perfection then attained was possible only in a nation whereof the
citizens were themselves critics and amateurs of art, one wherein
the artist was honored and his work appreciated in all its beauty
and subtlety. The Greek architect was less bound by tradition and
precedent than was the Egyptian, and he worked unhampered by any
restrictions save such as, like the laws of harmony in music, helped
rather than hindered his genius to express itself--restrictions
founded on sound reason, the value of which had been proved by
experience.

The Doric order was employed for all large temples, since it possessed
in fullest measure the qualities of simplicity and dignity, the
attributes appropriate to greatness. Quite properly also its formulas
were more fixed than those of any other style. The Ionic order,
the feminine of which the Doric may be considered the corresponding
masculine, was employed for smaller temples; like a woman it was more
supple and adaptable than the Doric, its proportions were more slender
and graceful, its lines more flowing, and its ornament more delicate
and profuse. A freer and more elaborate style than either of these,
infinitely various, seeming to obey no law save that of beauty, was
used sometimes for small monuments and temples, such as the Tower of
the Winds, and the monument of Lysicrates at Athens.

[Illustration 1]

Because the Greek architect was at liberty to improve upon the work of
his predecessors if he could, no temple was just like any other,
and they form an ascending scale of excellence, culminating in the
Acropolis group. Every detail was considered not only with relation
to its position and function, but in regard to its intrinsic beauty as