The Henson Journals

[209]

Friday, April 5th, 1929.

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Avignon

We made the char–à–banc excursion to Arles, leaving at 8.30 a.m., and returning at 6.30 p.m. The weather which was dull and threatening at the first improved as the day advanced, & ended finely.

Arles exceeded my expectations; and Les Baux was unlike anything I have ever seen, or ever expected to see. The great amphitheatre formed by the chalk–hills, which stretches before the eye, seems arranged for the Dies Irae. It is a fitting stage for the Judgment of the World. Could decay & desolation be more poignantly displayed then in the heap of ruins which is Les Baux? The Gate & Mausoleum at St Remy are amazing. Standing out in the prominence of solitude, they have the same arresting power as the great buildings of Pisa.

[210]

Avignon

The two ruined civilizations – ancient pagan and medieval Christian – are nobly displayed in the ruins that we have looked on today. And no doubt our modern civilization is hasting to its ruin, and will survive only in some appropriate relics, which may tell to the future generations something of its power [^quality^]. What such relics will be, is not quite obvious. Modern civilization riots in earthenware and metal pipes: neither are impressive or beautiful, and both are comparatively perishable. Ancient and medieval civilizations worked in stone, & left memorials that are massive, beautiful, & relatively indestructible. The ruin of modern civilization will be far more rapid & complete than that of its predecessors, for the weapons of destruction are enormously more powerful, and the will to destroy is more fierce & fixed.

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