirected1 in slavery to popular      
passion or childishness1  and spend     

itself1 at its sweetest1 in idle        
melodies1 cold and ephemeral  7like     
,michael ,angelo's snow statue in the   
other art71 or else in vicious          
difficulty and miserable                
noise--crackling of thorns under the pot
 of  public sensuality--still1 the      
attainment of this power1 and the       
maintenance of it1 involve always in the
 executant some virtue or courage  of   
high kind2 the understanding of which1  
and of the difference between  the      
discipline which develops it and the    
disorderly efforts of the  amateur1 it  
will be one of our first businesses to  
estimate rightly4  ,and  though not     
indeed by degree to degree1 yet in      
essential relation 7as of  winds to     
waves1 the one being always the true    
cause of the other1 though  they are not
 necessarily of equal force at the same 
time17 we shall find  vice in its       
varieties1 with art-failure1--and virtue
 in its varieties1  with                
art-success1--fall and rise together2   

the peasant-girl's song at her          
spinning-wheel1 the peasant laborer's to
 the oaks and rills1--domestic  music1  
feebly yet sensitively skilful1--music  
for the multitude1 of  beneficent or of 
traitorous power1--dance-melodies1 pure 
and orderly1 or  foul and               
frantic1--march-music1 blatant in mere  
fever of animal  pugnacity1 or majestic 
with force of national duty and         
memory1--  song-music1 reckless1        
sensual1 sickly1 slovenly1 forgetful    
even of the  foolish words it effaces   
with foolish noise1--or thoughtful1     
sacred1  healthful1 artful1 forever     
sanctifying noble thought with          
separately  distinguished loveliness of 
belonging sound1--all these families and
  graduations of good or evil1 however  
mingled1 follow1 in so far as they  are 
good1 one constant law of virtue 7or    
life-strength1 which is the  literal    
meaning of the word1 and its intended   
one1 in wise men's mouths71  and in so  
far as they are evil1 are evil by       

outlawry and unvirtue1 or               
death-weakness4  ,then1 passing wholly  
beyond the domain of death1 we may      
still imagine the ascendant nobleness of
 the art1 through all the  concordant   
life of incorrupt creatures1 and a      
continually deeper harmony  of puissant 
words and murmurs made to bless1 until  
we reach          ,the undisturbed song 
of pure consent1        ,aye sung before
 the sapphire-colored throne4    #adb4  
,and so far as the sister arts can be   
conceived to have place or  office1     
their virtues are subject to a law      
absolutely the same as that of  music1  
only extending its authority into more  
various conditions1 owing  to the       
introduction of a distinctly            
representative and historical power1    
which acts under logical as well as     
mathematical restrictions1 and is       
capable of endlessly changeful fault1   
fallacy1 and defeat1 as well as of      
endlessly manifold victory4    #adc4    
,next to ,modesty1 and her delight in   

measures1 let us reflect a  little on   
the character of her adversary1 the     
,goddess of ,liberty1 and her  delight  
in absence of measures1 or in false     
ones4  ,it is true that there  are      
liberties and liberties4  ,yonder       
torrent1 crystal-clear1 and             
arrow-swift1 with its spray leaping into
 the air like white troops of  fawns1 is
 free enough4  ,lost1 presently1 amidst 
bankless1 boundless marsh  --soaking in 
slow shallowness1 as it will1 hither and
 thither1 listless  among the poisonous 
reeds and unresisting slime--it is free 
also4  ,we may  choose which liberty we 
like1--the restraint of voiceful rock1  
or the  dumb and edgeless shore of      
darkened sand4  ,of that evil liberty   
which men  are now glorifying and       
proclaiming as essence of gospel to all 
the earth1  and will presently1 ,i      
suppose1 proclaim also to the stars1    
with  invitation to them out of their   
courses1--and of its opposite           
continence1  which is the clasp and     

'chrusee perone' of ,aglaia's cestus1 we
 must try  to find out something true4  
,for no quality of ,art has been more   
powerful  in its influence on public    
mind2 none is more frequently the       
subject of  popular praise1 or the end  
of vulgar effort1 than what we call     
,freedom4  ,it is necessary to determine
 the justice or injustice of this       
popular  praise4    #add4  ,i said1 a   
little while ago1 that the practical    
teaching of the  masters of ,art was    
summed by the ,o of ,giotto4  ,you may  
judge my  masterhood of craft1 ,giotto  
tells us1 by seeing that ,i can draw a  
circle unerringly4  ,and we may safely  
believe him1 understanding him to  mean 
that1 though more may be necessary to an
 artist than such a power1  at least    
this power is necessary4  ,the qualities
 of hand and eye needful  to do this are
 the first conditions of artistic craft4
    #ade4  ,try to draw a circle        
yourself with the free hand1 and with a 
single line4  ,you cannot do it if your 

hand trembles1 nor if it is in the      
common sense of the word free4  ,so far 
from being free1 it must be as  if it   
were fastened to an inflexible bar of   
steel4  ,and yet it must move1  under   
this necessary control1 with perfect1   
untormented serenity of ease4    #adf4  
,that is the condition of all good work 
whatsoever4  ,all freedom is  error4    
,every line you lay down is either right
 or wrong2 it may be  timidly and       
awkwardly wrong1 or fearlessly and      
impudently wrong4  ,the  aspect of the  
impudent wrongness is pleasurable to    
vulgar persons1 and is  what they       
commonly call free execution2 the timid1
 tottering1  hesitating wrongness is    
rarely so attractive2 yet sometimes1 if 
accompanied with good qualities1 and    
right aims in other directions1 it      
becomes in a manner charming1 like the  
inarticulateness of a child2 but1       
whatever the charm or manner of the     
error1 there is but one question        
ultimately to be asked respecting every 

