In the following pages I have made no attempt to furnish an elementary handbook—not even to write an outline of the history of Greek Art. I have only tried to develope one thought, the consideration of which it seemed to me might rightly precede such an outline.

We feel for Greek art something more than a historical interest; our desire to know of it is a want more imperative than any antiquarian curiosity. We naturally ask, Why? what is it that impels us to learn? why, when Egypt and Assyria and Phœnicia are dead, is Greece alone untouched by time, vital for ever? why from the contemplation of Greek art do we derive not merely an impression of the senses, but also a satisfaction that abides and an impulse to growth, moral and intellectual?

The answer is, I believe, found in a certain peculiar quality of Greek art which adapts itself to the consciousness of successive ages, which has within it no seed of possible death,—a certain largeness and universality which outlives the individual race and persists for all time. The meaning of this quality, which we call Ideality, it is the sole object of this little book to develope. The chapter on Pheidias and the ideality of the Parthenon marbles was written first, and contains the gist of what I desire to say, and of what during five years of archæological teaching at the British Museum I have constantly tried to enforce. The chapters that precede and follow are only the necessary prelude and sequel.

The meaning of the term Ideality I have sought to explain by reference to the teaching of Plato.