A quarter of a century ago, when the were first discovered, all scholars were struck by their likeness to the works of later Greece. Even now, when t… - Florence Melian Stawell

... At the outset we are shown the two great armies, Greek and Trojan,—both winning our sympathy,—the one fighting for honour and justice, the other for home and country. We are shown , the fair woman who is at once the cause of the war and its prize; we are shown the two kings, in his noble endurance, in his restless activity; we are shown the two champions, and , both lovable and attractive to us, sworn enemies to one another.

... After Philo and Plato, it was little use to say that Christ was merely like God, and the Spirit that came to us like both. Only the thorough-going assertion of unity could satisfy the longings and quiet the doubts that had been raised.

The last works of a great artist have always a peculiar interest, and when they are the works of his old age they often show a peculiar change. The greatest artists do not copy themselves: stereotyping is fatal to creation. For creation, it cannot be denied though frequently forgotten, is always the production of something new, and this is why so often it is neglected or scorned by contemporaries. The creative artists, though their work corresponds with experience, are always outstripping experience, stretching forward to something they have never fully known, entering fresh worlds only half realised. Beethoven, Rembrandt, Titian, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, all show this in various ways. There is something unearthly in their closing work, and at the same time they are more at peace with this earth than ever. Nor is this because the world appears less terrible to them than it did, but because they seem to discern something more which countervails the terror.