In order to accomplish this perfect representation of material beauty, temperance or restraint in all things is a fundamental virtue. "Never anything in excess" is the law which makes the successful handling of material objects possible. No other people ever came so near to a realization of this ideal as did the Greek. Greek expression shows restraint, unemotional expression and perfect form. These qualities are readily seen in sculpture but should be just as apparent in the long lines, the simple arrangements, the perfect adaptations and the consistent combinations in architecture, ornament and the lesser arts.

It has been said that three descriptive words are enough to summarize the Hellenic Ideal and that, having grasped these three words in their full meaning, the quality of everything classic may be tested by them.

The first word is "simplicity/' Whatever savours of unnecessary display is entirely foreign to the Greek idea. The simplest expression when adequate is always best.

The second word is "sincerity." How terribly have the nations of the earth departed from this idea, even in their adaptations of classic art. The ancient column with its beautiful proportions and wonderful materials was created as an honest support to a weight above. The juttings, the friezes and the architraves are essential elements in the decorative idea of the buildings but are first a part of the constructive necessities of the building. To superimpose these parts in stucco, plaster or tin, upon a steel structure or a brick wall, is not only a defamation of the noble Greek idea but is a farce in the field of modern architecture and decoration.

The third word is "consistency." This quality may be a little more difficult of perception at this point but not so difficult that it may not be grasped for application to all cases. When the Greek designed a column he considered this column a unit, and its shaft and capital were made in the same material, appearing as one piece when complete. If statuary occupied space within the gable of the temple or in specially designed niches, this statuary seemed to take its place in size, scale, form and line within its enclosure in such a way that the building as a unit expressed repose.

Much of this was due to the perfect scale relation between the enclosures and the figures. Ornament, in consistent amounts, was consistently applied in the right places. During the highest development of the Greek ideal violations of the principle of beauty through inconsistent relationships are not found. It is a grave mistake to believe that all things are classic which seem to represent the forms or shapes or motifs of the classic period. Nothing can be further from the classic ideal than the misuse of the three orders, the various decorative motifs, and the Greek figures as they are used in this country to-day, although a great change for the better is noticeable since the invasion of this field by the great architect, Stanford White.

It is not in the copy of these forms that the classic idea is expressed. It is in the sincere and consistent choice and application of them as well as their adaptation to period needs. The artist should realize and make a part of his mental equipment the wonderful idealism as shown in abstract proportion that dominates all Hellenic expression.

From time to time great men in all the fields of period expression have studied the classic for inspiration, and their work has been just as near the classic ideal as their realization of the qualities of form which the classic expressed would permit. The adaptation of the classic has been influenced in all times, more or less, by local conditions as well as by the state of mind of the man who interpreted the idea.

The sensing of fundamental quality in period study is the only way to gain an understanding of what periods are and to become anything but a slavish parrot copyist, always missing the essential idea.

The second great art influence came from the birth of the Christian religion. The pagan Greek had in mind the idealization of the body and other material things. The Christian religion took "no thought for the body, what it should eat or drink, or wherewithal it should be clothed." It directed its thought energy to the soul and its preparation for a future state.

This difference of ideal brought about the wonderful change in art expression which found its full flower in the Gothic cathedral of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. To grasp anything of the meaning of this ingenious, imaginative and emotional symbolic art is the work of years. Well-focussed action brought about an expression of the ecclesiastical idea, first moderately, but finally in the flamboyant Gothic spirit. All feeling, joy and gratitude became one concentrated mass or hallelujah expression in which stone, metal, wood and glass vie with each other to express the wonderful story. As this period reaches its highest point of development it seems almost to eliminate material and to leave a vast network or lacelike fabric of symbolic spiritual expression.

To attempt to compare this great period with the classic is impossible because of the entirely different point of view. To endeavour to unite the two in spirit or expression without or within the house is well-nigh impossible. Each has its place and each is the expression of a type of life which has never been repeated and probably never will be. To restore or rebuild a Gothic cathedral under the conditions of modern thought is as impossible as for man to create a world. But one or two persons in this century have made even an approach to such an achievement.

The period last discussed used nature and naturalistic motifs as symbolic of Christian ideas, and treated them in a conventional manner more or less suited to the material into which they were translated. This treatment, however, was not as conventional as it might have been had the state of civilization and the methods of expression in other fields been developed as they have been since.