line you draw1 ,is it right or  wrong8  
,if right1 it most assuredly is not a   
free line1 but an  intensely continent1 
restrained1 and considered line2 and the
 action of  the hand in laying it is    
just as decisive1 and just as free1 as  
the  hand of a first-rate surgeon in a  
critical incision4  ,a great operator   
told me that his hand could check itself
 within about the two-hundredth  of an  
inch1 in penetrating a membrane2 and    
this1 of course1 without the  help of   
sight1 by sensation only4  ,with help of
 sight1 and in action on a  substance   
which does not quiver or yield1 a fine  
artist's line is  measurable in its     
proposed direction to considerably less 
than the  thousandth of an inch4    ,a  
wide freedom1 truly6    #adg4  ,the     
conditions of popular art which most    
foster the common ideas  about freedom1 
are merely results of irregularly       
energetic effort by men  imperfectly    
educated2 these conditions being        
variously mingled with  cruder          

mannerisms resulting from timidity1 or  
actual imperfection of  body4  ,northern
 hands and eyes are1 of course1 never so
 subtle as  ,southern2 and in very cold 
countries1 artistic execution is        
palsied4  ,the  effort to break through 
this timidity1 or to refine the         
bluntness1 may  lead to a licentious    
impetuosity1 or an ostentatious         
minuteness4  ,every  man's manner has   
this kind of relation to some defect in 
his physical  powers or modes of        
thought2 so that in the greatest work   
there is no  manner visible4  ,it is at 
first uninteresting from its quietness2 
the  majesty of restrained power only   
dawns gradually upon us1 as we walk     
towards its horizon4    ,there is1      
indeed1 often great delightfulness in   
the innocent manners of  artists who    
have real power and honesty1 and draw in
 this way or that1 as  best they can1   
under such and such untoward            
circumstances of life4  ,but  the       
greater part of the looseness1          

flimsiness1 or audacity of modern work  
is the expression of an inner spirit of 
license in mind and heart1  connected1  
as ,i said1 with the peculiar folly of  
this age1 its hope of1  and trust in1   
liberty1 of which we must reason a      
little in more general  terms4    #adh4 
,i believe we can nowhere find a better 
type of a perfectly free  creature than 
in the common house-fly4  ,nor free     
only1 but brave2 and  irreverent to a   
degree which ,i think no human          
republican could by any  philosophy     
exalt himself to4  ,there is no courtesy
 in him2 he does not  care whether it is
 king or clown whom he teases2 and in   
every step of his  swift mechanical     
march1 and in every pause of his        
resolute observation1  there is one and 
the same expression of perfect egotism1 
perfect  independence and               
self-confidence1 and conviction of the  
world's having  been made for flies4    
,strike at him with your hand1 and to   
him1 the  mechanical fact and external  

aspect of the matter is1 what to you it 
would be if an acre of red clay1 ten    
feet thick1 tore itself up from the     
ground in one massive field1 hovered    
over you in the air for a second1  and  
came crashing down with an aim4  ,that  
is the external aspect of it2  the inner
 aspect1 to his fly's mind1 is of a     
quite natural and  unimportant          
occurrence--one of the momentary        
conditions of his active  life4  ,he    
steps out of the way of your hand1 and  
alights on the back of  it4  ,you cannot
 terrify him1 nor govern him1 nor       
persuade him1 nor  convince him4  ,he   
has his own positive opinion on all     
matters2 not an  unwise one1 usually1   
for his own ends2 and will ask no advice
 of yours4  ,he has no work to do--no   
tyrannical instinct to obey4  ,the      
earthworm has  his digging2 the bee her 
gathering and building2 the spider her  
cunning  network2 the ant her treasury  
and accounts4  ,all these are           
comparatively  slaves1 or people of     

vulgar business4  ,but your fly1 free in
 the air1  free in the chamber--a black 
incarnation of caprice1 wandering1      
investigating1 flitting1 flirting1      
feasting at his will1 with rich  variety
 of choice in feast1 from the heaped    
sweets in the grocer's window  to those 
of the butcher's back-yard1 and from the
 galled place on your  cab-horse's back1
 to the brown spot in the road1 from    
which1 as the hoof  disturbs him1 he    
rises with angry republican buzz--what  
freedom is like  his8    #adi4  ,for    
captivity1 again1 perhaps your poor     
watch-dog is as sorrowful  a type as you
 will easily find4  ,mine certainly is4 
,the day is lovely1  but ,i must write  
this1 and cannot go out with him4  ,he  
is chained in the  yard because ,i do   
not like dogs in rooms1 and the gardener
 does not like  dogs in gardens4  ,he   
has no books1--nothing but his own weary
 thoughts  for company1 and a group of  
those free flies1 whom he snaps at1 with
  sullen ill success4  ,such dim hope as

 he may have that ,i may take him out   
with me1 will be1 hour by hour1 wearily 
disappointed2 or1 worse1 darkened  at   
once into a leaden despair by an        
authoritative ,no--too well  understood4
  ,his fidelity only seals his fate2 if 
he would not watch for  me1 he would be 
sent away1 and go hunting with some     
happier master3 but  he watches1 and is 
wise1 and faithful1 and miserable2 and  
his high animal  intellect only gives   
him the wistful powers of wonder1 and   
sorrow1 and  desire1 and affection1     
which embitter his captivity4  ,yet of  
the two1  would we rather be watch-dog  
or fly8    #aej4  ,indeed1 the first    
point we have all to determine is not   
how free  we are1 but what kind of      
creatures we are4  ,it is of small      
importance to  any of us whether we get 
liberty2 but of the greatest that we    
deserve it4  ,whether we can win it1    
fate must determine2 but that we will be
 worthy of  it we may ourselves         
determine2 and the sorrowfullest fate of

 all that we  can suffer is to have it  
without deserving it4    #aea4  ,i have 
hardly patience to hold my pen and go on
 writing1 as ,i  remember 7,i would that
 it were possible for a few consecutive 
instants to  forget7 the infinite       
follies of modern thought in this       
matter1 centred in  the notion that     
liberty is good for a man1              
irrespectively of the use he  is likely 
to make of it4  ,folly unfathomable6    
unspeakable6 unendurable to  look in the
 full face of1 as the laugh of a cretin4
  ,you will send your  child1 will you1 
into a room where the table is loaded   
with sweet wine  and fruit--some        
poisoned1 some not8--you will say to    
him1 ,choose freely1  my little child6  
,it is so good for you to have freedom  
of choice2 it  forms your               
character--your individuality6  ,if you 
take the wrong cup or  the wrong berry1 
you will die before the day is over1 but
 you will have  acquired the dignity of 
a ,free child8    #aeb4  ,you think that

