Chapter 396

2389Lucian, Valerius Maximus, and Athenæus, tell the same improbable story, borrowing it from Posidippus the historian.

2390Bacchus.

2391See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2392See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2393Pliny is mistaken here: for in the time of Cicero, as we find in Verr. 4, 2, 4, the Thespian Cupid was still at Thespiæ, in Bœotia, where it had been dedicated by Phryne, and was not removed to Rome till the time of the emperors. It was the Parian Cupid, originally made for the people of Parium, that, after coming into the possession of Heius, a rich Sicilian, was forcibly taken from him by Verres.

2394Where it was destroyed by fire in the reign of Titus. See B. xxxiv. c.37.

2395See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2396Frantic Bacchantes.

2397Sacrificing Bacchantes.

2398The name given in architecture to figures of females employed as columns in edifices. The Spartans, on taking the city of Carya, in Laconia, massacred the male inhabitants, and condemned the females to the most bitter servitude, as “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” Hence the memorials of their servitude thus perpetuated in architecture.

2399Or companions of Bacchus. See B. xxxv. c.36.

2400See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2401“Symplegma.”

2402Also mentioned in B. xxxiv. c.19.

2403Pausanias, B. I., speaks ofthreefigures sculptured by Scopas; Erôs, Himeros, and Pothos. It is doubtful, however, whether they are identical with those here spoken of.

2404Or “Desire.” The name of “Phaëthon” is added in most of the editions, but Sillig rejects it as either a gloss, or a corruption of some other name.

2405“Campteras.” This, which is probably the true reading, has been restored by Sillig from the Bamberg MS. Theκαμπτὴρwas the bend or turning, round the goal in the race-course for chariots; and as Vesta was symbolical of the earth, these figures, Sillig thinks, probably represented the poles, as goals of the sun’s course.

2406Figures of Virgins, carrying on their heads baskets filled with objects consecrated to Minerva.

2407Dedicated to Neptune by Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, in the Ninth Region of the City.

2408“Et” appears a preferable reading to the “aut” of the Bamberg MS.

2409“Hippocampi.” It is pretty clear that by this name he cannot mean the small fish so called in B. xxxii. cc.20,23,27,30,35,38,50, and53, and alluded to in B. ix. c. 1; the Syngnathus hippocampus of Linnæus.

2410A sea-divinity.

2411“Pistrices.” See B. ix. cc. 2, 3, 15.

2412Conqueror of Callæcia. See B. iv. c. 35. This temple was dedicated to Mars.

2413A statue of Apollo, Hardouin thinks, which was originally brought from Seleucia by C. Sosius, the quæstor of M. Lepidus. See B. xiii. c. 5.

2414Ajasson says that this work is identical with the group representing Niobe and her children, now at Florence. It was found in 1535, or, as some say, 1583, near the Lateran Gate at Rome; upon which, it was bought by Ferdinand de Medici, and placed in the park of one of his villas. More recently, the Emperor Leopold purchased it, and had it removed to Florence.

2415The Temple of Janus, in the Eighth Region of the City.

2416Probably by neither of them, as Janus was essentially an Italian Divinity. See Ovid’s Fasti, B. I.

2417See B. xxxv. c.37.

2418A large upper garment, reaching to the ankles.

2419Both Liber and Libera were originally Italian Divinities, who presided over the vine and the fields. Pliny, however, always identifies the former with Bacchus, and other writers the latter with Persephone, or Proserpina, the daughter of Demeter or Ceres. Ovid, Fasti, B. iii. l. 512, calls Ariadne, “Libera.”

2420See B. xvi. c. 76.

2421A disciple of Marsyas, and a famous player on the flute. See p.319.

2422All these figures have been found copied in the frescoes of Herculaneum.

2423See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2424It is doubtful whether this is the same artist that is mentioned in B. xxxiv. c.19.

2425See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2426Hence, too, the use of the word “Mausoleum,” as meaning a splendid tomb.

2427He means, probably, the extent of the colonnade or screen which surrounded it. The Mausoleum was erected at Halicarnassus.

2428Facing east and west.

2429Or “wing.” The “ptera,” or “pteromata,” properly speaking, were the two wings at the sides of a building. See Note2431below.

2430She only survived her husband two years.

