I THE ART OF ARCHITECTURE 15

the exercise of his awakened reasoning faculties. In Greek art is preserved that fleeting beauty of youth which, arriving but once and lasting for only a short interval in every human life, is yet that for which all earlier states seem a preparation, and of which all subsequent ones are in some sort an effect. Greece typifies adolescence—the age of love—and so, throughout the centuries, humanity has turned to the contemplation of Greece, just as a man his whole life long secretly cherishes the memory of his first love.

An impassioned sense of beauty and an enlightened reason characterize the productions of Greek architecture during its best period. The perfection then attained was possible only in a nation where the citizens were themselves critics and amateurs of art—a society where the artist was honored and his work appreciated in all its beauty and subtlety. The Greek architect was less bound by tradition and precedent than the Egyptian; he worked unhampered by any restrictions, save those which, like the laws of harmony in music, helped rather than hindered his genius to express itself—restrictions founded on sound reason, the value of which had been proved by experience.

The Doric order was employed for all large temples, since it possessed in fullest measure the qualities of simplicity and dignity, the attributes appropriate to greatness. Quite properly, its formulas were also more fixed than those of any other style. The Ionic order—the feminine, of which the Doric may be considered the corresponding masculine—was employed for smaller temples. Like a woman, it was more supple and adaptable than the Doric; its proportions were more slender and graceful, its lines more flowing, and its ornament more delicate and profuse. A freer and more elaborate style than either of these, infinitely various and seeming to obey no law save that of beauty, was used sometimes for small monuments and temples, such as the Tower of the Winds and the monument of Lysicrates at Athens.

Because the Greek architect was at liberty to improve upon the work of his predecessors if he could, no temple was just like any other. They form an ascending scale of excellence, culminating in the Acropolis group. Every detail was considered not only with relation to its position and function, but in regard to its intrinsic beauty as well, so that the merest fragment, detached from the building of which it formed a part, is found worthy of being treasured in our museums for its own sake.

Just as every detail of a Greek temple was adjusted to its position and expressed its office, so the building itself was made to fit its site and to show