Sophon. Christian thinks and says, that if the spiritual be not in a thing, it cannot be put upon it; and hence, if a work of art be not a god, it must be a man, or a mere image of one; and that the faith of the Pagan is the foolishness of the Christian.  Nor does he utter unreason; for, notwithstanding their perfect forms, their gods are not gods to us, but only perfect forms:  Apollo, Theseus, the Ilissus, Aphrodite, Artemis, Psyche, and Eros, are only shapeful manhood, womanhood, virginhood, and youth, and move us only by the exact amount of humanity they possess in common with ourselves. Homer and aeschylus, and Sophocles, and Phidias, live not by the sacred in them, but by the human: and, but for this common bond, Hellenic art would have been submerged in the same Lethe that has drowned the Indian, Egyptian, and Assyrian Theogonies and arts.  And, if we except form, what other thing does Hellenic art offer to the modern artist, that is not thoroughly opposed to his faith, wants, and practice?  And thought—­thought in accordance with all the lines of his knowledge, temperament, and habits—­thought through which he makes and shapes for men, and is understood by them—­it is as destitute of, as inorganic matter of soul and reason.  But Christian art, because of the faith upon which it is built, suffers under no such drawbacks, for that faith is as personal and vigorous now as ever it was at its origin—­every motion and principle of our being moves to it like a singing harmony;—­it is the breath which brings out of us, aeolian-harp-like, our most penetrating and heavenly music—­the river of the water of life, which searches all our dry parts and nourishes them, causing them to spring up and bear abundantly the happy seed which shall enrich and make fat the earth to the uttermost parts thereof.

Kalon. With you both I believe, that faith is necessary to a man, and that without faith sight even is feeble:  but I also believe that a man is as much a part of the religious, moral, and social system in which he lives, as is a plant of the soil, situation, and climate in which it exists:  and that external applications have just as much power to change the belief of the man, as they have to alter the structure of the plant.  A faith once in a man, it is there always; and, though unfelt even by himself, works actively:  and Hellenic art, so far from being an impediment to the Christian belief, is the exact reverse; for, it is the privilege of that belief, through its sublime alchymy, to be able to transmute all it touches into itself:  and the perfect forms of Hellenic art, so touched, move our souls only the more energetically upwards, because of their transcendent beauty; for through them alone can we see how wonderfully and divinely God wrought—­how majestic, powerful, and vigorous he made man—­how lovely, soft, and winning, he made woman:  and in beholding these things, we are thankful to him that we are permitted to see them—­not as Pagans, but altogether as Christians.  Whether Christian or Pagan, the highest beauty is still the highest beauty; and the highest beauty alone, to the total exclusion of gods and their myths, compels our admiration.