Parrhasius also painted a Thracian Nurse, with an Infant in her arms, a

Philiscus, a Father Liber attended by Virtue, Two Children, in which we

see portrayed the careless simplicity of childhood, and a Priest

attended by a Boy, with a censer and chaplet. There are also two most

noble pictures by him; one of which represents a Runner contending for

the prize, completely armed, so naturally depicted that he appears

covered with perspiration. In the other we see the Runner taking off his

armor, and can fancy that we hear him panting aloud for breath. His

Æneas, Castor, and Pollux, all represented in the same picture, are

highly praised, as well as his Telephus, Achilles, Agamemnon, and

Ulysses.

Parrhasius was a most prolific artist, but at the same time there was no

one who enjoyed the glory conferred upon him by his talent with greater

arrogance. He went so far as to call himself "Habrodiætus"

(Liver-in-Luxury), and the "prince of painters," and asserted that in

him the art had arrived at perfection. He boasted that he had sprung

from the lineage of Apollo, and that he had painted his Hercules, a

picture now at Lindos, just as he had often seen him in his sleep. Upon

being defeated by Timanthes, at Samos, by a great majority of votes, the

subject of the picture being Ajax and the Award of the Arms,[233] he

declared in the name of his hero, that he felt himself quite disgraced

on thus seeing himself a second time defeated by an unworthy opponent.

As to Timanthes, he was an artist highly gifted with genius, and loud

have some of the orators been in their commendations of his Iphigenia,

represented as she stands at the altar awaiting her doom. Upon the

countenance of all present, that of her uncle Menelaus in particular,

grief was depicted; but having already exhausted all the characteristic

features of sorrow, the artist adopted the device of veiling the

features of the victim's father, Agamemnon, finding himself unable

adequately to give expression to his feelings. There are also some other

proofs of his genius, a Sleeping Cyclops, for instance, which he has

painted upon a small panel; but, being desirous to convey an idea of his

gigantic stature, he has painted some Satyrs near him measuring his

thumb with a thyrsus. Indeed, Timanthes is the only one among the

artists in whose works there is always something more implied by the

pencil than is expressed, and whose execution, though of the very

highest quality, is always surpassed by the inventiveness of his genius.

He painted the figure of a Hero, a master-piece of skill, in which he

carried the art to the very highest pitch of perfection, in the

delineation of the warrior: this work is now at Rome, in the Temple of

Peace.

At this period, too, Euxinidas had for his pupil Aristides, who became a

most illustrious artist; and Eupompus instructed Pamphilus, who

afterwards became the instructor of Apelles. There is by Eupompus, a

Victor in a gymnastic contest, holding a palm. So high was the

reputation of this artist, that he established a school of painting, and

so divided the art into three styles; whereas till then there had been

but two, known respectively as the Helladic and the Asiatic. In honor of

him, a native of Sicyon by birth, the Helladic school was divided into

two, and from this period there were three distinct styles recognized,

the Ionic, the Sicyonian, and the Attic.

We have, by Pamphilus, a picture representing the Alliance and the

Battle that was fought at Phlius; a Victory also and a representation of

Ulysses in his ship. He was a Macedonian by birth, but was the first

painter who was also skilled in all the other sciences, arithmetic and

geometry more particularly, without the aid of which he maintained that

the pictorial art could not attain perfection. He gave instruction to no

one for a smaller sum than one talent, at the rate of five hundred

denarii per annum,[234] and this fee both Apelles and Melanthius paid.

It was through his influence that, first at Sicyon, and then throughout

the whole of Greece, all children of free birth were taught the graphic

art, or in other words, the art of drawing upon boxwood; in consequence

of which this came to be looked upon as the first step in the liberal

arts. It is the fact, however, that this art has always been held in

high estimation, and cultivated by persons of free birth, and that, at a

more recent period, men of rank even began to pursue it; it having

always been forbidden that slaves should receive instruction in it.

Hence no celebrated work of painting or drawing has been executed by a

slave.

In the hundred and seventh Olympiad, flourished Aëtion and Therimachus.

By the former we have some fine pictures; a Father Liber, Tragedy and

Comedy, Semiramis from the rank of a slave elevated to the throne, an

Old Woman bearing torches, and a New-made Bride, remarkable for the air

of modesty with which she is portrayed.

But it was Apelles of Cos, in the hundred and twelfth Olympiad, who

surpassed all the other painters who either preceded or succeeded him.

Single-handed, he contributed more to painting than all the others

together, and even went so far as to publish some treatises on the

principles of the art. The great point of artistic merit with him was

his singular charm of gracefulness, and this too, though the greatest of

painters were his contemporaries. In admiring their works and bestowing

high eulogiums upon them, he used to say that there was still wanting in

them that ideal of beauty so peculiar to himself, and known to the

Greeks as "Charis;" others, he said, had acquired all the other

requisites of perfection, but in this one point he himself had no equal.

He also asserted his claim to another great point of merit: admiring a

picture by Protogenes, which bore evident marks of unbounded

laboriousness and the most minute finish, he remarked that in every

respect Protogenes was fully his equal, or perhaps his superior, except

in this, that he himself knew when to take his hand off a picture--a

memorable lesson, which teaches us that over-carefulness may be

productive of bad results. His candor was equal to his talent; he

acknowledged the superiority of Melanthius in his grouping, and of

Asclepiodorus in the niceness of his measurements, or, in other words,

the distances that ought to be left between the objects represented.

A circumstance that happened to him in connection with Protogenes is

worthy of notice. The latter was living at Rhodes, when Apelles

disembarked there, desirous of seeing the works of a man whom he had

hitherto only known by reputation. He repaired at once to the studio;

Protogenes was not at home, but there happened to be a large panel upon

the easel ready for painting, with an old woman who was left in charge.

To his inquiries she made answer, that Protogenes was not at home, and

then asked whom she should name as the visitor. "Here he is," was the

reply of Apelles, and seizing a brush, he traced with color upon the

panel an outline of a singularly minute fineness. Upon his return, the

old woman mentioned to Protogenes what had happened. The artist, it is

said, upon remarking the delicacy of the touch, instantly exclaimed that

Apelles must have been the visitor, for that no other person was capable

of executing anything so exquisitely perfect. So saying, he traced

within the same outline a still finer outline, but with another color,

and then took his departure, with instructions to the woman to show it

to the stranger, if he returned, and to let him know that this was the

person whom he had come to see. It happened as he anticipated; Apelles

returned, and vexed at finding himself thus surpassed, took up another

color and split[235] both of the outlines, leaving no possibility of

anything finer being executed. Upon seeing this, Protogenes admitted

that he was defeated, and at once flew to the harbor to look for his

guest. He thought proper to transmit the panel to posterity, just as it

was, and it always continued to be held in the highest admiration by

all, artists in particular. I am told that it was burnt in the first

fire which took place at Cæsar's palace on the Palatine Hill; but in

former times I have often stopped to admire it. Upon its vast surface it

contained nothing whatever except the three outlines, so remarkably fine

as to escape the sight: among the most elaborate works of numerous other

artists it had all the appearance of a blank space; and yet by that very

fact it attracted the notice of every one, and was held in higher

estimation than any other painting there.

It was a custom with Apelles, to which he most tenaciously adhered,

never to let any day pass, however busy he might be, without exercising

himself by tracing some outline or other; a practice which has now

passed into a proverb.[236] It was also a practice with him, when he had

completed a work, to exhibit it to the view of the passers-by in some

exposed place; while he himself, concealed behind the picture, would

listen to the criticisms that were passed upon it; it being his opinion

that the judgment of the public was preferable to his own, as being the

more discerning of the two. It was under these circumstances, they say,

that he was censured by a shoemaker for having represented the shoes

with one shoe-string too little. The next day, the shoemaker, quite

proud at seeing the former error corrected, thanks to his advice, began

to criticise the leg; upon which Apelles, full of indignation, popped

his head out, and reminded him that a shoemaker should give no opinion

beyond the shoes, a piece of advice which has passed into an equally

proverbial saying.[237] Apelles was a person of great amenity of

manners, a circumstance which rendered him particularly agreeable to

Alexander the Great, who would often come to his studio. The monarch had

forbidden, by public edict, that any other artist should represent him.

On one occasion, however, when the prince was in his studio, talking a

great deal about painting without knowing anything about it, Apelles

quietly begged that he would quit the subject, telling him that he would

get laughed at by the boys who were there grinding the colors: so great

was the influence which he rightfully possessed over a monarch, who was

otherwise of an irascible temperament. And yet, irascible as he was,

Alexander conferred upon him a very signal mark of the high estimation

in which he held him; for having, in his admiration of her extraordinary

beauty, engaged Apelles to paint Pancaste undraped, the most beloved of

his wives, the artist, while so engaged, fell in love with her; upon

which, Alexander, perceiving this to be the case, made him a present of

her, thus showing himself, though a great king in courage, a still

greater one in self-command, this action redounding no less to his honor

than any of his victories. Some are of opinion that Pancaste was the

model of Apelles in his painting of Venus rising from the waters.

It was Apelles too, who, courteous even to his rivals, first established

the reputation of Protogenes at Rhodes. Held as he was in little

estimation by his own fellow-countrymen, a thing that generally[238] is

the case, Apelles inquired of him what price he set upon certain

finished works of his, which he had on hand. Upon Protogenes mentioning

some very trifling sum or other, Apelles made him an offer of fifty

talents, and then circulated a report that he was buying these works in

order to sell them as his own. By this contrivance, he aroused the

Rhodians to a better appreciation of the merits of their artist, and

only consented to leave the pictures with them upon their offering a

still larger price.

He painted portraits, too, so exactly to the life, that a fact with

which we are made acquainted by the writings of Apion the grammarian

seems altogether incredible. One of those persons, he says, who divine

events by the traits of the features, and are known as physiognomists,

was enabled, by an examination of his portraits, to tell the year of

their death, whether past or future, of each person represented. Apelles

had been on bad terms with Ptolemæus in former times, when they formed

part of the suite of Alexander. After Ptolemæus had become king of

Egypt, it so happened that Apelles was driven by the violence of a

tempest to Alexandria. Upon this, some of his rivals fraudulently

suborned a jester, who was attached to the court, to carry him an

invitation to dine with the king. Accordingly, Apelles attended; upon

which Ptolemæus was highly indignant, and, summoning before him his

stewards of the household, requested that the artist would point out the

one that had given him the invitation. Thus challenged, Apelles seized a

piece of quenched charcoal that lay in the fire-place, and traced a

likeness upon the wall, with such exactness, that the king, the moment

he began it, recognized the features as those of the jester.

