THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

I. 1. The Harmony of Virtue43man with the Cosmos and saying nothing about the harmony ofman with man?Wilson: Did we not relegate that for subsequent inquiry?Keshav: We did, but I think the time for subsequent inquiryhas come.Wilson: It is too late in the day for me to distrust yourguidance.Keshav: I do not think you will have reason to regret yourconfidence in me. Our line then will be to consider the internalharmony of the race before we proceed farther.Wilson: So it is best.Keshav: Here again we must start from our description ofbeauty as harmony in effect and proportion in detail and ourdescription of the latter as a regular variety or method in madness.Then just as in the Cosmos the individual type must varyfrom all the other types, so in the human Cosmos the individualman must vary from all other men.Wilson: That is rather startling. Do you mean that there oughtto be no point of contact?Keshav: No, Broome; for we must always remember thatthe elements of a generic type must have certain virtues withoutwhich they would not belong to the type: as the poet saysOne touch of nature makes the whole world kin.Wilson: Then where do you find your variety?Keshav: If you will compare the elements of those types inwhich the harmony is perfect, your ignorance will vanish like amist. You will see at once that every planet develops indeed hisplanetary qualities, but varies from every other planet, and ifVenus be the name and the star be feminine, is a dovelike whitein complexion and yields an effulgence more tender than a girl'sblush, but if he is Mars, burns with the sanguine fire of battleand rolls like a bloodshot eye through space, and if he is Saturn,has seven moons in his starry seraglio, and is richly orange incomplexion like vapour coloured by the sun's pencil when hesets, and wears a sevenfold girdle of burning fire blue as a witch'seye and green as Love's parrot and red as the lips of Cleopatra