Demetrius Poliorcetes was commanded by his father, Antigonus, to
punish Rhodes, which held the first rank among the Sporades isles.
Demetrius presented himself before Rhodes with a numerous fleet; he
knew that he was about to contend with skilful warriors, experienced
in sea-fights, and possessing more than eight hundred machines of war
as redoubtable as his own _helepolis_. Demetrius was an extraordinary
character: equally addicted to pleasure and business, he never let the
one interfere with the other; if embarked in indulgence, he prided
himself upon carrying it further than any other man; but if thoroughly
engaged in an affair of state, or prosecution of a war, none of the
blandishments of pleasure could turn him aside from the great business
in hand.
The Rhodians, who had foreseen the tempest, had applied to all the
princes their allies, particularly to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, whom they
informed that it was for having favoured his pretensions they were
subjected to this invasion. Our young readers will not fail to observe
that Antigonus, the father of Demetrius, and Ptolemy, king of Egypt,
were two of Alexander’s generals, and were now endeavouring to carry
out their master’s will, and proving themselves “most deserving of his
empire,” by tearing it to pieces.
The preparations on each side were immense. Demetrius had a fleet
of two hundred ships of war, and more than a hundred and seventy
transports, bearing forty thousand men, without including the cavalry
and the assistance he received from pirates. He had, likewise, a
thousand small vessels, laden with provisions and other accommodations
for an army. Rhodes was extremely rich; and the expectation of
booty lured vast numbers to the ranks of Demetrius. This prince was
celebrated for his skill in attacking fortified places, and for his
ingenuity in constructing machines. He brought a great number of the
latter with him.
Upon landing, Demetrius took a survey, in order to ascertain the most
favourable point for an assault; he likewise ordered the country round
to be laid waste on all sides; he cut down the trees and demolished the
houses, in the parts adjacent to Rhodes, and employed them as materials
to fortify his camp with a triple palisade.
The Rhodians, on their part, prepared for a vigorous defence. All
persons in alliance with them, possessed of military merit, threw
themselves into the city, for the purpose of gaining honour as well
as of serving them; the besieged being as celebrated for their valour
and constancy, as the besieger was for his consummate art in attacking
fortified places.
After they had dismissed all useless mouths from the city, they
found their force to consist of six thousand citizens and a thousand
strangers. All slaves who should distinguish themselves were promised
the rights of denizens, the public paying their masters the full value
for them. It was likewise publicly declared that all who lost their
lives in action should be honourably interred; that their parents,
wives, and children should be provided for, and their daughters
portioned in marriage; and that when their sons should be of an age
capable of bearing arms, they should be presented with a complete
suit of armour, on the public theatre, at the great solemnity of the
Bacchanalia. This decree inspired all ranks, particularly the wealthy
and the makers of war-machines, with incredible zeal.
The besieged sent out three good sailers against a small fleet of
sutlers and merchants, laden with provisions for the enemy; they sunk
some vessels, burnt others, and carried all prisoners likely to pay
a ransom into the city. The Rhodians gained a great deal of money by
this, the stipulated prices of prisoners being high.
This siege is said to be the masterpiece of Demetrius, both as to
the use of acquired skill and invention. To make himself master of
the port and of the towers which defended its entrance, he began his
operations by sea. To facilitate his approach to the place he meant
to batter, he caused two tortoises to be erected on two flat-bottomed
vessels joined together. One of these was more solid and strong than
the other, in order to cover the men from the enormous masses which the
enemy discharged from their catapultas on the walls: the other was of a
lighter structure, and intended to shield the soldiers from the flights
of arrows and darts. Two towers of four stories each were erected at
the same time, which exceeded in height the towers which defended the
entrance to the port, and which were intended to be used in battering
the latter with volleys of stones and darts. Each of these towers was
placed upon ships strongly bound together.
