162 Pliny's katijeal history. [Book XXXIV. 



CHAP. 16. (7.) THAT THEKE WERE STATUARIES IN ITALY ALSO 



AT AN EARLY PERIOD. 



Various circumstances prove, that the art of making statues 

 was commonly practised in Italy at an early period. The 

 statue in the Cattle Market®^ is said to have been consecrated 

 to Hercules by Evander ; it is called the triumphal Hercules, 

 and, on the occasion of triumphal processions, is arrayed in 

 triumphal vestments. And then besides, King Numa dedi- 

 cated the statue of the two-faced Janus ;^^ a deity who is 

 worshipped as presiding over both peace and war. The 

 fingers, too, are so formed as to indicate three hundred and 

 sixty-five days,^^ or in other words, the year ; thus denoting 

 that he is the god of time and duration. 



There are also Etruscan statues dispersed in various parts 

 of the world, which beyond a doubt were originally made in 

 Etruria. I should have supposed that these had been the 

 statues only of divinities, had not Metrodorus^* of Scepsis, who 

 had his surname from his hatred to the Roman name,®^ re- 

 proached us with having pillaged the city of Yolsinii for the 

 sake of the two thousand statues which it contained. It 

 appears to me a singular fact, that although the origin of 

 statues was of such great antiquity in Italy, the images of the 

 gods, which were consecrated to them in their temples, should 

 have been formed either of wood or of earthenware,^® until 

 the conquest of Asia, which introduced luxury among us. It 

 will be the best plan to enlarge upon the origin of the art of 

 expressing likenesses, when we come to speak of what the 



^^ " Forum Boarium." See Chapter 5. 



92 Livy, B. i. c. 19, informs us, that Numa made Janus of a form to 

 denote both peace and war. — B. 



33 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. We are informed 

 that some MSS. of Pliny give the number three hundred and fifty-five only, 

 and there is reason to believe that, in the time of Numa, this was considered 

 to be the actual number of days in the year. Some of the commentators, 

 however, are disposed to read three hundred and sixty-five ; and this opinion 

 derives some support from Macrobius, who refers to this statue as indicating 

 this latter number with its fingers. — B. The Bamberg MS. gives three 

 hundred and sixty-five. ^^ See end of B. iii. 



3^ " Misoromaeus" — ''Roman-hater." See end of B. iii. 



96 Pliny himself informs us, in B. xxxv. c. 45, that the statue of Jupiter 

 in the Capitol, erected by Tarquinius Priscus, was formed of earth. — B. 



