among the Anlienis. 349 



titv of objects of the Grecian arts. The legacy which king 

 Attakis, when dying, bequeathed to the Roman people, put 

 them in possession of all Asia, and finished the entire cor- 

 ruption of their manners. Nevertheless, in spite of the in- 

 troduction of luxury, the haughtiness <jf the Romans and 

 their repugnance to labour were the same. They had seen 

 monarchs chained to the triumphant chariots of the Roman 

 generals ; and if they formerly considered themselves a na- 

 tion of heroes, thev now imagined themselves superior to 

 kings, 'i he Greeks were their sculptors, their modellers, 

 and their foumiers. The small number of Roman names 

 found upon the antient works is sufficient to convince us 

 of this*. 



Under Augustus, while all the other arts flourished, that 

 of the founders begin to decline. He; ordered lour bronze 

 elephants to be made, in order to docorate the via sacra. 

 These elephants were not melted, but wrought with the 

 hamuier. We find a proof of this in Cassiodorus f. This 

 minister of Theodatus, king of the Goths, 300 years after 

 the rei;:n of Augustus, wrote in the tollowinii manner to 

 the praefect of the city of Roine : — " The bronze elephants 

 are in a ruinous state; it would be a pity if these animals 

 should exist a shorter time in bronze than they are said to 

 do in a natural state. In order to restore this longcvitv to 

 them, we must close the openings, and join the seams by 

 means oi iron cramps. We must also shore up their bellies 

 outside, in order to preserve these works from ruinj the 

 effect of which would be the more disagreeable, as their ap- 

 pearance was so imposuig u'hile they were entire." 



Melted or cast eleph;'.nts would not have been in such a 

 state of decay in 500 years. Although this fact does not 

 {)rove that the Romans at that iera were incapable of found- 

 ing these elephants if they wished it, yet it is supported by 



* nin. lib. xxxvi. 



f Lil>. ii. cp. ;J8. Elephantes ineos vicina ruina titubare, his providentia 

 vcbtra redtli faciat propriam longsevitatem, uocis Terieis hiantia nien.bra so- 

 lidando, alvuin ijuoque dcrnissuin pariete corroLioreut, bc ilia niagnitudo mi- 

 rabilis eulvaiur Hirj>ittr in luinam. 



the 



