Egypt -- Antiquities; Egypt -- Description and travel
enchantment, and I am not by nature enamoured of sobriety, of reticence
and calm, but am inclined to delight in almost violent force, in
brilliance, and, especially, in combinations of color. In the Alhambra
one finds both force and fairylike lightness, delicious proportions,
delicate fantasy, a spell as of subtle magicians; in the Cappella
Palatina a jeweled splendor, combined with a small perfection of form
which simply captivates the whole spirit and leads it to adoration. In
Edfu you are face to face with hugeness and with grandeur; but soon you
are scarcely aware of either--in the sense, at least, that connects
these qualities with a certain overwhelming, almost striking down, of
the spirit and the faculties. What you are aware of is your own immense
and beautiful calm of utter satisfaction--a calm which has quietly
inundated you, like a waveless tide of the sea. How rare it is to feel
this absolute satisfaction, this praising serenity! The critical spirit
goes, like a bird from an opened window. The excited, laudatory, voluble
spirit goes. And this splendid calm is left. If you stay here, you, as
this temple has been, will be molded into a beautiful sobriety. From the
top of the pylon you have received this still and glorious impression
from the matchless design of the whole building, which you see best from
there. When you descend the shallow staircase, when you stand in the
great court, when you go into the shadowy halls, then it is that the
utter satisfaction within you deepens. Then it is that you feel the
need to worship in this place created for worship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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