 puts the case too sharply8  ,i tell    
you1 lover of  liberty1 there is no     
choice offered to you1 but it is        
similarly between  life and death4      
,there is no act1 nor option of act1    
possible1 but the  wrong deed or option 
has poison in it which will stay in your
 veins  thereafter forever4  ,never more
 to all eternity can you be as you might
  have been had you not done            
that--chosen that4  ,you have formed    
your  character1 forsooth6  ,no2 if you 
have chosen ill1 you have ,de-formed    
it1 and that for ever6  ,in some choices
 it had been better for you that  a     
red-hot iron bar struck you aside1      
scarred and helpless1 than that you  had
 so chosen4  ,you will know better next 
time6  ,no4  ,next time will  never     
come4  ,next time the choice will be in 
quite another aspect--  between quite   
different things1--you1 weaker than you 
were by the evil  into which you have   
fallen2 it1 more doubtful than it was1  
by the  increased dimness of your sight4

  ,no one ever gets wiser by doing      
wrong1  nor stronger4  ,you will get    
wiser and stronger only by doing right1 
whether forced or not2 the prime1 the   
one need is to do that1 under  whatever 
compulsion1 until you can do it without 
compulsion4  ,and then  you are a ,man4 
#aec4  ,what6 a wayward youth might     
perhaps answer1 incredulously1 no  one  
ever gets wiser by doing wrong8  ,shall 
,i not know the world best by  trying   
the wrong of it1 and repenting8  ,have  
,i not1 even as it is1  learned much by 
many of my errors8  ,indeed1 the effort 
by which  partially you recovered       
yourself was precious2 that part of your
 thought  by which you discerned the    
error was precious4  ,what wisdom and   
strength  you kept1 and rightly used1   
are rewarded2 and in the pain and the   
repentance1 and in the acquaintance with
 the aspects of folly and sin1  you have
 learned something2 how much less than  
you would have learned in  right paths  
can never be told1 but that it is less  

is certain4  ,your  liberty of choice   
has simply destroyed for you so much    
life and strength  never regainable4    
,it is true1 you now know the habits of 
swine1 and the  taste of husks2 do you  
think your father could not have taught 
you to  know better habits and          
pleasanter tastes1 if you had stayed in 
his house2  and that the knowledge you  
have lost would not have been more1 as  
well as  sweeter1 than that you have    
gained8  ,but it so forms my            
individuality  to be free6  ,your       
individuality was given you by ,god1 and
 in your race1  and if you have any to  
speak of1 you will want no liberty4     
,you will want  a den to work in1 and   
peace1 and light--no more1--in absolute 
need2 if  more1 in anywise1 it will     
still not be liberty1 but direction1    
instruction1 reproof1 and sympathy4     
,but if you have no individuality1 if   
there is no true character nor true     
desire in you1 then you will indeed     
want to be free4  ,you will begin early1

 and1 as a boy1 desire to be a  man2    
and1 as a man1 think yourself as good as
 every other4  ,you will  choose freely 
to eat1 freely to drink1 freely to      
stagger and fall1  freely1 at last1 to  
curse yourself and die4  ,death is the  
only real  freedom possible to us2 and  
that is consummate freedom1 permission  
for  every particle in the rotting body 
to leave its neighbor particle1 and     
shift for itself4  ,you call it         
corruption in the flesh2 but before it  
comes to that1 all liberty is an equal  
corruption in mind4  ,you ask for       
freedom of thought2 but if you have not 
sufficient grounds for thought1  you    
have no business to think2 and if you   
have sufficient grounds1 you  have no   
business to think wrong4  ,only one     
thought is possible to you if  you are  
wise--your liberty is geometrically     
proportionate to your folly4    #aed4   
,but all this glory and activity of our 
age2 what are they owing  to1 but to    
freedom of thought8  ,in a measure1 they

 are owing--what good  is in them--to   
the discovery of many lies1 and the     
escape from the power  of evil4  ,not to
 liberty1 but to the deliverance from   
evil or cruel  masters4  ,brave men have
 dared to examine lies which had long   
been  taught1 not because they were     
free-thinkers1 but because they were    
such  stern and close thinkers that the 
lie could no longer escape them4  ,of   
course the restriction of thought1 or of
 its expression1 by persecution1  is    
merely a form of violence1 justifiable  
or not1 as other violence is1  according
 to the character of the persons against
 whom it is exercised1  and the divine  
and eternal laws which it vindicates or 
violates4  ,we must  not burn a man     
alive for saying that the ,athanasian   
creed is  ungrammatical1 nor stop a     
bishop's salary because we are getting  
the  worst of an argument with him2     
neither must we let drunken men howl in 
the public streets at night4  ,there is 
much that is true in the part of  ,mr4  

,mill's essay on ,liberty which treats  
of freedom of thought2 some  important  
truths are there beautifully expressed1 
but many1 quite vital1  are omitted2 and
 the balance1 therefore1 is wrongly     
struck4  ,the liberty  of expression1   
with a great nation1 would become like  
that in a  well-educated company1 in    
which there is indeed freedom of speech1
 but  not of clamor2 or like that in an 
orderly senate1 in which men who        
deserve to be heard1 are heard in due   
time1 and under determined              
restrictions4  ,the degree of liberty   
you can rightly grant to a number  of   
men is in the inverse ratio of their    
desire for it2 and a general  hush1 or  
call to order1 would be often very      
desirable in this ,england of  ours4    
,for the rest1 of any good or evil      
extent1 it is impossible to say  what   
measure is owing to restraint1 and what 
to license where the right  is balanced 
between them4  ,i was not a little      
provoked one day1 a summer  or two      

