Page:Repository of Arts, Series 1, Volume 01, 1809, January-June.djvu/171



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HISTORY OF THE USEFUL AND POLITE ARTS. (Continued from page 72.) with our general view of the history of the fine arts, we shall commence with that which has undoubtedly to boast of the highest antiquity.

, considered as a fine art, was, among various powerful nations of the ancient world, as also at the foundation of the Peruvian empire, the medium which wise legislators employed to form several tribes into a well-regulated state, to give this associated nation a visible point of union, and to secure to religion and the laws permanent respect and obedience.

In the republics of Greece, where the legislature was more particularly desirous to civilize the citizens, and to inspire them with elevated sentiments, architecture was made the means of diffusing respect for the customs and regulations of the state, love of glory, enthusiasm for patriotic virtue, and a relish for the purer pleasures of existence.

Among all the nations of the earth which have attained a certain degree of civilization and greatness, the cultivation of architecture was indispensably necessary: it was the medium by which the state distinguished, in a manner worthy of itself, the public buildings, and the objects and purposes for which they were designed. The works of architecture are, therefore, monuments, in which every nation and every ''No. III. Vol. I.'' S