He also made a portrait of King Antigonus; and as that monarch was blind

of one eye, he painted him in profile, in order that what in reality was

wanting to the person might rather have the semblance of being wanting

to the picture. Among his works, too, there are some figures

representing persons at the point of death; but it is not easy to say

which of his productions are of the highest order of excellence. His

Venus Rising from the Sea, known as the Venus Anadyomene, was

consecrated by the late Emperor Augustus in the Temple of his father

Cæsar; a work which has been celebrated in certain Greek lines, which,

though they have outlived it, have perpetuated its fame. The lower part

of the picture having become damaged, no one could be found to repair

it; and thus did the very injury which the picture had sustained,

redound to the glory of the artist. Time, however, and damp at last

effaced the painting, and Nero, in his reign, had it replaced by a copy,

painted by the hand of Dorotheus. Apelles also commenced another Venus

for the people of Cos, which would have outshone even the former one;

but death invidiously prevented its completion, nor could any one be

found to complete the work in conformity with the sketches of the

outline. He painted also, in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, Alexander

the Great wielding the Thunderbolts, a picture for which he received

twenty talents of gold. The fingers have all the appearance of

projecting from the surface, and the lightning seems to be darting from

the picture. The price paid in golden coin for this picture was

ascertained by weight, there being no specific sum agreed upon.

He also painted a Procession of the Megabyzus, the priest of Diana at

Ephesus; and a Clitus on Horseback, hastening to the combat, his

Armor-bearer handing him his helmet at his command. How many times he

painted Alexander and Philip, it would be quite superfluous to attempt

to enumerate. At Samos, there is a Habron by him, that is greatly

admired; at Alexandria, a Gorgosthenes, the Tragedian; and at Rome, a

Castor and Pollux, with figures of Victory and Alexander the Great, and

an emblematical figure of War with her hands tied behind her, and

Alexander seated in a triumphal car; both of which pictures the late

Emperor Augustus, with a great degree of moderation and good taste,

consecrated in the most frequented parts of his Forum: the Emperor

Claudius, however, thought it advisable to efface the head of Alexander

in both pictures, and substitute likenesses of his predecessor Augustus.

It is by his hand too, it is generally supposed, that the Hercules, with

the face averted, now in the Temple of Anna, was painted; a picture in

which, one of the greatest difficulties in the art, the face, though

hidden, may be said to be seen rather than left to the imagination. He

also painted a figure of a naked Hero, a picture in which he has

challenged Nature herself.

There exists too, or did exist, a Horse that was painted by him for a

pictorial contest; as to the merits of which, Apelles appealed from the

judgment of his fellow-men to that of the dumb quadrupeds. For, finding

that by their intrigues his rivals were likely to get the better of him,

he had some horses brought, and the picture of each artist successively

shown to them. Only at the sight of the horse painted by Apelles did

they begin to neigh; a thing that has always been the case since,

whenever this test of his artistic skill has been employed. He also

painted a Neoptolemus on horse-back, fighting with the Persians; an

Archeläus, with his Wife and Daughter; and an Antigonus on foot, with a

cuirass on, and his horse led by his side. Connoisseurs in the art give

the preference, before all other works of his, to his paintings of King

Archeläus on horseback, and of Diana in the midst of a throng of Virgins

performing a sacrifice; a work in which he would appear to have

surpassed the lines[239] of Homer descriptive of the same subject. He

also essayed some things, which in reality do not admit of being

portrayed--thunder, lightning, and thunderbolts, in pictures which are

known by the respective names of Bronte, Astrape, and Ceraunobolia.

His inventions, too, in the art of painting, have been highly

serviceable to others; but one thing there was in which no one could

imitate him. When his works were finished, he used to cover them with a

black varnish, of such remarkable thinness, that while it gave more

vivacity to the colors, and preserved them from the contact of dust and

dirt, its existence could only be detected when one was close enough to

touch it.[240] The brightness of the colors was softened and harmonized

to the sight, as though they had been viewed from a distance, and

through a medium of specular-stone, the contrivance, by some

indescribable means, giving a sombreness to colors which would otherwise

have been too florid.

One of the contemporaries of Apelles was Aristides of Thebes; the first

of all the painters to give full expression to the mind and passions of

man, known to the Greeks as {êthê}. He painted a Battle with the

Persians, a picture which contained one hundred figures, for each of

which he was paid at the rate of ten minæ by Mnason, the tyrant of

Elatea. He also painted Chariots with four horses in full career; a

Suppliant, which almost speaks; Huntsmen with game; and a damsel pining

to death from love for her brother. There was also to be seen, in the

Temple of Faith, in the Capitol, a picture of his, representing an Aged

Man giving instructions to a Child on the lyre. He executed also a

painting of an Invalid, upon which endless encomiums have been lavished.

Indeed, so great was the excellence of this artist, that King Attalus is

said to have purchased one picture of his at the price of one hundred

thousand dollars.

At the same period flourished Protogenes, native of Caunus, a place held

in subjection by the Rhodians. Great poverty in his early days, and

extreme application to his art, were the causes of his comparative

unproductiveness. It is not known with certainty from whom he received

his instruction in the art: indeed some say that he was only a

ship-decorator down to his fiftieth year; a proof of which, it is

asserted, is the fact, that in decorating the Propylæum of the Temple of

Minerva, situated in one of the most celebrated spots in Athens, where

he has painted the fine picture of Paralus and Hammonias, known by some

as the Nausicaa, he has added in the side pieces of the picture, by

painters called "parerga," several small ships of war; wishing thereby

to show in what department that skill had first manifested itself which

had thus reached the citadel of Athens, the scene of his glory. Of all

his compositions, however, the palm has been awarded to his Ialysus,

grandson of Apollo, now at Rome, consecrated in the Temple of Peace. So

long as he was at work upon it, he lived upon nothing but soaked

lupines; by which means he at once appeased both hunger and thirst, and

avoided all risk of blunting his perception by too delicate a diet. In

order to protect this picture against the effects of ill-usage and old

age, he painted it over four times, so that when an upper coat might

fail, there would be an under one to succeed it. There is in this

picture the figure of a dog, which was completed in a very remarkable

manner, inasmuch as accident had an equal share with design in the

execution of it. The painter was of opinion that he had not given the

proper expression to the foam at the mouth of the animal, panting for

breath, as it was represented; while, with all other parts of the

picture he was perfectly satisfied, a thing extremely unusual with him.

The thing that displeased him was, the evident traces of art in the

execution of it, touches which did not admit of any diminution, and yet

had all the appearance of being too labored, the effect produced being

far removed from his conception of the reality--the foam bore the marks

of being painted, and not natural. Vexed and tormented by this dilemma,

it being his wish to depict truth itself, and not something that only

bore a semblance of truth, he effaced it again and again, changed one

brush for another, and yet by no possibility could satisfy himself. At

last, quite out of temper with an art, which, in spite of him, would

still obtrude itself, he dashed his sponge against the vexatious spot;

when behold! the sponge replaced the colors that it had just removed,

exactly in accordance with his utmost wishes. Thus did chance reproduce

Nature in a painting.

Following his example, Nealces succeeded in representing the foam at a

horse's mouth; for on one occasion, when engaged in painting a man

holding in a pair of horses and soothing them with his voice, he also

dashed his sponge against the picture, with the view of producing a like

effect.

On account of this Ialysus, which he was apprehensive of destroying,

King Demetrius forbore to set fire to the only side of the city of

Rhodes by which it was capable of being taken; and thus, in his anxiety

to spare a picture, did he lose his only opportunity of gaining a

victory. The dwelling of Protogenes was in a little garden in the

suburbs in the midst of the camp of Demetrius. The combats that were

taking place made no difference whatever to the artist, and in no way

interrupted his proceeding with the work which he had commenced. At last

he was summoned before the king, who inquired how he could have the

assurance thus to remain without the walls. "Because I know," was his

answer, "that you are waging war with the Rhodians, and not with the

arts." Upon this, the king, delighted at having the opportunity of

protecting the hand which he had thus spared, ordered a guard to be

placed at his disposal for the especial purpose of his protection. In

order, too, that he might not distract the artist's attention by sending

for him too often, he would often go, an enemy albeit, to pay him a

visit, and, abandoning his aspirations for victory, in the midst of arms

and the battering down of walls, would attentively examine the

compositions of the painter. Even to this day, the story is still

attached to the picture which he was then engaged upon, to the effect,

that "Protogenes painted it beneath the sword."

Protogenes executed also a Cydippe; a portrait of Philiscus, the tragic

poet, in an attitude of meditation: an Athlete; a portrait of King

Antigonus, and one of Phæstis, the mother of Aristotle.

CHAPTER XVI.

VARIOUS OTHER KINDS OF PAINTING.

We must now make some mention of those artists who acquired fame by the

pencil in an inferior style of painting. Among these was Piræicus,

inferior to few of the painters in skill. I am not sure that he did not

do injustice to himself by the choice of his subjects, seeing that,

although he adopted an humble walk, he still attained in that walk the

highest reputation. His subjects were barbers' shops, cobblers' stalls,

jackasses, eatables, and the like. His paintings, however, are

exquisitely pleasing, and have sold at higher prices than the very

largest works of many masters.

It would not be right to pass in silence the painter of the Temple at

Ardea, particularly as he was honored with the citizenship at that

place, and with the following inscription in verse upon one of the

paintings which he executed there:

"These paintings, worthy of this worthy place,

Temple of Juno, queen, and wife of Jove,

Plautius Marcus, from Alalia, made.

May Ardea now and ever praise him for his skill."

These lines are written in ancient Latin characters.

Ludius too, who lived in the time of the late Emperor Augustus, must not

be allowed to pass without some notice; for he was the first to

introduce the fashion of covering the walls of our houses with most

pleasing landscapes, representing villas, porticos, ornamental

gardening, woods, groves, hills, fishponds, canals, rivers, seashores,

and anything else one could desire; varied with figures of persons

walking, sailing, or proceeding to their villas, on asses or in

carriages, fishing, fowling, or gathering in the vintage. In some of his

decorations are fine villas and roads to them across the marshes, with

women making bargains, great burdens carried across on men's shoulders,

who move along slipping at every step and tottering beneath their load;

with numberless other subjects of a similar nature, redolent of mirth

and of the most amusing ingenuity. It was this artist, too, who first

decorated our uncovered edifices or promenades with representations of

maritime cities,--a subject which produces a very pleasing effect at a

comparatively trifling cost.

