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The Crown of Wild Olive

Edizione BooksWhale in inglese di John Ruskin

Essays on work, traffic, war, and the moral purpose of art in modern industrial society.

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The Crown of Wild Olive

John Ruskin connects political economy, craftsmanship, education, and beauty, arguing that a healthy society must value human work above mere production and profit.

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The Crown of Wild Olive

John Ruskin

Capitolo in anteprimaLECTURE I.Anteprima

LECTURE I.

Capitolo in anteprimaWORK.Anteprima

( Delivered before the Working Men's Institute, at Camberwell. )

My Friends,—I have not come among you to-night to endeavour to give you an entertaining lecture; but to tell you a few plain facts, and ask you some plain, but necessary questions. I have seen and known too much of the struggle for life among our labouring population, to feel at ease, even under any circumstances, in inviting them to dwell on the trivialities of my own studies; but, much more, as I meet to-night, for the first time, the members of a working Institute established in the district in which I have passed the greater part of my life, I am desirous that we should at once understand each other, on graver matters. I would fain tell you, with what feelings, and with what hope, I regard this Institution, as one of many such, now happily established throughout England, as well as in other countries;—Institutions which are preparing the way for a great change in all the circumstances of industrial life; but of which the success must wholly depend upon our clearly understanding the circumstances and necessary limits of this change. No teacher can truly promote the cause of education, until he knows the conditions of the life for which that education is to prepare his pupil. And the fact that he is called upon to address you nominally, as a 'Working Class,' must compel him, if he is in any wise earnest or thoughtful, to inquire in the outset, on what you yourselves suppose this class distinction has been founded in the past, and must be founded in the future. The manner of the amusement, and the matter of the teaching, which any of us can offer you, must depend wholly on our first understanding from you, whether you think the distinction heretofore drawn between working men and others, is truly or falsely founded. Do you accept it as it stands? do you wish it to be modified? or do you think the object of education is to efface it, and make us forget it for ever?

Let me make myself more distinctly understood. We call this—you and I—a 'Working Men's' Institute, and our college in London, a 'Working Men's' College. Now, how do you consider that these several institutes differ, or ought to differ, from 'idle men's' institutes and 'idle men's' colleges? Or by what other word than 'idle' shall I distinguish those whom the happiest and wisest of working men do not object to call the 'Upper Classes?' Are there really upper classes,—are there lower? How much should they always be elevated, how much always depressed? And, gentlemen and ladies—I pray those of you who are here to forgive me the offence there may be in what I am going to say. It is not I who wish to say it. Bitter voices say it; voices of battle and of famine through all the world, which must be heard some day, whoever keeps silence. Neither is it to you specially that I say it. I am sure that most now present know their duties of kindness, and fulfil them, better perhaps than I do mine. But I speak to you as representing your whole class, which errs, I know, chiefly by thoughtlessness, but not therefore the less terribly. Wilful error is limited by the will, but what limit is there to that of which we are unconscious?

For indeed the fact is, that there are idle poor and idle rich; and there are busy poor and busy rich. Many a beggar is as lazy as if he had ten thousand a year; and many a man of large fortune is busier than his errand-boy, and never would think of stopping in the street to play marbles. So that, in a large view, the distinction between workers and idlers, as between knaves and honest men, runs through the very heart and innermost economies of men of all ranks and in all positions. There is a working class—strong and happy—among both rich and poor; there is an idle class—weak, wicked, and miserable—among both rich and poor. And the worst of the misunderstandings arising between the two orders come of the unlucky fact that the wise of one class habitually contemplate the foolish of the other. If the busy rich people watched and rebuked the idle rich people, all would be right; and if the busy poor people watched and rebuked the idle poor people, all would be right. But each class has a tendency to look for the faults of the other. A hard-working man of property is particularly offended by an idle beggar; and an orderly, but poor, workman is naturally intolerant of the licentious luxury of the rich. And what is severe judgment in the minds of the just men of either class, becomes fierce enmity in the unjust—but among the unjust only . None but the dissolute among the poor look upon the rich as their natural enemies, or desire to pillage their houses and divide their property. None but the dissolute among the rich speak in opprobrious terms of the vices and follies of the poor.

