Chap. 18.] COLOSSAL STATUES IX THE CITY. 167 



the requisite gold and silver, and Zonodotus was inferior to 

 none of the ancients, either as a designer or as an engraver.-* 

 At the time that he was working at the statue for the Arverni, 

 lie copied for Dubius Avitus, the then governor of the province, 

 two driuking-cups, chased by the hand of Calamis,- 1 which 

 had been highly prized by Germanicus Ciesar, and had been 

 given by him to his preceptor Cassius Silanus, the unele of 

 Avitus ; and this with such exactness, that they could scarcely 

 be distinguished from the originals. The greater, then, the supe- 

 riority of Zenodotus, the more certainly it may be concluded 

 that the secret of fusing [precious] brass is lost. 



(8.) Persons who possess what are called Corinthian bronzes, 23 

 are generally so much enamoured of them, as to carry them 

 about with them from place to place ; Hortensius, the orator, 

 for instance, who possessed a Sphinx, which he had made 

 Verres give him, when accused* It was to this figure that 

 Cicero alluded, in an altercation which took place at the trial : 

 when, upon Hortensius saying that lie could not understand 

 enigmas, Cicero made answer that he ought to understand 

 them, as he had got a Sphinx* 3 at home. The Emperor Xero, 

 also, used to carry about witli him the figure of an Amazon, of 

 which 1 Khali speak further hereafter ;- 4 and, shortly before this, 

 C. Cestius, a person of consular 5 rank, had possessed a figure, 

 which he carried with him even in battle. The tent, too, of 

 Alexander the Great was usually supported, it is said, by sta- 

 tues, two of which are consecrated before the Temple of Mars 

 and a similar number before the Palace. 27 



20 This observation lias bcon supposed to imply, that Zenodotus cast bis 

 Ftaturs in a number of separate pieet *, which were afterwards conm ctrd 

 toother, and not, as was the case with the great Grecian artists, iu one 

 entire piece. 1J. ul See 15. xxxiii. c. 55. 



22 The term siymtm, which is applied to the Corinthian figures, may 

 mean a medallion, or perhaps ft seal- ring or brooch ; we only know that 

 it must have been some thing small, which might be carried about the person, 

 or, at least, easily moved from place to place. 1?. Statuette, probably. 



23 Her riddle, "and its solution by (Euipus, are too well known to need 

 repetition here. 2i Jn the following Chapter. 



'** Consul A.U.C. 787. 



26 The "Avenger." In the Forum of Augustus, in the Eighth Region 

 of the City. 



27 " Raffia/* The palace of Minerva, also in the Forum of Angus- 

 tus.-B. 



