BOOK XXXV. x.wvi. 90-92 



subject might be thought instead to be absent in the 

 picture, and he only showed the part of the face 

 which he was able to display as unmutilated. Among 

 his works there are also pictures of persons at the 

 point of death. But it is not easy to say which of his 

 productions are of the highest rank. His Aphrodite ^^^^Jl, 

 emerging from the Sea was dedicated by his late ApeiUs. 

 lamented Majesty Augustus in the Shrine of his 

 father Caesar ; it is known as the Anadyomene ; 

 this Hke other works is eclipsed ° yet made famous 

 by the Greek verses which sing its praises ; the 

 lower part of the picture having become damaged 

 nobody coukl be found to restore it, but the actual 

 injury contributed to the glory of the artist. This 

 picture however suffered from age and rot, and Nero 

 when emperor substituted another for it, a work by 

 Dorotheus. Apelles had also begun on another 

 Aphrodite at Cos, which was to surpass even his 

 famous eariier one ; but death grudged him the 

 work when only partly finished, nor could anybody 

 be found to carry on the task, in conformity with the 

 outlines of the sketches prepared. He also painted 

 Alexander the Great holding a Thunderbolt, in the 

 temple of Artemis at Ephesus, for a fee of twenty 

 talents in gold, The fingers have the appearance 

 of projecting from the surface and the thunderbolt 

 seems to stand out from the picture — readers must 

 remember ^ that all these effects were produced by 

 four colours ; the artist received the price of this 

 picture in gold coin measured by weight,^ not 



" ' Overcome ' or ' surpassed ' by the poet, who can express 

 raore than the painter can ; for the painter can represent one 

 moment only. ** See § 50. 



' It is suggested that this means that the price was the 

 equivalent (in gold coins) of the weight of the panel. 



329 