There have been some women painters also. Timarete, the daughter of

Micon, painted a Diana at Ephesus, one of the very oldest

panel-paintings known. Irene, daughter and pupil of the artist Cratinus,

painted a figure of a girl, now at Eleusis, a Calypso, an Aged Man, the

juggler Theodorus, and Alcisthenes the dancer. Aristarete, daughter and

pupil of Nearchus, painted an Æsculapius. Iaia of Cyzicus, who always

remained single, painted at Rome, in the youth of Varro, both with the

brush, and with the graver, upon ivory, her subjects being female

portraits mostly. At Naples, there is a large picture by her, the

portrait of an Old Woman; as also a portrait of herself taken by the aid

of a mirror. There was no painter superior to her for expedition; while

at the same time her artistic skill was such, that her works sold at

much higher prices than those of the most celebrated portrait-painters

of her day, Sopolis and Dionysius, with whose pictures our galleries are

filled.

But as for fame, that has been reserved solely for the artists who have

painted pictures; which gives us all the more reason to venerate the

prudence displayed by the men of ancient times. For with them, it was

not the practice to decorate the walls of houses, for the gratification

of the owners only; nor did they lavish all their resources upon a

dwelling which must of necessity always remain a fixture in one spot,

and admit of no removal in case of conflagration. Protogenes was content

with a cottage in his little garden; Apelles had no paintings on the

plaster of his walls; it not being the fashion in their day to color the

party-walls of houses from top to bottom. With all those artists, art

was ever watchful for the benefit of whole cities only, and in those

times a painter was regarded as the common property of all.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE INVENTORS OF THE ART OF MODELLING.

On painting we have now said enough, and more than enough; but it will

be only proper to append some accounts of the plastic art. Butades, a

potter of Sicyon, was the first who invented, at Corinth, the art of

modelling portraits in the earth which he used in his trade. He made the

discovery through his daughter, who, being deeply in love with a young

man about to depart on a long journey, traced the profile of his face,

as thrown upon the wall by the light of the lamp. Upon seeing this, her

father filled in the outline, by compressing clay upon the surface, and

so made a face in relief, which he then hardened by fire along with

other articles of pottery.

Butades invented the method of coloring plastic compositions, by adding

red earth to the material, or else modelling them in red chalk: he, too,

was the first to make masks on the outer edges of gutter-tiles upon the

roofs of buildings; in low relief, and in high relief. In these designs

in terra cotta the ornaments on the pediments of temples originated.

The first person who expressed the human features by fitting a mould of

plaster upon the face, and then improving it by pouring melted wax into

the cast, was Lysistratus of Sicyon, brother of Lysippus, already

mentioned. He first made it his study to give a faithful likeness; for

before his time, artists only thought how to make their portraits as

handsome as possible. The same artist, too, was the first who thought of

making models for his statues; a method which afterwards became so

universally adopted, that there could be neither figure nor statue made

without its model in clay. The art of modelling in clay thus appears to

be more ancient than that of moulding in bronze.

The most celebrated modellers were Damophilus and Gorgasus, who were

painters as well. These artists adorned with their works, in both kinds,

the Temple of Ceres, in the Circus Maximus at Rome, with an inscription

in Greek, which stated that the decorations on the right-hand were the

workmanship of Damophilus, and those on the left, of Gorgasus. Varro

says that, before the construction of this temple, everything was Tuscan

in the temples; and that, when the temple was afterwards repaired, the

painted coatings of the walls were cut away in tablets and enclosed in

frames, but that the figures on the pediments were dispersed.

Chalcosthenes executed at Athens some works in unbaked earth, on the

spot which, from his manufactory, has since obtained the name of

"Ceramicus."

Varro states that he knew an artist at Rome, Possis by name, who

executed fruit, grapes, and fish, with such exactness, that it was quite

impossible, by looking at them, to distinguish them from the reality. He

speaks very highly also of Arcesilaüs, who was on terms of intimacy with

Lucius Lucullus, and whose models in plaster used to sell at a higher

rate, among artists themselves, than the works of others. He informs us,

also, that the Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Cæsar was executed by this

modeller, and erected before completion, in the great haste that there

was to consecrate it. The same artist had made an agreement with

Lucullus to execute a figure of Felicity, at the price of sixty thousand

sesterces, the completion of which was prevented by the latter's death;

and Octavius, a Roman of equestrian rank, being desirous of a model for

a mixing-bowl, Arcesilaüs made him one in plaster, at the price of one

talent.

CHAPTER XVIII.

WORKS IN POTTERY.

At Rome, and in our municipal towns, we still see many pediments of

temples, wonderful for their workmanship, artistic merit and long

duration, more deserving of our respect than gold, and certainly far

less baneful. At the present day, even, in the midst of such wealth as

we possess, we make our first libation at the sacrifice, not from

murrhine vases or vessels of crystal, but from ladles made of

earthenware.

Bounteous beyond expression is the earth, if we consider in detail her

various gifts. To omit all mention of the cereals, wine, fruits, herbs,

shrubs, medicaments, and metals, bounties which she has lavished upon

us, and which have already passed under our notice, her productions in

the shape of pottery alone would more than suffice, in their variety, to

satisfy our domestic wants; there are gutter-tiles of earthenware, vats

for receiving wine, pipes for conveying water, conduits for supplying

baths, baked tiles for roofs, bricks for foundations, and the

productions of the potter's wheel; results, all of them, of an art,

which induced King Numa to establish, as a seventh college, or

association, that of the makers of earthenware.

Many have chosen to be buried in coffins of earthenware. There was Varro

himself, who was interred, in true Pythagorean style, in the midst of

leaves of myrtle, olive, and black poplar; indeed, the greater part of

mankind make use of earthen vases for this purpose. For the service of

the table, the Samian pottery is even yet held in high esteem; and that

of Arretium in Italy maintains its high character; while for their cups,

and for those only, the manufactories of Surrentum, Asta, Pollentia,

Saguntum in Spain, and Pergamus in Asia, are greatly esteemed.

The city of Tralles in Asia, and Mutina in Italy, have their respective

manufactures of earthenware, and are rendered famous by their

productions from the potter's wheel, now known to all countries, and

conveyed by sea and by land to every quarter of the earth. In a temple

at Erythræ are still shown two amphoræ, that were consecrated in

consequence of the singular thinness of the material: they originated in

a contest between a master and his pupil, which of the two could make

earthenware of the greatest thinness. The vessels of Cos are the most

highly celebrated for their beauty, but those of Adria are considered

the most substantial.

Coponius was condemned for bribery, because he presented a voter with an

amphora of wine. To make luxury conduce in some degree to enhance our

estimation of earthenware, "tripatinium,"[241] as we learn from

Fenestella, was the name given to the most exquisite course of dishes

that was served up at the Roman banquets. It consisted of one dish of

murænæ, one of lupi, and a third of a mixture of fish. It is clear that

the public manners were then already on the decline; though we still

have a right to hold them preferable to those of the philosophers even

of Greece, seeing that the representatives of Aristotle, it is said,

sold, at the auction of his goods, as many as seventy dishes of

earthenware. It has been already stated by us, when on the subject of

birds, that a single dish cost the tragic actor, Æsopus, one hundred

thousand sesterces; much to the reader's indignation, no doubt; but, by

Hercules! Vitellius, when emperor, ordered a dish to be made, which was

to cost a million of sesterces, and for the preparation of which a

furnace had to be erected out in the fields! luxury having thus arrived

at such a pitch of excess as to make earthenware even sell at higher

prices than murrhine vessels. Alluding to this circumstance, Mucianus,

in his second consulship, when pronouncing one of his perorations,

reproached the memory of Vitellius with his dishes as broad as the

Pomptine Marsh; not less deserving to be execrated than the poisoned

dish of Asprenas, which, according to the accusation brought against him

by Cassius Severus, caused the death of one hundred and thirty guests.

What is there that human industry will not devise? Even broken pottery

has been utilized; for when beaten to powder, and tempered with lime, it

becomes more solid and durable than other substances of a similar

nature; forming the cement known as the "Signine" composition, so called

from Signia, in Italy, celebrated for its tiles so extensively employed

for making the pavements of houses.

CHAPTER XIX.

SCULPTURE.

The art of sculpture is of much more ancient origin than those of

painting and of statuary in bronze. Phidias himself worked in marble,

and there is a Venus of his at Rome, a work of extraordinary beauty, in

the buildings of Octavia. He was the instructor of Alcamenes, the

Athenian, one of the most famous among the sculptors. By this last

artist, there are numerous statues in the temples at Athens; as also,

without the walls there, the celebrated Venus, known as the Aphrodite in

the Gardens, a work to which Phidias himself, it is said, put the

finishing hand. Another disciple also of Phidias was Agoracritus of

Paros, a great favorite with his master, on account of his extremely

youthful age; and for which reason, it is said, Phidias gave his own

name to many of that artist's works. The two pupils entering into a

contest as to the superior execution of a statue of Venus, Alcamenes was

successful; not that his work was superior, but because his

fellow-citizens chose to give their suffrages in his favor in preference

to a stranger. It was for this reason, it is said, that Agoracritus sold

his statue, on the express condition that it should never be taken to

Athens, and changed its name to that of Nemesis. It was accordingly

erected at Rhamnus, a borough of Attica, and Varro has considered it

superior to every other statue.

Among all nations which the fame of the Olympian Jupiter has reached,

Phidias is looked upon, beyond all doubt, as the most famous of artists:

but to let those who have never even seen his works, know how deservedly

he is esteemed, we will take this opportunity of adducing a few slight

proofs of the genius which he displayed. In doing this, we shall not

appeal to the beauty of his Olympian Jupiter, nor yet to the vast

proportions of his Athenian Minerva, six-and-twenty cubits in height,

and composed of ivory and gold; but to the shield of this last statue we

shall draw attention; upon the convex face of which he has chased a

combat of the Amazons, while, upon the concave side of it, he has

represented the battle between the Gods and the Giants. Upon the sandals

again, we see the wars of the Lapithæ and Centaurs, so careful has he

been to fill every smallest portion of his work with some proof or other

of his artistic skill. To the story chased upon the pedestal of the

statue, the name of the "Birth of Pandora" has been given; and the

figures of gods to be seen upon it are no less than twenty in number.

The figure of Victory, in particular, is most admirable, and

connoisseurs are greatly struck with the serpent and the sphinx in

bronze lying beneath the point of the spear. Let so much be said

incidentally in reference to an artist who can never be sufficiently

praised; if only to let it be understood that the richness of his genius

was always equal to itself, even in the very smallest details.

