DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0069
Ill
THE GREEK TEMPLE
49
optical corrections like those to be observed in the Parthenon
are to be traced in St. Sophia at Constantinople, St. Mark's at
Venice, Notre Dame at Paris, and many other of the greatest of
mediaeval buildings. Mr. Goodyear is disposed to think that
there was a continuous tradition downward from classical times;
but it is perhaps safer to see the working of a similar spirit in
great ancient and mediaeval buildings, before the objective
spirit of modern science dominated architecture, and the pur-
poses aimed at in buildings became more clearly conscious.
This manner in construction may be not unfairly compared
to the rhetorical manner which prevails in Greek literature, in
history and philosophy as well as in oratory and poetry, and
which also was one of the bequests of the ancient to the mediae-
val world. The Greek artist, like the Greek writer, aimed not
at rigid adherence to the truth, but at producing a certain effect
on human beings. This is at once his weakness and his strength.
It is his weakness when he passes from rhetoric to sophistic,
flatters the weaknesses, and uses the follies, of mankind to win
his own way. But it is his strength when he builds on a broad
and solid basis of human nature which is universal and per-
manent. For the world and nature only exist for man as they
are reflected in the human mind; and to recognize this fact
is the first law of art as of all practical pursuits in the world.
In the third point of view, as a satisfaction to the emotions
and the religious needs of mankind, it must be confessed that
the Greek temple was by no means the peer of the Christian
cathedral. A mystical temperament could not but be chilled
by its bright intellectualism. There is in it nothing of the dim
religious light due to stained windows. There are no soaring
heights which seem to bring heaven nearer. As the mediae-
val organ was superior to the Greek lyre and flutes, so the
spiritual nature of man would usually find more satisfaction
in mediaeval richness and complexity than in Greek direct-
ness. But we must not on that account overlook the great
E
THE GREEK TEMPLE
49
optical corrections like those to be observed in the Parthenon
are to be traced in St. Sophia at Constantinople, St. Mark's at
Venice, Notre Dame at Paris, and many other of the greatest of
mediaeval buildings. Mr. Goodyear is disposed to think that
there was a continuous tradition downward from classical times;
but it is perhaps safer to see the working of a similar spirit in
great ancient and mediaeval buildings, before the objective
spirit of modern science dominated architecture, and the pur-
poses aimed at in buildings became more clearly conscious.
This manner in construction may be not unfairly compared
to the rhetorical manner which prevails in Greek literature, in
history and philosophy as well as in oratory and poetry, and
which also was one of the bequests of the ancient to the mediae-
val world. The Greek artist, like the Greek writer, aimed not
at rigid adherence to the truth, but at producing a certain effect
on human beings. This is at once his weakness and his strength.
It is his weakness when he passes from rhetoric to sophistic,
flatters the weaknesses, and uses the follies, of mankind to win
his own way. But it is his strength when he builds on a broad
and solid basis of human nature which is universal and per-
manent. For the world and nature only exist for man as they
are reflected in the human mind; and to recognize this fact
is the first law of art as of all practical pursuits in the world.
In the third point of view, as a satisfaction to the emotions
and the religious needs of mankind, it must be confessed that
the Greek temple was by no means the peer of the Christian
cathedral. A mystical temperament could not but be chilled
by its bright intellectualism. There is in it nothing of the dim
religious light due to stained windows. There are no soaring
heights which seem to bring heaven nearer. As the mediae-
val organ was superior to the Greek lyre and flutes, so the
spiritual nature of man would usually find more satisfaction
in mediaeval richness and complexity than in Greek direct-
ness. But we must not on that account overlook the great
E