Excerpt from Modern Language Notes, Vol. 35 Schonen).13 While, here too, the superiority of the poetry of the ancients is emphatically asserted, and while the classical ideal, with its insistence upon form, measure, restraint, the Delphic M7785 c'iyav, both in art and conduct, is extolled, it is nevertheless also remarked that classical art, Since its excellence was rather the result of instinct than of reflective insight, was not merely incapable of progress, but. Was predestined to aberration and degeneration. The yery defects of modern art, on the other hand, are the ground of hope, unsere Mangel sind unsere Hofinungen; for those defects arise from the predominance in it of man's self conscious intelligence (verstand), dessen zw-ar langsame Vervoll kommnung gar keine Schrankenkennt. And when this facultv has accomplished its task of assuring to mankind a permanent basis and giving to it an unchangeable direction, there will then be no more Occasion to doubt whether man's history is forever to return upon itself like a circle, or is endlessly to progress from better to better The whole essay leaves a singularly confused impression upon the reader; for the author seems unable to decide between the two aesthetic ideals which alternately present them selves to his mind. He craves, in fact, both achieved perfection and the potentiality of progress, both inner harmony and unappeasable self-dissatisfaction; and since modern art by its very essence, as he conceives it, lacks the one type of excellence, and ancient-art lacks the other, he seems unable to pronounce definitely in favor of either. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.