When speaking of the statuaries, we have already given the period at

which Praxiteles flourished; an artist, who, in the glory which he

acquired by his works in marble, surpassed even himself. There are some

works of his in the Ceramicus at Athens; but, superior to all the

statues, not only of Praxiteles, but of any other artist that ever

existed, is his Cnidian Venus; for the inspection of which, many persons

before now have purposely undertaken a voyage to Cnidos. The artist made

two statues of the goddess, and offered them both for sale: one of them

was represented with drapery, and for this reason was preferred by the

people of Cos, who had the choice; the second was offered them at the

same price, but, on the grounds of propriety and modesty, they thought

fit to choose the other. Upon this, the Cnidians purchased the rejected

statue, and immensely superior has it always been held in general

estimation.[242] At a later period, King Nicomedes wished to purchase

this statue of the Cnidians, and made them an offer to pay off the whole

of their public debt, which was very large. They preferred, however, to

submit to any extremity rather than part with it; and with good reason,

for by this statue Praxiteles has perpetuated the glory of Cnidos. The

little temple in which it is placed is open on all sides, so that the

beauties of the statue admit of being seen from every point of view; an

arrangement which was favored by the goddess herself, it is generally

believed. Indeed, from whatever point it is viewed, its execution is

equally worthy of admiration.

Cephisodotus, the son of Praxiteles, inherited his father's talent.

There is, by him, at Pergamus, a splendid Group of Wrestlers, a work

that has been highly praised, and in which the fingers have all the

appearance of being impressed upon real flesh rather than upon marble.

Scopas rivals these artists in fame: there is by him, a Venus venerated

at Samothrace with the most august ceremonials. He was also the sculptor

of the Palatine Apollo. But the most highly esteemed of all his works,

are those in the Temple erected by Cneius Domitius, in the Flaminian

Circus; a figure of Neptune himself, a Thetis and Achilles, Nereids

seated upon dolphins, cetaceous fishes, and seahorses, Tritons, the

train of Phorcus, whales, and numerous other sea-monsters, all by the

same hand; an admirable piece of workmanship, even if it had taken a

whole life to complete it. In addition to the works by him already

mentioned, and others of the existence of which we are ignorant, there

is still to be seen a colossal Mars of his, seated, in the Temple

erected by Brutus Callæcus, also in the Flaminian Circus; as also, a

naked Venus, of anterior date to that by Praxiteles, and a production

that would be quite sufficient to establish the renown of any other

place.

At Rome, it is true, it is quite lost sight of amid such a vast

multitude of similar works of art: and then besides, the inattention to

these matters that is induced by such vast numbers of duties and so many

items of business, quite precludes the generality of persons from

devoting their thoughts to the subject. For, in fact, the admiration

that is due to this art, not only demands an abundance of leisure, but

requires that profound silence should reign upon the spot. Hence the

artist is now forgotten, who executed the statue of Venus that was

dedicated by the Emperor Vespasianus in his Temple of Peace, a work well

worthy of the high repute of ancient times. With reference, too, to the

Dying Children of Niobe, in the Temple of the Sosian Apollo, there is an

equal degree of uncertainty, whether it is the work of Scopas or of

Praxiteles.

Scopas had for rivals and contemporaries, Bryaxis, Timotheus and

Leochares, artists whom we are bound to mention together, from the fact

that they worked together at the Mausoleum in Halicarnassus, such being

the name of the tomb that was erected by his wife Artemisia in honor of

Mausolus, a petty king of Caria, who died in the second year of the

hundred and seventh Olympiad. Through the exertions of these artists

more particularly, this work came to be reckoned one of the Seven

Wonders of the World. The circumference of this building is, in all,

four hundred and forty feet, and the breadth from north to south

sixty-three, the other two fronts being not so wide in extent. It is

twenty-five cubits in height, and is surrounded with six-and-thirty

columns, the outer circumference being known as the "Pteron," or "wing."

The east side was sculptured by Scopas, the north by Bryaxis, the south

by Timotheus, and the west by Leochares; but, before their task was

completed, Queen Artemisia died. They did not leave their work, however,

until it was finished, considering that it was at once a memorial of

their own fame and of the sculptor's art: and even to this day, it is

undecided which of them has excelled. A fifth artist also took part in

the work; for above the Pteron there is erected a pyramid equal in

height to the building below, and formed of four-and-twenty steps, which

gradually taper upwards towards the summit; a platform, crowned with a

representation of a four-horse chariot by Pythis. This addition makes

the total height of the work one hundred and forty feet.

Beyond these, there are not many sculptors of high repute; for, in the

case of several works of very great excellence, the number of artists

that have been engaged upon them has proved a considerable obstacle to

the fame of each, no individual being able to engross the whole of the

credit, and it being impossible to award it in due proportion to the

names of the several artists combined. Such is the case with the

Laocoön,[243] for example, in the palace of the Emperor Titus, a work

that may be looked upon as preferable to any other production of the art

of painting or of statuary. It is sculptured from a single block, both

the main figure as well as the children, and the serpents with their

marvellous folds. This group was made in concert by three most eminent

artists, Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, natives of Rhodes.

CHAPTER XX.

OBELISKS.

Thebaic stone, which is sprinkled all over with spots like gold, is

found in Africa, adjacent to Egypt; being peculiarly adapted, from its

natural properties, for the manufacture of hones. In the neighborhood of

Syene, too, in Thebais, there is a stone found that is now known as

syenite, but was formerly called red-spotted granite.

Monarchs have entered into a sort of rivalry with one another in forming

elongated blocks of this stone, known as obelisks,[244] and consecrated

to the divinity of the Sun. The blocks had this form given to them in

resemblance to the rays of that luminary, which are so called[245] in

the Egyptian language.

Mesphres, who reigned in the City of the Sun, Heliopolis, was the first

who erected one of these obelisks, being warned to do so in a dream: and

there is an inscription upon the obelisk to this effect.

At a later period other kings had these obelisks hewn. Sesosthes erected

four of them in the above-named city, forty-eight cubits in height.

Rhamsesis, too, who was reigning at the time of the capture of Troy,

erected one, a hundred and forty cubits high. Having quitted the spot

where the palace of Apis stood, this monarch erected another obelisk,

one hundred and twenty cubits in height, but of prodigious thickness,

the sides being no less than eleven cubits in breadth. It is said that

one hundred and twenty thousand men were employed upon this work;[246]

and that the king, when it was on the point of being elevated, being

apprehensive that the machinery employed might not prove strong enough

for the weight, with the view of increasing the peril that might be

entailed by due want of precaution on the part of the workmen, had his

own son fastened to the summit; in order that the safety of the prince

might at the same time ensure the safety of the mass of stone. It was in

his admiration of this work, that, when King Cambyses took the city by

storm, and the conflagration had already reached the very foot of the

obelisk, he ordered the fire to be extinguished; for he entertained a

respect for this stupendous erection which he had not entertained for

the city itself.

Ptolemæus Philadelphus erected at Alexandria an obelisk eighty cubits

high, which had been prepared by order of King Necthebis: it was without

any inscription, and cost far more trouble in its carriage and

elevation, than had been originally expended in quarrying it. Some

writers inform us that it was conveyed on a raft, under the inspection

of the architect Satyrus. For this purpose, a canal was dug from the

river Nile to the spot where the obelisk lay; and two broad vessels,

laden with blocks of similar stone a foot square, the cargo of each

amounting to double the size, and consequently double the weight, of the

obelisk, were brought beneath it; the extremities of the obelisk

remaining supported by the opposite sides of the canal. The blocks of

stone were then removed, and the vessels being thus gradually lightened,

received their burden. It was erected upon a basis of six square blocks,

quarried from the same mountain, and the artist was rewarded with the

sum of fifty talents. This obelisk was placed by the king

above-mentioned in the Arsinooeum,[247] in testimony of his affection

for his wife and sister Arsinoë. At a later period, as it was found to

be an inconvenience to the docks, Maximus, then præfect of Egypt, had it

transferred to the Forum there, after removing the summit for the

purpose of substituting a gilded point, an intention which was

ultimately abandoned.

There are two other obelisks, which were in Cæsar's Temple at

Alexandria, near the harbor, forty-two cubits in height, and originally

hewn by order of King Mesphres. But the most difficult enterprise of all

was the carriage of these obelisks by sea to Rome, in vessels which

excited the greatest admiration. Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus

consecrated the one which brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting

memorial of this marvellous undertaking, in the docks at Puteoli; but it

was destroyed by fire. The one in which, by order of the Emperor Caius,

the other obelisk had been transported to Rome, after having been

preserved for some years and looked upon as the most wonderful

construction ever beheld upon the seas, was brought to Ostia, by order

of the late Emperor Claudius; and towers of Puteolan earth being first

erected upon it, it was sunk for the construction of the harbor which he

was making there. And then, besides, there was the necessity of

constructing other vessels to carry these obelisks up the Tiber; by

which it became practically ascertained, that the depth of water in that

river is not less than that of the river Nile.

CONCLUSION.

ITALY.

Having now treated of all the works of Nature, let me end with a word

about our native land. Throughout the whole earth, wherever the vault of

heaven extends, there is no country so beautiful, or which, for the

productions of Nature, merits so high a rank as Italy, that ruler and

second parent of the world; recommended as she is by her men, her women,

her generals, her soldiers, her slaves, her superiority in the arts, and

the illustrious examples of genius which she has produced. Her

situation, too, is equally in her favor; the salubrity and mildness of

her climate; the easy access which she offers to all nations; her coasts

indented with so many harbors; the propitious breezes that ever prevail

on her shores; advantages, all of them, due to her situation, lying as

she does, midway between the East and the West. Add to this, the

abundant supply of her waters, the salubrity of her groves, the repeated

intersections of her mountain ranges, the comparative innocuousness of

her wild animals, the fertility of her soil, and the singular richness

of her pastures. In short, whatever there is that can minister comfort

to the life of man is nowhere else to be found in greater perfection.

The cereals, wine, oil, wool, flax, tissues, and oxen--the finest are

here. No horses are preferred to those of Italy for the course; while in

mines of gold, silver, copper, and iron, Italy is held inferior to no

country whatsoever. Ever teeming with these treasures, she lavishes upon

us all her bounties of land and sea.

Hail to thee, Nature, thou parent of all things! and do thou deign to

show thy favor unto me, who, alone of all the citizens of Rome, have, in

thy every department, thus made known thy praise.

FOOTNOTES

[1]The Romans carried the art of short-hand to its highest perfection,

as appears from the following epigram of Martial:

"_Currant verba licet, manus est velocius illis;

Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus._"

xiv. 208.

"Swift though the words, (the pen still swifter sped)

The hand has finished, ere the tongue has said."

[2]It seems probable that this was the first eruption of Mount Vesuvius,

at least of any consequence. Dio, indeed, and other ancient authors

speak of it as burning before; but still they describe it as covered

with trees and vines, so that the eruptions must have been

inconsiderable.