Demetrius likewise caused a kind of floating barricado to be erected
in front of these tortoises and towers, on a long beam of timber, four
feet thick, through which stakes, armed at the end with large spikes of
iron, were driven. These stakes were disposed horizontally, with their
spikes projecting forward, in order to prevent the vessels of the port
from shattering the work with their beaks.
He likewise selected some of his largest vessels, on the sides of which
he erected a rampart of planks, with little windows easy to be opened.
He there placed the best Cretan archers and slingers in his army, and
furnished them with an infinite number of bows, small balistas or
cross-bows, slings and catapultas, with other engines for shooting, in
order to gall the workmen of the city employed in raising and repairing
the walls of the port.
The Rhodians, seeing the besiegers turn all their efforts towards that
quarter, were not less industrious to defend it; in order to accomplish
which design, they raised two machines upon an adjoining eminence, and
formed three others, which they placed in large ships of burden at the
mouth of the little haven. A body of archers and slingers was likewise
posted on each side of these situations, with a prodigious quantity of
stones, darts, and arrows of all kinds. The same orders were also given
with respect to the ships of burden in the great port.
When Demetrius was advancing with his ships and all his armament to
begin the attack on the ports, such a violent tempest arose as rendered
it impossible for him to accomplish any of his designs that day; but
the sea growing calm about night, he took advantage of the darkness,
and advanced without being perceived by the enemy to the great harbour:
he made himself master of a neighbouring eminence, about five hundred
paces from the wall, and posted thereon four hundred soldiers, who
fortified themselves immediately with strong palisades.
The next morning Demetrius caused his batteries to advance with sound
of trumpets and the shouts of his whole army, and they at first
produced all the effect he proposed from them. A great number of the
besieged were slain in this attack, and several breaches were opened in
the mole which covered the port: but they were of little advantage to
the besiegers, who were always repulsed by the Rhodians; and after a
loss nearly equal on both sides, Demetrius was obliged to retire from
the port, with his ships and machines, to be out of the reach of the
enemy’s arrows.
The besieged, who had learned to their cost what advantage might be
taken of the night, caused several fire-ships to sail out of the port
during the darkness, in order to burn the tortoises and wooden towers
which the enemy had erected: but as, unfortunately, they were not able
to force the floating barricado which sheltered them, they were obliged
to return into port. The Rhodians lost some of their fire-ships in this
expedition, but the mariners saved themselves by swimming.
The next day, the prince ordered a general attack to be made upon the
port and the walls of the place, with the sound of trumpets and the
shouts of the whole army, thinking by those means to spread terror
among the besieged; but they were so far from being intimidated, that
they sustained the attack with incredible vigour, and displayed the
same intrepidity for the eight days that it continued: actions of
astonishing bravery were performed on both sides during that interval.
Demetrius, taking advantage of the eminence which his troops had
seized, gave orders for erecting upon it a battery of several engines,
which discharged great stones of a hundred and fifty pounds in weight
against the walls and towers, the latter of which tottered with the
repeated shocks, and several breaches were soon made in the walls.
The troops of Demetrius advanced with spirit to seize the mole which
defended the entrance into the port; but as this post was of the utmost
importance, the Rhodians spared no pains to repulse the besiegers, who
had already made a considerable progress. This they at last effected by
a shower of stones and arrows, which they discharged upon their enemies
with so much rapidity, and for such a length of time, that the latter
were obliged to retire in confusion, after losing a great number of
their men.
The ardour of the besiegers was not at all diminished by this repulse,
indeed, they appeared more animated than ever against the Rhodians.
They began the scalade by the land and sea at the same time, and
employed the besieged so effectually, that they scarcely knew to what
quarter to run for the defence of the place. The attack was carried on
with the utmost fury on all sides, and the besieged defended themselves
with the greatest intrepidity. Numbers were thrown from the ladders
to the earth, and miserably bruised; several even of the principal
officers got to the top of the wall, where they were covered with
wounds and taken prisoners; so that Demetrius, notwithstanding all
his valour, thought it necessary to retreat, in order to repair his
engines, which, with the vessels that bore them, were almost entirely
destroyed.