Indice

In questa edizione

  1. 01Full text
  2. 02LECTURE I.
  3. 03WORK.
  4. 04I. Between those who work, and those who play.
  5. 05II. Between those who produce the means of life, and those who consume them.
  6. 06III. Between those who work with the head, and those who work with the hand.
  7. 07IV. Between those who work wisely, and who work foolishly.
  8. 08I. Work to play; II. Production to consumption; III. Head to Hand; and, IV. Sense to nonsense.
  9. 09III. I pass now to our third condition of separation, between the men who work with the hand, and those who work with the head.
  10. 10LECTURE II.
  11. 11TRAFFIC.
  12. 12>LECTURE III.
  13. 13MUNERA PULVERIS
  14. 14SIX ESSAYS ON THE ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
  15. 15PREFACE.
  16. 16I. Does expenditure of capital on the production of luxurious dress and furniture tend to make a nation rich or poor?
  17. 17I will take the three in their order.
  18. 18MUNERA PULVERIS.
  19. 19CHAPTER I.
  20. 20DEFINITIONS.
  21. 2115. Valuable material things may be conveniently referred to five heads:
  22. 2217. (ii.) Buildings, furniture, and instruments.
  23. 2319. (iv.) Books. The value of these consists,
  24. 24CHAPTER II.
  25. 25STORE-KEEPING.
  26. 261. What is the nature of the store?
  27. 272. What is its quantity in relation to the population?
  28. 283. What is its quantity in relation to the currency?
  29. 291. Who are the Holders of the store, and in what proportions?
  30. 3054. II. Question Second .—What is the quantity of the store, in relation to the population?
  31. 3158. Question Third . What is the quantity of the store in relation to the Currency?
  32. 32CHAPTER III.
  33. 33COIN-KEEPING.
  34. 3480. Finally, then, the power of true currency is fourfold.
  35. 35CHAPTER IV.
  36. 36COMMERCE.
  37. 37CHAPTER V.
  38. 38GOVERNMENT.
  39. 39I. Customs .
  40. 40II. Laws.
  41. 41122. III. Government by Council.
  42. 42CHAPTER VI.
  43. 43MASTERSHIP.
  44. 44155. And now, finally, for immediate rule to all who will accept it.
  45. 45160. "But nothing of this work will pay?"
  46. 46APPENDICES.
  47. 47THE END
  48. 48PRE-RAPHAELITISM
  49. 49PREFACE.
  50. 50PRE-RAPHAELITISM.
  51. 51THE END.
  52. 52SIX LECTURES
  53. 53ON THE ELEMENTS OF
  54. 54SCULPTURE
  55. 55GIVEN BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD IN MICHAELMAS TERM, 1870
  56. 56PREFACE.
  57. 57LECTURE I.
  58. 58OF THE DIVISION OF ARTS.
  59. 5921. (1.) Sculpture is essentially the production of a pleasant bossiness or roundness of surface.
  60. 60LECTURE II.
  61. 61IDOLATRY.
  62. 62IV THE NATIVITY OF ATHENA.
  63. 6362. And now, will you bear with me, while I tell you finally why this is so?
  64. 64LECTURE III.
  65. 65IMAGINATION.
  66. 66LECTURE IV.
  67. 67LIKENESS.
  68. 68I number the nine centuries before Christ thus, upwards, and divide them into three groups of three each.
  69. 69C. corrupt.
  70. 701. Not only sculpture, but all the other fine arts, must be for the people.
  71. 71LECTURE V.
  72. 72STRUCTURE.
  73. 731. That the work is to be with tools of men.
  74. 742. That it is to be in natural materials.
  75. 75D. If the undercutting is bold and deep, and the projection of solid form unreduced, you have full relief.
  76. 76LECTURE VI.
  77. 77THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS.
  78. 78205. I must sum roughly now, for I have detained you too long.
  79. 79THE FUTURE OF ENGLAND.
  80. 80NOTES ON THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PRUSSIA.
  81. 81Book II. Chap. i. p. 67 (47).
  82. 82Book II. Chap. iii. p. 83 (59).
  83. 83Book II. Chap. iii. p. 85 (60).
  84. 84Book II. Chap iv. p. 91 (64).
  85. 85VIII.
  86. 86Book III.
  87. 87VI. Joachim II. Again active in the Reformation, and staunch,
  88. 88ETHICS OF THE DUST
  89. 89TEN LECTURES
  90. 90LITTLE HOUSEWIVES
  91. 91THE ELEMENTS OF CRYSTALLISATION
  92. 92CONTENTS.
  93. 93PERSONÆ.
  94. 94PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
  95. 95PREFACE.
  96. 96THE ETHICS OF THE DUST.
  97. 97LECTURE I.
  98. 98THE VALLEY OF DIAMONDS.
  99. 99L. What! Sindbad's, which nobody could get out of?
  100. 100L. So I see. At least, I see you did; but are you sure Florrie did?
  101. 101L. I think I could be made to feel surer about it.
  102. 102L. I suppose it's all right; but how did you manage it?
  103. 103L. How large were the others?
  104. 104L. But why did you want to get out of the valley? and why haven't you brought me some diamonds?