since1 in ,scotland1 because the ,duke  
of ,athol hindered me from  examining   
the gneiss and slate junctions in ,glen 
,tilt1 at the hour  convenient to me2   
but ,i saw them at last1 and in         
quietness2 and to the  very restriction 
that annoyed me1 owed1 probably1 the    
fact of their being  in existence1      
instead of being blasted away by a      
mob-company2 while the  free paths and  
inlets of ,loch ,katrine and the ,lake  
of ,geneva are  forever trampled down   
and destroyed1 not by one duke1 but by  
tens of  thousands of ignorant tyrants4 
#aee4  ,so1 a ,dean and ,chapter may1   
perhaps1 unjustifiably charge me        
twopence for seeing a cathedral2 but    
your free mob pulls spire and all  down 
about my ears1 and ,i can see it no more
 forever4  ,and even if ,i  cannot get  
up to the granite junctions in the glen1
 the stream comes down  from them pure  
to the ,garry2 but in ,beddington ,park 
,i am stopped by the  newly-erected     
fence of a building speculator2 and the 

bright ,wandel1  divine of waters as    
,castaly1 is filled by the free public  
with old shoes1  obscene crockery1 and  
ashes4    #aef4  ,in fine1 the arguments
 for liberty may in general be summed in
 a  few very simple forms1 as follows3  
,misguiding is mischievous3 therefore   
guiding is4    ,if the blind lead the   
blind1 both fall into the ditch3        
therefore1 nobody  should lead anybody4 
,lambs and fawns should be left free in 
the fields2 much more bears and  wolves4
    ,if a man's gun and shot are his    
own1 he may fire in any direction he    
pleases4    ,a fence across a road is   
inconvenient2 much more one at the side 
of it4    ,babes should not be swaddled 
with their hands bound down to their    
sides3  therefore they should be thrown 
out to roll in the kennels naked4       
,none of these arguments are good1 and  
the practical issues of them are  worse4
  ,for there are certain eternal laws   
for human conduct which are  quite      
clearly discernible by human reason4    

,so far as these are  discovered and    
obeyed1 by whatever machinery or        
authority the obedience  is procured1   
there follow life and strength4  ,so far
 as they are  disobeyed1 by whatever    
good intention the disobedience is      
brought about1  there follow ruin and   
sorrow4  ,and the first duty of every   
man in the  world is to find his true   
master1 and1 for his own good1 submit to
 him2  and to find his true inferior1   
and1 for that inferior's good1 conquer  
him4  ,the punishment is sure1 if we    
either refuse the reverence1 or are  too
 cowardly and indolent to enforce the   
compulsion4  ,a base nation  crucifies  
or poisons its wise men1 and lets its   
fools rave and rot in the  streets4  ,a 
wise nation obeys the one1 restrains the
 other1 and cherishes  all4    #aeg4    
,the best examples of the results of    
wise normal evidence in ,art  will be   
found in whatever evidence remains      
respecting the lives of great  ,italian 
painters1 though1 unhappily1 in eras of 

progress1 but just in  proportion to the
 admirableness and efficiency of the    
life1 will be  usually the scantiness of
 its history4  ,the individualities and 
liberties  which are causes of          
destruction may be recorded2 but the    
loyal conditions  of daily breath are   
never told4  ,because ,leonardo made    
models of  machines1 dug canals1 built  
fortifications1 and dissipated half his 
art-power in capricious ingenuities1 we 
have many anecdotes of him2--but  no    
picture of importance on canvas1 and    
only a few withered stains of one  upon 
a wall4  ,but because his pupil1 or     
reputed pupil1 ,luini1 labored in       
constant and successful simplicity1 we  
have no anecdotes of him2--only         
hundreds of noble works4  ,luini is1    
perhaps1 the best central type of the   
highly-trained ,italian painter4  ,he is
 the only man who entirely united  the  
religious temper which was the          
spirit-life of art1 with the physical   
power which was its bodily life4  ,he   

joins the purity and passion of         
,angelico to the strength of ,veronese3 
the two elements1 poised in perfect     
balance1 are so calmed and restrained1  
each by the other1 that most of us  lose
 the sense of both4  ,the artist does   
not see the strength1 by reason  of the 
chastened spirit in which it is used3   
and the religious visionary  does not   
recognize the passion1 by reason of the 
frank human truth with  which it is     
rendered4  ,he is a man ten times       
greater than ,leonardo2--a  mighty      
colorist1 while ,leonardo was only a    
fine draughtsman in black1  staining the
 chiaroscuro drawing1 like a colored    
print3 he perceived and  rendered the   
delicatest types of human beauty that   
have been painted  since the days of the
 ,greeks1 while ,leonardo depraved his  
finer instincts  by caricature1 and     
remained to the end of his days the     
slave of an  archaic smile3 and he is a 
designer as frank1 instinctive1 and     
exhaustless as ,tintoret1 while         

,leonardo's design is only an agony of  
science1 admired chiefly because it is  
painful1 and capable of analysis  in its
 best accomplishment4  ,luini has left  
nothing behind him that is  not lovely2 
but of his life ,i believe hardly       
anything is known beyond  remnants of   
tradition which murmur about ,lugano and
 ,saronno1 and which  remain ungleaned4 
,this only is certain1 that he was born 
in the  loveliest district of ,north    
,italy1 where hills1 and streams1 and   
air  meet in softest harmonies4  ,child 
of the ,alps1 and of their divinest     
lake1 he is taught1 without doubt or    
dismay1 a lofty religious creed1 and  a 
sufficient law of life1 and of its      
mechanical arts4  ,whether lessoned  by 
,leonardo himself1 or merely one of many
 disciplined in the system of  the      
,milanese school1 he learns unerringly  
to draw1 unerringly and  enduringly to  
paint4  ,his tasks are set him without  
question day by day1  by men who are    
justly satisfied with his work1 and who 

accept it without  any harmful praise1  
or senseless blame4  ,place1 scale1 and 
subject are  determined for him on the  
cloister wall or the church dome2 as he 
is  required1 and for sufficient daily  
bread1 and little more1 he paints what  
he has been taught to design wisely1 and
 has passion to realize  gloriously3    
every touch he lays is eternal1 every   
thought he conceives is  beautiful and  
pure3 his hand moves always in radiance 
of blessing2 from  day to day his life  
enlarges in power and peace2 it passes  
away  cloudlessly1 the starry twilight  
remaining arched far against the night4 
#aeh4  ,oppose to such a life as this   
that of a great painter amidst the      
elements of modern ,english liberty4    
,take the life of ,turner1 in whom the  
artistic energy and inherent love of    
beauty were at least as strong as in    
,luini3 but1 amidst the disorder and    
ghastliness of the lower streets of     
,london1 his instincts in early infancy 
were warped into toleration of  evil1 or