After the prince’s retreat, immediate care was taken to bury the dead;
the beaks of the ships, with the other spoils that had been taken
from the enemy, were carried to the temples, and the workmen were
indefatigable in repairing the breaches of the walls.
Demetrius having employed seven days in refitting his ships and
repairing his engines, set sail again with a fleet as formidable as the
first, and steered with a fair wind directly for the port, which he was
most anxious to gain, as he conceived it impracticable to reduce the
place till he had made himself master of that. Upon his arrival, he
caused a vast quantity of lighted torches, flaming straw, and arrows
to be discharged, in order to set fire to the vessels that were riding
there, while his engines battered the mole without intermission. The
besieged, who expected attacks of this nature, exerted themselves with
so much vigour and activity, that they soon extinguished the flames
which had seized the vessels.
At the same time they caused three of their largest ships to sail out
of the port, under the command of Exacestes, one of their bravest
officers, with orders to attack the enemy, employ the utmost efforts
to reach the vessels that carried the tortoises and wooden towers,
and to charge them in such a manner with the beaks of their own, as
might either sink them or disable them. These orders were executed
with surprising expedition and address; and the three galleys, after
they had broken through the floating barricado, drove their beaks
with so much violence into the sides of the enemy’s barks, on which
the machines were erected, that the water was immediately seen to
enter through several openings. Two of them were already sunk, but the
third was towed along by the galleys, and joined the main fleet; and,
dangerous as it was to attack them in that situation, the Rhodians,
through a blind and precipitate ardour, ventured to attempt it. But
the inequality was too great to allow them to come off with success;
Exacestes, with the officer who commanded under him, and some others,
after having fought with all the bravery imaginable, were taken with
the galley in which they were; the other two regained the port, after
sustaining many dangers, and most of the men also arrived there by
swimming.
Unfortunate as the last attack had proved to Demetrius, he was
determined to undertake another; and in order to succeed in that
design, he commanded a machine of a new invention to be built, of
thrice the height and breadth of those he had lately lost. When this
was completed, he caused it to be placed near the port, which he was
resolved to force; but at the instant they were preparing to work it, a
dreadful tempest arose at sea, and sunk it to the bottom, together with
the vessels on which it had been raised.
The besieged, who were careful to improve all opportunities, employed
the time afforded them by the tempest in regaining the eminence near
the port, which the enemy had carried in the first assault, and where
they afterwards fortified themselves. The Rhodians attacked it, and
were repulsed several times; but the forces of Demetrius, who defended
it, perceiving fresh troops continually pouring upon them, and that
it was in vain for them to expect any relief, were obliged at last to
surrender themselves prisoners, to the number of four hundred men.
This series of fortunate events was succeeded by the arrival of five
hundred men from Cnessus, a city of Crete, to the assistance of the
Rhodians, and also of five hundred more, whom Ptolemy sent from Egypt,
most of them being Rhodians, who had enlisted themselves amongst the
troops of that prince.
Demetrius being extremely mortified to see all his batteries on the
side of the harbour rendered ineffectual, resolved to employ them by
land, in order to carry the place by assault, or reduce it to the
necessity of capitulating. He therefore prepared materials of every
kind, and formed a machine called _helepolis_, which was larger than
any that had ever been invented before. The basis on which it stood was
square, and each of its sides was seventy-five feet wide. The machine
itself was an assemblage of large square beams, riveted together with
iron; and the whole mass rested upon eight wheels, that were made
proportionable with the superstructure. The felloes of the wheels were
three feet thick, and were strengthened with large iron plates. In
order to facilitate and vary the movements of the helepolis, castors
were placed under it, so that it could be moved in any direction. From
each of the four angles a large column of wood was carried up to the
height of about one hundred and fifty feet, inclining towards each
other. The machine was composed of nine stories, whose dimensions
gradually lessened in the ascent. The first story was supported by
forty-three beams, and the last by no more than nine. Three sides of
the machine were plated over with iron, to prevent its being damaged
by the fires launched against it from the city. In the front of each
story were little windows, whose form and dimensions corresponded with
the nature of the arrows that were to be shot from the machine. Over
each window was a kind of curtain made of leather, stuffed with wool:
this was let down by a machine; and the intention of it was to break
the violence of whatever might be discharged against it. Each story had
two large staircases, one for the ascent of the men, and the other for
their descent.
