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Pagan Manliness
and False Christian Patience
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
If we compare the features of this
third-century Roman, represented in a splendid sculpture from
the Capitoline Palace, with those of the famous Apollo Belvedere,
its irregularities become evident. In this sense, we could
not exactly call this man handsome.
Nonetheless, no one can deny that
his countenance possesses a certain element of beauty, mainly
a moral beauty. The contours of the face and skull are well
proportioned. All of his features are balanced, strong, and
regular, and all find their highest and most vivid expression
in his gaze. It is the lucid, calm, and serious look of a
man accustomed to analyzing the world with a truly admirable
sense of command and with confidence in his own abilities.
It is a look that reveals a soul of manly temperament, capable
of confronting the trials and uncertainties of life with strength
and nobility.
Such is the character of the Roman
soldier, as we know from history. He had those qualities that
enabled him to spread Rome's great accomplishments: the Empire,
law, literary and artistic masterpieces.
In the same third century, Saint Sebastian
served as the commander of the imperial bodyguard under the
Emperors Diocletian and Maximilian. This guard comprised the
army's elite and, for the people of Rome, embodied the ideal
of manliness.
We know of no existing document that
describes the actual features of this glorious martyr, but
everything leads us to believe that he would have been even
stronger and more serious than the anonymous Roman in the
first picture.
This is so because Saint Sebastian
was a Catholic. Grace, which elevates and fortifies nature,
would, far from weakening the virtues of the Roman, render
these same virtues incomparably greater.
How, then, could the noble Praetorian
officer of the guardresemble this youth, who, while riddled
with arrows, looks the very opposite of Christian mortification,
fortitude, and seriousness?
The painting presents a youth comely
of face and body, quite assured of his good looks and satisfied
with showing them off. His face has a sentimental and capricious
expression. His posture is that of one who, though somewhat
weary of standing, indolently enjoys the sun and the breeze.
The tree serves him as a convenient prop, and he adroitly
manages to support his feet comfortably on two sawedoff stumps.
The arrows cause him not the least pain. Nothing in his person
conveys the impression that he is going to die. Thoughts of
God and of eternal life, a prayer for final perseverance,
prayers for Holy Church, a vigorous rebuke or a word of kindness
to his torturers - none of this is expressed or represented
in the picture.
One could say that this youth, bored
with being alone, merely waits for someone to find him and
return him to his everyday life. In short, this is a morally
mediocre figure, concerned exclusively about himself - and
with the world insofar as it affects him. He belongs to the
moral family of banal souls.
Artistically, the work is a masterpiece,
ascribed to the immortal brush of Botticelli. But the master
should not have titled it Saint Sebastian. Rather,
he should have left out the arrows, placed the youth on the
ground, and called the work Vain Young Man Basking in the
Sun.
Why these comments? To help us perceive
all the evil that the pagan Renaissance caused to souls by
spreading an impalpable but contagious state of mind through
its art, a state of mind that discreetly contradicted all
the ideas of the Church about moral perfection.
Furthermore, it is a warning for Catholics
in face of the much more serious deviations and aberrations
of numerous modern artists!
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