,ver4#jg_/bg_/ja99;,,end99              
,,greek ,,studies3 ,a ,,series ,,of     
,,essays  ,by ,,walter ,,horatio ,,pater
  ,e-text ,editor3 ,alfred ,j4 ,drake1  
,ph4,d4 ,electronic ,version #a4j _/    
,date #aj-ag-ja   ,,disclaimer ,,of     
,,damages  #a ,i ,,disclaim ,,all       
,,liability ,,to ,,you ,,for ,,damages1 
,,costs ,,and ,,expenses1 ,,including   
,,legal ,,fees1 ,,and  #b ,,you ,,have  
,,no ,,remedies ,,for ,,negligence ,,or 
,,under ,,strict ,,liability1 ,,or ,,for
 ,,breach ,,of ,,warranty ,,or          
,,contract1 ,,including ,,but ,,not     
,,limited ,,to ,,indirect1              
,,consequential1 ,,punitive ,,or        
,,incidental ,,damages1 ,,even ,,if     
,,you ,,give ,,notice ,,of ,,the        
,,possibility ,,of ,,such ,,damages4    
,,the ,e-,,texts ,,on ,,this ,,site     
,,are ,,provided ,,to ,,you ,,as-,,is4  
,,no ,,warranties ,,of ,,any ,,kind1    
,,express ,,or ,,implied1 ,,are ,,made  
,,to ,,you ,,as ,,to ,,the ,e-,,texts   
,,or ,,any ,,medium ,,they ,,may ,,be   

,,on1 ,,including ,,but ,,not ,,limited 
,,to ,,warranties ,,of ,,merchantability
 ,,or ,,fitness ,,for ,a ,,particular   
,,purpose4  ,some states do not allow   
disclaimers of implied warranties or the
 exclusion or limitation of             
consequential damages1 so the above     
disclaimers and exclusions may not apply
 to you1 and you may have other legal   
rights4    ,,greek ,,studies3 ,a        
,,series ,,of ,,essays ,,walter         
,,horatio ,,pater  ,,notes ,,by ,,the   
,e-,,text ,,editor3  ,reliability3      
,although ,i have done my best to ensure
 that the text you read is error-free in
 comparison with an exact reprint of the
 standard edition--,macmillan's #aiaj   
,library ,edition--please exercise      
scholarly caution in using it4  ,it is  
not intended as a substitute for the    
printed original but rather as a        
searchable supplement4  ,my e-texts may 
prove convenient substitutes for        
hard-to-get works in a course where both
 instructor and students accept the     

possibility of some imperfections in the
 text1 but if you are writing a         
scholarly article1 dissertation1 or     
book1 you should use the standard       
hard-copy editions of any works you     
cite4  ,pagination and ,paragraphing3   
,to avoid an unwieldy electronic copy1  
,i have transferred original pagination 
to brackets4  ,a bracketed numeral such 
as #bb indicates that the material      
immediately following the number marks  
the beginning of the relevant page4  ,i 
have preserved paragraph structure      
except for first-line indentation4      
,hyphenation3 ,i have not preserved     
original hyphenation since an e- text   
does not require line-end or page-end   
hyphenation4  ,greek typeface3 ,for this
 full-text edition1 ,i have             
transliterated ,pater's ,greek          
quotations4  ,if there is a need for the
 original ,greek1 it can be viewed at my
 site1 http3_/_/www4ajdrake4com_/etexts1
 a ,victorianist archive that contains  
the complete works of ,walter ,pater and

 many other nineteenth-century texts1   
mostly in first editions4               
,,contents      ,,greek ,,studies3 ,a   
,,series ,,of ,,essays  ,,walter ,,pater
  ,london3 ,macmillan1 #aiaj4 7,the     
,library ,edition47  ,e-text ,editor3   
,alfred ,j4 ,drake1 ,ph4,d4  ,electronic
 ,version #a4j _/ ,date #aj-ab-ja       
,disclaimer of ,damages for ,all ,texts 
on ,this ,web  ,e-text ,editor's ,note  
,preface by ,charles ,shadwell  ,a      
,study of ,dionysus3 ,the ,spiritual    
,form of ,fire and ,dew3 #i-eb  ,the    
,bacchanals of ,euripides3 #ec-hj  ,the 
,myth of ,demeter and ,persephone ,i4   
#ha-aab  ,the ,myth of ,demeter and     
,persephone ,,ii4 #aac-aea  ,hippolytus 
,veiled3 ,a ,study from ,euripides3     
#aeb-ahf  ,the ,beginnings of ,greek    
,sculpture--,i4 ,the ,heroic ,age of    
,greek ,art3 #ahg-bbc  ,the ,beginnings 
of ,greek ,sculpture--,,ii4 ,the ,age of
 ,graven ,images3 #bbd- #bej  ,the      
,marbles of ,aegina3 #bea-bfh  ,the ,age
 of ,athletic ,prizemen3 ,a ,chapter in 

,greek ,art3 #bfi-;end      ,,preface   
,,by ,,charles ,l4 ,,shadwell  #a ,,the 
present volume consists of a collection 
of essays by the late ,mr4 ,pater1 all  
of which have already been given to the 
public in various ,magazines2 and it is 
owing to the kindness of the several    
proprietors of those ,magazines that    
they can now be brought together in a   
collected shape4  ,it will1 it is       
believed1 be felt1 that their value is  
considerably enhanced by their          
appearance in a single volume1 where    
they can throw light upon one another1  
and exhibit by their connexion a more   
complete view of the scope and purpose  
of ,mr4 ,pater in dealing with the art  
and literature of the ancient world4    
,the essays fall into two distinct      
groups1 one dealing with the subjects of
 ,greek mythology and ,greek poetry1 the
 other with the history of ,greek       
sculpture and ,greek architecture4  ,but
 these two groups are not wholly        
distinct2 they mutually illustrate one  

another1 and serve to enforce ,mr4      
,pater's conception of the essential #b 
unity1 in all its many-sidedness1 of the
 ,greek character4  ,the god understood 
as the spiritual form of the things of  
nature is not only the key-note of the  
,study of ,dionysus99 and ,the ,myth of 
,demeter and ,persephone199 but         
reappears as contributing to the        
interpretation of the growth of ,greek  
sculpture499  ,thus1 though in the      
bibliography of his writings1 the two   
groups are separated by a considerable  
interval1 there is no change of view2 he
 had already reached the centre of the  
problem1 and1 the secret once gained1   
his mode of treatment of the different  
aspects of ,greek life and thought is   
permanent and consistent4  ,the essay on
 ,the ,myth of ,demeter and ,persephone 
was originally prepared as two lectures1
 for delivery1 in #ahge1 at the         
,birmingham and ,midland ,institute4    
,these lectures were published in the   
,fortnightly ,review1 in ,jan4 and ,feb4

 #ahgf4  ,the ,study of ,dionysus       
appeared in the same ,review in ,dec4   
#ahgf4  ,the ,bacchanals of ,euripides  
must have been written about the same   
time1 as a sequel to the ,study of      
,dionysus2 for1 in #ahgh1 ,mr4 ,pater   
revised the four essays1 with the       
intention1 apparently1 of publishing    
them collectively in a volume1 an       
intention afterwards abandoned4 #c ,the 
text now printed has1 except that of    
,the ,bacchanals1 been taken from proofs
 then set up1 further corrected in      
manuscript4  ,the ,bacchanals1 written  
long before1 was not published until    
#ahhi1 when it appeared in ,macmillan's 
,magazine for ,may4  ,it was reprinted1 
without alteration1 prefixed to ,dr4    
,tyrrell's edition of the ,bacchae4     
,hippolytus ,veiled first appeared in   
,august #ahhi1 in ,macmillan's          
,magazine4  ,it was afterwards          
rewritten1 but with only a few          
substantial alterations1 in ,mr4        
,pater's own hand1 with a view1         

probably1 of republishing it with other 
essays4  ,this last revise has been     
followed in the text now printed4  ,the 
papers on ,greek sculpture99 are all    
that remain of a series which1 if ,mr4  
,pater had lived1 would1 probably1 have 
grown into a still more important work4 
,such a work would have included one or 
more essays on ,phidias and the         
,parthenon1 of which only a fragment1   
though an important fragment1 can be    
found amongst his papers2 and it was to 
have been prefaced by an ,introduction  
to ,greek ,studies1 only a page or two  
of which was ever written4  #d ,this is 
not the place to speak of ,mr4 ,pater's 
private virtues1 the personal charm of  
his character1 the brightness of his    
talk1 the warmth of his friendship1 the 
devotion of his family life4  ,but a few
 words may be permitted on the value of 
the work by which he will be known to   
those who never saw him4  ,persons only 
superficially acquainted1 or by hearsay1
 with his writings1 are apt to sum up   

his merits as a writer by saying that he
 was a master1 or a consummate master of
 style2 but those who have really       
studied what he wrote do not need to be 
told that his distinction does not lie  
in his literary grace alone1 his        
fastidious choice of language1 his power
 of word-painting1 but in the depth and 
seriousness of his studies4  ,that the  
amount he has produced1 in a literary   
life of thirty years1 is not greater1 is
 one proof among many of the spirit in  
which he worked4  ,his genius was an    
infinite capacity for taking pains4     
,that delicacy of insight1 that gift of 
penetrating into the heart of things1   
that subtleness of interpretation1 which
 with him seems an instinct1 is the     
outcome of hard1 patient1 conscientious 
study4  ,if he had chosen1 he might1    
without difficulty1 have produced a far 
greater body of work of less value2 and 
from a worldly point of view1 he would  
have been wise4 ,such was not his       
understanding #e of the use of his      

talents4  ,cui multum datum est1 multum 
quaeretur ab eo4  ,those who wish to    
understand the spirit in which he       
worked1 will find it in this volume4    
,c4,l4,s4  ,oct4 #ahid4  ,,notes  #b4   
99,see p4 #cd4  #b4 99,see p4 #ajj4  #b4
 99,see pp4 #bbj1 #bed4  #c4 99,the     
,beginnings of ,greek ,sculpture was    
published in the ,fortnightly ,review1  
,feb4 and ,march #ahhj2 ,the ,marbles of
 ,aegina in the same ,review in ,april4 
,the ,age of ,athletic ,prizemen was    
published in the ,contemporary ,review  
in ,february of the present year4       
,a ,,study ,,of ,,dionysus3 ,,the       
,,spiritual ,,form ,,of ,,fire ,,and    
,,dew  #i ,,writers on mythology speak  
habitually of the religion of the       
,greeks4  ,in thus speaking1 they are   
really using a misleading expression1   
and should speak rather of religions2   
each race and class of ,greeks--the     
,dorians1 the people of the coast1 the  
fishers--having had a religion of its   
own1 conceived of the objects that came 

nearest to it and were most in its      
thoughts1 and the resulting usages and  
ideas never having come to have a       
precisely harmonised system1 after the  
analogy of some other religions4  ,the  
religion of ,dionysus is the religion of
 people who pass their lives among the  
vines4  ,as the religion of ,demeter    
carries us back to the cornfields and   
farmsteads of ,greece1 and places us1 in
 fancy1 among a primitive race1 in the  
furrow and beside the granary2 so the   
religion of ,dionysus carries us back to
 its vineyards1 and is a monument of the
 ways and thoughts of people whose days 
go by beside the winepress1 and #aj     
under the green and purple shadows1 and 
whose material happiness depends on the 
crop of grapes4  ,for them the thought  
of ,dionysus and his circle1 a little   
,olympus outside the greater1 covered   
the whole of life1 and was a complete   
religion1 a sacred representation or    
interpretation of the whole human       
experience1 modified by the special     

limitations1 the special privileges of  
insight or suggestion1 incident to their
 peculiar mode of existence4  ,now1 if  
the reader wishes to understand what the
 scope of the religion of ,dionysus was 
to the ,greeks who lived in it1 all it  
represented to them by way of one       
clearly conceived yet complex symbol1   
let him reflect what the loss would be  
if all the effect and expression drawn  
from the imagery of the vine and the cup
 fell out of the whole body of existing 
poetry2 how many fascinating trains of  
reflexion1 what colour and substance    
would therewith have been deducted from 
it1 filled as it is1 apart from the more
 aweful associations of the ,christian  
ritual1 apart from ,galahad's cup1 with 
all the various symbolism of the fruit  
of the vine4  ,that supposed loss is but
 an imperfect measure of all that the   
name of ,dionysus recalled to the ,greek
 mind1 under a single imaginable form1  
an outward body of flesh presented to   
the senses1 and comprehending1 as its   

animating soul1 a whole world of        
thoughts1 surmises1 greater and less    
experiences4  #aa ,the student of the   
comparative science of religions finds  
in the religion of ,dionysus one of many
 modes of that primitive tree-worship   
which1 growing out of some universal    
instinctive belief that trees and       
flowers are indeed habitations of living
 spirits1 is found almost everywhere in 
the earlier stages of civilisation1     
enshrined in legend or custom1 often    
graceful enough1 as if the delicate     
beauty of the object of worship had     
effectually taken hold on the fancy of  
the worshipper4  ,shelley's ,sensitive  
,plant shows in what mists of poetical  
reverie such feeling may still float    
about a mind full of modern lights1 the 
feeling we too have of a life in the    
green world1 always ready to assert its 
claim over our sympathetic fancies4     
,who has not at moments felt the        
scruple1 which is with us always        
regarding animal life1 following the    

signs of animation further still1 till  
one almost hesitates to pluck out the   
little soul of flower or leaf8  ,and in 
so graceful a faith the ,greeks had     
their share2 what was crude and inane in
 it becoming1 in the atmosphere of their
 energetic1 imaginative intelligence1   
refined and humanised4  ,the oak-grove  
of ,dodona1 the seat of their most      
venerable oracle1 did but perpetuate the
 fancy that the sounds of the wind in   
the trees may be1 for certain prepared  
and chosen ears1 intelligible voices2   
they could believe in the transmigration
 of souls into mulberry and laurel1 mint
 and hyacinth2 and the dainty           
,metamorphoses of ,ovid #ab are but a   
fossilised form of one morsel here and  
there1 from a whole world of            
transformation1 with which their nimble 
fancy was perpetually playing4          
,together with them1 says the ,homeric  
hymn to ,aphrodite1 of the ,hamadryads1 
the nymphs which animate the forest     
trees1 with them1 at the moment of their

 birth1 grew up out of the soil1        
oak-tree or pine1 fair1 flourishing     
among the mountains4  ,and when at last 
the appointed hour of their death has   
come1 first of all1 those fair trees are
 dried up2 the bark perishes from around
 them1 and the branches fall away2 and  
therewith the soul of them deserts the  
light of the sun4  ,these then are the  
nurses of the vine1 bracing it with     
interchange of sun and shade4  ,they    
bathe1 they dance1 they sing songs of   
enchantment1 so that those who seem     
oddly in love with nature1 and strange  
among their fellows1 are still said to  
be nympholepti2 above all1 they are     
weavers or spinsters1 spinning or       
weaving with airiest fingers1 and       
subtlest1 many-coloured threads1 the    
foliage of the trees1 the petals of     
flowers1 the skins of the fruit1 the    
long thin stalks on which the poplar    
leaves are set so lightly that ,homer   
compares to them1 in their constant     
motion1 the maids who sit spinning in   

the house of ,alcinous4  ,the nymphs of 
,naxos1 where the grape-skin is darkest1
 weave for him a purple robe4  ,only1   
the ivy is never transformed1 is visible
 as natural ivy to the last1 pressing   
the #ac dark outline of its leaves close
 upon the firm1 white1 quite human flesh
 of the god's forehead4  ,in its        
earliest form1 then1 the religion of    
,dionysus presents us with the most     
graceful phase of this graceful worship1
 occupying a place between the ruder    
fancies of half-civilised people        
concerning life in flower or tree1 and  
the dreamy after-fancies of the poet of 
the ,sensitive ,plant4  ,he is the soul 
of the individual vine1 first2 the young
 vine at the house-door of the newly    
married1 for instance1 as the           
vine-grower stoops over it1 coaxing and 
nursing it1 like a pet animal or a      
little child2 afterwards1 the soul of   
the whole species1 the spirit of fire   
and dew1 alive and leaping in a thousand
 vines1 as the higher intelligence1     

brooding more deeply over things1       
pursues1 in thought1 the generation of  
sweetness and strength in the veins of  
the tree1 the transformation of water   
into wine1 little by little2 noting all 
the influences upon it of the heaven    
above and the earth beneath2 and        
shadowing forth1 in each pause of the   
process1 an intervening person--what is 
to us but the secret chemistry of nature
 being to them the mediation of living  
spirits4  ,so they passed on to think of
 ,dionysus 7naming him at last from the 
brightness of the sky and the moisture  
of the earth7 not merely as the soul of 
the vine1 but of all that life in       
flowing things of which the vine is the 
symbol1 because its most emphatic       
example4  ,at ,delos he bears a son1    
from whom #ad in turn spring the three  
mysterious sisters ,oeno1 ,spermo1 and  
,elais1 who1 dwelling in the island1    
exercise respectively the gifts of      
turning all things at will into oil1 and
 corn1 and wine4 ,in the ,bacchae of    

,euripides1 he gives his followers1 by  
miracle1 honey and milk1 and the water  
gushes for them from the smitten rock4  
,he comes at last to have a scope equal 
to that of ,demeter1 a realm as wide and
 mysterious as hers2 the whole          
productive power of the earth is in him1
 and the explanation of its annual      
change4  ,as some embody their          
intuitions of that power in corn1 so    
others in wine4  ,he is the dispenser of
 the earth's hidden wealth1 giver of    
riches through the vine1 as ,demeter    
through the grain4  ,and as ,demeter    
sends the airy1 dainty-wheeled and      
dainty-winged spirit of ,triptolemus to 
bear her gifts abroad on all winds1 so  
,dionysus goes on his eastern journey1  
with its many intricate adventures1 on  
which he carries his gifts to every     
people4  ,a little ,olympus outside the 
greater1 ,i said1 of ,dionysus and his  
companions2 he is the centre of a cycle1
 the hierarchy of the creatures of water
 and sunlight in many degrees2 and that 

fantastic system of tree-worship places 
round him1 not the fondly whispering    
spirits of the more graceful inhabitants
 of woodland only1 the nymphs of the    
poplar and the pine1 but the whole satyr
 circle1 intervening between the        
headship of the vine and the mere earth1
 the grosser1 less human #ae spirits1   
incorporate and made visible1 of the    
more coarse and sluggish sorts of       
vegetable strength1 the fig1 the reed1  
the ineradicable weed-things which will 
attach themselves1 climbing about the   
vine-poles1 or seeking the sun between  
the hot stones4  ,for as ,dionysus1 the 
spiritual form of the vine1 is of the   
highest human type1 so the fig-tree and 
the reed have animal souls1 mistakeable 
in the thoughts of a later1 imperfectly 
remembering age1 for mere abstractions  
of animal nature2 ,snubnose1 and        
,sweetwine1 and ,silenus1 the oldest of 
them all1 so old that he has come to    
have the gift of prophecy4  ,quite      
different from them in origin and       

intent1 but confused with them in form1 
are those other companions of ,dionysus1
 ,pan and his children4  ,home-spun     
dream of simple people1 and like them in
 the uneventful tenour of his existence1
 he has almost no story2 he is but a    
presence2 the spiritual form of         
,arcadia1 and the ways of human life    
there2 the reflexion1 in sacred image or
 ideal1 of its flocks1 and orchards1 and
 wild honey2 the dangers of its hunters2
 its weariness in noonday heat2 its     
children1 agile as the goats they tend1 
who run1 in their picturesque rags1     
across the solitary wanderer's path1 to 
startle him1 in the unfamiliar upper    
places2 its one adornment and solace    
being the dance to the homely shepherd's
 pipe1 cut by ,pan first from the sedges
 of the brook ,molpeia4  ,breathing of  
remote nature1 the sense of which #af is
 so profound in the ,homeric hymn to    
,pan1 the pines1 the foldings of the    
hills1 the leaping streams1 the strange 
echoings and dying of sound on the      

heights1 the bird1 which among the      
petals of many-flowered spring1 pouring 
out a dirge1 sends forth her            
honey-voiced song1 the crocus and the   
hyacinth disorderly mixed in the deep   
grass--things which the religion of     
,dionysus loves--,pan joins the company 
of the ,satyrs4 ,amongst them1 they give
 their names to insolence and mockery1  
and the finer sorts of malice1 to       
unmeaning and ridiculous fear4  ,but the
 best spirits have found in them also a 
certain human pathos1 as in displaced   
beings1 coming even nearer to most men1 
in their very roughness1 than the noble 
and delicate person of the vine2 dubious
 creatures1 half-way between the animal 
and human kinds1 speculating wistfully  
on their being1 because not wholly      
understanding themselves and their place
 in nature2 as the animals seem always  
to have this expression to some         
noticeable degree in the presence of    
man4  ,in the later school of ,attic    
sculpture they are treated with more and

 more of refinement1 till in some happy 
moment ,praxiteles conceived a model1   
often repeated1 which concentrates this 
sentiment of true humour concerning     
them2 a model of dainty natural ease in 
posture1 but with the legs slightly     
crossed1 as only lowly-bred gods are    
used to carry them1 and with some       
puzzled trouble of youth1 you might wish
 for a moment #ag to smoothe away1      
puckering the forehead a little1 between
 the pointed ears1 on which the goodly  
hair of his animal strength grows low4  
,little by little1 the signs of brute   
nature are subordinated1 or disappear2  
and at last1 ,robetta1 a humble ,italian
 engraver of the fifteenth century1     
entering into the ,greek fancy because  
it belongs to all ages1 has expressed it
 in its most exquisite form1 in a design
 of ,ceres and her children1 of whom    
their mother is no longer afraid1 as in 
the ,homeric hymn to ,pan4  ,the puck-  
noses have grown delicate1 so that1 with
 ,plato's infatuated lover1 you may call

 them winsome1 if you please2 and no one
 would wish those hairy little shanks   
away1 with which one of the small ,pans 
walks at her side1 grasping her skirt   
stoutly2 while the other1 the sick or   
weary one1 rides in the arms of ,ceres  
herself1 who in graceful ,italian dress1
 and decked airily with fruit and corn1 
steps across a country of cut sheaves1  
pressing it closely to her1 with a      
child's peevish trouble in its face1 and
 its small goat-legs and tiny hoofs     
folded over together1 precisely after   
the manner of a little child4  ,there is
 one element in the conception of       
,dionysus1 which his connexion with the 
satyrs1 ,marsyas being one of them1 and 
with ,pan1 from whom the flute passed to
 all the shepherds of ,theocritus1 alike
 illustrates1 his interest1 namely1 in  
one of the great species of music4  ,one
 form of that wilder vegetation1 of     
which the ,satyr race is the soul made  
visible1 is the reed1 which #ah the     
creature plucks and trims into musical  

pipes4  ,and as ,apollo inspires and    
rules over all the music of strings1 so 
,dionysus inspires and rules over all   
the music of the reed1 the water-plant1 
in which the ideas of water and of      
vegetable life are brought close        
together1 natural property1 therefore1  
of the spirit of life in the green sap4 
,i said that the religion of ,dionysus  
was1 for those who lived in it1 a       
complete religion1 a complete sacred    
representation and interpretation of the
 whole of life2 and as1 in his relation 
to the vine1 he fills for them the place
 of ,demeter1 is the life of the earth  
through the grape as she through the    
grain1 so1 in this other phase of his   
being1 in his relation to the reed1 he  
fills for them the place of ,apollo2 he 
is the inherent cause of music and      
poetry2 he inspires2 he explains the    
phenomena of enthusiasm1 as             
distinguished by ,plato in the          
,phaedrus1 the secrets of possession by 
a higher and more energetic spirit than 

one's own1 the gift of self-revelation1 
of passing out of oneself through words1
 tones1 gestures4  ,a winged ,dionysus1 
venerated at ,amyclae1 was perhaps meant
 to represent him thus1 as the god of   
enthusiasm1 of the rising up on those   
spiritual wings1 of which also we hear  
something in the ,phaedrus of ,plato4   
,the artists of the ,renaissance        
occupied themselves much with the person
 and the story of ,dionysus2 and        
,michelangelo1 in a work still remaining
 in ,florence1 in which he essayed #ai  
with success to produce a thing which   
should pass with the critics for a piece
 of ancient sculpture1 has represented  
him in the fulness1 as it seems1 of this
 enthusiasm1 an image of delighted1     
entire surrender to transporting dreams4
  ,and this is no subtle after-thought  
of a later age1 but true to certain     
finer movements of old ,greek sentiment1
 though it may seem to have waited for  
the hand of ,michelangelo before it     
attained complete realisation4  ,the    

head of ,ion leans1 as they recline at  
the banquet1 on the shoulder of         
,charmides2 he mutters in his sleep of  
things seen therein1 but awakes as the  
flute-players enter1 whom ,charmides has
 hired for his birthday supper4  ,the   
soul of ,callias1 who sits on the other 
side of ,charmides1 flashes out2 he     
counterfeits1 with life-like gesture1   
the personal tricks of friend or foe2 or
 the things he could never utter before1
 he finds words for now2 the secrets of 
life are on his lips4  ,it is in this   
loosening of the lips and heart1        
strictly1 that ,dionysus is the         
,deliverer1 ,eleutherios2 and of such   
enthusiasm1 or ecstasy1 is1 in a certain
 sense1 an older patron than ,apollo    
himself4  ,even at ,delphi1 the centre  
of ,greek inspiration and of the        
religion of ,apollo1 his claim always   
maintained itself2 and signs are not    
wanting that ,apollo was but a later    
comer there4  ,there1 under his later   
reign1 hard by the golden image of      

,apollo himself1 near the sacred tripod 
on which the ,pythia sat to prophesy1   
was to be seen a strange object--a sort 
#bj of coffin or cinerary urn with the  
inscription1 ,here lieth the body of    
,dionysus1 the son of ,semele4  ,the    
pediment of the great temple was divided
 between them--,apollo with the nine    
,muses on that side1 ,dionysus1 with    
perhaps three times three ,graces1 on   
this4  ,a third of the whole year was   
held sacred to him2 the four winter     
months were the months of ,dionysus2 and
 in the shrine of ,apollo itself he was 
worshipped with almost equal devotion4  
,the religion of ,dionysus takes us     
back1 then1 into that old ,greek life of
 the vineyards1 as we see it on many    
painted vases1 with much there as we    
should find it now1 as we see it in     
,bennozzo ,gozzoli's mediaeval fresco of
 the ,invention of ,wine in the ,campo  
,santo at ,pisa- -the family of ,noah   
presented among all the circumstances of
 a ,tuscan vineyard1 around the press   

from which the first wine is flowing1 a 
painted idyll1 with its vintage colours 
still opulent in decay1 and not without 
its solemn touch of biblical symbolism4 
,for differences1 we detect in that     
primitive life1 and under that ,greek   
sky1 a nimbler play of fancy1 lightly   
and unsuspiciously investing all things 
with personal aspect and incident1 and a
 certain mystical apprehension1 now     
almost departed1 of unseen powers beyond
 the material veil of things1           
corresponding to the exceptional vigour 
and variety of the ,greek organisation4 
,this peasant life lies1 in unhistoric  
time1 behind the definite forms with    
which poetry and a refined #ba          
priesthood afterwards clothed the       
religion of ,dionysus2 and the mere     
scenery and circumstances of the        
vineyard have determined many things in 
its development4  ,the noise of the     
vineyard still sounds in some of his    
epithets1 perhaps in his best-known     
name--,iacchus1 ,bacchus4 ,the masks    

suspended on base or cornice1 so        
familiar an ornament in later ,greek    
architecture1 are the little faces      
hanging from the vines1 and moving in   
the wind1 to scare the birds4  ,that    
garland of ivy1 the aesthetic value of  
which is so great in the later imagery  
of ,dionysus and his descendants1 the   
leaves of which1 floating from his hair1
 become so noble in the hands of ,titian
 and ,tintoret1 was actually worn on the
 head for coolness2 his earliest and    
most sacred images were wrought in the  
wood of the vine4  ,the people of the   
vineyard had their feast1 the little or 
country ,dionysia1 which still lived on1
 side by side with the greater          
ceremonies of a later time1 celebrated  
in ,december1 the time of the storing of
 the new wine4  ,it was then that the   
potters' fair came1 calpis and amphora1 
together with lamps against the winter1 
laid out in order for the choice of     
buyers2 for ,keramus1 the ,greek ,vase1 
is a son of ,dionysus1 of wine and of   

,athene1 who teaches men all serviceable
 and decorative art4 ,then the goat was 
killed1 and its blood poured out at the 
root of the vines2 and ,dionysus        
literally drank the blood of goats2 and1
 being ,greeks1 with quick and mobile   
sympathies1 #bb deisidaimones1          
superstitious1 or rather susceptible of 
religious impressions1 some among them1 
remembering those departed since last   
year1 add yet a little more1 and a      
little wine and water for the dead also2
 brooding how the sense of these things 
might pass below the roots1 to spirits  
hungry and thirsty1 perhaps1 in their   
shadowy homes4  ,but the gaiety1 that   
gaiety which ,aristophanes in the       
,acharnians has depicted with so many   
vivid touches1 as a thing of which civil
 war had deprived the villages of       
,attica1 preponderates over the grave4  
,the travelling country show comes round
 with its puppets2 even the slaves have 
their holiday299 the mirth becomes      
excessive2 they hide their faces under  

grotesque masks of bark1 or stain them  
with wine-lees1 or potters' crimson     
even1 like the old rude idols painted   
red2 and carry in midnight procession   
such rough symbols of the productive    
force of nature as the women and        
children had best not look upon2 which  
will be frowned upon1 and refine        
themselves1 or disappear1 in the feasts 
of cultivated ,athens4  ,of the whole   
story of ,dionysus1 it was the episode  
of his marriage with ,ariadne about     
which ancient art concerned itself      
oftenest1 and with most effect4  ,here1 
although the antiquarian #bc may still  
detect circumstances which link the     
persons and incidents of the legend with
 the mystical life of the earth1 as     
symbols of its annual change1 yet the   
merely human interest of the story has  
prevailed over its earlier significance2
 the spiritual form of fire and dew has 
become a romantic lover4  ,and as a     
story of romantic love1 fullest perhaps 
of all the motives of classic legend of 

the pride of life1 it survived with     
undiminished interest to a later world1 
two of the greatest masters of ,italian 
painting having poured their whole power
 into it2 ,titian with greater space of 
ingathered shore and mountain1 and      
solemn foliage1 and fiery animal life2  
,tintoret with profounder luxury of     
delight in the nearness to each other1  
and imminent embrace1 of glorious bodily
 presences2 and both alike with         
consummate beauty of physical form4     
,hardly less humanised is the ,theban   
legend of ,dionysus1 the legend of his  
birth from ,semele1 which1 out of the   
entire body of tradition concerning him1
 was accepted as central by the         
,athenian imagination4  ,for the people 
of ,attica1 he comes from ,boeotia1 a   
country of northern marsh and mist1 but 
from whose sombre1 black marble towns   
came also the vine1 the musical reed cut
 from its sedges1 and the worship of the
 ,graces1 always so closely connected   
with the religion of ,dionysus4  ,at    

,thebes alone1 says ,sophocles1 mortal  
women bear immortal gods4  ,his mother  
is the daughter of ,cadmus1 himself     
marked out by #bd many curious          
circumstances as the close kinsman of   
the earth1 to which he all but returns  
at last1 as the serpent1 in his old age1
 attesting some closer sense lingering  
there of the affinity of man with the   
dust from whence he came4 ,semele1 an   
old ,greek word1 as it seems1 for the   
surface of the earth1 the daughter of   
,cadmus1 beloved by ,zeus1 desires to   
see her lover in the glory with which he
 is seen by the immortal ,hera4  ,he    
appears to her in lightning4  ,but the  
mortal may not behold him and live4     
,semele gives premature birth to the    
child ,dionysus2 whom1 to preserve it   
from the jealousy of ,hera1 ,zeus hides 
in a part of his thigh1 the child       
returning into the loins of its father1 
whence in due time it is born again4    
,yet in this fantastic story1 hardly    
less than in the legend of ,ariadne1 the

 story of ,dionysus has become a story  
of human persons1 with human fortunes1  
and even more intimately human appeal to
 sympathy2 so that ,euripides1          
pre-eminent as a poet of pathos1 finds  
in it a subject altogether to his mind4 
,all the interest now turns on the      
development of its points of moral or   
sentimental significance2 the love of   
the immortal for the mortal1 the        
presumption of the daughter of man who  
desires to see the divine form as it is2
 on the fact that not without loss of   
sight1 or life itself1 can man look upon
 it4  ,the travail of nature has been   
transformed into the pangs of the human 
mother2 and the poet dwells much on the 
pathetic incident of death in           
childbirth1 making #be ,dionysus1 as    
,callimachus calls him1 a seven months' 
child1 cast out among its enemies1      
motherless4  ,and as a consequence of   
this human interest1 the legend attaches
 itself1 as in an actual history1 to    
definite sacred objects and places1 the 

venerable relic of the wooden image     
which fell into the chamber of ,semele  
with the lightning-flash1 and which the 
piety of a later age covered with plates
 of brass2 the ,ivy- ,fountain near     
,thebes1 the water of which was so      
wonderfully bright and sweet to drink1  
where the nymphs bathed the new-born    
child2 the grave of ,semele1 in a sacred
 enclosure grown with ancient vines1    
where some volcanic heat or flame was   
perhaps actually traceable1 near the    
lightning-struck ruins of her supposed  
abode4  ,yet1 though the mystical body  
of the earth is forgotten in the human  
anguish of the mother of ,dionysus1 the 
sense of his essence of fire and dew    
still lingers in his most sacred name1  
as the son of ,semele1 ,dithyrambus4    
,we speak of a certain wild music in    
words or rhythm as dithyrambic1 like the
 dithyrambus1 that is1 the wild         
choral-singing of the worshippers of    
,dionysus4  ,but ,dithyrambus seems to  
have been1 in the first instance1 the   

name1 not of the hymn1 but of the god to
 whom the hymn is sung2 and1 through a  
tangle of curious etymological          
speculations as to the precise          
derivation of this name1 one thing seems
 clearly visible1 that it commemorates1 
namely1 the double birth of the         
vine-god2 that #bf he is born once and  
again2 his birth1 first of fire1 and    
afterwards of dew2 the two dangers that 
beset him2 his victory over two enemies1
 the capricious1 excessive heats and    
colds of spring4  ,he is pyrigens1 then1
 fire-born1 the son of lightning2       
lightning being to light1 as regards    
concentration1 what wine is to the other
 strengths of the earth4  ,and who that 
has rested a hand on the glittering     
silex of a vineyard slope in ,august1   
where the pale globes of sweetness are  
lying1 does not feel this8  ,it is out  
of the bitter salts of a smitten1       
volcanic soil that it comes up with the 
most curious virtues4  ,the mother      
faints and is parched up by the heat    

which brings the child to the birth2 and
 it pierces through1 a wonder of        
freshness1 drawing its everlasting green
 and typical coolness out of the midst  
of the ashes2 its own stem becoming at  
last like a tangled mass of tortured    
metal4  ,in thinking of ,dionysus1 then1
 as fire-born1 the ,greeks apprehend and
 embody the sentiment1 the poetry1 of   
all tender things which grow out of a   
hard soil1 or in any sense blossom      
before the leaf1 like the little        
mezereon-plant of ,english gardens1 with
 its pale-purple1 wine-scented flowers  
upon the leafless twigs in ,february1 or
 like the almond-trees of ,tuscany1 or  
,aaron's rod that budded1 or the staff  
in the hand of the ,pope when           
,tannhuser's repentance is accepted4    
,and his second birth is of the dew4    
,the fire of which he was born would    
destroy him in #bg his turn1 as it      
withered up his mother2 a second danger 
comes2 from this the plant is protected 
by the influence of the cooling cloud1  

the lower part of his father the sky1 in
 which it is wrapped and hidden1 and of 
which it is born again1 its second      
mother being1 in some versions of the   
legend1 ,hy--the ,dew4 ,the nursery1    
where ,zeus places it to be brought up1 
is a cave in ,mount ,nysa1 sought by a  
misdirected ingenuity in many lands1 but
 really1 like the place of the carrying 
away of ,persephone1 a place of fantasy1
 the oozy place of springs in the hollow
 of the hillside1 nowhere and           
everywhere1 where the vine was invented4
  ,the nymphs of the trees overshadow it
 from above2 the nymphs of the springs  
sustain it from below--the ,hyades1     
those first leaping maenads1 who1 as the
 springs become rain-clouds1 go up to   
heaven among the stars1 and descend     
again1 as dew or shower1 upon it2 so    
that the religion of ,dionysus connects 
itself1 not with tree-worship only1 but 
also with ancient water-worship1 the    
worship of the spiritual forms of       
springs and streams4  ,to escape from   

his enemies ,dionysus leaps into the    
sea1 the original of all rain and       
springs1 whence1 in early summer1 the   
women of ,elis and ,argos were wont to  
call him1 with the singing of a hymn4   
,and again1 in thus commemorating       
,dionysus as born of the dew1 the       
,greeks apprehend and embody the        
sentiment1 the poetry1 of water4 ,for   
not the heat only1 but its solace--the  
freshness of the #bh cup- -this too was 
felt by those people of the vineyard1   
whom the prophet ,melampus had taught to
 mix always their wine with water1 and  
with whom the watering of the vines     
became a religious ceremony2 the very   
dead1 as they thought1 drinking of and  
refreshed by the stream4  ,and who that 
has ever felt the heat of a southern    
country does not know this poetry1 the  
motive of the loveliest of all the works
 attributed to ,giorgione1 the ,fte     
,champtre in the ,louvre2 the intense   
sensations1 the subtle and far-reaching 
symbolisms1 which1 in these places1     

cling about the touch and sound and     
sight of it8  ,think of the darkness of 
the well in the breathless court1 with  
the delicate ring of ferns kept alive   
just within the opening2 of the sound of
 the fresh water flowing through the    
wooden pipes into the houses of ,venice1
 on summer mornings2 of the cry ,acqua  
frsca6 at ,padua or ,verona1 when the   
people run to buy what they prize1 in   
its rare purity1 more than wine1        
bringing pleasures so full of exquisite 
appeal to the imagination1 that1 in     
these streets1 the very beggars1 one    
thinks1 might exhaust all the philosophy
 of the epicurean4  ,out of all these   
fancies comes the vine-growers' god1 the
 spiritual form of fire and dew4        
,beyond the famous representations of   
,dionysus in later art and poetry--the  
,bacchanals of ,euripides1 the statuary 
of the school of ,praxiteles--a         
multitude of literary allusions and     
local #bi customs carry us back to this 
world of vision unchecked by positive   

knowledge1 in which the myth is begotten
 among a primitive people1 as they      
wondered over the life of the thing     
their hands helped forward1 till it     
became for them a kind of spirit1 and   
their culture of it a kind of worship4  
,dionysus1 as we see him in art and     
poetry1 is the projected expression of  
the ways and dreams of this primitive   
people1 brooded over and harmonised by  
the energetic ,greek imagination2 the   
religious imagination of the ,greeks    
being1 precisely1 a unifying or         
identifying power1 bringing together    
things naturally asunder1 making1 as it 
were1 for the human body a soul of      
waters1 for the human soul a body of    
flowers2 welding into something like the
 identity of a human personality the    
whole range of man's experiences of a   
given object1 or series of objects--all 
their outward qualities1 and the visible
 facts regarding them--all the hidden   
ordinances by which those facts and     
qualities hold of unseen forces1 and    

have their roots in purely visionary    
places4  ,dionysus came later than the  
other gods to the centres of ,greek     
life2 and1 as a consequence of this1 he 
is presented to us in an earlier stage  
of development than they2 that element  
of natural fact which is the original   
essence of all mythology being more     
unmistakeably impressed upon us here    
than in other myths4  ,not the least    
interesting point in the study of him   
is1 that he illustrates very clearly1   
not only the #cj earlier1 but also a    
certain later influence of this element 
of natural fact1 in the development of  
the gods of ,greece4  ,for the physical 
sense1 latent in it1 is the clue1 not   
merely to the original signification of 
the incidents of the divine story1 but  
also to the source of the peculiar      
imaginative expression which its persons
 subsequently retain1 in the forms of   
the higher ,greek sculpture4  ,and this 
leads me to some general thoughts on the
 relation of ,greek sculpture to        

mythology1 which may help to explain    
what the function of the imagination in 
,greek sculpture really was1 in its     
handling of divine persons4  ,that ,zeus
 is1 in earliest1 original1 primitive   
intention1 the open sky1 across which   
the thunder sometimes sounds1 and from  
which the rain descends--is a fact which
 not only explains the various stories  
related concerning him1 but determines  
also the expression which he retained in
 the work of ,pheidias1 so far as it is 
possible to recall it1 long after the   
growth of those later stories had       
obscured1 for the minds of his          
worshippers1 his primary signification4 
,if men felt1 as ,arrian tells us1 that 
it was a calamity to die without having 
seen the ,zeus of ,olympia2 that was    
because they experienced the impress    
there of that which the eye and the     
whole being of man love to find above   
him2 and the genius of ,pheidias had    
availed to shed1 upon the gold and ivory
 of the physical form1 the blandness1   

the breadth1 the smile of the open sky2 
the mild #ca heat of it still coming and
 going1 in the face of the father of all
 the children of sunshine and shower2 as
 if one of the great white clouds had   
composed itself into it1 and looked down
 upon them thus1 out of the midsummer   
noonday3 so that those things might be  
felt as warm1 and fresh1 and blue1 by   
the young and the old1 the weak and the 
strong1 who came to sun themselves in   
the god's presence1 as procession and   
hymn rolled on1 in the fragrant and     
tranquil courts of the great ,olympian  
temple2 while all the time those people 
consciously apprehended in the carved   
image of ,zeus none but the personal1   
and really human1 characteristics4  ,or 
think1 again1 of the ,zeus of ,dodona4  
,the oracle of ,dodona1 with its dim    
grove of oaks1 and sounding instruments 
of brass to husband the faintest whisper
 in the leaves1 was but a great         
consecration of that sense of a         
mysterious will1 of which people still  

feel1 or seem to feel1 the expression1  
in the motions of the wind1 as it comes 
and goes1 and which makes it1 indeed1   
seem almost more than a mere symbol of  
the spirit within us4  ,for ,zeus was1  
indeed1 the god of the winds also2      
,aeolus1 their so-called god1 being only
 his mortal minister1 as having come1 by
 long study of them1 through signs in   
the fire and the like1 to have a certain
 communicable skill regarding them1 in  
relation to practical uses4  ,now1      
suppose a ,greek sculptor to have       
proposed to himself to present #cb to   
his worshippers the image of this ,zeus 
of ,dodona1 who is in the trees and on  
the currents of the air4  ,then1 if he  
had been a really imaginative sculptor1 
working as ,pheidias worked1 the very   
soul of those moving1 sonorous creatures
 would have passed through his hand1    
into the eyes and hair of the image2 as 
they can actually pass into the visible 
expression of those who have drunk      
deeply of them2 as we may notice1       

sometimes1 in our walks on mountain or  
shore4  ,victory again--,nik--associated
 so often with ,zeus--on the top of his 
staff1 on the foot of his throne1 on the
 palm of his extended hand-- meant      
originally1 mythologic science tells us1
 only the great victory of the sky1 the 
triumph of morning over darkness4  ,but 
that physical morning of her origin has 
its ministry to the later aesthetic     
sense also4  ,for if ,nik1 when she     
appears in company with the mortal1 and 
wholly fleshly hero1 in whose chariot   
she stands to guide the horses1 or whom 
she crowns with her garland of parsley  
or bay1 or whose names she writes on a  
shield1 is imaginatively conceived1 it  
is because the old skyey influences are 
still not quite suppressed in her       
clear-set eyes1 and the dew of the      
morning still clings to her wings and   
her floating hair4  ,the office of the  
imagination1 then1 in ,greek sculpture1 
in its handling of divine persons1 is   
thus to condense the impressions of     

natural things into human form2 to      
retain that early mystical sense of     
water1 or wind1 or light1 in the #cc    
moulding of eye and brow2 to arrest it1 
or rather1 perhaps1 to set it free1     
there1 as human expression4  ,the body  
of man1 indeed1 was for the ,greeks1    
still the genuine work of ,prometheus2  
its connexion with earth and air        
asserted in many a legend1 not shaded   
down1 as with us1 through innumerable   
stages of descent1 but direct and       
immediate2 in precise contrast to our   
physical theory of our life1 which never
 seems to fade1 dream over it as we     
will1 out of the light of common day4   
,the oracles with their messages to     
human intelligence from birds and       
springs of water1 or vapours of the     
earth1 were a witness to that connexion4
  ,their story went back1 as they       
believed1 with unbroken continuity1 and 
in the very places where their later    
life was lived1 to a past1 stretching   
beyond1 yet continuous with1 actual     

memory1 in which heaven and earth       
mingled2 to those who were sons and     
daughters of stars1 and streams1 and    
dew2 to an ancestry of grander men and  
women1 actually clothed in1 or          
incorporate with1 the qualities and     
influences of those objects2 and we can 
hardly over-estimate the influence on   
the ,greek imagination of this mythical 
connexion with the natural world1 at not
 so remote a date1 and of the           
solemnising power exercised thereby over
 their thoughts4  ,in this intensely    
poetical situation1 the historical      
,greeks1 the ,athenians of the age of   
,pericles1 found themselves2 it was as  
if the actual roads on which men daily  
walk1 went up and on1 into a visible    
wonderland4  #cd ,with such habitual    
impressions concerning the body1 the    
physical nature of man1 the ,greek      
sculptor1 in his later day1 still free  
in imagination1 through the lingering   
influence of those early dreams1 may    
have more easily infused into human form

 the sense of sun1 or lightning1 or     
cloud1 to which it was so closely akin1 
the spiritual flesh allying itself      
happily to mystical meanings1 and       
readily expressing seemingly unspeakable
 qualities4  ,but the human form is a   
limiting influence also2 and in         
proportion as art impressed human form1 
in sculpture or in the drama1 on the    
vaguer conceptions of the ,greek mind1  
there was danger of an escape from them 
of the free spirit of air1 and light1   
and sky4  ,hence1 all through the       
history of ,greek art1 there is a       
struggle1 a ,streben1 as the ,germans   
say1 between the palpable and limited   
human form1 and the floating essence it 
is to contain4  ,on the one hand1 was   
the teeming1 still fluid world1 of old  
beliefs1 as we see it reflected in the  
somewhat formless theogony of ,hesiod2 a
 world1 the ,titanic vastness of which  
is congruous with a certain sublimity of
 speech1 when he has to speak1 for      
instance1 of motion or space2 as the    

,greek language itself has a primitive  
copiousness and energy of words1 for    
wind1 fire1 water1 cold1                
sound--attesting a deep susceptibility  
to the impressions of those things--yet 
with edges1 most often1 melting into    
each other4  ,on the other hand1 there  
was that limiting1 controlling tendency1
 #ce identified with the ,dorian        
influence in the history of the ,greek  
mind1 the spirit of a severe and wholly 
self-conscious intelligence2 bent on    
impressing everywhere1 in the products  
of the imagination1 the definite1       
perfectly conceivable human form1 as the
 only worthy subject of art2 less in    
sympathy with the mystical genealogies  
of ,hesiod1 than with the heroes of     
,homer1 ending in the entirely humanised
 religion of ,apollo1 the clearly       
understood humanity of the old ,greek   
warriors in the marbles of ,aegina4     
,the representation of man1 as he is or 
might be1 became the aim of sculpture1  
and the achievement of this the subject 

of its whole history2 one early carver  
had opened the eyes1 another the lips1 a
 third had given motion to the feet2 in 
various ways1 in spite of the retention 
of archaic idols1 the genuine human     
expression had come1 with the           
truthfulness of life itself4  ,these two
 tendencies1 then1 met and struggled and
 were harmonised in the supreme         
imagination1 of ,pheidias1 in           
sculpture--of ,aeschylus1 in the drama4 
,hence1 a series of wondrous            
personalities1 of which the ,greek      
imagination became the dwelling-place2  
beautiful1 perfectly understood human   
outlines1 embodying a strange1          
delightful1 lingering sense of clouds   
and water and sun4  ,such a world1 the  
world of really imaginative ,greek      
sculpture1 we still see1 reflected in   
many a humble vase or battered coin1 in 
,bacchante1 and ,centaur1 and ,amazon2  
#cf evolved out of that vasty deep2 with
 most command1 in the consummate        
fragments of the ,parthenon2 not1       

indeed1 so that he who runs may read1   
the gifts of ,greek sculpture being     
always delicate1 and asking much of the 
receiver2 but yet visible1 and a pledge 
to us1 of creative power1 as1 to the    
worshipper1 of the presence1 which1     
without that material pledge1 had but   
vaguely haunted the fields and groves4  
,this1 then1 was what the ,greek        
imagination did for men's sense and     
experience of natural forces1 in        
,athene1 in ,zeus1 in ,poseidon2 for    
men's sense and experience of their own 
bodily qualities--swiftness1 energy1    
power of concentrating sight and hand   
and foot on a momentary physical act--in
 the close hair1 the chastened muscle1  
the perfectly poised attention of the   
quoit-player2 for men's sense1 again1 of
 ethical qualities--restless idealism1  
inward vision1 power of presence through
 that vision in scenes behind the       
experience of ordinary men--in the      
idealised ,alexander4  ,to illustrate   
this function of the imagination1 as    

especially developed in ,greek art1 we  
may reflect on what happens with us in  
the use of certain names1 as expressing 
summarily1 this name for you and that   
for me--,helen1 ,gretchen1 ,mary--a     
hundred associations1 trains of sound1  
forms1 impressions1 remembered in all   
sorts of degrees1 which1 through a very 
wide and full experience1 they have the 
power of bringing with #cg them2 in     
which respect1 such names are but       
revealing instances of the whole        
significance1 power1 and use of language
 in general4  ,well1--the mythical      
conception1 projected at last1 in drama 
or sculpture1 is the name1 the          
instrument of the identification1 of the
 given matter1--of its unity in variety1
 its outline or definition in mystery2  
its spiritual form1 to use again the    
expression ,i have borrowed from        
,william ,blake--form1 with hands1 and  
lips1 and opened eyelids--spiritual1 as 
conveying to us1 in that1 the soul of   
rain1 or of a ,greek river1 or of       

swiftness1 or purity4  ,to illustrate   
this1 think what the effect would be1 if
 you could associate1 by some trick of  
memory1 a certain group of natural      
objects1 in all their varied            
perspective1 their changes of colour and
 tone in varying light and shade1 with  
the being and image of an actual person4
  ,you travelled through a country of   
clear rivers and wide meadows1 or of    
high windy places1 or of lowly grass and
 willows1 or of the ,lady of the ,lake2 
and all the complex impressions of these
 objects wound themselves1 as a second  
animated body1 new and more subtle1     
around the person of some one left      
there1 so that they no longer come to   
recollection apart from each other4     
,now try to conceive the image of an    
actual person1 in whom1 somehow1 all    
those impressions of the vine and its   
fruit1 as the highest type of the life  
of the green sap1 had become            
incorporate2--all the scents and colours
 of its flower and fruit1 and #ch       

something of its curling foliage2 the   
chances of its growth2 the enthusiasm1  
the easy flow of more choice expression1
 as its juices mount within one2 for the
 image is eloquent1 too1 in word1       
gesture1 and glancing of the eyes1 which
 seem to be informed by some soul of the
 vine within it3 as ,wordsworth says1   
,beauty born of murmuring sound ,shall  
pass into her face--  so conceive an    
image into which the beauty1 born of the
 vine1 has passed2 and you have the idea
 of ,dionysus1 as he appears1 entirely  
fashioned at last by central ,greek     
poetry and art1 and is consecrated in   
the ,oinophoria and the ,anthestria1 the
 great festivals of the ,winepress and  
the ,flowers4  ,the word wine1 and with 
it the germ of the myth of ,dionysus1 is
 older than the separation of the       
,indo-,germanic race4  ,yet1 with the   
people of ,athens1 ,dionysus counted as 
the youngest of the gods2 he was also   
the son of a mortal1 dead in childbirth1
 and seems always to have exercised the 

charm of the latest born1 in a sort of  
allowable fondness4  ,through the       
fine-spun speculations of modern        
ethnologists and grammarians1 noting the
 changes in the letters of his name1 and
 catching at the slightest historical   
records of his worship1 we may trace his
 coming from ,phrygia1 the birthplace of
 the more mystical elements of #ci      
,greek religion1 over the mountains of  
,thrace4  ,on the heights of ,pangaeus  
he leaves an oracle1 with a perpetually 
burning fire1 famous down to the time of
 ,augustus1 who reverently visited it4  
,southwards still1 over the hills of    
,parnassus1 which remained for the      
inspired women of ,boeotia the centre of
 his presence1 he comes to ,thebes1 and 
the family of ,cadmus4  ,from ,boeotia  
he passes to ,attica2 to the villages   
first2 at last to ,athens2 at an        
assignable date1 under ,peisistratus2   
out of the country1 into the town4  ,to 
this stage of his town-life1 that       
,dionysus of enthusiasm already         

belonged2 it was to the ,athenians of   
the town1 to urbane young men1 sitting  
together at the banquet1 that those     
expressions of a sudden eloquence came1 
of the loosened utterance and finer     
speech1 its colour and imagery4         
,dionysus1 then1 has entered ,athens1 to
 become urbane like them2 to walk along 
the marble streets in frequent          
procession1 in the persons of noble     
youths1 like those who at the           
,oschophoria bore the branches of the   
vine from his temple1 to the temple of  
,athene of the ,parasol1 or of beautiful
 slaves2 to contribute through the arts 
to the adornment of life1 yet perhaps   
also in part to weaken it1 relaxing     
ancient austerity4  ,gradually1 his     
rough country feasts will be outdone by 
the feasts of the town2 and as comedy   
arose out of those1 so these will give  
rise to tragedy4 ,for his entrance upon 
this new stage of his career1 his coming
 into the town1 is from the #dj first   
tinged with melancholy1 as if in        

entering the town he had put off his    
country peace4  ,the other ,olympians   
are above sorrow4  ,dionysus1 like a    
strenuous mortal hero1 like ,hercules or
 ,perseus1 has his alternations of joy  
and sorrow1 of struggle and hard-won    
triumph4  ,it is out of the sorrows of  
,dionysus1 then1--of ,dionysus in       
winter--that all ,greek tragedy grows2  
out of the song of the sorrows of       
,dionysus1 sung at his winter feast by  
the chorus of satyrs1 singers clad in   
goat-skins1 in memory of his rural life1
 one and another of whom1 from time to  
time1 steps out of the company to       
emphasise and develope this or that     
circumstance of the story2 and so the   
song becomes dramatic4  ,he will soon   
forget that early country life1 or      
remember it but as the dreamy background
 of his later existence4  ,he will      
become1 as always in later art and      
poetry1 of dazzling whiteness2 no longer
 dark with the air and sun1 but like one
 eskiatrofks--brought up under the shade

 of ,eastern porticoes or pavilions1 or 
in the light that has only reached him  
softened through the texture of green   
leaves2 honey-pale1 like the delicate   
people of the city1 like the flesh of   
women1 as those old vase-painters       
conceive of it1 who leave their hands   
and faces untouched with the pencil on  
the white clay4  ,the ruddy god of the  
vineyard1 stained with wine-lees1 or    
coarser colour1 will hardly recognise   
his double1 in the white1 graceful1     
mournful figure1 weeping1 chastened1    
lifting up his arms in yearning #da     
affection towards his late-found mother1
 as we see him on a famous ,etruscan    
mirror4  ,only1 in thinking of this     
early tragedy1 of these town- feasts1   
and of the entrance of ,dionysus into   
,athens1 you must suppose1 not the later
 ,athens which is oftenest in our       
thoughts1 the ,athens of ,pericles and  
,pheidias2 but that little earlier      
,athens of ,peisistratus1 which the     
,persians destroyed1 which some of us   

perhaps would rather have seen1 in its  
early simplicity1 than the greater one2 
when the old image of the god1 carved   
probably out of the stock of an enormous
 vine1 had just come from the village of
 ,eleutherae to his first temple in the 
,lenaeum--the quarter of the            
winepresses1 near the ,limnae--the      
marshy place1 which in ,athens          
represents the cave of ,nysa2 its little
 buildings on the hill-top1 still with  
steep rocky ways1 crowding round the    
ancient temple of ,erechtheus and the   
grave of ,cecrops1 with the old         
miraculous olive-tree still growing     
there1 and the old snake of ,athene     
,polias still alive somewhere in the    
temple court4  ,the artists of the      
,italian ,renaissance have treated      
,dionysus many times1 and with great    
effect1 but always in his joy1 as an    
embodiment of that glory of nature to   
which the ,renaissance was a return4    
,but in an early engraving of ,mocetto  
there is for once a ,dionysus treated   

differently4  ,the cold light of the    
background displays a barren hill1 the  
bridge and towers of #db an ,italian    
town1 and quiet water4 ,in the          
foreground1 at the root of a vine1      
,dionysus is sitting1 in a posture of   
statuesque weariness2 the leaves of the 
vine are grandly drawn1 and wreathing   
heavily round the head of the god1      
suggest the notion of his incorporation 
into it4  ,the right hand1 holding a    
great vessel languidly and              
indifferently1 lets the stream of wine  
flow along the earth2 while the left    
supports the forehead1 shadowing heavily
 a face1 comely1 but full of an         
expression of painful brooding4  ,one   
knows not how far one may really be from
 the mind of the old ,italian engraver1 
in gathering from his design this       
impression of a melancholy and sorrowing
 ,dionysus4  ,but modern motives are    
clearer2 and in a ,bacchus by a young   
,hebrew painter1 in the exhibition of   
the ,royal ,academy of #ahfh1 there was 

a complete and very fascinating         
realisation of such a motive2 the god of
 the bitterness of wine1 of things too  
sweet2 the sea-water of the ,lesbian    
grape become somewhat brackish in the   
cup4  ,touched by the sentiment of this 
subtler1 melancholy ,dionysus1 we may   
ask whether anything similar in feeling 
is to be actually found in the range of 
,greek ideas2--had some antitype of this
 fascinating figure any place in ,greek 
religion8  ,yes2 in a certain darker    
side of the double god of nature1       
obscured behind the brighter episodes of
 ,thebes and ,naxos1 but never quite    
forgotten1 something corresponding to   
this deeper1 more refined idea1 #dc     
really existed--the conception of       
,dionysus ,zagreus2 an image1 which has 
left1 indeed1 but little effect in      
,greek art and poetry1 which criticism  
has to put patiently together1 out of   
late1 scattered hints in various        
writers2 but which is yet discernible1  
clearly enough to show that it really   

visited certain ,greek minds here and   
there2 and discernible1 not as a late   
after- thought1 but as a tradition      
really primitive1 and harmonious with   
the original motive of the idea of      
,dionysus4  ,in its potential1 though   
unrealised scope1 it is perhaps the     
subtlest dream in ,greek religious      
poetry1 and is1 at least1 part of the   
complete physiognomy of ,dionysus1 as it
 actually reveals itself to the modern  
student1 after a complete survey4  ,the 
whole compass of the idea of ,dionysus1 
a dual god of both summer and winter1   
became ultimately1 as we saw1 almost    
identical with that of ,demeter4  ,the  
,phrygians believed that the god slept  
in winter and awoke in summer1 and      
celebrated his waking and sleeping2 or  
that he was bound and imprisoned in     
winter1 and unbound in spring4  ,we saw 
how1 in ,elis and at ,argos1 the women  
called him out of the sea1 with the     
singing of hymns1 in early spring2 and a
 beautiful ceremony in the temple at    

