[88] A discussion of Croce’s doctrines might seem advisable at some point. But all that is strictly necessary has already been said in _The Foundations of Æsthetics_. It may be repeated here in the vigorous terms of Giovanni Papini (_Four and Twenty Minds_): “If you disregard critical trivialities and didactic accessories, the entire æsthetic system of Croce amounts merely to a hunt for pseudonyms of the word ‘art’, and may indeed be stated briefly and accurately in this formula: art = intuition = expression = feeling = imagination = fancy = lyricism = beauty. And you must be careful not to take these words with the shadings and distinctions which they have in ordinary or scientific language. Not a bit of it. Every word is merely a different series of syllables signifying absolutely and completely the same thing.” When you are not careful the amalgam of confusions and contradictions which ensues is very remarkable. It is interesting to notice that Croce’s appeal has been exclusively to those unfamiliar with the subject, to the man of letters and the dilettante. He has been ignored by serious students of the mind. How many of those for example who have been impressed by his dicta as to expression and language have been aware of how the problem has been discussed before, or have ever heard of the ‘imageless thought’ controversy? Upon the ways in which Croce’s strategy has inveigled the guileless into supposing him to be saying something, Papini is excellent. ‘The Barabbas of art, the Thug of philosophy, the Apache of culture’—Papini so describes himself—has here rendered a notable service to those who have been depressed by the vogue of ‘Expressionism’. [89] _ὅμοιον_. This word is variously translated ‘resemblance’ (Twining), and ‘truth to life’? (Butcher). Its usual meaning in the _Poetics_ is ‘the quality of _being like ourselves_’, ‘_average_ humanity’. [90] Cf. Eastlake, _Literature of the Fine Arts_. “The elephant with his objectionable legs and inexpressive hide may still be supposed to be a very normal specimen and may accordingly be a fit object for artistic imitation.” [91] Preface to _Lyrical Ballads_. [92] Compare Thomas Rymer, _A Short View of Tragedy_. “A little preparation and forecast might do well now and then. For his Desdemona’s Marriage, he might have helped out the probability by figuring how that some way or other a Blackamoor woman had been her nurse and suckled her; or that once upon a time some _Virtuoso_ had transfused into her veins the Blood of a Black Sheep.” We may take it such are not the secret laws of nature to which Goethe was alluding. [93] _On Poesy or Art_. [94] ‘Literature and Religion’ in _The Necessity of Art_, published by The Student Christian Movement, p. 155. CHAPTER XXXIV The Two Uses of Language