314 ON TASTE IN ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. Paet II. 



scriptions on the celebrated pavement of Prseneste, placed in 

 the Temple of Fortune by Sylla, were Greek. At Borne, the 

 mosaics soon passed upwards, as Pliny says quaintly, from the 

 floors to the ceilings, and took possession of the arches ; and 

 when glass was used for the purpose, cubes of that material 

 were faced with gold, to form " the golden vaults," as well as 

 pavements, of Eoman mansions. Silver mosaics were also 

 made at Eome. But they were not used by the Greeks, 

 though they had at an early time another custom, common at 

 Eome, of encrusting with coloured marbles, which was adopted 

 from them by the Eomans. The golden ceilings and silver 

 beams of the King of Colchis (said by Pliny to have defeated 

 Sesostris) may not have been mosaic work, but it is not un- 

 likely that it originated in the luxurious taste of the East. 



The first inlaid pavements are said by Pliny (xxxvi. 25) to 

 have been " barbaric ;" and the Asiatic nations have the merit 

 of their earliest application. The Greeks employed mosaics 

 for pavements ; the Eomans both for pavements and ceilings ; 

 and these last continued to excel in the art, until the removal 

 of so many workmen to Byzantium by Constantine raised a 

 rival school in the new capital. This soon surpassed its 

 parent ; and the Byzantine mosaicists frequently assisted in 

 decorating the early churches of Eome, until, in the age of 

 Justinian, they were regularly employed in Italy. Of this age 

 are the mosaics of S. Vitale, at Eavenna. The iconoclastic 

 dissensions in the 700, which drove so many from the East, 

 increased the number of Greek artists in Italy; and taste 

 having fallen there altogether, the Greeks, during a consider- 

 able period, as I have already shown, were exclusively noted 

 for decorative skill. The rich mosaics of Eavenna, of Eome, 

 of St. Mark's at Venice, and of other churches in Italy, 

 still claim our admiration, and bear witness to the talent 

 of the Byzantine workmen, and to their extensive employ- 

 ment ; and the piratic conquest of Constantinople by the 



