proportion leaves no sense of lack of variety.

The perfection attained in architecture was also attained in sculpture,
and we see the same aspiration toward the ideal, the same wonderful
achievement. This purity of taste of the Greeks has formed a standard to
which the world has returned again and again and whose influence will
continue to be felt as long as the world lasts.

The minor arts were carried to the same state of perfection as their
greater sisters, for the artists and artisans had the same noble ideal
of beauty and the same unerring taste. We have carved gems and coins,
and wonderful gold ornaments, painted and silver vases, and terra-cotta
figurines, to show what a high point the household arts reached. No work
of the great Grecian painters remains; Apelles, Zeuxis, are only names
to us, but from the wall paintings at Pompeii where late Greek influence
was strongly felt we can imagine how charming the decorations must have
been. Egypt and Greece were the torch bearers of civilization.




_The Renaissance in Italy_


The Gothic period has been treated in later chapters on France and
England, as it is its development in these countries which most affects
us, but the Renaissance in Italy stands alone. So great was its strength
that it could supply both inspiration and leaders to other countries,
and still remain preëminent.