166 pliny's NATUKAL HISTOEY. [Book XXXIV. 



had conquered the Samnites/^ who fought in obedience to a most 

 solemn oath ; it being formed out of their breast-plates, greaves, 

 and helmets, and of such large dimensions that it may be 

 seen from the statue of Jupiter Latiaris.^* He made his 

 own statue, which is at the feet of the other one, out of the 

 filings of the metal. There are also, in the Capitol, two heads 

 which are very much admired, and which were dedicated by 

 the Consul P. Lentulus, one of them executed by the above- 

 mentioned Chares, ^^ the other by Decius;^^ but this last is so 

 greatly excelled by the former, as to have all the appearance of 

 being the work of one of the poorest of artists. 



But all these gigantic statues of this kind have been sur- 

 passed in our own age by that of Mercury, made by Zenodotus'^* 

 for the city of the Arverni in Gaul,^^ which was ten years in 

 being completed, and the making of which cost four hun- 

 dred thousand sesterces. Having given sufficient proof there 

 of his artistic skill, he was sent for by Nero to Rome, where 

 he made a colossal statue intended to represent that prince, 

 one hundred and ten feet in height. In consequence, however, 

 of the public detestation of Nero's crimes, this statue was con- 

 secrated to the Sun.^^ "We used to admire in his studio, not 

 only the accurate likeness in the model of clay, but in the 

 small sketches^^ also, which served as the first foundation 

 of the work. This statue proves that the art of fusing 

 [precious] brass was then lost, for Nero was prepared to furnish 



^3 This victory took place a.u.c. 461 ; we have an account of it inLivy, 

 the concluding Chapter of the Tenth Book. — B. 



11 This was a statue of Jupiter, placed on the Alban Mount, twelve miles 

 from Rome. At this place the various states of Latium exercised their 

 religious rites in conjunction with the Romans ; it was sometimes called 

 Latialis. — B. See B. iii. c. 9, and Notes ; Vol. I. p. 205. 



15 The designer of the Colossus atRliodes. 



1^ Decius is said by Hardouin to have been a statuary, but nothing is 

 known respecting him or his works. — B. He probably lived about the 

 time of the Consul P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, a.u.c. 697. 



16* His country is unknown. i^ See B. iv. c. 33. 



18 St. Jerome informs us, that Vespasian removed the head of Nero, and 

 substituted that of the Sun with seven rays. Martial refers to it in the 

 Second Epigram Be Spectaculis, and also B. i. Ep. 71. — B. 



19 a Parvis admodum surculis." There is, it appears, some difficulty in 

 determining the application of the word surculis to the subject in question, 

 and we have no explanation of it by any of the commentators. Can it 

 refer to the frame of wicker work which contained the model into which 

 the melted metal waa poured } — B. 