,delphi1 which1 as we know1 he shares   
with ,apollo1 described by ,plutarch1   
represents his mystical resurrection4   
,yearly1 about the time of the shortest 
day1 just as the light begins to        
increase1 #dd and while hope is still   
tremulously strung1 the priestesses of  
,dionysus were wont to assemble with    
many lights at his shrine1 and there1   
with songs and dances1 awoke the        
new-born child after his wintry sleep1  
waving in a sacred cradle1 like the     
great basket used for winnowing corn1 a 
symbolical image1 or perhaps a real     
infant4  ,he is twofold then--a         
,dppelganger2 like ,persephone1 he      
belongs to two worlds1 and has much in  
common with her1 and a full share of    
those dark possibilities which1 even    
apart from the story of the rape1 belong
 to her4  ,he is a ,chthonian god1 and1 
like all the children of the earth1 has 
an element of sadness2 like ,hades      
himself1 he is hollow and devouring1 an 
eater of man's flesh--sarcophagus--the  

grave which consumed unaware the        
ivory-white shoulder of ,pelops4  ,and  
you have no sooner caught a glimpse of  
this image1 than a certain perceptible  
shadow comes creeping over the whole    
story2 for1 in effect1 we have seen     
glimpses of the sorrowing ,dionysus1 all
 along4 ,part of the interest of the    
,theban legend of his birth is that he  
comes of the marriage of a god with a   
mortal woman2 and from the first1 like  
merely mortal heroes1 he falls within   
the sphere of human chances4  ,at first1
 indeed1 the melancholy settles round   
the person of his mother1 dead in       
childbirth1 and ignorant of the glory of
 her son2 in shame1 according to        
,euripides2 punished1 as her own sisters
 allege1 for impiety4  ,the death of    
,semele #de is a sort of ideal or type  
of this peculiar claim on human pity1 as
 the descent of ,persephone into ,hades1
 of all human pity over the early death 
of women4  ,accordingly1 his triumph    
being now consummated1 he descends into 

,hades1 through the unfathomable        
,alcyonian lake1 according to the most  
central version of the legend1 to bring 
her up from thence2 and that ,hermes1   
the shadowy conductor of souls1 is      
constantly associated with ,dionysus1 in
 the story of his early life1 is not    
without significance in this connexion4 
,as in ,delphi the winter months were   
sacred to him1 so in ,athens his feasts 
all fall within the four months on this 
and the other side of the shortest day2 
as ,persephone spends those four        
months--a third part of the year--in    
,hades4  ,son or brother of ,persephone 
he actually becomes at last1 in         
confused1 half- developed tradition2 and
 even has his place1 with his dark      
sister1 in the ,eleusinian mysteries1 as
 ,iacchus2 where1 on the sixth day of   
the feast1 in the great procession from 
,athens to ,eleusis1 we may still       
realise his image1 moving up and down   
above the heads of the vast multitude1  
as he goes1 beside the two1 to the      

temple of ,demeter1 amid the light of   
torches at noonday4  ,but it was among  
the mountains of ,thrace that this      
gloomier element in the being of        
,dionysus had taken the strongest hold4 
,as in the sunny villages of ,attica the
 cheerful elements of his religion had  
been developed1 so1 in those #df wilder 
northern regions1 people continued to   
brood over its darker side1 and hence a 
current of gloomy legend descended into 
,greece4  ,the subject of the           
,bacchanals of ,euripides is the        
infatuated opposition of ,pentheus1 king
 of ,thebes1 to ,dionysus and his       
religion2 his cruelty to the god1 whom  
he shuts up in prison1 and who appears  
on the stage with his delicate limbs    
cruelly bound1 but who is finally       
triumphant2 ,pentheus1 the man of grief1
 being torn to pieces by his own mother1
 in the judicial madness sent upon her  
by the god4  ,in this play1 ,euripides  
has only taken one of many versions of  
the same story1 in all of which         

,dionysus is victorious1 his enemy being
 torn to pieces by the sacred women1 or 
by wild horses1 or dogs1 or the fangs of
 cold2 or the maenad ,ambrosia1 whom he 
is supposed to pursue for purposes of   
lust1 suddenly becomes a vine1 and binds
 him down to the earth inextricably1 in 
her serpentine coils4  ,in all these    
instances1 then1 ,dionysus punishes his 
enemies by repaying them in kind4  ,but 
a deeper vein of poetry pauses at the   
sorrow1 and in the conflict does not too
 soon anticipate the final triumph4  ,it
 is ,dionysus himself who exhausts these
 sufferings4 ,hence1 in many            
forms--reflexes of all the various      
phases of his wintry existence--the     
image of ,dionysus ,zagreus1 the        
,hunter--of ,dionysus in                
winter--storming wildly on the dark     
,thracian hills1 from which1 like ,ares 
and ,boreas1 he originally descends into
 #dg ,greece2 the thought of the hunter 
concentrating into itself all men's     
forebodings over the departure of the   

year at its richest1 and the death of   
all sweet things in the long-continued  
cold1 when the sick and the old and     
little children1 gazing out morning     
after morning on the dun sky1 can hardly
 believe in the return any more of a    
bright day4  ,or he is connected with   
the fears1 the dangers and hardships of 
the hunter himself1 lost or slain       
sometimes1 far from home1 in the dense  
woods of the mountains1 as he seeks his 
meat so ardently2 becoming1 in his      
chase1 almost akin to the wild          
beasts--to the wolf1 who comes before us
 in the name of ,lycurgus1 one of his   
bitterest enemies--and a phase1         
therefore1 of his own personality1 in   
the true intention of the myth4  ,this  
transformation1 this image of the       
beautiful soft creature become an enemy 
of human kind1 putting off himself in   
his madness1 wronged by his own fierce  
hunger and thirst1 and haunting1 with   
terrible sounds1 the high ,thracian     
farms1 is the most tragic note of the   

whole picture1 and links him on to one  
of the gloomiest creations of later     
romance1 the werewolf1 the belief in    
which still lingers in ,greece1 as in   
,france1 where it seems to become       
incorporate in the darkest of all       
romantic histories1 that of ,gilles de  
,retz4  ,and now we see why the         
tradition of human sacrifice lingered on
 in ,greece1 in connexion with          
,dionysus1 as a thing of actual detail1 
and #dh not remote1 so that ,dionysius  
of ,halicarnassus counts it among the   
horrors of ,greek religion4  ,that the  
sacred women of ,dionysus ate1 in       
mystical ceremony1 raw flesh1 and drank 
blood1 is a fact often mentioned1 and   
commemorates1 as it seems1 the actual   
sacrifice of a fair boy deliberately    
torn to pieces1 fading at last into a   
symbolical offering4  ,at ,delphi1 the  
wolf was preserved for him1 on the      
principle by which ,venus loves the     
dove1 and ,hera peacocks2 and there were
 places in which1 after the sacrifice of

 a kid to him1 a curious mimic pursuit  
of the priest who had offered it        
represented the still surviving horror  
of one who had thrown a child to the    
wolves4  ,the three daughters of ,minyas
 devote themselves to his worship2 they 
cast lots1 and one of them offers her   
own tender infant to be torn by the     
three1 like a roe2 then the other women 
pursue them1 and they are turned into   
bats1 or moths1 or other creatures of   
the night4  ,and fable is endorsed by   
history2 ,plutarch telling us how1      
before the battle of ,salamis1 with the 
assent of ,themistocles1 three ,persian 
captive youths were offered to ,dionysus
 the ,devourer4  ,as1 then1 some        
embodied their fears of winter in       
,persephone1 others embodied them in    
,dionysus1 a devouring god1 whose       
sinister side 7as the best wine itself  
has its treacheries7 is illustrated in  
the dark and shameful secret society    
described by ,livy1 in which his worship
 ended at ,rome1 afterwards abolished by

 solemn act of the senate4 #di ,he      
becomes a new ,aidoneus1 a hunter of    
men's souls2 like him1 to be appeased   
only by costly sacrifices4  ,and then1  
,dionysus recovering from his mid-winter
 madness1 how intensely these people    
conceive the spring6  ,it is that       
triumphant ,dionysus1 cured of his great
 malady1 and sane in the clear light of 
the longer days1 whom ,euripides in the 
,bacchanals sets before us1 as still1   
essentially1 the ,hunter1 ,zagreus2     
though he keeps the red streams and torn
 flesh away from the delicate body of   
the god1 in his long vesture of white   
and gold1 and fragrant with ,eastern    
odours4  ,of this ,i hope to speak in   
another paper2 let me conclude this by  
one phase more of religious custom4  ,if
 ,dionysus1 like ,persephone1 has his   
gloomy side1 like her he has also a     
peculiar message for a certain number of
 refined minds1 seeking1 in the later   
days of ,greek religion1 such           
modifications of the old legend as may  

minister to ethical culture1 to the     
perfecting of the moral nature4  ,a type
 of second birth1 from first to last1 he
 opens1 in his series of annual changes1
 for minds on the look-out for it1 the  
hope of a possible analogy1 between the 
resurrection of nature1 and something   
else1 as yet unrealised1 reserved for   
human souls2 and the beautiful1 weeping 
creature1 vexed by the wind1 suffering1 
torn to pieces1 and rejuvenescent again 
at last1 like a tender shoot of living  
green out of the hardness and stony     
darkness #ej of the earth1 becomes an   
emblem or ideal of chastening and       
purification1 and of final victory      
through suffering4  ,it is the finer1   
mystical sentiment of the few1 detached 
from the coarser and more material      
religion of the many1 and accompanying  
it1 through the course of its history1  
as its ethereal1 less palpable1         
life-giving soul1 and1 as always        
happens1 seeking the quiet1 and not too 
anxious to make itself felt by others4  

,with some unfixed1 though real1 place  
in the general scheme of ,greek         
religion1 this phase of the worship of  
,dionysus had its special development in
 the ,orphic literature and mysteries4  
,obscure as are those followers of the  
mystical ,orpheus1 we yet certainly see 
them1 moving1 and playing their part1 in
 the later ages of ,greek religion4     
,old friends with new faces1 though they
 had1 as ,plato witnesses1 their less   
worthy aspect1 in certain appeals to    
vulgar1 superstitious fears1 they seem  
to have been not without the charm of a 
real and inward religious beauty1 with  
their neologies1 their new readings of  
old legends1 their sense of mystical    
second meanings1 as they refined upon   
themes grown too familiar1 and linked1  
in a sophisticated age1 the new to the  
old4  ,in this respect1 we may perhaps  
liken them to the mendicant orders in   
the ,middle ,ages1 with their florid1   
romantic theology1 beyond the bounds of 
orthodox tradition1 giving so much new  

matter to art and poetry4  ,they are a  
picturesque addition1 also1 to the      
exterior of ,greek life1 with #ea their 
white dresses1 their dirges1 their      
fastings and ecstasies1 their outward   
asceticism and material purifications4  
,and the central object of their worship
 comes before us as a tortured1         
persecuted1 slain god--the suffering    
,dionysus--of whose legend they have    
their own special and esoteric version4 
,that version1 embodied in a supposed   
,orphic poem1 ,the ,occultation of      
,dionysus1 is represented only by the   
details that have passed from it into   
the almost endless ,dionysiaca of       
,nonnus1 a writer of the fourth century2
 and the imagery has to be put back into
 the shrine1 bit by bit1 and finally    
incomplete4  ,its central point is the  
picture of the rending to pieces of a   
divine child1 of whom a tradition1      
scanty indeed1 but harmonious in its    
variations1 had long maintained itself4 
,it was in memory of it1 that those who 

were initiated into the ,orphic         
mysteries tasted of the raw flesh of the
 sacrifice1 and thereafter ate flesh no 
more2 and it connected itself with that 
strange object in the ,delphic shrine1  
the grave of ,dionysus4  ,son1 first1 of
 ,zeus1 and of ,persephone whom ,zeus   
woos1 in the form of a serpent--the     
white1 golden-haired child1 the         
best-beloved of his father1 and destined
 by him to be the ruler of the world1   
grows up in secret4  ,but one day1      
,zeus1 departing on a journey in his    
great fondness for the child1 delivered 
to him his crown and staff1 and so left 
him--shut in a strong tower4  ,then it  
came to pass that the jealous ,here sent
 #eb out the ,titans against him4  ,they
 approached the crowned child1 and with 
many sorts of playthings enticed him    
away1 to have him in their power1 and   
then miserably slew him-- hacking his   
body to pieces1 as the wind tears the   
vine1 with the axe ,pelekus1 which1 like
 the swords of ,roland and ,arthur1 has 

its proper name4  ,the fragments of the 
body they boiled in a great cauldron1   
and made an impious banquet upon them1  
afterwards carrying the bones to        
,apollo1 whose rival the young child    
should have been1 thinking to do him    
service4  ,but ,apollo1 in great pity   
for this his youngest brother1 laid the 
bones in a grave1 within his own holy   
place4 ,meanwhile1 ,here1 full of her   
vengeance1 brings to ,zeus the heart of 
the child1 which she had snatched1 still
 beating1 from the hands of the ,titans4
  ,but ,zeus delivered the heart to     
,semele2 and the soul of the child      
remaining awhile in ,hades1 where       
,demeter made for it new flesh1 was     
thereafter born of ,semele--a second    
,zagreus--the younger1 or ,theban       
,dionysus4  ,,notes  #ab4 ,hymn to      
,aphrodite1 lines #bfd-gb 7,greek text74
  ,the ,homeric ,hymns and ,homerica    
with an ,english ,translation by ,hugh  
,g4 ,evelyn- ,white4  ,homeric ,hymns4  
,cambridge1 ,,ma41 ,harvard ,university 

,press2 ,london1 ,william ,heinemann    
,ltd4 #aiad4  #af4 ,hymn to ,pan1 lines 
#af;ff4  ,the ,homeric ,hymns and       
,homerica with an ,english ,translation 
by ,hugh ,g4 ,evelyn-,white4  ,homeric  
,hymns4 ,cambridge1 ,,ma41 ,harvard     
,university ,press2 ,london1 ,william   
,heinemann ,ltd4 #aiad4  #bb4           
,transliteration3 deisidaimones4        
,liddell and ,scott definition3 fearing 
the gods1 in both a good and bad        
sense--i4e4 either pious or             
superstitious4  #bb4 99,there were some 
who suspected ,dionysus of a secret     
democratic interest2 though indeed he   
was liberator only of men's hearts1 and 
eleuthereus only because he never forgot
 ,eleutherae1 the little place which1 in
 ,attica1 first received him4  #bf4     
,e-text editor's transliteration3       
pyrigens4  ,liddell and ,scott          
definition3 born of fire4  #ch4         
,transliteration3 ,oinophoria  4 4 4    
,anthestria4  ,liddell and ,scott       
definition of ,anthestria3 ,the ,feast  

of ,flowers1 the three days' festival of
 ,bacchus at ,athens1 in the month      
,anthesterion4  #dj4 ,transliteration3  
eskiatrofks4  ,liddell and ,scott       
definition3 participle of skiatropheo1  
to rear in the shade4    ,,the          
,,bacchanals ,,of ,,euripides  #ec ,so  
far1 ,i have endeavoured to present1    
with something of the concrete character
 of a picture1 ,dionysus1 the old ,greek
 god1 as we may discern him through a   
multitude of stray hints in art and     
poetry and religious custom1 through    
modern speculation on the tendencies of 
early thought1 through traits and       
touches in our own actual states of     
mind1 which may seem sympathetic with   
those tendencies4  ,in such a picture   
there must necessarily be a certain     
artificiality2 things near and far1     
matter of varying degrees of certainty1 
fact and surmise1 being reflected and   
concentrated1 for its production1 as if 
on the surface of a mirror4  ,such      
concrete character1 however1 ,greek poet

 or sculptor1 from time to time1        
impressed on the vague world of popular 
belief and usage around him2 and in the 
,bacchanals of ,euripides we have an    
example of the figurative or imaginative
 power of poetry1 selecting and         
combining1 at will1 from that mixed and 
floating mass1 weaving the many-coloured
 threads together1 blending the various 
phases of legend--all the light and     
shade of the #ed subject--into a shape1 
substantial and firmly set1 through     
which a mere fluctuating tradition might
 retain a permanent place in men's      
imaginations4  ,here1 in what ,euripides
 really says1 in what we actually see on
 the stage1 as we read his play1 we are 
dealing with a single real object1 not  
with uncertain effects of many          
half-fancied objects4  ,let me leave you
 for a time almost wholly in his hands1 
while you look very closely at his work1
 so as to discriminate its outlines     
clearly4  ,this tragedy of the          
,bacchanals--a sort of masque or        

morality1 as we say--a monument as      
central for the legend of ,dionysus as  
the ,homeric hymn for that of ,demeter1 
is unique in ,greek literature1 and has 
also a singular interest in the life of 
,euripides himself4  ,he is writing in  
old age 7the piece was not played till  
after his death7 not at ,athens1 nor for
 a polished ,attic audience1 but for a  
wilder and less temperately cultivated  
sort of people1 at the court of         
,archelaus1 in ,macedonia4  ,writing in 
old age1 he is in that subdued mood1 a  
mood not necessarily sordid1 in which   
7the shudder at the nearer approach of  
the unknown world coming over him more  
frequently than of old7 accustomed      
ideas1 conformable to a sort of common  
sense regarding the unseen1 oftentimes  
regain what they may have lost1 in a    
man's allegiance4  ,it is a sort of     
madness1 he begins to think1 to differ  
from the received opinions thereon4     
,not that he is insincere or ironical1  
but that he tends1 in the #ee sum of    

probabilities1 to dwell on their more   
peaceful side2 to sit quiet1 for the    
short remaining time1 in the reflexion  
of the more cheerfully lighted side of  
things2 and what is accustomed--what    
holds of familiar usage-- comes to seem 
the whole essence of wisdom1 on all     
subjects2 and the well-known delineation
 of the vague country1 in ,homer or     
,hesiod1 one's best attainable mental   
outfit1 for the journey thither4  ,with 
this sort of quiet wisdom the whole play
 is penetrated4  ,euripides has said1 or
 seemed to say1 many things concerning  
,greek religion1 at variance with       
received opinion2 and now1 in the end of
 life1 he desires to make his           
peace--what shall at any rate be peace  
with men4 ,he is in the mood for        
acquiescence1 or even for a palinode2   
and this takes the direction1 partly of 
mere submission to1 partly of a refining
 upon1 the authorised religious         
tradition3 he calmly sophisticates this 
or that element of it which had seemed  

grotesque2 and has1 like any modern     
writer1 a theory how myths were made1   
and how in lapse of time their first    
signification gets to be obscured among 
mortals2 and what he submits to1 that he
 will also adorn fondly1 by his genius  
for words4  ,and that very neighbourhood
 afforded him his opportunity4  ,it was 
in the neighbourhood of ,pella1 the     
,macedonian capital1 that the worship of
 ,dionysus1 the newest of the gods1     
prevailed in its most extravagant       
form--the #ef ,thiasus1 or wild1        
nocturnal procession of ,bacchic women1 
retired to the woods and hills for that 
purpose1 with its accompaniments of     
music1 and lights1 and dancing4         
,rational and moderate ,athenians1 as we
 may gather from some admissions of     
,euripides himself1 somewhat despised   
all that2 while those who were more     
fanatical forsook the home celebrations1
 and went on pilgrimage from ,attica to 
,cithaeron or ,delphi4  ,but at ,pella  
persons of high birth took part in the  

exercise1 and at a later period we read 
in ,plutarch how ,olympias1 the mother  
of ,alexander the ,great1 was devoted to
 this enthusiastic worship4  ,although  
in one of ,botticelli's pictures the    
angels dance very sweetly1 and may      
represent many circumstances actually   
recorded in the ,hebrew scriptures1 yet 
we hardly understand the dance as a     
religious ceremony2 the bare mention of 
it sets us thinking on some fundamental 
differences between the pagan religions 
and our own4  ,it is to such ecstasies1 
however1 that all nature-worship seems  
to tend2 that giddy1 intoxicating sense 
of spring--that tingling in the veins1  
sympathetic with the yearning life of   
the earth1 having1 apparently1 in all   
times and places1 prompted some mode of 
wild dancing4  ,coleridge1 in one of his
 fantastic speculations1 refining on the
 ,german word for enthusiasm--          
,schwrmerei1 swarming1 as he says1 like 
the swarming of bees together--has      
explained how the sympathies of mere    

numbers1 as such1 the random catching on
 #eg fire of one here and another there1
 when people are collected together1    
generates as if by mere contact1 some   
new and rapturous spirit1 not traceable 
in the individual units of a multitude4 
,such swarming was the essence of that  
strange dance of the ,bacchic women3    
literally like winged things1 they      
follow1 with motives1 we may suppose1   
never quite made clear even to          
themselves1 their new1 strange1 romantic
 god4  ,himself a woman-like god1--it   
was on women and feminine souls that his
 power mainly fell4  ,at ,elis1 it was  
the women who had their own little song 
with which at spring-time they professed
 to call him from the sea3 at ,brasiae  
they had their own temple where none but
 women might enter2 and so the ,thiasus1
 also1 is almost exclusively formed of  
women--of those who experience most     
directly the influence of things which  
touch thought through the senses--the   
presence of night1 the expectation of   

morning1 the nearness of wild1          
unsophisticated1 natural things--the    
echoes1 the coolness1 the noise of      
frightened creatures as they climbed    
through the darkness1 the sunrise seen  
from the hill-tops1 the disillusion1 the
 bitterness of satiety1 the deep slumber
 which comes with the morning4          
,athenians visiting the ,macedonian     
capital would hear1 and from time to    
time actually see1 something of a       
religious custom1 in which the habit of 
an earlier world might seem to survive4 
,as they saw the lights flitting over   
the mountains1 #eh and heard the wild1  
sharp cries of the women1 there was     
presented1 as a singular fact in the    
more prosaic actual life of a later     
time1 an enthusiasm otherwise relegated 
to the wonderland of a distant past1 in 
which a supposed primitive harmony and  
understanding between man and nature    
renewed itself4  ,later sisters of      
,centaur and ,amazon1 the ,maenads1 as  
they beat the earth in strange sympathy 

with its waking up from sleep1 or as1 in
 the description of the ,messenger1 in  
the play of ,euripides1 they lie        
sleeping in the glen1 revealed among the
 morning mists1 were themselves indeed  
as remnants--flecks left here and there 
and not yet quite evaporated under the  
hard light of a later and commoner      
day--of a certain cloud-world which had 
once covered all things with a veil of  
mystery4  ,whether or not1 in what was  
often probably coarse as well as        
extravagant1 there may have lurked some 
finer vein of ethical symbolism1 such as
 ,euripides hints at--the soberer       
influence1 in the ,thiasus1 of keen air 
and animal expansion1 certainly1 for    
art1 and a poetry delighting in colour  
and form1 it was a custom rich in       
suggestion4  ,the imitative arts would  
draw from it altogether new motives of  
freedom and energy1 of freshness in old 
forms4  ,it is from this fantastic scene
 that the beautiful wind-touched        
draperies1 the rhythm1 the heads        

suddenly thrown back1 of many a         
,pompeian wall- painting and            
sarcophagus-frieze are originally       
derived2 and that melting languor1 that 
perfectly #ei composed lassitude of the 
fallen ,maenad1 became a fixed type in  
the school of grace1 the school of      
,praxiteles4  ,the circumstances of the 
place thus combining with his peculiar  
motive1 ,euripides writes the           
,bacchanals4  ,it is this extravagant   
phase of religion1 and the latest-born  
of the gods1 which as an amende         
honorable to the once slighted          
traditions of ,greek belief1 he         
undertakes to interpret to an audience  
composed of people who1 like ,scyles1   
the ,hellenising king of ,scythia1 feel 
the attraction of ,greek religion and   
,greek usage1 but on their quainter     
side1 and partly relish that            
extravagance4  ,subject and audience    
alike stimulate the romantic temper1 and
 the tragedy of the ,bacchanals1 with   
its innovations in metre and diction1   

expressly noted as foreign or           
barbarous--all the charm and grace of   
the clear-pitched singing of the chorus1
 notwithstanding--with its subtleties   
and sophistications1 its grotesques1    
mingled with and heightening a real     
shudder at the horror of the theme1 and 
a peculiarly fine and human pathos1 is  
almost wholly without the reassuring    
calm1 generally characteristic of the   
endings of ,greek tragedy3 is itself    
excited1 troubled1 disturbing--a spotted
 or dappled thing1 like the oddly       
dappled fawn- skins of its own          
masquerade1 so aptly expressive of the  
shifty1 twofold1 rapidly-doubling genius
 of the divine1 wild creature himself4  
,let us listen and watch the strange    
masks coming and going1 for a while1 #fj
 as far as may be as we should do with a
 modern play4  ,what are its charms8    
,what is still alive1 impressive1 and   
really poetical for us1 in the dim old  
,greek play8  ,the scene is laid at     
,thebes1 where the memory of ,semele1   

the mother of ,dionysus1 is still under 
a cloud4  ,her own sisters1 sinning     
against natural affection1 pitiless over
 her pathetic death and finding in it   
only a judgment upon the impiety with   
which1 having shamed herself with some  
mortal lover1 she had thrown the blame  
of her sin upon ,zeus1 have1 so far1    
triumphed over her4  ,the true and      
glorious version of her story lives only
 in the subdued memory of the two aged  
men1 ,teiresias the prophet1 and her    
father ,cadmus1 apt now to let things go
 loosely by1 who has delegated his royal
 power to ,pentheus1 the son of one of  
those sisters--a hot-headed and impious 
youth4  ,so things had passed at        
,thebes2 and now a strange circumstance 
has happened4  ,an odd sickness has     
fallen upon the women3 ,dionysus has    
sent the sting of his enthusiasm upon   
them1 and has pushed it to a sort of    
madness1 a madness which imitates the   
true ,thiasus4  ,forced to have the form
 without the profit of his worship1 the 

whole female population1 leaving distaff
 and spindle1 and headed by the three   
princesses1 have deserted the town1 and 
are lying encamped on the bare rocks1 or
 under the pines1 among the solitudes of
 ,cithaeron4  ,and it is just at this   
point that the divine child1 #fa        
supposed to have perished at his        
mother's side in the flames1 returns to 
his birthplace1 grown to manhood4       
,dionysus himself speaks the prologue4  
,he is on a journey through the world to
 found a new religion2 and the first    
motive of this new religion is the      
vindication of the memory of his mother4
  ,in explaining this design1           
,euripides1 who seeks always for        
pathetic effect1 tells in few words1    
touching because simple1 the story of   
,semele--here1 and again still more     
intensely in the chorus which           
follows--the merely human sentiment of  
maternity being not forgotten1 even amid
 the thought of the divine embraces of  
her fiery bed-fellow4 ,it is out of     

tenderness for her that the son's       
divinity is to be revealed4  ,a yearning
 affection1 the affection with which we 
see him lifting up his arms about her1  
satisfied at last1 on an old ,etruscan  
metal mirror1 has led him from place to 
place3 everywhere he has had his dances 
and established his worship2 and        
everywhere his presence has been her    
justification4  ,first of all the towns 
in ,greece he comes to ,thebes1 the     
scene of her sorrows3 he is standing    
beside the sacred waters of ,dirce and  
,ismenus3 the holy place is in sight3 he
 hears the ,greek speech1 and sees at   
last the ruins of the place of her      
lying-in1 at once his own birth-chamber 
and his mother's tomb4 ,his image1 as it
 detaches itself little by little from  
the episodes of the play1 and is further
 characterised by the #fb songs of the  
chorus1 has a singular completeness of  
symbolical effect4  ,the incidents of a 
fully developed human personality are   
superinduced on the mystical and        

abstract essence of that fiery spirit in
 the flowing veins of the earth--the    
aroma of the green world is retained in 
the fair human body1 set forth in all   
sorts of finer ethical lights and       
shades--with a wonderful kind of        
subtlety4  ,in the course of his long   
progress from land to land1 the gold1   
the flowers1 the incense of the ,east1  
have attached themselves deeply to him3 
their effect and expression rest now    
upon his flesh like the gleaming of that
 old ambrosial ointment of which ,homer 
speaks as resting ever on the persons of
 the gods1 and cling to his             
clothing--the mitre binding his perfumed
 yellow hair--the long tunic down to the
 white feet1 somewhat womanly1 and the  
fawn-skin1 with its rich spots1 wrapped 
about the shoulders4  ,as the door opens
 to admit him1 the scented air of the   
vineyards 7for the vine-blossom has an  
exquisite perfume7 blows through2 while 
the convolvulus on his mystic rod       
represents all wreathing flowery things 

whatever1 with or without fruit1 as in  
,america all such plants are still      
called vines4  ,sweet upon the          
mountains1 the excitement of which he   
loves so deeply and to which he         
constantly invites his followers--sweet 
upon the mountains1 and profoundly      
amorous1 his presence embodies all the  
voluptuous abundance of ,asia1 its      
beating #fc sun1 its fair-towered       
cities1 full of inhabitants1 which the  
chorus describe in their luscious       
vocabulary1 with the rich ,eastern      
names--,lydia1 ,persia1 ,arabia ,felix3 
he is a sorcerer or an enchanter1 the   
tyrant ,pentheus thinks3 the springs of 
water1 the flowing of honey and milk and
 wine1 are his miracles1 wrought in     
person4  ,we shall see presently how1   
writing for that northern audience1     
,euripides crosses the ,theban with the 
gloomier ,thracian legend1 and lets the 
darker stain show through4  ,yet1 from  
the first1 amid all this floweriness1 a 
touch or trace of that gloom is         

discernible4  ,the fawn-skin1 composed  
now so daintily over the shoulders1 may 
be worn with the whole coat of the      
animal made up1 the hoofs gilded and    
tied together over the right shoulder1  
to leave the right arm disengaged to    
strike1 its head clothing the human head
 within1 as ,alexander1 on some of his  
coins1 looks out from the elephant's    
scalp1 and ,hercules out of the jaws of 
a lion1 on the coins of ,camarina4      
,those diminutive golden horns attached 
to the forehead1 represent not fecundity
 merely1 nor merely the crisp tossing of
 the waves of streams1 but horns of     
offence4  ,and our fingers must beware  
of the thyrsus1 tossed about so wantonly
 by himself and his chorus4  ,the       
pine-cone at its top does but cover a   
spear-point2 and the thing is a         
weapon--the sharp spear of the hunter   
,zagreus--though hidden now by the fresh
 leaves1 and that button of pine-cone   
7useful also to dip in #fd wine1 to     
check the sweetness7 which he has       

plucked down1 coming through the forest1
 at peace for a while this spring       
morning4  ,and the chorus emphasise this
 character1 their songs weaving for the 
whole piece1 in words more effective    
than any painted scenery1 a certain     
congruous background which heightens    
all2 the intimate sense of mountains and
 mountain things being in this way      
maintained throughout1 and concentrated 
on the central figure4  ,he is sweet    
among the mountains1 they say1 when he  
drops down upon the plain1 out of his   
mystic musings--and we may think we see 
the green festoons of the vine dropping 
quickly1 from foot-place to foot-place1 
down the broken hill-side in spring1    
when like the ,bacchanals1 all who can1 
wander out of the town to enjoy the     
earliest heats4  ,let us go out into the
 fields1 we say2 a strange madness seems
 to lurk among the flowers1 ready to lay
 hold on us also2 autika ga pasa        
choreusei--soon the whole earth will    
dance and sing4  ,dionysus is especially

 a woman's deity1 and he comes from the 
east conducted by a chorus of gracious  
,lydian women1 his true sisters--       
,bassarids1 clad like himself in the    
long tunic1 or bassara4  ,they move and 
speak to the music of clangorous        
metallic instruments1 cymbals and       
tambourines1 relieved by the clearer    
notes of the pipe2 and there is a       
strange variety of almost imitative     
sounds for such music1 in their very #fe
 words4  ,the ,homeric hymn to ,demeter 
precedes the art of sculpture1 but is   
rich in suggestions for it2 here1 on the
 contrary1 in the first chorus of the   
,bacchanals1 as elsewhere in the play1  
we feel that the poetry of ,euripides is
 probably borrowing something from art2 
that in these choruses1 with their      
repetitions and refrains1 he is         
reproducing perhaps the spirit of some  
sculptured relief which1 like ,luca     
della ,robbia's celebrated work for the 
organ-loft of the cathedral of          
,florence1 worked by various subtleties 

of line1 not in the lips and eyes only1 
but in the drapery and hands also1 to a 
strange reality of impression of musical
 effect on visible things4  ,they beat  
their drums before the palace2 and then 
a humourous little scene1 a reflex of   
the old ,dionysiac comedy--of that      
laughter which was an essential element 
of the earliest worship of              
,dionysus--follows the first chorus4    
,the old blind prophet ,teiresias1 and  
the aged king ,cadmus1 always secretly  
true to him1 have agreed to celebrate   
the ,thiasus1 and accept his divinity   
openly4  ,the youthful god has nowhere  
said decisively that he will have none  
but young men in his sacred dance4  ,but
 for that purpose they must put on the  
long tunic1 and that spotted skin which 
only rustics wear1 and assume the       
thyrsus and ivy-crown4  ,teiresias      
arrives and is seen knocking at the     
doors4 ,and then1 just as in the        
medieval mystery1 comes the #ff         
inevitable grotesque1 not unwelcome to  

our poet1 who is wont in his plays1     
perhaps not altogether consciously1 to  
intensify by its relief both the pity   
and the terror of his conceptions4  ,at 
the summons of ,teiresias1 ,cadmus      
appears1 already arrayed like him in the
 appointed ornaments1 in all their odd  
contrast with the infirmity and         
staidness of old age4  ,even in old     
men's veins the spring leaps again1 and 
they are more than ready to begin       
dancing4  ,but they are shy of the      
untried dress1 and one of them is       
blind--poi dei choreuein2 poi           
kathistanai poda2 kai krata seisai      
polion2 and then the difficulty of the  
way6 the long1 steep journey to the     
glens6 may pilgrims boil their peas8    
might they proceed to the place in      
carriages8  ,at last1 while the audience
 laugh more or less delicately at their 
aged fumblings1 in some co-operative    
manner1 the eyes of the one combining   
with the hands of the other1 the pair   
are about to set forth4  ,here ,pentheus

 is seen approaching the palace in      
extreme haste4  ,he has been absent from
 home1 and returning1 has just heard of 
the state of things at ,thebes--the     
strange malady of the women1 the        
dancings1 the arrival of the mysterious 
stranger3 he finds all the women        
departed from the town1 and sees ,cadmus
 and ,teiresias in masque4 ,like the    
exaggerated diabolical figures in some  
of the religious plays and imageries of 
the ,middle ,age1 he is an impersonation
 of stupid impiety1 one of those whom   
the gods willing to #fg destroy first   
infatuate4  ,alternating between glib   
unwisdom and coarse mockery1 between    
violence and a pretence of moral        
austerity1 he understands only the      
sorriest motives2 thinks the whole thing
 feigned1 and fancies the stranger1 so  
effeminate1 so attractive of women with 
whom he remains day and night1 but a    
poor sensual creature1 and the real     
motive of the ,bacchic women the        
indulgence of their lust2 his ridiculous

 old grandfather he is ready to         
renounce1 and accuses ,teiresias of     
having in view only some fresh source of
 professional profit to himself in      
connexion with some new-fangled oracle2 
his petty spite avenges itself on the   
prophet by an order to root up the      
sacred chair1 where he sits to watch the
 birds for divination1 and disturb the  
order of his sacred place2 and even from
 the moment of his entrance the mark of 
his doom seems already set upon him1 in 
an impotent trembling which others      
notice in him4  ,those of the women who 
still loitered1 he has already caused to
 be shut up in the common prison2 the   
others1 with ,ino1 ,autonoe1 and his own
 mother1 ,agave1 he will hunt out of the
 glens2 while the stranger is threatened
 with various cruel forms of death4     
,but ,teiresias and ,cadmus stay to     
reason with him1 and induce him to abide
 wisely with them2 the prophet fittingly
 becomes the interpreter of ,dionysus1  
and explains the true nature of the     

visitor2 his divinity1 the completion or
 counterpart of that of ,demeter2 his   
gift of prophecy2 #fh all the soothing  
influences he brings with him2 above    
all1 his gift of the medicine of sleep  
to weary mortals4  ,but the reason of   
,pentheus is already sickening1 and the 
judicial madness gathering over it4     
,teiresias and ,cadmus can but go pray4 
,so again1 not without the laughter of  
the audience1 supporting each other a   
little grotesquely against a fall1 they 
get away at last4  ,and then1 again1 as 
in those quaintly carved and coloured   
imageries of the ,middle ,age--the      
martyrdom of the youthful ,saint        
,firmin1 for instance1 round the choir  
at ,amiens--comes the full contrast1    
with a quite medieval simplicity and    
directness1 between the insolence of the
 tyrant1 now at last in sight of his    
prey1 and the outraged beauty of the    
youthful god1 meek1 surrounded by his   
enemies1 like some fair wild creature in
 the snare of the hunter4  ,dionysus has

 been taken prisoner2 he is led on to   
the stage1 with his hands bound1 but    
still holding the thyrsus4  ,unresisting
 he had submitted himself to his        
captors2 his colour had not changed2    
with a smile he had bidden them do their
 will1 so that even they are touched    
with awe1 and are almost ready to admit 
his divinity4  ,marvellously white and  
red1 he stands there2 and now1 unwilling
 to be revealed to the unworthy1 and    
requiring a fitness in the receiver1 he 
represents himself1 in answer to the    
inquiries of ,pentheus1 not as          
,dionysus1 but simply as the god's      
prophet1 #fi in full trust in whom he   
desires to hear his sentence4  ,then the
 long hair falls to the ground under the
 shears2 the mystic wand is torn from   
his hand1 and he is led away to be tied 
up1 like some dangerous wild animal1 in 
a dark place near the king's stables4   
,up to this point in the play1 there has
 been a noticeable ambiguity as to the  
person of ,dionysus1 the main figure of 

the piece2 he is in part ,dionysus1     
indeed2 but in part1 only his messenger1
 or minister preparing his way2 a       
certain harshness of effect in the      
actual appearance of a god upon the     
stage being in this way relieved1 or    
made easy1 as by a gradual revelation in
 two steps4  ,to ,pentheus1 in his      
invincible ignorance1 his essence       
remains to the last unrevealed1 and even
 the women of the chorus seem to        
understand in him1 so far1 only the     
forerunner of their real leader4  ,as he
 goes away bound1 therefore1 they too1  
threatened also in their turn with      
slavery1 invoke his greater original to 
appear and deliver them4  ,in pathetic  
cries they reproach ,thebes for         
rejecting them--ti m' anainei1 ti me    
pheugeis2 yet they foretell his future  
greatness2 a new ,orpheus1 he will more 
than renew that old miraculous reign    
over animals and plants4  ,their song is
 full of suggestions of wood and river4 
,it is as if1 for a moment1 ,dionysus   

became the suffering vine again2 and the
 rustle of the leaves and water come    
through their words to refresh it4  ,the
 #gj fountain of ,dirce still haunted by
 the virgins of ,thebes1 where the      
infant god was cooled and washed from   
the flecks of his fiery birth1 becomes  
typical of the coolness of all springs1 
and is made1 by a really poetic licence1
 the daughter of the distant            
,achelous--the earliest born1 the father
 in myth1 of all ,greek rivers4  ,a     
giddy sonorous scene of portents and    
surprises follows--a distant1           
exaggerated1 dramatic reflex of that old
 thundering tumult of the festival in   
the vineyard--in which ,dionysus        
reappears1 miraculously set free from   
his bonds4  ,first1 in answer to the    
deep-toned invocation of the chorus1 a  
great voice is heard from within1       
proclaiming him to be the son of ,semele
 and ,zeus4  ,then1 amid the short1     
broken1 rapturous cries of the women of 
the chorus1 proclaiming him master1 the 

noise of an earthquake passes slowly2   
the pillars of the palace are seen      
waving to and fro2 while the strange1   
memorial fire from the tomb of ,semele  
blazes up and envelopes the whole       
building4  ,the terrified women fling   
themselves on the ground2 and then1 at  
last1 as the place is shaken open1      
,dionysus is seen stepping out from     
among the tottering masses of the mimic 
palace1 bidding them arise and fear not4
  ,but just here comes a long pause in  
the action of the play1 in which we must
 listen to a messenger newly arrived    
from the glens1 to tell us what he has  
seen there1 among the ,maenads4  ,the   
singular1 somewhat sinister beauty of   
this speech1 and a #ga similar one      
subsequent--a fair description of       
morning on the mountain-tops1 with the  
,bacchic women sleeping1 which turns    
suddenly to a hard1 coarse picture of   
animals cruelly rent--is one of the     
special curiosities which distinguish   
this play2 and1 as it is wholly         

narrative1 ,i shall give it in ,english 
prose1 abbreviating1 here and there1    
some details which seem to have but a   
metrical value3--  ,i was driving my    
herd of cattle to the summit of the     
scaur to feed1 what time the sun sent   
forth his earliest beams to warm the    
earth4 ,and lo6 three companies of      
women1 and at the head of one of them   
,autonoe1 thy mother ,agave at the head 
of the second1 and ,ino at the head of  
the third4  ,and they all slept1 with   
limbs relaxed1 leaned against the low   
boughs of the pines1 or with head thrown
 heedlessly among the oak-leaves strewn 
upon the ground--all in the sleep of    
temperance1 not1 as thou saidst1        
pursuing ,cypris through the solitudes  
of the forest1 drunken with wine1 amid  
the low rustling of the lotus-pipe4     
,and thy mother1 when she heard the     
lowing of the kine1 stood up in the     
midst of them1 and cried to them to     
shake off sleep4  ,and they1 casting    
slumber from their eyes1 started        

upright1 a marvel of beauty and order1  
young and old and maidens yet unmarried4
  ,and first1 they let fall their hair  
upon their shoulders2 and those #gb     
whose cinctures were unbound re-composed
 the spotted fawn-skins1 knotting them  
about with snakes1 which rose and licked
 them on the chin4 ,some1 lately        
mothers1 who with breasts still swelling
 had left their babes behind1 nursed in 
their arms antelopes1 or wild whelps of 
wolves1 and yielded them their milk to  
drink2 and upon their heads they placed 
crowns of ivy or of oak1 or of flowering
 convolvulus4 ,then one1 taking a       
thyrsus-wand1 struck with it upon a     
rock1 and thereupon leapt out a fine    
rain of water2 another let down a reed  
upon the earth1 and a fount of wine was 
sent forth there2 and those whose thirst
 was for a white stream1 skimming the   
surface with their finger-tips1 gathered
 from it abundance of milk2 and from the
 ivy of the mystic wands streams of     
honey distilled4  ,verily6 hadst thou   

seen these things1 thou wouldst have    
worshipped whom now thou revilest4  ,and
 we shepherds and herdsmen came together
 to question with each other over this  
matter--what strange and terrible things
 they do4 ,and a certain wayfarer from  
the city1 subtle in speech1 spake to    
us-- ',o6 dwellers upon these solemn    
ledges of the hills1 will ye that we    
hunt down1 and take1 amid her revelries1
 ,agave1 the mother of ,pentheus1       
according to the king's pleasure8'  ,and
 he seemed to us to speak wisely2 and we
 lay in wait among the bushes2 and they1
 at the time appointed1 began moving    
their wands for the ,bacchic dance1 #gc 
calling with one voice upon             
,bromius6--,iacchus6--the son of ,zeus6 
and the whole mountain was moved with   
ecstasy together1 and the wild          
creatures2 nothing but was moved in     
their running4  ,and it chanced that    
,agave1 in her leaping1 lighted near me1
 and ,i sprang from my hiding-place1    
willing to lay hold on her2 and she     

groaned out1 ',o6 dogs of hunting1 these
 fellows are upon our traces2 but follow
 me6 follow6 with the mystic wands for  
weapons in your hands4'  ,and we1 by    
flight1 hardly escaped tearing to pieces
 at their hands1 who thereupon advanced 
with knifeless fingers upon the young of
 the kine1 as they nipped the green2 and
 then hadst thou seen one holding a     
bleating calf in her hands1 with udder  
distent1 straining it asunder2 others   
tore the heifers to shreds amongst them2
 tossed up and down the morsels lay in  
sight--flank or hoof--or hung from the  
fir-trees1 dropping churned blood4  ,the
 fierce1 horned bulls stumbled forward1 
their breasts upon the ground1 dragged  
on by myriad hands of young women1 and  
in a moment the inner parts were rent to
 morsels4  ,so1 like a flock of birds   
aloft in flight1 they retreat upon the  
level lands outstretched below1 which by
 the waters of ,asopus put forth the    
fair-flowering crop of ,theban          
people--,hysiae and ,erythrae--below the

 precipice of ,cithaeron4--  ,a         
grotesque scene follows1 in which the   
#gd humour we noted1 on seeing those two
 old men diffidently set forth in       
chaplet and fawn- skin1 deepens into a  
profound tragic irony4  ,pentheus is    
determined to go out in arms against the
 ,bacchanals and put them to death1 when
 a sudden desire seizes him to witness  
them in their encampment upon the       
mountains4  ,dionysus1 whom he still    
supposes to be but a prophet or         
messenger of the god1 engages to conduct
 him thither2 and1 for greater security 
among the dangerous women1 proposes that
 he shall disguise himself in female    
attire4  ,as ,pentheus goes within for  
that purpose1 he lingers for a moment   
behind him1 and in prophetic speech     
declares the approaching end2--the      
victim has fallen into the net2 and he  
goes in to assist at the toilet1 to     
array him in the ornaments which he will
 carry to ,hades1 destroyed by his own  
mother's hands4 ,it is characteristic of

