86 THE PROVINCES OF THE SEVERAL ARTS 



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to incarnate the religious conceptions of Zeus, Aphrodit 

 Herakles, Dionysus, Pallas, Fauns and Satyrs, Nymphs o: 

 woods and waves, Tritons, the genius of Death, heroes and 

 hunters, lawgivers and poets, presiding deities of minor 

 functions, man's lustful appetites and sensual needs. All 

 that men think, or do, or are, or wish for, or imagine in 

 this world, had found exact corporeal equivalents. Not 

 physiognomy alone, but all the portions of the body upon 

 which the habits of the animating soul are wont to stamp 

 themselves, were studied and employed as symbolism. Uranian 

 Aphrodite was distinguished from her Pandemic sister by 

 chastened, lust-repelling loveliness. The muscles of Herakles 

 were more ponderous than the tense sinews of Achilles. The 

 Hermes of the palaestra bore a torso of majestic depth ; the 

 Hermes who carried messages from heaven had limbs alert 

 for movement. The brows of Zeus inspired awe ; the breasts 

 of Dionysus breathed delight. 



A race accustomed, as the Greeks were, to read this 

 symbolism, accustomed, as the Greeks were, to note the 

 individuality of naked form, had no difficulty in interpreting 

 the language of sculpture. Nor is there even now much 

 difficulty in the task. Our surest guide to the subject of a 

 bas-relief or statue is study of the physical type considered as 

 symbolical of spiritual quality. From the fragment of a torso 

 the true critic can say whether it belongs to the athletic or 

 the erotic species. A limb of Bacchus differs from a limb of 

 Poseidon. The whole psychological conception of Aphrodite 

 Pandemos enters into every muscle, every joint, no less than 

 into her physiognomy, her hair, her attitude. 



There is, however, a limit to the domain of sculpture. This 

 art deals most successfully with personified generalities. It 

 is also strong in the presentation of incarnate character. But 

 when it attempts to tell a story, we often seek in vain its 

 meaning. Battles of Amazons or Centaurs upon bas-reliefs, 

 indeed, are unmistakable. The subject is indicated here by 

 some external sign. The group of Laocoon appeals at once 

 to a reader of Virgil, and the divine vengeance of Leto's 

 children upon Niobe is manifest in the Uffizzi marbles. But 



