even these figures, apart from their divine attributes,
show no essential distinction from human combatants. It is a significant
fact that it is still a matter of dispute[6] whether one of the most
famous statues of the early fifth century, "the Choiseul-Gouffier
Apollo," represents a god or an athlete. This is neither because the
Greeks at this time idealised their athletes nor because they humanised
their gods, but because they typified them both; that is to say, they
represented them by a type which was the most perfect rendering within
their power either of man or of an anthropomorphic deity. Here we have
the material form provided by means of which the ideals of the
succeeding period were to find their artistic expression--such a typical
or normal human form is, in fact, the logical expression of
anthropomorphism in its most literal sense--the making of gods after
man's image. But those who believed rather that man was made after God's
image would look to find in the prototype something more and higher than
can be seen in its earthly copy. This notion, even if not formulated by
philosophy until a later age, certainly underlies the idealistic art of
the fifth century.

[Footnote 6: Even if this dispute be regarded as now settled by weight
of evidence, the fact that such a dispute is possible retains its
significance.]

CHAPTER V

IDEALISM

The age which followed the great Persian Wars was the time of the
highest political, literary, and intellectual development in Greece. Nor
was it unfavourable to strength and depth of religious feeling among the
people. If the more thoughtful among them were inclined to doubt whether
some of the stories told about the gods were either probable or
edifying, these were the very men who, on the other hand, were most
capable of appreciating the higher and nobler conceptions of the gods
which we find in contemporary poets. And the great delivery from the
Persians not only gave the Greeks a confidence in themselves which
justly increased their national pride and thereby strengthened their
national ideals, but it also gave occasion to a confidence in the gods
and a gratitude to them which found expression in numerous buildings and
offerings. All this religious activity could not fail to have
considerable influence upon the common people; and in some cases, as at
Athens, there was the necessity of replacing the temples and statues
that had been destroyed or carried off by the