This machine was moved forward by three thousand four hundred of the
most powerful men in the army; but the art with which it was built
greatly facilitated the motion.
Demetrius likewise gave directions for the building of a great number
of other machines, of different magnitudes and for various purposes;
he also employed his seamen in levelling the ground over which his
machines had to move, which was a hundred fathoms in length. The
number of artisans and labourers employed on these works amounted to
nearly thirty thousand men, which enabled them to be completed with
astonishing rapidity.
The Rhodians were not indolent during these formidable preparations,
but employed their time in raising a counter wall on the tract of
ground where Demetrius intended to batter the walls of the city with
the helepolis; and for this purpose they demolished the wall which
surrounded the theatre, as also several neighbouring houses, and even
some temples, having solemnly promised the gods to build magnificent
structures for the celebration of their worship after the siege should
be raised.
When they learnt that the enemy had quitted the sea, they sent out nine
of their best ships of war, divided into three squadrons, commanded by
three of their best officers. These returned with a rich prize of some
galleys and several smaller vessels, with a great number of prisoners.
They had likewise seized a galley richly laden, in which were large
quantities of tapestry and other furniture, with a variety of rich
robes, sent by Phila as a present to her husband Demetrius, accompanied
with letters from her own hand. The Rhodians sent the whole, even the
letters, to Ptolemy, which exceedingly exasperated Demetrius. In this
proceeding, says Plutarch, they did not imitate the polite conduct
of the Athenians, who, having once seized some of the couriers of
Philip, with whom they were at war, opened all the packets but those of
Olympias, which they sent to Philip with the seals unbroken. There are
some rules of decency and honour which ought to be inviolably observed,
even with enemies.
While the ships of the republic were employed in taking the above-named
prizes, a great commotion arose in Rhodes respecting the statues of
Antigonus and Demetrius, which had been erected to their honour in the
city, and till the present war had been held in much respect. Some of
the citizens, in a public meeting, expressed a wish to have the statues
of princes who had brought so much trouble upon them destroyed; but the
people, who were, for a wonder, more moderate on this occasion than
their chiefs, would not allow that purpose to be executed. This was
prudent and judicious in the Rhodians; much importance was attached
to statues in ancient times, and in case the city should be taken,
Demetrius would be better pleased to find his and his father’s statues
still respected.
Demetrius, having tried several mines without effect, from their being
all discovered by the watchful activity of the besieged, gave orders
and made preparation for a general assault, and the helepolis was moved
to a situation whence the city might be battered with most effect. Each
story of this formidable building was furnished with catapultas and
balistas proportioned in their size to the dimensions of the place.
It was likewise supported and fortified, on two of its sides, by four
small machines called tortoises, each of which had a covered gallery,
to secure those who should either enter the helepolis, or issue out of
it to execute orders. On the two other sides was a battering-ram of
a prodigious size, consisting of a piece of timber thirty fathoms in
length, armed with iron terminating in a point, and as strong as the
beak of a galley. These engines were mounted on wheels, and were driven
forward to batter the walls during the attack, with incredible force,
by nearly a thousand men.
When everything was ready, Demetrius ordered the trumpets to sound and
the general assault to be given on all sides, both by sea and land.
In the heat of the attack, and when the walls were already shaken by
the battering-rams, ambassadors arrived from the Cnidians, earnestly
soliciting Demetrius to suspend the assault, and giving him hopes that
they should prevail upon the Rhodians to consent to an honourable
capitulation. A suspension of arms was accordingly granted, but the
Rhodians refusing to capitulate on the conditions proposed to them, the
attack was renewed with so much fury, and all the machines co-operated
so effectually, that a large tower, built with square stones, and the
wall that flanked it, were battered down. The besieged fought with the
utmost bravery in the breach, and repulsed their enemies.
