"
"The harmless enjoyments of which you speak are exactly the signs by
which one may recognize the vegetative lives of the savage and the
animal. A serene enjoyment is what naturally appertains to the lower
forms of life when they are satiated, and in no danger of being
tracked for their lives. The oldest drawings on the subject always
represent men with a foolish serene smile. So the privilege of
development is to rejoice in a satisfied stomach and untroubled
security, and all through his life to know no other care or want but
comfort of body."
"At last I understand you. The artist's ideal is the 'Penseroso,'
and in order to recognize the highly developed man he must be
furnished with a proof of his identity, so that the meaning of the
creature may not be lost to sight for a moment."
"You may put it in the joking way, but I really mean it. I don't
forget how much of the animal is still in us. Of course one wants
relaxation. But I don't want to look on while animals feed. Recovery
after hard intellectual work means, in your sense, the return for
some hours to animal life. Now I prefer the painful ascent of
mankind to the comfortable, backward slide into animal nature. If I
wished to pose as a statue for you it would have to be 'Penseroso'
while eating or drinking, or with a foolish, smiling mask indicating
animal contentment.
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