FLORENTINE SCHOOLS OF ENGRAVING. 373 



mand of all the sybils, as an ugly crone, with the arms of 

 Goliath, poring down upon a single book. 



39. There is one point of fine detail, however, in Botticelli's 

 Cumaean Sibyl, and in the next I am going to show you, to 

 explain which I must go back for a little while to the question 

 of the direct relation of the Italian painters to the Greek. I 

 don't like repeating in one lecture what I have said in another ; 

 but to save you the trouble of reference, must remind you of 

 what I stated in my fourth lecture on Greek birds, when we 

 were examining the adoption of the plume crests in armour, 

 that the crest signifies command ; but the diadem, obedience ; 

 and that every crown is primarily a diadem. It is the thing 

 that binds, before it is the thing that honours. 



Now all the great schools dwell on this symbolism. The 

 long flowing hair is the symbol of life, and the 8ta8r;/xa of the 

 law restraining it. Royalty, or kingliness, over life, restrain- 

 ing and glorifying. In the extremity of restraint in death, 

 whether noble, as of death to Earth, or ignoble as of death to 

 Heaven, the Stcufy/xa is fastened with the mortcloth : " Bound 

 hand and foot with grave-clothes, and the face bound about 

 with the napkin." 



40. Now look back to the first Greek head I ever showed 

 you, used as the type of archaic sculpture in Aratra Pentelici, 

 and then look at the crown in Botticelli's Astrologia. It is ab- 

 solutely the Greek form, even to the peculiar oval of the 

 forehead ; while the diadem the governing law is set with 

 appointed stars to rule the destiny and thought. Then re- 

 turn to the Cumaean Sibyl. She, as we have seen, is the 

 symbol of enduring life almost immortal. The diadem is 

 withdrawn from the forehead reduced to a narrow fillet 

 here, and the hair thrown free. 



41. From the Cumaean Sibyl's diadem, traced only by 

 points, turn to that of the Hellespontic, (Plate 9, opposite). 

 I do not know why Botticelli chose her for the spirit of proph- 

 ecy in old age ; but he has made this the most interesting 

 plate of the series in the definiteness of its connection with 

 the work from Dante, which becomes his own prophecy in 

 old age. The fantastic yet solemn treatment of the gnarled 