In this conjuncture the vessels which Ptolemy had freighted with three
hundred thousand measures of corn and different kinds of pulse, for
the Rhodians, arrived very seasonably in the port, notwithstanding all
the efforts of the enemy’s ships which cruised in the neighbourhood to
intercept them. A few days after this relief, two other small fleets
sailed into the port, one of which was sent by Cassander, with one
hundred thousand bushels of barley; the other came from Lysimachus,
with four hundred thousand bushels of wheat, and as much barley. This
seasonable and abundant supply, which was received when the city began
to feel the want of provisions, inspired the besieged with new courage,
and they resolved not to surrender till the last extremity.
Whilst in this state of renewed spirits, they attempted to fire the
enemy’s machines, and with this view, a numerous body of soldiers
marched out of the city towards midnight, with torches and flaming
brands. These troops advanced to the batteries, and set them on fire,
whilst clouds of arrows were poured from the walls to annoy those
who endeavoured to extinguish the flames. The besiegers lost great
numbers of men on this occasion, from being incapable in the night
to see or avoid the volleys of arrows discharged upon them. Several
plates of iron happening to fall from the helepolis during the action,
the Rhodians advanced with the hopes of setting it on fire; but, as
the troops within quenched it with water as fast as the flames were
kindled, they could not effect their design. Demetrius, however,
alarmed for his machines, caused them to be removed to a distance.
Being curious to know what number of machines the besieged had employed
in casting arrows, Demetrius caused all that had been shot from the
place in the course of that night to be collected; and when they were
counted and a proper computation made, he found that the inhabitants
must have more than eight hundred engines of different dimensions, for
discharging fires, and about fifteen hundred for arrows. He was struck
with consternation at the number, as he had never thought the city
could have made such formidable preparations. He buried his dead, gave
strict charge with respect to the care of the wounded, and promptly
repaired his injured machines.
The besieged took advantage of the temporary absence of the machines to
fortify themselves against a fresh attack. To this purpose, they opened
a wide and deep ditch behind the breach, to obstruct the passage of the
enemy into the city; after which, they raised a substantial wall, in
the form of a crescent, along the ditch, which would create still more
trouble.
Alive to every expedient, they at the same time detached a squadron
of their best sailing ships, which captured a great number of vessels
laden with provisions for Demetrius’s army. This supply was soon
followed by a numerous fleet of small vessels, freighted with corn
and other necessaries, sent them by Ptolemy, with fifteen hundred men
commanded by Antigonus of Macedonia.
Demetrius, having repaired his machines, caused them all to advance
towards the city, when a second embassy arrived from the Athenians,
and some other states of Greece, on the same subject as the former,
but with as little success. The king, whose imagination was fruitful
in expedients, ordered fifteen hundred of his best troops, under the
command of Alcimus and Mancius, to enter the breach at midnight, and
force the intrenchments behind it. They were then to possess themselves
of the parts near the theatre, where, if they could but once make
themselves masters, they could maintain their ground. In order to
facilitate the execution of so important and dangerous an expedition,
and amuse the enemy with false attacks, he at the same time caused all
the trumpets to sound a charge, and the city to be attacked on all
sides, both by sea and land, that the besieged, finding employment
in all parts, the fifteen hundred men might have an opportunity of
forcing the intrenchments which covered the breach, and afterwards of
seizing all the advantageous posts about the theatre. This feint had
all the success the prince expected from it. The troops having shouted
from all quarters, as if they were advancing to a general assault,
the detachment commanded by Alcimus entered the breach, and made such
a vigorous attack upon those who defended the ditch and the crescent
which covered it, that, after they had killed a great number of their
enemies and thrown the rest into confusion, they seized the posts
adjacent to the theatre, where they maintained themselves.
