Volume 45, Number 20 · December 17, 1998
Through the Looking-Glass
By James Fenton
On Reflection 16-December 13, 1998.
by Jonathan Miller. catalog of an exhibition at the National Gallery, London, September
National Gallery Publications/Yale University Press, 224 pp., $40.00
'Mirrors were invented in order that man might know himself, destined to attain many benefits from this: first, knowledge of himself; next, in certain directions, wisdom. The handsome man, to avoid infamy. The homely man'—but here we must interrupt the Loeb translator of Seneca the Younger, who has succumbed to an attack of the euphemisms. Deformis means ugly, deformed, odious, disgusting, base. 'Homely' doesn't cover it at all. 'The ugly man, to understand that what he lacks in physical appearance must be compensated for by virtue. The young man, to be reminded by his youth that it is a time of learning and of daring brave deeds. The old man, to set aside actions dishonourable to his grey hair, to think some thoughts about death.'[1]
Review, 4169 words
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