202 On the Art of the Fcumlry amnil^ iiic Ant'icnts. 



other edifices at Rome. Uwder Vespasian they became the 

 ornaments of the Temple of Peace, and of the other nume- 

 rous edifices of that emperor at Rome*. Notwithstanding 

 all this, Greece was not vet exhausted ; at the time of 

 Pliny 3000 statues were counted in the ishrad of Rhodes 

 alone, and an equal number in the three cities of Athens, 

 Delphos, and Olynipia. 



The instant a stranger arrived at Delphos, the antiquaries 

 of the city presented themselves to him in great numbers, 

 for the double purpose of showing hini all the wonders of 

 art, and of explaining to him the number of inscriptions 

 with which they were loaded. 



Plutarch t relates, that, being there with some strangers, 

 the demonstratof expatiated with so much verbiage upon all 

 the inscriptions, that, the day beginning to decline, they re- 

 quested him to be less prolix, and to dwell upon the most 

 important monuments only. 



One of the strangers, who seemed to be a connoisseur, 

 and had a very accurate eye, was quite astonished at the 

 art which reigned in most of these statues : he was par- 

 ticularly surprised at the colour and the lustre of the most 

 antient monuments, which represented heroes who were vic- 

 torious by sea. Neither rust nor verdigrise w as to be seen 

 upon them ; but the colour of the bronze was blucish, and 

 resembled the element which was the theatre of their ex- 

 ploits. Of what mixture of metals did the antients make 

 use, says he, to produce so fine a colour, joined with so 

 much brilliance? The dialogue afterwards turned upon 

 the bronze of Corinth. It was agreed that it was nothing 

 else than a fortuitous mixture occasioned by the burning 

 of that city at the time of its capture by Mummius; that 

 the bronze, silver, ^nd gold, melted together, had produced 

 that composition, which, because the bronze was most abun- 

 dant, retained the nanie of Corinthian bronze; that the gold 

 and silver mixed produced a paleness which was not very 

 asrreeable to the eye; and, in short, that this blueish qolonr 

 pf the br;)nzc of Delphos was the effect of the air which pe- 



• Pliji. t Cur nunc Pyliiianon rcdilat oracula. 



netrated 



