highest grade of its objectification.
It was mentioned above that in order rightly to portray man, it is
necessary to separate the character of the species from that of the
individual, so that to a certain extent every man expresses an Idea
peculiar to himself, as was said in the last book. Therefore the arts
whose aim is the representation of the Idea of man, have as their problem,
not only beauty, the character of the species, but also the character of
the individual, which is called, _par excellence_, _character_. But this
is only the case in so far as this character is to be regarded, not as
something accidental and quite peculiar to the man as a single individual,
but as a side of the Idea of humanity which is specially apparent in this
individual, and the representation of which is therefore of assistance in
revealing this Idea. Thus the character, although as such it is
individual, must yet be Ideal, that is, its significance in relation to
the Idea of humanity generally (the objectifying of which it assists in
its own way) must be comprehended and expressed with special prominence.
Apart from this the representation is a portrait, a copy of the individual
as such, with all his accidental qualities. And even the portrait ought to
be, as Winckelmann says, the ideal of the individual.
That _character_ which is to be ideally comprehended, as the prominence of
a special side of the Idea of humanity, expresses itself visibly, partly
through permanent physiognomy and bodily form, partly through passing
emotion and passion, the reciprocal modification of knowing and willing by
each other, which is all exhibited in the mien and movements. Since the
individual always belongs to humanity, and, on the other hand, humanity
always reveals itself in the individual with what is indeed peculiar ideal
significance, beauty must not be destroyed by character nor character by
beauty. For if the character of the species is annulled by that of the
individual, the result is caricature; and if the character of the
individual is annulled by that of the species, the result is an absence of
meaning. Therefore the representation which aims at beauty, as sculpture
principally does, will yet always modify this (the character of the
species), in some respect, by the individual character, and will always
express the Idea of man in a definite individual manner, giving prominence
to a special side of it. For the human individual as such has to a certain
extent the dignity of a special Idea, and it is essential to the Idea of
man that it should express itself in individuals of special significance.
Therefore we find in the works of the ancients, that the beauty distinctly
comprehended by them, is not expressed in one form, but in many forms of
different character. It is always apprehended, as it were, from a
different side, and expressed in one way in Apollo, in another way in
Bacchus, in another in Hercules, in another in Antinous; indeed the