 even into delight in it4  ,he gathers  
what he can of instruction  by          
questioning and prying among            
half-informed masters2 spells out some  
knowledge of classical fable2 educates  
himself1 by an admirable force1 to  the 
production of wildly majestic or        
pathetically tender and pure  pictures1 
by which he cannot live4  ,there is no  
one to judge them1 or to  command him3  
only some of the ,english upper classes 
hire him to paint  their houses and     
parks1 and destroy the drawings         
afterwards by the most  wanton neglect4 
,tired of laboring carefully1 without   
either reward or  praise1 he dashes out 
into various experimental and popular   
works--makes  himself the servant of the
 lower public1 and is dragged hither and
  thither at their will2 while yet1     
helpless and guideless1 he indulges his 
idiosyncrasies till they change into    
insanities2 the strength of his soul    
increasing its sufferings1 and giving   
force to its errors2 all the  purpose of

 life degenerating into instinct2 and   
the web of his work  wrought1 at last1  
of beauties too subtle to be understood1
 his liberty1  with vices too singular  
to be forgiven--all useless1 because    
magnificent  idiosyncrasy had become    
solitude1 or contention1 in the midst of
 a  reckless populace1 instead of       
submitting itself in loyal harmony to   
the  ,art-laws of an understanding      
nation4  ,and the life passed away in   
darkness2 and its final work1 in all the
 best beauty of it1 has already         
perished1 only enough remaining to teach
 us what we have lost4    #aei4  ,these 
are the opposite effects of ,law and of 
,liberty on men of the  highest powers4 
,in the case of inferiors the contrast  
is still more  fatal3 under strict law1 
they become the subordinate workers in  
great  schools1 healthily aiding1       
echoing1 or supplying1 with             
multitudinous  force of hand1 the mind  
of the leading masters3 they are the    
nameless  carvers of great              

architecture--stainers of               
glass--hammerers of iron--  helpful     
scholars1 whose work ranks round1 if not
 with1 their master's1  and never       
disgraces it4  ,but the inferiors under 
a system of license  for the most part  
perish in miserable effort299 a few     
struggle into  pernicious               
eminence--harmful alike to themselves   
and to all who admire  them2 many die of
 starvation2 many insane1 either in     
weakness of insolent  egotism1 like     
,haydon1 or in a conscientious agony of 
beautiful purpose  and warped power1    
like ,blake4  ,there is no probability  
of the persistence  of a licentious     
school in any good accidentally         
discovered by them2 there  is an        
approximate certainty of their          
gathering1 with acclaim1 round any      
shadow of evil1 and following it to     
whatever quarter of destruction it  may 
lead4      99 ,as ,i correct this sheet 
for press1 my ,pall ,mall ,gazette of   
last  ,saturday1 ,april #ag1 is lying on

 the table by me4  ,i print a few lines 
out  of it3       ,,an ,,artist',s      
,,death4--,a sad story was told at an   
inquest held in ,st4  ,pancras last     
night by ,dr4 ,lankester on the body of 
4 4 41 aged  fifty-nine1 a ,french      
artist who was found dead in his bed at 
his rooms in  4 4 4 ,street4  ,m4 4 4 41
 also an artist1 said he had known the  
deceased  for fifteen years4  ,he once  
held a high position1 and being anxious 
to  make a name in the world1 he five   
years ago commenced a large picture1    
which he hoped1 when completed1 to have 
in the gallery at ,versailles2 and  with
 that view he sent a photograph of it to
 the ,french ,emperor4  ,he also  had an
 idea of sending it to the ,english     
,royal ,academy4  ,he labored on  this  
picture1 neglecting other work which    
would have paid him well1 and  gradually
 sank lower and lower into poverty4     
,his friends assisted him1  but being   
absorbed in his great work1 he did not  
heed their advice1 and  they left him4  

,he was1 however1 assisted by the       
,french ,ambassador1 and  last          
,saturday1 he 7the witness7 saw         
deceased1 who was much depressed in     
spirits1 as he expected the brokers to  
be put in possession for rent4  ,he     
said his troubles were so great that he 
feared his brain would give way4  ,the  
witness gave him a shilling for which he
 appeared very thankful4  ,on  ,monday  
the witness called upon him1 but        
received no answer to his knock4  ,he   
went again on ,tuesday1 and entered the 
deceased's bedroom and found  him dead4 
,dr4 ,george ,ross said that when called
 into the deceased he had  been dead at 
least two days4  ,the room was in a     
filthy1 dirty condition1  and the       
picture referred to--certainly a very   
fine one--was in that room4  ,the       
post-mortem examination showed that the 
cause of death was fatty  degeneration  
of the heart1 the latter probably having
 ceased its action  through the mental  
excitement of the deceased4      #afj4  

,thus far the notes of ,freedom4  ,now1 
lastly1 here is some talk  which ,i     
tried at the time to make intelligible2 
and with which ,i close  this volume1   
because it will serve sufficiently to   
express the practical  relation in which
 ,i think the art and imagination of the
 ,greeks stand to  our own2 and will    
show the reader that my view of that    
relation is  unchanged1 from the first  
day on which ,i began to write1 until   
now4      999999      ,,the ,,hercules  
,,of ,,camarina4    ,,address ,,to ,,the
 ,,students ,,of ,,the ,,art ,,school   
,,of ,,south ,,lambert1 ,,march #ae1    
#ahfi4      #afa4  ,among the           
photographers of ,greek coins which     
present so many  admirable subjects for 
your study1 ,i must speak for the       
present of one  only3 the ,hercules of  
,camarina4  ,you have1 represented by a 
,greek  workman1 in that coin1 the face 
of a man and the skin of a lion's head4 
,and the man's face is like a man's     
face1 but the lion's skin is not like  a

