. Only so far as the longing for the beautiful permits do even
the better ones remain faithful to Nature, not a finger's breadth more."

"Quite right," the other went on calmly. "But your objection only
brings one nearer the goal. How many who care only for applause content
themselves to-day, unfortunately, with Nature at second hand! Without
returning to her eternally fresh, inexhaustible spring, they draw from
the conveniently accessible wells which the great ancients dug for
them."

"I know these many," Hermon wrathfully exclaimed. "They are the brothers
of the Homeric poets, who take verses from the Iliad and Odyssey to
piece out from them their own pitiful poems."

"Excellent, my son!" exclaimed Thyone, laughing, and Daphne remarked
that the poet Cleon had surprised her father with such a poem a few
weeks before. It was a marvellous bit of botchwork, and yet there was a
certain meaning in the production, compiled solely from Homeric verses.

"Diomed's Hecuba," observed Proclus, "and the Aphrodite by Hippias,
which were executed in marble, originated in the same way, and deserve
no better fate, although they please the great multitude. But, praised
be my lord, Apollo, our age can also boast of other artists. Filled with
the spirit of the god, they are able to model truthfully and faithfully
even the forms of the immortals invisible to the physical eye. They
stand before the spectator as if borrowed from Nature, for their
creators have filled them with their own healthy vigour. Our poor
Myrtilus belonged to this class and, after your Demeter, the world will
include you in it also."

"And yet," answered Hermon in a tone of dissent, "I remained faithful to
myself, and put nothing, nothing at all of my own personality, into the
forms borrowed from Nature."

"What need of that was there?" asked Proclus with a subtle smile. "Your
model spared you the task. And this at last brings me to the goal I
desired to reach. As the great Athenians created types for eternity,
so also does Nature at times in a happy hour, for her own pleasure, and
such a model you found in our Daphne.-No contradiction, my dear young
lady! The outlines of the figure--By the dog! Hermon might possibly have
found forms no less beautiful in the Aphrosion, but how charming and
lifelike is the somewhat unusual yet graceful pose of yours! And then
the heart, the soul! In your companionship our artist had nothing to do
except lovingly to share your feel