38 Dissertation on the Painthigs of the middle Age. 



It'H be true that the goddess did not give birth td the arts 

 among thtm in a slate of perf'ecliDn, and armed at all 

 points as she came herself from Jupiter's brain, it is 

 neverthtless certain that she initiated them in the iirimitive 

 inysteries of their predecessors, and kindly showed them 

 the efforts of nations who had previously cnltivated them. 



The Egyptians had therefore naturally a first acquaintance 

 with the arts, and devoted themselves to studies which the 

 Greeks afterwards followed with im proved success. The 

 latter had for a salient point, data sufficiently determinate ; 

 and the models which they afterwards brought from Asia, 

 and from Etruria, contributed to accelerate their progress. 



We now reject entirely the opinion of all those writers 

 who have incessantly repeated ihfft the arts in Greece were 

 in a barbarous state ; and if there are still some persons 

 who do not acknowledtje the influence of the arts in Egypt 

 over those of Greece, the superb works which have recently 

 a])peared in France w ill remove all doubts on the subject. 



Let us now descend to the times of the Romans. These 

 victorious soldiers at first despised the arts, which their in- 

 creasing luxury nevertheless attracted towards Rome, and 

 this capital of the world saw the aeras revived of Pericles 

 and Alexander: from being pupils of the Greeks, they be- 

 came their rivals. But this very disdainful spirit, that vanity 

 which regarded nothing as perfect which they had not pro- 

 duced themselves, induced them to prefer their national 

 and composite taste to the pure and simple Attic graces : 

 their manners, corrupted by the conquest of Asia, were vi- 

 sible in their arts : the pride of the Romans dictated the 

 laws to sculpture and painting; and instead of the philoso- 

 phers and lear:ied men ^oing to study at Athens, as the 

 Athenians fornierly studied at Memphis and Thebes, a 

 iastidious taste triumphed over the simplicity of nature, 

 and the style of the ancient schools began to disappear. 

 From this moment the, gods and heroes of Homer, figured 

 bv the arts, had no longer Jie same majesty ; and when 

 Plinv informs us that in his day there were still some 

 artists equally expert with the ancients, we are inclined 

 to believe that this opinion savoured of the influence of the 

 aire i an influence to which the wisest men are subject. But 

 wMthoul seckina; for its effects anioncr the many celebrated 

 men of that a^e, I shall merely quote the words ofQuinc- 

 lilian, the pupil of the Greeks: he informs us, that he 

 was actjuaiuled with nothing more majestic or magnificent 

 than the robes and ins^ignia of the triumphant generals of 

 that period. The natural and affecting simplicity of the 



Greeks 