 lion's skin4    #afb4  ,now there are  
some people who will tell you that      
,greek art is fine1  because it is true2
 and because it carves men's faces as   
like men's as it  can4    ,and there are
 other people who will tell you that    
,greek art is fine1  because it is not  
true2 and carves a lion's skin so as to 
look not at all  like a lion's skin4    
,and you fancy that one or the other of 
these sets of people must be  wrong1 and
 are perhaps much puzzled to find out   
which you should believe4    ,but       
neither of them are wrong1 and you will 
have eventually to believe1  or rather  
to understand and know1 in              
reconciliation1 the truths taught by    
each2 but for the present1 the teachers 
of the first group are those you  must  
follow4    ,it is they who tell you the 
deepest and usefullest truth1 which     
involves  all others in time4  ,greek   
art1 and all other art1 is fine when it 
makes  a man's face as like a man's face
 as it can4  ,hold to that4  ,all kinds 

of  nonsense are talked to you1         
nowadays1 ingeniously and irrelevantly  
about  art4  ,therefore1 for the most   
part of the day1 shut your ears1 and    
keep  your eyes open3 and understand    
primarily1 what you may1 ,i fancy1      
easily  understand1 that the greatest   
masters of all greatest                 
schools--,phidias1  ,donatello1 ,titian1
 ,velasquez1 or ,sir ,joshua            
,reynolds--all tried to make  human     
creatures as like human creatures as    
they could2 and that anything  less like
 humanity than their work1 is not so    
good as theirs4    ,get that well driven
 into your heads2 and don't let it out  
again1 at your  peril4    #afc4  ,having
 got it well in1 you may then further   
understand1 safely1  that three is a    
great deal of secondary work in pots1   
and pans1 and  floors1 and carpets1 and 
shawls1 and architectural ornament1     
which ought  essentially1 to be unlike  
reality1 and to depend for its charm on 
quite  other qualities than imitative   

ones4  ,but all such art is inferior and
  secondary--much of it more or less    
instinctive and animal1 and a  civilized
 human creature can only learn those    
principles rightly1 by  knowing those of
 great civilized art first--which is    
always the  representation1 to the      
utmost of its power1 of whatever it has 
got to  show--made to look as like the  
thing as possible4  ,go into the        
,national  ,gallery1 and look at the    
foot of ,correggio's ,venus there4      
,correggio  made it as like a foot as he
 could1 and you won't easily find       
anything  liker4  ,now1 you will find on
 any ,greek vase something meant for a  
foot1  or a hand1 which is not at all   
like one4  ,the ,greek vase is a good   
thing  in its way1 but ,correggio's     
picture is the best work4    #afd4  ,so1
 again1 go into the ,turner room of the 
,national ,gallery1 and  look at        
,turner's drawing of ,ivy ,bridge4  ,you
 will find the water in it  is like real
 water1 and the ducks in it are like    

real ducks4  ,then go  into the ,british
 ,museum1 and look for an ,egyptian     
landscape1 and you will  find the water 
in that constituted of blue zigzags1 not
 at all like  water2 and ducks in the   
middle of it made of blue lines1 looking
 not in  the least as if they could     
stand stuffing with sage and onions4    
,they are  very good in their way1 but  
,turner's are better4    #afe4  ,i will 
not pause to fence my general principle 
against what you  perfectly well know of
 the due contradiction1--that a thing   
may be  painted very like1 yet painted  
ill4  ,rest content with knowing that it
  must be like1 if it is painted well2  
and take this further general law3      
,imitation is like charity4  ,when it is
 done for love it is lovely2 when  it is
 done for show1 hateful4    #aff4       
,well1 then1 this ,greek coin is fine1  
first because the face is like  a face4 
,perhaps you think there is something   
particularly handsome in  the face1     
which you can't see in the photograph1  

or can't at present  appreciate4  ,but  
there is nothing of the kind4  ,it is a 
very regular1  quiet1 commonplace sort  
of face2 and any average ,english       
gentleman's1 of  good descent1 would be 
far handsomer4    #afg4  ,fix that in   
your heads also1 therefore1 that ,greek 
faces are not  particularly beautiful4  
,of that much nonsense against which you
 are to  keep your ears shut1 that which
 is talked to you of the ,greek ideal of
  beauty is the absolutest4  ,there is  
not a single instance of a very         
beautiful head left by the highest      
school of ,greek art4  ,on coins1 there 
is even no approximately beautiful one4 
,the ,juno of ,argos is a virago2  the  
,athena of ,athens grotesque1 the       
,athena of ,corinth is insipid2 and of  
,thurium1 sensual4  ,the ,siren ,ligeia1
 and fountain of ,arethusa1 on the      
coins of ,terina and ,syracuse1 are     
prettier1 but totally without           
expression1 and chiefly set off by their
 well-curled hair4  ,you might  have    

expected something subtle in ,mercuries2
 but the ,mercury of nus is  a very     
stupid-looking fellow1 in a cap like a  
bowl1 with a knob on the  top of it4    
,the ,bacchus of ,thasos is a drayman   
with his hair pomatum'd4  ,the ,jupiter 
of ,syracurse is1 however1 calm and     
refined2 and the ,apollo  of ,clazomen  
would have been impressive1 if he had   
not come down to us1  much flattened by 
friction4  ,but on the whole1 the merit 
of ,greek coins  does not primarily     
depend on beauty of features1 nor even1 
in the period  of highest art1 that of  
the statues4  ,you make take the ,venus 
of ,melos as  a standard of beauty of   
the central ,greek type4  ,she has      
tranquil1  regular1 and lofty features2 
but could not hold her own for a moment 
against the beauty of a simple ,english 
girl1 of pure race and kind heart4      
#afh4  ,and the reason that ,greek art1 
on the whole1 bores you 7and you  know  
it does71 is that you are always forced 
to look in it for something  that is not

 there2 but which may be seen every day1
 in real life1 all  round you2 and which
 you are naturally disposed to delight  
in1 and ought  to delight in4  ,for the 
,greek race was not at all one of       
exalted beauty1  but only of general and
 healthy completeness of form4  ,they   
were only1  and could be only1 beautiful
 in body to the degree that they were   
beautiful in soul 7for you will find1   
when you read deeply into the  matter1  
that the body is only the soul made     
visible74  ,and the ,greeks  were indeed
 very good people1 much better people   
than most of us think1  or than many of 
us are2 but there are better people     
alive now than the  best of them1 and   
lovelier people to be seen now than the 
loveliest of  them4    #afi4  ,then what
 are the merits of this ,greek art1     
which make it so  exemplary for you8    
,well1 not that it is beautiful1 but    
that it is  ,right499  ,all that it     
desires to do1 it does1 and all that it 
does1 does  well4  ,you will find1 as   

