242 



MENTAL FA CUL TIES 



one holds an arrow when about to kill something with it. 



Lastly, the expression of the face is peaceful, indicative rather 



of play than serious effort. 



As I said, the meaning of the statue is only comprehensible 



on this explanation, and with it the work appears in all its life- 

 like truth and harmony. 1 

 A copy of the Saurok- 

 tonos, which was dug out 

 in the year 1777 on the 

 Palatine, exists in the 

 Vatican ; another smaller 

 in bronze, found at S. Bal- 

 bina, is in the Villa Albani 

 in Eome ; among others, 

 one in Paris. The two 

 first I know from my own 

 observation. In the most 

 known and most beauti- 

 ful, that in the Vatican, 

 the two arms from the 

 shoulders are restorations ; 

 in that of the Villa Albani 

 the right hand is said to 

 have been restored or 



repaired ; also in the Paris specimen the right forearm with 



the hand is said to be new, as well as the fingers of the left. 



1 Some archaeologists have, it is true, expressed a view more similar to mine, 

 namely, that the boy is intending to tickle the lizard with his stick. The view 

 that he wishes to kill it with his arrow is derived, so far as I know, from the state- 

 ment of Plinius (Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 70) : " Fecit (ex aere Praxiteles, to whom he 

 ascribes the statue) puberem Apolliuem subrepenti lacerte cominus sagitta insi- 

 diantem quern sauroctonon vocant." According to this author, Apollo wishes to 

 foretell the future from the convulsions of the dying lizard. An epigram of Mar- 

 tial referring to our statue says : 



'' Sauroctonus Corinthius (i.e. of Corinthian bronze). 



Ad te reptanti, puer insidiose, lacerte 



Parce, cupit digitis ilia perire tuis." 



