24 THE FINE ARTS. 
statues a great deal was done in the way of highly ingenious embossed 
work in vases and utensils of metal; and Syria, Asia Minor, and Sicily 
were full of such works. 
That art in spite of every exertion had declined in the time of Philip and 
Antiochus the Great, is not to be disputed; yet soon after there arose, 
especially in Athens, statuaries in brass, who, if they did not reach the 
ancient lofty point of art, still produced excellent things. They were joined 
by Cleomanes, an Athenian, who in his Venus showed himself remarkably 
happy in carrying out the idea of Praxiteles. This Venus, known by the 
name of the Venus de’ Medici or the Medicean Venus (pl. 4, fig. 2), was 
when found in a very mutilated condition. The statue consists of eleven 
pieces, and the hands and part of the arms were wanting; the ears bore 
ornaments, and the beautifully arranged hair was gilded. This Venus is 
an imitation of that of Cnidus; but her nudity no longer needed the excuse 
of the bath, and even the dolphin is only a support and not intended to 
indicate a sea voyage. At this time flourished Glycon, of whose statue of 
Hercules we have already spoken, and Apollonius. They both took the 
works of Lysippus as their chief models. 
The arts of die-cutting and gem-engraving were practised to a great 
extent during this period, especially after the custom had been adopted from 
the east of ornamenting vases, lamp stands, and such like objects with 
jewels or engraved stones. As the gems in this case were not to be used 
as seals, they cut them in relief, in the form of cameos, for which purpose 
the variegated onyx was frequently made use of. The finest production of 
this kind is the Gonzaga cameo, now in the possession of the emperor of 
Russia. It is nearly six inches long, and represents (pl. 3, jig. 21) the 
profile portrait of Ptolemy II. and the first Arsinoe in a style remarkable 
for its beauty and spirit. Another exquisite cameo, though not equal to 
the preceding, is in the Vienna Museum, and exhibits the heads of the 
same Ptolemy and of the second Arsinoe. Entire goblets and paterse were at 
this period carved out of precious stones (¢. g. of onyx), and were real 
miracles of beauty and of perfect execution. The dies for coins at the 
beginning of this period were excellent, but towards its close they betray a 
decline in art. 
The seizure of works of art, which under various pretexts had been prac- 
tised towards conquered nations from the earliest times, became in the time 
of the Roman domination a regular reward which the Roman generals and 
governors took to themselves for their victories; and although in these 
plunderings some degree of moderation was at first observed, as under 
Marcellus and Fabius Maximus, they were soon carried on without any 
restraint. Under Sulla many statues found their way into the melting- 
furnace, and this robbery of art was pursued systematically by Verres; he 
was followed by the emperors; and an approximate calculation of the 
number of statues then brought out of Greece amounts to nearly a 
hundred thousand. 
Together with the works of art, art itself removed to Rome, and after the 
fall of Greece, Italian art alone lays claim to our attention. 
408 