  105. 105L. You should not have minded the serpents.
  106. 106L. We all of us mind you a little too much, Isabel, I'm afraid.
  107. 107L. Because you say you were frightened at the serpents.
  108. 108L. Not at those serpents. Nobody who really goes into the valley is ever frightened at them—they are so beautiful.
  109. 109L. Yes, Isabel; very real indeed.
  110. 110L. Why not?
  111. 111L. I never said it was a beautiful place.
  112. 112L. That's according te your fancy, Florrie. For myself, I like dew better.
  113. 113L. So are you, you know.
  114. 114L. That's very hard, Florrie; why mustn't I, if you may?
  115. 115L. But why do you want me to tell you true, any more than the man who wrote the 'Arabian Nights?'
  116. 116L. What do you call real things?
  117. 117L. Whether you can see them or not?
  118. 118L. But if nobody has ever seen them?
  119. 119L. No, Florrie. They are much wiser than the people who do see it.
  120. 120L. Well. There's a great broad road, by a river-side, leading up into it.
  121. 121L. It ought to be very beautiful, because it flows over diamond sand—only the water is thick and red.
  122. 122L. It isn't all water.
  123. 123L. Why, you never can beat Lily in a race on the stairs, can you, Isabel?
  124. 124L. Take off the lid, then; gently.
  125. 125L. No; but of infinite interest. We might even come to know something about the making of diamonds.
  126. 126L. A pleasant question, when one's half asleep, and it has been tea time these two hours. What thoughtless things girls are!
  127. 127L. My dear, it would take a week to tell you.
  128. 128L. But nobody knows anything about it.
  129. 129L. Get along with you, and tell Dora to make tea.
  130. 130LECTURE II.
  131. 131THE PYRAMID BUILDERS.
  132. 132L. Some dreams are truer than some wakings, Isabel; but I won't tell it you unless you like.
  133. 133L. You are all such wise children, there's no talking to you; you won't believe anything.
  134. 134L. The little pyramid.
  135. 135L. Yes; but you would not look at it the other day.
  136. 136I cannot talk to you any more to-day. Take that rose-crystal away with you and think.
  137. 137LECTURE III.
  138. 138THE CRYSTAL LIFE.
  139. 139L. So I am to stand up here merely to be asked questions, to-day, Miss Mary, am I?
  140. 140L. I am sworn; but you won't like it, a bit.
  141. 141L. I tell you what shall be dissolved, Miss Dora; and that's the present parliament, if the members get too saucy.
  142. 142L. And how much can you allow for Lily's good packing, in guessing what will go into the trunk?
  143. 143L. How else could it get there?
  144. 144L. What is it to be alive?
  145. 145L. I do not see why it should be provoking to be asked what it is to be alive. Do you think you don't know whether you are alive or not?
  146. 146L. Only one?
  147. 147L. But if it is answered, won't it turn into two?
  148. 148L. Let me hear it.
  149. 149L. That sounds to me more like three questions than one, Mary. If it is only one, it is a wide one.
  150. 150L. Ah, there's a conspiracy among you, I see. I might have guessed as much.
  151. 151L. And I don't want to be asked it, quite dreadfully; but you'll have your own way, of course.
  152. 152L. Well, I'm glad it's that sort of question; because I can answer anything I like, to that.
  153. 153L. But, Egypt, why did you tell me you disliked sewing so?
  154. 154LECTURE IV.
  155. 155THE CRYSTAL ORDERS.
  156. 156L. Everything doesn't divide into threes. Ivy won't, though shamrock will; and daisies won't, though lilies will.
  157. 157L. Violets won't.
  158. 158L. I've always heard the globe had four quarters.
  159. 159L. No; but there are three general notions by which we may best get hold of them. Then between these notions there are other notions.
  160. 160L. More than a great many—a quite infinite many. So you cannot learn them all.
  161. 161L. I'm very glad. Can you fetch me the beads of it?
  162. 162L. You mean to get them out some day, I suppose; so try now. I want them.
  163. 163L. Yes; put the beads together, then, in the simplest form you can, to begin with. Put them into a square, and pack them close.
  164. 164L. No; but now it isn't a square; and by pushing the two together you have pushed the two others farther apart.
  165. 165L. To powder, if you like.
  166. 166L. That dust itself is nothing but finer leaves.
  167. 167L. It would be all leaves still.
  168. 168L. All less leaves still.
