But what would it all be without the Soul, and how does this manifest
itself?
We see on the countenance of the mother, not grief alone for the
already prostrated flower of her children; not alone deadly anxiety
for the preservation of those yet remaining, and of the youngest
daughter, who has fled for safety to her bosom; nor resentment against
the cruel deities; least of all, as is pretended, cool defiance-all
these we see, indeed, but not these alone; for, through grief,
anxiety, and resentment streams, like a divine light, eternal love, as
that which alone remains; and in this is preserved the mother, as
one who was not, but now is a mother, and who remains united with the
beloved ones by an eternal bond.
Every one acknowledges that greatness, purity, and goodness of Soul
have also their sensuous expressions. But how is this conceivable,
unless the principle that acts in Matter be itself cognate and similar
to Soul?
For the representation of the Soul there are again gradations in
Art, according as it is joined with the merely Characteristic, or in
visible union with the Charming and Graceful.
Who perceives not already, in the tragedies of AEschylus, the presence
of that lofty morality which is predominant in the works of Sophocles?
But in the former it is enveloped in a bitter rind, and passes
less into the whole work, since the bond of sensuous Grace is still
wanting.
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