Who? Yourself, Count. You were made for
the Periclean epoch."
"Thank you," said that gentleman with a gracious wave of his hand. "But
forgive me for disagreeing with you. Had I lived in that age, I should
be lacking in reverence for what it accomplished. I should be too near
to its life; unable, as you say, to see the forest for the trees. I
should be like Thucydides, a most sensible person who, if I recollect
aright, barely mentions Ictinus and the rest of them. How came it
about? This admirable writer imagined they were building a temple for
Greece; he lacked the interval of centuries which has allowed mankind
to see their work in its true perspective. He possessed traditional
moral standards whereby to judge the actions of historical
contemporaries; he could praise or blame his politicians with a good
conscience. For the Parthenon creators he had no sure norm. The
standards were not yet evolved. Pheidias was a talented
fellow-citizen--a hewer in stone by profession: what could he know of
the relations of Pheidias to posterity? Great things can only be seen
at a proper distance.
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