THE AGE OK FEIlICLEa. 133 



4. IVhelher there be any satelUles yet undiscovered. It is by no means 

 unlikely that Uranus has several satellites which have hitherto escaped 

 the observation of astronomers. The new planet is doubtless attended 

 by a considerable number; some of which, in favorable circumstan- 

 ces, might possibly be reached by our most powerful instruments. 



THE AGE OF PERICLES. NO. III. 



In connection with music, the arts of sculpture, painting and archi- 

 tecture were advanced to a degree of perfection never since surpassed. 

 Pericles found the treasury of the city enriched to triple the amount of 

 her revenues. The magazines of Athens abounded with wood, metal, 

 ebony, ivory and all the materials of the useful as well as of the agree- 

 able arts. The luxuries of Italy, Sicily, Cyprus, Lydia, Pontus and 

 Peloponnesus were imported. Experience had taught them greater skill 

 in working the silver mines of Mount Laurium, and the splendid marble 

 veins had been recently opened in Mount Pentelicus. Here then were 

 all the materials at hand, necessary for the sculptor and architect, under 

 the control of Pericles, with a taste to appreciate and direct, and wealth 

 and power to gratify all his wishes. 



The city was speedily adorned with temples and porticoes, and 

 theatres, and baths, and statues, and altars, which in the language of an- 

 cient panegyric rendered Athens the eye of Greece. Sculpture and 

 painting existed before the age of Pericles, in a rude form, it is true ; 

 this great statesman, by his unbounded patronage, brought them to per- 

 fection. He reasoned correctly, when he asserted, that it was the duty 

 of a statesman to provide not only for the army and navy, and the 

 judges, and others immediately connected with the public service ; but the 

 great body of the people demanded his constant and anxious care. The 

 erection, therefore, of public buildings, splendid and imposing, would 

 give an impulse to the arts, would stimulate domestic industry, and leave 

 an imperishable monument of the gloiy and power of Athens. Under the 

 influence of such motives he boldly opened the treasury, and expended 

 about 4000 talents, a sum which then might command as much labor as 

 six or seven millions sterling at the present time. Such an impulse was 

 given to the arts of design, and the work in general necessary for the 

 embellishment of the city, that the most ingenious strangers from all 

 quarters flocked into Athens as the best market for their skill. 



It was the peculiar felicity of Pericles to find his native city not on- 

 ly well provided with all the materials of art, but also the artists who 

 knew how to employ them to the best advantage. 