 ,euripides--part of his fine tact and  
subtlety--to relieve and justify what   
seems tedious1 or constrained1 or merely
 terrible and grotesque1 by a suddenly  
suggested trait of homely pathos1 or a  
glimpse of natural beauty1 or a morsel  
of form or colour seemingly taken       
directly from picture or sculpture4  ,so
 here1 in this fantastic scene our      
thoughts are changed in a moment by the 
singing of the chorus1 and divert for a 
while to the dark-haired tresses of the 
wood2 the breath of the river-side is   
upon us2 beside it1 a fawn escaped from 
the hunter's net is flying swiftly in   
#ge its joy2 like it1 the ,maenad rushes
 along2 and we see the little head      
thrown back upon the neck1 in deep      
aspiration1 to drink in the dew4        
,meantime1 ,pentheus has assumed his    
disguise1 and comes forth tricked up    
with false hair and the dress of a      
,bacchanal2 but still with some         
misgivings at the thought of going thus 
attired through the streets of ,thebes1 

and with many laughable readjustments of
 the unwonted articles of clothing4     
,and with the woman's dress1 his madness
 is closing faster round him2 just      
before1 in the palace1 terrified at the 
noise of the earthquake1 he had drawn   
sword upon a mere fantastic appearance1 
and pierced only the empty air4  ,now he
 begins to see the sun double1 and      
,thebes with all its towers repeated1   
while his conductor seems to him        
transformed into a wild beast2 and now  
and then1 we come upon some touches of a
 curious psychology1 so that we might   
almost seem to be reading a modern poet4
  ,as if ,euripides had been aware of a 
not unknown symptom of incipient madness
 7it is said7 in which the patient1     
losing the sense of resistance1 while   
lifting small objects imagines himself  
to be raising enormous weights1         
,pentheus1 as he lifts the thyrsus1     
fancies he could lift ,cithaeron with   
all the ,bacchanals upon it4  ,at all   
this the laughter of course will pass   

round the theatre2 while those who      
really pierce into the purpose of the   
poet1 shudder1 as they see the victim   
thus grotesquely clad going to his doom1
 #gf already foreseen in the ominous    
chant of the chorus--and as it were his 
grave-clothes1 in the dress which makes 
him ridiculous4  ,presently a messenger 
arrives to announce that ,pentheus is   
dead1 and then another curious narrative
 sets forth the manner of his death4    
,full of wild1 coarse1 revolting        
details1 of course not without pathetic 
touches1 and with the loveliness of the 
serving ,maenads1 and of their mountain 
solitudes--their trees and water--never 
quite forgotten1 it describes how1      
venturing as a spy too near the sacred  
circle1 ,pentheus was fallen upon1 like 
a wild beast1 by the mystic huntresses  
and torn to pieces1 his mother being the
 first to begin the sacred rites of     
slaughter4  ,and at last ,agave herself 
comes upon the stage1 holding aloft the 
head of her son1 fixed upon the sharp   

end of the thyrsus1 calling upon the    
women of the chorus to welcome the revel
 of the ,evian god2 who1 accordingly1   
admit her into the company1 professing  
themselves her fellow-revellers1 the    
,bacchanals being thus absorbed into the
 chorus for the rest of the play4  ,for1
 indeed1 all through it1 the true1      
though partly suppressed relation of the
 chorus to the ,bacchanals is this1 that
 the women of the chorus1 staid and     
temperate for the moment1 following     
,dionysus in his alternations1 are but  
the paler sisters of his more wild and  
gloomy votaries--the true followers of  
the mystical ,dionysus--the real chorus 
of ,zagreus2 the idea that their #gg    
violent proceedings are the result of   
madness only1 sent on them as a         
punishment for their original rejection 
of the god1 being1 as ,i said1 when seen
 from the deeper motives of the myth1   
only a sophism of ,euripides--a piece of
 rationalism of which he avails himself 
for the purpose of softening down the   

tradition of which he has undertaken to 
be the poet4  ,agave comes on the stage1
 then1 blood-stained1 exulting in her   
victory of tears1 still quite visibly   
mad indeed1 and with the outward signs  
of madness1 and as her mind wanders1    
musing still on the fancy that the dead 
head in her hands is that of a lion she 
has slain among the mountains--a young  
lion1 she avers1 as she notices the down
 on the young man's chin1 and his       
abundant hair--a fancy in which the     
chorus humour her1 willing to deal      
gently with the poor distraught         
creature4  ,supported by them1 she      
rejoices exceedingly1 exceedingly1      
declaring herself fortunate in such     
goodly spoil2 priding herself that the  
victim has been slain1 not with iron    
weapons1 but with her own white fingers1
 she summons all ,thebes to come and    
behold4  ,she calls for her aged father 
to draw near and see2 and for ,pentheus 
himself1 at last1 that he may mount and 
rivet her trophy1 appropriately         

decorative there1 between the triglyphs 
of the cornice below the roof1 visible  
to all4  ,and now1 from this point      
onwards1 ,dionysus himself becomes more 
and more clearly discernible #gh as the 
hunter1 a wily hunter1 and man the prey 
he hunts for2 ,our king is a hunter1 cry
 the chorus1 as they unite in ,agave's  
triumph and give their sanction to her  
deed4 ,and as the ,bacchanals supplement
 the chorus1 and must be added to it to 
make the conception of it complete2 so  
in the conception of ,dionysus also a   
certain transference1 or substitution1  
must be made-- much of the horror and   
sorrow of ,agave1 of ,pentheus1 of the  
whole tragic situation1 must be         
transferred to him1 if we wish to       
realise in the older1 profounder1 and   
more complete sense of his nature1 that 
mystical being of ,greek tradition to   
whom all these experiences--his madness1
 the chase1 his imprisonment and death1 
his peace again-- really belong2 and to 
discern which1 through ,euripides'      

peculiar treatment of his subject1 is   
part of the curious interest of this    
play4  ,through the sophism of          
,euripides6  ,for that1 again1 is the   
really descriptive word1 with which     
,euripides1 a lover of sophisms1 as     
,aristophanes knows1 himself supplies   
us4  ,well2--this softened version of   
the ,bacchic madness is a sophism of    
,euripides2 and ,dionysus               
,omophagus--the eater of raw flesh1 must
 be added to the golden image of        
,dionysus ,meilichius--the honey-sweet1 
if the old tradition in its completeness
 is to be1 in spite of that sophism1 our
 closing impression2 if we are to catch1
 in its fulness1 that deep undercurrent 
of horror which runs below1 all through 
#gi this masque of spring1 and realise  
the spectacle of that wild chase1 in    
which ,dionysus is ultimately both the  
hunter and the spoil4  ,but meantime    
another person appears on the stage2    
,cadmus enters1 followed by attendants  
bearing on a bier the torn limbs of     

,pentheus1 which lying wildly scattered 
through the tangled wood1 have been with
 difficulty collected and now decently  
put together and covered over4 ,in the  
little that still remains before the end
 of the play1 destiny now hurrying      
things rapidly forward1 and strong      
emotions1 hopes and forebodings being   
now closely packed1 ,euripides has      
before him an artistic problem of       
enormous difficulty4  ,perhaps this very
 haste and close-packing of the matter1 
which keeps the mind from dwelling      
overmuch on detail1 relieves its real   
extravagance1 and those who read it     
carefully will think that the pathos of 
,euripides has been equal to the        
occasion4  ,in a few profoundly designed
 touches he depicts the perplexity of   
,cadmus1 in whose house a god had become
 an inmate1 only to destroy it--the     
regret of the old man for the one male  
child to whom that house had looked up  
as the pillar whereby aged people might 
feel secure2 the piteous craziness of   

,agave2 the unconscious irony with which
 she caresses the florid1 youthful head 
of her son2 the delicate breaking of the
 thing to her reviving intelligence1 as 
,cadmus1 though he can but wish that she
 might live on for ever in her visionary
 enjoyment1 #hj prepares the way1 by    
playing on that other horrible legend of
 the ,theban house1 the tearing of      
,actaeon to death--he too destroyed by a
 god4  ,he gives us the sense of        
,agave's gradual return to reason       
through many glimmering doubts1 till she
 wakes up at last to find the real face 
turned up towards the mother and        
murderess2 the quite naturally          
spontaneous sorrow of the mother1 ending
 with her confession1 down to her last  
sigh1 and the final breaking up of the  
house of ,cadmus2 with a result so      
genuine1 heartfelt1 and dignified withal
 in its expression of a strange         
ineffable woe1 that a fragment of it1   
the lamentation of ,agave over her son1 
in which the long-pent agony at last    

finds vent1 were1 it is supposed1       
adopted into his paler work by an early 
,christian poet1 and have figured since1
 as touches of real fire1 in the        
,christus ,patiens of ,gregory          
,nazianzen4  ,,notes  #fd4              
,transliteration3 autika ga pasa        
choreusei4  ,e-text editor's            
translation3 ,straightway all the earth 
shall dance4  ,euripides1 ,bacchae #aad4
  ,euripidis ,fabulae1 ed4 ,gilbert     
,murray1 vol4 #c4 ,oxford3 ,clarendon   
,press1 #aiac4  #ff4 ,transliteration3  
poi dei choreuein2 poi kathistanai poda2
 kai krata seisai polion4  ,translation3
 ,where must ,i dance8  ,where must ,i  
stand and shake my white locks8         
,euripides1 ,bacchae #ahd-he4 ,euripidis
 ,fabulae1 ed4 ,gilbert ,murray1 vol4   
#c4  ,oxford3 ,clarendon ,press1 #aiac4 
#fi4 ,transliteration3 ti m' anainei1 ti
 me pheugeis4  ,translation3 ,why do you
 reject me1 why do you run from me8     
,bacchae #eai4 ,euripidis ,fabulae1 ed4 
,gilbert ,murray1 vol4 #c4  ,oxford3    

,clarendon ,press1 #aiac4    ,,the      
,,myth ,,of ,,demeter ,,and             
,,persephone3 ,i  #ha ,no chapter in the
 history of human imagination is more   
curious than the myth of ,demeter1 and  
,kore or ,persephone4  ,alien in some   
respects from the genuine traditions of 
,greek mythology1 a relic of the earlier
 inhabitants of ,greece1 and having but 
a subordinate place in the religion of  
,homer1 it yet asserted its interest1   
little by little1 and took a complex    
hold on the minds of the ,greeks1       
becoming finally the central and most   
popular subject of their national       
worship4  ,following its changes1 we    
come across various phases of ,greek    
culture1 which are not without their    
likenesses in the modern mind4  ,we     
trace it in the dim first period of     
instinctive popular conception2 we see  
it connecting itself with many          
impressive elements of art1 and poetry1 
and religious custom1 with the          
picturesque superstitions of the many1  

and with the finer intuitions of the    
few2 and besides this1 it is in itself  
full of #hb interest and suggestion1 to 
all for whom the ideas of the ,greek    
religion have any real meaning in the   
modern world4  ,and the fortune of the  
myth has not deserted it in later times4
  ,in the year #aghj1 the long-lost text
 of the ,homeric ,hymn to ,demeter was  
discovered among the manuscripts of the 
imperial library at ,moscow2 and1 in our
 own generation1 the tact of an eminent 
student of ,greek art1 ,sir ,charles    
,newton1 has restored to the world the  
buried treasures of the little temple   
and precinct of ,demeter1 at ,cnidus1   
which have many claims to rank in the   
central order of ,greek sculpture4  ,the
 present essay is an attempt to select  
and weave together1 for those who are   
now approaching the deeper study of     
,greek thought1 whatever details in the 
development of this myth1 arranged with 
a view rather to a total impression than
 to the debate of particular points1 may

 seem likely to increase their stock of 
poetical impressions1 and to add to this
 some criticisms on the expression which
 it has left of itself in extant art and
 poetry4  ,the central expression1 then1
 of the story of ,demeter and           
,persephone is the ,homeric hymn1 to    
which ,grote has assigned a date at     
least as early as six hundred years     
before ,christ4 ,the one survivor of a  
whole family of hymns on this subject1  
it was written1 perhaps1 for one of     
those contests which took place on the  
seventh day of the ,eleusinian festival1
 and in which a bunch of #hc ears of    
corn was the prize2 perhaps1 for actual 
use in the mysteries themselves1 by the 
,hierophantes1 or ,interpreter1 who     
showed to the worshippers at ,eleusis   
those sacred places to which the poem   
contains so many references4  ,about the
 composition itself there are many      
difficult questions1 with various       
surmises as to why it has remained only 
in this unique manuscript of the end of 

the fourteenth century4 ,portions of the
 text are missing1 and there are        
probably some additions by later hands2 
yet most scholars have admitted that it 
possesses some of the true              
characteristics of the ,homeric style1  
some genuine echoes of the age          
immediately succeeding that which       
produced the ,iliad and the ,odyssey4   
,listen now to a somewhat abbreviated   
version of it4  ,i begin the song of    
,demeter--says the prize-poet1 or the   
,interpreter1 the ,sacristan of the holy
 places--the song of ,demeter and her   
daughter ,persephone1 whom ,aidoneus    
carried away by the consent of ,zeus1 as
 she played1 apart from her mother1 with
 the deep- bosomed daughters of the     
,ocean1 gathering flowers in a meadow of
 soft grass--roses and the crocus and   
fair violets and flags1 and hyacinths1  
and1 above all1 the strange flower of   
the narcissus1 which the ,earth1        
favouring the desire of ,aidoneus1      
brought forth for the first time1 to    

snare the footsteps of the flower-like  
girl4  ,a hundred #hd heads of blossom  
grew up from the roots of it1 and the   
sky and the earth and the salt wave of  
the sea were glad at the scent thereof4 
,she stretched forth her hands to take  
the flower2 thereupon the earth opened1 
and the king of the great nation of the 
dead sprang out with his immortal       
horses4  ,he seized the unwilling girl1 
and bore her away weeping1 on his golden
 chariot4  ,she uttered a shrill cry1   
calling upon her father ,zeus2 but      
neither man nor god heard her voice1 nor
 even the nymphs of the meadow where she
 played2 except ,hecate only1 the       
daughter of ,persaeus1 sitting1 as ever1
 in her cave1 half veiled with a shining
 veil1 thinking delicate thoughts2 she1 
and the ,sun also1 heard her4  ,so long 
as she could still see the earth1 and   
the sky1 and the sea with the great     
waves moving1 and the beams of the sun1 
and still thought to see again her      
mother1 and the race of the ever-living 

gods1 so long hope soothed her1 in the  
midst of her grief4  ,the peaks of the  
hills and the depths of the sea echoed  
her cry4  ,and the mother heard it4  ,a 
sharp pain seized her at the heart2 she 
plucked the veil from her hair1 and cast
 down the blue hood from her shoulders1 
and fled forth like a bird1 seeking     
,persephone over dry land and sea4  ,but
 neither man nor god would tell her the 
truth2 nor did any bird come to her as a
 sure messenger4  ,nine days she        
wandered up and down upon the earth1    
having blazing torches in her hands2 #he
 and1 in her great sorrow1 she refused  
to taste of ambrosia1 or of the cup of  
the sweet nectar1 nor washed her face4  
,but when the tenth morning came1       
,hecate met her1 having a light in her  
hands4  ,but ,hecate had heard the voice
 only1 and had seen no one1 and could   
not tell ,demeter who had borne the girl
 away4 ,and ,demeter said not a word1   
but fled away swiftly with her1 having  
the blazing torches in her hands1 till  

they came to the ,sun1 the watchman both
 of gods and men2 and the goddess       
questioned him1 and the ,sun told her   
the whole story4  ,then a more terrible 
grief took possession of ,demeter1 and1 
in her anger against ,zeus1 she forsook 
the assembly of the gods and abode among
 men1 for a long time veiling her beauty
 under a worn countenance1 so that none 
who looked upon her knew her1 until she 
came to the house of ,celeus1 who was   
then king of ,eleusis4  ,in her sorrow1 
she sat down at the wayside by the      
virgin's well1 where the people of      
,eleusis come to draw water1 under the  
shadow of an olive- tree4  ,she seemed  
as an aged woman whose time of          
child-bearing is gone by1 and from whom 
the gifts of ,aphrodite have been       
withdrawn1 like one of the hired        
servants1 who nurse the children or keep
 house1 in kings' palaces4  ,and the    
daughters of ,celeus1 four of them1 like
 goddesses1 possessing the flower of    
their youth1 ,callidice1 ,cleisidice1   

,demo1 and ,callithoe the eldest of     
them1 coming to draw water that they #hf
 might bear it in their brazen pitchers 
to their father's house1 saw ,demeter   
and knew her not4  ,the gods are hard   
for men to recognise4  ,they asked her  
kindly what she did there1 alone2 and   
,demeter answered1 dissemblingly1 that  
she was escaped from certain pirates1   
who had carried her from her home and   
meant to sell her as a slave4 ,then they
 prayed her to abide there while they   
returned to the palace1 to ask their    
mother's permission to bring her home4  
,demeter bowed her head in assent2 and  
they1 having filled their shining       
vessels with water1 bore them away1     
rejoicing in their beauty4 ,they came   
quickly to their father's house1 and    
told their mother what they had seen and
 heard4  ,their mother bade them return1
 and hire the woman for a great price2  
and they1 like the hinds or young       
heifers leaping in the fields in spring1
 fulfilled with the pasture1 holding up 

the folds of their raiment1 sped along  
the hollow road-way1 their hair1 in     
colour like the crocus1 floating about  
their shoulders as they went4  ,they    
found the glorious goddess still sitting
 by the wayside1 unmoved4  ,then they   
led her to their father's house2 and    
she1 veiled from head to foot1 in her   
deep grief1 followed them on the way1   
and her blue robe gathered itself as she
 walked1 in many folds about her feet4  
,they came to the house1 and passed     
through the sunny porch1 where their    
mother1 ,metaneira1 was #hg sitting     
against one of the pillars of the roof1 
having a young child in her bosom4      
,they ran up to her2 but ,demeter       
crossed the threshold1 and1 as she      
passed through1 her head rose and       
touched the roof1 and her presence      
filled the doorway with a divine        
brightness4  ,still they did not wholly 
recognise her4  ,after a time she was   
made to smile4  ,she refused to drink   
wine1 but tasted of a cup mingled of    

water and barley1 flavoured with mint4  
,it happened that ,metaneira had lately 
borne a child4  ,it had come beyond     
hope1 long after its elder brethren1 and
 was the object of a peculiar tenderness
 and of many prayers with all4  ,demeter
 consented to remain1 and become the    
nurse of this child4  ,she took the     
child in her immortal hands1 and placed 
it in her fragrant bosom2 and the heart 
of the mother rejoiced4  ,thus ,demeter 
nursed ,demophoon4  ,and the child grew 
like a god1 neither sucking the breast1 
nor eating bread2 but ,demeter daily    
anointed it with ambrosia1 as if it had 
indeed been the child of a god1         
breathing sweetly over it and holding it
 in her bosom2 and at nights1 when she  
lay alone with the child1 she would hide
 it secretly in the red strength of the 
fire1 like a brand2 for her heart       
yearned towards it1 and she would fain  
have given to it immortal youth4  ,but  
the foolishness of his mother prevented 
it4  ,for a suspicion growing up within 

her1 she awaited her time1 and one night
 peeped in upon #hh them1 and thereupon 
cried out in terror at what she saw4    
,and the goddess heard her2 and a sudden
 anger seizing her1 she plucked the     
child from the fire and cast it on the  
ground1--the child she would fain have  
made immortal1 but who must now share   
the common destiny of all men1 though   
some inscrutable grace should still be  
his1 because he had lain for awhile on  
the knees and in the bosom of the       
goddess4  ,then ,demeter manifested     
herself openly4  ,she put away the mask 
of old age1 and changed her form1 and   
the spirit of beauty breathed about her4
  ,a fragrant odour fell from her       
raiment1 and her flesh shone from afar2 
the long yellow hair descended waving   
over her shoulders1 and the great house 
was filled as with the brightness of    
lightning4  ,she passed out through the 
halls2 and ,metaneira fell to the earth1
 and was speechless for a long time1 and
 remembered not to lift the child from  

the ground4  ,but the sisters1 hearing  
its piteous cries1 leapt from their beds
 and ran to it4  ,then one of them      
lifted the child from the earth1 and    
wrapped it in her bosom1 and another    
hastened to her mother's chamber to     
awake her3 they came round the child1   
and washed away the flecks of the fire  
from its panting body1 and kissed it    
tenderly all about3 but the anguish of  
the child ceased not2 the arms of other 
and different nurses were about to      
enfold it4  ,so1 all night1 trembling   
with fear1 they #hi sought to propitiate
 the glorious goddess2 and in the       
morning they told all to their father1  
,celeus4  ,and he1 according to the     
commands of the goddess1 built a fair   
temple2 and all the people assisted2 and
 when it was finished every man departed
 to his own home4  ,then ,demeter       
returned1 and sat down within the       
temple-walls1 and remained still apart  
from the company of the gods1 alone in  
her wasting regret for her daughter     

,persephone4  ,and1 in her anger1 she   
sent upon the earth a year of grievous  
famine4  ,the dry seed remained hidden  
in the soil2 in vain the oxen drew the  
ploughshare through the furrows2 much   
white seed-corn fell fruitless on the   
earth1 and the whole human race had like
 to have perished1 and the gods had no  
more service of men1 unless ,zeus had   
interfered4  ,first he sent ,iris1      
afterwards all the gods1 one by one1 to 
turn ,demeter from her anger2 but none  
was able to persuade her2 she heard     
their words with a hard countenance1 and
 vowed by no means to return to         
,olympus1 nor to yield the fruit of the 
earth1 until her eyes had seen her lost 
daughter again4  ,then1 last of all1    
,zeus sent ,hermes into the kingdom of  
the dead1 to persuade ,aidoneus to      
suffer his bride to return to the light 
of day4  ,and ,hermes found the king at 
home in his palace1 sitting on a couch1 
beside the shrinking ,persephone1       
consumed within herself by desire for   

her mother4  ,a doubtful smile passed   
over #ij the face of ,aidoneus2 yet he  
obeyed the message1 and bade ,persephone
 return2 yet praying her a little to    
have gentle thoughts of him1 nor judge  
him too hardly1 who was also an immortal
 god4  ,and ,persephone arose up quickly
 in great joy2 only1 ere she departed1  
he caused her to eat a morsel of sweet  
pomegranate1 designing secretly thereby1
 that she should not remain always upon 
earth1 but might some time return to    
him4  ,and ,aidoneus yoked the horses to
 his chariot2 and ,persephone ascended  
into it2 and ,hermes took the reins in  
his hands and drove out through the     
infernal halls2 and the horses ran      
willingly2 and they two quickly passed  
over the ways of that long journey1     
neither the waters of the sea1 nor of   
the rivers1 nor the deep ravines of the 
hills1 nor the cliffs of the shore1     
resisting them2 till at last ,hermes    
placed ,persephone before the door of   
the temple where her mother was2 who1   

seeing her1 ran out quickly to meet her1
 like a ,maenad coming down a           
mountain-side1 dusky with woods4  ,so   
they spent all that day together in     
intimate communion1 having many things  
to hear and tell4  ,then ,zeus sent to  
them ,rhea1 his venerable mother1 the   
oldest of divine persons1 to bring them 
back reconciled1 to the company of the  
gods2 and he ordained that ,persephone  
should remain two parts of the year with
 her mother1 and one third part only    
with her husband1 in the kingdom of the 
dead4  ,so ,demeter suffered #ia the    
earth to yield its fruits once more1 and
 the land was suddenly laden with leaves
 and flowers and waving corn4 ,also she 
visited ,triptolemus and the other      
princes of ,eleusis1 and instructed them
 in the performance of her sacred       
rites1--those mysteries of which no     
tongue may speak4  ,only1 blessed is he 
whose eyes have seen them2 his lot after
 death is not as the lot of other men6  
,in the story of ,demeter1 as in all    

,greek myths1 we may trace the action of
 three different influences1 which have 
moulded it with varying effects1 in     
three successive phases of its          
development4 ,there is first its        
half-conscious1 instinctive1 or         
mystical1 phase1 in which1 under the    
form of an unwritten legend1 living from
 mouth to mouth1 and with details       
changing as it passes from place to     
place1 there lie certain primitive      
impressions of the phenomena of the     
natural world4  ,we may trace it next in
 its conscious1 poetical or literary1   
phase1 in which the poets become the    
depositaries of the vague instinctive   
product of the popular imagination1 and 
handle it with a purely literary        
interest1 fixing its outlines1 and      
simplifying or developing its           
situations4  ,thirdly1 the myth passes  
into the ethical phase1 in which the    
persons and the incidents of the        
poetical narrative are realised as      
abstract symbols1 because intensely     

characteristic examples1 of moral or    
spiritual conditions4 #ib ,behind the   
adventures of the stealing of           
,persephone and the wanderings of       
,demeter in search of her1 as we find   
them in the ,homeric hymn1 we may       
discern the confused conception1 under  
which that early age1 in which the myths
 were first created1 represented to     
itself those changes in physical things1
 that order of summer and winter1 of    
which it had no scientific1 or          
systematic explanation1 but in which1   
nevertheless1 it divined a multitude of 
living agencies1 corresponding to those 
ascertained forces1 of which our colder 
modern science tells the number and the 
names4  ,demeter--,demeter and          
,persephone1 at first1 in a sort of     
confused union--is the earth1 in the    
fixed order of its annual changes1 but  
also in all the accident and detail of  
the growth and decay of its children4   
,of this conception1 floating loosely in
 the air1 the poets of a later age take 

possession2 they create ,demeter and    
,persephone as we know them in art and  
poetry4  ,from the vague and fluctuating
 union1 in which together they had      
represented the earth and its changes1  
the mother and the daughter define      
themselves with special functions1 and  
with fixed1 well-understood             
relationships1 the incidents and        
emotions of which soon weave themselves 
into a pathetic story4  ,lastly1 in     
proportion as the literary or aesthetic 
activity completes the picture or the   
poem1 the ethical interest makes itself 
felt4  ,these strange persons--,demeter 
and ,persephone--these marvellous       
incidents-- the translation into ,hades1
 the seeking #ic of ,demeter1 the return
 of ,persephone to her1--lend themselves
 to the elevation and correction of the 
sentiments of sorrow and awe1 by the    
presentment to the senses and the       
imagination of an ideal expression of   
them4 ,demeter cannot but seem the type 
of divine grief4  ,persephone is the    

goddess of death1 yet with a promise of 
life to come4  ,those three phases1     
then1 which are more or less discernible
 in all mythical development1 and       
constitute a natural order in it1 based 
on the necessary conditions of human    
apprehension1 are fixed more plainly1   
perhaps1 than in any other passage of   
,greek mythology in the story of        
,demeter4  ,and as the ,homeric hymn is 
the central expression of its literary  
or poetical phase1 so the marble        
remains1 of which ,i shall have to speak
 by and bye1 are the central extant     
illustration of what ,i have called its 
ethical phase4  ,homer1 in the ,iliad1  
knows ,demeter1 but only as the goddess 
of the fields1 the originator and       
patroness of the labours of the         
countryman1 in their yearly order4  ,she
 stands1 with her hair yellow like the  
ripe corn1 at the threshing-floor1 and  
takes her share in the toil1 the heap of
 grain whitening1 as the flails1 moving 
in the wind1 disperse the chaff4  ,out  

in the fresh fields1 she yields to the  
embraces of ,iasion1 to the extreme     
jealousy of ,zeus1 who slays her mortal 
lover with lightning4  ,the flowery town
 of ,pyrasus--the wheat- town1--an      
ancient place in ,thessaly1 is her      
sacred precinct4  ,but when #id ,homer  
gives a list of the orthodox gods1 her  
name is not mentioned4  ,homer1 in the  
,odyssey1 knows ,persephone also1 but   
not as ,kore2 only as the queen of the  
dead--epain ,persephon--dreadful        
,persephone1 the goddess of destruction 
and death1 according to the apparent    
import of her name4  ,she accomplishes  
men's evil prayers2 she is the mistress 
and manager of men's shades1 to which   
she can dispense a little more or less  
of life1 dwelling in her mouldering     
palace on the steep shore of the        
,oceanus1 with its groves of barren     
willows and tall poplars4 ,but that     
,homer knew her as the daughter of      
,demeter there are no signs2 and of his 
knowledge of the rape of ,persephone    

there is only the faintest sign1--he    
names ,hades by the golden reins of his 
chariot1 and his beautiful horses4  ,the
 main theme1 then1 the most             
characteristic peculiarities1 of the    
story1 as subsequently developed1 are   
not to be found1 expressly1 in the true 
,homer4  ,we have in him1 on the one    
hand1 ,demeter1 as the perfectly fresh  
and blithe goddess of the fields1 whose 
children1 if she has them1 must be as   
the perfectly discreet and peaceful1    
unravished ,kore2 on the other hand1 we 
have ,persephone1 as the wholly terrible
 goddess of death1 who brings to        
,ulysses the querulous shadows of the   
dead1 and has the head of the gorgon    
,medusa in her keeping4  ,and it is only
 when these two contrasted images have  
been #ie brought into intimate          
relationship1 only when ,kore and       
,persephone have been identified1 that  
the deeper mythology of ,demeter begins4
  ,this combination has taken place in  
,hesiod2 and in three lines of the      

,theogony we find the stealing of       
,persephone by ,aidoneus199--one of     
those things in ,hesiod1 perhaps1 which 
are really older than ,homer4 ,hesiod   
has been called the poet of helots1 and 
is thought to have preserved some of the
 traditions of those earlier inhabitants
 of ,greece who had become a kind of    
serfs2 and in a certain shadowiness in  
his conceptions of the gods1 contrasting
 with the concrete and heroic forms of  
the gods of ,homer1 we may perhaps trace
 something of the quiet unspoken        
brooding of a subdued people--of that   
silently dreaming temper to which the   
story of ,persephone properly belongs4  
,however this may be1 it is in ,hesiod  
that the two images1 unassociated in    
,homer--the goddess of summer and the   
goddess of death1 ,kore and             
,persephone--are identified with much   
significance2 and that strange1 dual    
being makes her first appearance1 whose 
latent capabilities the poets afterwards
 developed2 among the rest1 a peculiar  

blending of those two contrasted        
aspects1 full of purpose for the duly   
chastened intelligence2 death1          
resurrection1 rejuvenescence4--,awake1  
and sing1 ye that dwell in the dust6    
#if ,modern science explains the changes
 of the natural world by the hypothesis 
of certain unconscious forces2 and the  
sum of these forces1 in their combined  
action1 constitutes the scientific      
conception of nature4  ,but1 side by    
side with the growth of this more       
mechanical conception1 an older and more
 spiritual1 ,platonic1 philosophy has   
always maintained itself1 a philosophy  
more of instinct than of the            
understanding1 the mental starting-point
 of which is not an observed sequence of
 outward phenomena1 but some such       
feeling as most of us have on the first 
warmer days in spring1 when we seem to  
feel the genial processes of nature     
actually at work2 as if just below the  
mould1 and in the hard wood of the      
trees1 there were really circulating    

some spirit of life1 akin to that which 
makes its energies felt within          
ourselves4  ,starting with a hundred    
instincts such as this1 that older      
unmechanical1 spiritual1 or ,platonic1  
philosophy envisages nature rather as   
the unity of a living spirit or person1 
revealing itself in various degrees to  
the kindred spirit of the observer1 than
 as a system of mechanical forces4      
,such a philosophy is a systematised    
form of that sort of poetry 7we may     
study it1 for instance1 either in       
,shelley or in ,wordsworth71 which also 
has its fancies of a spirit of the      
earth1 or of the sky1--a personal       
intelligence abiding in them1 the       
existence of which is assumed in every  
suggestion such poetry makes to us of a 
sympathy between the ways #ig and       
aspects of outward nature and the moods 
of men4  ,and what stood to the         
primitive intelligence in place of such 
metaphysical conceptions were those     
cosmical stories or myths1 such as this 

of ,demeter and ,persephone1 which      
springing up spontaneously in many      
minds1 came at last to represent to     
them1 in a certain number of sensibly   
realised images1 all they knew1 felt1 or
 fancied1 of the natural world about    
them4  ,the sky in its unity and its    
variety1--the sea in its unity and its  
variety1--mirrored themselves           
respectively in these simple1 but       
profoundly impressible spirits1 as      
,zeus1 as ,glaucus or ,poseidon4  ,and a
 large part of their experience--all1   
that is1 that related to the earth in   
its changes1 the growth and decay of all
 things born of it--was covered by the  
story of ,demeter1 the myth of the earth
 as a mother4  ,they thought of ,demeter
 as the old ,germans thought of ,hertha1
 or the later ,greeks of ,pan1 as the   
,egyptians thought of ,isis1 the land of
 the ,nile1 made green by the streams of
 ,osiris1 for whose coming ,isis longs1 
as ,demeter for ,persephone2 thus naming
 together in her all their fluctuating  

thoughts1 impressions1 suspicions1 of   
the earth and its appearances1 their    
whole complex divination of a mysterious
 life1 a perpetual working1 a continuous
 act of conception there4  ,or they     
thought of the many-coloured earth as   
the garment of ,demeter1 as the great   
modern pantheist poet speaks of it as   
the garment of ,god4  ,its #ih brooding 
fertility2 the spring flowers breaking  
from its surface1 the thinly disguised  
unhealthfulness of their heavy perfume1 
and of their chosen places of growth2   
the delicate1 feminine1 ,prosperina-like
 motion of all growing things2 its      
fruit1 full of drowsy and poisonous1 or 
fresh1 reviving juices2 its sinister    
caprices also1 its droughts and sudden  
volcanic heats2 the long delays of      
spring2 its dumb sleep1 so suddenly     
flung away2 the sadness which insinuates
 itself into its languid luxuriance2 all
 this grouped itself round the persons  
of ,demeter and her circle4  ,they could
 turn always to her1 from the actual    

earth itself1 in aweful yet hopeful     
prayer1 and a devout personal gratitude1
 and explain it through her1 in its     
sorrow and its promise1 its darkness and
 its helpfulness to man4  ,the          
personification of abstract ideas by    
modern painters or sculptors1 of wealth1
 of commerce1 of health1 for instance1  
shocks1 in most cases1 the aesthetic    
sense1 as something conventional or     
rhetorical1 as a mere transparent       
allegory1 or figure of speech1 which    
could please almost no one4  ,on the    
other hand1 such symbolical             
representations1 under the form of human
 persons1 as ,giotto's ,virtues and     
,vices at ,padua1 or his ,saint ,poverty
 at ,assisi1 or the series of the       
planets in certain early ,italian       
engravings1 are profoundly poetical and 
impressive4  ,they seem to be something 
more than mere symbolism1 #ii and to be 
connected with some peculiarly          
sympathetic penetration1 on the part of 
the artist1 into the subjects he        

intended to depict4  ,symbolism intense 
as this1 is the creation of a special   
temper1 in which a certain simplicity1  
taking all things literally1 au pied de 
la lettre1 is united to a vivid         
pre-occupation with the aesthetic beauty
 of the image itself1 the figured side  
of figurative expression1 the form of   
the metaphor4  ,when it is said1 ,out of
 his mouth goeth a sharp sword1 that    
temper is ready to deal directly and    
boldly with that difficult image1 like  
that old designer of the fourteenth     
century1 who has depicted this1 and     
other images of the ,apocalypse1 in a   
coloured window at ,bourges4  ,such     
symbolism cares a great deal for the    
hair of ,temperance1 discreetly bound1  
for some subtler likeness to the colour 
of the sky in the girdle of ,hope1 for  
the inwoven flames in the red garment of
 ,charity4  ,and what was specially     
peculiar to the temper of the old       
,florentine painter1 ,giotto1 to the    
temper of his age in general1 doubtless1

 more than to that of ours1 was the     
persistent and universal mood of the age
 in which the story of ,demeter and     
,persephone was first created4  ,if some
 painter of our own time has conceived  
the image of ,the ,day so intensely1    
that we hardly think of distinguishing  
between the image1 with its girdle of   
dissolving morning mist1 and the meaning
 of the image2 if ,william ,blake1 to   
our so great delight1 makes the morning 
stars #ajj literally sing               
together1--these fruits of individual   
genius are in part also a survival from 
a different age1 with the whole mood of 
which this mode of expression was more  
congruous than it is with ours4  ,but   
there are traces of the old temper in   
the man of to-day also2 and through     
these we can understand that earlier    
time--a very poetical time1 with the    
more highly gifted peoples--in which    
every impression men received of the    
action of powers without or within them 
suggested to them the presence of a soul

 or will1 like their own--a person1 with
 a living spirit1 and senses1 and hands1
 and feet2 which1 when it talked of the 
return of ,kore to ,demeter1 or the     
marriage of ,zeus and ,here1 was not    
using rhetorical language1 but yielding 
to a real illusion2 to which the voice  
of man was really a stream1 beauty an   
effluence1 death a mist4  ,the gods of  
,greek mythology overlap each other2    
they are confused or connected with each
 other1 lightly or deeply1 as the case  
may be1 and sometimes have their        
doubles1 at first sight as in a troubled
 dream1 yet never1 when we examine each 
detail more closely1 without a certain  
truth to human reason4  ,it is only in a
 limited sense that it is possible to   
lift1 and examine by itself1 one thread 
of the network of story and imagery1    
which1 in a certain age of civilisation1
 wove itself over every detail of life  
and thought1 over every name in the     
past1 and almost every place in #aja    
,greece4  ,the story of ,demeter1 then1 

was the work of no single author or     
place or time2 the poet of its first    
phase was no single person1 but the     
whole consciousness of an age1 though an
 age doubtless with its differences of  
more or less imaginative individual     
minds--with one1 here or there1 eminent1
 though but by a little1 above a merely 
receptive majority1 the spokesman of a  
universal1 though faintly-felt          
prepossession1 attaching the errant     
fancies of the people around him to     
definite names and images4  ,the myth   
grew up gradually1 and at many distant  
places1 in many minds1 independent of   
each other1 but dealing in a common     
temper with certain elements and aspects
 of the natural world1 as one here1 and 
another there1 seemed to catch in that  
incident or detail which flashed more   
incisively than others on the inward    
eye1 some influence1 or feature1 or     
characteristic of the great mother4 ,the
 various epithets of ,demeter1 the local
 variations of her story1 its           

incompatible incidents1 bear witness to 
the manner of its generation4  ,they    
illustrate that indefiniteness which is 
characteristic of ,greek mythology1 a   
theology with no central authority1 no  
link on historic time1 liable from the  
first to an unobserved transformation4  
,they indicate the various1 far-distant 
spots from which the visible body of the
 goddess slowly collected its           
constituents1 and came at last to have a
 well-defined existence in the popular  
mind4  ,in this sense1 ,demeter appears 
to one in #ajb her anger1 sullenly      
withholding the fruits of the earth1 to 
another in her pride of ,persephone1 to 
another in her grateful gift of the arts
 of agriculture to man2 at last only1 is
 there a general recognition of a       
clearly-arrested outline1 a tangible    
embodiment1 which has solidified itself 
in the imagination of the people1 they  
know not how4  ,the worship of ,demeter 
belongs to that older religion1 nearer  
to the earth1 which some have thought   

they could discern1 behind the more     
definitely national mythology of ,homer4
  ,she is the goddess of dark caves1 and
 is not wholly free from monstrous form4
  ,she gave men the first fig in one    
place1 the first poppy in another2 in   
another1 she first taught the old       
,titans to mow4  ,she is the mother of  
the vine also2 and the assumed name by  
which she called herself in her         
wanderings1 is ,ds--a gift2 the crane1  
as the harbinger of rain1 is her        
messenger among the birds4  ,she knows  
the magic powers of certain plants1 cut 
from her bosom1 to bane or bless2 and1  
under one of her epithets1 herself      
presides over the springs1 as also      
coming from the secret places of the    
earth4  ,she is the goddess1 then1 at   
first1 of the fertility of the earth in 
its wildness2 and so far1 her attributes
 are to some degree confused with those 
of the ,thessalian ,gaia and the        
,phrygian ,cybele4  ,afterwards1 and it 
is now that her most characteristic     

attributes begin to concentrate         
themselves1 #ajc she separates herself  
from these confused relationships1 as   
specially the goddess of agriculture1 of
 the fertility of the earth when        
furthered by human skill4  ,she is the  
preserver of the seed sown in hope1     
under many epithets derived from the    
incidents of vegetation1 as the simple  
countryman names her1 out of a mind full
 of the various experiences of his      
little garden or farm4  ,she is the most
 definite embodiment of all those       
fluctuating mystical instincts1 of which
 ,gaia199 the mother of the earth's     
gloomier offspring1 is a vaguer and     
mistier one4  ,there is nothing of the  
confused outline1 the mere shadowiness  
of mystical dreaming1 in this most      
concrete human figure4 ,no nation1 less 
aesthetically gifted than the ,greeks1  
could have thus lightly thrown its      
mystical surmise and divination into    
images so clear and idyllic as those of 
the solemn goddess of the country1 in   

whom the characteristics of the mother  
are expressed with so much tenderness1  
and the beauteous head of ,kore1 then so
 fresh and peaceful4  ,in this phase1   
then1 the story of ,demeter appears as  
the peculiar creation of country-people 
of a high impressibility1 dreaming over 
their work in spring or autumn1 half    
consciously touched by a sense of its   
sacredness1 and a sort of #ajd mystery  
about it4  ,for there is much in the    
life of the farm everywhere which gives 
to persons of any seriousness of        
disposition1 special opportunity for    
grave and gentle thoughts4  ,the temper 
of people engaged in the occupations of 
country life1 so permanent1 so near to  
nature1 is at all times alike2 and the  
habitual solemnity of thought and       
expression which ,wordsworth found in   
the peasants of ,cumberland1 and the    
painter ,franois ,millet in the peasants
 of ,brittany1 may well have had its    
prototype in early ,greece4  ,and so1   
even before the development1 by the     

poets1 of their aweful and passionate   
story1 ,demeter and ,persephone seem to 
have been pre-eminently the venerable1  
or aweful1 goddesses4  ,demeter haunts  
the fields in spring1 when the young    
lambs are dropped2 she visits the barns 
in autumn2 she takes part in mowing and 
binding up the corn1 and is the goddess 
of sheaves4  ,she presides over all the 
pleasant1 significant details of the    
farm1 the threshing-floor and the full  
granary1 and stands beside the woman    
baking bread at the oven4  ,with these  
fancies are connected certain simple    
rites2 the half-understood local        
observance1 and the half- believed local
 legend1 reacting capriciously on each  
other4  ,they leave her a fragment of   
bread and a morsel of meat1 at the      
cross- roads1 to take on her journey2   
and perhaps some real ,demeter carries  
them away1 as she wanders through the   
country4  ,the incidents of their yearly
 labour become to #aje them acts of     
worship2 they seek her blessing through 

many expressive names1 and almost catch 
sight of her1 at dawn or evening1 in the
 nooks of the fragrant fields4  ,she    
lays a finger on the grass at the       
road-side1 and some new flower comes up4
  ,all the picturesque implements of    
country life are hers2 the poppy also1  
emblem of an inexhaustible fertility1   
and full of mysterious juices for the   
alleviation of pain4  ,the countrywoman 
who puts her child to sleep in the      
great1 cradle-like1 basket1 for         
winnowing the corn1 remembers ,demeter  
,courotrophos1 the mother of corn and   
children alike1 and makes it a little   
coat out of the dress worn by its father
 at his initiation into her mysteries4  
,yet she is an angry goddess too1       
sometimes--,demeter ,erinnys1 the goblin
 of the neighbourhood1 haunting its     
shadowy places4  ,she lies on the ground
 out of doors on summer nights1 and     
becomes wet with the dew4  ,she grows   
young again every spring1 yet is of     
great age1 the wrinkled woman of the    

,homeric hymn1 who becomes the nurse of 
,demophoon4  ,other lighter1 errant     
stories nest themselves1 as time goes   
on1 within the greater4  ,the           
water-newt1 which repels the lips of the
 traveller who stoops to drink1 is a    
certain urchin1 ,abas1 who spoiled by   
his mockery the pleasure of the         
thirsting goddess1 as she drank once of 
a wayside spring in her wanderings4     
,the night-owl is the transformed       
,ascalabus1 who alone had seen          
,persephone eat that morsel #ajf of     
pomegranate1 in the garden of ,aidoneus4
  ,the bitter wild mint was once a girl1
 who for a moment had made her jealous1 
in ,hades4  ,the episode of             
,triptolemus1 to whom ,demeter imparts  
the mysteries of the plough1 like the   
details of some sacred rite1 that he may
 bear them abroad to all people1        
embodies1 in connexion with her1 another
 group of the circumstances of country  
life4  ,as with all the other episodes  
of the story1 there are here also local 

variations1 traditions of various       
favourites of the goddess at different  
places1 of whom grammarians can tell us1
 finally obscured behind the greater    
fame of ,triptolemus of ,eleusis4  ,one 
might fancy1 at first1 that ,triptolemus
 was a quite ,boeotian divinity1 of the 
ploughshare4  ,yet we know that the     
thoughts of the ,greeks concerning the  
culture of the earth from which they    
came1 were most often noble ones2 and if
 we examine carefully the works of      
ancient art which represent him1 the    
second thought will suggest itself1 that
 there was nothing clumsy or coarse     
about this patron of the                
plough--something1 rather1 of the       
movement of delicate wind or fire1 about
 him and his chariot4  ,and this finer  
character is explained1 if1 as we are   
justified in doing1 we bring him into   
closest connexion with that episode1 so 
full of a strange mysticism1 of the     
,nursing of ,demophoon1 in the ,homeric 
hymn4 ,for1 according to some           

traditions1 none other #ajg than        
,triptolemus himself was the subject of 
that mysterious experiment1 in which    
,demeter laid the child nightly1 in the 
red heat of the fire2 and he lives      
afterwards1 not immortal indeed1 not    
wholly divine1 yet1 as ,shakspere says1 
a nimble spirit1 feeling little of the  
weight of the material world about      
him--the element of winged fire in the  
clay4 ,the delicate1 fresh1 farm-lad we 
may still actually see sometimes1 like a
 graceful field-flower among the corn1  
becomes1 in the sacred legend of        
agriculture1 a king's son2 and then1 the
 fire having searched out from him the  
grosser elements on that famous night1  
all compact now of spirit1 a priest     
also1 administering the gifts of        
,demeter to all the earth4  ,certainly1 
the extant works of art which represent 
him1 gems or vase-paintings1 conform    
truly enough to this ideal of a nimble  
spirit1 though he wears the broad       
country hat1 which ,hermes also wears1  

going swiftly1 half on the airy1        
mercurial wheels of his farm instrument1
 harrow or plough--half on wings of     
serpents--the worm1 symbolical of the   
soil1 but winged1 as sending up the dust
 committed to it1 after subtle firing1  
in colours and odours of fruit and      
flowers4  ,it is an altogether sacred   
character1 again1 that he assumes in    
another precious work1 of the severer   
period of ,greek art1 lately discovered 
at ,eleusis1 and now preserved in the   
museum of ,athens1 a singularly refined 
bas-relief1 in which he stands1 a firm  
and serious youth1 between ,demeter and 
#ajh ,persephone1 who places her hand as
 with some sacred influence1 and        
consecrating gesture1 upon him4  ,but   
the house of the prudent countryman will
 be1 of course1 a place of honest       
manners2 and ,demeter ,thesmophoros is  
the guardian of married life1 the deity 
of the discretion of wives4  ,she is    
therefore the founder of civilised      
order4  ,the peaceful homes of men1     

scattered about the land1 in their      
security--,demeter represents these     
fruits of the earth also1 not without a 
suggestion of the white cities1 which   
shine upon the hills above the waving   
fields of corn1 seats of justice and of 
true kingship4  ,she is also in a       
certain sense the patron of travellers1 
having1 in her long wanderings after    
,persephone1 recorded and handed down   
those omens1 caught from little         
things--the birds which crossed her     
path1 the persons who met her on the    
way1 the words they said1 the things    
they carried in their hands1 einodia    
symbola--by noting which1 men bring     
their journeys to a successful end2 so  
that the simple countryman may pass     
securely on his way2 and is led by signs
 from the goddess herself1 when he      
travels far to visit her1 at ,hermione  
or ,eleusis4  ,so far the attributes of 
,demeter and ,kore are similar4  ,in the
 mythical conception1 as in the         
religious acts connected with it1 the   

mother and the daughter are almost      
interchangeable2 #aji they are the two  
goddesses1 the twin-named4  ,gradually1 
the office of ,persephone is developed1 
defines itself2 functions distinct from 
those of ,demeter are attributed to her4
  ,hitherto1 always at the side of      
,demeter and sharing her worship1 she   
now appears detached from her1 going and
 coming1 on her mysterious business4  ,a
 third part of the year she abides in   
darkness2 she comes up in the spring2   
and every autumn1 when the countryman   
sows his seed in the earth1 she descends
 thither again1 and the world of the    
dead lies open1 spring and autumn1 to   
let her in and out4  ,persephone1 then1 
is the summer- time1 and1 in this sense1
 a daughter of the earth2 but the summer
 as bringing winter2 the flowery        
splendour and consummated glory of the  
year1 as thereafter immediately         
beginning to draw near to its end1 as   
the first yellow leaf crosses it1 in the
 first severer wind4  ,she is the last  

day of spring1 or the first day of      
autumn1 in the threefold division of the
 ,greek year4  ,her story is1 indeed1   
but the story1 in an intenser form1 of  
,adonis1 of ,hyacinth1 of ,adrastus--the
 king's blooming son1 fated1 in the     
story of ,herodotus1 to be wounded to   
death with an iron spear--of ,linus1 a  
fair child who is torn to pieces by     
hounds every spring-time--of the        
,english ,sleeping ,beauty4 ,from being 
the goddess of summer and the flowers1  
she becomes the goddess of night and    
sleep and death1 confuseable with       
,hecate1 the goddess of midnight #aaj   
terrors--,kor arrtos1 the mother of the 
,erinnyes1 who appeared to ,pindar1 to  
warn him of his approaching death1      
upbraiding him because he had made no   
hymn in her praise1 which swan's song he
 thereupon began1 but finished with her4
  ,she is a twofold goddess1 therefore1 
according as one or the other of these  
two contrasted aspects of her nature is 
seized1 respectively4  ,a duality1 an   

inherent opposition in the very         
conception of ,persephone1 runs all     
through her story1 and is part of her   
ghostly power4  ,there is ever something
 in her of a divided or ambiguous       
identity3 hence the many euphemisms of  
later language concerning her4  ,the    
worship of sorrow1 as ,goethe called it1
 is sometimes supposed to have had      
almost no place in the religion of the  
,greeks4  ,their religion has been      
represented as a religion of mere       
cheerfulness1 the worship by an         
untroubled1 unreflecting humanity1      
conscious of no deeper needs1 of the    
embodiments of its own joyous activity4 
,it helped to hide out of their sight   
those traces of decay and weariness1 of 
which the ,greeks were constitutionally 
shy1 to keep them from peeping too      
curiously into certain shadowy places1  
appropriate enough to the gloomy        
imagination of the middle age2 and it   
hardly proposed to itself to give       
consolation to people who1 in truth1    

were never sick or sorry4  ,but this    
familiar view of ,greek religion is     
based on a consideration of a part only 
of what is known #aaa concerning it1 and
 really involves a misconception1 akin  
to that which underestimates the        
influence of the romantic spirit        
generally1 in ,greek poetry and art2 as 
if ,greek art had dealt exclusively with
 human nature in its sanity1 suppressing
 all motives of strangeness1 all the    
beauty which is born of difficulty1     
permitting nothing but an ,olympian1    
though perhaps somewhat wearisome calm4 
,in effect1 such a conception of ,greek 
art and poetry leaves in the central    
expressions of ,greek culture none but  
negative qualities2 and the legend of   
,demeter and ,persephone1 perhaps the   
most popular of all ,greek legends1 is  
sufficient to show that the worship of  
sorrow was not without its function in  
,greek religion2 their legend is a      
legend made by and for sorrowful1       
wistful1 anxious people2 while the most 

important artistic monuments of that    
legend sufficiently prove that the      
,romantic spirit was really at work in  
the minds of ,greek artists1 extracting 
by a kind of subtle alchemy1 a beauty1  
not without the elements of             
tranquillity1 of dignity and order1 out 
of a matter1 at first sight painful and 
strange4  ,the student of origins1 as   
,french critics say1 of the earliest    
stages of art and poetry1 must be       
content to follow faint traces2 and in  
what has been here said1 much may seem  
to have been made of little1 with too   
much completion1 by a general framework 
or setting1 of what after #aab all are  
but doubtful or fragmentary indications4
  ,yet there is a certain cynicism too1 
in that over-positive temper1 which is  
so jealous of our catching any          
resemblance in the earlier world to the 
thoughts that really occupy our own     
minds1 and which1 in its estimate of the
 actual fragments of antiquity1 is      
content to find no seal of human        

intelligence upon them4  ,slight indeed 
in themselves1 these fragmentary        
indications become suggestive of much1  
when viewed in the light of such general
 evidence about the human imagination as
 is afforded by the theory of           
comparative mythology1 or what is called
 the theory of animism4  ,only1 in the  
application of these theories1 the      
student of ,greek religion must never   
forget that1 after all1 it is with      
poetry1 not with systematic theological 
belief or dogma1 that he has to do4  ,as
 regards this story of ,demeter and     
,persephone1 what we actually possess is
 some actual fragments of poetry1 some  
actual fragments of sculpture2 and with 
a curiosity1 justified by the direct    
aesthetic beauty of these fragments1 we 
feel our way backwards to that engaging 
picture of the poet-people1 with which  
the ingenuity of modern theory has      
filled the void in our knowledge4  ,the 
abstract poet of that first period of   
mythology1 creating in this wholly      

impersonal1 intensely spiritual         
way1--the abstract spirit of poetry     
itself1 rises before the mind2 and1 in  
speaking of this poetical age1 we must  
take heed1 before all things1 in no     
sense to misconstrue the poets4  ,,notes
  #id4 ,transliteration3 epain          
,persephon4  ,translation3 dread        
,persephone4  ,see1 for example1        
,odyssey1 ,book #aj4dij and #efc4  #id4 
,according to the apparent import of her
 name2 ,pater likely refers to the      
etymology of ,persophone--bringer of    
destruction4  #ie4 99,theogony1 #iab-ad3
  ,transliteration3  ,autar ho ,dmtros  
polyphorbs es lechos lthen  teke        
,persephonn leuklenon1 hn ,aidneus      
hrpasen hs para mtros1 edke de mtieta   
,zeus4  ,translation3 ,and he came to   
bountiful ,demeter's bed1 _/ and she    
gave birth to white-armed ,persephone1  
whom ,aidoneus _/ took from her mother's
 side2 but ,zeus1 wise counsellor1 gave 
her to him4  ,hesiod4 ,the ,homeric     
,hymns and ,homerica4  ,theogony4       

