whence human beauty emanates.

But painting excels and lords over music because it does not die as
soon as it is born, as occurs with music, the less fortunate; on the
contrary, it continues to exist and reveals itself to be what it is, a
single surface. O marvellous science, thou givest lasting life to the
perished beauty of mortals, which are thus made more enduring than the
works of nature, for these undergo forever the changes of time, and
time leads them to inevitable old age! And this science is to divine
nature as its works are to the works of nature, and on this account it
is worshipped.

[Sidenote: Painting & Music]

25.

The most worthy thing is that which satisfies the most worthy sense;
therefore painting, which satisfies the sense of sight, is more worthy
than {86} music, which merely satisfies the hearing. The most worthy
thing is that which endures longest; therefore music, which is
continually dying as soon as it is born, is less worthy than painting,
which lasts eternally with the colours of enamel. The most excellent
thing is that which is the most universal and contains the greatest
variety of things; therefore painting must be set above all other arts,
because it contains all the forms which exist and also those which are
not in nature, and it should be glorified and exalted more than music,
which deals with the voice only.

With it images are made to the gods; around it divine worship is
conducted, of which music is a subservient ornament; by means of it
pictures are given to lovers of their beloved; by it the beauties are
preserved which time, and nature the mother, render fitful; by it we
retain the images of famous men. And if thou wert to say that by
committing music to writing you render it eternal, we do the same with
letters.

Therefore, since thou hast included music among the liberal arts, thou
must either exclude it, or include the art of letters. And if thou
wast to say: Painting is used by base men, in the same way is music
spoilt by him who knows it not. If thou sayest that sciences which are
not mechanical are mental, I will answer that painting is mental. And
just as music and geometry deal with the proportions of continuous
quantities, and {87} arithmetic deals with discontinuous quantities,
painting deals with all quantities and the qualities of the proportions
of shadows, lights and distances, in its perspective.

[Sidenote: Painter and Musician]

26.

The