ABSTRACT
The pontiffs are the profiteers of art. Theirs is age, and money. They are wealthy and decorated. Decoration and decorum are theirs. They are decorated with all the orders, and above all with the decorations for order; moral order, social order: they are ornamental. They are representative men, they represent in the intransitive sense of the word. This is to say that they do not represent this or that; they are just representative. The buffoons are the buskers gesticulating on the stage which the pontiffs decorate with their faded tones. They are in good company. The pontiffs have arrived, the buffoons are the arrivistes. When a buffoon arrives he becomes a pontiff. The buffoons are the pick of the candidates for the pontificate. The pontiffs have the avowed pedants on their side; the buffoons have the snobs, and also all the pedants who are terrified of appearing pedants.
