212 PAIN 
for its nourifhment, from fucking her blood inftead of 
milk. (Pliny, lib. xxxv. c. io.) The mind dwells with 
apprehenfive commiferation on the bare relation of the 
image; and great indeed mull have been the difcrimina- 
tive power of mind, and of hand, to execute juftly fo diffi¬ 
cult a talk. Although Ariftides appears to have mod de¬ 
lighted in fubjefts which afforded him an opportunity of 
difplaying his knowledge of the human mind, and its 
pathognomic influence upon the body; fuch are his pic¬ 
tures above mentioned, and thofe of a After dying for 
love of her brother, and of one fuffering under the lan- 
guiffiments of illnefs; yet he fometimes ventured upon a 
more extended field ; and in one inftance painted a picture 
of a battle between the Greeks and Perfians, in which 
were introduced a hundred figures, and was paid, by 
Mnafon king of Elatea, ten pounds weight of filver for 
each of them. In another he reprefented a race of cha¬ 
riots with four horfes; of which Pliny obferves, “ you 
would almoft think the wheels were in motion, fuch was 
the energy of aftion in the picture.” 
At this time, the art of painting was upheld in Greece 
by a great number of ingenious men, renowned for their 
diftinftive excellencies. Afclepiodorus, for the beauty of 
fymmetry : Protogenes, for exquifite flcill in execution 
and finifh: and in him the art received one of the higheft 
tokens of regard it was ever favoured with ; for, when 
Demetrius Poliorcetes was beiieging the city of Rhodes, 
and might have taken it by affaulting it on the part where 
Protogenes refided, he forbore, left he ftiould do any in¬ 
jury to his works; and, when the Rhodians delivered the 
place to him, and requefted him to fpare the piftures of 
their admired artift, he replied “ that he would fooner 
deftroy the images of his forefathers than the productions 
of Protogenes.” 
With thefe artifts, and a few others, as Nicias, Nicoma- 
chus, Mnafon, Ariftodemus, &c. all nearly contemporaries, 
this delightful art arrived at its utmoft height; and, 
though it continued to be praftifed by a fucceffion of in¬ 
genious men, many of whofe names are handed down to 
us, and who contended againft the formidable difficulties 
prefented by the fcenes of luxury and confufion which 
oppofed them, yet their efforts to uphold its dignity were 
in vain. When the country, weakened by domeftic broils, 
became fubjugated by the Romans, its arts and its ener¬ 
gies expired with its liberties; the fpirit which animated 
the arts in Greece being removed, they fell to .rife no 
more, at lead; for ages. But the cycle of nature will have 
its courfe in the arts, as well as, in governments, and 
in man himfelf. All fublunary things have within them 
the feeds of their own deftruftion ; and, having reached 
the acme of excellence in their kinds, their further pro- 
gtefs in exiftence can only be retrograde. 
The Romans were later in cultivating the arts and fci- 
ences than any other great and powerful nation ; and none 
of them feem to have been the natural growth of the foil, 
except the art of war; all the reft were brought in by 
conqueft. In Italy, however, as well as in Greece, it ap¬ 
pears not improbable that painting was praftifed at an 
early period, but in a rude and very imperfeft mode : 
little, however, is known of its aftual progrefs there; 
and that little partaking more of antiquarian curiofity, 
conjefture, and doubt, than of utility or certainty. 
Pliny, indeed, fays that there were paintings exifting at 
Andrea in his time, executed before the foundation of 
.Rome. But, after a lapfe of 800 years, how much of this 
may not be attributed to error in the tradition he recorded ? 
