In one of the Platonic dialogues Sokrates points out the relativity of
standards of Beauty. “Is not,” he asks in effect, “the most beautiful
ape ugly compared to a maiden? and is not the maiden, in turn, inferior
in beauty to a goddess?”
Regarding most of the human features it may be conceded that Sokrates is
right in his second question. To find a human forehead, nose, or mouth
that could not be improved in some respect, is perhaps impossible. But
_one_ feature must be excepted. There are human eyes which no artist
with a goddess for a model could make more divine. And of these glorious
orbs there are so many, in every country, that one cannot help
concluding that Schopenhauer made a great mistake in placing the face,
with the eyes, so low down in his list of love-inspiring human
qualities. On the contrary, I am convinced that no feminine charm so
frequently and so fatally fascinates men as lovely eyes, and that it is
for this reason that Sexual Selection has done more to perfect the eyes
than any other part of the body.
When Petruchio says of Katharina that “she looks as clear as morning
roses newly washed with dew,” he compliments her complexion; but when
the Persian poet compares “a violet sparkling with dew” to “the blue
eyes of a beautiful girl in tears,” the compliment is to the violet. A
woman’s eye is the most beautiful object in the universe; and what made
it so is man’s Romantic Love.
Putting poetry aside, we must now consider a few scientific facts and
correct a few misconceptions regarding the eye, its colour, lustre,
form, and expression.