DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0286
264
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. VIII.
ticher, although as Germans free from national bias in
the matter, fully allow that in possessing herself of the
Parthenon sculptures, England conferred a benefit on the
world.
Had the artistic treasures brought to the west from
the Athenian Acropolis, from Aegina, from Bassae re-
mained in Greece, Athens would have been too rich and
the' rest of the world too poor in what is after all the
common possession of civilized man. But the Greeks
have the future in their own hands. And we must ex-
pect that year by year the harvest of sculpture in the
Athenian and provincial museums will grow richer and
richer, until the country recovers something of the posi-
tion which it held in the days of Pausanias as the most
glorious storehouse in the world of the sculpture of the
only nation which ever really understood sculpture. The
voyage to Athens, already exercising every year a
stronger attraction on the cultivated classes, will become
more and more an essential part of education. And
those who still believe that classical training is the best
means of developing the humane side of men will be
unwise if they fail to appreciate this growing advantage
which has fallen in their way, or to use it as a means
of giving actuality to Greek literature and history, and
enthusiasm to those occupied with them.
New Chapters in Greek History. [Chap. VIII.
ticher, although as Germans free from national bias in
the matter, fully allow that in possessing herself of the
Parthenon sculptures, England conferred a benefit on the
world.
Had the artistic treasures brought to the west from
the Athenian Acropolis, from Aegina, from Bassae re-
mained in Greece, Athens would have been too rich and
the' rest of the world too poor in what is after all the
common possession of civilized man. But the Greeks
have the future in their own hands. And we must ex-
pect that year by year the harvest of sculpture in the
Athenian and provincial museums will grow richer and
richer, until the country recovers something of the posi-
tion which it held in the days of Pausanias as the most
glorious storehouse in the world of the sculpture of the
only nation which ever really understood sculpture. The
voyage to Athens, already exercising every year a
stronger attraction on the cultivated classes, will become
more and more an essential part of education. And
those who still believe that classical training is the best
means of developing the humane side of men will be
unwise if they fail to appreciate this growing advantage
which has fallen in their way, or to use it as a means
of giving actuality to Greek literature and history, and
enthusiasm to those occupied with them.