History of art . the human inundations from the north, theeast, and the west, the spirit of law that was Rome,the habits of trade, of politics, and of speculation ofthe Greeks, and the cruel luxury of the monarchies ofthe Orient. The cult of wisdom would doubtless not have feltitself very much at ease under the cupola of SaintSophia; Athens would not have recognized, in the stifiidols that decorated that church, the freedom of herreligious naturalism, nor her respect for the living formin the atrocious mutilations that Byzantine justiceinflicted on the condemned. The uncompromising 208 MEDIAEV
History of art . the human inundations from the north, theeast, and the west, the spirit of law that was Rome,the habits of trade, of politics, and of speculation ofthe Greeks, and the cruel luxury of the monarchies ofthe Orient. The cult of wisdom would doubtless not have feltitself very much at ease under the cupola of SaintSophia; Athens would not have recognized, in the stifiidols that decorated that church, the freedom of herreligious naturalism, nor her respect for the living formin the atrocious mutilations that Byzantine justiceinflicted on the condemned. The uncompromising 208 MEDIAEVAL ART realism of Assyria would have found no savor in theimages of the books of prayer, and the kings of Ninevehwould not have comprehended the revolutions fomentedin the hippodrome and the changes of governmenteffected in the antechamber or the bedroom where thepurple of the Empire was forever dyeing itself withfresh blood. The Rome of the Republic would nothave recognized its legionaries in those fat soldiers. Rome. A repast, fresco. (Catacombs.) cuirassed with gold; it would not have tolerated thecontinual retreating of law before imperial caprice orthe intrigues of the eunuchs. However, under thefermentation of the vices, the orgy of the games, thecries of the massacres, and the convulsive autocracythat was obliged to obey the orders of the populace,the law of Rome was here, the opulence of Babylon,the curiosity of Athens—and the only focus of light inthe dark night round about. Christianity, which the Greeks of Rome were propa-gating in the night of the catacombs by means of theimage, could not purify or extinguish the light thatcame from the roaring fire, which was burning away allthat remained of the sap of the ancient world in thepoisoned fruits. The crowds that had responded to
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectart, bookyear1921
