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 ?

 

One might also admire the ceiling for its reserved
modelling, its flawless decoration, and the refined -
symmetry of its gilding, which is not unnecessarily




 

lavish, but only in such degree as would suffice a
modest and beautiful woman to set off her beauty—
a delicate chain round her neck, a light ring on her
finger, pendants in her ears, a buckle, a band that
confines the luxuriance of her hair and adds as much
to her good looks as a purple border adds to a gown.
It is courtesans, especially the less attractive of
them, who have clothing all purple and necks all
gold, trying to secure seductiveness by extravagance
and to make up for their lack of beauty by the
addition of extraneous charms ; they think that their
arms will look whiter when they are bright with
gold, and that the unshapeliness of their feet will
escape notice in golden sandals, and that their very
faces will be lovelier when seen together with
something very bright. This is the course they
follow ; but a modest girl uses only what gold is
sufficient and necessary, and would not be ashamed
of her beauty, I am sure, if she were to show it
unadorned.

 

The ceiling of this hall—call it the face if you
will—well-featured itself, is as much embellished by
the gilding as heaven by the stars at night, with
sprinkled lights and scattered flowers of fire. If all
were fire, it would be terrible, not beautiful, to us.
You will observe that the gilding yonder is not
purposeless, and not intermingled with the rest of the
decorations for its own charm alone. It shines witha


 

sweet radiance, and colours the whole hall with its
flush ; for when the light, striking the gold, lays
hold of it and combines with it, they gleam jointly
and make the flush doubly brilliant.

 

Such is the top, the summit of the hall: it
needs a Homer to praise it by calling it “highceiled” like the chamber of Helen
 Il. 3, 423; Od. 4. 121. Il. 3, 423; Od. 4. 121. 

or “dazzling” like
Olympus.

 Il. 1, 253; 13, 243; Od. 20, 103. 
The rest of the decoration, the frescoes
on the walls, the beauty of their colours, and the
vividness, exactitude, and truth of each detail might
well be compared with the face of spring and with a
flowery field, except that those things fade and
wither and change and cast their beauty, while this
is spring eternal, field unfading, bloom undying.
Naught but the eye touches it and culls the
sweetness of what it sees.

 

Who would not be charmed with the sight or
all these beautiful things? Who would not want to
outdo himself in speaking among them, aware that
it is highly disgraceful not to be a match for that
which one sees? The sight of beauty is seductive,
and not to man alone. Even a horse, I think, would
find more pleasure in running on a soft, sloping plain
that receives his tread pleasantly, yields a little to
his foot, and does not shock his hoof. Then he puts
in play all his power of running, gives himself over
to speed and nothing else, and vies with the beauty
of the plain.