,cambridge1 ,,ma41 ,harvard ,university 
,press4  ,london1 ,william ,heinemann   
,ltd4 #aiad4  #ajc4 99,in the ,homeric  
hymn1 pre-eminently1 of the flower which
 grew up for the first time1 to snare   
the footsteps of ,kore1 the fair but    
deadly ,narcissus1 the flower of nark1  
the numbness of death4  #ajh4           
,transliteration3 einodia symbola4      
,translation3 signs along the roadside4 
#aaj4 ,transliteration3 ,kor arrtos4    
,translation3 ,kor the mysterious1 the  
horrible 4    ,,the ,,myth ,,of         
,,demeter ,,and ,,persephone3 ,,ii  #aac
 ,,the stories of the ,greek mythology1 
like other things which belong to no    
man1 and for which no one in particular 
is responsible1 had their fortunes4  ,in
 that world of floating fancies there   
was a struggle for life2 there were     
myths which never emerged from that     
first stage of popular conception1 or   
were absorbed by stronger competitors1  
because1 as some true heroes have done1 
they lacked the sacred poet or prophet1 

and were never remodelled by literature2
 while1 out of the myth of ,demeter1    
under the careful conduct of poetry and 
art1 came the little pictures1 the      
idylls1 of the ,homeric hymn1 and the   
gracious imagery of ,praxiteles4  ,the  
myth has now entered its second or      
poetical phase1 then1 in which more     
definite fancies are grouped about the  
primitive stock1 in a conscious literary
 temper1 and the whole interest settles 
round the images of the beautiful girl  
going down into the darkness1 and the   
weary woman who seeks her lost          
daughter--divine persons1 then sincerely
 believed in by the majority of the     
,greeks4  ,the ,homeric hymn #aad is the
 central monument of this second phase4 
,in it1 the changes of the natural year 
have become a personal history1 a story 
of human affection and sorrow1 yet with 
a far-reaching religious significance   
also1 of which the mere earthly spring  
and autumn are but an analogy2 and in   
the development of this human element1  

the writer of the hymn sometimes        
displays a genuine power of pathetic    
expression4  ,the whole episode of the  
fostering of ,demophoon1 in which over  
the body of the dying child human       
longing and regret are blent so subtly  
with the mysterious design of the       
goddess to make the child immortal1 is  
an excellent example of the sentiment of
 pity in literature4  ,yet though it has
 reached the stage of conscious literary
 interpretation1 much of its early      
mystical or cosmical character still    
lingers about the story1 as it is here  
told4  ,later mythologists simply define
 the personal history2 but in this hymn 
we may1 again and again1 trace curious  
links of connexion with the original    
purpose of the myth4 ,its subject is the
 weary woman1 indeed1 our ,lady of      
,sorrows1 the mater dolorosa of the     
ancient world1 but with a certain latent
 reference1 all through1 to the mystical
 person of the earth4  ,her robe of dark
 blue is the raiment of her mourning1   

but also the blue robe of the earth in  
shadow1 as we see it in ,titian's       
landscapes2 her great age is the age of 
the immemorial earth2 she becomes a     
nurse1 therefore1 holding ,demophoon in 
her bosom2 #aae the folds of her garment
 are fragrant1 not merely with the      
incense of ,eleusis1 but with the       
natural perfume of flowers and fruit4   
,the sweet breath with which she        
nourishes the child ,demophoon1 is the  
warm west wind1 feeding all germs of    
vegetable life2 her bosom1 where he     
lies1 is the bosom of the earth1 with   
its strengthening heat1 reserved and    
shy1 offended if human eyes scrutinise  
too closely its secret chemistry2 it is 
with the earth's natural surface of     
varied colour that she has1 in time     
past1 given pleasure to the sun2 the    
yellow hair which falls suddenly over   
her shoulders1 at her transformation in 
the house of ,celeus1 is still partly   
the golden corn2--in art and poetry she 
is ever the blond goddess2 tarrying in  

her temple1 of which an actual hollow in
 the earth is the prototype1 among the  
spicy odours of the ,eleusinian ritual1 
she is the spirit of the earth1 lying   
hidden in its dark folds until the      
return of spring1 among the flower-seeds
 and fragrant roots1 like the seeds and 
aromatic woods hidden in the wrappings  
of the dead4  ,throughout the poem1 we  
have a sense of a certain nearness to   
nature1 surviving from an earlier world2
 the sea is understood as a person1 yet 
is still the real sea1 with the waves   
moving4  ,when it is said that no bird  
gave ,demeter tidings of ,persephone1 we
 feel that to that earlier world1 ways  
of communication between all creatures  
may have seemed open1 which are closed  
to us4 ,it is ,iris who brings to       
,demeter the message of ,zeus2 #aaf that
 is1 the rainbow signifies to the earth 
the good-will of the rainy sky towards  
it4  ,persephone springing up with great
 joy from the couch of ,aidoneus1 to    
return to her mother1 is the sudden     

outburst of the year4  ,the heavy and   
narcotic aroma of spring flowers hangs  
about her1 as about the actual spring4  
,and this mingling of the primitive     
cosmical import of the myth with the    
later1 personal interests of the story1 
is curiously illustrated by the place   
which the poem assigns to ,hecate4      
,this strange ,titaness is1 first1 a    
nymph only2 afterwards1 as if changed   
incurably by the passionate cry of      
,persephone1 she becomes her constant   
attendant1 and is even identified with  
her4  ,but in the ,homeric hymn her     
lunar character is clear2 she is really 
the moon only1 who hears the cry of     
,persephone1 as the sun saw her1 when   
,aidoneus carried her away4  ,one       
morning1 as the mother wandered1 the    
moon appeared1 as it does in its last   
quarter1 rising very bright1 just before
 dawn2 that is1 in the words of the     
,homeric hymn--on the tenth morning     
,hecate met her1 having a light in her  
hands4  ,the fascinating1 but           

enigmatical figure1 sitting ever in her 
cave1 half-veiled with a shining veil1  
thinking delicate thoughts1 in which we 
seem to see the subject of some picture 
of the ,italian ,renaissance1 is but the
 lover of ,endymion-- like ,persephone1 
withdrawn1 in her season1 from the eyes 
of men4  ,the sun saw her2 the moon saw 
her not1 but heard her cry1 and is #aag 
ever after the half-veiled attendant of 
the queen of dreams and of the dead4    
,but the story of ,demeter and          
,persephone lends itself naturally to   
description1 and it is in descriptive   
beauties that the ,homeric hymn excels2 
its episodes are finished designs1 and  
directly stimulate the painter and the  
sculptor to a rivalry with them4        
,weaving the names of the flowers into  
his verse1 names familiar to us in      
,english1 though their ,greek originals 
are uncertain1 the writer sets          
,persephone before us1 herself like one 
of them--kalykpis--like the budding     
calyx of a flower1--in a picture1 which1

 in its mingling of a quaint freshness  
and simplicity with a certain           
earnestness1 reads like a description of
 some early ,florentine design1 such as 
,sandro ,botticelli's ,allegory of the  
,seasons4  ,by an exquisite chance also1
 a common metrical expression connects  
the perfume of the newly-created        
narcissus with the salt odour of the    
sea4  ,like one of those early designs  
also1 but with a deeper infusion of     
religious earnestness1 is the picture of
 ,demeter sitting at the wayside1 in    
shadow as always1 with the well of water
 and the olive-tree4  ,she has been     
journeying all night1 and now it is     
morning1 and the daughters of ,celeus   
bring their vessels to draw water4      
,that image of the seated ,demeter1     
resting after her long flight through   
the dark continent1 or in the house of  
,celeus1 when she refuses the red wine1 
or again1 solitary1 in her              
newly-finished #aah temple of ,eleusis1 
enthroned in her grief1 fixed itself    

deeply on the ,greek imagination1 and   
became a favourite subject of ,greek    
artists4  ,when the daughters of ,celeus
 come to conduct her to ,eleusis1 they  
come as in a ,greek frieze1 full of     
energy and motion and waving lines1 but 
with gold and colours upon it4          
,eleusis--coming--the coming of ,demeter
 thither1 as thus told in the ,homeric  
hymn1 is the central instance in ,greek 
mythology of such divine appearances4   
,she leaves for a season the company of 
the gods and abides among men2 and men's
 merit is to receive her in spite of    
appearances4  ,metaneira and others1 in 
the ,homeric hymn1 partly detect her    
divine character2 they find charis2--a  
certain gracious air--about her1 which  
makes them think her1 perhaps1 a royal  
person in disguise4  ,she becomes in her
 long wanderings almost wholly          
humanised1 and in return1 she and       
,persephone1 alone of the ,greek gods1  
seem to have been the objects of a sort 
of personal love and loyalty4  ,yet they

 are ever the solemn goddesses1--theai  
semnai1 the word expressing religious   
awe1 the ,greek sense of the divine     
presence4  ,plato1 in laying down the   
rules by which the poets are to be      
guided in speaking about divine things  
to the citizens of the ideal republic1  
forbids all those episodes of mythology 
which represent the gods as assuming    
various forms1 and visiting the earth in
 disguise4 ,below the #aai express      
reasons which he assigns for this rule1 
we may perhaps detect that instinctive  
antagonism to the old ,heraclitean      
philosophy of perpetual change1 which   
forces him1 in his theory of morals and 
the state1 of poetry and music1 of dress
 and manners even1 and of style in the  
very vessels and furniture of daily     
life1 on an austere simplicity1 the     
older ,dorian or ,egyptian type of a    
rigid1 eternal immobility4  ,the        
disintegrating1 centrifugal influence1  
which had penetrated1 as he thought1    
political and social existence1 making  

men too myriad-minded1 had laid hold on 
the life of the gods also1 and1 even in 
their calm sphere1 one could hardly     
identify a single divine person as      
himself1 and not another4  ,there must1 
then1 be no doubling1 no disguises1 no  
stories of transformation4  ,the modern 
reader1 however1 will hardly acquiesce  
in this improvement of ,greek mythology4
  ,he finds in these stories1 like that1
 for instance1 of the appearance of     
,athene to ,telemachus1 in the first    
book of the ,odyssey1 which has a quite 
biblical mysticity and                  
solemnity1--stories in which1 the hard  
material outline breaking up1 the gods  
lay aside their visible form like a     
garment1 yet remain essentially         
themselves1--not the least spiritual    
element of ,greek religion1 an evidence 
of the sense therein of unseen          
presences1 which might at any moment    
cross a man's path1 to be recognised1 in
 half disguise1 by the more delicately  
trained eye1 here or there1 by one and  

not by #abj another4  ,whatever         
religious elements they lacked1 they had
 at least this sense of subtler and more
 remote ways of personal presence4  ,and
 as there are traces in the ,homeric    
hymn of the primitive cosmical myth1    
relics of the first stage of the        
development of the story1 so also many  
of its incidents are probably suggested 
by the circumstances and details of the 
,eleusinian ritual4  ,there were        
religious usages before there were      
distinct religious conceptions1 and     
these antecedent religious usages shape 
and determine1 at many points1 the      
ultimate religious conception1 as the   
details of the myth interpret or explain
 the religious custom4  ,the hymn       
relates the legend of certain holy      
places1 to which various impressive     
religious rites had attached            
themselves--the holy well1 the old      
fountain1 the stone of sorrow1 which it 
was the office of the interpreter of the
 holy places to show to the people4     

,the sacred way which led from ,athens  
to ,eleusis was rich in such memorials4 
,the nine days of the wanderings of     
,demeter in the ,homeric hymn are the   
nine days of the duration of the greater
 or autumnal mysteries2 the jesting of  
the old woman ,iambe1 who endeavours to 
make ,demeter smile1 are the customary  
mockeries with which the worshippers1 as
 they rested on the bridge1 on the      
seventh day of the feast1 assailed those
 who passed by4  ,the torches in the    
hands of ,demeter are borrowed from the 
same source2 and the shadow in which she
 is #aba constantly represented1 and    
which is the peculiar sign of her grief1
 is partly ritual1 and a relic of the   
caves of the old ,chthonian worship1    
partly poetical-- expressive1 half of   
the dark earth to which she escapes from
 ,olympus1 half of her mourning4  ,she  
appears consistently1 in the hymn1 as a 
teacher of rites1 transforming daily    
life1 and the processes of life1 into a 
religious solemnity4  ,with no misgiving

 as to the proprieties of a mere        
narration1 the hymn-writer mingles these
 symbolical imitations with the outlines
 of the original story2 and1 in his     
,demeter1 the dramatic person of the    
mysteries mixes itself with the         
primitive mythical figure4  ,and the    
worshipper1 far from being offended by  
these interpolations1 may have found a  
special impressiveness in them1 as they 
linked continuously its inner sense with
 the outward imagery of the ritual4     
,and1 as ,demeter and her story embodied
 themselves gradually in the ,greek     
imagination1 so these mysteries in which
 her worship found its chief expression1
 grew up little by little1 growing      
always in close connexion with the      
modifications of the story1 sometimes   
prompting them1 at other times suggested
 by them4  ,that they had a single      
special author is improbable1 and a mere
 invention of the ,greeks1 ignorant of  
their real history and the general      
analogy of such matters4  ,here again1  

as in the story itself1 the idea of     
development1 of degrees1 of a slow #abb 
and natural growth1 impeded here1       
diverted there1 is the illuminating     
thought which earlier critics lacked4   
,no tongue may speak of them1 says the  
,homeric hymn2 and the secret has       
certainly been kept4  ,the antiquarian1 
dealing1 letter by letter1 with what is 
recorded of them1 has left few certain  
data for the reflexion of the modern    
student of the ,greek religion2 and of  
this1 its central solemnity1 only a     
fragmentary picture can be made4  ,it is
 probable that these mysteries developed
 the symbolical significance of the     
story of the descent into ,hades1 the   
coming of ,demeter to ,eleusis1 the     
invention of ,persephone4  ,they may or 
may not have been the vehicle of a      
secret doctrine1 but were certainly an  
artistic spectacle1 giving1 like the    
mysteries of the middle age1 a dramatic 
representation of the sacred            
story1--perhaps a detailed performance1 

perhaps only such a conventional        
representation1 as was afforded for     
instance by the medieval ceremonies of  
,palm ,sunday2 the whole1 probably1     
centering in an image of ,demeter--the  
work of ,praxiteles or his school1 in   
ivory and gold4 ,there is no reason to  
suppose any specific difference between 
the observances of the ,eleusinian      
festival and the accustomed usages of   
the ,greek religion2 nocturns1          
libations1 quaint purifications1        
processions--are common incidents of all
 ,greek worship2 in all religious       
ceremonies there is an element of       
dramatic symbolism2 and what we really  
do see1 through those scattered notices1
 #abc are things which have their       
parallels in a later age1 the whole     
being not altogether unlike a modern    
pilgrimage4  ,the exposition of the     
sacred places--the threshing-floor of   
,triptolemus1 the rocky seat on which   
,demeter had rested in her sorrow1 the  
well of ,callichorus--is not so strange1

 as it would seem1 had it no modern     
illustration4  ,the libations1 at once a
 watering of the vines and a            
drink-offering to the dead--still       
needing men's services1 waiting for     
purification perhaps1 or thirsting1 like
 ,dante's ,adam of ,brescia1 in their   
close homes--must1 to almost all minds1 
have had a certain natural              
impressiveness2 and a parallel has      
sometimes been drawn between this       
festival and ,all ,souls' ,day4  ,and   
who1 everywhere1 has not felt the       
mystical influence of that prolonged    
silence1 the mystic silence1 from which 
the very word mystery has its origin8   
,something also there undoubtedly was1  
which coarser minds might misunderstand4
  ,on one day1 the initiated went in    
procession to the sea-coast1 where they 
underwent a purification by bathing in  
the sea4  ,on the fifth night there was 
the torchlight procession2 and1 by a    
touch of real life in him1 we gather    
from the first page of ,plato's         

,republic that such processions were    
popular spectacles1 having a social     
interest1 so that people made much of   
attending them4  ,there was the         
procession of the sacred basket filled  
with poppy-seeds and pomegranates4      
,there was the day of rest1 after #abd  
the stress and excitement of the great  
night4 ,on the sixth day1 the image of  
,iacchus1 son of ,demeter1 crowned with 
myrtle and having a torch in its hand1  
was carried in procession1 through      
thousands of spectators1 along the      
sacred way1 amid joyous shouts and      
songs4  ,we have seen such processions2 
we understand how many different senses1
 and how lightly1 various spectators may
 put on them2 how little definite       
meaning they may have even for those who
 officiate in them4  ,here1 at least1   
there was the image itself1 in that age1
 with its close connexion between       
religion and art1 presumably fair4      
,susceptibility to the impressions of   
religious ceremonial must always have   

varied with the peculiarities of        
individual temperament1 as it varies in 
our own day2 and ,eleusis1 with its     
incense and sweet singing1 may have been
 as little interesting to the outward   
senses of some worshippers there1 as the
 stately and affecting ceremonies of the
 medieval church to many of its own     
members4  ,in a simpler yet profounder  
sense than has sometimes been supposed1 
these things were really addressed to   
the initiated only499  ,we have to      
travel a long way from the ,homeric hymn
 to the hymn of ,callimachus1 who writes
 in the end of ,greek literature1 in the
 third century before ,christ1 in       
celebration of the procession of the    
sacred basket of ,demeter1 not #abe at  
the ,attic1 but at the ,alexandrian     
,eleusinia4  ,he developes1 in something
 of the prosaic spirit of a medieval    
writer of mysteries1 one of the         
burlesque incidents of the story1 the   
insatiable hunger which seized on       
,erysichthon because he cut down a grove

 sacred to the goddess4  ,yet he finds  
his opportunities for skilful touches of
 poetry2--,as the four white horses draw
 her sacred basket1 he says1 so will the
 great goddess bring us a white spring1 
a white summer4  ,he describes the grove
 itself1 with its hedge of trees1 so    
thick that an arrow could hardly pass   
through1 its pines and fruit-trees and  
tall poplars within1 and the water1 like
 pale gold1 running from the conduits4  
,it is one of those famous poplars that 
receives the first stroke2 it sounds    
heavily to its companion trees1 and     
,demeter perceives that her sacred grove
 is suffering4  ,then comes one of those
 transformations which ,plato will not  
allow4  ,vainly anxious to save the lad 
from his ruin1 she appears in the form  
of a priestess1 but with the long hood  
of the goddess1 and the poppy in her    
hand2 and there is something of a real  
shudder1 some still surviving sense of a
 haunting presence in the groves1 in the
 verses which describe her sudden       

revelation1 when the workmen flee away1 
leaving their axes in the cleft trees4  
,of the same age as the hymn of         
,callimachus1 but with very different   
qualities1 is the idyll of ,theocritus  
on the ,shepherds' ,journey4 ,although  
it is possible to define an epoch in    
mythological #abf development in which  
literary and artificial influences began
 to remodel the primitive1 popular      
legend1 yet still1 among children1 and  
unchanging childlike people1 we may     
suppose that that primitive stage always
 survived1 and the old1 instinctive     
influences were still at work4  ,as the 
subject of popular religious            
celebrations also1 the myth was still   
the property of the people1 and         
surrendered to its capricious action4   
,the shepherds in ,theocritus1 on their 
way to celebrate one of the more homely 
feasts of ,demeter1 about the time of   
harvest1 are examples of these childlike
 people2 the age of the poets has long  
since come1 but they are of the older   

and simpler order1 lingering on in the  
midst of a more self-conscious world4   
,in an idyll1 itself full of the        
delightful gifts of ,demeter1           
,theocritus sets them before us2 through
 the blazing summer day's journey1 the  
smiling image of the goddess is always  
before them2 and now they have reached  
the end of their journey3--  ,so ,i1 and
 ,eucritus1 and the fair ,amyntichus1   
turned aside into the house of          
,phrasidamus1 and lay down with delight 
in beds of sweet tamarisk and fresh     
cuttings from the vines1 strewn on the  
ground4 ,many poplars and elm-trees were
 waving over our heads1 and not far off 
the running of the sacred water from the
 cave of the nymphs warbled to us2 in   
the shimmering branches the sun-burnt   
grasshoppers were busy with their talk1 
and from afar the little owl cried      
softly1 out of #abg the tangled thorns  
of the blackberry2 the larks were       
singing and the hedge-birds1 and the    
turtle-dove moaned2 the bees flew round 

and round the fountains1 murmuring      
softly2 the scent of late summer and of 
the fall of the year was everywhere2 the
 pears fell from the trees at our feet1 
and apples in number rolled down at our 
sides1 and the young plum-trees were    
bent to the earth with the weight of    
their fruit4  ,the wax1 four years old1 
was loosed from the heads of the        
wine-jars4  ,o6 nymphs of ,castalia1 who
 dwell on the steeps of ,parnassus1 tell
 me1 ,i pray you1 was it a draught like 
this that the aged ,chiron placed before
 ,hercules1 in the stony cave of        
,pholus8  ,was it nectar like this that 
made the mighty shepherd on ,anapus'    
shore1 ,polyphemus1 who flung the rocks 
upon ,ulysses' ships1 dance among his   
sheepfolds8--,a cup like this ye poured 
out now upon the altar of ,demeter1 who 
presides over the threshing-floor4  ,may
 it be mine1 once more1 to dig my big   
winnowing-fan through her heaps of corn2
 and may ,i see her smile upon me1      
holding poppies and handfuls of corn in 

her two hands6  ,some of the            
modifications of the story of ,demeter1 
as we find it in later poetry1 have been
 supposed to be due1 not to the genuine 
action of the ,greek mind1 but to the   
influence of that so-called ,orphic     
literature1 which1 in the generation    
succeeding ,hesiod1 brought1 from       
,thessaly and ,phrygia1 a tide of       
mystical ideas into the ,greek #abh     
religion1 sometimes1 doubtless1         
confusing the clearness and naturalness 
of its original outlines1 but also      
sometimes imparting to them a new and   
peculiar grace4  ,under the influence of
 this ,orphic poetry1 ,demeter was      
blended1 or identified1 with ,rhea      
,cybele1 the mother of the gods1 the    
wilder earth-goddess of ,phrygia2 and   
the romantic figure of ,dionysus        
,zagreus1 ,dionysus the ,hunter1 that   
most interesting1 though somewhat       
melancholy variation on the better known
 ,dionysus1 was brought1 as son or      
brother of ,persephone1 into her circle1

 the mystical vine1 who1 as ,persephone 
descends and ascends from the earth1 is 
rent to pieces by the ,titans every year
 and remains long in ,hades1 but every  
spring-time comes out of it again1      
renewing his youth4  ,this              
identification of ,demeter with ,rhea   
,cybele is the motive which has inspired
 a beautiful chorus in the ,helena-- the
 new ,helena--of ,euripides1 that great 
lover of all subtle refinements and     
modernisms1 who1 in this play1 has      
worked on a strange version of the older
 story1 which relates that ,helen had   
never really gone to ,troy at all1 but  
sent her soul only there1 apart from her
 sweet body1 which abode all that time  
in ,egypt1 at the court of ,king        
,proteus1 where she is found at last by 
her husband ,menelaus1 so that the      
,trojan war was about a phantom1 after  
all4  ,the chorus has even less than    
usual to do with the action of the play1
 being linked to it only by a sort of   
parallel1 which may be understood1 #abi 

between ,menelaus seeking ,helen1 and   
,demeter seeking ,persephone4           
,euripides1 then1 takes the matter of   
the ,homeric hymn into the region of a  
higher and swifter poetry1 and connects 
it with the more stimulating imagery of 
the ,idaean mother4  ,the ,orphic       
mysticism or enthusiasm has been        
admitted into the story1 which is now   
full of excitement1 the motion of       
rivers1 the sounds of the ,bacchic      
cymbals heard over the mountains1 as    
,demeter wanders among the woody valleys
 seeking her lost daughter1 all directly
 expressed in the vivid ,greek words4   
,demeter is no longer the subdued       
goddess of the quietly- ordered fields1 
but the mother of the gods1 who has her 
abode in the heights of ,mount ,ida1 who
 presides over the dews and waters of   
the white springs1 whose flocks feed1   
not on grain1 but on the curling        
tendrils of the vine1 both of which she 
withholds in her anger1 and whose       
chariot is drawn by wild beasts1 fruit  

and emblem of the earth in its fiery    
strength4  ,not ,hecate1 but ,pallas and
 ,artemis1 in full armour1 swift-footed1
 vindicators of chastity1 accompany her 
in her search for ,persephone1 who is   
already expressly1 kor arrtos--the      
maiden whom none may name4  ,when she   
rests from her long wanderings1 it is   
into the stony thickets of ,mount ,ida1 
deep with snow1 that she throws herself1
 in her profound grief4  ,when ,zeus    
desires to end her pain1 the ,muses and 
the solemn ,graces are sent to dance and
 sing before her4  ,it is then #acj that
 ,cypris1 the goddess of beauty1 and the
 original cause1 therefore1 of her      
distress1 takes into her hands the      
brazen tambourines of the ,dionysiac    
worship with their ,chthonian or        
deep-noted sound2 and it is she1 not the
 old ,iambe1 who with this wild music1  
heard thus for the first time1 makes    
,demeter smile at last4  ,great1 so the 
chorus ends with a picture1 great is the
 power of the stoles of spotted         

fawn-skins1 and the green leaves of ivy 
twisted about the sacred wands1 and the 
wheeling motion of the tambourine       
whirled round in the air1 and the long  
hair floating unbound in honour of      
,bromius1 and the nocturns of the       
goddess1 when the moon looks full upon  
them4  ,the poem of ,claudian on the    
,rape of ,proserpine1 the longest extant
 work connected with the story of       
,demeter1 yet itself unfinished1 closes 
the world of classical poetry4  ,writing
 in the fourth century of the ,christian
 era1 ,claudian has his subject before  
him in the whole extent of its various  
development1 and also profits by those  
many pictorial representations of it1   
which1 from the famous picture of       
,polygnotus downwards1 delighted the    
ancient world4  ,his poem1 then1 besides
 having an intrinsic charm1 is valuable 
for some reflexion in it of those lost  
works1 being itself pre-eminently a work
 in colour1 and excelling in a kind of  
painting in words1 which brings its     

subject very pleasantly almost to the   
eye of the reader4 ,the mind of this    
late votary #aca of the old gods1 in a  
world rapidly changing1 is crowded with 
all the beautiful forms generated by    
mythology1 and now about to be          
forgotten4  ,in this after-glow of      
,latin literature1 lighted up long after
 their fortune had set1 and just before 
their long night began1 they pass before
 us1 in his verses1 with the utmost     
clearness1 like the figures in an actual
 procession4  ,the nursing of the infant
 ,sun and ,moon by ,tethys2 ,proserpine 
and her companions gathering flowers at 
early dawn1 when the violets are        
drinking in the dew1 still lying white  
upon the grass2 the image of ,pallas    
winding the peaceful blossoms about the 
steel crest of her helmet2 the realm of 
,proserpine1 softened somewhat by her   
coming1 and filled with a quiet joy2 the
 matrons of ,elysium crowding to her    
marriage toilet1 with the bridal veil of
 yellow in their hands2 the ,manes1     

crowned with ghostly flowers yet warmed 
a little1 at the marriage feast2 the    
ominous dreams of the mother2 the       
desolation of the home1 like an empty   
bird's-nest or an empty fold1 when she  
returns and finds ,proserpine gone1 and 
the spider at work over her unfinished  
embroidery2 the strangely-figured       
raiment1 the flowers in the grass1 which
 were once blooming youths1 having both 
their natural colour and the colour of  
their poetry in them1 and the clear     
little fountain there1 which was once   
the maiden ,cyane2--all this is shown in
 a series of descriptions1 like the     
designs in some unwinding tapestry1 like
 ,proserpine's own #acb embroidery1 the 
description of which is the most        
brilliant of these pictures1 and1 in its
 quaint confusion of the images of      
philosophy with those of mythology1     
anticipates something of the fancy of   
the ,italian ,renaissance4  ,proserpina1
 filling the house soothingly with her  
low song1 was working a gift against the

 return of her mother1 with labour all  
to be in vain4  ,in it1 she marked out  
with her needle the houses of the gods  
and the series of the elements1 showing 
by what law1 nature1 the parent of all1 
settled the strife of ancient times1 and
 the seeds of things disparted into     
their places2 the lighter elements are  
borne aloft1 the heavier fall to the    
centre2 the air grows bright with heat1 
a blazing light whirls round the        
firmament2 the sea flows2 the earth     
hangs suspended in its place4  ,and     
there were divers colours in it2 she    
illuminated the stars with gold1 infused
 a purple shade into the water1 and     
heightened the shore with gems of       
flowers2 and1 under her skilful hand1   
the threads1 with their inwrought       
lustre1 swell up1 in momentary          
counterfeit of the waves2 you might     
think that the sea- wind flapped against
 the rocks1 and that a hollow murmur    
came creeping over the thirsty sands4   
,she puts in the five zones1 marking    

with a red ground the midmost zone1     
possessed by burning heat2 its outline  
was parched and stiff2 the threads      
seemed thirsty with the constant        
sunshine2 on either side lay the two    
zones proper for human life1 #acc where 
a gentle temperance reigns2 and at the  
extremes she drew the twin zones of     
numbing cold1 making her work dun and   
sad with the hues of perpetual frost4   
,she paints in1 too1 the sacred places  
of ,dis1 her father's brother1 and the  
,manes1 so fatal to her2 and an omen of 
her doom was not wanting2 for1 as she   
worked1 as if with foreknowledge of the 
future1 her face became wet with a      
sudden burst of tears4  ,and now1 in the
 utmost border of the tissue1 she had   
begun to wind in the wavy line of the   
river ,oceanus1 with its glassy         
shallows2 but the door sounds on its    
hinges1 and she perceives the goddesses 
coming2 the unfinished work drops from  
her hands1 and a ruddy blush lights up  
in her clear and snow-white face4  ,i   

have reserved to the last what is       
perhaps the daintiest treatment of this 
subject in classical literature1 the    
account of it which ,ovid gives in the  
,fasti--a kind of ,roman ,calendar--for 
the seventh of ,april1 the day of the   
games of ,ceres4  ,he tells over again  
the old story1 with much of which1 he   
says1 the reader will be already        
familiar2 but he has something also of  
his own to add to it1 which the reader  
will hear for the first time2 and1 like 
one of those old painters who1 in       
depicting a scene of ,christian history1
 drew from their own fancy or experience
 its special setting and accessories1 he
 translates the story into something    
very different from the ,homeric hymn4  
,the writer of the ,homeric #acd hymn   
had made ,celeus a king1 and represented
 the scene at ,eleusis in a fair palace1
 like the ,venetian painters who depict 
the persons of the ,holy ,family with   
royal ornaments4  ,ovid1 on the other   
hand1 is more like certain painters of  

the early ,florentine school1 who       
represent the holy persons amid the more
 touching circumstances of humble life2 
and the special something of his own    
which he adds1 is a pathos caught from  
homely things1 not without a delightful1
 just perceptible1 shade of humour even1
 so rare in such work4  ,all the        
mysticism has disappeared2 but1 instead1
 we trace something of that worship of  
sorrow1 which has been sometimes        
supposed to have had no place in        
classical religious sentiment4  ,in     
,ovid's well-finished elegiacs1         
,persephone's flower-gathering1 the     
,anthology1 reaches its utmost delicacy2
 but ,i give the following episode for  
the sake of its pathetic expression4    
,after many wanderings ,ceres was come  
to ,attica4  ,there1 in the utmost      
dejection1 for the first time1 she sat  
down to rest on a bare stone1 which the 
people of ,attica still call the stone  
of sorrow4 ,for many days she remained  
there motionless1 under the open sky1   

heedless of the rain and of the frosty  
moonlight4  ,places have their fortunes2
 and what is now the illustrious town of
 ,eleusis was then the field of an old  
man named ,celeus4  ,he was carrying    
home a load of acorns1 and wild berries 
shaken down from the #ace brambles1 and 
dry wood for burning on the hearth2 his 
little daughter was leading two goats   
home from the hills2 and at home there  
was a little boy lying sick in his      
cradle4  ',mother1' said the little     
girl--and the goddess was moved at the  
name of mother--'what do you1 all alone1
 in this solitary place8'  ,the old man 
stopped too1 in spite of his heavy      
burden1 and bade her take shelter in his
 cottage1 though it was but a little    
one4  ,but at first she refused to come2
 she looked like an old woman1 and an   
old woman's coif confined her hair2 and 
as the man still urged her1 she said to 
him1 ',heaven bless you2 and may        
children always be yours6  ,my daughter 
has been stolen from me4  ,alas6 how    

much happier is your lot than mine'2    
and1 though weeping is impossible for   
the gods1 as she spoke1 a bright drop1  
like a tear1 fell into her bosom4       
,soft-hearted1 the little girl and the  
old man weep together4  ,and after that 
the good man said1 ',arise6 despise not 
the shelter of my little home2 so may   
the daughter whom you seek be restored  
to you4'  ',lead me1' answered the      
goddess2 'you have found out the secret 
of moving me2' and she arose from the   
stone1 and followed the old man2 and as 
they went he told her of the sick child 
at home--how he is restless with pain1  
and cannot sleep4  ,and she1 before     
entering the little cottage1 gathered   
from the untended earth the soothing and
 sleep-giving poppy2 and as she gathered
 it1 it is said that she #acf forgot her
 vow1 and tasted of the seeds1 and broke
 her long fast1 unaware4  ,as she came  
through the door1 she saw the house full
 of trouble1 for now there was no more  
hope of life for the sick boy4  ,she    

saluted the mother1 whose name was      
,metaneira1 and humbly kissed the lips  
of the child1 with her own lips2 then   
the paleness left its face1 and suddenly
 the parents see the strength returning 
to its body2 so great is the force that 
comes from the divine mouth4  ,and the  
whole family was full of joy--the mother
 and the father and the little girl2    
they were the whole household499  ,three
 profound ethical conceptions1 three    
impressive sacred figures1 have now     
defined themselves for the ,greek       
imagination1 condensed from all the     
traditions which have now been traced1  
from the hymns of the poets1 from the   
instinctive and unformulated mysticism  
of primitive minds4  ,demeter is become 
the divine sorrowing mother4  ,kore1 the
 goddess of summer1 is become           
,persephone1 the goddess of death1 still
 associated with the forms and odours of
 flowers and fruit1 yet as one risen    
from the dead also1 presenting one side 
of her ambiguous nature to men's        

gloomier fancies4  ,thirdly1 there is   
the image of ,demeter enthroned1        
chastened by sorrow1 and somewhat       
advanced in age1 blessing the earth1 in 
her joy at the return of ,kore4  ,the   
myth has #acg now entered on the third  
phase of its life1 in which it becomes  
the property of those more elevated     
spirits1 who1 in the decline of the     
,greek religion1 pick and choose and    
modify1 with perfect freedom of mind1   
whatever in it may seem adapted to      
minister to their culture4  ,in this    
way1 the myths of the ,greek religion   
become parts of an ideal1 visible       
embodiments of the susceptibilities and 
intuitions of the nobler kind of souls2 
and it is to this latest phase of       
mythological development that the       
highest ,greek sculpture allies itself4 
,its function is to give visible        
aesthetic expression to the constituent 
parts of that ideal4  ,as poetry dealt  
chiefly with the incidents of the story1
 so it is with the personages of the    

story--with ,demeter and ,kore          
themselves--that sculpture has to do4   
,for the myth of ,demeter1 like the     
,greek religion in general1 had its     
unlovelier side1 grotesque1 unhellenic1 
unglorified by art1 illustrated well    
enough by the description ,pausanias    
gives us of his visit to the cave of the
 ,black ,demeter at ,phigalia4  ,in his 
time the image itself had vanished2 but 
he tells us enough about it to enable us
 to realise its general characteristics1
 monstrous as the special legend with   
which it was connected1 the black       
draperies1 the horse's head united to   
the woman's body1 with the carved       
reptiles creeping about it4  ,if1 with  
the thought of this gloomy image of our 
mother the earth1 in our minds1 we take 
up one of those coins #ach which bear   
the image of ,kore or ,demeter199 we    
shall better understand what the        
function of sculpture really was1 in    
elevating and refining the religious    
conceptions of the ,greeks4  ,looking on

 the profile1 for instance1 on one of   
those coins of ,messene1 which almost   
certainly represent ,demeter1 and noting
 the crisp1 chaste opening of the lips1 
the minutely wrought earrings1 and the  
delicately touched ears of corn1--this  
trifling object being justly regarded   
as1 in its aesthetic qualities1 an      
epitome of art on a larger scale1--we   
shall see how far the imagination of the
 ,greeks had travelled from what their  
,black ,demeter shows us had once been  
possible for them1 and in making the    
gods of their worship the objects of a  
worthy companionship in their thoughts4 
,certainly1 the mind of the old workman 
who struck that coin was1 if we may     
trust the testimony of his work1        
unclouded by impure or gloomy shadows4  
,the thought of ,demeter is impressed   
here1 with all the purity and           
proportion1 the purged and dainty       
intelligence of the human countenance4  
,the mystery of it is indeed absent1    
perhaps could hardly have been looked   

for in so slight a thing1 intended for  
no sacred purpose1 and tossed lightly   
from hand to hand4  ,but in his firm    
hold on the harmonies of the human face1
 the designer of this tranquil head of  
#aci ,demeter is on the one road to a   
command over the secrets of all         
imaginative pathos and mystery2 though1 
in the perfect fairness and blitheness  
of his work1 he might seem almost not to
 have known the incidents of her        
terrible story4  ,it is probable that1  
at a later period than in other equally 
important temples of ,greece1 the       
earlier archaic representation of       
,demeter in the sanctuary of ,eleusis1  
was replaced by a more beautiful image  
in the new style1 with face and hands of
 ivory1 having therefore1 in tone and   
texture1 some subtler likeness to       
women's flesh1 and the closely          
enveloping drapery being constructed in 
daintily beaten plates of gold4         
,praxiteles seems to have been the first
 to bring into the region of a freer    

artistic handling these shy deities of  
the earth1 shrinking still within the   
narrow restraints of a hieratic1        
conventional treatment1 long after the  
more genuine ,olympians had broken out  
of them4  ,the school of ,praxiteles1 as
 distinguished from that of ,pheidias1  
is especially the school of grace1      
relaxing a little the severe ethical    
tension of the latter1 in favour of a   
slightly ,asiatic sinuosity and         
tenderness4  ,pausanias tells us that he
 carved the two goddesses for the temple
 of ,demeter at ,athens2 and ,pliny     
speaks of two groups of his in brass1   
the one representing the stealing of    
,persephone1 the other her later1 annual
 descent into ,hades1 conducted thither 
by the now pacified mother4 ,all alike  
have perished2 though perhaps some #adj 
more or less faint reflexion of the most
 important of these designs may still be
 traced on many painted vases which     
depict the stealing of ,persephone1--a  
helpless1 plucked flower in the arms of 

,aidoneus4  ,and in this almost         
traditional form1 the subject was often 
represented1 in low relief1 on tombs1   
some of which still remain2 in one or   
two instances1 built up1 oddly enough1  
in the walls of ,christian churches4    
,on the tombs of women who had died in  
early life1 this was a favourite        
subject1 some likeness of the actual    
lineaments of the deceased being        
sometimes transferred to the features of
 ,persephone4  ,yet so far1 it might    
seem1 when we consider the interest of  
this story in itself1 and its importance
 in the ,greek religion1 that no        
adequate expression of it had remained  
to us in works of art4  ,but in the year
 #aheg1 the discovery of the marbles1 in
 the sacred precinct of ,demeter at     
,cnidus1 restored to us an illustration 
of the myth in its artistic phase1      
hardly less central than the ,homeric   
hymn in its poetical phase4  ,with the  
help of the descriptions and plans of   
,mr4 ,newton's book199 we can form1 as  

one always wishes to do in such cases1 a
 clear idea of the place where these    
marbles--three statues of the best style
 of ,greek sculpture1 now in the        
,british ,museum--were found4           
,occupying a ledge of rock1 looking     
towards the sea1 at the base of a #ada  
cliff of upheaved limestone1 of singular
 steepness and regularity of surface1   
the spot presents indications of        
volcanic disturbance1 as if a chasm in  
the earth had opened here4  ,it was this
 character1 suggesting the belief in an 
actual connexion with the interior of   
the earth 7local tradition claiming it  
as the scene of the stealing of         
,persephone71 which probably gave rise1 
as in other cases where the landscape   
presented some peculiar feature in      
harmony with the story1 to the          
dedication upon it of a house and an    
image of ,demeter1 with whom were       
associated ,kore and the gods with      
,demeter-- hoi theoi para               
,damatri--,aidoneus1 and the mystical or

 ,chthonian ,dionysus4  ,the house seems
 to have been a small chapel only1 of   
simple construction1 and designed for   
private use1 the site itself having been
 private property1 consecrated by a     
particular family1 for their own        
religious uses1 although other persons1 
servants or dependents of the founders1 
may also have frequented it4  ,the      
architecture seems to have been         
insignificant1 but the sculpture costly 
and exquisite1 belonging1 if            
contemporary with the erection of the   
building1 to a great period of ,greek   
art1 of which also it is judged to      
possess intrinsic marks--about the year 
#cej before ,christ1 the probable date  
of the dedication of the little temple4 
,the artists by whom these works were   
produced were1 therefore1 either the    
contemporaries of ,praxiteles1 whose    
,venus was for many centuries the glory 
of #adb ,cnidus1 or belonged to the     
generation immediately succeeding him4  
,the temple itself was probably thrown  

down by a renewal of the volcanic       
disturbances2 the statues however       
remaining1 and the ministers and        
worshippers still continuing to make    
shift for their sacred business in the  
place1 now doubly venerable1 but with   
its temple unrestored1 down to the      
second or third century of the          
,christian era1 its frequenters being   
now perhaps mere chance comers1 the     
family of the original donors having    
become extinct1 or having deserted it4  
,into this later arrangement1 clearly   
divined by ,mr4 ,newton1 through those  
faint indications which mean much for   
true experts1 the extant remains1 as    
they were found upon the spot1 permit us
 to enter4  ,it is one of the graves of 
that old religion1 but with much still  
fresh in it4  ,we see it with its       
provincial superstitions1 and its       
curious magic rites1 but also with its  
means of really solemn impressions1 in  
the culminating forms of ,greek art2 the
 two faces of the ,greek religion       

confronting each other here1 and the    
whole having that rare peculiarity of a 
kind of personal stamp upon it1 the     
place having been designed to meet the  
fancies of one particular soul1 or at   
least of one family4  ,it is always     
difficult to bring the every- day aspect
 of ,greek religion home to us2 but even
 the slighter details of this little    
sanctuary help us to do this2 and       
knowing so little1 as we do1 of the     
greater mysteries of #adc ,demeter1 this
 glance into an actual religious place  
dedicated to her1 and with the air of   
her worship still about it1 is doubly   
interesting4  ,the little votive figures
 of the goddesses1 in baked earth1 were 
still lying stored in the small treasury
 intended for such objects1 or scattered
 about the feet of the images1 together 
with lamps in great number1 a lighted   
lamp being a favourite offering1 in     
memory of the torches with which        
,demeter sought ,persephone1 or from    
some sense of inherent darkness in these

 gods of the earth2 those torches in the
 hands of ,demeter being indeed         
originally the artificial warmth and    
brightness of lamp and fire1 on winter  
nights4  ,the dirae or                  
spells1--katadesmoi- -binding or        
devoting certain persons to the infernal
 gods1 inscribed on thin rolls of lead1 
with holes1 sometimes1 for hanging them 
up about those quiet statues1 still lay1
 just as they were left1 anywhere within
 the sacred precinct1 illustrating at   
once the gloomier side of the ,greek    
religion in general1 and of ,demeter and
 ,persephone especially1 in their       
character of avenging deities1 and as   
relics of ancient magic1 reproduced so  
strangely at other times and places1    
reminding us of the permanence of       
certain odd ways of human thought4  ,a  
woman binds with her spell the person   
who seduces her husband away from her   
and her children2 another1 the person   
who has accused her of preparing poison 
for her husband2 another devotes one who

 has not restored a borrowed #add       
garment1 or has stolen a bracelet1 or   
certain drinking-horns2 and1 from some  
instances1 we might infer that this was 
a favourite place of worship for the    
poor and ignorant4  ,in this living     
picture1 we find still lingering on1 at 
the foot of the beautiful ,greek        
marbles1 that phase of religious temper 
which a cynical mind might think a truer
 link of its unity and permanence than  
any higher aesthetic instincts--a phase 
of it1 which the art of sculpture1      
humanising and refining man's           
conceptions of the unseen1 tended       
constantly to do away4  ,for the higher 
side of the ,greek religion1 thus       
humanised and refined by art1 and       
elevated by it to the sense of beauty1  
is here also4  ,there were three ideal  
forms1 as we saw1 gradually shaping     
themselves in the development of the    
story of ,demeter1 waiting only for     
complete realisation at the hands of the
 sculptor2 and now1 with these forms in 

our minds1 let us place ourselves in    
thought before the three images which   
once probably occupied the three niches 
or ambries in the face of that singular 
cliff at ,cnidus1 one of them being then
 wrought on a larger scale4  ,of the    
three figures1 one probably represents  
,persephone1 as the goddess of the dead2
 the second1 ,demeter enthroned2 the    
third is probably a portrait-statue of a
 priestess of ,demeter1 but may perhaps1
 even so1 represent ,demeter herself1   
,demeter ,achaea1 ,ceres ,deserta1 the  
mater dolorosa of the ,greeks1 a type   
not as yet #ade recognised in any other 
work of ancient art4  ,certainly1 it    
seems hard not to believe that this work
 is in some way connected with the      
legend of the place to which it         
belonged1 and the main subject of which 
it realises so completely2 and1 at      
least1 it shows how the higher ,greek   
sculpture would have worked out this    
motive4  ,if ,demeter at all1 it is     
,demeter the seeker1--,d--as she was    

called in the mysteries1 in some pause  
of her restless wandering over the world
 in search of the lost child1 and become
 at last an abstract type of the        
wanderer4  ,the ,homeric hymn1 as we    
saw1 had its sculptural motives1 the    
great gestures of ,demeter1 who was ever
 the stately goddess1 as she followed   
the daughters of ,celeus1 or sat by the 
well-side1 or went out and in1 through  
the halls of the palace1 expressed in   
monumental words4  ,with the sentiment  
of that monumental ,homeric presence    
this statue is penetrated1 uniting a    
certain solemnity of attitude and       
bearing1 to a profound piteousness1 an  
unrivalled pathos of expression4  ,there
 is something of the pity of            
,michelangelo's mater dolorosa1 in the  
wasted form and marred countenance1 yet 
with the light breaking faintly over it 
from the eyes1 which1 contrary to the   
usual practice in ancient sculpture1 are
 represented as looking upwards4  ,it is
 the aged woman who has escaped from    

pirates1 who has but just escaped being 
sold as a slave1 calling on the young   
for pity4  ,the sorrows of her long     
wanderings seem to have passed into the 
marble2 #adf and in this too1 it meets  
the demands which the reader of the     
,homeric hymn1 with its command over the
 resources of human pathos1 makes upon  
the sculptor4  ,the tall figure1 in     
proportion above the ordinary height1 is
 veiled1 and clad to the feet in the    
longer tunic1 its numerous folds hanging
 in heavy parallel lines1 opposing the  
lines of the peplus1 or cloak1 which    
cross it diagonally over the breast1    
enwrapping the upper portion of the body
 somewhat closely4  ,it is the very type
 of the wandering woman1 going grandly1 
indeed1 as ,homer describes her1 yet so 
human in her anguish1 that we seem to   
recognise some far descended shadow of  
her1 in the homely figure of the roughly
 clad ,french peasant woman1 who1 in one
 of ,corot's pictures1 is hasting along 
under a sad light1 as the day goes out  

behind the little hill4  ,we have       
watched the growth of the merely        
personal sentiment in the story2 and we 
may notice that1 if this figure be      
indeed ,demeter1 then the conception of 
her has become wholly humanised2 no     
trace of the primitive cosmical import  
of the myth1 no colour or scent of the  
mystical earth1 remains about it4  ,the 
seated figure1 much mutilated1 and worn 
by long exposure1 yet possessing1       
according to the best critics1 marks of 
the school of ,praxiteles1 is almost    
undoubtedly the image of ,demeter       
enthroned4 ,three times in the ,homeric 
hymn she is represented as sitting1 once
 by the fountain at the wayside1 again  
in the house of ,celeus1 and #adg again 
in the newly finished temple of         
,eleusis2 but always in sorrow2 seated  
on the petra agelastos1 which1 as ,ovid 
told us1 the people of ,attica still    
called the stone of sorrow4  ,here she  
is represented in her later state of    
reconciliation1 enthroned as the        

glorified mother of all things4  ,the   
delicate plaiting of the tunic about the
 throat1 the formal curling of the hair1
 and a certain weight of                
over-thoughtfulness in the brows1 recall
 the manner of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 a   
master1 one of whose characteristics is 
a very sensitive expression of the      
sentiment of maternity4  ,it reminds one
 especially of a work by one of his     
scholars1 the ,virgin of the ,balances1 
in the ,louvre1 a picture which has been
 thought to represent1 under a veil1 the
 blessing of universal nature1 and in   
which the sleepy-looking heads1 with a  
peculiar grace and refinement of        
somewhat advanced life in them1 have    
just this half-weary posture4 ,we see   
here1 then1 the ,here of the world      
below1 the ,stygian ,juno1 the chief of 
those ,elysian matrons who come         
crowding1 in the poem of ,claudian1 to  
the marriage toilet of ,proserpine1 the 
goddess of the fertility of the earth   
and of all creatures1 but still of      

fertility as arisen out of death299 and 
therefore she is not without a certain  
pensiveness1 having seen the seed fall  
into the ground and die1 many times4    
,persephone is returned to her1 and the 
hair #adh spreads1 like a rich harvest1 
over her shoulders2 but she is still    
veiled1 and knows that the seed must    
fall into the ground again1 and         
,persephone descend again from her4     
,the statues of the supposed priestess1 
and of the enthroned ,demeter1 are of   
more than the size of life2 the figure  
of ,persephone is but seventeen inches  
high1 a daintily handled toy of ,parian 
marble1 the miniature copy perhaps of a 
much larger work1 which might well be   
reproduced on a magnified scale4  ,the  
conception of ,demeter is throughout    
chiefly human1 and even domestic1 though
 never without a hieratic interest1     
because she is not a goddess only1 but  
also a priestess4  ,in contrast1        
,persephone is wholly unearthly1 the    
close companion1 and even the confused  

double1 of ,hecate1 the goddess of      
midnight terrors1--,despoena1--the final
 mistress of all that lives2 and as     
sorrow is the characteristic sentiment  
of ,demeter1 so awe of ,persephone4     
,she is compact of sleep1 and death1 and
 flowers1 but of narcotic flowers       
especially1--a revenant1 who in the     
garden of ,aidoneus has eaten of the    
pomegranate1 and bears always the secret
 of decay in her1 of return to the      
grave1 in the mystery of those swallowed
 seeds2 sometimes1 in later work1       
holding in her hand the key of the great
 prison-house1 but which unlocks all    
secrets also2 7there1 finally1 or       
through oracles revealed in dreams27    
sometimes1 like ,demeter1 the poppy1    
emblem of sleep and death by its #adi   
narcotic juices1 of life and            
resurrection by its innumerable seeds1  
of the dreams1 therefore1 that may      
intervene between falling asleep and    
waking4  ,treated as it is in the       
,homeric hymn1 and still more in this   

statue1 the image of ,persephone may be 
regarded as the result of many efforts  
to lift the old ,chthonian gloom1 still 
lingering on in heavier souls1          
concerning the grave1 to connect it with
 impressions of dignity and beauty1 and 
a certain sweetness even2 it is meant to
 make men in love1 or at least at peace1
 with death4  ,the ,persephone of       
,praxiteles' school1 then1 is           
,aphrodite-,persephone1                 
,venus-,libitina4 ,her shadowy eyes have
 gazed upon the fainter colouring of the
 under- world1 and the tranquillity1    
born of it1 has passed into her face2   
for the ,greek ,hades is1 after all1 but
 a quiet1 twilight place1 not very      
different from that ,house of ,fame     
where ,dante places the great souls of  
the classical world2 ,aidoneus himself  
being conceived1 in the highest ,greek  
sculpture1 as but a gentler ,zeus1 the  
great innkeeper2 so that when a certain 
,greek sculptor had failed in his       
portraiture of ,zeus1 because it had too

 little hilarity1 too little1 in the    
eyes and brow1 of the open and cheerful 
sky1 he only changed its title1 and the 
thing passed excellently1 with its heavy
 locks and shadowy eyebrows1 for the god
 of the dead4  ,the image of            
,persephone1 then1 as it is here        
composed1 with the tall1 tower-like     
head-dress1 from which the veil         
depends--the corn-basket1 #aej          
originally carried thus by the ,greek   
women1 balanced on the head--giving the 
figure unusual length1 has the air of a 
body bound about with grave- clothes2   
while the archaic hands and feet1 and a 
certain stiffness in the folds of the   
drapery1 give it something of a hieratic
 character1 and to the modern observer  
may suggest a sort of kinship with the  
more chastened kind of ,gothic work4    
,but quite of the school of ,praxiteles 
is the general character of the         
composition2 the graceful waving of the 
hair1 the fine shadows of the little    
face1 of the eyes and lips especially1  

like the shadows of a flower--a flower  
risen noiselessly from its dwelling in  
the dust--though still with that fulness
 or heaviness in the brow1 as of sleepy 
people1 which1 in the delicate          
gradations of ,greek sculpture1         
distinguish the infernal deities from   
their ,olympian kindred4  ,the object   
placed in the hand may be1 perhaps1 a   
stiff1 archaic flower1 but is probably  
the partly consumed pomegranate--one    
morsel gone2 the most usual emblem of   
,persephone being this mystical fruit1  
which1 because of the multitude of its  
seeds1 was to the ,romans a symbol of   
fecundity1 and was sold at the doors of 
the temple of ,ceres1 that the women    
might offer it there1 and bear numerous 
children2 and so1 to the middle age1    
became a symbol of the fruitful earth   
itself2 and then of that other seed sown
 in the dark under-world2 and at last of
 that whole hidden region1 so thickly   
sown1 which ,dante visited1 ,michelino  
painting him1 #aea in the ,duomo of     

