An almost innumerable multitude of artists have been rendered famous by their statues and figures of smaller size. Before all others is Phidias,1344 the Athenian, who executed the Jupiter at Olympia, in ivory and gold,1345 but who also made figures in brass as well. He flourished in the eighty-third Olympiad, about the year of our City, 300. To the same age belong also his rivals Alcamenes,1346 Critias,1347 Nesiotes,1348 and Hegias.1349 Afterwards, in the eighty-seventh Olympiad, there were Agelades,1350 Callon,1351 and Gorgias the Laconian. In the ninetieth Olympiad there were Polycletus,1352 Phradmon,1353 Myron,1354 Pythagoras,1355 Scopas,1356 and Perellus.1357 Of these, Polycletus had for pupils, Argius,1358 Asopodorus, Alexis, Aristides,1359 Phrynon, Dinon, Athenodorus,1360 and Demeas1361 the Clitorian: Lycius,1362 too, was the pupil of Myron. In the ninety-fifth Olympiad flourished Naucsydes,1363 Dinomenes,1364 Canachus,1365 and Patroclus.1366 In the hundred and second Olympiad there were Polycles,1367 Cephisodotus,1368 Leochares,1369 and Hypatodorus.1370 In the hundred and fourth Olympiad, flourished Praxiteles1371 and Euphranor;1372 in the hundred and seventh, Aëtion1373 and Therimachus;1374 in the hundred and thirteenth, Lysippus,1375 who was the contemporary of Alexander the Great, his brother Lysistratus,1376 Sthennis,1377 Euphron, Eucles, Sostratus,1378 Ion, and Silanion,1379 who was remarkable for having acquired great celebrity without any instructor: Zeuxis1380 was his pupil. In the hundred and twenty-first Olympiad were Eutychides,1381 Euthycrates,1382 Laïppus,1383 Cephisodotus,1384 Timarchus,1385 and Pyromachus.1386

The practice of this art then ceased for some time, but revived in the hundred and fifty-sixth Olympiad, when there were some artists, who, though far inferior to those already mentioned, were still highly esteemed; Antæus, Callistratus,1387 Polycles,1388 Athenæus,1389 Callixenus, Pythocles, Pythias, and Timocles.1390

The ages of the most celebrated artists being thus distinguished, I shall cursorily review the more eminent of them, the greater part being mentioned in a desultory manner. The most celebrated of these artists, though born at different epochs, have joined in a trial of skill in the Amazons which they have respectively made. When these statues were dedicated in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, it was agreed, in order to ascertain which was the best, that it should be left to the judgment of the artists themselves who were then present: upon which, it was evident that that was the best, which all the artists agreed in considering as the next best to his own. Accordingly, the first rank was assigned to Polycletus, the second to Phidias, the third to Cresilas, the fourth to Cydon, and the fifth to Phradmon.1391

Phidias, besides the Olympian Jupiter, which no one has ever equalled, also executed in ivory the erect statue of Minerva, which is in the Parthenon at Athens.1392 He also made in brass, beside the Amazon above mentioned,1393 a Minerva, of such exquisite beauty, that it received its name from its fine proportions.1394 He also made the Cliduchus,1395 and another Minerva, which Paulus Æmilius dedicated at Rome in the Temple of Fortune1396 of the passing day. Also the two statues, draped with the pallium, which Catulus erected in the same temple; and a nude colossal statue. Phidias is deservedly considered to have discovered and developed the toreutic art.1397

Polycletus of Sicyon,1398 the pupil of Agelades, executed the Diadumenos,1399 the statue of an effeminate youth, and remarkable for having cost one hundred talents; as also the statue of a youth full of manly vigour, and called the Doryphoros.1400 He also made what the artists have called the Model statue,1401 and from which, as from a sort of standard, they study the lineaments: so that he, of all men, is thought in one work of art to have exhausted all the resources of art. He also made statues of a man using the body-scraper,1402 and of a naked man challenging to play at dice;1403 as also of two naked boys playing at dice, and known as the Astragalizontes;1404 they are now in the atrium of the Emperor Titus, and it is generally considered, that there can be no work more perfect than this. He also executed a Mercury, which was formerly at Lysimachia; a Hercules Ageter,1405 seizing his arms, which is now at Rome; and an Artemon, which has received the name of Periphoretos.1406 Polycletus is generally considered as having attained the highest excellence in statuary, and as having perfected the toreutic1407 art, which Phidias invented. A discovery which was entirely his own, was the art of placing statues on one leg. It is remarked, however, by Varro, that his statues are all square-built,1408 and made very much after the same model.1409

