In truth, our shelter is not to be compared with mere shade or with the beauty of a plane-tree, not even if you pass over the one on the Ilissus and mention the Great King’s golden plane.Plato, Phaedrus, 229 seq. That was wonderful only on account of its cost; there was no craftsmanship or beauty or charm or symmetry or grace wrought into the gold or combined with it. The thing was barbarous, nothing but money, a source of envy to those who saw it, and of felicitation to those who owned it. There was nothing praiseworthy about it. The ArsacidsAnachronism; the possessors of the tree were the Achaemenid princes. neither cared for beauty nor aimed at attractiveness in making their display nor minded whether the spectators praised or not,as long as they were astounded.

The barbarians are not beauty-levers; they are moneylovers. On the contrary, the beauty of this hall has nothing to do with barbarian eyes, Persian flattery, or Sultanic vainglory. Instead of just a poor man, it wants a cultured man for a spectator, who, instead of judging with his eyes, applies thought to what he sees. It faces the fairest quarter of the day (for the fairest and loveliest is surely the beginning); it welcomes in the sun when he first peeps up; light fills it to overflowing through the wide-flung doors; the proportion of length to “breadth and of both to height is harmonious; the windows are generous and well-suited to every season of the year. Is not all this attractive and praiseworthy?