,florence1 with this fruit in his hand1 
and ,botticelli putting it into the     
childish hands of ,him1 who1 if men go  
down into hell1 is there also4  ,there  
is an attractiveness in these goddesses 
of the earth1 akin to the influence of  
cool places1 quiet houses1 subdued      
light1 tranquillising voices4  ,what is 
there in this phase of ancient religion 
for us1 at the present day8  ,the myth  
of ,demeter and ,persephone1 then1      
illustrates the power of the ,greek     
religion as a religion of pure ideas--of
 conceptions1 which having no link on   
historical fact1 yet1 because they arose
 naturally out of the spirit of man1 and
 embodied1 in adequate symbols1 his     
deepest thoughts concerning the         
conditions of his physical and spiritual
 life1 maintained their hold through    
many changes1 and are still not without 
a solemnising power even for the modern 
mind1 which has once admitted them as   
recognised and habitual inhabitants2    
and1 abiding thus for the elevation and 

purifying of our sentiments1 long after 
the earlier and simpler races of their  
worshippers have passed away1 they may  
be a pledge to us of the place in our   
culture1 at once legitimate and         
possible1 of the associations1 the      
conceptions1 the imagery1 of ,greek     
religious poetry in general1 of the     
poetry of all religions4  ,,notes  #aag4
 ,transliteration3 kalykpis4  ,liddell  
and ,scott definition3 ,like a          
flower-bud1 blushing1 roseate4  #aah4   
,transliteration3 charis4  ,liddell and 
,scott definition3 favour1 grace 444    
loveliness4  #aah4 ,transliteration3    
theai semnai4  ,translation3 august     
goddesses4  #abd4 99,the great ,greek   
myths are1 in truth1 like abstract      
forces1 which ally themselves to various
 conditions4  #abi4 ,transliteration3   
kor arrtos4  ,translation3 ,kor the     
mysterious1 the horrible4  ,another     
meaning of arrtos1 as ,pater points out1
 is unsaid1 not to be spoken4  #acf4    
99,with this may be connected another   

passage of ,ovid-- ,metamorphoses1 v4   
#cia-djh4  #ach4 99,on these small      
objects the mother and daughter are hard
 to distinguish1 the latter being       
recognisable only by a greater delicacy 
in the features and the more evident    
stamp of youth4  #adj4 99,a ,history of 
,discoveries at ,halicarnassus1 ,cnidus1
 and ,branchidae4  #ada4                
,transliteration3 hoi theoi para        
,damatri4  ,pater's translation3 the    
gods with ,demeter4  #adc4              
,transliteration3 katadesmoi4  ,liddell 
and ,scott definition3 a tie or band3 a 
magic knot1 love-knot4  #ade4           
,transliteration3 ,d4  ,liddell and     
,scott definition3 the verb d means ,i  
shall find1 while the proper noun refers
 to ,demeter4  #adg4 ,transliteration3  
petra agelastos4  ,translation3 sullen  
rock4  #adg4 99,pallere ligustra1 _/    
,exspirare rosas1 decrescere lilia vidi4
    ,,hippolytus ,,veiled3 ,a ,,study   
,,from ,,euripides  #aeb ,,centuries of 
zealous archaeology notwithstanding1    

many phases of the so varied ,greek     
genius are recorded for the modern      
student in a kind of shorthand only1 or 
not at all4  ,even for ,pausanias1      
visiting ,greece before its direct part 
in affairs was quite played out1 much   
had perished or grown dim--of its art1  
of the truth of its outward history1    
above all of its religion as a credible 
or practicable thing4  ,and yet         
,pausanias visits ,greece under         
conditions as favourable for observation
 as those under which later travellers1 
,addison or ,eustace1 proceed to ,italy4
  ,for him the impress of life in those 
old ,greek cities is not less vivid and 
entire than that of medieval ,italy to  
ourselves2 at ,siena1 for instance1 with
 its ancient palaces still in           
occupation1 its public edifices as      
serviceable as if the old republic had  
but just now vacated them1 the tradition
 of their primitive worship still       
unbroken in its churches4  ,had the     
opportunities in which ,pausanias was   

#aec fortunate been ours1 how many      
haunts of the antique ,greek life       
unnoticed by him we should have peeped  
into1 minutely systematic in our        
painstaking6 how many a view would      
broaden out where he notes hardly       
anything at all on his map of ,greece6  
,one of the most curious phases of      
,greek civilisation which has thus      
perished for us1 and regarding which1 as
 we may fancy1 we should have made      
better use of that old traveller's      
facilities1 is the early ,attic         
deme-life--its picturesque1 intensely   
localised variety1 in the hollow or on  
the spur of mountain or sea-shore2 and  
with it many a relic of primitive       
religion1 many an early growth of art   
parallel to what ,vasari records of     
artistic beginnings in the smaller      
cities of ,italy4  ,colonus and         
,acharnae1 surviving still so vividly by
 the magic of ,sophocles1 of            
,aristophanes1 are but isolated examples
 of a widespread manner of life1 in     

which1 amid many provincial             
peculiarities1 the first1 yet perhaps   
the most costly and telling steps were  
made in all the various departments of  
,greek culture4 ,even in the days of    
,pausanias1 ,piraeus was still traceable
 as a distinct township1 once the       
possible rival of ,athens1 with its     
little old covered market by the        
seaside1 and the symbolical picture of  
the place1 its ,genius1 visible on the  
wall4  ,and that is but the type of what
 there had been to know of threescore   
and more village communities1 each      
having its own altars1 its special      
worship and #aed place of civic         
assembly1 its trade and crafts1 its name
 drawn from physical peculiarity or     
famous incident1 its body of heroic     
tradition4  ,lingering on while ,athens1
 the great deme1 gradually absorbed into
 itself more and more of their          
achievements1 and passing away almost   
completely as political factors in the  
,peloponnesian war1 they were still     

felt1 we can hardly doubt1 in the actual
 physiognomy of ,greece4  ,that variety 
in unity1 which its singular            
geographical formation secured to       
,greece as a whole1 was at its utmost in
 these minute reflexions of the national
 character1 with all the relish of local
 difference--new art1 new poetry1 fresh 
ventures in political combination1 in   
the conception of life1 springing as if 
straight from the soil1 like the        
thorn-blossom of early spring in magic  
lines over all that rocky land4  ,on the
 other hand1 it was just here that      
ancient habits clung most               
tenaciously--that old-fashioned1 homely1
 delightful existence1 to which the     
refugee1 pent up in ,athens in the years
 of the ,peloponnesian war1 looked back 
so fondly4  ,if the impression of       
,greece generally is but enhanced by the
 littleness of the physical scene of    
events intellectually so great--such a  
system of grand lines1 restrained within
 so narrow a compass1 as in one of its  

fine coins--still more would this be    
true of those centres of country life4  
,here1 certainly1 was that assertion of 
seemingly small interests1 which brings 
into free play1 and gives his utmost    
value #aee to1 the individual2 making   
his warfare1 equally with his more      
peaceful rivalries1 deme against deme1  
the mountain against the plain1 the     
sea-shore1 7as in our own old ,border   
life1 but played out here by wonderfully
 gifted people7 tangible as a personal  
history1 to the doubling of its         
fascination for those whose business is 
with the survey of the dramatic side of 
life4  ,as with civil matters1 so it was
 also1 we may fairly suppose1 with      
religion2 the deme-life was a           
manifestation of religious custom and   
sentiment1 in all their primitive local 
variety4  ,as ,athens1 gradually drawing
 into itself the various elements of    
provincial culture1 developed1 with     
authority1 the central religious        
position1 the demes-men did but add the 

worship of ,athene ,polias1 the goddess 
of the capital1 to their own            
pre-existent ritual uses4  ,of local and
 central religion alike1 time and       
circumstance had obliterated much when  
,pausanias came4  ,a devout spirit1 with
 religion for his chief interest1 eager 
for the trace of a divine footstep1     
anxious even in the days of ,lucian to  
deal seriously with what had counted for
 so much to serious men1 he has1 indeed1
 to lament that ,pan is dead3-- ,they   
come no longer6--,these things happen no
 longer6  ,but the ,greek--his very name
 also1 ,hellen1 was the title of a      
priesthood--had been religious          
abundantly1 sanctifying every detail of 
his actual life with the religious idea2
 and as ,pausanias goes on his way he   
finds many a remnant of that #aef       
earlier estate of religion1 when1 as he 
fancied1 it had been nearer the gods1 as
 it was certainly nearer the earth4 ,it 
is marked1 even in decay1 with varieties
 of place2 and is not only continuous   

but in situ4  ,at ,phigaleia he makes   
his offerings to ,demeter1 agreeably to 
the paternal rites of the inhabitants1  
wax1 fruit1 undressed wool still full of
 the sordes of the sheep4 ,a dream from 
heaven cuts short his notice of the     
mysteries of ,eleusis4 ,he sees the     
stone1 big enough for a little man1 on  
which ,silenus was used to sit and rest2
 at ,athens1 the tombs of the ,amazons1 
of the purple-haired ,nisus1 of         
,deucalion2--it is a manifest token that
 he had dwelt there4  ,the worshippers  
of ,poseidon1 even at his temple among  
the hills1 might still feel the earth   
fluctuating beneath their feet4 ,and in 
care for divine things1 he tells us1 the
 ,athenians outdid all other ,greeks4   
,even in the days of ,nero it revealed  
itself oddly2 and it is natural to      
suppose that of this temper the demes1  
as the proper home of conservatism1 were
 exceptionally expressive4 ,scattered in
 those remote1 romantic villages1 among 
their olives or sea-weeds1 lay the      

heroic graves1 the relics1 the sacred   
images1 often rude enough amid the      
delicate tribute of later art2 this too 
oftentimes finding in such retirement   
its best inspirations1 as in some ,attic
 ,fiesole4 ,like a network over the land
 of gracious poetic tradition1 as also  
of undisturbed ceremonial usage         
surviving late for those who cared to   
seek it1 the #aeg local religions had   
been never wholly superseded by the     
worship of the great national temples4  
,they were1 in truth1 the most          
characteristic developments of a faith  
essentially earth-born or indigenous4   
,and how often must the student of fine 
art1 again1 wish he had the same sort of
 knowledge about its earlier growth in  
,greece1 that he actually possesses in  
the case of ,italian art6  ,given any   
development at all in this matter1 there
 must have been phases of art1 which1 if
 immature1 were also veritable          
expressions of power to come1           
intermediate discoveries of beauty1 such

 as are by no means a mere anticipation1
 and of service only as explaining      
historically larger subsequent          
achievements1 but of permanent          
attractiveness in themselves1 being     
often1 indeed1 the true maturity of     
certain amiable artistic qualities4 ,and
 in regard to ,greek art at its         
best--the ,parthenon--no less than to   
the art of the ,renaissance at its      
best-- the ,sistine ,chapel--the more   
instructive light would be derived      
rather from what precedes than what     
follows such central success1 from the  
determination to apprehend the          
fulfilment of past effort rather than   
the eve of decline1 in the critical1    
central moment which partakes of both4  
,of such early promise1 early           
achievement1 we have in the case of     
,greek art little to compare with what  
is extant of the youth of the arts in   
,italy4 ,overbeck's careful gleanings of
 its history form indeed #aeh a sorry   
relic as contrasted with ,vasari's      

intimations of the beginnings of the    
,renaissance4  ,fired by certain        
fragments of its earlier days1 of a     
beauty1 in truth1 absolute1 and vainly  
longing for more1 the student of ,greek 
sculpture indulges the thought of an    
ideal of youthful energy therein1 yet   
withal of youthful self-restraint2 and  
again1 as with survivals of old         
religion1 the privileged home1 he       
fancies1 of that ideal must have been in
 those venerable ,attic townships1 as to
 a large extent it passed away with     
them4  ,the budding of new art1 the     
survival of old religion1 at isolated   
centres of provincial life1 where       
varieties of human character also were  
keen1 abundant1 asserted in             
correspondingly effective incident--    
this is what irresistible fancy         
superinduces on historic details1       
themselves meagre enough4  ,the         
sentiment of antiquity is indeed a      
characteristic of all cultivated people1
 even in what may seem the freshest     

ages1 and not exclusively a humour of   
our later world4  ,in the earliest      
notices about them1 as we know1 the     
people of ,attica appear already        
impressed by the immense antiquity of   
their occupation of its soil1 of which  
they claim to be the very first flower4 
,some at least of those old demes-men we
 may well fancy sentimentally reluctant 
to change their habits1 fearful of      
losing too much of themselves in the    
larger stream of life1 clinging to what 
is antiquated as the work of            
centralisation goes on1 needful as that 
work was1 #aei with the great ,eastern  
difficulty already ever in the distance4
  ,the fear of ,asia1 barbaric1         
splendid1 hardly known1 yet haunting the
 curious imagination of those who had   
borrowed thence the art in which they   
were rapidly excelling it1 developing1  
as we now see1 in the interest of ,greek
 humanity1 crafts begotten of tyrannic  
and illiberal luxury1 was finally to    
suppress the rivalries of those         

primitive centres of activity1 when the 
invincible armada of the common foe came
 into sight4  ,at a later period civil  
strife was to destroy their last traces4
  ,the old hoplite1 from ,rhamnus or    
,acharnae1 pent up in beleaguered       
,athens during that first summer of the 
,peloponnesian war1 occupying with his  
household a turret of the wall1 as      
,thucydides describes--one of many      
picturesque touches in that severe      
historian--could well remember the      
ancient provincial life which this      
conflict with ,sparta was bringing to an
 end4  ,he could recall his boyish1     
half-scared curiosity concerning those  
,persian ships1 coming first as         
merchantmen1 or with pirates on         
occasion1 in the half-savage1 wicked    
splendours of their decoration1 the     
monstrous figure-heads1 their glittering
 freightage4 ,men would hardly have     
trusted their women or children with    
that suspicious crew1 hovering through  
the dusk4  ,there were soothsayers1     

indeed1 who had long foretold what      
happened soon after1 giving shape to    
vague1 supernatural terrors4  ,and then 
he had crept #afj from his hiding-place 
with other lads to go view the enemies' 
slain at ,marathon1 beside those belated
 ,spartans1 this new war with whom      
seemed to be reviving the fierce local  
feuds of his younger days4 ,paraloi and 
,diacrioi had ever been rivals4  ,very  
distant it all seemed now1 with all the 
stories he could tell2 for in those     
crumbling little towns1 as heroic life  
had lingered on into the actual1 so1 at 
an earlier date1 the supernatural into  
the heroic4 ,like mist at dawn1 the last
 traces of its divine visitors had then 
vanished from the land1 where1 however1 
they had already begotten our best and  
oldest families4  ,it was ,theseus1     
uncompromising young master of the      
situation1 in fearless application of   
the modern spirit of his day to every   
phase of life where it was applicable1  
who1 at the expense of ,attica1 had     

given ,athens a people1 reluctant       
enough1 in truth1 as ,plutarch suggests1
 to desert their homes and religious    
usages and many good and gracious kings 
of their own for this elect youth1 who  
thus figures1 passably1 as a kind of    
mythic shorthand for civilisation1      
making roads and the like1 facilitating 
travel1 suppressing various forms of    
violence1 but many innocent things as   
well4  ,so it must needs be in a world  
where1 even hand in hand with a         
god-assisted hero1 ,justice goes        
blindfold4  ,he slays the bull of       
,marathon and many another local tyrant1
 but also exterminates that delightful  
creature1 the ,centaur4  ,the ,amazon1  
whom ,plato will #afa reinstate as the  
type of improved womanhood1 has no      
better luck than ,phaea1 the sow-pig of 
,crommyon1 foul old landed-proprietress4
  ,they exerted1 however1 the           
prerogative of poetic protest1 and      
survive thereby4  ,centaur and ,amazon1 
as we see them in the fine art of       

,greece1 represent the regret of        
,athenians themselves for something that
 could never be brought to life again1  
and have their pathos4  ,those young    
heroes contending with ,amazons on the  
frieze of the ,mausoleum had best make  
haste with their bloody work1 if young  
people's eyes can tell a true story4  ,a
 type still of progress triumphant      
through injustice1 set on improving     
things off the face of the earth1       
,theseus took occasion to attack the    
,amazons in their mountain home1 not    
long after their ruinous conflict with  
,hercules1 and hit them when they were  
down4 ,that greater bully had laboured  
off on the world's highway1 carrying    
with him the official girdle of         
,antiope1 their queen1 gift of ,ares1   
and therewith1 it would seem1 the mystic
 secret of their strength4 ,at sight of 
this new foe1 at any rate1 she came to a
 strange submission4  ,the savage virgin
 had turned to very woman1 and was      
presently a willing slave1 returning on 

the gaily appointed ship in all haste to
 ,athens1 where in supposed wedlock she 
bore ,king ,theseus a son4  ,with their 
annual visit--visit to the              
,gargareans6--for the purpose of        
maintaining their #afb species1 parting 
with their boys early1 these husbandless
 women could hardly be supposed a very  
happy1 certainly not a very joyous      
people4  ,they figure rather as a sorry 
measure of the luck of the female sex in
 taking a hard natural law into their   
own hands1 and by abnegation of all     
tender companionship making shift with  
bare independence1 as a kind of         
second-best--the best practicable by    
them in the imperfect actual condition  
of things4  ,but the heart-strings would
 ache still where the breast had been   
cut away4  ,the sisters of ,antiope had 
come1 not immediately1 but in careful   
array of battle1 to bring back the      
captive4  ,all along the weary roads    
from the ,caucasus to ,attica1 their    
traces had remained in the great graves 

of those who died by the way4  ,against 
the little remnant1 carrying on the     
fight to the very midst of ,athens1     
,antiope herself had turned1 all other  
thoughts transformed now into wild      
idolatry of her hero4  ,superstitious1  
or in real regret1 the ,athenians never 
forgot their tombs4  ,as for ,antiope1  
the conscience of her perfidy remained  
with her1 adding the pang of remorse to 
her own desertion1 when ,king ,theseus1 
with his accustomed bad faith to women1 
set her1 too1 aside in turn4  ,phaedra1 
the true wife1 was there1 peeping       
suspiciously at her arrival2 and even as
 ,antiope yielded to her lord's embraces
 the thought had come that a male child 
might be the instrument of her anger1   
and one day judge her cause4  #afc ,in  
one of these doomed1 decaying villages1 
then1 ,king ,theseus placed the woman   
and her babe1 hidden1 yet secure1 within
 the ,attic border1 as men veil their   
mistakes or crimes4  ,they might pass   
away1 they and their story1 together    

with the memory of other antiquated     
creatures of such places1 who had had   
connubial dealings with the stars4  ,the
 white1 paved waggon-track1 a by-path of
 the sacred way to ,eleusis1 zigzagged  
through sloping olive-yards1 from the   
plain of silvered blue1 with ,athens    
building in the distance1 and passed the
 door of the rude stone house1 furnished
 scantily1 which no one had ventured to 
inhabit of late years till they came    
there4  ,on the ledges of the grey      
cliffs above1 the laurel groves1 stem   
and foliage of motionless bronze1 had   
spread their tents4  ,travellers bound  
northwards were glad to repose          
themselves there1 and take directions1  
or provision for their journey onwards1 
from the highland people1 who came down 
hither to sell their honey1 their       
cheese1 and woollen stuff1 in the tiny  
market-place4  ,at dawn the great stars 
seemed to halt a while1 burning as if   
for sacrifice to some pure deity1 on    
those distant1 obscurely named heights1 

like broken swords1 the rim of the      
world4  ,a little later you could just  
see the newly opened quarries1 like     
streaks of snow on their russet-brown   
bosoms4  ,thither in spring-time all    
eyes turned from ,athens devoutly1      
intent till the first shaft of lightning
 gave signal for the departure of the   
#afd sacred ship to ,delos4  ,racing    
over those rocky surfaces1 the virgin   
air descended hither with the secret of 
profound sleep1 as the child lay in its 
cubicle hewn in the stone1 the white    
fleeces heaped warmly round him4  ,in   
the wild ,amazon's soul1 to her         
surprise1 and at first against her will1
 the maternal sense had quickened from  
the moment of his conception1 and 7that 
burst of angry tears with which she had 
received him into the world once dried  
up71 kindling more eagerly at every     
token of manly growth1 had at length    
driven out every other feeling4  ,and   
this animal sentiment1 educating the    
human hand and heart in her1 had become 

a moral one1 when1 ,king ,theseus       
leaving her in anger1 visibly unkind1   
the child had crept to her side1 and    
tracing with small fingers the wrinkled 
lines of her woebegone brow1 carved     
there as if by a thousand years of      
sorrow1 had sown between himself and her
 the seed of an undying sympathy4  ,she 
was thus already on the watch for a host
 of minute recognitions on his part1 of 
the self-sacrifice involved in her      
devotion to a career of which she must  
needs drain out the sorrow1 careful that
 he might taste only the joy4  ,so far1 
amid their spare living1 the child1 as  
if looking up to the warm broad wing of 
her love above him1 seemed replete with 
comfort4  ,yet in his moments of        
childish sickness1 the first passing    
shadows upon the deep joy of her        
motherhood1 she teaches him betimes to  
soothe #afe or cheat pain-- little      
bodily pains only1 hitherto4  ,she      
ventures sadly to assure him of the     
harsh necessities of life3 ,courage1    

child6  ,every one must take his share  
of suffering4  ,shift not thy body so   
vehemently4 ,pain1 taken quietly1 is    
easier to bear4  ,carefully inverting   
the habits of her own rude childhood1   
she learned to spin the wools1 white and
 grey1 to clothe and cover him          
pleasantly4  ,the spectacle of his      
unsuspicious happiness1 though at       
present a matter of purely physical     
conditions1 awoke a strange sense of    
poetry1 a kind of artistic sense in her1
 watching1 as her own long-deferred     
recreation in life1 his delight in the  
little delicacies she prepared to his   
liking--broiled kids' flesh1 the red    
wine1 the mushrooms sought through the  
early dew--his hunger and thirst so     
daintily satisfied1 as he sat at table1 
like the first-born of ,king ,theseus1  
with two wax-lights and a fire at dawn  
or nightfall dancing to the prattle and 
laughter1 a bright child1 never stupidly
 weary4  ,at times his very happiness   
would seem to her like a menace of      

misfortune to come4  ,was there not with
 herself the curse of that unsisterly   
action8 and not far from him1 the       
terrible danger of the father's1 the    
step-mother's jealousy1 the mockery of  
those half- brothers to come8  ,ah6 how 
perilous for happiness the sensibilities
 which make him so exquisitely happy    
now6  ,before they started on their     
dreadful visit to the ,minotaur1 says   
,plutarch1 the women told their #aff    
sons many tales and other things to     
encourage them2 and1 even as she had    
furnished the child betimes with rules  
for the solace of bodily pain1 so now   
she would have brought her own sad      
experience into service in precepts for 
the ejection of its festering power out 
of any other trouble that might visit   
him4  ,already those little             
disappointments which are as the shadow 
beside all conscious enjoyment1 were no 
petty things to her1 but had for her    
their pathos1 as children's troubles    
will have1 in spite of the longer chance

 before them4  ,they were as the first  
steps in a long story of deferred hopes1
 or anticipations of death itself and   
the end of them4  ,the gift of ,ares    
gone1 the mystic girdle she would fain  
have transferred to the child1 that     
bloody god of storm and battle1         
hereditary patron of her house1 faded   
from her thoughts together with the     
memory of her past life--the more       
completely1 because another familiar    
though somewhat forbidding deity1       
accepting certainly a cruel and         
forbidding worship1 was already in      
possession1 and reigning in the new home
 when she came thither4  ,only1 thanks  
to some kindly local influence 7by      
grace1 say1 of its delicate air71       
,artemis1 this other god she had known  
in the ,scythian wilds1 had put aside   
her fierce ways1 as she paused awhile on
 her heavenly course among these ancient
 abodes of men1 gliding softly1 mainly  
through their dreams1 with abundance of 
salutary touches4  ,full1 in truth1 of  

#afg grateful memory of some timely     
service at human hands6  ,in these      
highland villages the tradition of      
celestial visitants clung fondly1 of god
 or hero1 belated or misled on long     
journeys1 yet pleased to be among the   
sons of men1 as their way led them up   
the steep1 narrow1 crooked street1      
condescending to rest a little1 as one1 
under some sudden stress not clearly    
ascertained1 had done here1 in this very
 house1 thereafter for ever sacred4     
,the place and its inhabitants1 of      
course1 had been something bigger in the
 days of those old mythic hospitalities1
 unless1 indeed1 divine persons took    
kindly the will for the deed--very      
different1 surely1 from the present     
condition of things1 for there was      
little here to detain a delicate        
traveller1 even in the abode of ,antiope
 and her son1 though it had been the    
residence of a king4  ,hard by stood the
 chapel of the goddess1 who had thus    
adorned the place with her memories4    

,the priests1 indeed1 were already      
departed to ,athens1 carrying with them 
the ancient image1 the vehicle of her   
actual presence1 as the surest means of 
enriching the capital at the expense of 
the country1 where she must now make    
poor shift of the occasional worshipper 
on his way through these mountain       
passes4  ,but safely roofed beneath the 
sturdy tiles of grey ,hymettus marble1  
upon the walls of the little square     
recess enclosing the deserted pedestal1 
a series of crowded imageries1 in the   
devout spirit #afh of earlier days1 were
 eloquent concerning her4  ,here from   
scene to scene1 touched with silver     
among the wild and human creatures in   
dun bronze1 with the moon's disk around 
her head1 shrouded closely1 the goddess 
of the chase still glided mystically    
through all the varied incidents of her 
story1 in all the detail of a written   
book4  ,a book for the delighted reading
 of a scholar1 willing to ponder at     
leisure1 to make his way surely1 and    

understand4  ,very different1 certainly1
 from the cruel-featured little idol his
 mother had brought in her bundle--the  
old ,scythian ,artemis1 hanging there on
 the wall1 side by side with the        
forgotten ,ares1 blood-red1--the goddess
 reveals herself to the lad1 poring     
through the dusk by taper-light1 as at  
once a virgin1 necessarily therefore the
 creature of solitude1 yet also as the  
assiduous nurse of children1 and        
patroness of the young4 ,her friendly   
intervention at the act of birth        
everywhere1 her claim upon the nursling1
 among tame and wild creatures equally1 
among men as among gods1 nay6 among the 
stars 7upon the very star of dawn71 gave
 her a breadth of influence seemingly   
coextensive with the sum of things4     
,yes6 his great mother was in touch with
 everything4  ,yet throughout he can but
 note her perpetual chastity1 with      
pleasurable though half-suspicious      
wonder at the mystery1 he knows not     
what1 involved therein1 as though he    

awoke suddenly in some distant1         
unexplored region of her person and     
activity4 #afi ,why the lighted torch   
always1 and that long straight vesture  
rolled round so formally8  ,was it only 
against the cold of these northern      
heights8  ,to her1 nevertheless1 her    
maternity1 her solitude1 to this virgin 
mother1 who1 with no husband1 no lover1 
no fruit of her own1 is so tender to the
 children of others1 in a full heart he 
devotes himself- -his immaculate body   
and soul4  ,dedicating himself thus1 he 
has the sense also that he becomes more 
entirely than ever the chevalier of his 
mortal mother1 of her sad cause4  ,the  
devout1 diligent hands clear away       
carefully the dust1 the faded relics of 
her former worship2 a worship renewed   
once more as the sacred spring1 set free
 from encumbrance1 in answer to his     
willing ministries murmurs again under  
the dim vault in its marble basin1 work 
of primitive ,titanic fingers--flows out
 through its rocky channel1 filling the 

whole township with chaste thoughts of  
her4  ,through much labour at length he 
comes to the veritable story of her     
birth1 like a gift direct from the      
goddess herself to this loyal soul4     
,there were those in later times who1   
like ,aeschylus1 knew ,artemis as the   
daughter not of ,leto but of ,demeter1  
according to the version of her history 
now conveyed to the young ,hippolytus1  
together with some deepened insight into
 her character4  ,the goddess of        
,eleusis1 on a journey1 in the old days 
when1 as ,plato says1 #agj men lived    
nearer the gods1 finding herself with   
child by some starry inmate of those    
high places1 had lain down in the       
rock-hewn cubicle of the inner chamber1 
and1 certainly in sorrow1 brought forth 
a daughter4  ,here was the secret at    
once of the genial1 all-embracing       
maternity of this new strange ,artemis1 
and of those more dubious tokens1 the   
lighted torch1 the winding-sheet1 the   
arrow of death on the string--of sudden 

death1 truly1 which may be thought after
 all the kindest1 as prevenient of all  
disgraceful sickness or waste in the    
unsullied limbs4  ,for the late birth   
into the world of this so shadowy       
daughter was somehow identified with the
 sudden passing into ,hades of her      
first-born1 ,persephone4  ,as he scans  
those scenes anew1 an awful surmise     
comes to him2 his divine patroness moves
 there as death1 surely4  ,still1       
however1 gratefully putting away        
suspicion1 he seized even in these      
ambiguous imageries their happier       
suggestions1 satisfied in thinking of   
his new mother as but the giver of sound
 sleep1 of the benign night1            
whence--mystery of mysteries6--good     
things are born softly1 from which he   
awakes betimes for his healthful service
 to her4  ,either way1 sister of ,apollo
 or sister of ,persephone1 to him she   
should be a power of sanity1 sweet as   
the flowers he offered her gathered at  
dawn1 setting daily their purple and    

white frost against her ancient marbles4
  ,there was more certainly than the    
first breath of day in them4  ,was there
 #aga here something of her person1 her 
sensible presence1 by way of direct     
response to him in his early devotion1  
astir for her sake before the very      
birds1 nesting here so freely1 the quail
 above all1 in some privileged connexion
 with her story still unfathomed by the 
learned youth8  ,amid them he too found 
a voice1 and sang articulately the      
praises of the great goddess4  ,those   
more dubious traits1 nevertheless1 so   
lightly disposed of by ,hippolytus      
7,hecate thus counting for him as       
,artemis goddess of health71 became to  
his mother1 in the light of her sad     
experience1 the sum of the whole matter4
  ,while he drew only peaceful          
inducements to sleep from that two-sided
 figure1 she reads there a volume of    
sinister intentions1 and liked little   
this seemingly dead goddess1 who could  
but move among the living banefully1    

stealing with her night-shade into the  
day where she had no proper right4  ,the
 gods had ever had much to do with the  
shaping of her fortunes and the fortunes
 of her kindred2 and the mortal mother  
felt nothing less than jealousy from the
 hour when the lad had first delightedly
 called her to share his discoveries1   
and learn the true story 7if it were not
 rather the malicious counterfeit7 of   
the new divine mother to whom he has    
thus absolutely entrusted himself4  ,was
 not this absolute chastity itself a    
kind of death8  ,she1 too1 in secret    
makes her gruesome midnight offering    
with averted eyes4  ,she dreams one     
night he is in danger2 creeps to his    
cubicle #agb to see2 the face is        
covered1 as he lies1 against the cold4  
,she traces the motionless outline1     
raises the coverlet2 with the nice black
 head deep in the fleecy pillow he is   
sleeping quietly1 he dreams of that     
other mother gliding in upon the        
moonbeam1 and awaking turns             

sympathetically upon the living woman1  
is subdued in a moment to the expression
 of her troubled spirit1 and            
understands4  ,and when the child       
departed from her for the first time1   
springing from his white bed before the 
dawn1 to accompany the elders on their  
annual visit to the ,eleusinian goddess1
 the after-sense of his wonderful       
happiness1 tranquillising her in spite  
of herself by its genial power over the 
actual moment1 stirred nevertheless a   
new sort of anxiety for the future4     
,her work in life henceforward was      
defined as a ministry to so precious a  
gift1 in full consciousness of its risk2
 it became her religion1 the centre of  
her pieties4  ,she missed painfully his 
continual singing hovering about the    
place1 like the earth itself made       
audible in all its humanities4          
,half-selfish for a moment1 she prays   
that he may remain for ever a child1 to 
her solace2 welcomes now the promise of 
his chastity 7though chastity were      

itself a kind of death7 as the pledge of
 his abiding always with her4  ,and     
these thoughts were but infixed more    
deeply by the sudden stroke of joy at   
his return home in ceremonial trim and  
grown more manly1 with much increase of 
self-confidence in that brief absence   
among his fellows4  #agc ,for1 from the 
first1 the unwelcome child1 the outcast1
 had been successful1 with that special 
good fortune which sometimes attends the
 outcast4  ,his happiness1 his          
invincible happiness1 had been found    
engaging1 perhaps by the gods1 certainly
 by men2 and when ,king ,theseus came to
 take note how things went in that rough
 life he had assigned them1 he felt a   
half liking for the boy1 and bade him   
come down to ,athens and see the sights1
 partly by way of proof to his already  
somewhat exacting wife of the difference
 between the old love and the new as    
measured by the present condition of    
their respective offspring4  ,the fine  
nature1 fastidious by instinct1 but bred

 with frugality enough to find the charm
 of continual surprise in that delicate 
new ,athens1 draws1 as he goes1 the full
 savour of its novelties2 the marbles1  
the space and finish1 the busy gaiety of
 its streets1 the elegance of life      
there1 contrasting with while it adds   
some mysterious endearment to the       
thought of his own rude home4 ,without  
envy1 in hope only one day to share1 to 
win them by kindness1 he gazes on the   
motley garden-plots1 the soft bedding1  
the showy toys1 the delicate keep of the
 children of ,phaedra1 who turn         
curiously to their half-brother1 venture
 to touch his long strange gown of      
homespun grey1 like the soft coat of    
some wild creature who might let one    
stroke it4  ,close to their dainty      
existence for a while1 he regards it as 
from afar2 looks forward all day to the 
lights1 the prattle1 the laughter1 the  
white #agd bread1 like sweet cake to    
him1 of their ordinary evening meal2    
returns again and again1 in spite of    

himself1 to watch1 to admire1 feeling a 
power within him to merit the like2     
finds his way back at last1 still light 
of heart1 to his own poor fare1 able to 
do without what he would enjoy so much4 
,as1 grateful for his scanty part in    
things--for the make-believe of a feast 
in the little white loaves she too has  
managed to come by1 sipping the thin    
white wine1 he touches her dearly1 the  
mother is shocked with a sense of       
something unearthly in his contentment1 
while he comes and goes1 singing now    
more abundantly than ever a new canticle
 to her divine rival4  ,were things1    
after all1 to go grudgingly with him8   
,sensible of that curse on herself1 with
 her suspicions of his kinsfolk1 of this
 dubious goddess to whom he has devoted 
himself1 she anticipates with more      
foreboding than ever his path to be1    
with or without a wife--her own         
solitude1 or his--the painful heats and 
cold4  ,she fears even these late       
successes2 it were best to veil their   

heads4  ,the strong as such had ever    
been against her and hers4  ,the father 
came again2 noted the boy's growth4     
,manliest of men1 like ,hercules in his 
cloak of lion's skin1 he has after all  
but scant liking1 feels1 through a      
certain meanness of soul1 scorn for the 
finer likeness of himself4  ,might this 
creature of an already vanishing world1 
who for all his hard rearing had a      
manifest distinction of character1 one  
day become his rival1 full of #age      
loyalty as he was already to the        
deserted mother8  ,to charming ,athens1 
nevertheless1 he crept back1 as occasion
 served1 to gaze peacefully on the      
delightful good fortune of others1      
waiting for the opportunity to take his 
own turn with the rest1 driving down    
thither at last in a chariot gallantly1 
when all the town was assembled to      
celebrate the king's birthday4  ,for the
 goddess1 herself turning ever kinder1  
and figuring more and more exclusively  
as the tender nurse of all things1 had  

transformed her young votary from a     
hunter into a charioteer1 a rearer and  
driver of horses1 after the fashion of  
his ,amazon mothers before him4         
,thereupon1 all the lad's wholesome     
vanity had centered on the fancy of the 
world-famous games then lately          
established1 as1 smiling down his       
mother's terrors1 and grateful to his   
celestial mother for many a hair-breadth
 escape1 he practised day by day1 fed   
the animals1 drove them out1 amused     
though companionless1 visited them      
affectionately in the deserted stone    
stables of the ancient king4  ,a chariot
 and horses1 as being the showiest      
outward thing the world afforded1 was   
like the pawn he moved to represent the 
big demand he meant to make1 honestly1  
generously1 on the ample fortunes of    
life4  ,there was something of his old  
miraculous kindred1 alien from this busy
 new world he came to1 about the boyish 
driver with the fame of a scholar1 in   
his grey fleecy cloak and hood of soft  

#age white woollen stuff1 as he drove in
 that morning4  ,men seemed to have seen
 a star flashing1 and crowded round to  
examine the little mountain-bred beasts1
 in loud1 friendly intercourse with the 
hero of the hour--even those usually    
somewhat unsympathetic half-brothers now
 full of enthusiasm for the outcast and 
his good fight for prosperity4          
,instinctively people admired his       
wonderful placidity1 and would fain have
 shared its secret1 as it were the      
carelessness of some fair flower upon   
his face4  ,a victor in the day's race1 
he carried home as his prize a          
glittering new harness in place of the  
very old one he had come with4  ,my     
chariot and horses6 he says now1 with   
his single touch of pride4  ,yet at     
home1 savouring to the full his old     
solitary happiness1 veiled again from   
time to time in that ancient life1 he is
 still the student1 still ponders the   
old writings which tell of his divine   
patroness4  ,at ,athens strange stories 

are told in turn of him1 his nights upon
 the mountains1 his dreamy sin1 with    
that hypocritical virgin goddess1       
stories which set the jealous suspicions
 of ,theseus at rest once more4  ,for so
 dream not those who have the tangible1 
appraisable world in view4  ,even ,queen
 ,phaedra looks with pleasure1 as he    
comes1 on the once despised illegitimate
 creature1 at home now here too1 singing
 always audaciously1 so visibly happy1  
occupied1 popular4  ,encompassed by the 
luxuries of ,athens1 far from those     
peaceful mountain places1 among people  
#agg further still in spirit from their 
peaceful light and shade1 he did not    
forget the kindly goddess1 still sharing
 with his earthly mother the prizes1 or 
what they would buy1 for the adornment  
of their spare abode4  ,the tombs of the
 fallen ,amazons1 the spot where they   
had breathed their last1 he piously     
visited1 informed himself of every      
circumstance of the event with devout   
care1 and1 thinking on them amid the    

dainties of the royal table1 boldly     
brought them too their share of the     
offerings to the heroic dead4           
,aphrodite1 indeed--,aphrodite1 of whom 
he had scarcely so much as heard--was   
just then the best-served deity in      
,athens1 with all its new wealth of     
colour and form1 its gold and ivory1 the
 acting1 the music1 the fantastic women1
 beneath the shadow of the great walls  
still rising steadily4  ,hippolytus     
would have no part in her worship2      
instead did what was in him to revive   
the neglected service of his own        
goddess1 stirring an old jealousy4  ,for
 ,aphrodite too had looked with delight 
upon the youth1 already the centre of a 
hundred less dangerous human rivalries  
among the maidens of ,greece1 and was by
 no means indifferent to his            
indifference1 his instinctive distaste2 
while the sterner1 almost forgotten     
,artemis found once more her great      
moon-shaped cake1 set about with starry 
tapers1 at the appointed seasons4  ,they

 know him now from afar1 by his         
emphatic1 shooting1 arrowy movements2   
and on #agh the day of the great chariot
 races he goes in and wins4  ,to the    
surprise of all he compounded his       
handsome prize for the old wooden image 
taken from the chapel at home1 lurking  
now in an obscure shrine in the meanest 
quarter of the town4  ,sober amid the   
noisy feasting which followed1          
unashamed1 but travelling by night to   
hide it from their mockery1 warm at his 
bosom1 he reached the passes at         
twilight1 and through the deep peace of 
the glens bore it to the old            
resting-place1 now more worthy than ever
 of the presence of its mistress1 his   
mother and all the people of the village
 coming forth to salute her1 all doors  
set mystically open1 as she advances4   
,phaedra too1 his step-mother1 a fiery  
soul with wild strange blood in her     
veins1 forgetting her fears of this     
illegitimate rival of her children1     
seemed now to have seen him for the     

first time1 loved at last the very touch
 of his fleecy cloak1 and would fain    
have had him of her own religion4  ,as  
though the once neglected child had been
 another1 she tries to win him as a     
stranger in his manly perfection1       
growing more than an affectionate mother
 to her husband's son4  ,but why thus   
intimate and congenial1 she asks1 always
 in the wrong quarter8  ,why not compass
 two ends at once8  ,why so squeamishly 
neglect the powerful1 any power at all1 
in a city so full of religion8  ,he     
might find the image of her sprightly   
goddess everywhere1 to his #agi liking1 
gold1 silver1 native or stranger1 new or
 old1 graceful1 or indeed1 if he        
preferred it so1 in iron or stone4  ,by 
the way1 she explains the delights of   
love1 of marriage1 the husband once out 
of the way2 finds in him1 with          
misgiving1 a sort of forwardness1 as she
 thinks1 on this one matter1 as if he   
understood her craft and despised it4   
,he met her questions in truth with     

scarce so much as contempt1 with        
laughing counter-queries1 why people    
needed wedding at all8  ,they might have
 found the children in the temples1 or  
bought them1 as you could buy flowers in
 ,athens4  ,meantime ,phaedra's young   
children draw from the seemingly        
unconscious finger the marriage-ring1   
set it spinning on the floor at his     
feet1 and the staid youth places it for 
a moment on his own finger for safety4  
,as it settles there1 his step-mother1  
aware all the while1 suddenly presses   
his hand over it4  ,he found the ring   
there that night as he lay2 left his bed
 in the darkness1 and again1 for safety1
 put it on the finger of the image1     
wedding once for all that so kindly     
mystical mother4  ,and still1 even amid 
his earthly mother's terrible           
misgivings1 he seems to foresee a       
charming career marked out before him in
 friendly ,athens1 to the height of his 
desire4  ,grateful that he is here at   
all1 sharing at last so freely life's   

banquet1 he puts himself for a moment in
 his old place1 recalling his old       
enjoyment of the pleasure of others2    
#ahj feels1 just then1 no different4    
,yet never had life seemed so sufficing 
as at this moment- -the meat1 the drink1
 the drives1 the popularity as he comes 
and goes1 even his step-mother's false1 
selfish1 ostentatious gifts4  ,but she1 
too1 begins to feel something of the    
jealousy of that other divine1 would-be 
mistress1 and by way of a last effort to
 bring him to a better mind in regard to
 them both1 conducts him 7immeasurable  
privilege67 to her own private chapel4  
,you could hardly tell where the        
apartments of the adulteress ended and  
that of the divine courtesan began4     
,haunts of her long1 indolent1          
self-pleasing nights and days1 they     
presented everywhere the impress of     
,phaedra's luxurious humour4  ,a        
peculiar glow1 such as he had never     
before seen1 like heady lamplight1 or   
sunshine to some sleeper in a delirious 

dream1 hung upon1 clung to1 the bold1   
naked1 shameful imageries1 as his       
step-mother trimmed the lamps1 drew     
forth her sickly perfumes1 clad afresh  
in piquant change of raiment the almost 
formless goddess crouching there in her 
unclean shrine or stye1 set at last her 
foolish wheel in motion to a low chant1 
holding him by the wrist1 keeping close 
all the while1 as if to catch some germ 
of consent in his indifferent words4    
,and little by little he perceives that 
all this is for him--the incense1 the   
dizzy wheel1 the shreds of stuff cut    
secretly from his sleeve1 the sweetened 
cup he drank at her offer1 unavailingly2
 #aha  and yes6 his own features surely1
 in pallid wax4  ,with a gasp of flighty
 laughter she ventures to point the     
thing out to him1 full as he is at last 
of visible1 irrepressible dislike4  ,ah6
 it was that very reluctance that       
chiefly stirred her4  ,healthily white  
and red1 he had a marvellous air of     
discretion about him1 as of one never to

 be caught unaware1 as if he never could
 be anything but like water from the    
rock1 or the wild flowers of the        
morning1 or the beams of the morning    
star turned to human flesh4  ,it was the
 self-possession of this happy mind1 the
 purity of this virgin body1 she would  
fain have perturbed1 as a pledge to     
herself of her own gaudy claim to       
supremacy4  ,king ,theseus1 as she knew1
 had had at least two earlier loves2 for
 once she would be a first love2 felt at
 moments that with this one passion once
 indulged1 it might be happiness        
thereafter to remain chaste for ever4   
,and then1 by accident1 yet surely      
reading indifference in his manner of   
accepting her gifts1 she is ready again 
for contemptuous1 open battle4  ,is he  
indeed but a child still1 this nursling 
of the forbidding ,amazon1 of that      
,amazonian goddess--to be a child       
always8 or a wily priest rather1        
skilfully circumventing her sorceries1  
with mystic precautions of his own8  ,in

 truth1 there is something of the       
priestly character in this impassible   
discretion1 reminding her of his alleged
 intimacy with the rival goddess1 and   
redoubling her curiosity1 her fondness4 
#ahb ,phaedra1 love-sick1 feverish1 in  
bodily sickness at last1 raves of the   
cool woods1 the chase1 the steeds of    
,hippolytus1 her thoughts running madly 
on what she fancies to be his secret    
business2 with a storm of abject tears1 
foreseeing in one moment of recoil the  
weary tale of years to come1            
star-stricken as she declares1 she dared
 at last to confess her longing to      
already half-suspicious attendants2 and1
 awake one morning to find ,hippolytus  
there kindly at her bidding1 drove him  
openly forth in a tempest of insulting  
speech4  ,there was a mordant there1    
like the menace of misfortune to come1  
in which the injured goddess also was   
invited to concur4  ,what words6 what   
terrible words6 following1 clinging to  
him1 like acrid fire upon his bare      

flesh1 as he hasted from ,phaedra's     
house1 thrust out at last1 his vesture  
remaining in her hands4  ,the husband   
returning suddenly1 she tells him a     
false story of violence to her bed1 and 
is believed4  ,king ,theseus1 all his   
accumulated store of suspicion and      
dislike turning now to active hatred1   
flung away readily upon him1 bewildered1
 unheard1 one of three precious curses  
7some mystery of wasting sickness       
therein7 with which ,poseidon had       
indulged him4  ,it seemed sad that one  
so young must call for justice1         
precariously1 upon the gods1 the dead1  
the very walls6  ,admiring youth dared  
hardly bid farewell to their late       
comrade2 are generous1 at most1 in #ahc 
stolen1 sympathetic glances towards the 
fallen star4  ,at home1 veiled once     
again in that ancient twilight world1   
his mother1 fearing solely for what he  
may suffer by the departure of that so  
brief prosperity1 enlarged as it had    
been1 even so1 by his grateful taking of

 it1 is reassured1 delighted1 happy once
 more at the visible proof of his       
happiness1 his invincible happiness4    
,duly he returned to ,athens1 early     
astir1 for the last time1 to restore the
 forfeited gifts1 drove back his gaily  
painted chariot to leave there behind   
him1 actually enjoying the drive1 going 
home on foot poorer than ever4  ,he     
takes again to his former modes of life1
 a little less to the horses1 a little  
more to the old studies1 the strange1   
secret history of his favourite         
goddess1--wronged surely6 somehow1 she  
too1 as powerless to help him2 till he  
lay sick at last1 battling one morning1 
unaware of his mother's presence1 with  
the feverish creations of the brain2 the
 giddy1 foolish wheel1 the foolish song1
 of ,phaedra's chapel1 spinning there   
with his heart bound thereto4  ,the     
curses of my progenitors are come upon  
me6 he cries4  ,and yet1 why so8        
guiltless as ,i am of evil4  ,his       
wholesome religion seeming to turn      

against him now1 the trees1 the streams1
 the very rocks1 swoon into living      
creatures1 swarming around the goddess  
who has lost her grave quietness4  ,he  
finds solicitation1 and recoils1 in the 
wind1 in the sounds of the rain2 till at
 length delirium #ahd itself finds a    
note of returning health4  ,the feverish
 wood-ways of his fancy open            
unexpectedly upon wide currents of air1 
lulling him to sleep2 and the conflict  
ending suddenly altogether at its       
sharpest1 he lay in the early light     
motionless among the pillows1 his mother
 standing by1 as she thought1 to see him
 die4  ,as if for the last time1 she    
presses on him the things he had liked  
best in that eating and drinking she had
 found so beautiful4  ,the eyes1 the    
eyelids are big with sorrow2 and1 as he 
understands again1 making an effort for 
her sake1 the healthy light returns into
 his2 a hand seizes hers gratefully1 and
 a slow convalescence begins1 the       
happiest period in the wild mother's    

life4 ,when he longed for flowers for   
the goddess1 she went a toilsome journey
 to seek them1 growing close1 after long
 neglect1 wholesome and firm on their   
tall stalks4  ,the singing she had      
longed for so despairingly hovers gaily 
once more within the chapel and around  
the house4  ,at the crisis of that      
strange illness she had supposed her    
long forebodings about to be realised at
 last2 but upon his recovery feared no  
more1 assured herself that the curses of
 the father1 the step-mother1 the       
concurrent ill-will of that angry       
goddess1 have done their utmost2 he will
 outlive her2 a few years hence put her 
to a rest surely welcome4  ,her         
misgivings1 arising always out of the   
actual spectacle of his profound        
happiness1 seemed at an end in this meek
 bliss1 the more as #ahe she observed   
that it was a shade less unconscious    
than of old4  ,and almost suddenly he   
found the strength1 the heart1 in him1  
to try his fortune again with the old   

chariot2 and those still unsatisfied    
curses1 in truth1 going on either side  
of him like living creatures unseen1    
legend tells briefly how1 a competitor  
for pity with ,adonis1 and ,icarus1 and 
,hyacinth1 and other doomed creatures of
 immature radiance in all story to come1
 he set forth joyously for the          
chariot-races1 not of ,athens1 but of   
,troezen1 her rival4  ,once more he wins
 the prize2 he says good-bye to admiring
 friends anxious to entertain him1 and  
by night starts off homewards1 as of    
old1 like a child1 returning quickly    
through the solitude in which he had    
never lacked company1 and was now to    
die4  ,through all the perils of        
darkness he had guided the chariot      
safely along the curved shore2 the dawn 
was come1 and a little breeze astir1 as 
the grey level spaces parted delicately 
into white and blue1 when in a moment an
 earthquake1 or ,poseidon the           
earth-shaker himself1 or angry          
,aphrodite awake from the deep betimes1 

rent the tranquil surface2 a great wave 
leapt suddenly into the placid distance 
of the ,attic shore1 and was surging    
here to the very necks of the plunging  
horses1 a moment since enjoying so      
pleasantly with him the caress of the   
morning air1 but now1 wholly forgetful  
of their old affectionate habit of      
obedience1 dragging their leader        
headlong over the rough pavements4 #ahf 
,evening and the dawn might seem to have
 met on that hapless day through which  
they drew him home entangled in the     
trappings of the chariot that had been  
his ruin1 till he lay at length1 grey   
and haggard1 at the rest he had longed  
for dimly amid the buffeting of those   
murderous stones1 his mother watching   
impassibly1 sunk at once into the       
condition she had so long anticipated4  
,later legend breaks a supernatural     
light over that great desolation1 and   
would fain relieve the reader by        
introducing the kindly ,asclepius1 who  
presently restores the youth to life1   

not1 however1 in the old form or under  
familiar conditions4  ,to her1 surely1  
counting the wounds1 the disfigurements1
 telling over the pains which had shot  
through that dear head now insensible to
 her touch among the pillows under the  
harsh broad daylight1 that would have   
been no more of a solace than if1       
according to the fancy of ,ovid1 he     
flourished still1 a little deity1 but   
under a new name and veiled now in old  
age1 in the haunted grove of ,aricia1   
far from his old ,attic home1 in a land 
which had never seen him as he was4     
,,the ,,beginnings ,,of ,,greek         
,,sculpture ,i3 ,,the ,,heroic ,,age    
,,of ,,greek ,,art  #ahg ,,the extant   
remains of ,greek sculpture1 though but 
a fragment of what the ,greek sculptors 
produced1 are1 both in number and in    
excellence1 in their fitness1 therefore1
 to represent the whole of which they   
were a part1 quite out of proportion to 
what has come down to us of ,greek      
painting1 and all those minor crafts    

which1 in the ,greek workshop1 as at all
 periods when the arts have been really 
vigorous1 were closely connected with   
the highest imaginative work4 ,greek    
painting is represented to us only by   
its distant reflexion on the walls of   
the buried houses of ,pompeii1 and the  
designs of subordinate though exquisite 
craftsmen on the vases4  ,of wrought    
metal1 partly through the inherent      
usefulness of its material1 tempting    
ignorant persons into whose hands it may
 fall to re-fashion it1 we have         
comparatively little2 while1 in         
consequence of the perishableness of    
their material1 nothing #ahh remains of 
the curious wood-work1 the carved ivory1
 the embroidery and coloured stuffs1 on 
which the ,greeks set much store--of    
that whole system of refined            
artisanship1 diffused1 like a general   
atmosphere of beauty and richness1      
around the more exalted creations of    
,greek sculpture4 ,what we possess1     
then1 of that highest ,greek sculpture  

is presented to us in a sort of         
threefold isolation2 isolation1 first of
 all1 from the concomitant arts--the    
frieze of the ,parthenon without the    
metal bridles on the horses1 for which  
the holes in the marble remain2         
isolation1 secondly1 from the           
architectural group of which1 with most 
careful estimate of distance and point  
of observation1 that frieze1 for        
instance1 was designed to be a part2    
isolation1 thirdly1 from the clear      
,greek skies1 the poetical ,greek life1 
in our modern galleries4 ,and if one    
here or there1 in looking at these      
things1 bethinks himself of the required
 substitution2 if he endeavours mentally
 to throw them back into that proper    
atmosphere1 through which alone they can
 exercise over us all the magic by which
 they charmed their original spectators1
 the effort is not always a successful  
one1 within the grey walls of the       
,louvre or the ,british ,museum4  ,and  
the circumstance that ,greek sculpture  

