A man should not commit his tranquillity to things, but should
keep as much as possible the reins in his own hands, rarely giving
way to extreme emotion of joy or grief. It is observed that the
earliest works of the art of sculpture are countenances of sublime
tranquillity. The Egyptian sphinxes, which sit today as they sat
when the Greek came and saw them and departed, and when the Roman
came and saw them and departed, and as they will still sit when the
Turk, the Frenchman, and the Englishman, who visit them now, shall
have passed by, "with their stony eyes fixed on the East and on the
Nile," have countenances expressive of complacency and repose, an
expression of health, deserving their longevity, and verifying the
primeval sentence of history on the permanency of that people; "Their
strength is to sit still." To this architectural stability of the
human form, the Greek genius added an ideal beauty, without
disturbing the seals of serenity; permitting no violence of mirth, or
wrath, or suffering. This was true to human nature. For, in life,
actions are few, opinions even few, prayers few; loves, hatreds, or
any emissions of the soul.
Pages:
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284