Alexander longed to bathe in the Cydnus on seeing that the stream was fair and clear, safely deep, agreeably swift, delightful to swim in and cool in the height of summer; even with foreknowledge of the fever which he contracted from it, I do not think he would have abstained from his plunge. Then can it be that on seeing a hall beyond compare in the greatness of its size, the splendour of its beauty, the brilliance of its illumination, the lustre of its gilding and the gaiety of its pictures, a man would not long to compose speeches in it, if this were his business, to seek repute and win glory in it, to fill it with his voice and, as far as lay in him, to become part and parcel of its beauty? Or after looking it over carefully and admiring it, would he rather go away and leave it mute and voiceless, without according it a word of greeting or a particle of intercourse, as if he were dumb or else out of illwill had resolved to hold his tongue?

Heracles! such conduct would not be that of a connoisseur or a lover of beauty; it would be very vulgar, tasteless, even Philistine to despise what is sweetest, to reject what is fairest, and not to comprehend that in all that appeals to the eye, the same law does not hold for ordinary and for educated men. No, for the former it is enough to do the usual thing—just to see, to look about, to cast their eyes everywhere, to crane their necks at the ceiling, to gesticulate and to take their joy in silence for fear of not being able to say anything adequate to what they see. But when a man’ of culture beholds beautiful things, he will not be content, I am sure, to harvest their charm. with his eyes alone, and will not endure to be a silent spectator of their beauty; he will do all he can to linger there and make some return for the spectacle in speech.

And such a return does not consist simply in praising the hall. No doubt it was fitting - for Homer's island boy Telemachus (Odyss. 4, 71): he compares the house of Menelaus to the palaces of the gods. to be astounded at the house of Menelaus and to compare its ivory and gold to the beautiful things in heaven because he had never seen anything else on earth that was beautiful. But to speak here, to collect an audience of cultured men and show one’s eloquence is also a form of praise. It is very delightful, I think, that the fairest of halls should be flung open for the harbourage of speech and should be full of praise and laudation; re-echoing softly like a cavern, following what is said, drawing out the concluding sounds of the voice and lingering on the last words ; or, to put it better, committing to memory all that one says, like an appreciative hearer, and applauding the speaker and gracefully repeating his phrases. In some such way the rocks pipe in answer to the piping of the shepherds when the sound comes back again by repercussion and returns upon itself. The untaught think it is a maid who answers all who sing and shout, abiding somewhere in the heart of the cliffs and talking from the inside of the crags.

To me, at least, it seems that a splendid hall excites the speaker's fancy and stirs it to speech, as if he were somehow prompted by what he sees. No doubt something of beauty flows through the eyes into the soul, and then fashions into the likeness of itself the words that it sends out. In the case of Achilles, the sight of his armour enhanced his anger at the Trojans, and when he put it on to try it, he was inspired and transported with the lust of battle.Iliad, 19, 16; 384. Then are we to believe that the passion for speech is not enhanced by beautiful surroundings? Socrates was satisfied with a fine plane-tree and lush grass and a spring of clear water.not far from the Ilissus: sitting there, he plied his irony at the expense of Phaedrus of Myrrhinus, criticised the speech of Lysias, son of Cephalus, and invoked the Muses, believing that they would come to a sequestered spot and take part in the debate on love, and thinking no shame, old as he was, to invite maids to join him in amorous ditties. Herod. 7, 27. May we not suppose that they would come to a place as beautiful as this, even without an invitation ?

In truth, our shelter is not to be compared with mere shade or with the beauty of a plane-tree, not even if you pass over the one on the Ilissus and mention the Great King’s golden plane.Plato, Phaedrus, 229 seq. That was wonderful only on account of its cost ; there was no craftsmanship or beauty or charm or symmetry or grace wrought into the gold or combined with it. The thing was barbarous, nothing but money, a source of envy to those who saw it, and of felicitation to those who owned it. There was nothing praiseworthy about it. The ArsacidsAnachronism ; the possessors of the tree were the Achaemenid princes. neither cared for beauty nor aimed at attractiveness in making their display nor minded whether the spectators praised or not,as long as they were astounded.

The barbarians are not beauty-levers; they are moneylovers. On the contrary, the beauty of this hall has nothing to do with barbarian eyes, Persian flattery, or Sultanic vainglory. Instead of just a poor man, it wants a cultured man for a spectator, who, instead of judging with his eyes, applies thought to what he sees. It faces the fairest quarter of the day (for the fairest and loveliest is surely the beginning); it welcomes in the sun when he first peeps up; light fills it to overflowing through the wide-flung doors ; the proportion of length to “breadth and of both to height is harmonious; the windows are generous and well-suited to every season of the year. Is not all this attractive and praiseworthy ?

One might also admire the ceiling for its reserved modelling, its flawless decoration, and the refined - symmetry of its gilding, which is not unnecessarily lavish, but only in such degree as would suffice a modest and beautiful woman to set off her beauty— a delicate chain round her neck, a light ring on her finger, pendants in her ears, a buckle, a band that confines the luxuriance of her hair and adds as much to her good looks as a purple border adds to a gown. It is courtesans, especially the less attractive of them, who have clothing all purple and necks all gold, trying to secure seductiveness by extravagance and to make up for their lack of beauty by the addition of extraneous charms ; they think that their arms will look whiter when they are bright with gold, and that the unshapeliness of their feet will escape notice in golden sandals, and that their very faces will be lovelier when seen together with something very bright. This is the course they follow ; but a modest girl uses only what gold is sufficient and necessary, and would not be ashamed of her beauty, I am sure, if she were to show it unadorned.

The ceiling of this hall—call it the face if you will—well-featured itself, is as much embellished by the gilding as heaven by the stars at night, with sprinkled lights and scattered flowers of fire. If all were fire, it would be terrible, not beautiful, to us. You will observe that the gilding yonder is not purposeless, and not intermingled with the rest of the decorations for its own charm alone. It shines witha sweet radiance, and colours the whole hall with its flush ; for when the light, striking the gold, lays hold of it and combines with it, they gleam jointly and make the flush doubly brilliant.