[3]The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers held that the world would

eventually be destroyed by fire, and all things would fall into

original chaos, not excepting even the national gods themselves from

the destruction of this general conflagration.

[4]The allusion, otherwise obscure, is to the fact that some friends of

Catullus had filched a set of table-napkins, which had been given to

him by Veranius and Fabius, and substituted others in their place.

[5]"Sesculysses" and "Flextabula;" literally, Ulysses and a Half, and

Bend-table.

[6]Pliny the younger, in one of his letters (iii. 5), where he

enumerates all his uncle's publications, informs us, that he wrote

"a piece of criticism in eight books, concerning ambiguity of

expression." Melmoth's Pliny, i. 136.

[7]His real name was Tyrtamus, but in consequence of the beauty of his

style, he acquired the appellation by which he is generally known

from the words {theios phrasis}. Cicero refers to him in Brutus,

121; Orator, 17; and on various other occasions.

[8]"Spartum;" this plant was used to make bands for the vines and cables

for ships.

[9]The term _Mundus_ is used by Pliny, sometimes to mean _the earth_ and

its immediate appendages, the visible solar system; and at other

times _the universe_; while in some instances it is used in a rather

vague manner, without any distinct reference to either one or other

of the above designations. I have usually translated it by the term

_world_, as approaching nearest to the sense of the original.

[10]The astronomy of our author is derived mainly from Aristotle.

[11]This theory of the "music of the spheres" was maintained by

Pythagoras, but was derided by Aristotle.

[12]The letter {D}, in the constellation of the triangle; but except in

this one case, the constellations have no visible resemblance to the

objects of which they bear the name.

[13]Iliad, iii. 277, and Od. xii. 323.

[14]The author here alludes to the figures of the Egyptian deities that

were engraved on rings.

[15]His specific office was to execute vengeance on the impious.

[16]According to the most approved modern chronology, the middle of the

109th olympiad corresponds to the 211th year of the City, or 542

B.C.

[17]Nothing is known respecting the nature of these instruments.

[18]This is said by Livy to have occurred to Servius Tullius while he

was a child; lib. i. cap. 39; and by Virgil to Ascanius, Æn. ii.

632-5.

[19]By adding its deified emperors to the number of its divinities.

[20]Probably these mountains were a western branch of the Ural chain.

[21]From the Greek {pterophoros}, "wing-bearing" or "feather-bearing."

[22]This legendary race was said to dwell in the regions beyond Boreas,

or the northern wind, which issued from the Riphæn mountains, the

name of which was derived from {ripai} or "hurricanes" issuing from

a cavern, and which these heights warded off from the Hyperboreans

and sent to more southern nations. Hence they never felt the

northern blasts, and enjoyed a life of supreme happiness and

undisturbed repose. "Here," says Humboldt, "are the first views of a

natural science which explains the distribution of heat and the

difference of climates by local causes--by the direction of the

winds--the proximity of the sun, and the action of a moist or saline

principle."

[23]Pindar says, in the "Pythia," x. 56, "The Muse is no stranger to

their manners. The dances of girls and the sweet melody of the lyre

and pipe resound on every side, and wreathing their locks with the

glistening bay, they feast joyously. For this sacred race there is

no doom of sickness or of disease; but they live apart from toil and

battles, undisturbed by the exacting Nemesis."

[24]Pomponius Mela, who asserts that the sun rises here at the vernal

and sets at the autumnal equinox, is right in his position, and

Pliny is incorrect.

[25]Britain was spoken of by some of the Greek writers as superior to

all other islands in the world. Dionysius, in his Periegesis, says,

"that no other islands whatsoever can claim equality with those of

Britain."

[26]Said to have been so called from the whiteness of its cliffs

opposite the coast of Gaul.

[27]The distance here given by Pliny is far too great, the shortest

distance, from Dover to Calais, being 21 miles.

[28]Probably the Grampian range is here referred to.

[29]The people of South Wales.

[30]The Orkney Islands.

[31]Probably the islands now known as the Shetlands.

[32]The opinions as to the identity of ancient Thule have been numerous

in the extreme. The common, and apparently the best founded opinion,

is that Thule is the island of Iceland.

[33]Like others of the ancient writers, Pliny falls into the error of

considering Atlas, not as an extensive chain of mountains, but as an

isolated mountain, surrounded by sands. With reference to its

height, the whole range declines considerably from west to east; the

highest summits in Morocco reaching to nearly 13,000 feet, in Tunis

not 5000.

[34]It is now universally agreed among the learned that the island of

Taprobana is the modern Ceylon.

[35]A general term, probably, for the great peninsula of India, below

the Ganges.

[36]It is probable that the passage here referred to is from Cape

Comorin to Ceylon, and not from Cape Ramanan Cor, the nearest part

of the continent.

[37]Possibly the word "Radijah," or "Rajah," denoting the rank which he

held, may have been here taken by Pliny for his name.

[38]Probably Cape Ramanan Cor, which is in reality the nearest point to

the coast of Ceylon.

[39]He alludes to coral reefs, no doubt.

[40]The Romans evidently misunderstood their language, for, as Gosselin

remarks, it is quite impossible that the Pleiades should be a

constellation unknown at that time to the people of Ceylon; but, on

the other hand, it would be equally true that the Great Bear was

concealed from them.

[41]This also originated in misapprehension of their language on the

part of the Romans.

[42]In Ceylon seven months in the year the shadows fell to the north,

and during the remaining five to the south.

[43]The Seræ here spoken of must not be taken for the Seres or supposed

Chinese.

[44]Or "Bacchus." This means that he wears a long robe with a train;

much like the dress, in fact, which was worn on the stage by tragic

actors.

[45]We may hence conclude, that the practice of swathing young infants

in tight bandages prevailed at Rome, in the time of Pliny, as it

still does in France.

[46]This reminds us of the terms of the riddle proposed to Oedipus by

the Sphinx: "What being is that, which, with four feet, has two feet

and three feet, and only one voice; but its feet vary, and when it

has most it is weakest?" to which he answered, That it is man, who

is a quadruped in childhood, two-footed in manhood, and moving with

the aid of a staff in old age.

[47]This is contrary to facts now well known.

[48]It was this feeling that prompted the common saying among the

ancients, "Homo homini lupus"--"Man to man is a wolf;" and most true

it is, that

"Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn."

[49]The figures of the Gryphons or Griffins are found not uncommonly on

the friezes and walls at Pompeii. In the East, where there were no

safe places of deposit for money, it was the custom to bury it in

the earth; hence, for the purpose of scaring depredators, the story

was carefully circulated that hidden treasures were guarded by

serpents and dragons. There can be little doubt that these stories,

on arriving in the western world, combined with the knowledge of the

existence of gold in the Uralian chain and other mountains of the

East, gave rise to the stories of the Griffins and the Arimaspi. It

has been suggested that the Arimaspi were no other than the modern

Tsheremis, who dwelt on the left bank of the Middle Volga, not far

from the gold districts of the Uralian range. It has been

conjectured, that the fabulous tales of the combats of the Arimaspi

with the Griffins, were invented by the neighboring tribes of the

Essedones, who were anxious to throw a mystery over the origin of

the gold, that they might preserve the traffic in their own hands.

The Altai Mountains, in the north of Asia, contain many gold mines,

which are still worked, as well as traces of former workings.

[50]We have an account of the Arimaspi, and of Aristeas, in Herodotus,

B. iv.

[51]One of the pleasures promised to the Gothic warriors, in the

paradise of Odin, was to drink out of the skulls of their enemies.

[52]It is well known that nothing of this kind was ever observed in any

human eye.

[53]In all ages, it has been a prevalent superstition, that those

endowed with magical qualities will not sink in water, encouraged,

no doubt, by the cunning of those who might wish to make the charge

a means of wreaking their vengeance. If they sank, they were to be

deemed innocent, but if they floated, they were deemed guilty, and

handed over to the strong arm of the law.

[54]This remark is not contained in any of the works of Cicero now

extant.

[55]Cuvier observes, that these people probably exercise some deception,

analogous to that practised by a Spaniard, who exhibited himself in

Paris, and professed to be incombustible, but who, eventually, was

the dupe of his own quackery, and paid the penalty with his life.

[56]Plutarch relates these supposed facts in his life of Pyrrhus; they

remind us of the supposed efficacy of the royal touch in curing the

disease termed the "King's evil."

[57]Popularly known as the "banyan tree."

[58]The _bambos arundinacea_, or bamboo cane, is a reed or plant of the

grass kind, which frequently grows to the height of the tallest

trees. The stem is hollow, and the parts of it between the joints

are used by the natives to form their canoes. We have an account of

them in Herodotus, B. iii.

[59]It does not appear that the stature of the Indians exceeds that of

the inhabitants of the temperate zones.

[60]This account probably originated in a species of monkey generally

considered to be the baboon, with a projecting muzzle, called, from

this circumstance, "cynocephalus," or the "Dog's head." This account

of the cynocephali is repeated by Aulus Gellius. It is a pity that

Pliny should have adopted so many ridiculous fables, on the doubtful

authority of Ctesias.

[61]These are the great apes, which are found in some of the Oriental

islands. We may suppose that this description is taken from some

incorrect account of a large kind of ape; but it seems impossible to

refer it to any particular species.

[62]Can these be the Chinese?

[63]Either silk or cotton.

[64]Cuvier remarks, that these accounts are not capable of any

explanation, being mere fables.

[65]Iliad, B. iii. l. 3-6. Their story is also referred to by Ovid and

Juvenal.

[66]Pliny, elsewhere, speaks of the use of vipers' flesh as an article

of diet, and gives some minute directions for its preparation. It

was supposed to be peculiarly nutritive and restorative, and it has

been prescribed for the same purpose by modern physicians. There is

a medal in existence, probably struck by the Emperor Commodus, in

order to commemorate the benefit which he was supposed to have

derived from the use of the flesh of vipers.

[67]Cuvier remarks that this story must have been originally told with

reference to the race of large apes.

[68]The dog-faced ape--the baboon.

[69]The gladiators called Samnites, were armed with the peculiar

"scutum," or oblong shield, used by the Samnites, a greave on the

left leg, a sponger on the breast, and a helmet with a crest.

[70]Philippides must have gone one hundred and forty-two miles in two

days, and the other one hundred and fifty miles in one day.

[71]This statement must have been in some of his lost works.

[72]His works in ivory were said to have been so small, that they could

scarcely be seen without placing them on a black surface.

[73]Or Bacchus.--"Father Liber" is the name always given to him by

Pliny.

