But here at the Academy, this spirit of beautiful youth,
and the "joy of life," is everywhere dominant. All around us are the
beautiful bodies of young men engaged in every kind of graceful
exercise. When we question, we are told that current belief is that in a
great majority of instances there is a development and a symmetry of
mind corresponding to the glory of the body. It is contrary to all the
prevalent notions of the reign of "divine harmony" to have it otherwise.
The gods abhor all gross contradictions! Even now men will argue over a
strange breach of this rule;—why did heaven suffer
Socrates to have so
beautiful a soul set in so ugly a body?—Inscrutable are the ways of
Zeus!
However, we have generalized and wandered enough. The
Academy is a place of superabounding activities. Let us try to
comprehend some of them.
William Davis, A Day in Old Athens
