On the uses of art

They left the old man alone, because he was an artist. They did not want it said that as conquerors they smashed the treasures they had envied. He sat in his own doorway, in the sunshine, working the local stone into polished, sinuous forms that the hand longed to caress.

They left the boys, too, for women could not work the land alone. Besides, what harm could unripe boys do, when the warriors of their people had been so easily overrun?

Unripe boys, in their own forests, with jade axes to hand?

They could do a great deal of harm.