前天提到Ralph Waldo Emerson，有本论他的书，题目很有趣：Emerson’s Nonlinear Nature，前言引用了John Ruskin的一段话：

I speak of the Renaissance as an evil time, because, when it saw those men go burning forth into the battle, it mistook their armour for their strength; and forthwith encumbered with the painful panoply every stripling who ought to have gone forth only with his choice of three smooth stones out of the brook.

原话见《威尼斯的石头》（The Stones of Venice ,1853）第三卷（§ XXI）。R的意思是，文艺复兴脱离了哥特式（Gothic）的“自然美”（即歌德所说的“野蛮”），而去追求“不健康的完美”（unwholesomedemand for perfection）——普遍的完美（universal perfection），而不是古典和罗马形式的完美（classical and Roman forms of perfection）。

罗老师列举了建筑形式的变化：The pointed arch, the shadowy vault, the clustered shaft, theheaven-pointing spire, were all swept away; and no structure was any longerpermitted but that of the plain cross-beam from pillar to pillar, over theround arch, with square or circular shafts, and a low-gabled roof and pediment: two elements of noble form, which had fortunately existed in Rome, were,however, for that reason, still permitted; the cupola, and, internally,the waggon vault. 这些名词，需要对照建筑图像来学习，我懒得翻书了（还真有那样的书）。

在罗老师看来，这些形式的变化都是不幸的，即使偶尔精妙的十五世纪的装饰，在那寒碜（cold and meagre）的罗马外观下，也显得微不足道了。只有佛罗伦萨的百花大教堂（Duomo）还有哥特式的影子，令人想起绝妙的文艺复兴大师傅们的工艺（如Verrocchio，Ghiberti）。但这些大师不是常有的，要普通工匠（”worlman”）成为他们，顶多是他们的复制品。他们本该投身于science with invention, method with emotion, finish with fire，却把the invention and the fire放在第一位，而在欧洲只见method and the finish。匠人们得到了method and finish却失去了灵魂……