[74]"Magnus." Plutarch states, that, on his return from Africa, Sylla

saluted him with the name of "Magnus," which surname he ever

afterwards retained. He also says that the law did not allow a

triumph to be granted to any one who was not either consul or

prætor.

[75]When a Roman overcame an enemy with whom he had been personally

engaged, he took possession of some part of his armor and dress,

which might bear testimony to the victory; this was termed the

"spolium." The words "hasta pura," or victor's spear, signify a

lance without an iron head. We are told that it was given to him who

gained the first victory in a battle; it was also regarded as an

emblem of supreme power, and as a mark of the authority which one

nation claimed over another.

[76]Among the Jews and other nations of antiquity, it was considered an

essential point for the priests to be without blemish, perfect and

free from disease.

[77]Some of these are given by Valerius Maximus. It is very doubtful,

however, if Greece did not greatly excel Rome in this respect.

[78]This remark is not found in any of Cæsar's works now extant.

[79]Cuvier remarks, that this account of the elephant's superior

intelligence is exaggerated, it being no greater than that of the

dog, if, indeed, equal to it. The opinion may perhaps have arisen

from the dexterity with which the animal uses its trunk; but this is

to be ascribed not to its own intelligence, but to the mechanical

construction of the part. The Indians, from whom we presume that

Pliny derived his account, have always regarded the elephant with a

kind of superstitious veneration.

[80]Plutarch informs us, that Pompey had resolved to have his chariot

drawn by four elephants, but, finding the gate too narrow, he was

obliged to use horses.

[81]However ill adapted the elephant may appear, from its size and form,

for this feat, we have the testimony of Seneca, Suetonius, Dion

Cassius, and Ælian, to the truth of the fact. Suetonius tells us

that a horseman ascended a tight rope on an elephant's back.

[82]Plutarch, in his treatise on the Shrewdness of Animals, tells us

that this wonderful circumstance happened at Rome. But it would be

curious to know in what way the elephant showed that he was

"conning" over his lesson.

[83]Ælian informs us, that he had seen an elephant write Latin

characters. Hardouin remarks, that the Greek would be {Autos egô tad

egrapsa, laphyra te Kelta anethêka}.

[84]Probably the great quantity of fossil ivory which has been found may

have given rise to this tale.

[85]Tables and bedsteads were not only covered or veneered with ivory

among the Romans, but, in the later times, made of the solid

material, as we learn from Ælian and Athenæus.

[86]It is scarcely necessary to remark, that these statements respecting

the sagacity of the elephant in connection with their teeth, are

without foundation.

[87]There are coins extant struck to commemorate this victory, in which

there is the figure of an elephant.

[88]This remark is incorrect; when the water is sufficiently deep, they

swim with ease; and if the end of the trunk remains exposed to the

atmosphere, they can dive below the surface, or swim with the body

immersed.

[89]Although these stories of the generosity and clemency of the lion

are in a great measure fabulous, still the accounts of those who

have had the best opportunity of becoming acquainted with the

character of different animals, agree in ascribing to the lion less

ferocity and brutality, in proportion to its size and strength, than

to other animals of the same family.

[90]The description of the giraffe, here given, is sufficiently correct,

but we have a more minute account of it by Dion Cassius, B. xliii.

In the time of the Emperor Gordian, ten of these animals were

exhibited at Rome at once; a remarkable fact, when we bear in mind

that so few have ever been imported into Europe or America. The

Giraffe is figured in the mosaic at Præneste and, under it, is

inscribed its name--nabi. It has been found that the giraffe is

unable to bear the winters of Europe and the United States.

[91]It seems impossible to identify Pliny's description with any known

animal, and it is not unlikely that he has confused the accounts of

authors who were speaking of different animals. Some of the

characteristics of the leucrocotta agree with those of the Indian

antelope, while others seem to resemble those of the hyæna.

[92]It has been conjectured, that Ctesias took his description from the

hieroglyphic figures in his time, probably common in the East, and

still found in the ruins of Nineveh and Persepolis.

[93]This account of the basilisk's eye, like that of the catoblepas, is

entirely devoid of foundation.

[94]Hence the proverbial expression applied to a person who is suddenly

silent upon the entrance of another; "Lupus est tibi visus."--"You

have seen a wolf."

[95]This literally means "changing the skin;" it was applied by some

ancient medical writers to a peculiar form of insanity, where the

patient conceives himself changed into a wolf.

[96]It is rather curious to find Pliny censuring others for _credulity_;

the fact is he loses no opportunity of a hit at the Greeks, to whom,

after all, he is greatly indebted.

[97]Lucan mentions the jaculus, B. ix. l. 720, and l. 822. In the last

passage he says: "Behold! afar, around the trunk of a barren tree, a

fierce serpent--Africa calls it the jaculus--wreathes itself, and

then darts forth, and through the head and pierced temples of Paulus

it takes its flight: nothing does venom there affect, death seizes

him through the wound. It was then understood how slowly fly the

stones which the sling hurls, how sluggishly whizzes the flight of

the Scythian arrow."

[98]The tongue of the crocodile is flat, and adheres to the lower jaw,

so as to be incapable of motion.

[99]The water of the Nile abounds with small leeches, which attach to

the throat of the crocodile, and, as it has no means of removing

them, it allows the trochilus to enter its mouth for this purpose

also.

[100]Although this account is sanctioned by all the ancient naturalists,

it is called in question by Cuvier and other modern writers.

[101]The animal here referred to was not the dolphin but the Squalus

centrina, or spinax of Linnæus.

[102]Cuvier says that no antlers are added after the eighth year.

[103]This is mentioned by Aristotle, but it is quite unfounded. Without

doubt the story arose from the fact that the stag in September rubs

the velvet off his horns against the trees, until it hangs in

strings from the antlers. These are at first greenish in color, then

brown as they grow dry and fall off.

[104]Buffon remarks, such tales are without foundation, the life of the

stag being not more than thirty or forty years.

[105]One of those popular errors which have descended from the ancients

to our times; the chameleon feeds on insects, which it seizes by

means of its long flexible tongue; the quantity of food which it

requires appears, however, to be small in proportion to its bulk.

[106]This is another of the erroneous opinions respecting the chameleon,

which has been very generally adopted. It forms the basis of

Merrick's poem of the Chameleon. The animal assumes various shades

or tints, but the changes depend upon internal or constitutional

causes, not upon any external object.

[107]This is, of course, without foundation, the honey being the sole

object sought.

[108]We learn from Strabo, Ind. Hist. B. xv., that, in catching the

monkey, the hunters took advantage of the propensity of these

animals to imitate any action they see performed. "Two modes," he

says, "are employed in taking this animal, as by nature it is taught

to imitate every action, and to take to flight by climbing up trees.

When the hunters see an ape sitting on a tree, they place within

sight of it a dish full of water, with which they rub their eyes;

and then slyly substituting another in its place, full of bird-lime,

retire and keep upon the watch. The animal comes down from the tree,

and rubs its eyes with the bird-lime, in consequence of which the

eyelids stick together, and it is unable to escape." Ælian also

says, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 25, that the hunters pretend to put on

their shoes, and then substitute, in their place, shoes of lead; the

animal attempts to imitate them, and, the shoes being so contrived,

when it has once got them on, it finds itself unable to take them

off, or to move, and is consequently taken.

[109]It is said that the Emperor Charles V. had a monkey that played

chess with him.

[110]This account is given by Suetonius, Life of Julius Cæsar, c. 61.

Cuvier suggests that the hoofs may have been notched, and that the

sculptor probably exaggerated the peculiarity, so as to produce the

resemblance to a human foot.

[111]We here find Pliny tripping, for he has previously said, that man

is the only animated being that sheds tears. In this Book, also, he

represents the lion as shedding tears.

[112]There were four parties or factions of the charioteers who were

named from the color of their dress.

[113]The famous Bologna sausages are made, it is said, of asses' flesh.

[114]This peculiarity in their mode of taking their food is mentioned by

Herodotus, who ascribed it to the extraordinary length of the horns.

[115]

{Kai rhêgea kala}

{Porphyr embaleein, storesai d' ephyperthe tapêtas.}

Odyssey, B. iv. l. 427. "And to throw on fair coverlets of purple,

and to lay carpets upon them."

[116]"I have macerated unbleached flax in vinegar saturated with salt,

and after compression have obtained a felt, with a power of

resistance quite comparable with that of the famous armor of Conrad

of Montferrat; for neither the point of a sword, nor even balls

discharged from fire-arms, were able to penetrate it." _Memoir on

the substance called Pilina, by Papadopoulo-Vretos._

[117]The "gausapa," or "gausapum," was a kind of thick cloth, very

woolly on one side, and used especially for covering tables and

beds, and making cloaks to keep out the wet and cold. The wealthier

Romans had it made of the finest wool, and usually of a purple

color. It seems also to have been sometimes made of linen, but still

with a rough surface.

[118]From {amphimalla}, "napped on both sides." They probably resemble

our baizes or druggets, or perhaps the modern blanket.

[119]About the time of Augustus, the Romans began to exchange the

"toga," which had previously been their ordinary garment, for the

more convenient "lacerna" and "pænula," which were less encumbered

with folds, and better adapted for the usual occupations of life.

[120]According to the commonly received account, Tanaquil was the wife

of Tarquinius Priscus, and a native of Etruria; when she removed to

Rome, and her husband became king, her name was changed to Caia

Cæcilia.

[121]The prætexta is described by Varro as a white toga, with a purple

band or border; it was worn by boys until their seventeenth year,

and by young women until their marriage.

[122]The trabea differed from the prætexta, in being ornamented with

stripes (trabes) of purple, whence its name.

[123]Helen is introduced, Iliad, B. iii. l. 125, weaving an embroidered

garment, in which were figured the battles of the Greeks and

Trojans. It was probably somewhat of the nature of modern tapestry.

[124]The first sum amounts to about $23,000, the latter to $115,000.

[125]These are all, of course, excessive exaggerations.

[126]Hardouin remarks, that the Basques of his day were in the habit of

fencing their gardens with the ribs of the whale, which sometimes

exceeded twenty feet in length; and Cuvier says, that at the present

time, the jaw-bone of the whale is used in Norway for the purpose of

making beams or posts for buildings.

[127]Hardouin, with excessive credulity, says that it is no fable, that

the nereids and tritons had a human face; and says that no less than

fifteen instances, ancient and modern, had been adduced, in proof

that such was the fact. He says that this was the belief of

Scaliger, and quotes the book of Aldrovandus on Monsters. But, as

Cuvier remarks, it is impossible to explain these stories of nereids

and tritons, on any other grounds than the fraudulent pretences of

those who have exhibited them, or asserted that they have seen them.