  169. 169L. It is rust of iron, finely crystallised: from its resemblance to mica, it is often called micaceous iron.
  170. 170L. Did you never see a bit of green leaf before, Florrie?
  171. 171L. Now you have it, Florrie.
  172. 172L. You need not sigh for that, Violet; but I will tell you what we should all sigh for,—that there are so many ugly things we never see.
  173. 173L. Egypt can, if you ask her; she has a beautiful one in the clasp of her favourite bracelet.
  174. 174L. Well, so is that thing you've been scratching at.
  175. 175LECTURE V.
  176. 176CRYSTAL VIRTUES.
  177. 177L. So you have really come, like good girls, to be made ashamed of yourselves?
  178. 178L. What! Florrie ashamed of herself?
  179. 179L. And Isabel?
  180. 180L. And May?
  181. 181L. And Lucilla?
  182. 182L. No; unless in the case of a transparent substance. You cannot have a transparent crystal of gold; but you may have a perfectly pure one.
  183. 183L. Not easily, Lucilla; so you had better keep them so when they are.
  184. 184L. Well?
  185. 185L. You don't call that a 'question,' seriously, Violet? You are then merely deciding whether you will resolutely do wrong or not.
  186. 186L. That you have an entirely bad heart?
  187. 187L. Stop! that puts me in mind of something I had to show you, about minerals that are like hair. I want a hair out of Tittie's tail.
  188. 188L. Yes; a brown one: Lucilla, you can get at the tip of it nicely, under Florrie's arm; just pull one out for me.
  189. 189L. Never mind; she can't scratch you while Florrie is holding her. Now that I think of it, you had better pull out two.
  190. 190L. Would you really rather pull out your own than Tittie's?
  191. 191L. But that's very wicked, Lucilla!
  192. 192L. Yes; if your heart was not so bad, you would much rather pull all the cat's hairs out, than one of your own.
  193. 193L. That's not true, Lucilla; you know it cannot be.
  194. 194L. Certainly it is not;—how can you possibly speak any truth out of such a heart as you have? It is wholly deceitful.
  195. 195L. Only that it tells lies within you?
  196. 196L. ( pensively ). I'm sorry for it, Lucilla.
  197. 197L. What are you sorry with, Lucilla?
  198. 198L. Yes; I mean, where do you feel sorry? in your feet?
  199. 199L. In your shoulders, then?
  200. 200L. You are sure of that? Because, I fear, sorrow in the shoulders would not be worth much.
  201. 201L. If you really are! Do you mean to say that you are sure you are utterly wicked, and yet do not care?
  202. 202L. Well, then, you are sorry in your heart?
  203. 203L. Even if it be not, it cannot be anywhere else but there. It is not the crystalline lens of your eyes which is sorry, when you cry?
  204. 204L. Then, have you two hearts; one of which is wicked, and the other grieved? or is one side of it sorry for the other side?
  205. 205L. Is it not so with the body as well as the soul?
  206. 206L. A skull, for instance, is not a beautiful thing?
  207. 207L. And if you all could see in each other, with clear eyes, whatever God sees beneath those fair faces of yours, you would not like it?
  208. 208L. Nor would it be good for you?
  209. 209L. The probability being that what God does not allow you to see, He does not wish you to see; nor even to think of?
  210. 210L. Still less, to see through a clear glass the daily processes of nourishment and decay?
  211. 211LECTURE VI.
  212. 212CRYSTAL QUARRELS.
  213. 213L. Yes, for both the elements have true virtue in them; it is a pity they are at war, but they war grandly.
  214. 214L. No, softer. Very much softer.
  215. 215L. What is it then?
  216. 216L. Well; and what do you mean by 'giving up one's self?'
  217. 217L. I hope you will never marry anybody, Violet, who expects you to make him happy in that way.
  218. 218L. By giving up your tastes, and sacrificing your feelings, and happiness.
  219. 219L. For people who don't love you, and whom you know nothing about? Be it so; but how does this 'giving up' differ from suicide then?
  220. 220L. You are indeed commanded to cut off and to pluck out, if foot or eye offend you; but why should they offend you?
  221. 221L. Why not rather others for you?
  222. 222L. Then why should they bear it?
  223. 223L. ( sustaining the indignation unmoved ). And the Samaritan woman's son?
  224. 224L. Read 2 Kings vi. 29.
  225. 225L. And they wouldn't be helped, I suppose?
  226. 226L. Why not, Isabel? I knew, well enough, Lily couldn't learn that verb by herself.
  227. 227L. Are you sure the ants could not have helped you, Lily?
