It is indeed doubtful whether the cultivation of art--which
usually ministers to luxury--has done so much for human progress
as is generally supposed. It is even possible that its too
exclusive culture may effeminate rather than strengthen the
character, by laying it more open to the temptations of the
senses. "It is the nature of the imaginative temperament
cultivated by the arts," says Sir Henry Taylor, "to undermine the
courage, and, by abating strength of character, to render men more
easily subservient--SEQUACES, CEREOS, ET AD MANDATA DUCTILES."
(17) The gift of the artist greatly differs from that of the
thinker; his highest idea is to mould his subject--whether it be
of painting, or music, or literature--into that perfect grace of
form in which thought (it may not be of the deepest) finds its
apotheosis and immortality.
Art has usually flourished most during the decadence of nations,
when it has been hired by wealth as the minister of luxury.
Exquisite art and degrading corruption were contemporary in Greece
as well as in Rome. Phidias and Iktinos had scarcely completed
the Parthenon, when the glory of Athens had departed; Phidias died
in prison; and the Spartans set up in the city the memorials of
their own triumph and of Athenian defeat. It was the same in
ancient Rome, where art was at its greatest height when the people
were in their most degraded condition.
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