SCULPTURE. 



from the ifland of Paros ; which ftone took the appellation 

 of Ijrchnites, becaufe it was cut in the quarries by th; light 

 of the lamp, as Varro writes. Afterwards a much whiter 

 kind was found ; lately alio in the quarries of Lunenfium. 

 But of the Parian a wor.der is told : the ftony glebe, di- 

 vided by the wedge, fell apart, and an ima'^e of Silenus 

 appeared within. It muft njt be omitted, that thefe arts, 

 both of painting and ftatuary, fo anciently produced, were 

 taken up by Phidias in the 83d Olympiad, 332 years after- 

 wards : for Phidia'! brought forward tiie art ot Iculpture in 

 marble. His Venus at Rome, which is in the forum of 

 Oftavia, ii a work of the niaft beautiful perfection. He 

 taught Alcamenes the Athenian, who, it is certain, is dillin- 

 guifhed among the firft of the Athe;i'an:i ; whofe works are at 

 Athens, in many facred temples. Famed above the rell is 

 his Veaus without the walls, which is called Aphrodite in 

 the Garden. It 'S f^id that Phidias put the finiihing hand 

 to this lUtue. His difciple was Agoracritus of Paros, 

 fo agreeable to that as^e ; therefore many works are given 

 about in his name. There was a trial of il<ill between the 

 , mailer and the difciple, in making a Venus. Alcamenes 

 conquered not bv his work, but by the futfrages of his 

 city, which favoured him again It a It ranger. Under the 

 condition that it Ihould not be at Athens, Agoracritus 

 fold his Itatue. It is furnamed Nemelis. M. Varro pre- 

 ferred it to all (tatues. There are in the temple of Magna 

 Mater, in the fame city, works of Agoracritus. Phidias 

 is undoubtedly famous through all nations, which have 

 underltood the fame of his Olympian Jupiter. That 

 thole may know how defervcdly to praife his works, who 

 have not feen them ; we fliall offer feme arguments relating 

 merely to his ingenuity ; without comprehending the beauty of 

 the Olympian Jupiter, and referring merely to the ftrufture of 

 the Athenian Minerva. It is 26 cubits, compofed of ivory 

 and gold : in her Ihiold the Amazonian war is engraved ; in 

 the Iwelling part of the buckler, and in the concave part, 

 the war of the gods and giants ; in her fandals the Lapitlix 

 and Centaurs, every minute particular put together v\'ith the 

 greateft art. In the bafe is engraved the birtli of Pandora. 

 Here are gods produced, twenty in number : Vidtory is 

 chiefly admirable. The Ikilful liave admired the ferpent, 

 and, under the creft of her helmet, the fphynx of brafs. 

 Thefe are tranfient obfervations : the art can never be fuffi- 

 ciently admired, whil't it is known that he was no lefs diltin- 

 guilhed byfuch magnificence, than by the fmalleit things. We 

 have fpoken of Praxiteks, among the llatuaries of his age, as 

 having excelled in the glories of marble, others, and alfo 

 himfelf. His works are at Athens, in the Ceramicus. But 

 before all, not only of Praxiteles, but on the whole globe 

 of the earth, is Ver.us, which is viewed by multitudes who 

 fail to Gnidos. He made and alfo fold two Itatues, one 

 clothed, by means of which it was intended that there might 

 be a preference. Tne Ciians took one at the fame price, con- 

 fidering that as the more fevere and modelt. That which 

 was rejected was bought by the Gnidians. Immenfe the 

 difference in their fame! Afterwards king Nicomedes 

 would have purchaled that of the Gnidians, promifing to 

 pay the whole debt of the city, which was immenfe.' But 

 they rather bore all, nor without caufe, as long as the ftatue 

 of Praxiteles ennobled Gnidos. Her little temple was wholly 

 open, that the Itatue of the goddefs might be viewed from 

 all points ; the goddefs favouring them, as it was believed. 