Myron of Eleutheræ,1410 who was also the pupil of Agelades, was rendered more particularly famous by his statue of a heifer,1411 celebrated in many well-known lines: so true is it, that most men owe their renown more to the genius of others, than to their own. He also made the figure of a dog,1412 a Discobolus,1413 a Perseus,1414 the Pristæ,1415 a Satyr1416 admiring a flute, and a Minerva, the Delphic Pentathletes,1417 the Pancratiastæ,1418 and a Hercules,1419 which is at the Circus Maximus, in the house of Pompeius Magnus. Erinna,1420 in her poems,1421 makes allusion to a monument which he erected to a cricket and a locust. He also executed the Apollo, which, after being taken from the Ephesians by the Triumvir Antonius, was restored by the Emperor Augustus, he having been admonished to do so in a dream. Myron appears to have been the first to give a varied development to the art,1422 having made a greater number of designs than Polycletus, and shewn more attention to symmetry. And yet, though he was very accurate in the proportions of his figures, he has neglected to give expression; besides which, he has not treated the hair and the pubes with any greater attention than is observed in the rude figures of more ancient times.

Pythagoras of Rhegium, in Italy, excelled him in the figure of the Pancratiast1423 which is now at Delphi, and in which he also surpassed Leontiscus.1424 Pythagoras also executed the statue of Astylos,1425 the runner, which is exhibited at Olympia; that of a Libyan boy holding a tablet, also in the same place; and a nude male figure holding fruit. There is at Syracuse a figure of a lame man by him: persons, when looking at it, seem to feel the very pain of his wound. He also made an Apollo, with the serpent1426 pierced by his arrows; and a Player on the Lyre, known as the Dicæus,1427 from the fact that, when Thebes was taken by Alexander the Great, a fugitive successfully concealed in its bosom a sum of gold. He was the first artist who gave expression to the sinews and the veins, and paid more attention to the hair.

There was also another Pythagoras, a Samian,1428 who was originally a painter, seven of whose nude figures, in the Temple of Fortune of the passing day,1429 and one of an aged man, are very much admired. He is said to have resembled the last-mentioned artist so much in his features, that they could not be distinguished. Sostratus, it is said, was the pupil of Pythagoras of Rhegium, and his sister’s son.

According to Duris,1430 Lysippus the Sicyonian was not the pupil1431 of any one, but was originally a worker in brass, and was first prompted to venture upon statuary by an answer that was given by Eupompus the painter; who, upon being asked which of his predecessors he proposed to take for his model, pointed to a crowd of men, and replied that it was Nature herself, and no artist, that he proposed to imitate. As already mentioned,1432 Lysippus was most prolific in his works, and made more statues than any other artist. Among these, is the Man using the Body-scraper1433, which Marcus Agrippa had erected in front of his Warm Baths,1434 and which wonderfully pleased the Emperor Tiberius. This prince, although in the beginning of his reign he imposed some restraint upon himself, could not resist the temptation, and had this statue removed to his bed-chamber, having substituted another for it at the baths: the people, however, were so resolutely opposed to this, that at the theatre they clamourously demanded the Apoxyomenos1435 to be replaced; and the prince, notwithstanding his attachment to it, was obliged to restore it.

