Beauty
拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生 / Ralph Waldo Emerson
A nobler want of man is served by nature， namely， the love of Beauty.
The ancient Greeks called the world Koouos， beauty. Such is the constitution of all things， or such the plastic power of the human eye， that the primary forms， as the sky， the mountain， the tree， the animal， give us a delight in and for themselves； a pleasure arising from outline， color， motion， and grouping. This seems partly owing to the eye itself. The eye is the best of artists. By the mutual action of its structure and of the laws of light， perspective is produced， which integrates every mass of objects， of what character soever， into a well colored and shaded globe， so that where the particular objects are mean and unaffecting， the landscape which they compose is round and symmetrical. And as the eye is the best composer， so light is the f？irst of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful. And the stimulus it affords to the sense， and a sort of inf？initude which it has， like space and time， make all matter gay. Even the corpse has its own beauty. But besides this general grace diffused over nature， almost all the individual forms are agreeable to the eye， as is proved by our endless imitations of some of them， as the acorn， the grape， the pine-cone， the wheat-ear， the egg， the wings and forms of most birds， the lion’s claw， the serpent， the butterf？ly， sea-shells， f？lames， clouds， buds， leaves， and the forms of many trees， as the palm.
For better consideration， we may distribute the aspects of Beauty in a threefold manner.
1. F？irst， the simple perception of natural forms is a delight. The inf？luence of the forms and actions in nature is so needful to man， that， in its lowest functions， it seems to lie on the conf？ines of commodity and beauty. To the body and mind， which have been cramped by noxious work or company， nature is medicinal and restores their tone. The tradesman， the attorney comes out of the din. and craft of the street and sees the sky and the woods， and is a man again. In their eternal calm， he f？inds himself. The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never f？ired， so long as we can see far enough.