Pagina 243 di 1391

For the true philosopher despises earthly strife; his eye is

fixed on the eternal order in accordance with which he moulds

himself into the Divine image (and not himself only, but other

men), and is the creator of the virtues private as well as

public. When mankind see that the happiness of states is only to

be found in that image, will they be angry with us for attempting

to delineate it? 'Certainly not. But what will be the process of

delineation?' The artist will do nothing until he has made a

tabula rasa; on this he will inscribe the constitution of a

state, glancing often at the divine truth of nature, and from

that deriving the godlike among men, mingling the two elements,

rubbing out and painting in, until there is a perfect harmony or

fusion of the divine and human. But perhaps the world will doubt

the existence of such an artist. What will they doubt?