Lysippus is also celebrated for his statue of the intoxicated Female Flute-player, his dogs and huntsmen, and, more particularly, for his Chariot with the Sun, as represented by the Rhodians.1436 He also executed a numerous series of statues of Alexander the Great, commencing from his childhood.1437 The Emperor Nero was so delighted with his statue of the infant Alexander, that he had it gilt: this addition, however, to its value, so detracted from its artistic beauty that the gold was removed, and in this state it was looked upon as still more precious, though disfigured by the scratches and seams which remained upon it, and in which the gold was still to be seen.1438 He also made the statue of Hephæstion, the friend of Alexander the Great, which some persons attribute to Polycletus, whereas that artist lived nearly a century before his time.1439 Also, the statue of Alexander at the chase, now consecrated at Delphi, the figure of a Satyr, now at Athens, and the Squadron of Alexander,1440 all of whom he represented with the greatest accuracy. This last work of art, after his conquest of Macedonia,1441 Metellus conveyed to Rome. Lysippus also executed chariots of various kinds. He is considered to have contributed very greatly to the art of statuary by expressing the details of the hair,1442 and by making the head smaller than had been done by the ancients, and the body more graceful and less bulky, a method by which his statues were made to appear taller. The Latin language has no appropriate name for that “symmetry,”1443 which he so attentively observed in his new and hitherto untried method of modifying the squareness observable in the ancient statues. Indeed, it was a common saying of his, that other artists made men as they actually were, while he made them as they appeared to be. One peculiar characteristic of his work, is the finish and minuteness which are observed in even the smallest details. Lysippus left three sons, who were also his pupils, and became celebrated as artists, Laippus, Bœdas, and, more particularly, Euthycrates; though this last-named artist rivalled his father in precision rather than in elegance, and preferred scrupulous correctness to gracefulness. Nothing can be more expressive than his Hercules at Delphi, his Alexander, his Hunter at Thespiæ, and his Equestrian Combat. Equally good, too, are his statue of Trophonius, erected in the oracular cave1444 of that divinity, his numerous chariots, his Horse with the Panniers,1445 and his hounds.

Tisicrates, also a native of Sicyon, was a pupil of Euthycrates, but more nearly approaching the style of Lysippus; so much so, that several of his statues can scarcely be distinguished from those of Lysippus; his aged Theban, for example, his King Demetrius, and his Peucestes, who saved the life of Alexander the Great, and so rendered himself deserving of this honour.1446

Artists, who have transmitted these details in their works, bestow wonderful encomiums upon Telephanes, the Phocæan, a statuary but little known, they say, because he lived in Thessaly, where his works remained concealed; according to their account, however, he is quite equal to Polycletus, Myron, and Pythagoras. They more particularly commend his Larissa, his Spintharus, the pentathlete,1447 and his Apollo. Others, however, assign another reason for his being so little known; it being owing, they think, to his having devoted himself to the studios established by Kings Xerxes and Darius.

Praxiteles, who excelled more particularly in marble, and thence acquired his chief celebrity, also executed some very beautiful works in brass, the Rape of Proserpine, the Catagusa,1448 a Father Liber,1449 a figure of Drunkenness, and the celebrated Satyr,1450 to the Greeks known as “Periboetos.”1451 He also executed the statues, which were formerly before the Temple1452 of Good Fortune, and the Venus, which was destroyed by fire, with the Temple of that goddess, in the reign of Claudius, and was considered equal to his marble statue of Venus,1453 so celebrated throughout the world. He also executed a Stephanusa,1454 a Spilumene,1455 an Œnophorus,1456 and two figures of Harmodius and Aristogiton, who slew the tyrants; which last, having been taken away from Greece by Xerxes, were restored to the Athenians on the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.1457 He also made the youthful Apollo, known as the “Sauroctonos,”1458 because he is aiming an arrow at a lizard which is stealing towards him. There are greatly admired, also, two statues of his, expressive of contrary emotions—a Matron in tears, and a Courtesan full of gaiety: this last is supposed to be a likeness of Phryne, and it is said that we can detect in her figure the love of the artist, and in the countenance of the courtesan the promised reward.1459

His kindness of heart, too, is witnessed by another figure; for in a chariot and horses which had been executed by Calamis,1460 he himself made the charioteer, in order that the artist, who excelled in the representation of horses, might not be considered deficient in the human figure. This last-mentioned artist has executed other chariots also, some with four horses, and some with two; and in his horses he is always unrivalled. But that it may not be supposed that he was so greatly inferior in his human figures, it is as well to remark that his Alcmena1461 is equal to any that was ever produced.

