Alexander longed to bathe in the Cydnus on
seeing that the stream was fair and clear, safely
deep, agreeably swift, delightful to swim in and cool
in the height of summer; even with foreknowledge
of the fever which he contracted from it, I do not
think he would have abstained from his plunge.
Then can it be that on seeing a hall beyond compare
in the greatness of its size, the splendour of its
beauty, the brilliance of its illumination, the lustre
of its gilding and the gaiety of its pictures, a man
would not long to compose speeches in it, if this
were his business, to seek repute and win glory in
it, to fill it with his voice and, as far as lay in him,
to become part and parcel of its beauty? Or after
looking it over carefully and admiring it, would he
rather go away and leave it mute and voiceless,
without according it a word of greeting or a particle
of intercourse, as if he were dumb or else out of illwill had resolved to hold his tongue?

 

Heracles! such
conduct would not be that of a connoisseur or a
lover of beauty; it would be very vulgar, tasteless,
even Philistine to despise what is sweetest, to reject
what is fairest, and not to comprehend that in all
that appeals to the eye, the same law does not hold
for ordinary and for educated men. No, for the former
it is enough to do the usual thing—just to see, to
look about, to cast their eyes everywhere, to crane


 

their necks at the ceiling, to gesticulate and to take
their joy in silence for fear of not being able to say
anything adequate to what they see. But when a
man’ of culture beholds beautiful things, he will not
be content, I am sure, to harvest their charm. with
his eyes alone, and will not endure to be a silent
spectator of their beauty; he will do all he can to
linger there and make some return for the spectacle
in speech.