Saturday commute cxix: Persia without end

The building of Alexandria 
proceeded, and copied or mag-
nified forms from the perish-
ing peninsula overseas. Dino-
crates planned Greek temples
and market places, and they
were constructed not slavish-
ly but with intelligence, for
the Greek spirit still lived.

But it lived consciously, not

unconsciously as in the past.

It had a mission, and no mis-

sionary shall ever create.

And Alexander, the heroic

chaos of whose heart surged

with desire for all that

can and can not be, turned

away from his Hellenic town-

planning and his narrow lit-

tle antiquarian crusade, and

flung himself again, but in

a new spirit, against the

might of Persia.

He fought her as a lover now. 

He wanted not to convert but 

to harmonize, and conceived 

himself as the divine and im-

partial ruler beneath whom 

harmony shall proceed.

That way lies madness. Per-

sia fell. Then it was the

turn of India. Then the turn

of Rome would have come and

then he could have sailed

westward (such was his ex-

pressed intention) until he

conquered the Day. He was

never - despite the tuition

of Aristotle - a balanced

young man, and his old 

friends complained that in

this latter period he some-

times killed them.

                But to us, who cannot have the peril-

                ous honour of his acquaintance, he

                grows more lovable now than before.

                He has caught, by the unintellectual

                way, a glimpse of something great, 

                if dangerous.. He had tried to lead

                Greece, then he had tried to lead 

                mankind. He had succeeded in both.

  

                But was the universe also friendly,

                was it also in trouble, was it call-

                ing on him, on him, for his help and

                his love?

              

The artistic progress 

in the works of David

Hockney and Morgan For-

ster displays a natural 

resemblance in their 

gathering confidence 

to test their nemesis,

their resistant Persia.

The site offers no tri-

umph, except in their

residual refusal to be

drawn into conflict

with their art. Resis-

tance without end lays

a cornerstone of West-

ern art, and it follows,

of sanity as we know it.

Let us see how we may

thrive by this constraint.

E.M. Forster

Pharos and Pharillon

  The Return from Siwa

1923

Creative Arts Book Co., 1980©

David Hockney

Nude, Santa Monica

1973

Sur la terrasse

1971

Peter Schlesinger

1968

Michael Beck

Walter Hill

  director

The Warriors

1979

Andrés Nieto Porras

Sea, Iceland

undated