l cord to
nature, and strong not so much with its own strength as with the
strength of its mother. This idea is aptly symbolized in those
gigantic colossi flanking the entrance to some rock-cut temple, which
though entire are yet part of the living cliff out of which they were
fashioned.

In the architecture of Greece the note of dread and mystery yields to
one of pure joyousness and freedom. The terrors of childhood have been
outgrown, and man revels in the indulgence of his unjaded appetites
and in the exercise of his awakened reasoning faculties. In Greek art
is preserved that evanescent beauty of youth which, coming but once
and continuing but for a short interval in every human life, is yet
that for which all antecedent states seem a preparation, and of
which all subsequent ones are in some sort an effect. Greece typifies
adolescence, the love age, and so throughout the centuries humanity
has turned to the contemplation of her, just as a man all his 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 whereof the
citizens were themselves critics and amateurs of art, one wherein
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 was the Egyptian, and he worked unhampered by any
restrictions save such as, 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 also its formulas
were 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, seeming to obey no law save that of beauty, was
used sometimes for small monuments and temples, such as the Tower of
th