2431Another reading, and perhaps a preferable one, is “one hundred” feet. The account given by Pliny is very confused, and Littré has taken some pains to explain the construction of this building. He is of opinion that in the first place, a quadrangular main building was erected, 63 feet in length on the north and south, the breadth of the east and west faces being shorter, some 42 feet perhaps. Secondly, that there was a screen of 36 columns surrounding the main building, and 411 feet in circumference. (He adopts this reading in preference to the 440 feet of the Bamberg MS.) That the longer sides of this screen were 113.25 feet in extent, and the shorter 92.125 feet. That between the main building and this screen, or colonnade, there was an interval of 25.125 feet. Thirdly, that the colonnade and the main buildings were united by a vaulted roof, and that this union formed the “Pteron.” Fourthly, that rising from this Pteron, there was a quadrangular truncated pyramid, formed of twenty-four steps, and surmounted with a chariot of marble. This would allow, speaking in round numbers, 37½ feet for the height of the main body of the building, 37½ feet for the pyramid, and twenty-five feet for the height of the chariot and the figure which it doubtless contained.

2432Supposed to be the person alluded to by Horace, 1 Sat. 3, 90.

2433He is mentioned also by Tatian, and is supposed to have lived about the time of Alexander the Great.

2434“Charites.”

2435“Porch,” or “Vestibule” of the Citadel at Athens.

2436Mentioned in B. xxxv. c.40. The present Socrates is identified by Pausanias, B. i. c. 22, and B. ix. c. 25, and by Diogenes Laertius, B. ii. c. 19, with the great Athenian philosopher of that name, son of the statuary Sophroniscus: but the question as to his identity is very doubtful. Diogenes Laertius adds, that whereas artists had previously represented the Graces naked, Socrates sculptured them with drapery.

2437See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2438See B. xxxv. c.45.

2439Or Muses of Thespiæ, in Bœotia.

2440There have been several distinguished sculptors, all of this name. A statuary, son of Apollodorus the Athenian, made the celebrated Venus de Medici. It is the opinion of Visconti and Thiersch, that the artist here mentioned flourished before the destruction of Corinth.

2441This name is doubtful, and nothing is known relative to the artist.

2442“Hippiades” is the old reading, which Dalechamps considers to mean “Amazons.” The Appiades were Nymphs of the Appian Spring, near the temple of Venus Genetrix, in the Forum of Julius Cæsar. See Ovid, Art. Am. B. i. l. 81, and B. iii. l. 451; and Rem. Am. l. 659.

2443From an inscription on a statue still extant, he is supposed to have been a pupil of Pasiteles, and consequently to have flourished aboutB.C.25.

2444Figures in which the form and attributes of Hermes, or Mercury, and Eros, or Cupid, were combined, Hardouin thinks.

2445In B. xxxiii. c.55.

2446In Caria: see B. v. c. 29.

2447Or “Xenias”—“Presiding over hospitality,” or “Protector of strangers.”

2448The story was, that Zethus and Amphion bound Dirce, queen of Thebes, to the flanks of an infuriated bull, in revenge for the death of their mother, Antiope, who had been similarly slain by her. This group is supposed still to exist, in part, in the “Farnese Bull,” which has been in a great measure restored. Winckelmann is of opinion, however, that the Farnese Bull is of anterior date to that here mentioned, and that it belongs to the school of Lysippus.

2449Probably a native of Rhodes. No further particulars of this artist appear to be known.

2450Bacchus.

2451See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2452A different person, probably, from the painter, mentioned in B. xxxv. c.40.

2453See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2454Supposed by Sillig not to be the early statuary of Argos of that name, who flourished, probably,B.C.476.

2455See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2456“Pasiteles” would appear to be a preferable reading; for Pliny would surely have devoted more space to a description of these works of Praxiteles.

2457The same artist that is previously mentioned, Sillig thinks.

2458Of Jupiter.

2459See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2460“Symplegma.” See Note2401, page 314.

2461The first being in a stooping posture, washing herself.

2462In B. xxxiii. c.55, and B. xxxiv. c.18.

2463A sculptor of the age of Alexander the Great. He is also mentioned by Tatian. For an account of Callisthenes, see end of B. xii.

2464Winckelmann supposes that these artists lived in the time of Lysippus; but, as may be discovered from an attentive examination of the present passage, Lessing and Thiersch are probably right in considering them to have been contemporaries of the Emperor Titus. 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 Placede Sette Sale, by Felix de Fredi, who surrendered it, in consideration of a pension, to Pope Julius II. The group, however, is not made of asingleblock, 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.; though Ajasson doubts whether they derived any inspiration from it. Laocoön, in the sublime expression of his countenance, is doing any thing, he says, but—“Clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit.”“Sending dire outcries to the stars of heaven.”

“Clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit.”

“Sending dire outcries to the stars of heaven.”

2465This was an ancient and hideous idol, probably. Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Plautus, Lactantius, Arnobius, and Isidorus, all concur in saying that it was Saturn in honour of whom human victims were immolated.

2466“Ad Nationes.” A portico built by Augustus, and adorned with statues representing various nations.

2467“Thespiades.” They were brought by Mummius from Thespiæ, in Bœotia. See B. xxxiv. c.19, and Note2439, above.

2468See B. xxxv. c.45, andendof B. xxxiii.

2469Magna Græcia.

2470Built by Metellus Macedonicus.

2471“Navalia.” This was the name of certain docks at Rome, where ships were built, laid up, and refitted. They were attached to the Emporium, without the Trigeminian Gate, and were connected with the Tiber.

2472See B. xxxv. c.45.

2473In the Ninth Region of the City. These figures are mentioned also by Suetonius, C. 46.

2474See B. xxxiv. c.19.

2475A singular combination of names, as they mean “Lizard” and “Frog.” No further particulars of these artists are known, but they appear to have lived in the time of Pompey.

2476Of Juno and Apollo.

2477“Spiræ.” See Chapter56of this Book.

2478Winckelmann, in Vol. II. p. 269, of theMonumenti Antichi ined., gives the chapiter of an Ionic column, belonging to the church of San Lorenzo, without the walls, at Rome, on the volutes of which are represented a frog and a lizard.

2479The old reading is adopted here, in preference to that of the Bamberg MS., which does not appear reconcileable to sense in saying thatthistemple of Jupiter was originally made in honour of Juno; for insuch casethere could be no mistake in introducing the emblems of female worship.

2480A sculptor of Miletus. See B. vii. c. 21.

2481A Lacedæmonian artist. See B. vii. c. 21.

2482As well as that of Paros.

2483Only completed in the time of the Emperor Adrian.

2484Cebriones, the charioteer of Hector. See Il. B. xvi. l. 735.

2485See B. xxxiii. c.23.

2486This is generally explained as meaning ordinary stone, but covered with elaborate paintings, as was then the practice in the magnificent villas that were built at Tibur, the modern Tivoli. See, however, Chapter48, and Note2784.

2487As applied to the decorations of the walls of houses.

2488This date does not agree with that given to Scopas, one of the artists who worked at the Mausoleum, in the early part of B. xxxiv. c.19. Sillig, however, is inclined to think that there weretwoartists named Scopas, and would thus account for the diversity of about seventy years between the dates.

2489See end of B. ii.

2490Owing to the liberality of Cæsar, he amassed great riches. He is repeatedly attacked by Catullus (Carm. xxix., xliii., lvii.), and accused of extortion, and other vices. Horace also speaks of him in terms of ridicule, I Sat. 5, 37.

2491See B. iv. c. 21.

2492See Chapter4of this Book.

2493The black marbles, Ajasson remarks, are comparatively rare. He is of opinion that the colour of the Lucullan marble was thenoir antiqueof the French, and says that it is to be found at Bergamo, Carrara, Prato in Tuscany, and near Spa in Belgium.

2494“Chios” is another reading.

2495“Thundering Jupiter.” This temple was built by Augustus.

2496Ajasson says that his remarks on the choice of the sand for this purpose, are very judicious.

2497A recommendation worse than useless, Ajasson remarks.

2498For this purpose, at the present day, granular corindon, or yellow emery, is used, as also a mixture composed of the oxides of lead and of tin; the substance being repeatedly moistened when applied.

2499See Chapters13and43of this Book.

2500A city in Crete where the stone was prepared for use.

2501“Cotes.”

2502Books III. IV. V. and VI.

2503The modern Ophite, both Noble, Serpentine, and Common.

2504From the Greekὄφις, a “serpent.”

2505This would appear to be a kind of Apatite, or Augustite, found in crystalline rocks.

2506A superstition, owing solely to the name and appearance of the stone.

2507From the Greekτέφρα, “ashes.” ThemodernTephroite is a silicate of manganese.

2508Memphis, in Egypt.

2509A variety of the modern Porphyry, possibly; a compact feldspathic base, with crystals of feldspar. Ajasson refuses to identify it with porphyry, and considers it to be the stone calledRed antique, of a deep uniform red, and of a very fine grain; which also was a production of Egypt.

2510“Small stone.”

2511Of porphyrites.

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