THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

I. 1. The Harmony of Virtue53Wilson: You are growing almost as paradoxical as PrinceParadox, Keshav.Keshav: Look for Truth and you will find her at the bottomof a paradox. Are you convinced that animal qualities are notthe worse for being animal?Wilson: Perfectly convinced.Keshav: And here I cannot do better than quote a sentencethat like so many of Meredith's sentences, goes like a knife tothe root of the matter. “As she grows in the flesh when discreetlytended, nature is unimpeachable, flowerlike, yet not too decorativelya flower; you must have her with the stem, the thorns,the roots, and the fat bedding of roses.” And since I have quotedthat immortal chapter so overloaded with truth critical, truthpsychologic and truth philosophic, let me use two other sentencesto point the moral of this argument and bid you embrace “Reality'sinfinite sweetness” and “touch the skirts of philosophy bysharing her hatred of the sham decent, her derision of sentimentalism.”May we not now ascend to the fourth rung?Wilson: Yes, I think we may go on.Keshav: I am especially eager to do so because I am moreand more convinced that our description of virtue is no longeradequate: for if the only requisite is to evolve our innate qualities,will it not be enough to be merely cruel and not to be cruelin a refined and beautiful manner?Wilson: Plainly it will.Keshav: And is it really enough to be merely cruel?Treneth: No, for to be inartistic is the only sin.Keshav: Your paradox cuts to the heart of the truth. Canyou tell me, Broome, whether is the rose more beautiful thanthe bramble or the bramble than the rose?Wilson: Obviously the rose than the bramble.Keshav: And why is this? Is it not because the thorn developsunduly the thorn and does not harmonize it with leaves butis careless of proportion and the eternal principle of harmony,and is beautiful indeed as an element in the harmony of plantsbut has no pretensions to personal beauty but the rose subduesthe thorn into harmony with the leaf and the blossoms and isperfectly beautiful in herself no less than as an element in the