But is it not altogether a great
archaism?
_Kalon._ Oh, Sophon! weighty as are the reasons urged against
Hellenic art by Christian and yourself, they are not weighty enough
to outbalance its beauty, at least to me: at present they may have
set its sun in gloom; yet I know that that obscuration, like a dark
foreground to a bright distance, will make its rising again only the
more surpassingly glorious. I admire its exquisite creations, because
they are beautiful, and noble, and perfect, and they elevate me
because I think them so; and their silent capabilities, like the
stardust of heaven before the intellectual insight, resolve
themselves into new worlds of thoughts and things so ever as I
contemplate their perfections: like a prolonged music, full of sweet
yet melancholy cadences, they have sunk into my heart--my brain--my
soul--never, never to cease while life shall hold with me. But, for
all that, my hands are not full; and, whithersoever the happy seed
shall require me, I am not for withholding plough or spade, planting
or watering; and that which I am called in the spirit to do--will I
do manfully and with my whole strength.
_Sophon._ Kalon, the conclusion of your speech is better than the
commencement. It is better to sacrifice myrrh and frankincense than
virtue and wisdom, thoughts than deeds.
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