is presented to us in such falsifying   
isolation from the work of the weaver1  
the carpenter1 and the goldsmith1 has   
encouraged a manner of regarding it too 
little sensuous4  ,approaching it with  
full #ahi information concerning what   
may be called the inner life of the     
,greeks1 their modes of thought and     
sentiment amply recorded in the writings
 of the ,greek poets and philosophers1  
but with no lively impressions of that  
mere craftsman's world of which so      
little has remained1 students of        
antiquity have for the most part        
interpreted the creations of ,greek     
sculpture1 rather as elements in a      
sequence of abstract ideas1 as          
embodiments1 in a sort of petrified     
language1 of pure thoughts1 and as      
interesting mainly in connexion with the
 development of ,greek intellect1 than  
as elements of a sequence in the        
material order1 as results of a designed
 and skilful dealing of accomplished    
fingers with precious forms of matter   

for the delight of the eyes4  ,greek    
sculpture has come to be regarded as the
 product of a peculiarly limited art1   
dealing with a specially abstracted     
range of subjects2 and the ,greek       
sculptor as a workman almost exclusively
 intellectual1 having only a sort of    
accidental connexion with the material  
in which his thought was expressed4  ,he
 is fancied to have been disdainful of  
such matters as the mere tone1 the fibre
 or texture1 of his marble or           
cedar-wood1 of that just perceptible    
yellowness1 for instance1 in the        
ivory-like surface of the ,venus of     
,melos2 as being occupied only with     
forms as abstract almost as the         
conceptions of philosophy1 and          
translateable it might be supposed into 
any material--a habit of regarding him  
still further encouraged by the modern  
#aij sculptor's usage of employing      
merely mechanical labour in the actual  
working of the stone4  ,the works of the
 highest ,greek sculpture are indeed    

intellectualised1 if we may say so1 to  
the utmost degree2 the human figures    
which they present to us seem actually  
to conceive thoughts2 in them1 that     
profoundly reasonable spirit of design  
which is traceable in ,greek art1       
continuously and increasingly1 upwards  
from its simplest products1 the         
oil-vessel or the urn1 reaches its      
perfection4  ,yet1 though the most      
abstract and intellectualised of        
sensuous objects1 they are still        
sensuous and material1 addressing       
themselves1 in the first instance1 not  
to the purely reflective faculty1 but to
 the eye2 and a complete criticism must 
have approached them from both sides--  
from the side of the intelligence       
indeed1 towards which they rank as great
 thoughts come down into the stone2 but 
from the sensuous side also1 towards    
which they rank as the most perfect     
results of that pure skill of hand1 of  
which the ,venus of ,melos1 we may say1 
is the highest example1 and the little  

polished pitcher or lamp1 also perfect  
in its way1 perhaps the lowest4  ,to    
pass by the purely visible side of these
 things1 then1 is not only to miss a    
refining pleasure1 but to mistake       
altogether the medium in which the most 
intellectual of the creations of ,greek 
art1 the ,aeginetan or the ,elgin       
marbles1 for instance1 were actually    
produced2 even these having1 in their   
origin1 depended for much of #aia their 
charm on the mere material in which they
 were executed2 and the whole black and 
grey world of extant antique sculpture  
needing to be translated back into ivory
 and gold1 if we would feel the         
excitement which the ,greek seems to    
have felt in the presence of these      
objects4 ,to have this really ,greek    
sense of ,greek sculpture1 it is        
necessary to connect it1 indeed1 with   
the inner life of the ,greek world1 its 
thought and sentiment1 on the one hand2 
but on the other hand to connect it1    
also1 with the minor works of price1    

intaglios1 coins1 vases2 with that whole
 system of material refinement and      
beauty in the outer ,greek life1 which  
these minor works represent to us2 and  
it is with these1 as far as possible1   
that we must seek to relieve the air of 
our galleries and museums of their too  
intellectual greyness4 ,greek sculpture 
could not have been precisely a cold    
thing2 and1 whatever a colour-blind     
school may say1 pure thoughts have their
 coldness1 a coldness which has         
sometimes repelled from ,greek          
sculpture1 with its unsuspected fund of 
passion and energy in material form1    
those who cared much1 and with much     
insight1 for a similar passion and      
energy in the coloured world of ,italian
 painting4  ,theoretically1 then1 we    
need that world of the minor arts as a  
complementary background for the higher 
and more austere ,greek sculpture2 and1 
as matter of fact1 it is just with such 
a world--with a period of refined and   
exquisite #aib tectonics 7as the ,greeks

 called all crafts strictly subordinate 
to architecture71 that ,greek art       
actually begins1 in what is called the  
,heroic ,age1 that earliest1 undefined  
period of ,greek civilisation1 the      
beginning of which cannot be dated1 and 
which reaches down to the first         
,olympiad1 about the year #ggf ,b4,c4   
,of this period we possess1 indeed1 no  
direct history1 and but few actual      
monuments1 great or small2 but as to its
 whole character and outward local      
colouring1 for its art1 as for its      
politics and religion1 ,homer may be    
regarded as an authority4  ,the ,iliad  
and the ,odyssey1 the earliest pictures 
of that heroic life1 represent it as    
already delighting itself in the        
application of precious material and    
skilful handiwork to personal and       
domestic adornment1 to the refining and 
beautifying of the entire outward aspect
 of life2 above all1 in the lavish      
application of very graceful metal-work 
to such purposes4  ,and this            

representation is borne out by what     
little we possess of its actual remains1
 and by all we can infer4  ,mixed1 of   
course1 with mere fable1 as a           
description of the heroic age1 the      
picture which ,homer presents to us1    
deprived of its supernatural adjuncts1  
becomes continuously more and more      
realisable as the actual condition of   
early art1 when we emerge gradually into
 historical time1 and find ourselves at 
last among dateable works and real      
schools or masters4  ,the history of    
,greek art1 then1 begins1 as some have  
fancied general history to begin1 in a  
#aic golden age1 but in an age1 so to   
speak1 of real gold1 the period of those
 first twisters and hammerers of the    
precious metals--men who had already    
discovered the flexibility of silver and
 the ductility of gold1 the capacity of 
both for infinite delicacy of handling1 
and who enjoyed1 with complete          
freshness1 a sense of beauty and fitness
 in their work--a period of which that  

flower of gold on a silver stalk1 picked
 up lately in one of the graves at      
,mycenae1 or the legendary golden       
honeycomb of ,daedalus1 might serve as  
the symbol4  ,the heroic age of ,greek  
art is the age of the hero as smith4    
,there are in ,homer two famous         
descriptive passages in which this      
delight in curious metal-work is very   
prominent2 the description in the ,iliad
 of the shield of ,achilles99 and the   
description of the house of ,alcinous in
 the ,odyssey499  ,the shield of        
,achilles is part of the suit of armour 
which ,hephaestus makes for him at the  
request of ,thetis2 and it is wrought of
 variously ,coloured metals1 woven into 
a great circular composition in relief1 
representing the world and the life in  
it4  ,the various activities of man are 
recorded in this description in a series
 of idyllic incidents with such complete
 freshness1 liveliness1 and variety1    
that the reader from time to time may   
well forget himself1 and fancy he is    

reading a mere description of the       
incidents of actual life4 #aid ,we peep 
into a little ,greek town1 and see in   
dainty miniature the bride coming from  
her chamber with torch-bearers and      
dancers1 the people gazing from their   
doors1 a quarrel between two persons in 
the market-place1 the assembly of the   
elders to decide upon it4  ,in another  
quartering is the spectacle of a city   
besieged1 the walls defended by the old 
men1 while the soldiers have stolen out 
and are lying in ambush4  ,there is a   
fight on the river-bank2 ,ares and      
,athene1 conspicuous in gold1 and marked
 as divine persons by a scale larger    
than that of their followers1 lead the  
host4 ,the strange1 mythical images of  
,kr1 ,eris1 and ,kudoimos mingle in the 
crowd4  ,a third space upon the shield  
depicts the incidents of peaceful       
labour--the ploughshare passing through 
the field1 of enameled black metal      
behind it1 and golden before2 the cup of
 mead held out to the ploughman when he 

reaches the end of the furrow2 the      
reapers with their sheaves2 the king    
standing in silent pleasure among them1 
intent upon his staff4  ,there are the  
labourers in the vineyard in minutest   
detail2 stakes of silver on which the   
vines hang2 the dark trench about it1   
and one pathway through the midst2 the  
whole complete and distinct1 in         
variously coloured metal4 ,all things   
and living creatures are in their       
places--the cattle coming to water to   
the sound of the herdsman's pipe1       
various music1 the rushes by the        
water-side1 a lion-hunt with dogs1 #aie 
the pastures among the hills1 a dance1  
the fair dresses of the male and female 
dancers1 the former adorned with swords1
 the latter with crowns4  ,it is an     
image of ancient life1 its pleasure and 
business4 ,for the centre1 as in some   
quaint chart of the heavens1 are the    
earth and the sun1 the moon and         
constellations2 and to close in all1    
right round1 like a frame to the        

picture1 the great river ,oceanus1      
forming the rim of the shield1 in some  
metal of dark blue4  ,still more        
fascinating1 perhaps1 because more      
completely realisable by the fancy as an
 actual thing--realisable as a          
delightful place to pass time in--is the
 description of the palace of ,alcinous 
in the little island town of the        
,phaeacians1 to which we are introduced 
in all the liveliness and sparkle of the
 morning1 as real as something seen last
 summer on the sea-coast2 although1     
appropriately1 ,ulysses meets a goddess1
 like a young girl carrying a pitcher1  
on his way up from the sea4  ,below the 
steep walls of the town1 two projecting 
jetties allow a narrow passage into a   
haven of stone for the ships1 into which
 the passer-by may look down1 as they   
lie moored below the roadway4  ,in the  
midst is the king's house1 all          
glittering1 again1 with curiously       
wrought metal2 its brightness is as the 
brightness of the sun or of the moon4   

,the heart of ,ulysses beats quickly    
when he sees it standing amid           
plantations ingeniously watered1 its    
floor and walls of brass throughout1    
with continuous #aif cornice of dark    
iron2 the doors are of gold1 the        
door-posts and lintels of silver1 the   
handles1 again1 of gold--  ,the walls   
were massy brass2 the cornice high ,blue
 metals crowned in colours of the sky2  
,rich plates of gold the folding-doors  
incase2 ,the pillars silver on a brazen 
base2 ,silver the lintels               
deep-projecting o'er2 ,and gold the     
ringlets that command the door4  ,dogs  
of the same precious metals keep watch  
on either side1 like the lions over the 
old gate-way of ,mycenae1 or the        
gigantic1 human-headed bulls at the     
entrance of an ,assyrian palace4        
,within doors the burning lights at     
supper-time are supported in the hands  
of golden images of boys1 while the     
guests recline on a couch running all   
along the wall1 covered with peculiarly 

sumptuous women's work4  ,from these two
 glittering descriptions manifestly     
something must be deducted2 we are in   
wonder-land1 and among supernatural or  
magical conditions4  ,but the forging of
 the shield and the wonderful house of  
,alcinous are no merely incongruous     
episodes in ,homer1 but the consummation
 of what is always characteristic of    
him1 a constant preoccupation1 namely1  
with every form of lovely craftsmanship1
 resting on all things1 as he says1 like
 the shining of the sun4  ,we seem to   
pass1 in reading him1 through the       
treasures of some royal collection2 in  
him the presentation of almost every    
aspect of life is #aig beautified by the
 work of cunning hands4  ,the thrones1  
coffers1 couches of curious carpentry1  
are studded with bossy ornaments of     
precious metal effectively disposed1 or 
inlaid with stained ivory1 or blue      
cyanus1 or amber1 or pale amber-like    
gold2 the surfaces of the stone         
conduits1 the sea-walls1 the public     

washing-troughs1 the ramparts on which  
the weary soldiers rest themselves when 
returned to ,troy1 are fair and smooth2 
all the fine qualities1 in colour and   
texture1 of woven stuff are carefully   
noted--the fineness1 closeness1         
softness1 pliancy1 gloss1 the whiteness 
or nectar-like tints in which the weaver
 delights to work2 to weave the         
sea-purple threads is the appropriate   
function of queens and noble women4     
,all the ,homeric shields are more or   
less ornamented with variously coloured 
metal1 terrible sometimes1 like         
,leonardo's1 with some monster or       
grotesque4 ,the numerous sorts of cups  
are bossed with golden studs1 or have   
handles wrought with figures1 of doves1 
for instance4  ,the great brazen        
cauldrons bear an epithet which means   
flowery4  ,the trappings of the horses1 
the various parts of the chariots1 are  
formed of various metals4  ,the women's 
ornaments and the instruments of their  
toilet are described--  porpas te       

gnamptas th' helikas1 kalukas te kai    
hormous  --the golden vials for         
unguents4  ,use and beauty are still    
undivided2 all that men's hands are set 
to make has still a fascination alike   
for workmen #aih and spectators4  ,for  
such dainty splendour ,troy1 indeed1 is 
especially conspicuous4  ,but then      
,homer's ,trojans are essentially       
,greeks--,greeks of ,asia2 and ,troy1   
though more advanced in all elements of 
civilisation1 is no real contrast to the
 western shore of the ,aegean4  ,it is  
no barbaric world that we see1 but the  
sort of world1 we may think1 that would 
have charmed also our comparatively     
jaded sensibilities1 with just that     
quaint simplicity which we too enjoy in 
its productions2 above all1 in its      
wrought metal1 which loses perhaps more 
than any other sort of work by becoming 
mechanical4  ,the metal-work which      
,homer describes in such variety is all 
hammer-work1 all the joinings being     
effected by pins or riveting4  ,that is 

just the sort of metal-work which1 in a 
certain navet and vigour1 is still of   
all work the most expressive of actual  
contact with dexterous fingers2 one     
seems to trace in it1 on every particle 
of the partially resisting material1 the
 touch and play of the shaping          
instruments1 in highly trained hands1   
under the guidance of exquisitely       
disciplined senses--that cachet1 or seal
 of nearness to the workman's hand1     
which is the special charm of all good  
metal-work1 of early metal-work in      
particular4  ,such descriptions1        
however1 it may be said1 are mere       
poetical ornament1 of no value in       
helping us to define the character of an
 age4  ,but what is peculiar in these   
,homeric descriptions1 #aii what        
distinguishes them from others at first 
sight similar1 is a sort of internal    
evidence they present of a certain      
degree of reality1 signs in them of an  
imagination stirred by surprise at the  
spectacle of real works of art4  ,such  

minute1 delighted1 loving description of
 details of ornament1 such following out
 of the ways in which brass1 gold1      
silver1 or paler gold1 go into the      
chariots and armour and women's dress1  
or cling to the walls--the enthusiasm of
 the manner-- is the warrant of a       
certain amount of truth in all that4    
,the ,greek poet describes these things 
with the same vividness and freshness1  
the same kind of fondness1 with which   
other poets speak of flowers2 speaking  
of them poetically1 indeed1 but with    
that higher sort of poetry which seems  
full of the lively impression of        
delightful things recently seen4        
,genuine poetry1 it is true1 is always  
naturally sympathetic with all beautiful
 sensible things and qualities4  ,but   
with how many poets would not this      
constant intrusion of material ornament 
have produced a tawdry effect6  ,the    
metal would all be tarnished and the    
edges blurred4  ,and this is because it 
is not always that the products of even 

exquisite tectonics can excite or refine
 the aesthetic sense4  ,now it is       
probable that the objects of oriental   
art1 the imitations of it at home1 in   
which for ,homer this actual world of   
art must have consisted1 reached him in 
a quantity1 and with a novelty1 just    
sufficient to warm and stimulate without
 #bjj surfeiting the imagination2 it is 
an exotic thing of which he sees just   
enough and not too much4  ,the shield of
 ,achilles1 the house of ,alcinous1 are 
like dreams indeed1 but this sort of    
dreaming winds continuously through the 
entire ,iliad and ,odyssey--a child's   
dream after a day of real1 fresh        
impressions from things themselves1 in  
which all those floating impressions    
re-set themselves4  ,he is as pleased in
 touching and looking at those objects  
as his own heroes2 their gleaming aspect
 brightens all he says1 and has taken   
hold1 one might think1 of his language1 
his very vocabulary becoming            
chryselephantine4  ,homer's artistic    

descriptions1 though enlarged by fancy1 
are not wholly imaginary1 and the extant
 remains of monuments of the earliest   
historical age are like lingering relics
 of that dream in a tamer but real      
world4  ,the art of the heroic age1     
then1 as represented in ,homer1 connects
 itself1 on the one side1 with those    
fabulous jewels so prominent in         
mythological story1 and entwined        
sometimes so oddly in its representation
 of human fortunes--the necklace of     
,eriphyle1 the necklace of ,helen1 which
 ,menelaus1 it was said1 offered at     
,delphi to ,athene ,pronoea1 on the eve 
of his expedition against               
,troy--mythical objects1 indeed1 but    
which yet bear witness even thus early  
to the aesthetic susceptibility of the  
,greek temper4  ,but1 on the other hand1
 the art of the heroic age connects     
itself also with the actual early       
beginnings #bja of artistic production4 
,there are touches of reality1 for      
instance1 in ,homer's incidental notices

 of its instruments and processes2      
especially as regards the working of    
metal4  ,he goes already to the potter's
 wheel for familiar1 life-like          
illustration4  ,in describing artistic  
wood-work he distinguishes various      
stages of work2 we see clearly the      
instruments for turning and boring1 such
 as the old-fashioned drill-borer1      
whirled round with a string2 he mentions
 the names of two artists1 the one of an
 actual workman1 the other of a craft   
turned into a proper name--stray relics1
 accidentally preserved1 of a world1 as 
we may believe1 of such wide and varied 
activity4  ,the forge of ,hephaestus is 
a true forge2 the magic tripods on which
 he is at work are really put together  
by conceivable processes1 known in early
 times4 ,compositions in relief similar 
to those which he describes were        
actually made out of thin metal plates  
cut into a convenient shape1 and then   
beaten into the designed form by the    
hammer over a wooden model4  ,these     

reliefs were then fastened to a         
differently coloured metal background or
 base1 with nails or rivets1 for there  
is no soldering of metals as yet4  ,to  
this process the ancients gave the name 
of empaestik1 such embossing being      
still1 in our own time1 a beautiful form
 of metal-work4  ,even in the marvellous
 shield there are other and indirect    
notes of reality4  ,in speaking of the  
shield of ,achilles1 ,i departed        
intentionally from #bjb the order in    
which the subjects of the relief are    
actually introduced in the ,iliad1      
because1 just then1 ,i wished the reader
 to receive the full effect of the      
variety and elaborateness of the        
composition1 as a representation or     
picture of the whole of ancient life    
embraced within the circumference of a  
shield4  ,but in the order in which     
,homer actually describes those episodes
 he is following the method of a very   
practicable form of composition1 and is 
throughout much closer than we might at 

first sight suppose to the ancient      
armourer's proceedings4  ,the shield is 
formed of five superimposed plates of   
different metals1 each plate of smaller 
diameter than the one immediately below 
it1 their flat margins showing thus as  
four concentric stripes or rings of     
metal1 around a sort of boss in the     
centre1 five metals thick1 and the      
outermost circle or ring being the      
thinnest4 ,to this arrangement the order
 of ,homer's description corresponds4   
,the earth and the heavenly bodies are  
upon this boss in the centre1 like a    
little distant heaven hung above the    
broad world1 and from this ,homer works 
out1 round and round1 to the river      
,oceanus1 which forms the border of the 
whole2 the subjects answering to1 or    
supporting each other1 in a sort of     
heraldic order--the city at peace set   
over against the city besieged- -spring1
 summer1 and autumn balancing each      
other--quite congruously with a certain 
heraldic turn common in contemporary    

,assyrian art1 which delights in #bjc   
this sort of conventional spacing out of
 its various subjects1 and especially   
with some extant metal chargers of      
,assyrian work1 which1 like some of the 
earliest ,greek vases with their painted
 plants and flowers conventionally      
arranged1 illustrate in their humble    
measure such heraldic grouping4  ,the   
description of the shield of ,hercules1 
attributed to ,hesiod1 is probably an   
imitation of ,homer1 and1               
notwithstanding some fine mythological  
impersonations which it contains1 an    
imitation less admirable than the       
original4  ,of painting there are in    
,homer no certain indications1 and it is
 consistent with the later date of the  
imitator that we may perhaps discern in 
his composition a sign that what he had 
actually seen was a painted shield1 in  
the pre-dominance in it1 as compared    
with the ,homeric description1 of       
effects of colour over effects of form2 
,homer delighting in ingenious devices  

for fastening the metal1 and the        
supposed ,hesiod rather in what seem    
like triumphs of heraldic colouring2    
though the latter also delights in      
effects of mingled metals1 of mingled   
gold and silver especially-- silver     
figures with dresses of gold1 silver    
centaurs with pine-trees of gold for    
staves in their hands4  ,still1 like the
 shield of ,achilles1 this too we must  
conceive as formed of concentric plates 
of metal2 and here again that spacing is
 still more elaborately carried out1    
narrower intermediate rings being       
apparently #bjd introduced between the  
broader ones1 with figures in rapid1    
horizontal1 unbroken motion1 carrying   
the eye right round the shield1 in      
contrast with the repose of the downward
 or inward movement of the subjects     
which divide the larger spaces2 here too
 with certain analogies in the rows of  
animals to the designs on the earliest  
vases4  ,in ,hesiod then1 as in ,homer1 
there are undesigned notes of           

correspondence between the partly       
mythical ornaments imaginatively        
enlarged of the heroic age1 and a world 
of actual handicrafts4  ,in the shield  
of ,hercules another marvellous detail  
is added in the image of ,perseus1 very 
daintily described as hovering in some  
wonderful way1 as if really borne up by 
wings1 above the surface4 ,and that     
curious1 haunting sense of magic in art1
 which comes out over and over again in 
,homer--in the golden maids1 for        
instance1 who assist ,hephaestus in his 
work1 and similar details which seem at 
first sight to destroy the credibility  
of the whole picture1 and make of it a  
mere wonder-land--is itself also1       
rightly understood1 a testimony to a    
real excellence in the art of ,homer's  
time4  ,it is sometimes said that works 
of art held to be miraculous are always 
of an inferior kind2 but at least it was
 not among those who thought them       
inferior that the belief in their       
miraculous power began4  ,if the golden 

images move like living creatures1 and  
the armour of ,achilles1 so #bje        
wonderfully made1 lifts him like wings1 
this again is because the imagination of
 ,homer is really under the stimulus of 
delightful artistic objects actually    
seen4  ,only those to whom such artistic
 objects manifest themselves through    
real and powerful impressions of their  
wonderful qualities1 can invest them    
with properties magical or miraculous4  
,i said that the inherent usefulness of 
the material of metal-work makes the    
destruction of its acquired form almost 
certain1 if it comes into the possession
 of people either barbarous or careless 
of the work of a past time4  ,greek art 
is for us1 in all its stages1 a fragment
 only2 in each of them it is necessary1 
in a somewhat visionary manner1 to fill 
up empty spaces1 and more or less make  
substitution2 and of the finer work of  
the heroic age1 thus dimly discerned as 
an actual thing1 we had at least till   
recently almost nothing4  ,two plates of

 bronze1 a few rusty nails1 and certain 
rows of holes in the inner surface of   
the walls of the treasury of ,mycenae1  
were the sole representatives of that   
favourite device of primitive ,greek    
art1 the lining of stone walls with     
burnished metal1 of which the house of  
,alcinous in the ,odyssey is the ideal  
picture1 and the temple of ,pallas of   
the ,brazen ,house at ,sparta1 adorned  
in the interior with a coating of       
reliefs in metal1 a later1 historical   
example4  ,of the heroic or so-called   
,cyclopean architecture1 that treasury1 
#bjf a building so imposing that        
,pausanias thought it worthy to rank    
with the ,pyramids1 is a sufficient     
illustration4 ,treasury1 or tomb1 or    
both 7the selfish dead1 perhaps1 being  
supposed still to find enjoyment in the 
costly armour1 goblets1 and mirrors laid
 up there71 this dome-shaped building1  
formed of concentric rings of stones    
gradually diminishing to a coping-stone 
at the top1 may stand as the            

representative of some similar buildings
 in other parts of ,greece1 and of many 
others in a similar kind of architecture
 elsewhere1 constructed of large        
many-sided blocks of stone1 fitted      
carefully together without the aid of   
cement1 and remaining in their places by
 reciprocal resistance4  ,characteristic
 of it is the general tendency to use   
vast blocks of stone for the jambs and  
lintels of doors1 for instance1 and in  
the construction of gable-shaped        
passages2 two rows of such stones being 
made to rest against each other at an   
acute angle1 within the thickness of the
 walls4  ,so vast and rude1 fretted by  
the action of nearly three thousand     
years1 the fragments of this            
architecture may often seem1 at first   
sight1 like works of nature4  ,at       
,argos1 ,tiryns1 ,mycenae1 the skeleton 
of the old architecture is more         
complete4  ,at ,mycenae the gateway of  
the acropolis is still standing with its
 two well-known sculptured              

lions--immemorial and almost unique     
monument of primitive ,greek            
sculpture--supporting1 herald-wise1 a   
symbolical pillar on the #bjg vast1     
triangular1 pedimental stone above4     
,the heads are gone1 having been        
fashioned possibly in metal by workmen  
from the ,east4  ,on what may be called 
the faade1 remains are still discernible
 of inlaid work in coloured stone1 and  
within the gateway1 on the smooth slabs 
of the pavement1 the wheel-ruts are     
still visible4  ,connect them with those
 metal war-chariots in ,homer1 and you  
may see in fancy the whole grandiose    
character of the place1 as it may really
 have been4  ,shut within the narrow    
enclosure of these shadowy citadels were
 the palaces of the kings1 with all that
 intimacy which we may sometimes suppose
 to have been alien from the open-air   
,greek life1 admitting1 doubtless1 below
 the cover of their rough walls1 many of
 those refinements of princely life     
which the ,middle ,age found possible in

 such places1 and of which the          
impression is so fascinating in ,homer's
 description1 for instance1 of the house
 of ,ulysses1 or of ,menelaus at        
,sparta4  ,rough and frowning without1  
these old chteaux of the ,argive kings  
were delicate within with a decoration  
almost as dainty and fine as the network
 of weed and flower that now covers     
their ruins1 and of the delicacy of     
which1 as ,i said1 that golden flower on
 its silver stalk or the golden         
honeycomb of ,daedalus1 might be taken  
as representative4  ,in these metal-like
 structures of self-supporting polygons1
 locked so firmly and impenetrably      
together1 with the whole mystery of the 
reasonableness #bjh of the arch         
implicitly within them1 there is        
evidence of a complete artistic command 
over weight in stone1 and an            
understanding of the law of weight4     
,but over weight only2 the ornament     
still seems to be not strictly          
architectural1 but1 according to the    

notices of  ,homer1 tectonic1 borrowed  
from the sister arts1 above all from the
 art of the metal-workers1 to whom those
 spaces of the building are left which a
 later age fills with painting1 or      
relief in stone4  ,the skill of the     
,asiatic comes to adorn this rough      
native building2 and it is a late1      
elaborate1 somewhat voluptuous skill1 we
 may understand1 illustrated by the     
luxury of that ,asiatic chamber of      
,paris1 less like that of a warrior than
 of one going to the dance4  ,coupled   
with the vastness of the architectural  
works which actually remain1 such       
descriptions as that in ,homer of the   
chamber of ,paris and the house of      
,alcinous furnish forth a picture of    
that early period--the tyrants' age1 the
 age of the acropoleis1 the period of   
great dynasties with claims to divine   
right' and in many instances at least   
with all the culture of their time4     
,the vast buildings make us sigh at the 
thought of wasted human labour1 though  

there is a public usefulness too in some
 of these designs1 such as the draining 
of the ,copaic lake1 to which the backs 
of the people are bent whether they will
 or not4  ,for the princes there is much
 of that selfish personal luxury which  
is a constant trait of feudalism in #bji
 all ages4  ,for the people1 scattered  
over the country1 at their agricultural 
labour1 or gathered in small hamlets1   
there is some enjoyment1 perhaps1 of the
 aspect of that splendour1 of the bright
 warriors on the heights--a certain     
share of the nobler pride of the tyrants
 themselves in those tombs and          
dwellings4  ,some surmise1 also1 there  
seems to have been1 of the curse of     
gold1 with a dim1 lurking suspicion of  
curious facilities for cruelty in the   
command over those skilful artificers in
 metal-- some ingenious rack or bull to 
pinch and peel--the tradition of which1 
not unlike the modern ,jacques          
,bonhomme's shudder at the old ruined   
,french donjon or bastille1 haunts1     

generations afterwards1 the ruins of    
those labyrinths of stone1 where the old
 tyrants had their pleasures4  ,for it  
is a mistake to suppose that that       
wistful sense of eeriness in ruined     
buildings1 to which most of us are      
susceptible1 is an exclusively modern   
feeling4  ,the name ,cyclopean1 attached
 to those desolate remains of buildings 
which were older than ,greek history    
itself1 attests their romantic influence
 over the fancy of the people who thus  
attributed them to a superhuman strength
 and skill4  ,and the ,cyclopes1 like   
all the early mythical names of artists1
 have this note of reality1 that they   
are names not of individuals but of     
classes1 the guilds or companies of     
workmen in which a certain craft was    
imparted and transmitted4  ,the         
,dactyli1 the ,fingers1 are the #baj    
first workers in iron2 the savage       
,chalybes in ,scythia the first         
smelters2 actual names are given to the 
old1 fabled ,telchines-- ,chalkon1      

,argyron1 ,chryson--workers in brass1   
silver1 and gold1 respectively4  ,the   
tradition of their activity haunts the  
several regions where those metals were 
found4  ,they make the trident of       
,poseidon2 but then ,poseidon's trident 
is a real fisherman's instrument1 the   
tunny-fork4  ,they are credited1        
notwithstanding1 with an evil sorcery1  
unfriendly to men1 as poor humanity     
remembered the makers of chains1 locks1 
,procrustean beds2 and1 as becomes this 
dark recondite mine and metal work1 the 
traditions about them are gloomy and    
grotesque1 confusing mortal workmen with
 demon guilds4  ,to this view of the    
heroic age of ,greek art as being1 so to
 speak1 an age of real gold1 an age     
delighting itself in precious material  
and exquisite handiwork in all tectonic 
crafts1 the recent extraordinary        
discoveries at ,troy and ,mycenae are1  
on any plausible theory of their date   
and origin1 a witness4  ,the aesthetic  
critic needs always to be on his guard  

against the confusion of mere curiosity 
or antiquity with beauty in art4  ,among
 the objects discovered at ,troy--mere  
curiosities1 some of them1 however      
interesting and instructive--the        
so-called royal cup of ,priam1 in solid 
gold1 two-handled and double- lipped1   
7the smaller lip designed for the host  
and his libation1 the larger for the    
guest17 has1 in the #baa very simplicity
 of its design1 the grace of the economy
 with which it exactly fulfils its      
purpose1 a positive beauty1 an absolute 
value for the aesthetic sense1 while    
strange and new enough1 if it really    
settles at last a much-debated          
expression of ,homer2 while the diadem1 
with its twisted chains and flowers of  
pale gold1 shows that those profuse     
golden fringes1 waving so comely as he  
moved1 which ,hephaestus wrought for the
 helmet of ,achilles1 were really within
 the compass of early ,greek art4  ,and 
the story of the excavations at ,mycenae
 reads more like some well-devised      

chapter of fiction than a record of     
sober facts4  ,here1 those sanguine1    
half-childish dreams of buried treasure 
discovered in dead men's graves1 which  
seem to have a charm for every one1 are 
more than fulfilled in the spectacle of 
those antique kings1 lying in the       
splendour of their crowns and           
breastplates of embossed plate of gold2 
their swords1 studded with golden       
imagery1 at their sides1 as in some     
feudal monument2 their very faces       
covered up most strangely in golden     
masks4  ,the very floor of one tomb1 we 
read1 was thick with gold- dust--the    
heavy gilding fallen from some perished 
kingly vestment2 in another was a       
downfall of golden leaves and flowers2  
and1 amid this profusion of thin fine   
fragments1 were rings1 bracelets1       
smaller crowns as if for children1      
dainty butterflies for ornaments of     
dresses1 and that golden flower on a    
silver stalk--all of pure1 #bab soft    
gold1 unhardened by alloy1 the delicate 

films of which one must touch but       
lightly1 yet twisted and beaten1 by hand
 and hammer1 into wavy1 spiral relief1  
the cuttle-fish with its long undulating
 arms appearing frequently4  ,it is the 
very image of the old luxurious life of 
the princes of the heroic age1 as ,homer
 describes it1 with the arts in service 
to its kingly pride4  ,among the other  
costly objects was one representing the 
head of a cow1 grandly designed in gold 
with horns of silver1 like the horns of 
the moon1 supposed to be symbolical of  
,here1 the great object of worship at   
,argos4  ,one of the interests of the   
study of mythology is that it reflects  
the ways of life and thought of the     
people who conceived it2 and this       
religion of ,here1 the special religion 
of ,argos1 is congruous with what has   
been here said as to the place of art in
 the civilisation of the ,argives2 it is
 a reflexion of that splendid and wanton
 old feudal life4  ,for ,here is1 in her
 original essence and meaning1          

equivalent to ,demeter--the one living  
spirit of the earth1 divined behind the 
veil of all its manifold visible        
energies4  ,but in the development of a 
common mythological motive the various  
peoples are subject to the general      
limitations of their life and thought2  
they can but work outward what is within
 them2 and the religious conceptions and
 usages1 ultimately derivable from one  
and the same rudimentary instinct1 are  
sometimes most diverse4  ,out of #bac   
the visible1 physical energies of the   
earth and its system of annual change1  
the old ,pelasgian mind developed the   
person of ,demeter1 mystical and        
profoundly aweful1 yet profoundly       
pathetic1 also1 in her appeal to human  
sympathies4  ,out of the same original  
elements1 the civilisation of ,argos1 on
 the other hand1 developes the religion 
of ,queen ,here1 a mere ,demeter1 at    
best1 of gaudy flower-beds1 whose toilet
 ,homer describes with all its delicate 
fineries2 though1 characteristically1 he

 may still allow us to detect1 perhaps1 
some traces of the mystical person of   
the earth1 in the all-pervading scent of
 the ambrosial unguent with which she   
anoints herself1 in the abundant tresses
 of her hair1 and in the curious        
variegation of her ornaments4  ,she has 
become1 though with some reminiscence of
 the mystical earth1 a very limited     
human person1 wicked1 angry1            
jealous--the lady of ,zeus in her       
castle-sanctuary at ,mycenae1 in wanton 
dalliance with the king1 coaxing him for
 cruel purposes in sweet sleep1 adding  
artificial charms to her beauty4  ,such 
are some of the characteristics with    
which ,greek art is discernible in that 
earliest age4  ,of themselves1 they     
almost answer the question which next   
arises--,whence did art come to ,greece8
 or was it a thing of absolutely native 
growth there8  ,so some have decidedly  
maintained4  ,others1 who lived in an   
age possessing little or no knowledge of
 ,greek monuments anterior to the full  

development of art under #bad ,pheidias1
 and who1 in regard to the ,greek       
sculpture of the age of ,pheidias1 were 
like people criticising ,michelangelo1  
without knowledge of the earlier ,tuscan
 school--of the works of ,donatello and 
,mino da ,fiesole--easily satisfied     
themselves with theories of its         
importation ready-made from other       
countries4  ,critics in the last        
century1 especially1 noticing some      
characteristics which early ,greek work 
has in common1 indeed1 with ,egyptian   
art1 but which are common also to all   
such early work everywhere1 supposed1 as
 a matter of course1 that it came1 as   
the ,greek religion also1 from          
,egypt--that old1 immemorial half-known 
birthplace of all wonderful things4     
,there are1 it is true1 authorities for 
this derivation among the ,greeks       
themselves1 dazzled as they were by the 
marvels of the ancient civilisation of  
,egypt1 a civilisation so different from
 their own1 on the first opening of     

,egypt to ,greek visitors4  ,but1 in    
fact1 that opening did not take place   
till the reign of ,psammetichus1 about  
the middle of the seventh century       
,b4,c41 a relatively late date4         
,psammetichus introduced and settled    
,greek mercenaries in ,egypt1 and1 for a
 time1 the ,greeks came very close to   
,egyptian life4  ,they can hardly fail  
to have been stimulated by that display 
of every kind of artistic workmanship   
gleaming over the whole of life2 they   
may in turn have freshened it with new  
motives4  ,and we may remark1 that but  
for the peculiar usage of ,egypt        
concerning the tombs of the dead1 but   
#bae for their habit of investing the   
last abodes of the dead with all the    
appurtenances of active life1 out of    
that whole world of art1 so various and 
elaborate1 nothing but the great1       
monumental works in stone would have    
remained to ourselves4  ,we should have 
experienced in regard to it1 what we    
actually experience too much in our     

knowledge of ,greek art--the lack of a  
fitting background1 in the smaller      
tectonic work1 for its great works in   
architecture1 and the bolder sort of    
sculpture4  ,but1 one by one1 at last1  
as in the medieval parallel1 monuments  
illustrative of the earlier growth of   
,greek art before the time of ,pheidias 
have come to light1 and to a just       
appreciation4  ,they show that the      
development of ,greek art had already   
proceeded some way before the opening of
 ,egypt to the ,greeks1 and point1 if to
 a foreign source at all1 to oriental   
rather than ,egyptian influences2 and   
the theory which derived ,greek art1    
with many other ,greek things1 from     
,egypt1 now hardly finds supporters4    
,in ,greece all things are at once old  
and new4  ,as1 in physical organisms1   
the actual particles of matter have     
existed long before in other            
combinations2 and what is really new in 
a new organism is the new cohering      
force--the mode of life1--so1 in the    

products of ,greek civilisation1 the    
actual elements are traceable elsewhere 
by antiquarians who care to trace them2 
the elements1 for instance1 of its      
peculiar national #baf architecture4    
,yet all is also emphatically           
autochthonous1 as the ,greeks said1     
new-born at home1 by right of a new1    
informing1 combining spirit playing over
 those mere elements1 and touching them1
 above all1 with a wonderful sense of   
the nature and destiny of man--the      
dignity of his soul and of his body--so 
that in all things the ,greeks are as   
discoverers4  ,still1 the original and  
primary motive seems1 in matters of art1
 to have come from without2 and the view
 to which actual discovery and all true 
analogies more and more point is that of
 a connexion of the origin of ,greek    
art1 ultimately with ,assyria1          
proximately with ,phoenicia1 partly     
through ,asia ,minor1 and chiefly       
through ,cyprus--an original connexion  
again and again re-asserted1 like a     

surviving trick of inheritance1 as in   
later times it came in contact with the 
civilisation of ,caria and ,lycia1 old  
affinities being here linked anew2 and  
with a certain ,asiatic tradition1 of   
which one representative is the ,ionic  
style of architecture1 traceable all    
through ,greek art--an ,asiatic         
curiousness1 or poikilia1 strongest in  
that heroic age of which ,i have been   
speaking1 and distinguishing some       
schools and masters in ,greece more than
 others2 and always in appreciable      
distinction from the more clearly       
defined and self-asserted ,hellenic     
influence4  ,homer himself witnesses to 
the intercourse1 through early1         
adventurous commerce1 as in the bright  
and animated picture with which #bag the
 history of ,herodotus begins1 between  
the ,greeks and ,eastern countries4  ,we
 may1 perhaps1 forget sometimes1        
thinking over the greatness of its place
 in the history of civilisation1 how    
small a country ,greece really was2 how 

short the distances upwards1 from island
 to island1 to the coast of ,asia1 so   
that we can hardly make a sharp         
separation between ,asia and ,greece1   
nor deny1 besides great and palpable    
acts of importation1 all sorts of       
impalpable ,asiatic influences1 by way  
alike of attraction and repulsion1 upon 
,greek manners and taste4  ,homer1 as we
 saw1 was right in making ,troy         
essentially a ,greek city1 with         
inhabitants superior in all culture to  
their kinsmen on the ,western shore1 and
 perhaps proportionally weaker on the   
practical or moral side1 and with an    
element of languid ,ionian              
voluptuousness in them1 typified by the 
cedar and gold of the chamber of        
,paris--an element which the austere1   
more strictly ,european influence of the
 ,dorian ,apollo will one day correct in
 all genuine ,greeks4  ,the ,aegean1    
with its islands1 is1 then1 a bond of   
union1 not a barrier2 and we must think 
of ,greece1 as has been rightly said1 as

 its whole continuous shore4  ,the      
characteristics of ,greek art1 indeed1  
in the heroic age1 so far as we can     
discern them1 are those also of         
,phoenician art1 its delight in metal   
among the rest1 of metal especially as  
an element in architecture1 the covering
 of everything with plates of metal4    
,it was from #bah ,phoenicia that the   
costly material in which early ,greek   
art delighted actually came--ivory1     
amber1 much of the precious metals4     
,these the adventurous ,phoenician      
traders brought in return for the mussel
 which contained the famous purple1 in  
quest of which they penetrated far into 
all the ,greek havens4  ,recent         
discoveries present the island of       
,cyprus1 the great source of copper and 
copper- work in ancient times1 as the   
special mediator between the art of     
,phoenicia and ,greece2 and in some     
archaic figures of ,aphrodite with her  
dove1 brought from ,cyprus and now in   
the ,british ,museum--objects you might 

think1 at first sight1 taken from the   
niches of a ,french ,gothic             
cathedral--are some of the beginnings1  
at least1 of ,greek sculpture manifestly
 under the influence of ,phoenician     
masters4  ,and1 again1 mythology is the 
reflex of characteristic facts4  ,it is 
through ,cyprus that the religion of    
,aphrodite comes from ,phoenicia to     
,greece4  ,here1 in ,cyprus1 she is     
connected with some other kindred       
elements of mythological tradition1     
above all with the beautiful old story  
of ,pygmalion1 in which the thoughts of 
art and love are connected so closely   
together4  ,first of all1 on the prows  
of the ,phoenician ships1 the tutelary  
image of ,aphrodite ,euploea1 the       
protectress of sailors1 comes to        
,cyprus--to ,cythera2 it is in this     
simplest sense that she is1 primarily1  
,anadyomene4  ,and her connexion #bai   
with the arts is always an intimate one4
  ,in ,cyprus her worship is connected  
with an architecture1 not colossal1 but 

full of dainty splendour--the art of the
 shrine-maker1 the maker of reliquaries2
 the art of the toilet1 the toilet of   
,aphrodite2 the ,homeric hymn to        
,aphrodite is full of all that2 delight 
in which we have seen to be             
characteristic of the true ,homer4  ,and
 now we see why ,hephaestus1 that       
crook-backed and uncomely god1 is the   
husband of ,aphrodite4  ,hephaestus is  
the god of fire1 indeed2 as fire he is  
flung from heaven by ,zeus2 and in the  
marvellous contest between ,achilles and
 the river ,xanthus in the twenty-first 
book of the ,iliad1 he intervenes in    
favour of the hero1 as mere fire against
 water4  ,but he soon ceases to be thus 
generally representative of the         
functions of fire1 and becomes almost   
exclusively representative of one only  
of its aspects1 its function1 namely1 in
 regard to early art2 he becomes the    
patron of smiths1 bent with his labour  
at the forge1 as people had seen such   
real workers2 he is the most perfectly  

developed of all the ,daedali1          
,mulcibers1 or ,cabeiri4  ,that the god 
of fire becomes the god of all art1     
architecture included1 so that he makes 
the houses of the gods1 and is also the 
husband of ,aphrodite1 marks a threefold
 group of facts2 the prominence1 first1 
of a peculiar kind of art in early      
,greece1 that beautiful metal-work1 with
 #bbj which he is bound and bent2       
secondly1 the connexion of this1 through
 ,aphrodite1 with an almost wanton      
personal splendour2 the connexion1      
thirdly1 of all this with ,cyprus and   
,phoenicia1 whence1 literally1          
,aphrodite comes4  ,hephaestus is the   
spiritual form of the ,asiatic element  
in ,greek art4  ,this1 then1 is the     
situation which the first period of     
,greek art comprehends2 a people whose  
civilisation is still young1 delighting1
 as the young do1 in ornament1 in the   
sensuous beauty of ivory and gold1 in   
all the lovely productions of skilled   
fingers4  ,they receive all this1       

together with the worship of ,aphrodite1
 by way of ,cyprus1 from ,phoenicia1    
from the older1 decrepit ,eastern       
civilisation1 itself long since         
surfeited with that splendour2 and they 
receive it in frugal quantity1 so frugal
 that their thoughts always go back to  
the ,east1 where there is the fulness of
 it1 as to a wonder-land of art4        
,received thus in frugal quantity1      
through many generations1 that world of 
,asiatic tectonics stimulates the       
sensuous capacity in them1 accustoms the
 hand to produce and the eye to         
appreciate the more delicately enjoyable
 qualities of material things4  ,but    
nowhere in all this various and         
exquisite world of design is there as   
yet any adequate sense of man himself1  
nowhere is there an insight into or     
power over human form as the expression 
of human soul4  ,yet those arts of      
design in which that younger people     
delights #bba have in them already1 as  
designed work1 that spirit of reasonable

 order1 that expressive congruity in the
 adaptation of means to ends1 of which  
the fully developed admirableness of    
human form is but the consummation-- a  
consummation already anticipated in the 
grand and animated figures of epic      
poetry1 their power of thought1 their   
laughter and tears4 ,under the hands of 
that younger people1 as they imitate and
 pass largely and freely beyond those   
older craftsmen1 the fire of the        
reasonable soul will kindle1 little by  
little1 up to the ,theseus of the       
,parthenon and the ,venus of ,melos4    
,the ideal aim of ,greek sculpture1 as  
of all other art1 is to deal1 indeed1   
with the deepest elements of man's      
nature and destiny1 to command and      
express these1 but to deal with them in 
a manner1 and with a kind of expression1
 as clear and graceful and simple1 if it
 may be1 as that of the ,japanese       
flower-painter4  ,and what the student  
of ,greek sculpture has to cultivate    
generally in himself is the capacity for

 appreciating the expression of thought 
in outward form1 the constant habit of  
associating sense with soul1 of tracing 
what we call expression to its sources4 
,but1 concurrently with this1 he must   
also cultivate1 all along1 a not less   
equally constant appreciation of        
intelligent workmanship in work1 and of 
design in things designed1 of the       
rational control of matter everywhere4  
,from many sources he may feed this     
sense of intelligence #bbb and design in
 the productions of the minor crafts1   
above all in the various and exquisite  
art of ,japan4  ,carrying a delicacy    
like that of nature itself into every   
form of imitation1 reproduction1 and    
combination-- leaf and flower1 fish and 
bird1 reed and water--and failing only  
when it touches the sacred human form1  
that art of ,japan is not so unlike the 
earliest stages of ,greek art as might  
at first sight be supposed4 ,we have    
here1 and in no mere fragments1 the     
spectacle of a universal application to 

the instruments of daily life of fitness
 and beauty1 in a temper still          
unsophisticated1 as also unelevated1 by 
the divination of the spirit of man4    
,and at least the student must always   
remember that ,greek art was throughout 
a much richer and warmer thing1 at once 
with more shadows1 and more of a dim    
magnificence in its surroundings1 than  
the illustrations of a classical        
dictionary might induce him to think4   
,some of the ancient temples of ,greece 
were as rich in aesthetic curiosities as
 a famous modern museum4  ,that ,asiatic
 poikilia1 that spirit of minute and    
curious loveliness1 follows the bolder  
imaginative efforts of ,greek art all   
through its history1 and one can hardly 
be too careful in keeping up the sense  
of this daintiness of execution through 
the entire course of its development4   
,it is not only that the minute object  
of art1 the tiny vase-painting1         
intaglio1 coin1 or cameo1 often reduces 
into the palm of the hand lines grander 

than those of #bbc many a life-sized or 
colossal figure2 but there is also a    
sense in which it may be said that the  
,venus of ,melos1 for instance1 is but a
 supremely well-executed object of      
vertu1 in the most limited sense of the 
term4  ,those solemn images of the      
temple of ,theseus are a perfect        
embodiment of the human ideal1 of the   
reasonable soul and of a spiritual      
world2 they are also the best made      
things of their kind1 as an urn or a cup
 is well made4  ,a perfect1 many-sided  
development of tectonic crafts1 a state 
such as the art of some nations has     
ended in1 becomes for the ,greeks a mere
 opportunity1 a mere starting-ground for
 their imaginative presentment of man1  
moral and inspired4  ,a world of        
material splendour1 moulded clay1 beaten
 gold1 polished stone2--the informing1  
reasonable soul entering into that1     
reclaiming the metal and stone and clay1
 till they are as full of living breath 
as the real warm body itself2 the       

presence of those two elements is       
continuous throughout the fortunes of   
,greek art after the heroic age1 and the
 constant right estimate of their action
 and reaction1 from period to period1   
its true philosophy4  ,,notes  #aib4    
,the related ,greek noun techn is       
defined as follows3 art1 skill1 regular 
method of making a thing4  7,liddell and
 ,scott47  #aic4 99,il4 xviii4#dfh-fjh4 
#aic4 99,od4 vii4#cg-acb4  #aig4        
,transliteration3 porpas te gnamptas th'
 helikas1 kalukas te kai hormous4       
,translation3 delicate brooches1        
spriralled bracelets1 rosettes1 and     
necklaces4  ,homer1 ,iliad #ah4djj4     
#bja4 ,empaestik derives from the verb  
empai1 to strike in1 stamp4 7,liddell   
and ,scott47  #baj4 ,the names are      
etymological--chalkos1 argyros1 and     
chrysos signify1 respectively1 brass 7or
 copper71 silver1 and gold4  #baf4      
,transliteration3 poikilia4  ,liddell   
and ,scott definition3 embroidery 4 4 4 
7metaph47 cunning4  ,the metaphorical   

sense is the one ,pater invokes4  #bah4 
,euploea 4 4 4 ,anadyomene4  ,euploea   
means fair voyage2 ,anadyomene1 a       
participial form derived from the verb  
anady1 to rise1 esp4 from the sea1      
7,liddell-,scott7 may be rendered she   
who emerges from the sea4  #bbb4        
,transliteration3 poikilia4  ,liddell   
and ,scott definition3 embroidery 4 4 4 
7metaph47 cunning4  ,the metaphorical   
sense is the one ,pater invokes4        
,,beginnings ,,of ,,greek ,,sculpture   
,,ii3 ,,the ,,age ,,of ,,graven ,,images
  #bbd ,,critics of ,greek sculpture    
have often spoken of it as if it had    
been always work in colourless stone1   
against an almost colourless background4
   ,its real background1 as ,i have     
tried to show1 was a world of exquisite 
craftsmanship1 touching the minutest    
details of daily life with splendour and
 skill1 in close correspondence with a  
peculiarly animated development of human
 existence--the energetic movement and  
stir of typically noble human forms1    

quite worthily clothed--amid scenery as 
poetic as ,titian's4   ,if shapes of    
colourless stone did come into that     
background1 it was as the undraped human
 form comes into some of ,titian's      
pictures1 only to cool and solemnise its
 splendour2 the work of the ,greek      
sculptor being seldom in quite          
colourless stone1 nor always or chiefly 
in fastidiously selected marble even1   
but often in richly toned metal 7this or
 that sculptor preferring some special  
variety of the bronze he worked in1 such
 as the #bbe hepatizn or liver-coloured 
bronze1 or the bright golden alloy of   
,corinth71 and in its consummate        
products chryselephantine1--work in gold
 and ivory1 on a core of cedar4         
,pheidias1 in the ,olympian ,zeus1 in   
the ,athene of the ,parthenon1 fulfils  
what that primitive1 heroic goldsmiths' 
age1 dimly discerned in ,homer1 already 
delighted in2 and the celebrated work of
 which ,i have first to speak now1 and  
with which ,greek sculpture emerges from

 that half-mythical age and becomes in a
 certain sense historical1 is a link in 
that goldsmiths' or chryselephantine    
tradition1 carrying us forwards to the  
work of ,pheidias1 backwards to the     
elaborate ,asiatic furniture of the     
chamber of ,paris4  ,when ,pausanias    
visited ,olympia1 towards the end of the
 second century after ,christ1 he       
beheld1 among other precious objects in 
the temple of ,here1 a splendidly       
wrought treasure-chest of cedar-wood1 in
 which1 according to a legend1 quick as 
usual with the true human colouring1 the
 mother of ,cypselus had hidden him1    
when a child1 from the enmity of her    
family1 the ,bacchiadae1 then the       
nobility of ,corinth4   ,the child1     
named ,cypselus after this incident     
7,cypsele being a ,corinthian word for  
chest71 became tyrant of ,corinth1 and  
his grateful descendants1 as it was     
said1 offered the beautiful old chest to
 the temple of ,here1 as a memorial of  
his preservation4   ,that would have    

been not long after the year #fbe ,b4,c4
  ,so much for the #bbf story which     
,pausanias heard--but inherent          
probability1 and some points of detail  
in his description1 tend to fix the     
origin of the chest at a date at least  
somewhat later2 and as ,herodotus1      
telling the story of the concealment of 
,cypselus1 does not mention the         
dedication of the chest at ,olympia at  
all1 it may perhaps have been only one  
of many later imitations of antique art4
   ,but1 whatever its date1 ,pausanias  
certainly saw the thing1 and has left a 
long description of it1 and we may trust
 his judgment at least as to its archaic
 style4   ,we have here1 then1 something
 plainly visible at a comparatively     
recent date1 something quite different  
from those perhaps wholly mythical      
objects described in ,homer1--an object 
which seemed to so experienced an       
observer as ,pausanias an actual work of
 earliest ,greek art4 ,relatively to    
later ,greek art1 it may have seemed to 

him1 what the ancient bronze doors with 
their ,scripture histories1 which we may
 still see in the south transept of the 
cathedral of ,pisa1 are to later        
,italian art4  ,pausanias tells us      
nothing as to its size1 nor directly as 
to its shape4  ,it may1 for anything he 
says1 have been oval1 but it was        
probably rectangular1 with a broad front
 and two narrow sides1 standing1 as the 
maker of it had designed1 against the   
wall2 for1 in enumerating the various   
subjects wrought upon it1 in five rows  
one above another1 he seems to proceed1 
beginning at the bottom on the          
right-hand side1 along the front #bbg   
from right to left1 and then back again1
 through the second row from left to    
right1 and1 alternating thus1 upwards to
 the last subject1 at the top1 on the   
left-hand side4  ,the subjects          
represented1 most of which had their    
legends attached in difficult archaic   
writing1 were taken freely1 though      
probably with a leading idea1 out of    

various poetic cycles1 as treated in the
 works of those so-called cyclic poets1 
who continued the ,homeric tradition4   
,pausanias speaks1 as ,homer does in his
 description of the shield of ,achilles1
 of a kind and amount of expression in  
feature and gesture certainly beyond the
 compass of any early art1 and we may   
believe we have in these touches only   
what the visitor heard from enthusiastic
 exegetae1 the interpreters or          
sacristans2 though any one who has seen 
the ,bayeux tapestry1 for instance1 must
 recognise the pathos and energy of     
which1 when really prompted by genius1  
even the earliest hand is capable4      
,some ingenious attempts have been made 
to restore the grouping of the scenes1  
with a certain formal expansion or      
balancing of subjects1 their figures and
 dimensions1 in true ,assyrian manner1  
on the front and sides4  ,we notice some
 fine emblematic figures1 the germs of  
great artistic motives in after times1  
already playing their parts             

there1--,death1 and ,sleep1 and ,night4 
,there was a woman supporting on her    
right arm a white child sleeping2 and on
 the other arm she held a dark child1 as
 if asleep2 #bbh and they lay with their
 feet crossed4  ,and the inscription    
shows1 what might be understood without 
it1 that they are ,death and ,sleep1 and
 ,night1 the nurse of both of them4     
,but what is most noticeable is1 as ,i  
have already said1 that this work1 like 
the chamber of ,paris1 like the ,zeus of
 ,pheidias1 is chryselephantine1 its    
main fabric cedar1 and the figures upon 
it partly of ivory1 partly of gold199   
but 7and this is the most peculiar      
characteristic of its style7 partly     
wrought out of the wood of the chest    
itself4  ,and1 as we read the           
description1 we can hardly help         
distributing in fancy gold and ivory1   
respectively1 to their appropriate      
functions in the representation4  ,the  
cup of ,dionysus1 and the wings of      
certain horses there1 ,pausanias himself

 tells us were golden4  ,were not the   
apples of the ,hesperides1 the necklace 
of ,eriphyle1 the bridles1 the armour1  
the unsheathed sword in the hand of     
,amphiaraus1 also of gold8   ,were not  
the other children1 like the white image
 of ,sleep1 especially the naked child  
,alcmaeon1 of ivory8 with ,alcestis and 
,helen1 and that one of the ,dioscuri   
whose beard was still ungrown8  ,were   
not ivory and gold1 again1 combined in  
the throne of ,hercules1 and in the     
three goddesses conducted before ,paris8
  ,the chest of ,cypselus fitly         
introduces the first historical period  
of ,greek art1 a period #bbi coming down
 to about the year #efj ,b4,c41 and the 
government of ,pisistratus at ,athens2 a
 period of tyrants like ,cypselus and   
,pisistratus himself1 men of strong1    
sometimes unscrupulous individuality1   
but often also acute and cultivated     
patrons of the arts4  ,it begins with a 
series of inventions1 one here and      
another there1--inventions still for the

 most part technical1 but which are     
attached to single names2 for1 with the 
growth of art1 the influence of         
individuals1 gifted for the opening of  
new ways1 more and more defines itself2 
and the school1 open to all comers1 from
 which in turn the disciples may pass to
 all parts of ,greece1 takes the place  
of the family1 in which the knowledge of
 art descends as a tradition from father
 to son1 or of the mere trade-guild4    
,of these early industries we know      
little but the stray notices of         
,pausanias1 often ambiguous1 always of  
doubtful credibility4  ,what we do see1 
through these imperfect notices1 is a   
real period of animated artistic        
activity1 richly rewarded4  ,byzes of   
,naxos1 for instance1 is recorded as    
having first adopted the plan of sawing 
marble into thin plates for use on the  
roofs of temples instead of tiles2 and  
that his name has come down to us at    
all1 testifies to the impression this   
fair white surface made on its first    

spectators4  ,various islands of the    
,aegean become each the source of some  
new artistic device4  ,it is a period   
still under the reign of ,hephaestus1   
delighting1 above all1 in magnificent   
#bcj metal-work4  ,the ,samians1 says   
,herodotus1 out of a tenth part of their
 profits--a sum of six talents--caused a
 mixing vessel of bronze to be made1    
after the ,argolic fashion2 around it   
are projections of griffins' heads2 and 
they dedicated it in the temple of      
,here1 placing beneath it three colossal
 figures of bronze1 seven cubits in     
height1 leaning upon their knees4  ,that
 was in the thirty-seventh ,olympiad1   
and may be regarded as characteristic of
 the age4  ,for the popular imagination1
 a kind of glamour1 some mysterious     
connexion of the thing with human       
fortunes1 still attaches to the curious 
product of artistic hands1 to the ring  
of ,polycrates1 for instance1 with its  
early specimen of engraved smaragdus1 as
 to the mythical necklace of ,harmonia4 

