549 



a particular sect) had been to account for 

 the pleasure he received from such objects 

 as the emperor has described ; I think he 

 very naturally would have first reflected on 

 the pleasure they gave him, when he wa^ 

 imitating them in his own art ; and thence 

 have been led to enquire, what were the 

 circumstances, which made them so parti- 

 cularly suited to that art. He would have 

 found that they were suited to it, by rea- 

 son of their strongly marked, and peculiar 

 character; by their sudden, and irregular 

 variation of form, and correspondent lights 

 and shadows ; and often- (as in the decay- 

 ing olives) by their peculiar tints r that 

 these, in many cases, arose from accident ;- 

 in others, from natural conformation ';' and 

 that in most cases, accident seemed to 

 increase peculiarity of character. He might 

 then reflect, (as Antoninus does) that all 

 such objects were far from being beau tifiiT; 

 and' he might also make a further reflection, 

 which Antoninus does not make, but wvhich 

 the art of painting might well have suggest- 

 ecUi-that they were equally far from inisipid 



