THE AGE OF MARBLE. 73 



It will presently be shown that the philosophers 

 invaded the territory of the poets, who were defended 

 by the Government and by the mob, and that a reli- 

 gious persecution was the result. But the fine arts were 

 free ; and the custom which came into vogue of erecting 

 statues to the gods, to the victors of the games, and to 

 other illustrious men, favoured the progress of sculpture, 

 which was also aided by the manners of the land. The 

 gymnasium was a school of art. The eyes of the sculptor 

 revelled on the naked form, not purchased, as in 

 London, at eighteenpence an hour, but visible in 

 marvellous perfection at all times and in every pose. 

 Thus ever present to the eye of the artist, it was ever 

 present to his brain, and flowed forth from his fingers in 

 lovely forms. As art was fed by nature, so nature was 

 fed by art. The Greek women placed statues of Apollo 

 or Narcissus in their bedrooms, that they might bear 

 children as beautiful as those on whom they gazed. 

 Such children they prayed the gods to give them ; for 

 the Greeks loved beauty to distraction, and regarded 

 ugliness as sin. They had exhibitions of beauty, at 

 which prizes were given by celebrated artists who 

 were appointed to the judgment-seat. There were towns 

 in which the most beautiful men were elected to the 

 priesthood. There were connoisseurs, who formed com- 

 panies of soldiers composed exclusively of comely young 

 men, and who could plead for the life of a beautiful 

 youth amidst the wrath and confusion of the battle- 

 field. 



The Persian wars gave a mighty impulse to the 

 intellect of Greece. Indeed, before that period Greek art 

 had been uncouth ; it was then that the Age of Marble 

 really commenced, and that Phidias moulded the ideas 

 of Homer into noble forms. It was then that Athens, 



