BOOK XXXV. I. 3-II. 5 



principate of Claudius, while in tlie time of Nero a a.d. 4i-54; 

 plan was discovered to give variety to uniformity by ^^'^^' 

 inserting markings that were not present in the 

 embossed marble surface, so that Numidian stone 

 might show oval lines and Synnadic " marble be 

 picked out with purple, just as fastidious luxury 

 would have Uked them to be by nature. These are 

 our resources to supplement the mountains when 

 they fail us, and luxury is always busy in the effort 

 to secure that if a fire occurs it may lose as much as 

 possible. 



II. The painting of portraits, used to transmit Portraits. 

 through the ages extremely correct Ukenesses of 

 persons, has entirely gone out. Bronze shields are 

 now set up as monuments with a design in silver, with 

 only a faint difference between the figures ; heads of 

 statues are exchanged for others,^ about which before 

 now actually sarcastic epigrams have been current : 

 so universally is a display of material preferred to a 

 recognizable Ukeness of one's o\vn self. And in the 

 midst of all this, people tapestry the walls of their 

 picture-galleries with old pictures, and they prize 

 likenesses of strangers, while as for themselves they 

 imagine that the honour only consists in the price, 

 for their heir to break up the statue and haul it out 

 of the house with a noose. Consequently nobody's 

 Ukeness Uves and they leave behind them portraits 

 that represent their money, not themselves. The 

 same people decorate even their own anointing- 

 rooms ^ witii portraits of athletes of the wrestUng- 

 ring, and display all round their bedrooms and carry 

 about with them likenesses of Epicurus ; they offer 

 sacrifices on his birthday, and keep his festival, 

 which they call the eikas ^ on the 20th day of every 



263 



