594 CLASSICAL ART 



it will be well to determine its place relatively to the allied provinces 

 of knowledge. 



Classical archaeology is that part of the science of classical antiquity 

 which has for its especial object antique fine art. It is therefore a part 

 of the so-called Philology, if we dedicate this word to the whole of the 

 scientific study of the culture of ancient Hellas and Rome; it is a twin 

 sister of Philology if we, as is usual, confine this name to the scientific 

 study of the antique literature. 



It lies in the nature of mankind, that scientific activity should 

 have everywhere applied itself, not to bygone art, but to bygone 

 literature, not to the image, but to the word, of vanished times. We 

 can to-day, in fact, observe that a simple person has deep respect 

 for an ancient monument of language, and quite well understands 

 the scientific preoccupation with it, w r hile he does not make out at 

 all what the study of a piece of ancient fine art is for. The student 

 of epigraphy, who collects inscriptions, meets everywhere among 

 the peasants in the classic lands understanding and reverence for 

 his occupation; not so the archaeologist. And in truth, one can 

 note that the higher the type of the old work of art, the harder to 

 comprehend is a scientific occupation with it. That men find it 

 beautiful, and collect it, every one understands; but that it can be 

 object-matter of a science is hard to conceive; one at least sees the 

 picture, it is said, and any one can catch the idea; old and for- 

 eign writings must be explained by the scholar, but a beautiful 

 work of art that explains itself. Scientific interest in the exam- 

 ples of a lower type is sooner understood, in tools, utensils, pot- 

 tery, and the like, whose meaning and use have to be explained. 

 in short, the antiquarian element in archaeology; further, the 

 need of scholarly elucidation of the content of antique fine art is 

 perceived; but not that the art-work as such can be material for 

 a science. 



This psychological circumstance, which moreover is to be traced 

 not only in simple, uneducated persons, but deep in our culture itself, 

 explains why the science of written words had to develop so much 

 earlier than that of fine art, and why archaeology had to begin with 

 the study of antiquarian objects and then with the explication of 

 the meaning of ancient representative art, and often to stick fast 

 at that point, so that still to-day many a scholar knows no other aim. 



Archaeology has its own field of research, representative art; but 

 of course, granted the close connection of all expressions of a given 

 epoch of culture, its special function, to accomplish the complete 

 historical understanding of the art-work, cannot be fulfilled without 

 the knowledge of what has found utterance in the literature of the 

 ancients. Archaeology must build on the foundation which philology 

 as the science of literary remains, together with its inseparable com- 



