“ for art is only like a prudent steward that lives on managing the riches of nature. ”
Homer, Iliad (c. 850 BC). copy citation
| Author | Homer |
|---|---|
| Source | Iliad |
| Topic | art living |
| Date | c. 850 BC |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Alexander Pope |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-h/6130-h.htm |
Context
“the utmost stretch of human study, learning, and industry, which masters everything besides, can never attain to this. It furnishes art with all her materials, and without it judgment itself can at best but “steal wisely:” for art is only like a prudent steward that lives on managing the riches of nature. Whatever praises may be given to works of judgment, there is not even a single beauty in them to which the invention must not contribute: as in the most regular gardens, art can only reduce beauties of nature to more regularity, and such a figure, which the common eye may better take in, and is, therefore, more entertained with.”
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