Then now, Thrasymachus, there is no longer any doubt that neither arts nor governments provide for their own interests; but, as we were before saying, they rule and provide for the interests of their subjects who are the weaker and not the stronger-- to their good they attend and not to the good of the superior.
And the interest of any art is the perfection of it--this and nothing else?
Thus, historically viewed, it has been the office of
art to educate the perception of beauty.
What is a healthy, or an unhealthy work of
art? All terms that one applies to a work of
art, provided that one applies them rationally, have reference to either its style or its subject, or to both together.
From the cradle their children, instead of going to the Public Elementary schools (where the
art of Feeling is taught), are sent to higher Seminaries of an exclusive character; and at our illustrious University, to "feel" is regarded as a most serious fault, involving Rustication for the first offence, and Expulsion for the second.
Do you think I'm going to let you hustle for wages while I philander in the regions of high
art? Not by the bones of Benvenuto Cellini!
They express a shade of the
art which would be lost without them.
It was a hazardous, though maybe a gallant thing to do, since it is probable that the legend commonly received has had no small share in the growth of Strickland's reputation; for there are many who have been attracted to his
art by the detestation in which they held his character or the compassion with which they regarded his death; and the son's well-meaning efforts threw a singular chill upon the father's admirers.
The particular external direction of Ruskin's work in
Art was given, as usual, more or less by accident.
"Thou
art mistaken," said Zarathustra sympathetically, and held him fast; "thou
art mistaken.
TEIRESIAS Thou blam'st my mood and seest not thine own Wherewith thou
art mated; no, thou taxest me.
Thou, who, to my thinking,
art beyond all doubt a dullard, without early rising or night watching or taking any trouble, with the mere breath of knight-errantry that has breathed upon thee, seest thyself without more ado governor of an island, as though it were a mere matter of course.