149 
Being ; they it was, who first gave rise to 
the deities, to which, for so many ages, 
the Pagans paid such a profuse adoration. 
Nnma, doubtless, was aware of the natu- 
Tal propensity to idolatry, and of the im- 
pression which statues made on the minds 
of the people, forbidding his subjects to 
represent God in the form of man or 
beast. Nor, as Plutarch further tells us, 
in the Life of that Prince, was there any 
painted or carved image of a deity 
formerly admitted among the Romans ; 
but for the space of one hundred and 
sixty years, they built temples without 
any statue or representation; they were 
taught that it was both impious and ab- 
surd to attempt any resemblance of the 
most excellent essence, by such things ; 
there being ne access to the deity, but 
by a mind purified by habits of virtue 
and contemplation. It was also a long 
time before images obtained among the 
Germans, Scythians, Persians, and Lace- 
demonians. And here let it not be 
thought a foreed conjecture, that this abe 
horrence of statues in religion, so con- 
trary to nature, which delights in sensible 
objects, had been spread by the Plceni- 
cians, and other einigrants from those 
parts: to whom it had been handed by 
the Hebrews, asa precept from God liim- 
self. We find in Herodotus, an image of 
' Amilcar, held in great veneration by the 
Carthaginians ; and in Eusebius, that the 
people of Methymnus paid divine. ho- 
nour to a wooden representation ofa hu- 
man head, which had been drawn up bya 
fisherman’s net; and it is certain, that 
the increase of temples and deities was 
owing to the custom and unrestrained li- 
berty of making and erecting statues. 
Cicero, lib. 1. de Natura Deorum, says, 
“* all the knowledge we have of the coun- 
tenance of the geds, is from the arbi- 
trary representations, which painters and 
sculptors have been pleased to make of 
them ;” and Josephus, in his second book 
against Appian, goes so far as to say, 
«that even among the Greeks, the pain- 
ters and sculptors greatly encouraged 
the same ideas, by representing their dei- 
ties according to their caprices, and to 
give a more striking appearance to the 
work, gold and ivory were made use of; 
things were carried to sucha length, that 
the more ancient rough-hewn deities 
were supplanted by these néw_ ones.” 
Lysander, theLacedomonian, contrived to 
make the veneration which these statues 
inspired, subservient to his ambition, 
edicatine several statues, all of precions 
=> 7 
materials, and perfectly resembling liim- 
Use of Ancient Statues, Kc. to History. 
‘a little above the common size 
[Sept. I, 
self. He was the first Grecian, says 
Plutarch, who had the pleasute of seeing 
himself adored as a god in his life-time. 
These statues afterwards multiplied a@ - 
infinitum, so that Porphyry observed, 
“the worldis full of men and gods;” and 
Aristophanes, in one of his Comedies, 
calls the sculptors @eo-musws, god- 
makers. 
It was probably to prevent this exces- 
sive abuse, that painters were for a time — 
under a restriction, not to draw any hue 
inan figures; their art being called in 
Greek CaygePia; for otherwise, why call 
them designers of animals? However, 
they still went by this name, even after 
the credulity of the people, and the po- 
licy of their governors, allowed a full 
scope to their fancy ; and hence tt proba- 
bly is, that in Plutarch, pictures: 
tues of a human figure are called gods, 
from the veneration usually paid them by 
those superstitious ages. Valerius Maxi- 
mus relates, that the Rhodians: paid di 
vine ceremonies to two statues, which 
Alexander was sending back into Greece. 
That victorious Prince, according to Ap- 
pian, was the more elevated with his suc- 
cesses in Persia, as they put into his hands 
ail those exquisite statues of the gods 
and great personages, of which Xerxes 
had plundered Greece, to adorn his pa- 
laces at Suza, Babylon, and Pazagarda ; 
and which were with the utmost care 
conveyed back; andamong others, one 
of Diana to Athens, which they had re- 
quested by a solemn deputation; sucha 
value did both Greeks and Barbarians 
afix to these works. It was indeed so 
high, that Herodotus speaks of.a war be- 
r=] 
rom 
DM 
or 
2 
i 
tween the Athenians and Eginete, on 
the recollection of an insult done to some 
“statues, 
At Rome, the Aurispicés, who 
had been sent for from Etruria, were 
murdered by the populace, only for coun- 
selling the senate to remove the image of 
Horatius, the conqueror, and placing it 
in a darkersituation. — a 
Statues intended for .publie places, 
were of four sizes: the largest, which 
were the Colossal, were limited to the 
gods: the next degree belonged to 
heroes; those of kings and oe were 
men ; 
whilst inferior persons, to whom that — 
honour was granted for illustrious ex- 
ploits,.or useful inventions, were con= 
tented with one of their own natural | 
pitch. The latter were, by the Romans, 
styled Pari/es; and in Lucian, we find, 
that the Greeks had particular magis- 
trates £0 determine, who deserved that 
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