you advance in the knowledge of art1    
that its  laws of self-restraint are    
very marvelous2 that its peace of heart1
 and  contentment in doing a simple     
thing1 with only one or two qualities1  
restrictedly desired1 and sufficiently  
attained1 are a most wholesome  element 
of education for you1 as opposed to the 
wild writhing1 and  wrestling1 and      
longing for the moon1 and tilting at    
windmills1 and agony  of eyes1 and      
torturing of fingers1 and general       
spinning out of one's  soul into        
fiddle-strings1 which constitute the    
ideal life of a modern  artist4      99 
,compare above1 #aja4      ,also        
observe1 there is an entire masterhood  
of its business up to the  required     
point4  ,a ,greek does not reach after  
other people's strength1  nor outreach  
his own4  ,he never tries to paint      
before he can draw2 he  never tries to  
lay on flesh where there are no bones2  
and he never  expects to find the bones 
of anything in his inner consciousness4 

,those  are his first merits--sincere   
and innocent purpose1 strong            
common-sense  and principle1 and all the
 strength that follows on that strength4
    #agj4  ,but1 secondly1 ,greek art is
 always exemplary in disposition of     
masses1 which is a thing that in modern 
days students rarely look for1  artists 
not enough1 and the public never4  ,but1
 whatever else ,greek work  may fail of1
 you may always be sure its masses are  
well placed1 and their  placing has been
 the object of the most subtle care4    
,look1 for instance1  at the inscription
 in front of this ,hercules of the name 
of the town--  ,camarina4  ,you can't   
read it1 even though you may know       
,greek1 without  some pains2 for the    
sculptor knew well enough that it       
mattered very  little whether you read  
it or not1 for the ,camarina ,hercules  
could tell  his own story2 but what did 
above all things matter was1 that no ,k 
or ,a  or ,m should come in a wrong     
place with respect to the outline of the

  head1 and divert the eye from it1 or  
spoil any of its lines4  ,so the  whole 
inscription is thrown into a sweeping   
curve of gradually  diminishing size1   
continuing from the lion's paws1 round  
the neck1 up to  the forehead1 and      
answering a decorative purpose as       
completely as the  curls of the mane    
opposite4  ,of these1 again1 you cannot 
change or  displace one without         
mischief2 they are almost as even in    
reticulation as  a piece of basket-work2
 but each has a different form and a due
 relation  to the rest1 and if you set  
to work to draw that mane rightly1 you  
will  find that1 whatever time you give 
to it1 you can't get the tresses quite  
into their places1 and that every tress 
out of its place does an injury4  ,if   
you want to test your powers of accurate
 drawing1 you may make that  lion's mane
 your pons asinorum1 ,i have never yet  
met with a student who  didn't make an  
ass in a lion's skin of himself when he 
tried it4    #aga4  ,granted1 however1  

that these tresses may be finely placed1
 still  they are not like a lion's mane4
  ,so we come back to the question1--if 
the face is to be like a man's face1 why
 is not the lion's mane to be  like a   
lion's mane8  ,well1 because it can't be
 like a lion's mane without  too much   
trouble1--and inconvenience after that1 
and poor success1 after  all4  ,too much
 trouble1 in cutting the die into fine  
fringes and jags2  inconvenience after  
that1--because1 though you can easily   
stamp cheeks  and foreheads smooth at a 
blow1 you can't stamp projecting tresses
 fine  at a blow1 whatever pains you    
take with your die4    ,so your ,greek  
uses his common sense1 wastes no time1  
uses no skill1 and  says to you1 ,here  
is beautifully set tresses1 which ,i    
have carefully  designed and easily     
stamped4  ,enjoy them1 and if you cannot
 understand  that they mean lion's mane1
 heaven mend your wits4    #agb4  ,see1 
then1 you have in this work well-founded
 knowledge1 simple and  right aims1     

thorough mastery of handicraft1 splendid
 invention in  arrangement1 unerring    
common sense in treatment1--merits1     
these1 ,i think1  exemplary enough to   
justify our tormenting you a little with
 ,greek art4  ,but it has one merit more
 than these1 the greatest of all4  ,it  
always  means something worth saying4   
,not merely worth saying for that time  
only1 but for all time4  ,what do you   
think this helmet of lion's hide is     
always given to ,hercules for8  ,you    
can't suppose it means only that he     
once killed a lion1 and always carried  
its skin afterwards to show that  he    
had1 as ,indian sportsmen sent home     
stuffed rugs1 with claws at the         
corners1 and a lump in the middle which 
one tumbles over every time one  stirs  
the fire4  ,what was this ,nemean ,lion1
 whose spoils were evermore to  cover   
,hercules from the cold8  ,not merely a 
large specimen of ,felis ,leo1  ranging 
the fields of ,nemea1 be sure of that4  
,this ,nemean cub was one of  a bad     

litter4  ,born of ,typhon and           
,echidna1--of the whirlwind and the     
snake1--,cerberus his brother1 the      
,hydra of ,lerna his sister1--it must   
have been difficult to get his hide off 
him4  ,he had to be found in  darkness1 
too1 and dealt upon without weapons1 by 
grip at the throat--  arrows and club of
 no avail against him4  ,what does all  
that mean8    #agc4  ,it means that the 
,nemean ,lion is the first great        
adversary of life1  whatever that may   
be--to ,hercules1 or to any of us1 then 
or now4  ,the  first monster we have to 
strangle1 or be destroyed by1 fighting  
in the  dark1 and with none to help us1 
only ,athena standing by to encourage   
with  her smile4  ,every man's ,nemean  
,lion lies in wait for him somewhere4   
,the  slothful man says1 ,there is a    
lion in the path4  ,he says well4  ,the 
quiet  unslothful man says the same1 and
 knows it too4  ,but they differ in     
their  further reading of the text4     
,the slothful man says1 ,i shall be     

