§ SG, .37. ROMAN WANT OF TASTE. 233 



Komans might gratify a pride rather than a pleasure in their 

 possession. Indeed, they were so far from the real apprecia- 

 tion of them, that they spoilt what they borrowed whenever 

 they attempted any change of their own, as Koman architec- 

 ture sadly demonstrates ; and though Horace affects to say 

 they painted and danced more skilfully than the Greeks, they 

 were always deficient in art. Their calling was, as they 

 boasted, conquest ; and Virgil has given their sentiments in 

 these well-known lines : — 



" Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento : 

 Has tibi erunt artes ; pacisque imponere morem, 

 Farcere subjectis, et debellare superbos:" 



the last of which inculcates the most odious doctrine of a 

 savage conqueror, that no mercy was to be shown to a peo- 

 ple who dared to defend their liberty. 



36. The Etruscans, on the other hand, appreciated the 

 arts they had derived from Greece ; and whether or no an 

 early Pelasgic relationship may have contributed towards 

 their fondness for works of art, which was increased by an 

 influx of Greek settlers at a later period, they became the 

 zealous encouragers of Greek talent, and often its successful 

 imitators. And this, with the pervading Greek element in 

 several parts of Italy, may well account for the taste in- 

 herited by the Italians. For though a blank period inter- 

 vened, taste was inherited by them ; nor did they imitate the 

 antique without having a capacity for feeling its intention ; 

 and while they have surpassed all others in copying from 

 classical models, they have also given to painting a grace of 

 design, and a grandeur of conception, to which no others 

 have attained, and which we may presume was never sur- 

 passed, if equalled, in Greece. 



37. But it is a mistake to suppose that Greek legends 

 alone offer subjects for high art: the history of no country 



