[13] The Judaic story of the fall of man is at bottom an essentially democratic one. This absence of rank in sin had no parallel in the aristocratic Pagan world. Likewise, in the manner of the fall, there is a total absence of noble qualities. "Curiosity, beguilement, seductibility and wantonness—in short, a whole series of pre-eminently feminine passions—were regarded as the origin of evil." See B. T., pp. 78, 79.
[14] Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I, p. 33.
[15] A., Aph. 43 and 64.
[16] Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 435.
[17] Ibid., No. 522.
[18] W. P., Vol. II, p. 312: "When it occurs to inferior men to doubt that higher men exist, then the danger is great," etc. See, in fact, the whole of Aph. 874.
[19] See A., Aph. 49: "The concept of guilt and punishment, inclusive of the doctrine of 'grace,' of 'salvation,' and of 'forgiveness'—lies through and through, without a shred of psychological truth. Sin,... this form of human self-violation par excellence, was invented solely for the purpose of making all science, all culture, and every kind of elevation and nobility utterly impossible."
[20] Ruskin, On the Nature of Gothic Architecture (p. 7), contrasting the classic and Gothic style, says: "... In the mediæval, or especially Christian, system of ornament, this slavery [i.e. the slavery imposed by the classic canon] is done away with altogether; Christianity having recognized, in small things as well as great, the individual value of every soul."
[21] In a good deal of the painting and sculpture of the pre-Renaissance period, too, signs were not lacking which showed that the Christian ideal of truth was beginning to work its effects by leading to a realism which I have classified in Lecture II as Police Art. Of course, a good deal of this realism may also be accounted for by the reasons which I suggest at the end of Part I of Lecture III; be this as it may, however, as it is difficult to decide the actual proportion of either of these influences, the weight of the Christian doctrine of Truth must not be altogether overlooked in such productions as Donatello's "Crucifixion" (Capella Bardi, S. Croce, Florence); Masolino's "Raising of Tabitha" (Carmine, Florence); Masaccio's Fresco (S. Maria del Carmine, Florence); Ucello's "Rout of S. Romano" (Uffizi); Andrea del Castagno's "Crucifixion" (in the Monastery of the Angeli, Florence); and the really beautiful statues of the Founders in the Cathedral of Naumburg.