The earlieft traceable and fatisfaftory account of the art 
being praftifed in Rome, is in the year 450 of the city, 
or 303 years before our era; when Fabius, a noble patri¬ 
cian, painted the temple of Salus : and he and his family 
thence obtained the furname of Pittor. It is not impro¬ 
bable that Fabius had travelled in Greece, and there had 
the happinefs to fee the elevated ftation of the art at that 
time; he might even have feen Apelles himfelf, employed 
upon thofe works which brought honour upon his coun- 
T I N G. 
try, and fecured immortality for himfelf. Yet the city 
does not appear to have much profited by this example ; 
nor to have obtained renown for its artifts, either in num¬ 
ber or in quality. Pliny mentions none other after Fa¬ 
bius, till, on the lapfe of 150 years, Pacuvius the poet 
amufed his declining years with painting the Temple of 
Hercules in the Forum Boarium. Although it is evident 
that, about this time, Greek paintings were introduced 
into Rome, either to gratify curiofity, or adorn the tri¬ 
umphs of generals who had been engaged in Sicily or 
Greece, yet no emulation to cope with the artifts of thofe 
countries was exhibited by the Romans. That warlike 
people were too much occupied in fchemes of aggrandife- 
ment and military fame, to devote much attention to the 
arts; and it was not till the time of the emperors, that 
they experienced any thing like encouragement in Italy. 
After the reduftion of Greece to the Roman power, 
the city of the conquerors became the emporium of ho¬ 
nour, employment, and confequent profit, to artifts; but 
that only in a gradual advance. Firft of all, the plunder of 
the ancient refidence of tafte fatiated as well as aftonilhed 
the comparatively-uncultivated inhabitants of Italy ; and 
no employment would be found for domeftic artifts, when 
the views of all admirers of art were direfted to another 
country for a fupply of their wants. Afterwards the men 
themfelves who had in vain laboured to continue the 
arts in that once favoured but now unhappy country, 
quitted it, to enfure their Own exiftence ; till, by degrees, 
Rome, become the miftrefs of the world in policy, affumed 
the controul of the arts. Still its own native citizens 
were content to allow themfelves an inferior {hare in its 
praife; fince the principal part of the artifts, either in 
painting or fculpture, who praftifed in Italy, are fup- 
pofed to have been Greeks. 
Antiquaries, under the influence of varying circum- 
ftances, have at different times attached priority of cul¬ 
tivation to different countries. Such is the cafe with the 
regions of Italy. Etruria has been, and is ftill, moft ge¬ 
nerally confidered as the nu'rfe of the arts in that coun¬ 
try; but the difeovery of painted vafes in the foutheru 
parts of Italy, and in Sicily, being more frequent than in 
Etruria, has led many to imagine, of late, that painting 
was praftifed in thofe countries previous to its cultiva¬ 
tion in the more northern provinces. But very little ar¬ 
gument can be derived from this circumftan'ce; as it ap¬ 
pears to us, that the defigns and execution of thofe cu¬ 
rious monuments of art, only teftify the previous exiftence 
of fome fuperior powers in the art; as the exteniion of 
tafte in own our manufaftories,or the attempts at it, proves 
the exiftence of the art of painting, and its higher or more 
direft cultivation, in this country. The paintings upon 
thofe vafes are, it is true, fo inferior, as to the extent of 
art they exhibit, that they merit only to be clafled among 
the productions of the earlieft periods ; but that, perhaps, 
is more owing to the artifts who executed them being de- 
firous of proceeding only fo far as would anfwer a fpecific 
purpofe, and by no means aiming to attain the degree of 
perfeftion at which the art had aftually arrived at the 
time. If this opinion be correft, there is no arguing con¬ 
cerning the ftate, or antiquity, of the art of painting from 
Etrufcan vafes. The life of their hieroglyphics, for fo 
the figures employed upon them may be termed, like thofe 
of the Egyptians, or like letters, admit of little improve¬ 
ment, or indeed of alteration, in themfelves; and allow 
only of being changed in efteft, by new combinations. 
They may therefore, or they may not, have been exe¬ 
cuted at a period comparatively late, when confidered 
with regard to the hiftory of painting properly fo called ; 
and certainly may be regarded, rather as an offset than as 
attached to the main ftems in its growth ; or as an extrane¬ 
ous application of part of the art, rather than the art itfelf. 
Where the Greeks firft fettled in Italy, or where the 
moft free communication was held with the mother-coun¬ 
try, there it is moft likely the arts tranfplanted would 
be firft cultivated 5 but they do not appear to have arrived 
1 at 