,pheidon of ,argos first makes coined   
money1 and the obelisci--the old        
nail-shaped iron money1 now disused-    
-are hung up in the temple of ,here2    
for1 even thus early1 the temples are in
 the way of becoming museums4  ,names   
like those of ,eucheir and ,eugrammus1  
who were said to have taken the art of  
baking clay vases from ,samos to        
,etruria1 have still a legendary air1   
yet may be real surnames2 as in the case
 of ,smilis1 whose name is derived from 
a graver's tool1 and who made the       
ancient image of ,here at ,samos4       
,corinth--mater statuariae--becomes a   
great nursery of art at an early time4  
,some time before the twenty-ninth      
,olympiad1 ,butades of ,sicyon1 the     
potter1 settled there4  ,the record of  
#bca early inventions in ,greece is     
sometimes fondly coloured with human    
sentiment or incident4 ,it is on the    
butterfly wing of such an incident--the 
love-sick daughter of the artist1 who   
outlines on the wall the profile of her 

lover as he sleeps in the lamplight1 to 
keep by her in absence--that the name of
 ,butades the potter has come down to   
us4  ,the father fills up the outline1  
long preserved1 it was believed1 in the 
,nymphaeum at ,corinth1 and hence the   
art of modelling from the life in clay4 
,he learns1 further1 a way of colouring 
his clay red1 and fixes his masks along 
the temple eaves4  ,the temple of       
,athene ,chalcioecus--,athene of the    
brazen house--at ,sparta1 the work of   
,gitiades1 celebrated about this time as
 architect1 statuary1 and poet2 who     
made1 besides the image in her shrine1  
and besides other ,dorian songs1 a hymn 
to the goddess--was so called from its  
crust or lining of bronze plates1       
setting forth1 in richly embossed       
imagery1 various subjects of ancient    
legend4  ,what ,pausanias1 who saw it1  
describes1 is like an elaborate         
development of that method of covering  
the interiors of stone buildings with   
metal plates1 of which the ,treasury at 

,mycenae is the earliest historical1 and
 the house of ,alcinous the heroic1     
type4  ,in the pages of ,pausanias1 that
 glitter1 as of the moon or the sun1    
which ,ulysses stood still to wonder at1
 may still be felt4  ,and on the right  
hand of this brazen house1 he tells us1 
stood an #bcb image of ,zeus1 also of   
bronze1 the most ancient of all images  
of bronze4 ,this had not been cast1 nor 
wrought out of a single mass of metal1  
but1 the various parts having been      
finished separately 7probably beaten to 
shape with the hammer over a wooden     
mould71 had been fitted together with   
nails or rivets4  ,that was the earliest
 method of uniting the various parts of 
a work in metal--image1 or vessel1 or   
breastplate--a method allowing of much  
dainty handling of the cunning pins and 
rivets1 and one which has its place     
still1 in perfectly accomplished        
metal-work1 as in the equestrian statue 
of ,bartolomeo ,coleoni1 by ,andrea     
,verrocchio1 in the piazza of ,st4 ,john

 and ,st4 ,paul at ,venice4  ,in the    
,british ,museum there is a very early  
specimen of it1--a large egg-shaped     
vessel1 fitted together of several      
pieces1 the projecting pins or rivets1  
forming a sort of diadem round the      
middle1 being still sharp in form and   
heavily gilt4  ,that method gave place  
in time to a defter means of joining the
 parts together1 with more perfect unity
 and smoothness of surface1 the art of  
soldering2 and the invention of this    
art--of soldering iron1 in the first    
instance--is coupled with the name of   
,glaucus of ,chios1 a name which1 in    
connexion with this and other devices   
for facilitating the mechanical         
processes of art1--for perfecting       
artistic effect with economy of         
labour--became proverbial1 the art of   
,glaucus being attributed to those who  
work well with rapidity and ease4  #bcc 
,far more fruitful still was the        
invention of casting1 of casting hollow 
figures especially1 attributed to       

,rhoecus and ,theodorus1 architects of  
the great temple at ,samos4  ,such      
hollow figures1 able1 in consequence of 
their lightness1 to rest1 almost like an
 inflated bladder1 on a single          
point--the entire bulk of a heroic      
rider1 for instance1 on the point of his
 horse's tail--admit of a much freer    
distribution of the whole weight or mass
 required1 than is possible in any other
 mode of statuary2 and the invention of 
the art of casting is really the        
discovery of liberty in composition499  
,and1 at last1 about the year #egf      
,b4,c41 we come to the first true school
 of sculptors1 the first clear example1 
as we seem to discern1 of a communicable
 style1 reflecting and interpreting some
 real individuality 7the double         
personality1 in this case1 of two       
brothers7 in the masters who evolved it1
 conveyed to disciples who came to      
acquire it from distant places1 and     
taking root through them at various     
centres1 where the names of the #bcd    

masters became attached1 of course14  to
 many fair works really by the hands of 
the pupils4  ,dipoenus and ,scyllis1    
these first true masters1 were born in  
,crete2 but their work is connected     
mainly with ,sicyon1 at that time the   
chief seat of ,greek art4  ,in          
consequence of some injury done them1 it
 is said1 while employed there upon     
certain sacred images1 they departed to 
another place1 leaving their work       
unfinished2 and1 not long afterwards1 a 
grievous famine fell upon ,sicyon4      
,thereupon1 the people of ,sicyon1      
inquiring of the ,pythian ,apollo how   
they might be relieved1 it was answered 
them1 'if ,dipoenus and ,scyllis should 
finish those images of the gods'2 which 
thing the ,sicyonians obtained from     
them1 humbly1 at a great price4  ,that  
story too1 as we shall see1 illustrates 
the spirit of the age4  ,for their      
sculpture they used the white marble of 
,paros1 being workers in marble         
especially1 though they worked also in  

ebony and in ivory1 and made use of     
gilding4  ,figures of cedar-wood1 partly
 incrusted with gold--kedrou zdia chrys 
dinthismena--,pausanias says            
exquisitely1 describing a certain work  
of their pupil1 ,dontas of ,lacedaemon4 
,it is to that that we have definitely  
come at last1 in the school of ,dipoenus
 and ,scyllis4  ,dry and brief as these 
details may seem1 they are the witness  
to an active1 eager1 animated period of 
inventions and beginnings1 in which the 
,greek workman triumphs over the first  
#bce rough mechanical difficulties which
 beset him in the endeavour to record   
what his soul conceived of the form of  
priest or athlete then alive upon the   
earth1 or of the ever-living gods1 then 
already more seldom seen upon it4 ,our  
own fancy must fill up the story of the 
unrecorded patience of the workshop1    
into which we seem to peep through these
 scanty notices--the fatigue1 the       
disappointments1 the steps repeated1    
ending at last in that moment of        

success1 which is all ,pausanias        
records1 somewhat uncertainly4  ,and as 
this period begins with the chest of    
,cypselus1 so it ends with a work in    
some respects similar1 also seen and    
described by ,pausanias--the throne1 as 
he calls it1 of the ,amyclaean ,apollo4 
,it was the work of a well-known artist1
 ,bathycles of ,magnesia1 who1 probably 
about the year #eej ,b4,c41 with a      
company of workmen1 came to the little  
ancient town of ,amyclae1 near ,sparta1 
a place full of traditions of the heroic
 age4  ,he had been invited thither to  
perform a peculiar task--the            
construction of a throne2 not like the  
throne of the ,olympian ,zeus1 and      
others numerous in after times1 for a   
seated figure1 but for the image of the 
local ,apollo2 no other than a rude and 
very ancient pillar of bronze1 thirty   
cubits high1 to which1 ,hermes-wise1    
head1 arms1 and feet were attached4     
,the thing stood upright1 as on a base1 
upon a kind of tomb or reliquary1 in    

which1 according to tradition1 lay the  
remains of the young prince #bcf        
,hyacinth1 son of the founder of that   
place1 beloved by ,apollo for his       
beauty1 and accidentally struck dead by 
him in play1 with a quoit4 ,from the    
drops of the lad's blood had sprung up  
the purple flower of his name1 which    
bears on its petals the letters of the  
ejaculation of woe2 and in his memory   
the famous games of ,amyclae were       
celebrated1 beginning about the time of 
the longest day1 when the flowers are   
stricken by the sun and begin to fade--a
 festival marked1 amid all its          
splendour1 with some real melancholy1   
and serious thought of the dead4  ,in   
the midst of the throne of ,bathycles1  
this sacred receptacle1 with the        
strange1 half-humanised pillar above it1
 was to stand1 probably in the open air1
 within a consecrated enclosure4 ,like  
the chest of ,cypselus1 the throne was  
decorated with reliefs of subjects taken
 from epic poetry1 and it had supporting

 figures4 ,unfortunately1 what          
,pausanias tells us of this monument    
hardly enables one to present it to the 
imagination with any completeness or    
certainty2 its dimensions he himself was
 unable exactly to ascertain1 and he    
does not tell us its material4  ,there  
are reasons1 however1 for supposing that
 it was of metal2 and amid these        
ambiguities1 the decorations of its     
base1 the grave or altar-tomb of        
,hyacinth1 shine out clearly1 and are   
also1 for the most part1 clear in their 
significance4  ,there are wrought upon  
the altar figures1 on the one side of   
,biris1 on the other of #bcg ,amphitrite
 and ,poseidon4  ,near ,zeus and        
,hermes1 in speech with each other1     
stand ,dionysus and ,semele1 and1 beside
 her1 ,ino4  ,demeter1 ,kore1 and ,pluto
 are also wrought upon it1 the ,fates   
and the ,seasons above them1 and with   
them ,aphrodite1 ,athene1 and ,artemis4 
,they are conducting ,hyacinthus to     
heaven1 with ,polyboea1 the sister of   

,hyacinthus1 who died1 as is told1 while
 yet a virgin4 4 4 4 ,hercules also is  
figured on the tomb2 he too carried to  
heaven by ,athene and the other gods4   
,the daughters of ,thestius also are    
upon the altar1 and the ,seasons again1 
and the ,muses4  ,it was as if many     
lines of solemn thought had been meant  
to unite1 about the resting-place of    
this local ,adonis1 in imageries full of
 some dim promise of immortal life4     
,but it was not so much in care for old 
idols as in the making of new ones that 
,greek art was at this time engaged4    
,this whole first period of ,greek art  
might1 indeed1 be called the period of  
graven images1 and all its workmen sons 
of ,daedalus2 for ,daedalus is the      
mythical1 or all but mythical1          
representative of all those arts which  
are combined in the making of lovelier  
idols than had heretofore been seen4    
,the old ,greek word which is at the    
root of the name ,daedalus1 the name of 
a craft rather than a proper name1      

probably means to work curiously--all   
curiously beautiful wood-work is ,daedal
 work2 the main point about the         
curiously beautiful #bch chamber in     
which ,nausicaa sleeps1 in the ,odyssey1
 being that1 like some exquisite ,swiss 
chlet1 it is wrought in wood4  ,but it  
came about that those workers in wood1  
whom ,daedalus represents1 the early    
craftsmen of ,crete especially1 were    
chiefly concerned with the making of    
religious images1 like the carvers of   
,berchtesgaden and ,oberammergau1 the   
sort of daintily finished images of the 
objects of public or private devotion   
which such workmen would turn out4      
,wherever there was a wooden idol in any
 way fairer than others1 finished1      
perhaps1 sometimes1 with colour and     
gilding1 and appropriate real dress1    
there the hand of ,daedalus had been4   
,that such images were quite detached   
from pillar or wall1 that they stood    
free1 and were statues in the proper    
sense1 showed that ,greek art was       

already liberated from its earlier      
,eastern associations2 such             
free-standing being apparently unknown  
in ,assyrian art4  ,and then1 the effect
 of this ,daedal skill in them was1 that
 they came nearer to the proper form of 
humanity4  ,it is the wonderful         
life-likeness of these early images     
which tradition celebrates in many      
anecdotes1 showing a very early         
instinctive turn for1 and delight in    
naturalism1 in the ,greek temper4  ,as  
,cimabue1 in his day1 was able to charm 
men1 almost as with illusion1 by the    
simple device of half-closing the       
eyelids of his personages1 and giving   
them1 instead of round eyes1 eyes that  
seemed to be in some degree sentient1   
and to feel #bci the light2 so the      
marvellous progress in those ,daedal    
wooden images was1 that the eyes were   
open1 so that they seemed to look1--the 
feet separated1 so that they seemed to  
walk4 ,greek art is thus1 almost from   
the first1 essentially distinguished    

from the art of ,egypt1 by an energetic 
striving after truth in organic form4   
,in representing the human figure1      
,egyptian art had held by mathematical  
or mechanical proportions exclusively4  
,the ,greek apprehends of it1 as the    
main truth1 that it is a living         
organism1 with freedom of movement1 and 
hence the infinite possibilities of     
motion1 and of expression by motion1    
with which the imagination credits the  
higher sort of ,greek sculpture2 while  
the figures of ,egyptian art1 graceful  
as they often are1 seem absolutely      
incapable of any motion or gesture1     
other than the one actually designed4   
,the work of the ,greek sculptor1       
together with its more real anatomy1    
becomes full also of human soul4  ,that 
old1 primitive1 mystical1 first period  
of ,greek religion1 with its profound1  
though half-conscious1 intuitions of    
spiritual powers in the natural world1  
attaching itself not to the worship of  
visible human forms1 but to relics1 to  

natural or half-natural objects--the    
roughly hewn tree1 the unwrought stone1 
the pillar1 the holy cone of ,aphrodite 
in her dimly-lighted cell at            
,paphos--had passed away4  ,the second  
stage in the development of ,greek      
religion had come2 a #bdj period in     
which poet and artist were busily       
engaged in the work of incorporating all
 that might be retained of the vague    
divinations of that earlier visionary   
time1 in definite and intelligible human
 image and human story4  ,the vague     
belief1 the mysterious custom and       
tradition1 develope themselves into an  
elaborately ordered ritual-- into       
personal gods1 imaged in ivory and gold1
 sitting on beautiful thrones4  ,always1
 wherever a shrine or temple1 great or  
small1 is mentioned1 there1 we may      
conclude1 was a visible idol1 there was 
conceived to be the actual              
dwelling-place of a god4  ,and this     
understanding became not less but more  
definite1 as the temple became larger   

and more splendid1 full of ceremony and 
servants1 like the abode of an earthly  
king1 and as the sacred presence itself 
assumed1 little by little1 the last     
beauties and refinements of the visible 
human form and expression4  ,in what we 
have seen of this first period of ,greek
 art1 in all its curious essays and     
inventions1 we may observe this demand  
for beautiful idols increasing in       
,greece--for sacred images1 at first    
still rude1 and in some degree the      
holier for their rudeness1 but which yet
 constitute the beginnings of the       
religious style1 consummate in the work 
of ,pheidias1 uniting the veritable     
image of man in the full possession of  
his reasonable soul1 with the true      
religious mysticity1 the signature there
 of something from afar4  ,one by one   
these #bda new gods of bronze1 or       
marble1 or flesh-like ivory1 take their 
thrones1 at this or that famous shrine1 
like the images of this period which    
,pausanias saw in the temple of ,here at

 ,olympia--the throned ,seasons1 with   
,themis as the mother of the ,seasons   
7divine rectitude being still blended1  
in men's fancies1 with the unchanging   
physical order of things7 and ,fortune1 
and ,victory having wings1 and ,kore and
 ,demeter and ,dionysus1 already visibly
 there1 around the image of ,here       
herself1 seated on a throne2 and all    
chryselephantine1 all in gold and ivory4
  ,novel as these things are1 they still
 undergo consecration at their first    
erecting4  ,the figure of ,athene1 in   
her brazen temple at ,sparta1 the work  
of ,gitiades1 who makes also the image  
and the hymn1 in triple service to the  
goddess2 and again1 that curious story  
of ,dipoenus and ,scyllis1 brought back 
with so much awe to remove the public   
curse by completing their sacred task   
upon the images1 show how simply        
religious the age still was--that this  
widespread artistic activity was a      
religious enthusiasm also2 those early  
sculptors have still1 for their         

contemporaries1 a divine mission1 with  
some kind of hieratic or sacred quality 
in their gift1 distinctly felt4  ,the   
development of the artist1 in the proper
 sense1 out of the mere craftsman1      
effected in the first division of this  
period1 is now complete2 and1 in close  
connexion with that busy graving of     
religious images1 which occupies its    
second #bdb division1 we come to        
something like real personalities1 to   
men with individual                     
characteristics--such men as ,ageladas  
of ,argos1 ,callon and ,onatas of       
,aegina1 and ,canachus of ,sicyon4      
,mere fragment as our information       
concerning these early masters is at the
 best1 it is at least unmistakeably     
information about men with personal     
differences of temper and talent1 of    
their motives1 of what we call style4   
,we have come to a sort of art which is 
no longer broadly characteristic of a   
general period1 one whose products we   
might have looked at without its        

occurring to us to ask concerning the   
artist1 his antecedents1 and his school4
  ,we have to do now with types of art1 
fully impressed with the subjectivity1  
the intimacies of the artist4  ,among   
these freer and stronger personalities  
emerging thus about the beginning of the
 fifth century before ,christ--about the
 period of the ,persian war--the name to
 which most of this sort of personal    
quality attaches1 and which is therefore
 very interesting1 is the name of       
,canachus of ,sicyon1 who seems to have 
comprehended in himself all the various 
attainments in art which had been       
gradually developed in the schools of   
his native city--carver in wood1        
sculptor1 brass-cutter1 and toreutes2 by
 toreutic being meant the whole art of  
statuary in metals1 and in their        
combination with other materials4  ,at  
last we seem to see an actual person at 
work1 and to some degree can follow1    
with natural curiosity1 #bdc the motions
 of his spirit and his hand4 ,we seem to

 discern in all we know of his          
productions the results of individual   
apprehension--the results1 as well as   
the limitations1 of an individual       
talent4  ,it is impossible to date      
exactly the chief period of the activity
 of ,canachus4  ,that the great image of
 ,apollo1 which he made for the         
,milesians1 was carried away to         
,ecbatana by the ,persian army1 is      
stated by ,pausanias2 but there is a    
doubt whether this was under ,xerxes1 as
 ,pausanias says1 in the year #dgi      
,b4,c41 or twenty years earlier1 under  
,darius4  ,so important a work as this  
colossal image of ,apollo1 for so great 
a shrine as the ,didymaeum1 was probably
 the task of his maturity2 and his      
career may1 therefore1 be regarded as   
having begun1 at any rate1 prior to the 
year #dgi ,b4,c41 and the end of the    
,persian invasion the event which may be
 said to close this period of art4  ,on 
the whole1 the chief period of his      
activity is thought to have fallen      

earlier1 and to have occupied the last  
forty years of the previous century2 and
 he would thus have flourished1 as we   
say1 about fifty years before the       
manhood of ,pheidias1 as ,mino of       
,fiesole fifty years before the manhood 
of ,michelangelo4  ,his chief works were
 an ,aphrodite1 wrought for the         
,sicyonians in ivory and gold2 that     
,apollo of bronze carried away by the   
,persians1 and restored to its place    
about the year ,b4,c4 #cej2 and a       
reproduction of the same work in        
cedar-wood #bdd1 for the sanctuary of   
,apollo of the ,ismenus1 at ,thebes4    
,the primitive ,greek worship1 as we may
 trace it in ,homer1 presents already1  
on a minor scale1 all the essential     
characteristics of the most elaborate   
,greek worship of after times-- the     
sacred enclosure1 the incense and other 
offerings1 the prayer of the priest1 the
 shrine itself--a small one1 roofed in  
by the priest with green boughs1 not    
unlike a wayside chapel in modern times1

 and understood to be the dwelling-place
 of the divine person--within1 almost   
certainly1 an idol1 with its own sacred 
apparel1 a visible form1 little more    
than symbolical perhaps1 like the sacred
 pillar for which ,bathycles made his   
throne at ,amyclae1 but1 if an actual   
image1 certainly a rude one4  ,that     
primitive worship1 traceable in almost  
all these particulars1 even in the first
 book of the ,iliad1 had given place1   
before the time of ,canachus at ,sicyon1
 to a more elaborate ritual and a more  
completely designed image-work2 and a   
little bronze statue1 discovered on the 
site of ,tenea1 where ,apollo was the   
chief object of worship199 the best     
representative of many similar marble   
figures-- those of ,thera and           
,orchomenus1 for instance--is supposed  
to represent ,apollo as this still early
 age conceived him--youthful1 naked1    
muscular1 and with the germ of the      
,greek profile1 but formally smiling1   
and with a formal diadem or fillet1 over

 the long hair which #bde shows him to  
be no mortal athlete4  ,the hands1 like 
the feet1 excellently modelled1 are here
 extended downwards at the sides2 but in
 some similar figures the hands are     
lifted1 and held straight outwards1 with
 the palms upturned4  ,the ,apollo of   
,canachus also had the hands thus       
raised1 and on the open palm of the     
right hand was placed a stag1 while with
 the left he grasped the bow4  ,pliny   
says that the stag was an automaton1    
with a mechanical device for setting it 
in motion1 a detail which hints1 at     
least1 at the subtlety of workmanship   
with which those ancient critics1 who   
had opportunity of knowing1 credited    
this early artist4  ,of this work itself
 nothing remains1 but we possess perhaps
 some imitations of it4  ,it is probably
 this most sacred possession of the     
place which the coins of ,miletus       
display from various points of view1    
though1 of course1 only on the smallest 
scale4  ,but a little bronze figure in  

the ,british ,museum1 with the stag in  
the right hand1 and in the closed left  
hand the hollow where the bow has       
passed1 is thought to have been derived 
from it2 and its points of style are    
still further illustrated by a marble   
head of similar character1 also         
preserved in the ,british ,museum1 which
 has many marks of having been copied in
 marble from an original in bronze4  ,a 
really ancient work1 or only archaic1 it
 certainly expresses1 together with all 
that careful patience and hardness of   
workmanship which is characteristic of  
an early age1 a certain ,apolline #bdf  
strength--a pride and dignity in the    
features1 so steadily composed1 below   
the stiff1 archaic arrangement of the   
long1 fillet-bound locks4  ,it is the   
exact expression of that midway         
position1 between an involved1 archaic  
stiffness and the free play of          
individual talent1 which is attributed  
to ,canachus by the ancients4  ,his     
,apollo of cedar-wood1 which inhabited a

 temple near the gates of ,thebes1 on a 
rising ground1 below which flowed the   
river ,ismenus1 had1 according to       
,pausanias1 so close a resemblance to   
that at ,miletus that it required little
 skill in one who had seen either of    
them to tell what master had designed   
the other4  ,still1 though of the same  
dimensions1 while one was of cedar the  
other was of bronze-- a reproduction one
 of the other we may believe1 but with  
the modifications1 according to the use 
of good workmen even so early as        
,canachus1 due to the difference of the 
material4  ,for the likeness between the
 two statues1 it is to be observed1 is  
not the mechanical likeness of those    
earlier images represented by the       
statuette of ,tenea1 which spoke1 not of
 the style of one master1 but only of   
the manufacture of one workshop4  ,in   
those two images of ,canachus--the      
,milesian ,apollo and the ,apollo of the
 ,ismenus--there were resemblances amid 
differences2 resemblances1 as we may    

understand1 in what was nevertheless    
peculiar1 novel1 and even innovating in 
the precise conception of the god       
therein set forth2 #bdg resemblances    
which spoke directly of a single        
workman1 though working freely1 of one  
hand and one fancy1 a likeness in that  
which could by no means be truly copied 
by another2 it was the beginning of what
 we mean by the style of a master4      
,together with all the novelty1 the     
innovating and improving skill1 which   
has made ,canachus remembered1 an       
attractive1 old-world1 deeply-felt      
mysticity seems still to cling about    
what we read of these early works4      
,that piety1 that religiousness of      
temper1 of which the people of ,sicyon  
had given proof so oddly in their       
dealings with those old carvers1        
,scyllis and ,dipoenus1 still survives  
in the master who was chosen to embody  
his own novelty of idea and execution in
 so sacred a place as the shrine of     
,apollo at ,miletus4 ,something still   

conventional1 combined1 in these images1
 with the effect of great artistic      
skill1 with a palpable beauty and power1
 seems to have given them a really      
imposing religious character4 ,escaping 
from the rigid uniformities of the      
stricter archaic style1 he is still     
obedient to certain hieratic influences 
and traditions2 he is still reserved1   
self-controlled1 composed or even       
mannered a little1 as in some sacred    
presence1 with the severity and strength
 of the early style4  ,but there are    
certain notices which seem to show that 
he had his purely poetical motives also1
 as befitted his age2 motives which     
prompted works of mere fancy1 like his  
,muse #bdh with the ,lyre1 symbolising  
the chromatic style of music2           
,aristocles his brother1 and ,ageladas  
of ,argos executing each another statue 
to symbolise the two other orders of    
music4  ,the ,riding ,boys1 of which    
,pliny speaks1 like the mechanical stag 
on the hand of ,apollo1 which he also   

describes1 were perhaps mechanical toys1
 as ,benvenuto ,cellini made toys4  ,in 
the ,beardless ,aesculapius1 again--the 
image of the god of healing1 not merely 
as the son of ,apollo1 but as one ever  
young--it is the poetry of sculpture    
that we see4  ,this poetic feeling1 and 
the piety of temper so deeply impressed 
upon his images of ,apollo1 seem to have
 been combined in his chryselephantine  
,aphrodite1 as we see it very distinctly
 in ,pausanias1 enthroned with an apple 
in one hand and a poppy in the other1   
and with the sphere1 or polos1 about the
 head1 in its quaint little temple or   
chapel at ,sicyon1 with the hierokpis1  
or holy garden1 about it4  ,this is what
 ,canachus has to give us instead of the
 strange1 symbolical cone1 with the     
lights burning around it1 in its dark   
cell--the form under which ,aphrodite   
was worshipped at her famous shrine of  
,paphos4  ,a woman to keep it fair1     
,pausanias tells us1 who may go in to no
 man1 and a virgin called the           

water-bearer1 who holds her priesthood  
for a year1 are alone permitted to enter
 the sacred place4  ,all others may gaze
 upon the #bdi goddess and offer their  
prayers from the doorway4  ,the seated  
image is the work of ,canachus of       
,sicyon4  ,it is wrought in ivory and   
gold1 bearing a sphere on the head1 and 
having in the one hand a poppy and in   
the other an apple4  ,they offer to her 
the thighs of all victims excepting     
swine1 burning them upon sticks of      
juniper1 together with leaves of        
lad's-love1 a herb found in the         
enclosure without1 and nowhere else in  
the world4  ,its leaves are smaller than
 those of the beech and larger than the 
ilex2 in form they are like an oak-leaf1
 and in colour resemble most the leaves 
of the poplar1 one side dusky1 the other
 white4  ,that is a place one would     
certainly have liked to see4  ,so real  
it seems6--the seated image1 the people 
gazing through the doorway1 the fragrant
 odour4  ,must it not still be in secret

 keeping somewhere8-- we are almost     
tempted to ask2 maintained by some few  
solitary worshippers1 surviving from age
 to age1 among the villagers of ,achaia4
  ,in spite of many obscurities1 it may 
be said that what we know1 and what we  
do not know1 of ,canachus illustrates   
the amount and sort of knowledge we     
possess about the artists of the period 
which he best represents4  ,a navet--a  
freshness1 an early-aged simplicity and 
sincerity--that1 we may believe1 had we 
their works before us1 would be for us  
their chief aesthetic charm4  ,cicero   
remarked that1 in contrast with #bej the
 works of the next generation of        
sculptors1 there was a stiffness in the 
statues of ,canachus which made them    
seem untrue to nature--,canachi signa   
rigidiora esse quam ut imitentur        
veritatem4  ,but ,cicero belongs to an  
age surfeited with artistic licence1 and
 likely enough to undervalue the        
severity of the early masters1 the great
 motive struggling still with the minute

 and rigid hand4  ,so the critics of the
 last century ignored1 or underrated1   
the works of the earlier ,tuscan        
sculptors4  ,in what ,cicero calls      
rigidity of ,canachus1 combined with    
what we seem to see of his poetry of    
conception1 his freshness1 his          
solemnity1 we may understand no really  
repellent hardness1 but only that       
earnest patience of labour1 the         
expression of which is constant in all  
the best work of an early time1 in the  
,david of ,verrocchio1 for instance1 and
 in the early ,flemish painters1 as it  
is natural and becoming in youth itself4
  ,the very touch of the struggling hand
 was upon the work2 but with the        
interest1 the half-repressed animation  
of a great promise1 fulfilled1 as we now
 see1 in the magnificent growth of      
,greek sculpture in the succeeding age2 
which1 however1 for those earlier       
workmen1 meant the loins girt and the   
half-folded wings not yet quite at home 
in the air1 with a gravity1 a discretion

 and reserve1 the charm of which1 if    
felt in quiet1 is hardly less than that 
of the wealth and fulness of final      
mastery4  ,,notes  #bbh4 99,chrysoun is 
the word ,pausanias uses1 of the cup in 
the hand of ,dionysus--the wood was     
plated with gold4  ,liddell and ,scott  
definition of the adjective chryseos3   
golden1 of gold1 inlaid with gold4      
#bcc4 99,pausanias1 in recording the    
invention of casting1 uses the word     
echneusanto1 but does not tell us       
whether the model was of wax1 as in the 
later process2 which1 however1 is       
believed to have been the case4  ,for an
 animated account of the modern         
process3--the core of plaister roughly  
presenting the designed form2 the       
modelling of the waxen surface thereon1 
like the skin upon the muscles1 with all
 its delicate touches--vein and eyebrow2
 the hardening of the plaister envelope1
 layer over layer1 upon this delicately 
finished model2 the melting of the way  
by heat1 leaving behind it in its place 

the finished design in vacuo1 which the 
molten stream of metal subsequently     
fills2 released finally1 after cooling1 
from core and envelope--see ,fortnum's  
,handbook of ,bronzes1 ,chapter ,,ii4   
,liddell and ,scott definition of the   
noun chn and the verb chnnymi3 a        
melting-pit1 a mould to cast in4 4 4 4  
to throw or heap up 4 4 4 to cover with 
a mound of earth1 bury4  #bcd4          
,transliteration3 kedrou zdia chrys     
dinthismena4  ,pater's translation3     
,figures of cedar-wood1 partly incrusted
 with gold4 ,the root verb anthiz means 
to strew with flowers444and so1 to dye  
with colours4  7,liddell and ,scott47   
,pausanias1 ,description of ,greece1    
,book ,,vi1 ,chapter #ai1 ,section #ab4 
,pausaniae ,graeciae ,descriptio1 #c    
vols4 ,f4 ,spiro4 ,leipzig1 ,teubner4   
#aijc4  #bcg4 ,daidaleos means cunningly
 or curiously wrought2 it is derived    
from the verb daidall1 to work          
cunningly1 work with curious art4444    
7,liddell and ,scott47  #bdb4 ,the verb 

toreu means to bore through 4 4 4 to    
work in relief 4 4 4 to chase4          
7,liddell and ,scott47  #bdd4 99,now    
preserved at ,munich4    ,,the ,,marbles
 ,,of ,,aegina  #bea ,i ,,have dwelt the
 more emphatically upon the purely      
sensuous aspects of early ,greek art1 on
 the beauty and charm of its mere       
material and workmanship1 the grace of  
hand in it1 its chryselephantine        
character1 because the direction of all 
the more general criticism since        
,lessing has been1 somewhat one-sidedly1
 towards the ideal or abstract element  
in ,greek art1 towards what we may call 
its philosophical aspect4  ,and1 indeed1
 this philosophical element1 a tendency 
to the realisation of a certain inward1 
abstract1 intellectual ideal1 is also at
 work in ,greek art--a tendency which1  
if that chryselephantine influence is   
called ,ionian1 may rightly be called   
the ,dorian1 or1 in reference to its    
broader scope1 the ,european influence2 
and this ,european influence or tendency

 is really towards the impression of an 
order1 a sanity1 a proportion in all    
work1 which shall reflect the inward    
order of human reason1 now fully        
conscious of itself1--towards a sort of 
art in which the record and delineation 
of humanity1 as active in the wide1     
inward world of #beb its passion and    
thought1 has become more or less        
definitely the aim of all artistic      
handicraft4  ,in undergoing the action  
of these two opposing influences1 and by
 harmonising in itself their antagonism1
 ,greek sculpture does but reflect the  
larger movements of more general ,greek 
history4  ,all through ,greek history we
 may trace1 in every sphere of the      
activity of the ,greek mind1 the action 
of these two opposing tendencies1--the  
centrifugal and centripetal tendencies1 
as we may perhaps not too fancifully    
call them4  ,there is the centrifugal1  
the ,ionian1 the ,asiatic tendency1     
flying from the centre1 working with    
little forethought straight before it1  

in the development of every thought and 
fancy2 throwing itself forth in endless 
play of undirected imagination2         
delighting in brightness and colour1 in 
beautiful material1 in changeful form   
everywhere1 in poetry1 in philosophy1   
even in architecture and its subordinate
 crafts4  ,in the social and political  
order it rejoices in the freest action  
of local and personal influences2 its   
restless versatility drives it towards  
the assertion of the principles of      
separatism1 of individualism--the       
separation of state from state1 the     
maintenance of local religions1 the     
development of the individual in that   
which is most peculiar and individual in
 him4  ,its claim is in its grace1 its  
freedom and happiness1 its lively       
interest1 the variety of its gifts to   
civilisation2 its weakness is           
self-evident1 and was what made the     
unity of ,greece impossible4 #bec ,it is
 this centrifugal tendency which ,plato 
is desirous to cure1 by maintaining1    

over against it1 the ,dorian influence  
of a severe simplification everywhere1  
in society1 in culture1 in the very     
physical nature of man4  ,an enemy      
everywhere to variegation1 to what is   
cunning or myriad-minded1 he sets       
himself1 in mythology1 in music1 in     
poetry1 in every kind of art1 to enforce
 the ideal of a sort of ,parmenidean    
abstractness and calm4  ,this           
exaggerated ideal of ,plato's is1       
however1 only the exaggeration of that  
salutary ,european tendency1 which1     
finding human mind the most absolutely  
real and precious thing in the world1   
enforces everywhere the impress of its  
sanity1 its profound reflexions upon    
things as they really are1 its sense of 
proportion4  ,it is the centripetal     
tendency1 which links individuals to    
each other1 states to states1 one period
 of organic growth to another1 under the
 reign of a composed1 rational1         
self-conscious order1 in the universal  
light of the understanding4  ,whether or

 not this temper1 so clearly traceable  
as a distinct influence in the course of
 ,greek development1 was indeed the     
peculiar gift of the ,dorian race1      
certainly that race is the best         
illustration of it1 in its love of      
order1 of that severe composition       
everywhere1 of which the ,dorian style  
of architecture is1 as it were1 a       
material symbol--in its constant        
aspiration after what is earnest and    
dignified1 as exemplified most evidently
 in the religion of its predilection1   
the religion of ,apollo4 #bed ,for as   
that ,ionian influence1 the             
chryselephantine influence1 had its     
patron in ,hephaestus1 belonged to the  
religion of ,hephaestus1 husband of     
,aphrodite1 the representation of       
exquisite workmanship1 of fine art in   
metal1 coming from the ,east in close   
connexion with the artificial           
furtherance1 through dress and personal 
ornament1 of the beauty of the body2 so 
that ,dorian or ,european influence     

embodied itself in the religion of      
,apollo4  ,for the development of this  
or that mythological conception1 from   
its root in fact or law of the physical 
world1 is very various in its course4   
,thus1 ,demeter1 the spirit of life in  
grass1--and ,dionysus1 the spiritual    
form of life in the green sap1- -remain1
 to the end of men's thoughts and       
fancies about them1 almost wholly       
physical4  ,but ,apollo1 the spiritual  
form of sunbeams1 early becomes 7the    
merely physical element in his          
constitution being almost wholly        
suppressed7 exclusively ethical1--the   
spiritual form of inward or intellectual
 light1 in all its manifestations4  ,he 
represents all those specially ,european
 ideas1 of a reasonable1 personal       
freedom1 as understood in ,greece2 of a 
reasonable polity2 of the sanity of soul
 and body1 through the cure of disease  
and of the sense of sin2 of the         
perfecting of both by reasonable        
exercise or ascsis2 his religion is a   

sort of embodied equity1 its aim the    
realisation of fair reason and just     
consideration of the truth of things    
everywhere4  #bee ,i cannot dwell on the
 general aspects of this subject        
further1 but ,i would remark that in art
 also the religion of ,apollo was a     
sanction of1 and an encouragement       
towards the true valuation of humanity1 
in its sanity1 its proportion1 its      
knowledge of itself4 ,following after   
this1 ,greek art attained1 in its       
reproductions of human form1 not merely 
to the profound expression of the       
highest indwelling spirit of human      
intelligence1 but to the expression also
 of the great human passions1 of the    
powerful movements as well as of the    
calm and peaceful order of the soul1 as 
finding in the affections of the body a 
language1 the elements of which the     
artist might analyse1 and then combine1 
order1 and recompose4  ,in relation to  
music1 to art1 to all those matters over
 which the ,muses preside1 ,apollo1 as  

distinct from ,hermes1 seems to be the  
representative and patron of what ,i may
 call reasonable music1 of a great      
intelligence at work in art1 of beauty  
attained through the conscious          
realisation of ideas4  ,they were the   
cities of the ,dorian affinity which    
early brought to perfection that most   
characteristic of ,greek institutions1  
the sacred dance1 with the whole        
gymnastic system which was its natural  
accompaniment4  ,and it was the familiar
 spectacle of that living sculpture     
which developed1 perhaps1 beyond        
everything else in the ,greek mind1 at  
its best1 a sense of the beauty and     
significance of the human form4  ,into  
that bewildered1 dazzling world of      
minute #bef and dainty handicraft--the  
chamber of ,paris1 the house of         
,alcinous--in which the form of man     
alone had no adequate place1 and as yet1
 properly1 was not1 this ,dorian1       
,european1 ,apolline influence          
introduced the intelligent and spiritual

 human presence1 and gave it its true   
value1 a value consistently maintained  
to the end of ,greek art1 by a steady   
hold upon and preoccupation with the    
inward harmony and system of human      
personality4  ,in the works of the      
,asiatic tradition--the marbles of      
,nineveh1 for instance--and1 so far as  
we can see1 in the early ,greek art1    
which derives from it1 as1 for example1 
in the archaic remains from ,cyprus1 the
 form of man is inadequate1 and below   
the measure of perfection attained there
 in the representation of the lower     
forms of life2 just as in the little    
reflective art of ,japan1 so lovely in  
its reproduction of flower or bird1 the 
human form alone comes almost as a      
caricature1 or is at least untouched by 
any higher ideal4  ,to that ,asiatic    
tradition1 then1 with its perfect       
craftsmanship1 its consummate skill in  
design1 its power of hand1 the ,dorian1 
the ,european1 the true ,hellenic       
influence brought a revelation of the   

soul and body of man4  ,and we come at  
last in the marbles of ,aegina to a     
monument1 which bears upon it the full  
expression of this humanism1--to a work1
 in which the presence of man1 realised 
with complete mastery of hand1 and with 
clear apprehension of how he actually is
 and moves and looks1 #beg is touched   
with the freshest sense of that         
new-found1 inward value2 the energy of  
worthy passions purifying1 the light of 
his reason shining through1 bodily forms
 and motions1 solemnised1 attractive1   
pathetic4  ,we have reached an extant   
work1 real and visible1 of an importance
 out of all proportion to anything      
actually remaining of earlier art1 and  
justifying1 by its direct interest and  
charm1 our long prelude on the          
beginnings of ,greek sculpture1 while   
there was still almost nothing actually 
to see4  ,these fifteen figures of      
,parian marble1 of about two-thirds the 
size of life1 forming1 with some        
deficiencies1 the east and west gables  

of a temple of ,athene1 the ruins of    
which still stand on a hill-side by the 
sea-shore1 in a remote part of the      
island of ,aegina1 were discovered in   
the year #ahaa1 and having been         
purchased by the ,crown ,prince1        
afterwards ,king ,louis ,i41 of         
,bavaria1 are now the great ornament of 
the ,glyptothek1 or ,museum of          
,sculpture1 at ,munich4  ,the group in  
each gable consisted of eleven figures2 
and of the fifteen larger figures       
discovered1 five belong to the eastern1 
ten to the western gable1 so that the   
western gable is complete with the      
exception of one figure1 which should   
stand in the place to which1 as the     
groups are arranged at ,munich1 the     
beautiful figure1 bending down towards  
the fallen leader1 has been actually    
transferred from the eastern gable2     
certain fragments showing that the lost 
figure #beh corresponded essentially to 
this1 which has therefore been removed  
hither from its place in the less       

complete group to which it properly     
belongs4  ,for there are two legitimate 
views or motives in the restoration of  
ancient sculpture1 the antiquarian and  
the aesthetic1 as they may be termed    
respectively2 the former limiting itself
 to the bare presentation of what       
actually remains of the ancient work1   
braving all shock to living eyes from   
the mutilated nose or chin2 while the   
latter1 the aesthetic method1 requires  
that1 with the least possible addition  
or interference1 by the most skilful    
living hand procurable1 the object shall
 be made to please1 or at least content 
the living eye seeking enjoyment and not
 a bare fact of science1 in the         
spectacle of ancient art4  ,this latter 
way of restoration1--the aesthetic      
way1--followed by the famous            
connoisseurs of the ,renaissance1 has   
been followed here2 and the visitor to  
,munich actually sees the marbles of    
,aegina1 as restored after a model by   
the tasteful hand of ,thorwaldsen4      