The alarm was very great in the city, and all the chiefs who commanded
there despatched orders to their officers and soldiers, forbidding
them to quit their posts or make the least movement whatever. After
which, they placed themselves at the head of a chosen body of their
own troops, and of those newly arrived from Egypt, and with them
poured upon the detachment which had advanced as far as the theatre;
but the obscurity of the night rendered it impracticable to dislodge
them from the posts they had seized; and the day no sooner appeared,
than a universal cry of the besiegers was heard from all quarters, by
which they endeavoured to animate those who had entered the place, and
inspire them with a resolution to maintain their ground, where they
might soon expect succours. This dreadful cry drew floods of tears and
dismal groans from the populace, women and children, who concluded all
to be inevitably lost. The battle, however, was contested with great
vigour near the theatre; and the Macedonians defended their posts
with an intrepidity that astonished their enemies, till at last, the
Rhodians prevailing by their numbers and perpetual supplies of fresh
troops, the detachment, after having seen Alcimus and Mancius slain
on the spot, were obliged to submit to superior force, and abandon an
advantage it was no longer possible to maintain. Great numbers of them
fell on the spot, and the rest were taken prisoners.
The ardour of Demetrius was rather augmented than abated by this check,
and he was making the necessary dispositions for a new assault, when he
received letters from his father, Antigonus, by which he was directed
to take all possible measures for the conclusion of a peace with the
Rhodians. He then wanted some plausible pretext for suspending the
siege, and chance furnished him with it. At that very instant, deputies
from Ætolia arrived in the camp, to solicit him anew to grant a peace
to the Rhodians, to which they found him not so averse as before.
If what Vegetius relates of the helepolis be true,--and, indeed, with a
small variation, Vitruvius seems to confirm it,--it might possibly be
another motive that contributed not a little to dispose Demetrius to a
peace. He was preparing to advance his helepolis against the city, when
a Rhodian engineer contrived an expedient to render it utterly useless:
he opened a mine under the walls of the city, and continued it to the
way over which the tower was to pass toward the walls the next day. The
besiegers, not expecting a stratagem of that nature, moved the tower
on to the place undermined, which being incapable of supporting so
enormous a load, sunk in under the machine, which buried itself so deep
in the earth, that it was impossible to draw it out again. This was one
inconvenience to which all these formidable machines were obnoxious;
and the two authors cited declare that the accident determined
Demetrius to raise the siege; and it is at least very probable that it
contributed not a little to his taking that resolution.
The Rhodians, on their part, were as desirous of an accommodation as
himself, provided it could be effected on reasonable terms. Ptolemy, in
promising them fresh succours much more considerable than the former,
had earnestly exhorted them not to lose a favourable opportunity,
if it should offer itself. Besides which, they were sensible of the
extreme necessity of putting an end to a siege which must prove fatal
at last. This consideration induced them to listen with pleasure to
the proposals made them, and the treaty was concluded soon after, upon
the following terms: That the republic of Rhodes and all its citizens
should retain the enjoyment of their rights, privileges, and liberty,
without being subjected to any power whatever. The alliance they had
had with Antigonus was to be confirmed and renewed, with an obligation
to take up arms for him in any war in which he should be engaged,
provided it was not against Ptolemy. The city was also to deliver
a hundred hostages, to be chosen by Demetrius, for the effectual
performance of the stipulated articles. When these hostages were given,
the army decamped from before Rhodes, after having besieged it a year.
Demetrius, upon being reconciled with the Rhodians, was desirous,
before his departure, to give them a proof of his good feeling, and
accordingly made them a present of all the machines of war he had
employed in that siege. Considering that Rhodes was an island, and
that these cumbersome, unwieldy engines could not have been taken away
without great difficulty, we moderns are inclined to think there was
not much generosity in the gift; but the result proves we are wrong.
