BOOK XXXIV. III. 5-7 



to be practised for the sake of glory — consequently 

 it was even attributed to the workmanship of gods,** 

 and the leading men of all the nations used to seek 

 for reputation by this method also — has now, Hke 

 everything else, begun to be practised for the sake 

 of gain ; and the method of casting costly works of 

 art in bronze has so gone out that for a long time now 

 not even hick in this matter has had the privilege of 

 producing art.^ 



Of the bronze which was renowned in early days, CorintMm 

 the Corinthian is the most highly praised. This is a ^^'^- 

 compound that was produced by accident, when 

 Corinth was burned <^ at the time of its capture ; 

 and there has been a wonderful mania among many 

 people for possessing this metal — in fact it is recorded 

 that Verres, whose conviction Marcus Cicero had 7ob.c. 

 procured, was, together with Cicero, proscribed by 

 Antony for no other reason than because he had 43 b.o. 

 refused to give up to Antony some pieces of 

 Corinthian ware ; and to me the majority of these 

 collectors seem only to make a pretence of being 

 connoisseurs, so as to separate themselves from the 

 multitude, rather than to have any exceptionally 

 refined insight in this matter ; and this I will briefly 

 show. Corinth was taken in the third year of the 

 158th Olympiad, which was the 608th year of our i^g ^q^ 

 city, when for ages there had no longer been any 

 famous artists iii metalwork ; yet these persons 

 designate all the specimens of their work as 

 Corinthian bronzes. In order therefore to refute 

 them we will state the periods to which these artists 

 belong ; of course it will be easy to turn the Olym- 

 piads into the years since the foundation of our city 

 by referring to the two corresponding dates given 



131 



