Chap. 4.] ARTISTS WHO EXCELLED IN SCULPTURE. 315 



cus,*^ whales,'" and numerous other sea-monsters, all by the 

 same hand ; an admirable piece of workmanship, even if it had 

 taken a whole life to complete it. In addition to the works 

 by him already mentioned, and others of the existence of 

 which we are ignorant, there is still to be seen a colossal Mars 

 of his, seated, in the Temple erected by Brutus Callaecus,^ 

 also in the Tlaminian Circus ; as also, a naked Venus, of an- 

 terior date to that by Praxiteles, and a production that would 

 be quite sufficient to establish the renown of any other place. 



At Rome, it is true, it is quite lost sight of amid such a vast 

 multitude of similar works of art : and then besides, the inat- 

 tention to these matters that is induced by such vast numbers 

 of duties and so many items of business, quite precludes the 

 generality of persons from devoting their thoughts to the 

 subject. For, in fact, the admiration that is due to this art, 

 not only demands an abundance of leisure, but requires that 

 profound silence should reign upon the spot. Hence it is, 

 that the artist is now forgotten, who executed the statue of 

 Venus that was dedicated by the Emperor Vespasianus in his 

 Temple of Peace, a work well worthy of the high repute of 

 ancient times. With reference, too, to the Dying Children of 

 Niobe, in the Temple of the Sosian^^ Apollo, there is an equal 

 degree of uncertainty, whether it is the work^^ of Scopas or of 

 Praxiteles. So, too, as to the Father Janus, a work that was 

 brought from Egypt and dedicated in his Temple^^ by Augus- 

 tus, it is a question by which of these two artists^* it was made : 

 at the present day, however, it is quite hidden from us by the 



the small fish so called in B. xxxii. cc. 20, 23, 27, 30, 35, 38, 50, and 53, 

 and alluded to in B. ix. c. 1 ; the Syngnathus hippocampus of Linnaeus. 



58 A sea-divinity. *^ "Pistrices." See B. ix. cc. 2, 3, 15. 



6" Conqueror of Callaecia. See B. iv. c. 35. This temple was dedicated 

 to Mars. 



^^ A statue of Apollo, Hardouin thinks, which was originally brought 

 fromSeleucia by C. Sosius, the quaestor of M. Lepidus. See B. xiii, c. 5. 



^2 Ajasson 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 

 Tillas. More recently, the Emperor Leopold purchased it, and had it re- 

 moved to Florence, 



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



8^ Probably by neither of them, as Janus was essentially an Italian Di- 

 vinity. See Ovid's Fasti, B. I. 



