544 
MERGE TO GYRENE. 
alluded to ; and suggested that one of them in all probability was a 
resemblance of one of the Ptolemies ; the head of the statue is want- 
ing, and we fear it has been knocked off at some period by the Arabs 
of the place, for the chance of disposing of it at Tripoly or Bengazi ; 
a fate which has befallen many a beautiful example of Grecian art, now 
lying in the city and the neighbourhood of Cyrene. It is possible, 
however, that it might be found in the course of excavation, although 
we did not ourselves succeed in discovering it in the parts where we 
dug for it about the statue. We remember to have been very 
anxious upon the occasion, and fancied that we should know a head 
of any of the Lagides, meet with it wherever we might. It was from 
the decorations carved upon the armour, as we have stated in another 
place, that we imagined this statue to be the portrait of a Ptolemy ; 
and it is well known that the eagle and the head of J upiter Ammon 
are usually borne on the coins of that family. If it had been possible, 
we should have brought home what remains of this statue (which is 
merely the trunk), as well as several other very excellent examples of 
Grecian sculpture in its neighbourhood ; and we. are convinced, that 
excavation judiciously employed in the central and eastern parts of 
Cyrene, would bring to light many beautiful specimens of art, now 
covered only with the soil and vegetation which have been allowed 
to accumulate for ages about them. There have been several public 
buildings of importance immediately without the walls inclosing the 
theatre, of which plans might perhaps be satisfactorily made, if exca- 
vation were employed for the purpose ; and it is very probable that 
inscriptions might at the same time be found, which would help to 
