“All learning is useful,” taught Epicurus; “all the sciences are curious; all the arts are beautiful; but more useful, more curious and more beautiful is the perfect knowledge and perfect government of ourselves. Though a man should read the heavens, unravel their laws and their revolutions; though he should dive into the mysteries of matter, and expound the phenomena of the earth and air; though he should be conversant with all the writings and sayings and actions of the dead; though he should hold the pencil of Parrhasius, the chisel of Polycletus or the lyre of Pindar; though he should be one or all of these things, yet not know the secret springs of his own mind, the foundation of his opinions, the motives of his actions; if he hold not the rein over his passions; if he have not cleared the mist of all prejudice from his understanding; if he have not rubbed off all intolerance from his judgments; if he know not to weigh his own actions and the actions of others in the balance of justice, that man hath not knowledge, nor, though he be a man of science, a man of learning or an artist, he is not a sage. He must sit down patient at the feet of Philosophy. With all his learning he hath yet to learn, and perhaps a harder task, he hath to _un_learn.” The Corinthian order, on the other hand, notwithstanding all its charm, beauty and variety, seemed to lack that steadfastness of character which bound so firmly the other two orders to the hearts of the Grecian people, and was never admitted into their fullest trust and confidence. Indeed, it is generally conceded that the Corinthian model grew in favor as the architectural art of Greece declined; and only when Greece, losing her autonomy, began to lose her ambition and intellectual greatness and independence. It reached its fullest vogue with the later or Greco-Roman architects, who sacrificed much of purity in art for lavish and sightly display. With the Greeks the Corinthian was sparingly employed, and generally called upon for their smaller and less important buildings; on the other hand, with the Romans, enriched by additional features and ornamentation of their own, it became the favorite order, not alone for portico and temple, but for public and private buildings of every nature. [Illustration: Three columns] CHAPTER IV. EARLY GRECIAN ARCHITECTS.