these attractions, but in the symmetrical development of all the
qualities of the human frame, the complete organisation of the body as
the supreme instrument of vital energy. In the bloom of adolescence the
elements of feminine grace, suggested rather than expressed, are
combined with virility to produce a perfection which is lacking to the
mature and adult excellence of either sex. The Greek lover, if I am
right in the idea which I have formed of him, sought less to stimulate
desire by the contemplation of sensual charms than to attune his spirit
with the spectacle of strength at rest in suavity. He admired the
chastened lines, the figure slight but sinewy, the limbs well-knit and
flexible, the small head set upon broad shoulders, the keen eyes, the
austere reins, and the elastic movement of a youth made vigorous by
exercise. Physical perfection of this kind suggested to his fancy all
that he loved best in moral qualities. Hardihood, self-discipline,
alertness of intelligence, health, temperance, indomitable spirit,
energy, the joy of active life, plain living and high thinking--these
qualities the Greeks idealised, and of these, "the lightning vision of
the darling," was the living incarnation. There is plenty in their
literature to show that paiderastia obtained sanction from the belief
that a soul of this sort would be found within the body of a young man
rather than a woman. I need scarcely add that none but a race of artists
could be lovers of this sort, just as none but a race of poets were
adequate to apprehend the chivalrous enthusiasm for woman as an object
of worship.

The morality of the Greeks, as I have tried elsewhere to prove, was
aesthetic. They regarded humanity as a part of a good and beautiful
universe, nor did they shrink from any of their normal instincts. To
find the law of human energy, the measure of man's natural desires, the
right moment for indulgence and for self-restraint, the balance which
results in health, the proper limit for each several function which
secures the harmony of all, seem to them the aim of ethics. Their
personal code of conduct ended in "modest self-restraint:" not
abstention, but selection and subordination ruled their practice. They
were satisfied with controlling much that more ascetic natures
unconditionally suppress. Consequently, to the Greeks, there was nothing
at first sight criminal in paiderastia. To forbid it as a hateful and
unclean thing did not occur to th