"It was only last year," he says, "that all London was resorting to

see a wonderful sight in what is commonly called a mermaid. I myself

had the opportunity of examining a very similar object: it was the

body of a child, in the mouth of which they had introduced the jaws

of a sparus, or 'gilt-head,' while for the legs was substituted the

body of a lizard." "The body of the London mermaid," he says, "was

that of an ape, and a fish attached to it supplied the place of the

hind legs."

[128]In his description of the dolphin Pliny has confused the

peculiarities of the seal, the porpoise, the flying-fish and the

squalus, with those of the dolphin.

[129]He implies that the dolphin knows that it is "simus," or

"flat-nosed," for which reason it is particularly fond of being

called "Simo," or "flat-nose," a piece of good taste and

intelligence remarkable even in a dolphin.

[130]Ovid tells the story of Arion more fully, and in beautiful

language, in the Fasti, B. ii. l. 92.

[131]According to Cuvier the fore-feet were here taken for horns, being

in the turtle long, narrow, and pointed.

[132]"Fremitu." From their lowing noise, the French have also called

these animals "veaux de mer," and we call them "sea-calves." Lopez

de Gomara, one of the more recent writers on Mexico, in his day,

gave an account of an Indian sea-calf, or manati, as it was called

by the natives, that had become quite tame, and answered readily to

its name; and although not very large, it was able to bear ten men

on its back. He also tells us of a much more extraordinary one,

which Aldrovandus says he himself had seen at Bologna, which would

give a cheer for the Christian princes when asked, but would refuse

to do so for the Turks.

[133]There are specimens of about 6000 kinds of fishes, in the Cabinet

du Roi in Paris.

[134]He means, that in consequence of the lucrative nature of this

fishery, it thence obtained the name of the "golden" horn.

[135]Seneca has two passages on this subject, which strongly bespeak the

barbarous tastes of the Romans. He says: "A mullet even, if just

caught, is thought little of, unless it is allowed to die in the

hand of your guest. They are carried about enclosed in globes of

glass, and their color is watched as they die--ever changing by the

struggles of death into various shades and hues." And again: "There

is nothing, you say, more beautiful than the colors of the dying

mullet; as it struggles and breathes forth its life, it is first

purple, and then a paleness gradually comes over it; and then,

placed as it is between life and death, an uncertain hue comes over

it."

[136]Seneca speaks of this cruel custom of pickling fish alive. "Other

fish, again, they kill in sauces, and pickle them alive. There are

some persons who look upon it as quite incredible that a fish should

be able to live underground. How much more so would it appear to

them, if they were to hear of a fish swimming in sauce, and that the

chief dish of the banquet was killed at the banquet, feeding the eye

before it does the gullet?"

[137]Juvenal, Sat. iv. l. 15, speaks of a mullet being bought for 6000

sesterces, a thousand for every pound, and Suetonius tells us that

in the reign of Tiberius three mullets were sold for 30,000

sesterces. It is in allusion to this kind of extravagance that

Juvenal says, in the same Satire, that it is not unlikely that the

fisherman could be bought as a slave for a smaller sum than the fish

itself. At the above rate, each of these mullets sold for nearly

$400 of our money.

[138]{Apo tou echein nêas.} "From holding back ships."

[139]This division of the bloodless fish, made first by Aristotle, into

the mollusca, testacea, and crustacea, has been followed by

naturalists almost down to the present day.

[140]Probably this is merely the reproduction of the story of the

nautilus with exaggerated details.

[141]It is now known, thanks to the research of Swammerdam, that the

black points at the extremity of the great horns of the land snail,

and at the base of them in the water snail, are eyes.

[142]All this theory is, of course, totally imaginary. The pearl itself

is nothing else but a diversion, so to speak, of the juices, whose

duty it is to line the interior of the shell, to thicken and so

amplify it; and consequently, the pearl is the result of some

malady. It is possible for them to be found in all shell-fish; but

they have no beauty in them, unless the interior of the shell, or,

as we call it, the mother-of-pearl, is lustrous and beautiful

itself. Hence the finest of them come from the east, and are

furnished by the kind of bivalve, called by Linnæus, "Mytilus

margaritiferus," which has the most beautiful mother-of-pearl in the

interior that is known. The parts of the Indian sea which are

mentioned by Pliny, are those in which the pearl oyster is still

found in the greatest abundance.

[143]Procopius tells a wonderful story in relation to this subject. He

says, that the sea-dogs are wonderful admirers of the pearl-fish,

and follow them out to sea; that when the sea-dogs are pressed by

hunger, they go in quest of prey, and then return to the shell-fish

and gaze upon it. A certain fisherman, having watched for the moment

when the shell-fish was deprived of the protection of its attendant

sea-dog, which was seeking its prey, seized the shell-fish, and made

for the shore. The sea-dog, however, was soon aware of the theft,

and making straight for the fisherman, seized him. Finding himself

thus caught, he made a last effort, and threw the pearl-fish on

shore, upon which he was immediately torn to pieces by its

protector.

[144]These alabaster boxes for unguents mentioned elsewhere by Pliny

were usually pear-shaped; and as they were held with difficulty in

the hand, on account of their extreme smoothness, they were called

{alabastra}, from {a}, "not," and {labysthai}, "to be held." Such

was the offer made to our Saviour, of an "alabaster box of ointment

of spikenard, very precious." Seneca says that the Roman matrons

were not satisfied unless they had two or three patrimonies

suspended from each ear.

[145]The pearls as fully bespoke the importance of the wearer, as the

lictor did of the magistrate whom he was preceding. The honor of

being escorted by one or two lictors, was usually granted to the

wives and other members of the imperial family.

[146]Tavernier speaks of a remarkable pearl, that was found at Catifa,

in Arabia (the fishery alluded to by Pliny), and which he bought for

the sum of $500,000, of our money. It is pear-shaped, the elenchus

of the ancients, regular, and without blemish. The diameter is .63

of an inch, at the largest part, and the length from two to three

inches. It is now in the possession of the Shah of Persia.

[147]The Roman consuls were clothed with the toga prætexta, the color of

which was Syrian purple. All children of free birth wore the

prætexta, edged with purple, and the purple laticlave or broad hem

of the senator's toga distinguished him from the eques, who wore a

toga with an angusticlave, or narrow hem.

[148]"Xerxen togatum," or "the Roman Xerxes," in allusion to Xerxes

cutting a canal through the Isthmus, which connected the Peninsula

of Mount Athos with Chalcidice.

[149]An absurd tradition, invented to palliate the disgrace of his

defeat.

[150]If there was any foundation at all for the story, there can be

little doubt that a trick was played for the purpose of imposing

upon Caligula's superstitious credulity, and that the rowers as well

as the diving sailors were in the secret.

[151]"Delay."

[152]Of this work, begun by Ovid during his banishment in Pontus, and

probably never completed, only a fragment of one hundred and

thirty-two lines has come down to us.

[153]Martial, B. iv. Ep. 30, speaks of this being the case at the

fish-ponds of Baiæ, where the Emperor's fish were in the habit of

making their appearance when called by name.

[154]"Inaures." He probably means ornaments suspended from the gills, a

thing which, in the case of eels, might be done.

[155]The seat of the worship of the half-fish goddess, Addirga,

Atergatis, Astarte, or Derceto.

[156]Theophrastus reckons coral among the precious stones, and Pliny

would seem to be at a loss whether to consider it as an animal or a

vegetable.

[157]From the Greek {keireitai}, "cut short."

[158]It is at the spawning season that this milky liquid is found in the

oyster; a period at which the meat of the fish is considered

unwholesome as food. We have a saying that the oyster should never

be eaten in the months without an r; that the same, too, was the

opinion in the middle ages is proved by the Leonine line:

"Mensibus erratis vos ostrea manducatis."

"In the r'd months you may your oysters eat."

[159]Literally, "Having beautiful eyebrows."

[160]Those of Rutupæ, the present Richborough in Kent, were highly

esteemed by the Romans. See Juvenal, Sat. 4. l. 141.

[161]They probably gave the name of "oyster" to some other shell-fish of

large size. In Cook's Voyages we read of cockles in the Pacific,

which two men were unable to carry.

[162]From {tris}, "thrice," and {dyknô}, "to bite."

[163]Ajasson, however, remarks that many persons are unable to digest

oysters in an uncooked state.

[164]Father Lobo, in his account of Abyssinia, says that when the

ostrich is running at great speed, it throws the stones behind with

such violence, that they would almost seem to be thrown at those in

pursuit.

An ostrich, Cuvier says, will swallow anything, but it is by no

means able to digest everything. He says, that he has seen ostriches

with the stomach ruptured by nails which they have swallowed, or

dreadfully torn by pieces of glass.

[165]All these relations are neither more nor less than so many absurd

fables or allegories, but the description given is exactly that of a

bird which does exist--the golden pheasant.

[166]Five hundred and thirty-two years.

[167]This erroneous notion is still entertained by the French peasantry.

[168]Cuvier remarks, that this is not a very good reason; but we have

not yet been able to find a better.

[169]Cuvier denies this story, but says, that when the foster-mother is

a very small bird, the young cuckoo will take the whole of her head

in his beak when receiving food.

[170]Our Jackdaw probably, the Corvus graculus. It has been said, that

in its admiration of shining objects, it will take up a burning

coal; a trick which has before now caused conflagrations.

[171]Picus, the son of Saturn, king of Latium. He was skilled in augury,

and was said to have been changed into a woodpecker.

[172]Valerius Maximus says, that seventeen members of this family fell

at the battle of Cannæ.

[173]M. Mauduit, in a learned discussion many pages in length,

satisfactorily shows that this is not entirely fabulous, but that

the wild swan of the northern climates really is possessed of a

tuneful note or cadence. Of course, the statement that it only sings

just before its death, must be rejected as fabulous.

[174]The "mother of the quails." Frederic II., in his work, De Arte

Venandi, calls the "rallus," or "rail," the "leader of the quails."

[175]Either hemlock or hellebore.

[176]This bird in reality builds no nest, but lays its eggs in holes on

the water side. The objects taken for its nest are a zoophyte called

_halcyonium_ by Linnæus, and similar in shape to a nest.

[177]Not moss, Cuvier says, but blades of grass and the silken fibres of

the poplar and other aquatic trees.

[178]"Without feet." This was supposed to be the case with the martinet,

the _Hirundo apus_ of Linnæus.

[179]By nestling in the dust. Throwing dust over the body was one of the

ancient modes of purification.

[180]"Lustrant," "perform a lustration." This was done by the Romans

with a branch of laurel or olive, and sometimes bean-stalks were

used.

