_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.
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