  228. 228L. But none of them left their sticks to help you through the irregular verb?
  229. 229LECTURE VII.
  230. 230HOME VIRTUES.
  231. 231L. All about what?
  232. 232L. I heard you singing about a word that begins with V, in the playground, this morning, Miss Katie.
  233. 233L. 'Vilikens and his——'
  234. 234L. I don't.
  235. 235L. Yes, if all was well; but all's ill. I'm tired, and cross; and I won't.
  236. 236L. ( seeing he has no chance against the odds .) Well, well; but I'm really tired. Go and dance a little, first; and let me think.
  237. 237L. Well, go and dance first, to get quit of thinking; and then I'll talk as long as you like.
  238. 238L. Let me see a little of it first. Dancing is the first of girl's virtues.
  239. 239L. Dressing.
  240. 240L. I cannot otherwise express the ethical principle, Egypt; whether you have mended your gown or not.
  241. 241L. Well. I'm telling you about it, as fast as I can.
  242. 242L. More accurately, it is wishing to dance, and not wishing to tease, nor hear about virtue.
  243. 243L. Why, Egypt, I thought—
  244. 244L. It is only to be seen, I suppose. Well, there's no harm in that. Girls ought to like to be seen.
  245. 245L. ( knowing what he has to expect if Kathleen comes ). Get away, Isabel, you're too heavy. ( Sitting up. ) What have I been saying?
  246. 246L. Perhaps not. If you have heard them, and anything like them, it is all I want.
  247. 247L. What did I say first?
  248. 248L. I said nothing of the kind.
  249. 249L. Yes; I was not more than half asleep. I said their second virtue was dressing.
  250. 250L. What do you mean by dressing?
  251. 251L. Ah! there's the mistake. I mean wearing plain ones.
  252. 252L. ( aside, to Egypt ). All right; don't be afraid. ( Aloud to Dora .) Yes, doubtless; but you know that is only a slow way of un dressing.
  253. 253L. Yes; on Violet's system of triplicities.
  254. 254L. Cooking.
  255. 255L. You had better let the younger ones go to sleep now: for I haven't half done.
  256. 256L. Yes; it is certainly a great argument against singing, that there were once sirens.
  257. 257LECTURE VIII.
  258. 258CRYSTAL CAPRICE.
  259. 259L. What do you mean by a group, and what by one crystal?
  260. 260L. I'm sure this is easy enough. What do you mean by a group of people?
  261. 261L. But when a great many persons get together they don't take the shape of one person?
  262. 262L. Well, they don't; that is to say, they don't always, nor even often. Look here, Isabel.
  263. 263L. Yes; that's the fashion at the Tête Noire.
  264. 264L. Yes, May. Why shouldn't she? It was very tiresome of Neith to sit looking like that.
  265. 265L. What's that, May?
  266. 266L. If I did, it would not make me sure that you knew too, May: but I don't.
  267. 267L. Besides, did you never hear that verse about being 'called to be saints'?
  268. 268L. Quite right, May. Well, then, who are called to be that? People in Rome only?
  269. 269L. What! little girls as well as other people?
  270. 270L. Why not little girls? Are they wickeder when they are little?
  271. 271L. Why not little girls, then?
  272. 272L. Yes. She said, quite quietly, 'It may be very pretty, my love; but it is all nonsense.'
  273. 273L. If all nice old lecturers were minded as little as one I know of——
  274. 274LECTURE IX.
  275. 275CRYSTAL SORROWS.
  276. 276L. They say it is Ceylanese, and I don't know Ceylanese; but we may always be thankful for a graceful word, whatever it means.
  277. 277L. You never heard of such things?
  278. 278L. Gentlemen's work is rarely so useful as yours, Egypt; and when it is useful, girls cannot easily understand it.
  279. 279L. Nor you, Sibyl?
  280. 280L. And when you mend a decayed stuff with strong thread, does not the whole edge come away sometimes, when it tears again?
  281. 281L. They will at least admit that you have minds to change, Dora.
  282. 282LECTURE X.
  283. 283THE CRYSTAL REST.
  284. 284L. 'Ayez seulement la patience que je le parle.' There shall be no requitals.
  285. 285L. It was not neglected in the making of Eve, my dear.
  286. 286L. We shall think it worth a great deal now, Lily, if you will tell it us. How old is Dotty, again? I forget.
  287. 287L. And she was very fond of Alice?
  288. 288L. And so when Alice went away?
  289. 289L. Well; but I want you to tell it.
  290. 290L. Here; but the elder ones had better look afterwards at the piece which comes just before this.

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