,different views have1 however1 been    
maintained as to the right grouping of  
the figures2 but the composition of the 
two groups was apparently similar1 not  
only in general character but in a      
certain degree of correspondence of all 
the figures1 each to each4  ,and in both
 the subject is a combat1--a combat     
between ,greeks and ,asiatics concerning
 the body of a ,greek hero1 fallen among
 the foemen1--an incident so            
characteristic #bei of the poetry of the
 heroic wars4 ,in both cases1 ,athene1  
whose temple this sculpture was designed
 to decorate1 intervenes1 her image     
being complete in the western gable1 the
 head and some other fragments remaining
 of that in the eastern4 ,the incidents 
represented were probably chosen with   
reference to the traditions of ,aegina  
in connexion with the ,trojan war4      
,greek legend is ever deeply coloured by
 local interest and sentiment1 and this 
monument probably celebrates ,telamon1  
and ,ajax his son1 the heroes who       

established the fame of ,aegina1 and    
whom the united ,greeks1 on the morning 
of the battle of ,salamis1 in which the 
,aeginetans were distinguished above all
 other ,greeks in bravery1 invited as   
their peculiar1 spiritual allies from   
that island4  ,accordingly1 antiquarians
 are1 for the most part1 of opinion that
 the eastern gable represents the combat
 of ,hercules 7,hercules being the only 
figure among the warriors certainly to  
be identified71 and of his comrade      
,telamon1 against ,laomedon of ,troy1 in
 which1 properly1 ,hercules was leader1 
but here1 as squire and archer1 is made 
to give the first place to ,telamon1 as 
the titular hero of the place4 ,opinion 
is not so definite regarding the subject
 of the western gable1 which1 however1  
probably represents the combat between  
the ,greeks and ,trojans over the body  
of ,patroclus4  ,in both cases an       
,aeginetan hero1 in the eastern gable   
,telamon1 in the western #bfj his son   
,ajax1 is represented in the extreme    

crisis of battle1 such a crisis as1     
according to the deep religiousness of  
the ,greeks of that age1 was a motive   
for the visible intervention of the     
goddess in favour of her chosen people4 
,opinion as to the date of the work1    
based mainly on the characteristics of  
the work itself1 has varied within a    
period ranging from the middle of the   
sixtieth to the middle of the seventieth
 ,olympiad1 inclining on the whole to   
the later date1 in the period of the    
,ionian revolt against ,persia1 and a   
few years earlier than the battle of    
,marathon4  ,in this monument1 then1 we 
have a revelation in the sphere of art1 
of the temper which made the victories  
of ,marathon and ,salamis possible1 of  
the true spirit of ,greek chivalry as   
displayed in the ,persian war1 and in   
the highly ideal conception of its      
events1 expressed in ,herodotus and     
approving itself minutely to the minds  
of the ,greeks1 as a series of affairs  
in which the gods and heroes of old time

 personally intervened1 and that not as 
mere shadows4  ,it was natural that the 
high-pitched temper1 the stress of      
thought and feeling1 which ended in the 
final conflict of ,greek liberty with   
,asiatic barbarism1 should stimulate    
quite a new interest in the poetic      
legends of the earlier conflict between 
them in the heroic age4  ,as the events 
of the ,crusades and the chivalrous     
spirit of that period1 leading men's    
minds back to ponder over the deeds of  
#bfa ,charlemagne and his paladins1 gave
 birth to the composition of the ,song  
of ,roland1 just so this ,aeginetan     
sculpture displays the ,greeks of a     
later age feeding their enthusiasm on   
the legend of a distant past1 and is a  
link between ,herodotus and ,homer4  ,in
 those ideal figures1 pensive a little  
from the first1 we may suppose1 with the
 shadowiness of a past age1 we may yet  
see how ,greeks of the time of          
,themistocles really conceived of       
,homeric knight and squire4  ,some other

 fragments of art1 also discovered in   
,aegina1 and supposed to be contemporary
 with the temple of ,athene1 tend1 by   
their roughness and immaturity1 to show 
that this small building1 so united in  
its effect1 so complete in its          
simplicity1 in the symmetry of its two  
main groups of sculpture1 was the       
perfect artistic flower of its time and 
place4  ,yet within the limits of this  
simple unity1 so important an element in
 the charm and impressiveness of the    
place1 a certain inequality of design   
and execution may be detected2 the hand 
of a slightly earlier master1 probably1 
having worked in the western gable1     
while the master of the eastern gable   
has gone some steps farther than he in  
fineness and power of expression2 the   
stooping figure of the supposed         
,ajax1--belonging to the western group  
in the present arrangement1 but really  
borrowed1 as ,i said1 from the          
eastern1--which has in it something     
above the type of the figures grouped   

round it1 being this later sculptor's   
work4  ,yet ,overbeck1 #bfb who has     
elaborated the points of this           
distinction of styles1 commends without 
reserve the technical excellence of the 
whole work1 executed1 as he says1 with  
an application of all known instruments 
of sculpture2 the delicate calculation  
of weight in the composition of the     
several parts1 allowing the artist to   
dispense with all artificial supports1  
and to set his figures1 with all their  
complex motions1 and yet with plinths   
only three inches thick1 into the basis 
of the gable2 the bold use of the       
chisel1 which wrought the shield1 on the
 freely-held arm1 down to a thickness of
 scarcely three inches2 the fineness of 
the execution even in parts of the work 
invisible to an ordinary spectator1 in  
the diligent finishing of which the only
 motive of the artist was to satisfy his
 own conviction as to the nature of good
 sculpture4  ,it was the ,dorian cities1
 ,plato tells us1 which first shook off 

the false ,asiatic shame1 and stripped  
off their clothing for purposes of      
exercise and training in the gymnasium2 
and it was part of the ,dorian or       
,european influence to assert the value 
in art of the unveiled and healthy human
 form4  ,and here the artists of        
,aegina1 notwithstanding ,homer's       
description of ,greek armour1 glowing   
like the sun itself1 have displayed the 
,greek warriors--,greek and ,trojan     
alike--not in the equipments they would 
really have worn1 but naked1--flesh     
fairer than that golden armour1 though  
more subdued and tranquil #bfc in effect
 on the spectator1 the undraped form of 
man coming like an embodiment of the    
,hellenic spirit1 and as an element of  
temperance1 into the somewhat gaudy     
spectacle of ,asiatic1 or archaic art4  
,paris alone bears his dainty trappings1
 characteristically1--a coat of golden  
scale-work1 the scales set on a lining  
of canvas or leather1 shifting deftly   
over the delicate body beneath1 and     

represented on the gable by the gilding1
 or perhaps by real gilt metal4  ,it was
 characteristic also of that more truly 
,hellenic art--another element of its   
temperance--to adopt the use of marble  
in its works2 and the material of these 
figures is the white marble of ,paros4  
,traces of colour have1 however1 been   
found on certain parts of them4 ,the    
outer surfaces of the shields and       
helmets have been blue2 their inner     
parts and the crests of the helmets1    
red2 the hem of the drapery of ,athene1 
the edges of her sandals1 the plinths on
 which the figures stand1 also red2 one 
quiver red1 another blue2 the eyes and  
lips1 too1 coloured2 perhaps1 the hair4 
,there was just a limited and           
conventionalised use of colour1 in      
effect1 upon the marble4  ,and although 
the actual material of these figures is 
marble1 its coolness and massiveness    
suiting the growing severity of ,greek  
thought1 yet they have their            
reminiscences of work in bronze1 in a   

certain slimness and tenuity1 a certain 
dainty lightness of poise in their      
grouping1 which #bfd remains in the     
memory as a peculiar note of their      
style2 the possibility of such easy and 
graceful balancing being one of the     
privileges or opportunities of statuary 
in cast metal1 of that hollow casting in
 which the whole weight of the work is  
so much less than that of a work of     
equal size in marble1 and which permits 
so much wider and freer a disposition of
 the parts about its centre of gravity4 
,in ,aegina the tradition of metal-work 
seems to have been strong1 and ,onatas1 
whose name is closely connected with    
,aegina1 and who is contemporary with   
the presumably later portion of this    
monument1 was above all a worker in     
bronze4 ,here again1 in this lurking    
spirit of metal-work1 we have a new     
element of complexity in the character  
of these precious remains4 ,and then1 to
 compass the whole work in our          
imagination1 we must conceive yet       

another element in the conjoint effect2 
metal being actually mingled with the   
marble1 brought thus to its daintiest   
point of refinement1 as the little holes
 indicate1 bored into the marble figures
 for the attachment of certain          
accessories in bronze1--lances1 swords1 
bows1 the ,medusa's head on the aegis of
 ,athene1 and its fringe of little      
snakes4  ,and as there was no adequate  
consciousness and recognition of the    
essentials of man's nature in the older1
 oriental art1 so there is no pathos1 no
 humanity in the more special sense1 but
 a kind of hardness and cruelty rather1 
in those oft-repeated1 long1            
matter-of-fact processions1 on the #bfe 
marbles of ,nineveh1 of slave-like      
soldiers on their way to battle         
mechanically1 or of captives on their   
way to slavery or death1 for the        
satisfaction of the ,great ,king4       
,these ,greek marbles1 on the contrary1 
with that figure yearning forward so    
graciously to the fallen leader1 are    

deeply impressed with a natural pathetic
 effect--the true reflexion again of the
 temper of ,homer in speaking of war4   
,ares1 the god of war himself1 we must  
remember1 is1 according to his original 
import1 the god of storms1 of winter    
raging among the forests of the         
,thracian mountains1 a brother of the   
north wind4  ,it is only afterwards     
that1 surviving many minor gods of war1 
he becomes a leader of hosts1 a sort of 
divine knight and patron of knighthood2 
and1 through the old intricate connexion
 of love and war1 and that amorousness  
which is the universally conceded       
privilege of the soldier's life1 he     
comes to be very near ,aphrodite1--the  
paramour of the goddess of physical     
beauty4  ,so that the idea of a sort of 
soft dalliance mingles1 in his          
character1 so unlike that of the        
,christian leader1 ,saint ,george1 with 
the idea of savage1 warlike impulses2   
the fair1 soft creature suddenly raging 
like a storm1 to which1 in its various  

wild incidents1 war is constantly       
likened in ,homer2 the effects of       
delicate youth and of tempest blending1 
in ,ares1 into one expression1 not      
without that cruelty which mingles also1
 like the influence of some malign fate 
upon him1 with the finer #bff           
characteristics of ,achilles1 who is a  
kind of merely human double of ,ares4   
,and in ,homer's impressions of war the 
same elements are blent1--the delicacy1 
the beauty of youth1 especially1 which  
makes it so fit for purposes of love1   
spoiled and wasted by the random flood  
and fire of a violent tempest2 the      
glittering beauty of the ,greek war-men1
 expressed in so many brilliant figures1
 and the splendour of their equipments1 
in collision with the miserable         
accidents of battle1 and the grotesque  
indignities of death in it1 brought home
 to our fancy by a hundred pathetic     
incidents1--the sword hot with          
slaughter1 the stifling blood in the    
throat1 the spoiling of the body in     

every member severally4  ,he thinks of1 
and records1 at his early ending1 the   
distant home from which the boy came1   
who goes stumbling now1 just stricken so
 wretchedly1 his bowels in his hands4   
,he pushes the expression of this       
contrast to the macabre even1 suggesting
 the approach of those lower forms of   
life which await to- morrow the fair    
bodies of the heroes1 who strive and    
fall to-day like these in the ,aeginetan
 gables4  ,for it is just that two-fold 
sentiment which this sculpture has      
embodied4  ,the seemingly stronger hand 
which wrought the eastern gable has     
shown itself strongest in the rigid     
expression of the truth of pain1 in the 
mouth of the famous recumbent figure on 
the extreme left1 the lips just open at 
the corner1 and in the hard-shut lips of
 ,hercules4  ,otherwise1 #bfg these     
figures all smile faintly1 almost like  
the monumental effigies of the ,middle  
,age1 with a smile which1 even if it be 
but a result of the mere conventionality

 of an art still somewhat immature1 has 
just the pathetic effect of ,homer's    
conventional epithet tender1 when he    
speaks of the flesh of his heroes4  ,and
 together with this touching power there
 is also in this work the effect of an  
early simplicity1 the charm of its      
limitations4  ,for as art which has     
passed its prime has sometimes the charm
 of an absolute refinement in taste and 
workmanship1 so immature art also1 as we
 now see1 has its own attractiveness in 
the navet1 the freshness of spirit1     
which finds power and interest in simple
 motives of feeling1 and in the         
freshness of hand1 which has a sense of 
enjoyment in mechanical processes still 
performed unmechanically1 in the        
spending of care and intelligence on    
every touch4  ,as regards ,italian art1 
the sculpture and paintings of the      
earlier ,renaissance1 the aesthetic     
value of this navet is now well         
understood2 but it has its value in     
,greek sculpture also4  ,there1 too1 is 

a succession of phases through which the
 artistic power and purpose grew to     
maturity1 with the enduring charm of an 
unconventional1 unsophisticated         
freshness1 in that very early stage of  
it illustrated by these marbles of      
,aegina1 not less than in the work of   
,verrocchio and ,mino of ,fiesole4      
,effects of this we may note in that    
sculpture #bfh of ,aegina1 not merely in
 the simplicity1 or monotony even1 of   
the whole composition1 and in the exact 
and formal correspondence of one gable  
to the other1 but in the simple         
readiness with which the designer makes 
the two second spearmen kneel1 against  
the probability of the thing1 so as just
 to fill the space he has to compose in4
  ,the profiles are still not yet of the
 fully developed ,greek type1 but have a
 somewhat sharp prominence of nose and  
chin1 as in ,etrurian design1 in the    
early sculpture of ,cyprus1 and in the  
earlier ,greek vases2 and the general   
proportions of the body in relation to  

the shoulders are still somewhat        
archaically slim4  ,but then the workman
 is at work in dry earnestness1 with a  
sort of hard strength in detail1 a      
scrupulousness verging on stiffness1    
like that of an early ,flemish painter2 
he communicates to us his still youthful
 sense of pleasure in the experience of 
the first rudimentary difficulties of   
his art overcome4 ,and withal1 these    
figures have in them a true expression  
of life1 of animation4  ,in this        
monument of ,greek chivalry1 pensive and
 visionary as it may seem1 those old    
,greek knights live with a truth like   
that of ,homer or ,chaucer4  ,in a sort 
of stiff grace1 combined with a sense of
 things bright or sorrowful directly    
felt1 the ,aeginetan workman is as it   
were the ,chaucer of ,greek sculpture4  
,,the ,,age ,,of ,,athletic ,,prizemen3 
,a ,,chapter ,,in ,,greek ,,art  #bfi   
,,it is pleasant when1 looking at       
medieval sculpture1 we are reminded of  
that of ,greece2 pleasant likewise1     

conversely1 in the study of ,greek work 
to be put on thoughts of the ,middle    
,age4  ,to the refined intelligence1 it 
would seem1 there is something          
attractive in complex expression as     
such4  ,the ,marbles of ,aegina1 then1  
may remind us of the ,middle ,age where 
it passes into the early ,renaissance1  
of its most tenderly finished           
warrior-tombs at ,westminster or in     
,florence4  ,a less mature phase of     
medieval art is recalled to our fancy by
 a primitive ,greek work in the ,museum 
of ,athens1 ,hermes1 bearing a ram1 a   
little one1 upon his shoulders4  ,he    
bears it thus1 had borne it round the   
walls of ,tanagra1 as its citizens told1
 by way of purifying that place from the
 plague1 and brings to mind1 of course1 
later images of the ,good ,shepherd4    
,it is not the subject of the work1     
however1 but its style1 that sets us    
down in thought before some gothic #bgj 
cathedral front4  ,suppose the ,hermes  
,kriophorus lifted into one of those    

empty niches1 and the archaeologist will
 inform you rightly1 as at ,auxerre or  
,wells1 of ,italian influence1 perhaps  
of ,italian workmen1 and along with them
 indirect old ,greek influence coming   
northwards2 while the connoisseur       
assures us that all good art1 at its    
respective stages of development1 is in 
essential qualities everywhere alike4   
,it is observed1 as a note of imperfect 
skill1 that in that carved block of     
stone the animal is insufficiently      
detached from the shoulders of its      
bearer4  ,again1 how precisely gothic is
 the effect6  ,its very limitation as   
sculpture emphasises the function of the
 thing as an architectural ornament4    
,and the student of the ,middle ,age1 if
 it came within his range1 would be     
right in so esteeming it4  ,hieratic1   
stiff and formal1 if you will1 there is 
a knowledge of the human body in it     
nevertheless1 of the body1 and of the   
purely animal soul therein1 full of the 
promise of what is coming in that       

chapter of ,greek art which may properly
 be entitled1 ,the ,age of ,athletic    
,prizemen4  ,that rude image1 a work    
perhaps of ,calamis of shadowy fame1    
belongs to a phase of art still in      
grave-clothes or swaddling-bands1 still 
strictly subordinate to religious or    
other purposes not immediately its own4 
,it had scarcely to wait for the next   
generation to be superseded1 and we need
 not wonder that but little of it       
remains4 ,but that it was a widely      
active phase of art1 with #bga all the  
vigour of local varieties1 is attested  
by another famous archaic monument1 too 
full of a kind of sacred poetry to be   
passed by4  ,the reader does not need to
 be reminded that the ,greeks1 vivid as 
was their consciousness of this life1   
cared much always for the graves of the 
dead2 that to be cared for1 to be       
honoured1 in one's grave1 to have tymbos
 amphipolos1 a frequented tomb1 as      
,pindar says1 was a considerable motive 
with them1 even among the young4  ,in   

the study of its funeral monuments we   
might indeed follow closely enough the  
general development of art in ,greece   
from beginning to end4  ,the carved slab
 of the ancient shepherd of ,orchomenus1
 with his dog and rustic staff1 the stl 
of the ancient man-at-arms signed       
,aristocles1 rich originally with colour
 and gold and fittings of bronze1 are   
among the few still visible pictures1 or
 portraits1 it may be1 of the earliest  
,greek life4  ,compare them1 compare    
their expression1 for a moment1 with the
 deeply incised tombstones of the       
,brethren of ,st4 ,francis and their    
clients1 which still roughen the        
pavement of ,santa ,croce at ,florence1 
and recall the varnished polychrome     
decoration of those ,greek monuments in 
connexion with the worn-out blazonry of 
the funeral brasses of ,england and     
,flanders4 ,the ,shepherd1 the ,hoplite1
 begin a series continuous to the era of
 full ,attic mastery in its gentlest    
mood1 with a large and varied store of  

memorials of the dead1 which1 not so    
strangely as it may #bgb seem at first  
sight1 are like selected pages from     
daily domestic life4  ,see1 for         
instance1 at the ,british ,museum1      
,trypho1-- the son of ,eutychus1 one of 
the very pleasantest human likenesses   
there1 though it came from a cemetery--a
 son it was hard to leave in it at      
nineteen or twenty4  ,with all the      
suppleness1 the delicate muscularity1 of
 the flower of his youth1 his handsome  
face sweetened by a kind and simple     
heart1 in motion1 surely1 he steps forth
 from some shadowy chamber1 strigil in  
hand1 as of old1 and with his coarse    
towel or cloak of monumental drapery    
over one shoulder4  ,but whither        
precisely1 you may ask1 and as what1 is 
he moving there in the doorway8  ,well6 
in effect1 certainly1 it is the memory  
of the dead lad1 emerging thus from his 
tomb1--the still active soul1 or        
permanent thought1 of him1 as he most   
liked to be4  ,the ,harpy ,tomb1 so     

called from its mysterious winged       
creatures with human faces1 carrying the
 little shrouded souls of the dead1 is a
 work many generations earlier than that
 graceful monument of ,trypho4 ,it was  
from an ancient cemetery at ,xanthus in 
,lycia that it came to the ,british     
,museum4  ,the ,lycians were not a      
,greek people2 but1 as happened even    
with barbarians dwelling on the coast of
 ,asia ,minor1 they became lovers of the
 ,hellenic culture1 and ,xanthus1 their 
capital1 as may be judged from the      
beauty of its ruins1 managed to have a  
considerable portion in ,greek art1     
though infusing it #bgc with a certain  
,asiatic colour4  ,the frugally designed
 frieze of the ,harpy ,tomb1 in the     
lowest possible relief1 might fairly be 
placed between the monuments of ,assyria
 and those primitive ,greek works among 
which it now actually stands4  ,the     
stiffly ranged figures in any other than
 strictly archaic work would seem       
affected4  ,but what an undercurrent of 

refined sentiment1 presumably not       
,asiatic1 not barbaric1 lifting those   
who felt thus about death so early into 
the main stream of ,greek humanity1 and 
to a level of visible refinement in     
execution duly expressive of it6  ,in   
that old burial-place of ,xanthus1 then1
 a now nameless family1 or a single     
bereaved member of it1 represented there
 as a diminutive figure crouching on the
 earth in sorrow1 erected this monument1
 so full of family sentiment1 and of so 
much value as illustrating what is for  
us a somewhat empty period in the       
history of ,greek art1 strictly so      
called4  ,like the less conspicuously   
adorned tombs around it1 like the tombs 
in ,homer1 it had the form of a tower--a
 square tower about twenty-four feet    
high1 hollowed at the top into a small  
chamber1 for the reception1 through a   
little doorway1 of the urned ashes of   
the dead4  ,four sculptured slabs were  
placed at this level on the four sides  
of the tower in the manner of a frieze4 

,i said that the winged creatures with  
human faces carry the little souls of   
the dead4  ,the interpretation of these 
mystic #bgd imageries is1 in truth1     
debated4  ,but in face of them1 and     
remembering how the sculptors and       
glass-painters of the ,middle ,age      
constantly represented the souls of the 
dead as tiny bodies1 one can hardly     
doubt as to the meaning of these        
particular details which1 repeated on   
every side1 seem to give the key-note of
 the whole composition499  ,those       
infernal1 or celestial1 birds1 indeed1  
are not true to what is understood to be
 the harpy form4  ,call them sirens1    
rather4  ,people1 and not only old      
people1 as you know1 appear sometimes to
 have been quite charmed away by what   
dismays most of us4  ,the tiny shrouded 
figures which the sirens carry are      
carried very tenderly1 and seem to yearn
 in their turn towards those kindly     
nurses as they pass on their way to a   
new world4  ,their small stature1 as ,i 

said1 does not prove them infants1 but  
only new-born into that other life1 and 
contrasts their helplessness with the   
powers1 the great presences1 now around 
them4 ,a cow1 far enough from ,myron's  
famous illusive animal1 suckles her     
calf4  ,she is #bge one of almost any   
number of artistic symbols of new-birth1
 of the renewal of life1 drawn from a   
world which is1 after all1 so full of   
it4  ,on one side sits enthroned1 as    
some have thought1 the ,goddess of      
,death2 on the opposite side the        
,goddess of ,life1 with her flowers and 
fruit4  ,towards her three young maidens
 are advancing--were they still alive   
thus1 graceful1 virginal1 with their    
long1 plaited hair1 and long1           
delicately-folded tunics1 looking       
forward to carry on their race into the 
future8  ,presented severally1 on the   
other sides of the dark hollow within1  
three male persons--a young man1 an old 
man1 and a boy--seem to be bringing     
home1 somewhat wearily1 to their long   

home1 the young man1 his armour1 the    
boy1 and the old man1 like old          
,socrates1 the mortuary cock1 as they   
approach some shadowy1 ancient deity of 
the tomb1 or it may be the throned      
impersonation of their fathers of old4  
,the marble surface was coloured1 at    
least in part1 with fixtures of metal   
here and there4  ,the designer1 whoever 
he may have been1 was possessed         
certainly of some tranquillising second 
thoughts concerning death1 which may    
well have had their value for mourners2 
and he has expressed those thoughts1 if 
lispingly1 yet with no faults of        
commission1 with a befitting grace1 and1
 in truth1 at some points1 with         
something already of a really ,hellenic 
definition and vigour4 ,he really speaks
 to us in his work1 through his symbolic
 and #bgf imitative figures1--speaks to 
our intelligence persuasively4  ,the    
surviving thought of the lad ,trypho1   
returning from his tomb to the living1  
was of athletic character2 how he was   

and looked when in the flower of his    
strength4  ,and it is not of the dead   
but of the living1 who look and are as  
he1 that the artistic genius of this    
period is full4  ,it is a period1 truly1
 not of battles1 such as those          
commemorated in the ,marbles of ,aegina1
 but of more peaceful contests- -at     
,olympia1 at the ,isthmus1 at           
,delphi--the glories of which ,pindar   
sang in language suggestive of a sort of
 metallic beauty1 firmly cut and        
embossed1 like crowns of wild olive1 of 
parsley and bay1 in crisp gold4  ,first1
 however1 it had been necessary that    
,greece should win its liberty1         
political standing-ground1 and a really 
social air to breathe in1 with          
development of the youthful limbs4  ,of 
this process ,athens was the chief      
scene2 and the earliest notable         
presentment of humanity by ,athenian art
 was in celebration of those who had    
vindicated liberty with their lives--two
 youths again1 in a real incident1 which

 had1 however1 the quality of a poetic  
invention1 turning1 as it did1 on that  
ideal or romantic friendship which was  
characteristic of the ,greeks4  ,with   
something1 perhaps1 of hieratic         
convention1 yet presented as they really
 were1 as friends and admirers loved to 
think of them1 #bgg ,harmodius and      
,aristogeiton stood1 then1 soon after   
their heroic death1 side by side in     
bronze1 the work of ,antenor1 in a way  
not to be forgotten1 when1 thirty years 
afterwards1 a foreign tyrant1 ,xerxes1  
carried them away to ,persia4  ,kritios 
and ,nesistes were1 therefore1 employed 
for a reproduction of them1 which would 
naturally be somewhat more advanced in  
style4  ,in its turn this also          
disappeared4  ,the more curious student1
 however1 would still fancy he saw the  
trace of it--of that copy1 or of the    
original1 afterwards restored to        
,athens--here or there1 on vase or coin4
  ,but in fact the very images of the   
heroic youths were become but ghosts1   

haunting the story of ,greek art1 till  
they found or seemed to find a body once
 more when1 not many years since1 an    
acute observer detected1 as he thought1 
in a remarkable pair of statues in the  
,museum of ,naples1 if freed from       
incorrect restorations and rightly set  
together1 a veritable descendant from   
the original work of ,antenor4  ,with   
all their truth to physical form and    
movement1 with a conscious mastery of   
delineation1 they were1 nevertheless1 in
 certain details1 in the hair1 for      
instance1 archaic1 or rather            
archaistic--designedly archaic1 as from 
the hand of a workman1 for whom1 in this
 subject1 archaism1 the very touch of   
the ancient master1 had a sentimental or
 even a religious value4  ,and          
unmistakeably they were young assassins1
 moving1 with more than fraternal unity1
 the younger in advance of and covering 
#bgh the elder1 according to the account
 given by ,herodotus1 straight to their 
purpose2--against two wicked brothers1  

as you remember1 two good friends1 on   
behalf of the dishonoured sister of one 
of them4  ,archaeologists have loved to 
adjust them tentatively1 with various   
hypotheses as to the precise manner in  
which they thus went together4 ,meantime
 they have figured plausibly as         
representative of ,attic sculpture at   
the end of its first period1 still      
immature indeed1 but with a just claim  
to take breath1 so to speak1 having now 
accomplished some stades of the journey4
  ,those young heroes of ,athenian      
democracy1 then1 indicate already what  
place ,athens and ,attica will occupy in
 the supreme age of art soon to come2   
indicate also the subject from which    
that age will draw the main stream of   
its inspiration--living youth1 iconic in
 its exact portraiture1 or heroic as    
idealised in various degrees under the  
influence of great thoughts about       
it--youth in its self-denying contention
 towards great effects2 great           
intrinsically1 as at ,marathon1 or when 

,harmodius and ,aristogeiton fell1 or   
magnified by the force and splendour of 
,greek imagination with the stimulus of 
the national games4  ,for the most part1
 indeed1 it is not with youth taxed     
spasmodically1 like that of ,harmodius  
and ,aristogeiton1 and the necessity    
that was upon it1 that the ,athenian    
mind and heart are now busied2 but with 
youth #bgi in its voluntary labours1 its
 habitual and measured discipline1      
labour for its own sake1 or in wholly   
friendly contest for prizes which in    
reality borrow all their value from the 
quality of the receiver4  ,we are with  
,pindar1 you see1 in this athletic age  
of ,greek sculpture4 ,it is the period  
no longer of battle against a foreign   
foe1 recalling the ,homeric ideal1 nor  
against the tyrant at home1 fixing a    
dubious ideal for the future1 but of    
peaceful combat as a fine art--pulvis   
,olympicus4  ,anticipating the arts1    
poetry1 a generation before ,myron and  
,polycleitus1 had drawn already from the

 youthful combatants in the great       
national games the motives of those     
,odes1 the bracing words of which1 as ,i
 said1 are like work in fine bronze1 or1
 as ,pindar himself suggests1 in ivory  
and gold4  ,sung in the victor's supper-
 room1 or at the door of his abode1 or  
with the lyre and the pipe as they took 
him home in procession through the      
streets1 or commemorated the happy day1 
or in a temple where he laid up his     
crown1 ,pindar's songs bear witness to  
the pride of family or township in the  
physical perfection of son or citizen1  
and his consequent success in the long  
or the short foot-race1 or the foot-race
 in armour1 or the pentathlon1 or any   
part of it4  ,now on one1 now on        
another1 as the poet tells1 doth the    
grace that quickeneth 7quickeneth1      
literally1 on the race-course7 look     
favourably4  ,ariston hydr he declares  
indeed1 and the actual prize1 as we     
know1 was in itself of little or no     
worth--a #bhj cloak1 in the ,athenian   

games1 but at the greater games a mere  
handful of parsley1 a few sprigs of pine
 or wild olive4 ,the prize has1 so to   
say1 only an intellectual or moral      
value4  ,yet actually ,pindar's own     
verse is all of gold and wine and       
flowers1 is itself avowedly a flower1 or
 liquid nectar1 or the sweet fruit of   
his soul to men that are winners in the 
games4  ,as when from a wealthy hand one
 lifting a cup1 made glad within with   
the dew of the vine1 maketh gift thereof
 to a youth3--the keynote of ,pindar's  
verse is there6  ,this brilliant living 
youth of his day1 of the actual time1   
for whom1 as he says1 he awakes the     
clear-toned gale of song- -epen hoimon  
ligyn--that song mingles sometimes with 
the splendours of a recorded ancient    
lineage1 or with the legendary greatness
 of a remoter past1 its gods and heroes1
 patrons or ancestors1 it might be1 of  
the famous young man of the hour1 or    
with the glory and solemnity of the     
immortals themselves taking a share in  

mortal contests4  ,on such pretext he   
will tell a new story1 or bring to its  
last perfection by his manner of telling
 it1 his pregnancy and studied beauty of
 expression1 an old one4  ,the tale of  
,castor and ,polydeukes1 the appropriate
 patrons of virginal yet virile youth1  
starred and mounted1 he tells in all its
 human interest4  ,ample is the glory   
stored up for ,olympian winners4  ,and  
what ,pindar's contemporaries asked of  
him for the due appreciation1 the #bha  
consciousness1 of it1 by way of song1   
that the next generation sought1 by way 
of sculptural memorial in marble1 and   
above all1 as it seems1 in bronze4  ,the
 keen demand for athletic statuary1 the 
honour attached to the artist employed  
to make his statue at ,olympia1 or at   
home1 bear witness again to the pride   
with which a ,greek town1 the pathos1 it
 might be1 with which a family1 looked  
back to the victory of one of its       
members4  ,in the courts of ,olympia a  
whole population in marble and bronze   

gathered quickly1--a world of portraits1
 out of which1 as the purged and        
perfected essence1 the ideal soul1 of   
them1 emerged the ,diadumenus1 for      
instance1 the ,discobolus1 the so-called
 ,jason of the ,louvre4  ,olympia was in
 truth1 as ,pindar says again1 a mother 
of gold-crowned contests1 the mother of 
a large offspring4 ,all over ,greece the
 enthusiasm for gymnastic1 for the life 
of the gymnasia1 prevailed4  ,it was a  
gymnastic which1 under the happy        
conditions of that time1 was already    
surely what ,plato pleads for1 already  
one half music1 mousik1 a matter1       
partly1 of character and of the soul1 of
 the fair proportion between soul and   
body1 of the soul with itself4  ,who can
 doubt it who sees and considers the    
still irresistible grace1 the contagious
 pleasantness1 of the ,discobolus1 the  
,diadumenus1 and a few other precious   
survivals from the athletic age which   
immediately preceded the manhood of     
,pheidias1 between the ,persian and the 

,peloponnesian wars8  #bhb ,now1 this   
predominance of youth1 of the youthful  
form1 in art1 of bodily gymnastic       
promoting natural advantages to the     
utmost1 of the physical perfection      
developed thereby1 is a sign that       
essential mastery has been achieved by  
the artist--the power1 that is to say1  
of a full and free realisation4  ,for   
such youth1 in its very essence1 is a   
matter properly within the limits of the
 visible1 the empirical1 world2 and in  
the presentment of it there will be no  
place for symbolic hint1 none of that   
reliance on the helpful imagination of  
the spectator1 the legitimate scope of  
which is a large one1 when art is       
dealing with religious objects1 with    
what in the fulness of its own nature is
 not really expressible at all4  ,in any
 passable representation of the ,greek  
discobolus1 as in any passable          
representation of an ,english cricketer1
 there can be no successful evasion of  
the natural difficulties of the thing to

 be done--the difficulties of competing 
with nature itself1 or its maker1 in    
that marvellous combination of motion   
and rest1 of inward mechanism with the  
so smoothly finished surface and        
outline--finished ad unguem-- which     
enfold it4  ,of the gradual development 
of such mastery of natural detail1 a    
veritable counterfeit of nature1 the    
veritable rhythmus of the runner1 for   
example--twinkling heel and ivory       
shoulder--we have hints and traces in   
the historians of art4  ,one had        
attained the very turn and texture of   
the #bhc crisp locks1 another the very  
feel of the tense nerve and full-flushed
 vein1 while with another you saw the   
bosom of ,ladas expand1 the lips part1  
as if for a last breath ere he reached  
the goal4  ,it was like a child finding 
little by little the use of its limbs1  
the testimony of its senses1 at a       
definite moment4 ,with all its poetic   
impulse1 it is an age clearly of        
faithful observation1 of what we call   

realism1 alike in its iconic and heroic 
work2 alike in portraiture1 that is to  
say1 and in the presentment of divine or
 abstract types4  ,its workmen are close
 students now of the living form as     
such2 aim with success at an ever larger
 and more various expression of its     
details2 or replace a conventional      
statement of them by a real and lively  
one4  ,that it was thus is attested     
indirectly by the fact that they busied 
themselves1 seemingly by way of a tour  
de force1 and with no essential interest
 in such subject1 alien as it was from  
the pride of health which is            
characteristic of the gymnastic life1   
with the expression of physical pain1 in
 ,philoctetes1 for instance4  ,the      
adroit1 the swift1 the strong1 in full  
and free exercise of their gifts1 to the
 delight of others and of themselves1   
though their sculptural record has for  
the most part perished1 are specified in
 ancient literary notices as the        
sculptor's favourite subjects1 repeated1

 remodelled1 over and over again1 for   
the adornment of the actual scene of    
athletic success1 or the market-place at
 home of the distant ,northern or       
,sicilian town #bhd whence the prizeman 
had come4--,a countless series of       
popular illustrations to ,pindar's      
,odes6  ,and if art was still to        
minister to the religious sense1 it     
could only be by clothing celestial     
spirits also as nearly as possible in   
the bodily semblance of the various     
athletic combatants1 whose patrons      
respectively they were supposed to be4  
,the age to which we are come in the    
story of ,greek art presents to us      
indeed only a chapter of scattered      
fragments1 of names that are little     
more1 with but surmise of their original
 significance1 and mere reasonings as to
 the sort of art that may have occupied 
what are really empty spaces4  ,two     
names1 however1 connect themselves      
gloriously with certain extant works of 
art2 copies1 it is true1 at various     

removes1 yet copies of what is still    
found delightful through them1 and by   
copyists who for the most part were     
themselves masters4 ,through the        
variations of the copyist1 the restorer1
 the mere imitator1 these works are     
reducible to two famous original        
types--the ,discobolus or quoit-player1 
of ,myron1 the beau idal 7we may use    
that term for once justly7 of athletic  
motion2 and the ,diadumenus of          
,polycleitus1 as1 binding the fillet or 
crown of victory upon his head1 he      
presents the beau idal of athletic      
repose1 and almost begins to think4     
,myron was a native of ,eleutherae1 and 
a pupil of ,ageladas of ,argos4 ,there  
is nothing more to tell by way of       
positive detail of this so famous #bhe  
artist1 save that the main scene of his 
activity was ,athens1 now become the    
centre of the artistic as of all other  
modes of life in ,greece4               
,multiplicasse veritatem videtur1 says  
,pliny4  ,he was in fact an earnest     

realist or naturalist1 and rose to      
central perfection in the portraiture1  
the idealised portraiture1 of athletic  
youth1 from a mastery first of all in   
the delineation of inferior objects1 of 
little lifeless or living things4       
,think1 however1 for a moment1 how      
winning such objects are still1 as      
presented on ,greek coins2--the ear of  
corn1 for instance1 on those of         
,metapontum2 the microscopic            
cockle-shell1 the dolphins1 on the coins
 of ,syracuse4 ,myron1 then1 passes from
 pleasant truth of that kind to the     
delineation of the worthier sorts of    
animal life1--the ox1 the dog-- to      
nothing short of illusion in the        
treatment of them1 as ancient           
connoisseurs would have you understand4 
,it is said that there are thirty-six   
extant epigrams on his brazen cow4      
,that animal has her gentle place in    
,greek art1 from the ,siren tomb1       
suckling her young there1 as the type of
 eternal rejuvenescence1 onwards to the 

procession of the ,elgin frieze1 where1 
still breathing deliciously of the      
distant pastures1 she is led to the     
altar4  ,we feel sorry for her1 as we   
look1 so lifelike is the carved marble4 
,the sculptor who worked there1 whoever 
he may have been1 had profited doubtless
 by the study of ,myron's famous work4  
,for what purpose he made it1 does not  
appear2--as #bhf an architectural       
ornament2 or a votive offering2 perhaps 
only because he liked making it4  ,in   
hyperbolic epigram1 at any rate1 the    
animal breathes1 explaining sufficiently
 the point of ,pliny's phrase regarding 
,myron--,corporum curiosus4  ,and when  
he came to his main business with the   
quoit-player1 the wrestler1 the runner1 
he did not for a moment forget that they
 too were animals1 young animals1       
delighting in natural motion1 in free   
course through the yielding air1 over   
uninterrupted space1 according to       
,aristotle's definition of pleasure3 the
 unhindered exercise of one's natural   

force4  ,corporum tenus curiosus3--he   
was a curious workman as far as the     
living body is concerned4  ,pliny goes  
on to qualify that phrase by saying that
 he did not express the sensations of   
the mind-- animi sensus4  ,but just     
there1 in fact1 precisely in such       
limitation1 we find what authenticates  
,myron's peculiar value in the evolution
 of ,greek art4  ,it is of the essence  
of the athletic prizeman1 involved in   
the very ideal of the quoit-player1 the 
cricketer1 not to give expression to    
mind1 in any antagonism to1 or invasion 
of1 the body2 to mind as anything more  
than a function of the body1 whose      
healthful balance of functions it may so
 easily perturb2--to disavow that       
insidious enemy of the fairness of the  
bodily soul as such4  ,yet if the art of
 ,myron was but little occupied with the
 reasonable soul 7animus71 with those   
mental situations the expression of     
which1 though #bhg it may have a pathos 
and a beauty of its own1 is for the most

 part adverse to the proper expression  
of youth1 to the beauty of youth1 by    
causing it to be no longer youthful1 he 
was certainly a master of the animal or 
physical soul there 7anima72 how it is1 
how it displays itself1 as illustrated1 
for instance1 in the ,discobolus4 ,of   
voluntary animal motion the very soul is
 undoubtedly there4  ,we have but       
translations into marble of the original
 in bronze4  ,in that1 it was as if a   
blast of cool wind had congealed the    
metal1 or the living youth1 fixed him   
imperishably in that moment of rest     
which lies between two opposed motions1 
the backward swing of the right arm1 the
 movement forwards on which the left    
foot is in the very act of starting4    
,the matter of the thing1 the stately   
bronze or marble1 thus rests indeed2 but
 the artistic form of it1 in truth1     
scarcely more1 even to the eye1 than the
 rolling ball or disk1 may be said to   
rest1 at every moment of its            
course1--just metaphysically1 you know4 

,this mystery of combined motion and    
rest1 of rest in motion1 had involved1  
of course1 on the part of the sculptor  
who had mastered its secret1 long and   
intricate consideration4  ,archaic as it
 is1 primitive still in some respects1  
full of the primitive youth it          
celebrates1 it is1 in fact1 a learned   
work1 and suggested to a great analyst  
of literary style1 singular as it may   
seem1 the elaborate or contorted manner 
in literature #bhh of the later ,latin  
writers1 which1 however1 he finds       
laudable for its purpose4  ,yet with all
 its learned involution1 thus so oddly  
characterised by ,quintilian1 so        
entirely is this quality subordinated to
 the proper purpose of the ,discobolus  
as a work of art1 a thing to be looked  
at rather than to think about1 that it  
makes one exclaim still1 with the poet  
of athletes1--,the natural is ever      
best6--to de phya hapan kratiston4      
,perhaps that triumphant1 unimpeachable 
naturalness is after all the reason why1

 on seeing it for the first time1 it    
suggests no new view of the beauty of   
human form1 or point of view for the    
regarding of it2 is acceptable rather as
 embodying 7say1 in one perfect flower7 
all one has ever fancied or seen1 in old
 ,greece or on ,thames' side1 of the    
unspoiled body of youth1 thus delighting
 itself and others1 at that perfect1    
because unconscious1 point of           
good-fortune1 as it moves or rests just 
there for a moment1 between the animal  
and spiritual worlds4  ,grant them1 you 
pray in ,pindar's own words1 grant them 
with feet so light to pass through life6
  ,the face of the young man1 as you see
 him in the ,british ,museum for        
instance1 with fittingly inexpressive   
expression1 7look into1 look at the     
curves of1 the blossom-like cavity of   
the opened mouth7 is beautiful1 but not 
altogether virile4  ,the eyes1 the      
facial lines which they gather into one1
 seem ready to follow the coming motion 
of the discus as those of an onlooker   

might be2 #bhi but that head does not   
really belong to the discobolus4  ,to be
 assured of this you have but to compare
 with that version in the ,british      
,museum the most authentic of all       
derivations from the original1 preserved
 till lately at the ,palazzo ,massimi in
 ,rome4  ,here1 the vigorous head also1 
with the face1 smooth enough1 but spare1
 and tightly drawn over muscle and bone1
 is sympathetic with1 yields itself to1 
the concentration1 in the most literal  
sense1 of all beside2--is itself1 in    
very truth1 the steady centre of the    
discus1 which begins to spin2 as the    
source of will1 the source of the motion
 with which the discus is already on the
 wing1--that1 and the entire form4  ,the
 ,discobolus of the ,massimi ,palace    
presents1 moreover1 in the hair1 for    
instance1 those survivals of primitive  
manner which would mark legitimately    
,myron's actual pre- ,pheidiac          
standpoint2 as they are congruous also  
with a certain archaic1 a more than     

merely athletic1 spareness of form      
generally-- delightful touches of       
unreality in this realist of a great    
time1 and of a sort of conventionalism  
that has an attraction in itself4  ,was 
it a portrait8  ,that one can so much as
 ask the question is a proof how far the
 master1 in spite of his lingering      
archaism1 is come already from the      
antique marbles of ,aegina4  ,was it the
 portrait of one much-admired youth1 or 
rather the type1 the rectified essence1 
of many such1 at the most pregnant1 the 
essential1 moment1 of the #bij exercise 
of their natural powers1 of what they   
really were8  ,have we here1 in short1  
the sculptor ,myron's reasoned memory of
 many a quoit- player1 of a long flight 
of quoit-players2 as1 were he here1 he  
might have given us the cricketer1 the  
passing generation of cricketers1 sub   
specie eternitatis1 under the eternal   
form of art8  ,was it in that case a    
commemorative or votive statue1 such as 
,pausanias found scattered throughout   

,greece8  ,was it1 again1 designed to be
 part only of some larger decorative    
scheme1 as some have supposed of the    
,venus of ,melos1 or a work of genre as 
we say1 a thing intended merely to      
interest1 to gratify the taste1 with no 
further purpose8  ,in either case it may
 have represented some legendary        
quoit-player--,perseus at play with     
,acrisius fatally1 as one has suggested2
 or ,apollo with ,hyacinthus1 as ,ovid  
describes him in a work of poetic genre4
  ,and if the ,discobolus is1 after all1
 a work of genre--a work merely         
imitative of the detail of actual       
life--for the adornment of a room in a  
private house1 it would be only one of  
many such produced in ,myron's day4  ,it
 would be1 in fact1 one of the pristae  
directly attributed to him by ,pliny1   
little congruous as they may seem with  
the grandiose motions of his more       
characteristic work4  ,the pristae1 the 
sawyers1--a celebrated creation of the  
kind1--is supposed to have given its    

name to the whole class of like things4 
,no #bia age1 indeed1 since the         
rudiments of art were mastered1 can have
 been without such reproductions of the 
pedestrian incidents of every day1 for  
the mere pleasant exercise at once of   
the curiosity of the spectator and the  
imitative instinct of the producer4     
,the ,terra- ,cotta ,rooms of the       
,louvre and the ,british ,museum are a  
proof of it4 ,one such work indeed there
 is1 delightful in itself1 technically  
exquisite1 most interesting by its      
history1 which properly finds its place 
beside the larger1 the full-grown1      
physical perfection of the ,discobolus1 
one of whose alert younger brethren he  
may be1--the ,spinario namely1 the boy  
drawing a thorn from his foot1 preserved
 in the so rare1 veritable antique      
bronze at ,rome1 in the ,museum of the  
,capitol1 and well known in a host of   
ancient and modern reproductions4       
,there1 or elsewhere in ,rome1 tolerated
 in the general destruction of ancient  

sculpture--like the ,wolf of the        
,capitol1 allowed by way of heraldic    
sign1 as in modern ,siena1 or like the  
equestrian figure of ,marcus ,aurelius  
doing duty as ,charlemagne1--like those1
 but like very few other works of the   
kind1 the ,spinario remained1 well-known
 and in honour1 throughout the ,middle  
,age4  ,stories like that of ,ladas the 
famous runner1 who died as he reached   
the goal in a glorious foot- race of    
boys1 the subject of a famous work by   
,myron himself1 7the last breath1 as you
 saw1 was on the boy's lips7 were told  
of the half-grown bronze lad at the     
,capitol4 #bib  ,of necessity1 but      
fatally1 he must pause for a few moments
 in his course2 or the course is at     
length over1 or the breathless journey  
with some all-important tidings2 and    
now1 not till now1 he thinks of resting 
to draw from the sole of his foot the   
cruel thorn1 driven into it as he ran4  
,in any case1 there he still sits for a 
moment1 for ever1 amid the smiling      

admiration of centuries1 in the agility1
 in the perfect navet also as thus      
occupied1 of his sixteenth year1 to     
which the somewhat lengthy or attenuated
 structure of the limbs is conformable4 
,and then1 in this attenuation1 in the  
almost ,egyptian proportions1 in the    
shallowness of the chest and shoulders  
especially1 in the ,phoenician or old   
,greek sharpness and length of profile1 
and the long1 conventional1 wire-drawn  
hair of the boy1 arching formally over  
the forehead and round the neck1 there  
is something of archaism1 of that       
archaism which survives1 truly1 in      
,myron's own work1 blending with the    
grace and power of well-nigh the        
maturity of ,greek art4  ,the blending  
of interests1 of artistic alliances1 is 
certainly delightful4  ,polycleitus1 the
 other famous name of this period1 and  
with a fame justified by work we may    
still study1 at least in its immediate  
derivatives1 had also tried his hand    
with success in such subjects4 ,in the  

,astragalizontes1 for instance1 well    
known to antiquity in countless         
reproductions1 he had treated an        
incident of the every-day life of every 
age1 which ,plato sketches by the way4  
#bic ,myron1 by patience of genius1 had 
mastered the secret of the expression of
 movement1 had plucked out the very     
heart of its mystery4  ,polycleitus1 on 
the other hand1 is above all the master 
of rest1 of the expression of rest after
 toil1 in the victorious and crowned    
athlete1 ,diadumenus4  ,in many slightly
 varying forms1 marble versions of the  
original in bronze of ,delos1 the       
,diadumenus1 indifferently1             
mechanically1 is binding round his head 
a ribbon or fillet4  ,in the ,vaison    
copy at the ,british ,museum it was of  
silver4 ,that simple fillet is1 in fact1
 a diadem1 a crown1 and he assumes it as
 a victor2 but1 as ,i said1             
mechanically1 and1 prize in hand1 might 
be asking himself whether after all it  
had been worth while4  ,for the active  

beauty of the ,agonistes of which       
,myron's art is full1 we have here1     
then1 the passive beauty of the victor4 
,but the later incident1 the realisation
 of rest1 is actually in affinity with a
 certain earliness1 so to call it1 in   
the temper and work of ,polycleitus4    
,he is already something of a           
reactionary2 or pauses1 rather1 to      
enjoy1 to convey enjoyably to others1   
the full savour of a particular moment  
in the development of his craft1 the    
moment of the perfecting of restful     
form1 before the mere consciousness of  
technical mastery in delineation urges  
forward the art of sculpture to a       
bewildering infinitude of motion4  ,in  
opposition to the ease1 the freedom1 of 
others1 his aim is1 by a voluntary      
restraint in the exercise of such       
technical mastery1 #bid to achieve      
nothing less than the impeccable1 within
 certain narrow limits4  ,he still      
hesitates1 is self-exacting1 seems even 
to have checked a growing readiness of  

hand in the artists about him4  ,he was 
renowned as a graver1 found much to do  
with the chisel1 introducing many a fine
 after-thought1 when the rough-casting  
of his work was over4  ,he studied human
 form under such conditions as would    
bring out its natural features1 its     
static laws1 in their entirety1 their   
harmony2 and in an academic work1 so to 
speak1 no longer to be clearly          
identified in what may be derivations   
from it1 he claimed to have fixed the   
canon1 the common measure1 of perfect   
man4  ,yet with ,polycleitus certainly  
the measure of man was not yet the      
measure of an angel1 but still only that
 of mortal youth2 of youth1 however1 in 
that scrupulous and uncontaminate purity
 of form which recommended itself even  
to the ,greeks as befitting messengers  
from the gods1 if such messengers should
 come4  ,and yet a large part of        
,myron's contemporary fame depended on  
his religious work--on his statue of    
,here1 for instance1 in ivory and       

gold--that too1 doubtless1 expressive1  
as appropriately to its subject as to   
himself1 of a passive beauty4  ,we see  
it still1 perhaps1 in the coins of      
,argos4  ,and has not the crowned       
victor1 too1 in that mechanic action1 in
 his demure attitude1 something which   
reminds us of the religious significance
 of the ,greek athletic service8  ,it   
was a #bie sort of worship1 you         
know--that department of public life2   
such worship as ,greece1 still in its   
superficial youth1 found itself best    
capable of4  ,at least those solemn     
contests began and ended with prayer and
 sacrifice4  ,their most honoured prizes
 were a kind of religiously symbolical  
objects4  ,the athletic life certainly  
breathes of abstinence1 of rule and the 
keeping under of one's self4  ,and here 
in the ,diadumenus we have one of its   
priests1 a priest of the religion whose 
central motive was what has been called 
the worship of the body1--its modest    
priest4  ,the so-called ,jason at the   

,louvre1 the1 ,apoxyomenus1 and a       
certain number of others you will meet  
with from time to time--whatever be the 
age and derivation of the actual marble 
which reproduced for ,rome1 for ,africa1
 or ,gaul1 types that can have had their
 first origin in one only time and      
place--belong1 at least aesthetically1  
to this group1 together with the        
,adorante of ,berlin1 ,winckelmann's    
antique favourite1 who with uplifted    
face and hands seems to be indeed in    
prayer1 looks immaculate enough to be   
interceding for others4  ,as to the     
,jason of the ,louvre1 one asks at first
 sight of him1 as he stoops to make fast
 the sandal on his foot1 whether the    
young man can be already so marked a    
personage4  ,is he already the approved 
hero1 bent on some great act of his     
famous epope2 or mere youth only1 again1
 arraying itself mechanically1 but alert
 in eye and soul1 prompt to be roused to
 any #bif great action whatever8  ,the  
vaguely opened lips certainly suggest   

the latter view2 if indeed the body and 
the head 7in a different sort of marble7
 really belong to one another4  ,ah6 the
 more closely you consider the fragments
 of antiquity1 those stray letters of   
the old ,greek aesthetic alphabet1 the  
less positive will your conclusions     
become1 because less conclusive the data
 regarding artistic origin and purpose4 
,set here also1 however1 to the end that
 in a congruous atmosphere1 in a real   
perspective1 they may assume their full 
moral and aesthetic expression1 whatever
 of like spirit you may come upon in    
,greek or any other work1 remembering   
that in ,england also1 in ,oxford1 we   
have still1 for any master of such art  
that may be given us1 subjects truly    
made to his hand4  ,as with these1 so   
with their prototypes at ,olympia1 or at
 the ,isthmus1 above all perhaps in the 
,diadumenus of ,polycleitus1 a certain  
melancholy 7a pagan melancholy1 it may  
be rightly called1 even when we detect  
it in our ,english youth7 is blent with 

the final impression we retain of them4 
,they are at play indeed1 in the sun2   
but a little cloud passes over it now   
and then2 and just because of them1     
because they are there1 the whole aspect
 of the place is chilled suddenly1      
beyond what one could have thought      
possible1 into what seems1 nevertheless1
 to be the proper and permanent light of
 day4  ,for though they pass on from age
 to age the #big  type of what is       
pleasantest to look on1 which1 as type1 
is indeed eternal1 it is1 of course1 but
 for an hour that it rests with any one 
of them individually4  ,assuredly they  
have no maladies of soul any more than  
of the body--,animi sensus non          
expressit4  ,but if they are not yet    
thinking1 there is the capacity of      
thought1 of painful thought1 in them1 as
 they seem to be aware wistfully4  ,in  
the ,diadumenus of ,polycleitus this    
expression allies itself to the         
long-drawn facial type of his           
preference1 to be found also in another 

very different subject1 the ideal of    
which he fixed in ,greek sculpture--the 
would-be virile ,amazon1 in exquisite   
pain1 alike of body and soul--the       
,wounded ,amazon4  ,we may be reminded  
that in the first mention of athletic   
contests in ,greek literature--in the   
twenty-third book of the ,iliad--they   
form part of the funeral rites of the   
hero ,patroclus4 ,it is thus1 though but
 in the faintest degree1 even with the  
veritable prince of that world of       
antique bronze and marble1 the          
,discobolus at ,rest of the ,vatican1   
which might well be set where           
,winckelmann set the ,adorante1         
representing as it probably does1 the   
original of ,alcamenes1 in whom1 a      
generation after ,pheidias1 an earlier  
and more earnest spirit still survived4 
,although the crisply trimmed head may  
seem a little too small to our1 perhaps 
not quite rightful1 eyes1 we might      
accept him for that canon1 or measure1  
of the perfect human form1 which #bih   

,polycleitus had proposed4  ,he is      
neither the victor at rest1 as with     
,polycleitus1 nor the combatant already 
in motion1 as with ,myron2 but1 as if   
stepping backward from ,myron's precise 
point ofinterest1 and with the          
heavydiscusstill in the left hand1 he is
 preparing for his venture1 taking stand
 carefully on the right foot4  ,eye and 
mind concentre1 loyally1 entirely1 upon 
the business in hand4  ,the very finger 
is reckoning while he watches1 intent   
upon the cast of another1 as the metal  
glides to the goal4  ,take him1 to lead 
you forth quite out of the narrow limits
 of the ,greek world4  ,you have pure   
humanity there1 with a glowing1 yet     
restrained joy and delight in itself1   
but without vanity2 and it is pure4     
,there is nothing certainly supersensual
 in that fair1 round head1 any more than
 in the long1 agile limbs2 but also no  
impediment1 natural or acquired4  ,to   
have achieved just that1 was the        
,greek's truest claim for furtherance in

 the main line of human development4    
,he had been faithful1 we cannot help   
saying1 as we pass from that youthful   
company1 in what comparatively is       
perhaps little--in the culture1 the     
administration1 of the visible world2   
and he merited1 so we might go on to    
say--he merited ,revelation1 something  
which should solace his heart in the    
inevitable fading of that4  ,we are     
reminded of those strange prophetic     
words of the ,wisdom1 the ,logos1 by    
whom ,god made the world1 in one of #bii
 the sapiential1 half-,platonic books of
 the ,hebrew ,scriptures3--,i was by    
him1 as one brought up with him2        
rejoicing in the habitable parts of the 
earth4  ,my delights were with the sons 
of men4  ,,notes  #bga4                 
,transliteration3 tymbos amphipolos4    
,translation3 a much frequented tomb4   
#bgd4 ,in some fine reliefs of the      
thirteenth century1 ,jesus himself draws
 near to the deathbed of his ,mother4   
,the soul has already quitted her body1 

and is seated1 a tiny crowned figure1 on
 his left arm 7as she had carried ,him7 
to be taken to heaven4  ,in the         
beautiful early fourteenth century      
monument of ,aymer de ,valence at       
,westminster1 the soul of the deceased1 
a small figure wrapped in a mantle1 is  
supported by two angels at the head of  
the tomb4  ,among many similar instances
 may be mentioned the soul of the       
beggar1 ,lazarus1 on a carved capital at
 ,vzlay2 and the same subject in a      
coloured window at ,bourges4  ,the      
clean1 white little creature seems glad 
to escape from the body1 tattooed all   
over with its sores in a regular        
pattern4  #bgi4 ,transliteration3       
,ariston hydr4  ,translation3 ,water is 
best444 ,the ode goes on to praise the  
,olympic contests4  ,pindar1 ,odes1     
,book ,o1 poem #a1 line #a4  ,the ,odes 
of ,pindar including the ,principal     
,fragments with an ,introduction and an 
,english ,translation by ,sir ,john     
,sandys1 ,litt4,d41 ,,fba4 ,sir ,john   

,sandys4 ,cambridge1 ,,ma41 ,harvard    
,university ,press2 ,london1 ,william   
,heinemann ,ltd4 #aicg4  #bhj4          
,transliteration3 epen hoimon ligyn4    
,translation3 the clear strain of words 
i4e4 song4  ,pindar1 ,odes1 ,book ,o41  
poem #i1 line #dg4  ,see page #bgi note 
for reference4  #bha4 ,transliteration3 
mousik4  ,liddell and ,scott definition3
 any art over which the ,muses presided1
 esp4 music or lyric poetry set and sung
 to music4444  #bhh4 ,transliteration3  
to de phya hapan kratiston4  ,pater's   
translation3 ,the natural is ever best6 
,pindar1 ,odes1 ,book ,o41 poem #i1 line
 #ajj4 ,see ,see page #bgi note for     
reference4  #bii4 ,proverbs #h4cj-ca4   
,,the ,,end