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第87章

the story of mankind-第87章

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bright pieces of jewellery for their women and planted gardens

which sang happy songs of colour with their many bright flowers。



Our own ancestors; the wandering nomads from the distant

Asiatic prairies; enjoying a free and easy existence as

fighters and hunters; composed songs which celebrated the

mighty deeds of their great leaders and invented a form of

poetry which has survived until our own day。 A thousand years

later; when they had established themselves on the Greek mainland;

and had built their ‘‘city…states;'' they expressed their

joy (and their sorrows) in magnificent temples; in statues; in

comedies and in tragedies; and in every conceivable form of

art。



The Romans; like their Carthaginian rivals; were too busy

administering other people and making money to have much

love for ‘‘useless and unprofitable'' adventures of the spirit。

They conquered the world and built roads and bridges but they

borrowed their art wholesale from the Greeks。 They invented

certain practical forms of architecture which answered the

demands of their day and age。 But their statues and their histories

and their mosaics and their poems were mere Latin imi…

tations of Greek originals。 Without that vague and hard…to…

define something which the world calls ‘‘personality;'' there can

be no art and the Roman world distrusted that particular sort

of personality。 The Empire needed efficient soldiers and

tradesmen。 The business of writing poetry or making pictures

was left to foreigners。



Then came the Dark Ages。 The barbarian was the proverbial

bull in the china…shop of western Europe。 He had no use

for what he did not understand。 Speaking in terms of the year

1921; he liked the magazine covers of pretty ladies; but threw

the Rembrandt etchings which he had inherited into the ash…

can。 Soon he came to learn better。 Then he tried to undo the

damage which he had created a few years before。 But the ash…

cans were gone and so were the pictures。



But by this time; his own art; which he had brought with

him from the east; had developed into something very beautiful

and he made up for his past neglect and indifference by the so…

called ‘‘art of the Middle Ages'' which as far as northern Europe

is concerned was a product of the Germanic mind and had

borrowed but little from the Greeks and the Latins and nothing

at all from the older forms of art of Egypt and Assyria; not

to speak of India and China; which simply did not exist; as far

as the people of that time were concerned。 Indeed; so little

had the northern races been influenced by their southern neighbours

that their own architectural products were completely

misunderstood by the people of Italy and were treated by

them with downright and unmitigated contempt。



You have all heard the word Gothic。 You probably associate

it with the picture of a lovely old cathedral; lifting its slender

spires towards high heaven。 But what does the word really

mean?



It means something ‘‘uncouth'' and ‘‘barbaric''something

which one might expect from an ‘‘uncivilised Goth;'' a rough

backwoods…man who had no respect for the established rules of

classical art and who built his ‘‘modern horrors'' to please his

own low tastes without a decent regard for the examples of

the Forum and the Acropolis。



And yet for several centuries this form of Gothic architecture

was the highest expression of the sincere feeling for art

which inspired the whole northern continent。 From a previous

chapter; you will remember how the people of the late Middle

Ages lived。 Unless they were peasants and dwelt in villages;

they were citizens of a ‘‘city'' or ‘‘civitas;'' the old Latin name

for a tribe。 And indeed; behind their high walls and their deep

moats; these good burghers were true tribesmen who shared

the common dangers and enjoyed the common safety and prosperity

which they derived from their system of mutual protection。



In the old Greek and Roman cities the market…place; where

the temple stood; had been the centre of civic life。 During

the Middle Ages; the Church; the House of God; became such a

centre。 We modern Protestant people; who go to our church

only once a week; and then for a few hours only; hardly know

what a mediaeval church meant to the community。 Then; before

you were a week old; you were taken to the Church to be

baptised。 As a child; you visited the Church to learn the holy

stories of the Scriptures。 Later on you became a member

of the congregation; and if you were rich enough you built

yourself a separate little chapel sacred to the memory of the

Patron Saint of your own family。 As for the sacred edifice;

it was open at all hours of the day and many of the night。 In

a certain sense it resembled a modern club; dedicated to all the

inhabitants of the town。 In the church you very likely caught

a first glimpse of the girl who was to become your bride at a

great ceremony before the High Altar。 And finally; when the

end of the journey had come; you were buried beneath the

stones of this familiar building; that all your children and their

grandchildren might pass over your grave until the Day of

Judgement。



Because the Church was not only the House of God but

also the true centre of all common life; the building had to be

different from anything that had ever been constructed by

the hands of man。 The temples of the Egyptians and the

Greeks and the Romans had been merely the shrine of a local

divinity。 As no sermons were preached before the images of

Osiris or Zeus or Jupiter; it was not necessary that the interior

offer space for a great multitude。 All the religious processions

of the old Mediterranean peoples took place in the open。 But

in the north; where the weather was usually bad;

most functions were held under the roof of the church。



During many centuries the architects struggled with

this problem of constructing a building that was large

enough。 The Roman tradition taught them how to build heavy

stone walls with very small windows lest the walls lose

their strength。 On the top of this they then placed a

heavy stone roof。 But in the twelfth century; after the

beginning of the Crusades; when the architects had seen the

pointed arches of the Mohammedan builders; the western builders

discovered a new style which gave them their first chance to make

the sort of building which those days of an intense religious

life demanded。 And then they developed this strange style upon

which the Italians bestowed the contemptuous name of ‘‘Gothic''or barbaric。

They achieved their purpose by inventing a vaulted roof which

was supported by ‘‘ribs。'' But such a roof; if it became

too heavy; was apt to break the walls; just as a man

of three hundred pounds sitting down upon a child's chair

will force it to collapse。 To overcome this difficulty; certain

French architects then began to re…enforce the walls with

‘‘buttresses'' which were merely heavy masses of stone against

which the walls could lean while they supported the roof。 And

to assure the further safety of the roof they supported the ribs

of the roof by so…called ‘‘flying buttresses;'' a very simple

method of construction which you will understand at once when

you look at our picture。



This new method of construction allowed the introduction

of enormous windows。 In the twelfth century; glass was still

an expensive curiosity; and very few private buildings possessed

glass windows。 Even the castles of the nobles were

without protection and this accounts for the eternal drafts

and explains why people of that day wore furs in…doors as

well as out。



Fortunately; the art of making coloured glass; with which

the ancient people of the Mediterranean had been familiar;

had not been entirely lost。 There was a revival of stained

glass…making and soon the windows of the Gothic churches

told the stories of the Holy Book in little bits of brilliantly

coloured window…pane; which w

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