312 PUNT'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXXVI. 



Cnidos. The artist made two statues of the goddess, and 

 oik-red them both for sale: one of them -was represented 

 with drapery, 53 and for this reason was preferred 31 by the people 

 of Cos, who had the choice ; the second was offered them at 

 the same price, but, on the grounds of propriety and modesty, 

 they thought fit to choose the other. Upon this, the Cnidians 

 purchased the rejected statue, 35 and immensely superior has it 

 always been held in general estimation. At a later period, 

 Xing Xicomedes wished to purchase this statue of the Cni- 

 dians, and made them an offer to pay off the whole of their 

 public debt, which was very large. They preferred, however, 

 to submit to any extremity rather than part with it; and with 

 good reason, for by this statue Praxiteles has perpetuated the 

 glory of Cnidos. The little temple in which it, is placed is 

 open on all sides, so that the beauties 35 of the statue admit of 



85 " Yfclati specie." There lias been much discussion about the mean- 

 in? of these words ; and Sillig is of opinion that the figure was repre- 

 sented draped in a garment, which, while it seemed designed to hide the 

 person, redly exposed it to view. This dress would not improbably re- 

 commend it additionally to the inhabitants of Cos, who were skilled in 

 making the Cocc restrs, garments which, while they covered the body, re- 

 vealed its naked charms. See further mention of them in 15. ix. c. 20. 



34 Y^conti thinks that a statue still preserved in the Royal Museum at 

 Paris, is a copy of the Coan Venus. It has, however, a figure of Cupid 

 associated with it, which, as Siilig observes, militates against the suppo- 

 sition. 



55 The ancient writers abound in praises of this wonderful statue. 

 Lucian, however, has given the most complete and artistic description of 

 it. It was supposed by the ancients, to represent Venus as standing be- 

 fore Paris, when he awarded to her the prize of beauty ; but it has been 

 well remarked, that the drapery in the right hand, and the vase by the 

 side of the figure, indicate that she has cither just left or is about to enter 

 the bath. The artist modelled it from Pliryne, a courtesan or betx-ra of 

 Athens, of whom he was greatly enamoured. Jt was ultimately carried 

 to Constantinople, where it perished by fire in the reign of Justinian. It 

 is doubtful whether there are any copies of it in existence. There i, 

 however, a so-called copy in the gardens of the Vatican, and another in 

 the Ulyptothek, at Munich. A Venus in the Museo Pio-Clementino, at 

 Home, is considered by Visconti and others to have been a copy of the 

 Cnidiun Venus, with the addition of drapery. It is supposed that Cleo* 

 menes, in making the Venus de Medici, imitated the Cuidian Venus in 

 some degree. 



35 There are numerous Epigrams in reference to this statue in the Crock 

 Anthology ; the moat striking line in any of which is the beautiful Pen- 

 tameter : 



4vf'! <f>tvl irvv yi'fivriv iiCi fte np</tr*Xrjc J 

 * Alas ! where has Praxiteles me naked seen ?" 



