252 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXXV. 



There is a story, too, that at a later period, Zenxis having 

 painted a child carrying grapes, the birds came to peck at them ; 

 upon which, with a similar degree of candour, he expressed 

 himself vexed with his work, and exclaimed " I have surely 

 painted the grapes better than the child, for if I hud fully 

 succeeded in the last, the birds would' have been in fear of 

 it." Zeuxis executed some figures also in clay, 17 the only 

 works of art that were left behind at Ambracia, when Fulvius 

 ^obilior 16 transported the Muses from that city to Home. There 

 is at Home a Helena by Zeuxis, in the Porticos of Philippus, 1 " 

 and a Marsj r>s Bound, in the Temple of Concord* there. 



Purrhasius of Ephesus also contributed greatly to the pro- 

 gress of painting, being the first to give symmetry to his 

 figures, the first to give play and expression to the features, 

 ek-gance to the hair, and gracefulness to the mouth : indeed, 

 for contour, it is universally admitted by artists that he bore 

 away the palm. This, in painting, is the very highest point 

 of skill. To paint substantial bodies and the interior of 

 objects is a great thing, no doubt, but at the same time it is a 

 point in which many have excelled : but to make the extreme 

 outline of tho figure, to give the finishing touches to the 

 painting in rounding off the contour, this is a point of success 

 in the art which is but rarely attained. For the extreme 

 outline, to be properly executed, requires to be nicely rounded, 

 and so to terminate as to prove the existence of something 

 more behind it, and thereby disclose that which it also serves 

 to hide. 



Such is the merit conceded to Parrhasius by Antigonus 21 

 and Xenocrates, 22 who have written on the art of painting; 

 and in this as well as in other points, not only do they admit 

 his excellence, but enlarge upon it in terms of the highest 

 commendation. There are many pen sketches by him still in 

 existence, both upon panel and on parchment, from the study 

 of which, even artists, it is said, may greatly profit. 



Notwithstanding these points of excellence, however, Parr- 

 hasius seems comparatively inferior to himself in giving tho 



n ** pjgijna opera." It is not improbable that this may allude to the 

 painting of fictile vases. 



1S A.U.C. 6GG. As to this expedition of Fulvius Xobilior, sec LivjyB. 

 xixviii. is Of Philippus Mareius, in the Ninth Itrgion of the City. 



Sl) In the Eighth Region of the City. 2l Sec end oi' 13. xxxiii. 



22 See cud of 13. xxxiii. and 13. xxxiv. 