 No paivt was feen with lefs admiration than another. It is 

 faid, a certain perfon was enamoured with the Itatue, and hid 

 himfelf in the temple all night. There are in Gnidos other 

 ftatues of marble, by illultrious artifts : Bacchus, by Bry- 

 axis ; and another, by Scopas ; and a Minerva. Neither is 

 5 



there any other fpecimen of the work of Praxiteles more c«* 

 cellent than the Venus, that (hould be recorded among thef« 

 by itfelf. Of the fame artift there is one a Cupid, objefted 

 by Cicero again 11 Verres : it is that for which Thefpia wai 

 vifited. It is now in the Oftavian Ga'lery. His is alfo 

 another Venus, in a Parian colony of Propontis, like the 

 Venus of Gnidos in nnblenefs and alfo in injury. At Rome 

 are works of Praxitel"s : Flora, Triptolemus, Ceres in the 

 Servilian gardens. Good Fortune, and another llatue of 

 Good Fortune in the Capitol ; alfo the Maenades, and thofe 

 called Thyades and Caryatides ; and Silenus in Afiniuf 

 Polho's monument, alfo Apollo and Neptune. Cephiffo- 

 dorus was the fon of Praxiteles, and the heir of his art as well 

 as of his eitate ; whofe work of children embracing is at Per- 

 gamos, a very much admired and a noble performance of art : 

 the fingers fecm to imprefs the body rather than the marble. 

 At Rome his works are, Latona in a chapel of the palace, 

 Venus in Afinius Polho's monument, and in the temple of 

 Juno, which is in Octavia's portico, ^fculapius, and Diana. 

 The fame of Scopas contends with his : he maJe Venus, 

 and Pothon, and Phaethon, which arc wrTlliipped in the 

 facred ceremonies of Samothracia ; alfo the Palatine Apollo. 

 The fitting Veita is very much praifed in the Servihan gar- 

 dens ; two chamxteras or companions around her fitting on 

 the ground. Two like them are in Afinius's monument, 

 where is a canepiiorus, or man bearing a bafket, by the fame 

 artilt. But the greatelt honour in Cn. Domitius's temple, in 

 the Circus Flaminius, belongs to his Neptune and Thetis, and 

 alfo Achilles ; Nereides fitting upon dolphins, fea-monlters, 

 and hippocampi ;allo tritons, and a chorus of phorci and 

 prilles, which are different kinds of fea monlters, and many 

 other marine fubjefts, all by his hand. This was a inoft 

 famous performance, if it had been the whole work of his life. 

 Now, befides what has been faid above, we fhall fpeak 

 of things of which we are not certain. A Mars of his 

 work, coloflal, a fitting figure : it is in the temple of 

 Brutus Callaicus, in the Circus. Befides a Venus, in 

 the fame place, furpaffing the Gnidian, taking a pre- 

 ference to that of Praxiteles : it would have ennobled 

 any other place. Rome, from its greatnefs, has caufed 

 that work to be forgotten ; and the crowd of bufinefs and 

 of&ces draw away from obfervation, becaufe admiration 

 of fuch things is fitted to great filence and more leifure. 

 Equal doubt is in the temple of Apollo Sofianus, whether 

 Niobe and her children were made by Scopas or Praxiteles. 

 Alfo Janus the father, which Augultus brought from 

 Egypt, and dedicated in his temple, but of whofe hand it is 

 fame does not tell us. Likewife in Curia Oftavia, there is 

 queftion concerning a Cupid holding the lightning ; though 

 at length it is affirmed to be the likenefs of Alcibiades at 

 that age. Many other things arc in the fame gallery, svliich 

 pleafe, whofe authors are unknown : four Satyrs, with 

 Bacchus, one of whom holds a flying garment over his 

 fhoulder ; another fimilar Bacchus ; a third quieting a cry- 

 ing infant ; a fourth with a cup, fatisfying the thirit of 

 another with d'-ink ; two winds with flying yeits. Nor is 

 there lefs queltion who made Olympus, and Pan, and 

 Chiron, with Achilles, in the Septis ; particularly when 

 their reputation has rendered them worthy of the pledge of 

 their keepers' lives. Scopas had emulators in the fame age, 

 Bryaxis, Timoiheus, and Leochares, who are always 

 fpoken of together, becaufe they wrought together on the 

 Maufol.'um. This was the fepulchre of Maufolus, king of 

 Caria, which his wife Artemifia made for him, wlio died in the 

 fecond vear of the io6th Olympiad. It is a work reckoned 

 among the feven wondersof the world, wliich thefe great art ills 

 made. It isfrorafouth to north63feet,butfliorterinfiont : its 



whole 





