Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-18
Continued from Third Pagel

passes these robes of flowing stone.
Even in the cold stiffness of the Brit.
ish Museum they almost move in the
wind.
Pass now within the outer colonnade
which runs around the building. In
Just such porticos as this the phlosO-
piers of Greece found shade for their
discourse. Before YOU is another row
OF columns. as strong and stately as
the first. Behind them is the western
wall Of the temple itself surviving
only in portions. Here are the wounds
left in The marble by the cannon shot
which the Venetian gunners aimed 50
we'll. You look aloft to find that inner
frieZe which Pheidias carved round
the top of the temple wall. Here the
artist placed his noblest statrarN. too
high TO he comfortably seen by men.
hut, as Phedias said, quite visible 10
the gods.
Alas, the sculptures are not there.
The wise and Villainous Lord ElGln
carted them away "A hundred years
ago. II was high handed robbery. but
If he had left them where they we're
they would by this time. With earth
quake and neglect. have fallen into a
thousand ruins Now they form the
greatest treasure OF the British Mu-
scum, as carefully preserved AS Eng
lish air and damp can keep them.
The famous frieze ran for as feet
along the wall and pictured the pro
cession of Athenian maidens and
youths bearing homage and offerings
10 Athene on the festival day Of tho
Panathenaic games. The most re
nowned of the panels shows two
horsemen riding chargers whose beau
" and spirit outshine even the comelN
nobility of the young cavaliers. An
other fraS ment Gn the Louvre) shows
q group of women. perfect in lowell
ness and grace. carrying a veil To the
GODDESS. tNear that fragment, in the
Sale Grecque of the Louvre, is a mar
Vicious head. detached from the same
frieze, still bearing some of its orig
inal color, and even in its ruins in
descrihablv delicate in conception and
eXecution.)
On either .ide Of the temple Sacri-
fetal animals moved immovably on
the frieze with philosophic resigna-
ton toward the gods who adorned
the eastern wall There sat Poseidon,
Apollo, Artemis. Athene and other
deities. magnificent i'm figure, clear of
eye and divinely calm. This is a char
acteriStfc repose OF classic StatuaTN
at its best; the fundamental principle
of the grand style. said Wincklemann,
was TO represent the countenanceS
and attitudes of the gods and heroes
IS free from emotion. and not agitat-
ed by inward perturbations in an
equilibrium of feeling and with
peaceful. always even. state Of mind"
OF what use would ii be to be a god
IL one could not be calm?
x
Now enter the naos of inner temple.
Only the marble floor remains desc.
late and bare. Near the center rose
Pheidias' great statue of Athene Par
thenos 80 feet high. carved and cast
in ivory and precious metal. and so
placed that the morning sun. stream
ing through the eastern portal, hathed
her golden head. Above, a magnifi-
cent ceiling ran, and on every side,
slong he walls, a double colonnade.
Here the people came to worship the
patron deity of Athens, and here
poets. artists and philosophers came
to worship beauty and doubt the gods.
Here was the center and summit of a
great citys spiritual life.
Now let us walk a little away from
1t. back toward the Propylaea through
which we came. Turn and give it
parting look. and see it as a whole.
1t is not large: many Gothic cathe-
drals. as at Milan and Seville. are
larger; 81. Peters is twice as large.
and the parthenon would have been
lost in the vast Temple of karnak.
But the Greeks sought perfection
rather than magnificence. Pericles
phrased their ideal in three words
when he said "Philokaloumen met
euteleias I'VE love beauty without eX
travagancel The men of Athens
idoliZed moderation because they were
not moderate. except in art; they
scorned excess and Inscribed on the
Temple of Apollo at Delphi their as
piration-''AIeden agan (Nothins too
rnuch)." When our own art and taste
become fantastic and bizarre. anxious
for novelty rather than for perfec-