Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/520

 496 History of Art in Antiquity. methods it applies are no less theirs. Nevertheless its monuments, as our restorations amply show, are more than simple copies of monuments of Assyria and Egypt Persian art is not deficient in originality. Of course, it cannot compete in power and expression with that of Egypt, of Chaldaea and Greece; in its limitations, how- ever, it is real, worth)- of our regard and susceptible of being defined. Like the art of Phoenicia, which likewise ranks among minor stars, the originality of Persian art resides, firstly, in the observance of regularity and proportion, and its nicety in combining the several elements it had borrowed ; and, secondly, in the extra- ordinary size of the principal edifices, in the building of which the architect used processes not his own, as well as the amazing luxury of ornaments in which he clothed them. Phcenicia drew from the same sources. Why so different the results ? Because the work of fusion and adaptation was effected in somewhat dififerent conditions among the two peoples. I n FhGenicia the main business of life was one of lucre — ^how to get large returns for money invested in commercial enterprises. In order to do this they did not scruple to defraud their customers as to the origin of the goods they exported and offered for sale. They passed off as genuine Egyptian, Chaldxan, or Greek, as the case might be, idols and jewellery, vases of glass and clay, arms and pieces of furniture, manufactured at Tyre or Sidon, the products of whose workshops were industrial rather than artistic. Although we know imper- fectly the monuments erected by these two cities, we none the less penetrate their character. The tomb shows that great care was bestowed upon it, but it is wanting in grandeur ; of their temples and palaces scarcely a trace exists, save a pale shadowy remem- brance. On the other hand, imposing remains are extant of fortified works which Punic cities, whether in the east or the west, once built to protect themselves or their trade against the enemy. Similar works arc best remembered by history. Such would be aqueducts and cisterns, military and commercial harbours, moles and quays, arsenals and magazines, whose proportions and solidity find ample recognitinn in the narrative of ancient writers ; erected one and all for practical purposes by merchant guilds. In Phoenicia the engineer ranked above the architect. But in Persia the artist was neither the slave of private interest nor of a corporation. He was dependent on his master and king alone ; actuated by the all-engrossing idea of glorifying the royal