§-10. 



COLUMNS. OBELISKS. COLOSSI. 239 



statues on columns, like the bronze one of Chrysippus noticed 

 by Plutarch; (Stoic. Eep.) they offer no excuse for the incon- 

 sistency, and are instances of some of the errors occasionally 

 committed by the Greeks. The Romans felt the want of a 

 lofty vertical line as a contrast to the monotonous horizontal 

 roofs of their houses and temples ; but it was only incapacity 

 to invent which led them to exaggerate the column to an 

 unreasonable size for the purpose. The Egyptians felt the 

 same want, but they invented the obelisk as a contrast to the 

 long summit of their temple fronts *, and however imperfect 

 their style of sculpture they did not make the obelisk the 

 support of a figure, nor raise a statue on a pedestal fifty or 

 a himdred feet from the ground. They erred in a fondness 

 for colossal statues ; which are only to be sanctioned on cer- 

 tain conditions. But it is a mistake to suppose that these 

 were confined to Egypt, India, and some countries where bar- 

 baric taste prevailed. The Greeks had even larger colossi 

 than those of a Thothmes, or a Remeses. Nor were they the 

 offspring, as generally supposed, of " the decline of art," since 

 it was at its height in Egypt and Greece when they were used 

 there ; the mythological idea of greatness which they were 

 intended to convey was common to both countries, and the 

 colossal statues of Jupiter and Minerva were the works of 

 Phidias. It was at a time when Greek art was most 

 flourishing, from the age of Phidias to Alexander, that some 

 of the most noted colossal statues were made ; and in the 

 reign of Alexander it was proposed to cut Mount Athos into 

 the largest figure ever designed in any age or country. The 

 colossus of Rhodes too was higher than any Egyptian figure. 

 If the Romans imitated them they were mere copyists, and 

 being influenced by bad taste, they chose what was bad. 



For however admirable was the taste of Greece, there were 

 occasions in which it " slumbered ;" and as the Greeks did 



* See below, § 42, p. 244. 



