ANCIENT CARVED IVORIES 27 



the rude workmanship shows that we have here rather a 

 summary indication than a faithful copy of the great and 

 colossal original. The outstretched hand of the goddess, 

 upon which rests a statue of Nike, has an external support in 

 the form of a slender column, and some critics are unwilling 

 to believe that the Phidian statue was so designed. How- 

 ever, when we consider the height of the original Nike figure, 

 about six feet, we must realize that its unsupported weight 

 would have brought a tremendous strain to bear upon the 

 framework of the outstretched forearm, a strain quite great 

 enough to warrant the artist in seeking to provide for it by 

 some such means as that shown in the reproduction. 



It is related that Tarquin had a sceptre and a throne of 

 ivory, and that after his downfall these were given up by the 

 Roman Senate to the Etruscan, Lars Porsenna, on the con- 

 clusion of peace between him and the Roman Republic. It 

 was also with an ivory staff that Marcus Papirius smote the 

 Gaul who had dared to touch his beard to see whether he 

 was man or statue, when the grave and reverend senators 

 sat so immovably in their seats that the victorious Gauls 

 who broke into the Senate chamber were uncertain whether 

 they were living men or only images.* 



Among the gifts bestowed by the Roman Senate upon the 

 tributary or semi-tributary sovereigns were the ivory curule 

 chair and the ivory sceptre. The Latin historians make 

 frequent mention of this, noting the ivory sceptre given to 

 Eumenes, King of Asia.f One was also sent to Ptolemy, of 

 Mauritania, according to Tacitus. An ivory staff was a 

 well-recognized Roman emblem of honour in the case of 

 consuls and those celebrating a triumph. | It was in many 

 cases surmounted by the image of an eagle; under the em- 



*Jules Labarte, "Histoire des arts industriels," Vol. I, Paris, 1864, p. 189. 

 fTitus Livius "Ab urbe condita," XTJT, 14. 

 J Juvenal, Sat. X, 43. 



