BOOK XXXIV. xviii. 43-47 



after defeating the Samnites in the war which they ^'jz b.o. 



fought under a most solemn oath ; the metal was 



obtained from their breastplates, greaves and 



helmets, and the size of the figure is so great that it 



can be seen from the temple of Jupiter Latiaris.^" 



Out of the bronze filings left over CarviHus made 



the statue of himself that stands at the feet of the 



statue of Jupiter. The Capitol also contains two 



much admired heads dedicated by the consul Publius 57 b.o. 



Lentulus, one made by Chares above-mentioned 



and the other by Prodicus,^ who is so outdone by 



comparison as to seem the poorest of artists. But 



all the gigantic statues of this class have been beaten 



in our period by Zenodorus with the Hermes or zenodoms. 



Mercury which he made in the community of the 



Arverni in Gaul ; it took him ten years and the sum 



paid for its maldng was 40,000,000 sesterces. Having 



given sufficient proof of his artistic skill in Gaul he Mas 



summoned to Rome by Nero, and there made the a.b. 54-68. 



colossal statue, 106J ft. high, intended to represent 



that emperor but now, dedicated to the sun after 



the condemnation of that emperor's crimes, it is an 



object of awe. In his studio we used not only to 



admire the remarkable Ukeness of the clay model 



but also to marvel at the frame of quite small tim- 



bers ^ which constituted the first stage of the work 



put in hand. This statue has shown that skill in 



bronze-founding has perished, since Nero was quite 



ready to provide gold and silver, and also Zenodorus 



was counted inferior to none of the artists of old in 



his knowledge of modelhng and chasing. When he 



" A skeleton for the model; or, according to Eugenie 

 Sellers, slender wax tubes covering a wax model, wbich was 

 then cased in loam before bronze was poured in. 



161 



