170 On. the Animals represented 



yet left so far behind the models and master-pieces struck out by 

 the chisel of the antique masters ? It is because, in the imitative 

 arts, once arrived at the beau-ideal, it is impossible to go further ; 

 and to reach it, genius is a surer and more powerful guide than 

 the most positive rules. In fact, in the fine arts, as in literature, 

 the model has always taken the lead of rules and their applica- 

 tion. It is certain, then, that, in the imitation of nature, the an- 

 cients have maintained an accuracy and a vigour which discloses 

 a genius as judicious as it is deep. 



After dwelling on these creatures of fancy, so calculated to 

 characterize the genius of the ancients, we shall direct our at- 

 tention to their sphinxes, their griffons, their tritons, their 

 naiades, and their sea-horses, so often reproduced upon their 

 monuments. We shall still find in them the same dependencies 

 that they have established in their various allegorical exist- 

 ences. 



Thus the Sphinxes, the symbol of strength and prudence, 

 had nearly invariably a human head with the body and paws 

 of the lion. The griffons, analogous to the eagles or vultures, 

 were also supposed to be armed with strong and crooked nails, 

 such as we observe on the most decidedly carnivorous marami- 

 ferae (the feline tribes) ; whilst the sea-horses had always the feet 

 of the solidungula^ as in their Pegasus, which differs not from 

 the common horse except in his wings, whereby he mounts into 

 the skies. 



The tritons and the naiades, sea divinities, known, at least 

 the former, by the shell or the trumpet which they approach to 

 their lips, had bodies terminating like the Cetacea, that is to say 

 like the mammiferae which inhabit the waters of the ocean. 

 This is also true of the naiades, when the ancients made them 

 creatures, half women and half fishes, understanding this word 

 not in its rigorous accuracy, but as indicating animals residing 

 in the bosom of the waters. Other statuaries or painters of 

 antiquity, have, on the contrary, represented the naiades as 

 women of exquisite beauty ; then, they have given them all the 

 elegance their imagination could attain, enveloping them in slight 

 veils, playing in the winds. 



Even in the Chimcera, that monster composed of many parts 

 of different animals, we find the bias of the genius of the an- 



