consistency and hardness, although of unequal quality, they readily adapt themselves, with a little care, to the purposes of the artist. Certain shell tufas were convenient for use as a stucco, to cover deficiencies of material and give it color. A solid stone, such as is found at the Piræus, was adapted for precise cutting and exact joining, to a rhythmical arrangement of the blocks and a firm accentuation of the moldings. More careful pains was encouraged when marble of a finer grain was used. It was a material that inspired the workman with a kind of involuntary regard, for it assured him that none of his intention, no delicate stroke of the chisel would be lost; and this gave that wonderfully accurate execution so much admired in the sculptures. There were, further, marbles of different colors, which could be combined and arranged for the best effects. The adaptability of these materials to the sculptor's work was hardly a less potent factor in the development of Grecian art than were the natural genius of the race and the conditions of its environment.
On the other hand, Greece was poor in metals, the lead and silver mines of Laurium being the only mines on the peninsula that have been worked with profit. The fact brought its advantages. The people could not do without metals; they needed them for domestic luxury and ornament. The metallic treasures found at Mycenæ and other evidences are in proof of the power of their taste for gold, and they shrank from no danger to get it. Both it and the humbler metals had to be got from abroad; and the necessity must have contributed to the development of business and enterprise. It would dispose the people to welcome the foreigner bringing them the commodities they desired, and then to go in search of them in the countries where they occurred or were brought in by trade. All dependence, including dependence in trade, is a bond; and it is important that it shall not operate to reduce one of the two parties brought into association by it into vassalage to the other. That danger was not to be apprehended in Greece. The situation and configuration of the country were calculated to foster individuality and independence in all things, and to protect the beginnings and favor the development of the nation which should first establish and hold itself there as in an impregnable fortress.—Translated for The Popular Science Monthly from the Revue des Deux Mondes.