[181]This is the jay, the Corvus glandarius of Linnæus; but they are not

more apt at speaking than the other kinds.

[182]These are merely freaks of Nature.

[183]Britannicus, the son of Claudius, and Nero, his stepson.

[184]The nephew and son of Tiberius.

[185]Festus says that the "fane of Rediculus was without the Porta

Capena; it was so called because Hannibal, when on the march from

Capua, turned back (redierit) at that spot, being alarmed at certain

portentous visions."

[186]Albert Magnus says that swallows _can_ be tamed.

[187]The trunk of the gnat, Cuvier says, contains five silken and

pointed threads, which together have the effect of a sting.

[188]They respire by orifices in the sides of the body, known to

naturalists as _stigmata_. The whole body, Cuvier says, forms in a

measure, a system of lungs.

[189]The various noises made by insects are in reality not the voice, as

they are not produced by air passing through a larynx.

[190]They have a nourishing fluid, which is of a white color, and acts

in place of blood.

[191]All insects have a brain, a sort of spinal marrow, and nerves; they

have no fat except when in the chrysalis state; but they have a

fibrous flesh of a whitish color. They have also viscera, trachea,

nerves, and a most complicated organization.

[192]Cuvier says that the three kinds of cells are absolutely necessary,

and that they do not depend on the greater or less abundance. The

_king_ of the ancients is what we know as the _queen_ bee.

[193]They do not work, but are the males of the hive.

[194]The queen has a sting, like the working bees, but uses it less

frequently.

[195]The true version is, that after killing the insect they bury it

with their eggs as food for their future young.

[196]Cuvier says that some have been known nearly a foot long, but not

more.

[197]Julius Obsequens speaks of a pestilence there, created by the dead

bodies of the locusts, which caused the death of 8000 persons.

[198]It is in reality their larvæ that they thus bring out to dry. The

working ants, or neutrals, are the ones on which these labors

devolve; the males and females are winged, the working ants are

without wings.

[199]By this is probably meant the Canis corsac, the small fox of India,

by some mistake represented by travellers as an ant.

[200]This vase of Semiramis was her drinking bowl, in much the same

sense that the great cannon at Dover was Queen Elizabeth's "pocket

pistol."

[201]The specific gravity of lead is 11.352, and of silver only 10.474.

[202]From the words {met alla}, "one after another."

[203]By public enactment probably; samples of the false denarius being

sold for the purpose of showing the difference between it and the

genuine coin.

[204]The first person mentioned in Roman history as having the cognomen

"Dives," is Publius Licinius Crassus. As he attained the highest

honors of the state, and died universally respected, he cannot be

the person so opprobriously spoken of by Pliny.

[205]Who cut off his head after his death, and poured molten gold down

his throat.

[206]According to some authorities, he was a Lydian. He derived his

wealth from his gold mines in the neighborhood of Celænæ in Phrygia,

and would appear, in spite of Pliny's reservation, to have been

little less than a king. His five sons accompanied Xerxes; but

Pythius, alarmed by an eclipse of the sun, begged that the eldest

might be left behind. Upon this, Xerxes had the youth put to death,

and his body cut in two, the army being ordered to march between the

portions, which were placed on either side of the road. His other

sons were all slain in battle, and Pythius passed the rest of his

life in solitude.

[207]So called from the silversmiths who respectively introduced them.

[208]"Æris Metalla." The word "Æs" does not correspond to our word

"brass;" the brass of the moderns being a compound of copper and

zinc, while the "Æs" of the ancients was mostly composed of copper

and tin, and therefore is more correctly designated by the word

"bronze." Mr. Westmacott says that the ancient "Æs" has been found,

upon analysis, to contain no zinc, but in nearly every instance to

be a mixture of copper and tin, like our bronze. Beckmann says, on

the other hand, that the mixture of zinc and copper now called

"brass," first discovered by ores, abundant in zinc, _was certainly

known to the ancients_.

[209]The colleges of the priests and of the augurs being the first two

associated bodies.

[210]B.C. 146.

[211]Pisistratus. These statues are mentioned elsewhere by Pliny as

being the workmanship of Praxiteles.

[212]The Luperci were the priests of Pan, who, at the celebration of

their games, called Lupercalia, were in the habit of running about

the streets of Rome, with no other covering than a goat's skin tied

about the loins.

[213]Pliny has forgotten the gilded chariot, with six horses, which

Cneius Cornelius dedicated in the Capitol, two hundred years before

Augustus; there is also an ancient inscription which mentions

chariots of this description.

[214]By one Leptines, at Laodicea.

[215]The mode in which the fingers were placed, so as to serve the

purpose here indicated, is supposed to have been by their forming

the letters which were the Roman numerals for the figures in

question.

[216]The Colossus at Rhodes was begun by Chares, but he committed

suicide, in consequence of having made some mistake in the estimate;

the work was completed by Laches, also an inhabitant of Lindos.

It remained on the spot where it was thrown down for nearly nine

hundred years, until the year 653 A.D., when Moavia, khalif of the

Saracens, after the capture of Rhodes, sold the materials; it is

said that it required nine hundred camels to remove the pieces.

The Bartholdi statue of "Liberty enlightening the World" is even

larger than the Colossus at Rhodes.

[217]St. Jerome informs us, that Vespasian removed the head of Nero, and

substituted that of the Sun with seven rays.

[218]There is no work of Phidias now in existence; the sculptures in the

Parthenon were, however, executed by his pupils and under his

immediate directions, so that we may form some judgment of his

genius and taste. There is a foot in the British Museum, said to be

the work of Phidias.

[219]Praxiteles held a high rank among the ancient sculptors, and may be

considered as second to Phidias alone.

[220]Pliny has here confounded two artists of the same name; the

Polycletus who was the successor of Phidias, and was not much

inferior to him in merit, and Polycletus of Argos, who lived 160

years later, and who also executed many capital works, some of which

are here mentioned. It appears that Cicero, Vitruvius, Strabo,

Quintilian, Plutarch, and Lucian have also confounded these two

artists; but Pausanias, who is very correct in the account which he

gives us of all subjects connected with works of art, was aware of

the distinction; and it is from his observations that we have been

enabled to correct the error into which so many eminent writers had

fallen.

[221]Myron was born at Eleutheræ, in Boeotia; but having been presented

by the Athenians with the freedom of their city, he afterwards

resided there, and was always designated an Athenian.

[222]A person engaged in the five contests of quoiting, running,

leaping, wrestling, and hurling the javelin.

[223]Competitors in boxing and wrestling.

[224]The lines of Horace are well known, in which he says, that

Alexander would allow his portrait to be painted by no one except

Apelles, nor his statue to be made by any one except Lysippus.

[225]Two copies of this Ganymede are still in existence at Rome.

[226]There were two artists of this name, both natives of Samos. This

one is the elder Theodorus, and is mentioned by Pausanias as having

been the first to fuse iron for statues.

[227]What would Pliny say, if he could see and hear the revolvers,

rifles, mortars and Gatling guns of our day!

[228]Holbein and Mignard did the same, and Charles Felu of Antwerp, born

without arms, paints most successfully with his feet.

[229]"Inussisse;" meaning that he executed it in encaustic.

[230]"Penicillus." This was the hair-pencil or brush, which was used by

one class of painters, in contradistinction to the stylus or cestrum

used for spreading the wax-colors. Painters with the brush used what

we should term "water-colors;" oil-colors, in our sense of the word,

being unknown to the ancients.

[231]{Mômêsetai tis mallon ê mimêsetai}. This line is attributed by

Plutarch to Apollodorus.

[232]The "Chief of the Galli," or high-priest of Cybele.

[233]Achilles, which were awarded to Ulysses in preference to Ajax.

[234]Which would make the course of study extend over a period of twelve

years.

[235]Dr. Smith says: "The most natural explanation of this difficult

passage seems to be, that down the middle of the first line of

Apelles, Protogenes drew another, so as to divide it into two

parallel halves, and that Apelles again divided the line of

Protogenes in the same manner."

[236]The Latin form of which, as given by Erasmus, is "Nulla dies abeat

quin linea ducta supersit." "Let no day pass by, without an outline

being drawn, and left in remembrance."

[237]"Ne sutor ultra crepidam." "Let not the shoemaker go beyond his

last."

[238]See Matthew xiii. 57; Mark vi. 4. "A prophet is not without honor,

save in his own country."

[239]Odyss. B. vi. 1. 102.

[240]Sir Joshua Reynolds discovers in the account here given "an

artist-like description of the effect of glazing, or scumbling, such

as was practised by Titian and the rest of the Venetian painters."

[241]A service of three dishes.

[242]The ancient writers abound in praises of this wonderful statue.

Lucian, however, has given the most complete and artistic

description of it. It was supposed by the ancients, to represent

Venus as standing before Paris, when he awarded to her the prize of

beauty; but it has been well remarked, that the drapery in the right

hand, and the vase by the side of the figure, indicate that she has

either just left or is about to enter the bath. It was ultimately

carried to Constantinople, where it perished by fire in the reign of

Justinian. It is doubtful whether there are any copies of it in

existence. There is, however, a so-called copy in the gardens of the

Vatican, and another in the Glyptothek, at Munich. It is supposed

that Cleomenes, in making the Venus de Medici, imitated the Cnidian

Venus in some degree.

[243]This group is generally supposed to have been identical with the

Laocoön still to be seen in the Court of the Belvedere, in the

Vatican at Rome; having been found, in 1506, in a vault beneath the

spot known as the Place _de Sette Sale_, by Felix de Eredi, who

surrendered it, in consideration of a pension, to Pope Julius II.

The group, however, is not made of a _single_ block, which has

caused some to doubt its identity: but it is not improbable, that

when originally made, its joints were not perceptible to a common

observer. The spot, too, where it was found was actually part of the

palace of Titus. It is most probable that the artists had the

beautiful episode of Laocoön in view, as penned by Virgil, Æn. B.

II.

[244]So called from {obeliskos}, a "small spit," in consequence of their

tapering form.

[245]Meaning, probably, that in the Egyptian language, the same word is

used as signifying a "spit" and a "ray" of light; for it is

generally agreed that the word "obeliscus" is of Greek origin.

[246]This, Hardouin says, was the same obelisk that was afterwards

erected by Constantine, son of Constantine the Great, in the Circus

Maximus at Rome; whence it was removed by Pope Sextus V., in the

year 1588, to the Basilica of the Lateran.

[247]Evidently a stupendous monument, or rather aggregate of buildings,

erected by Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, in memory of his wife and

sister, Arsinoë.

_A Selection from the Catalogue of_

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Translated from the French of

Paul de Musset

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Transcriber's Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook

is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by

_underscores_.