slain1  and the unslothful1 ,,it shall  
be4  ,it is the first ugly and strong   
enemy  that rises against us1 all future
 victory depending on victory over that4
  ,kill it2 and through all the rest of 
your life1 what was once dreadful is    
your armor1 and you are clothed with    
that conquest for every other1 and      
helmed with its crest of fortitude for  
evermore4    ,alas1 we have most of us  
to walk bare-headed2 but that is the    
meaning of  the story of ,nemea1--worth 
laying to heart and thinking of         
sometimes1  when you see a dish         
garnished with parsley1 which was the   
crown at the  ,nemean games4    #agd4   
,how far1 then1 have we got in our list 
of the merits of ,greek art  now8       
,sound knowledge4        ,simple aims4  
,mastered craft4        ,vivid          
invention4        ,strong common sense4 
,and eternally true and wise meaning4   
,are these not enough8  ,here is one    
more1 then1 which will find favor1 ,i   
should think1 with the ,british ,lion4  

,greek art is never frightened at       
anything2 it is always cool4    #age4   
,it differs essentially from all other  
art1 past or present1 in this           
incapability of being frightened4  ,half
 the power and imagination of  every    
other school depend on a certain        
feverish terror mingling with  their    
sense of beauty1--the feeling that a    
child has in a dark room1 or  a sick    
person in seeing ugly dreams4  ,but the 
,greeks never have ugly  dreams4  ,they 
cannot draw anything ugly when they try4
  ,sometimes they  put themselves to    
their wits'-end to draw an ugly         
thing1--the ,medusa's  head1 for        
instance1--but they can't do it1 not    
they1 because nothing  frightens them4  
,they widen the mouth1 and grind the    
teeth1 and puff the  cheeks1 and set the
 eyes a goggling2 and the thing is only 
ridiculous  after all1 not the least    
dreadful1 for there is no dread in their
 hearts4  ,pensiveness2 amazement2 often
 deepest grief and desolateness4  ,all  

these2  but terror never4  ,everlasting 
calm in the presence of all fate2 and   
joy  such as they could win1 not indeed 
in a perfect beauty1 but in beauty at   
perfect rest6  ,a kind of art this1     
surely1 to be looked at1 and thought    
upon sometimes with profit1 even in     
these latter days4    #agf4  ,to be     
looked at sometimes4  ,not continually1 
and never as a model  for imitation4    
,for you are not ,greeks2 but1 for      
better or worse1 ,english  creatures2   
and cannot do1 even if it were a        
thousand times better worth  doing1     
anything well1 except what your ,english
 hearts shall prompt1 and  your ,english
 skies teach you4  ,for all good art is 
the natural utterance  of its own people
 in its own day4    ,but also1 your own 
art is a better and brighter one than   
ever this ,greek  art was4  ,many       
motives1 powers1 and insights have been 
added to those  elder ones4  ,the very  
corruptions into which we have fallen   
are signs of  a subtle life1 higher than

 theirs was1 and therefore more fearful 
in its  faults and death4  ,christianity
 has neither superceded1 nor1 by itself1
  excelled heathenism2 but it has added 
its own good1 won also by many a        
,nemean contest in dark valleys1 to all 
that was good and noble in  heathenism2 
and our present thoughts and work1 when 
they are right1 are  nobler than the    
heathen's4  ,and we are not reverent    
enough to them1  because we possess too 
much of them4  ,that sketch of four     
cherub heads  from and ,english girl1 by
 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 at ,kensington1
 is an  incomparably finer thing than   
ever the ,greeks did4  ,ineffably tender
 in  the touch1 yet ,herculean in power2
 innocent1 yet exalted in feeling2 pure 
in color as a pearl2 reserved and       
decisive in design1 as this ,lion crest1
  --if it alone existed of such1--if it 
were a picture by ,zeuxis1 the only  one
 left in the world1 and you build a     
shrine for it1 and were allowed to  see 
it only seven days in a year1 it alone  

would teach you all of art  that you    
ever needed to know4  ,but you do not   
learn from this or any  other such work1
 because you have not reverence enough  
for them1 and are  trying to learn from 
all at once1 and from a hundred other   
masters  besides4    #agg4  ,here1 then1
 is the practical advice which ,i would 
venture to deduce  from what ,i have    
tried to show you4  ,use ,greek art as a
 first1 not a  final1 teacher4  ,learn  
to draw carefully from ,greek work2     
above all1 to  place forms correctly1   
and to use light and shade tenderly4    
,never allow  yourselves black shadows4 
,it is easy to make things look round   
and  projecting2 but the things to      
exercise yourselves in are the placing  
of  the masses1 and the modelling of the
 lights4  ,it is an admirable exercise  
to take a pale wash of color for all the
 shadows1 never reinforcing it          
everywhere1 but drawing the statue as if
 it were in far distance1 making  all   
the darks one flat pale tint4  ,then    

model from those into the lights1       
rounding as well as you can1 on those   
subtle conditions4  ,in your chalk      
drawings1 separate the lights from the  
darks at once all over2 then  reinforce 
the darks slightly where absolutely     
necessary1 and put your  whole strength 
on the lights and their limits4  ,then1 
when you have  learned to draw          
thoroughly1 take one master for your    
painting1 as you  would have done       
necessarily in old times by being put   
into his school  7were ,i to choose for 
you1 it should be among six men         
only--,titian1  ,correggio1 ,paul       
,veronese1 ,velasquez1 ,reynolds1 or    
,holbein74  ,if you are a  landscapist1 
,turner must be your only guide 7for no 
other great landscape  painter has yet  
lived72 and having chosen1 do your best 
to understand  your own chosen master1  
and obey him1 and no one else1 till you 
have  strength to deal with the nature  
itself round you1 and then1 be your own 
master1 and see with your own eyes4  ,if

 you have got masterhood or sight  in   
you1 that is the way to make the most of
 them2 and if you have  neither1 you    
will at least be sound in your work1    
prevented from immodest  and useless    
effort1 and protected from vulgar and   
fantastic error4    ,and so ,i wish you 
all1 good speed1 and the favor of       
,hercules and of the  ,muses2 and to    
those who shall best deserve them1 the  
crown of ,parsley  first and then of the
 ,laurel4