ABSTRACT
As Ruskin's classical studies intensified he combined his daily Bible reading with readings in Plato, paying close attention to the ways in which their teaching intersected. Ultimately these sacred and profane studies became inextricably linked in his mind, so that by the 1880s he could find the germ of one in the other, declaring that it was from the Bible that the author learned the symbols of Homer, and the faith of Horace. The nature and implications of Ruskin's belief has been the subject of much critical inquiry and are closely examined in Michael Wheeler's important study of the subject. The Stones of Venice may be considered his first prophetic work, marking his transition between Evangelical religion and the religion of humanity. The following year Ruskin published his best-known work of political economy, Unto This Last, in which he argued for compassion, social responsibility, and a 'human economy' against the modern competitive, wealth-seeking, laissez-faire system.
