With such evidences of his artistic powers man might indeed dare to put himself in place of the gods as a subject for delineation. Henceforth the Greeks preferred to represent scenes from domestic or social life, and the vases of this period, from whose delineations the subjects of our Plates (23-26) are chiefly derived, exhibit the most private relations of life with that ennobling self-consciousness and that inspiration of the ideal which, if we had no other evidence than these vessels, would carry an assurance of the loftiest conceptions of existence. The decorations of this period, both figures and ornamental designs, are of a soft brown color with a black back ground. It was characteristic of the most refined Hellenic culture that, regardless of material, it could be contented with perfection of form.
As culture degenerated with the decay of the state (which in one sense, indeed, was itself purely an expression of the same culture), that content ment also ceased, and costly materials, especially precious metals, began to be employed for the purposes of fine art. Grecian handicraft, of course tech nically perfect in its best days, exhibited a wonderful degree of excellence to a very late period, and supplied even barbarous countries out of the abundance of its productions. Figure 71 (p1. 22) represents a golden vase which was found some years ago in Southern Russia in the tomb of a Scythian king, and which may be assumed with certainty to have been originally made for the trade of that region, since scenes from the eques trian life of the people are delineated upon it.
This department of art offers the first example of that decay of taste which soon invaded every other province. Far-fetched allusions took the place of true aesthetic sentiments; the fantastic banished the beautiful, still, however, leaving the outer charm of style and the air of the ideal. The drinking-vessels shown in Figures 49-55 illustrate the earliest, and indeed least objectionable, forms of this corruption of taste.
Furniturc.—The change from extreme simplicity in furniture (see p. IS3) to Asiatic luxury was very rapid, but it was confined to persons whose means permitted them to indulge in the desire for exotic articles of com fort and splendor. Inasmuch as Lycurgus permitted the Spartan boys to sleep on beds of hay or straw up to the age of fifteen, but required them after that age to use reeds or canes for their beds, and inasmuch as lie forbade the men at their meals the use of cushioned couches, upon which the rest of the Greeks reclined, but instead permitted only wooden benches, it is to be inferred that such was the manner of life to which they had previously been accustomed; for a people may be prevented from enlarging its demands, but it will not submit to any essential diminution of them.
The household furniture mentioned by Homer was still very simple. The kings indeed occupied comfortable easy-chairs near the hearth, enjoy ing its warmth and light, and we may assume that the "thronos" was already at that time one of the royal privileges, actually if not legally. Later on, mention is made of seats, tables, and couches made of costly wood or precious metal, inlaid with gold, silver, or ivory, and covered with deer-skins or panther-skins brought from the Orient. The forms of these various articles (figs. 25-34), rather than their decorations, show that the Greeks imitated Asiatic models in the furnishing of their dwellings.
But it is characteristic of their culture that, in marked contrast with the smaller kingdoms of the East, which to a slavish degree imitated the great ones in ornamentation and luxury, the Greeks never exceeded a just limit; on the contrary, in course of time they returned rather to their noble simplicity, as is abundantly evident from the paintings on their vases. Figures 35-41 show specimens of precious as well as of simple household articles.
Familv and Social I the same degree that the life of man is conditioned by his surroundings is it dependent upon them; hence the life of the Greek was as simple as the arrangement of his house and as that of the state itself; but it has the greater intrinsic worth because he endeavored to find the value of life within himself and not in his pos sessions. The contrast between the two principal states of Greece was especially pronounced in this respect. But we shall not dwell upon it, because the Spartan idea of man and his surroundings is of value to the history of civilization only from the fact of its existence, and not from its influence. The constitution of Lycurgus, enjoining as it did the strictest discipline, kept exclusively in view the preservation of the Spar tan state, without assigning to it a wider sphere of usefulness; and it did little to benefit even those who lived under it.