The machines were sold for three hundred talents (about three hundred
thousand crowns), which the Rhodians employed, with an additional sum
of their own, in constructing the famous Colossus, which was reputed
one of the seven wonders of the world. It was a statue of the sun, of
so stupendous a size, that ships in full sail passed between its legs;
the height of it was seventy cubits, or one hundred and five feet,
and few men could clasp its thumb within their arms. It was the work
of Chares of Lindus, and employed him for the space of twelve years.
Sixty-six years after its erection, it was thrown down by an earthquake.
The Rhodians expressed their gratitude to Ptolemy in a most extravagant
manner: they planted a grove, built a temple in it to his glory, and
paid him divine honours under the title of _Sotor_, the Saviour, by
which he is distinguished in history from the other Ptolemies, kings of
Egypt.
We cannot leave Rhodes, without a remark or two upon the love Demetrius
bore to the arts, and the height to which they appear to have been
cultivated in that island.
Rhodes, at the time of the siege, was the residence of a celebrated
painter named Protogenes, a native of Caunus, a city of Caria, which
was then subject to the Rhodians. The apartment in which he painted was
in the suburbs when Demetrius first besieged the city; but neither the
presence of the enemy, nor the noise of arms, which perpetually rung
in his ears, could induce him to quit his habitation or discontinue
his work. Demetrius was surprised at his firmness and persistency, and
asked him the cause of it. “It is,” replied the painter, “because I am
sensible you have declared war against the Rhodians, and not against
the arts.” Nor was he deceived in this opinion; for Demetrius actually
showed himself their protector. He planted a guard round his house,
that the artist might enjoy tranquillity, or, at least, be secure from
danger; he frequently went to see him work, and was boundless in his
admiration of his application and skill.
The masterpiece of this painter was _Jalysus_, an historical piece of
a fabulous hero of that name, whom the Rhodians acknowledged as their
founder. Protogenes devoted seven years to this picture. When Apelles
first saw it, he was so astonished and delighted that he seemed struck
dumb: he at length, however, broke out into the warmest commendation:
“Prodigious work, indeed! admirable performance! It has not, however,
the graces I give my works, and which have raised their reputation
to the skies.” Pliny says that whilst Protogenes was working at this
picture, he practised the most rigid abstinence, in order that the
delicacy of his taste and imagination might not be affected by his
diet. This picture was carried to Rome, and consecrated in the Temple
of Peace, where it remained in the time of Pliny; but it was destroyed
at last by fire. Pliny, indeed, pretends that Rhodes was saved by
this picture, because, as it hung in the only quarter by which it was
possible for Demetrius to take the city, he rather chose to abandon
his conquest than expose so precious a monument of art to the danger
of being consumed by the flames. This would appear to be carrying his
love of painting to a surprising length; but the incidents we are told
of the enthusiastic worship of the Greeks for refinement and taste, if
they do not convince us of their own identical truth, at least prove to
us the extent to which that love must have been felt by a people who
could even invent such.
One of the figures of the picture was a dog, much admired by good
judges, and which had cost the painter great pains, without his being
able to express his idea to his own satisfaction, though pleased with
the rest of the work. His wish was to represent the dog panting, and
with his mouth foaming, as after a long chase; and yet, with all his
skill, he could not content himself: art was more visible than it
ought to be. He was desirous that the foam should not appear to be
painted, but actually flowing from the mouth of the dog. He frequently
retouched it, and suffered a degree of torture from his anxiety to
express the simple effects of nature which he had in his mind. All his
attempts were in vain, till, in a fit of rage, and with an imprecation,
he threw the sponge he was accustomed to wipe his palette with at the
picture--and chance accomplished what art had not been able to execute.
This painter is censured for being too difficult to be pleased, and for
retouching his pictures too frequently. It is certain, that although
Apelles almost considered him as his master, and allowed him a number
of excellent qualities, yet he condemned in him the defect of not being
able to lay down the pencil and consider his work finished. “We ought,”
says Cicero, “to know how far we should go: and Apelles justly censured
some painters for not knowing when to have done.”