Alcamenes,1462 who was a pupil of Phidias, worked in marble and executed a Pentathlete in brass, known as the “Encrinomenos.”1463 Aristides, too, who was the scholar of Polycletus, executed chariots in metal with four and two horses. The Leæna1464 of Amphicrates1465 is highly commended. The courtesan1466 Leæna, who was a skilful performer on the lyre, and had so become acquainted with Harmodius and Aristogiton, submitted to be tortured till she expired, rather than betray their plot for the extermination of the tyrants.1467 The Athenians, being desirous of honouring her memory, without at the same time rendering homage to a courtesan, had her represented under the figure of the animal whose name she bore;1468 and, in order to indicate the cause of the honour thus paid her, ordered the artist to represent the animal without a tongue.1469

Bryaxis executed in brass statues of Æsculapius and Seleucus;1470 Bœdas1471 a figure in adoration; Baton, an Apollo and a Juno, which are in the Temple of Concord1472 at Rome.

Ctesilaüs1473 executed a statue of a man fainting from his wounds, in the expression of which may be seen how little life remains;1474 as also the Olympian Pericles,1475 well worthy of its title: indeed, it is one of the marvellous adjuncts of this art, that it renders men who are already celebrated even more so.

Cephisodotus1476 is the artist of an admirable Minerva, now erected in the port of Athens; as also of the altar before the Temple of Jupiter Servator,1477 at the same place, to which, indeed, few works are comparable.

Canachus1478 executed a nude Apollo, which is known as the “Philesian:”1479 it is at Didymi,1480 and is composed of bronze that was fused at Ægina. He also made a stag with it, so nicely poised on its hoofs, as to admit of a thread being passed beneath. One1481 fore-foot, too, and the alternate hind-foot are so made as firmly to grip the base, the socket being1482 so indented on either side, as to admit of the figure being thrown at pleasure upon alternate feet. Another work of his was the boys known as the “Celetizontes.”1483

Chæreas made statues of Alexander the Great and of his father Philip. Desilaüs1484 made a Doryphoros1485 and a wounded Amazon; and Demetrius1486 a statue of Lysimache, who was priestess of Minerva sixty-four years. This statuary also made the Minerva, which has the name of Musica,1487 and so called because the dragons on its Gorgon’s head vibrate at the sound of the lyre; also an equestrian statue of Simon, the first writer on the art of equitation.1488 Dædalus,1489 who is highly esteemed as a modeller in clay, made two brazen figures of youths using the body-scraper;1490 and Dinomenes executed figures of Protesilaüs1491 and Pythodemus the wrestler.

The statue of Alexander Paris is the work of Euphranor:1492 it is much admired, because we recognize in it, at the same moment, all these characteristics; we see him as the umpire between the goddesses, the paramour of Helen, and yet the slayer of Achilles. We have a Minerva, too, by Euphranor, at Rome, known as the “Catulina,” and dedicated below the Capitol, by Q. Lutatius;1493 also a figure of Good Success,1494 holding in the right hand a patera, and in the left an ear of corn and a poppy. There is also a Latona by him, in the Temple of Concord,1495 with the new-born infants Apollo and Diana in her arms. He also executed some brazen chariots with four and two horses, and a Cliduchus1496 of beautiful proportions; as also two colossal statues, one representing Virtue, the other Greece;1497 and a figure of a female lost in wonder and adoration: with statues of Alexander and Philip in chariots with four horses. Eutychides executed an emblematic figure of the Eurotas,1498 of which it has been frequently remarked, that the work of the artist appears more flowing than the waters even of the river.1499

Hegias1500 is celebrated for his Minerva and his King Pyrrhus, his youthful Celetizontes,1501 and his statues of Castor and Pollux, before the Temple of Jupiter Tonans:1502 Hegesias,1503 for his Hercules, which is at our colony of Parium.1504 Of Isidotus we have the Buthytes.1505

Lycius was the pupil1506 of Myron: he made a figure representing a boy blowing a nearly extinguished fire, well worthy of his master, as also figures of the Argonauts. Leochares made a bronze representing the eagle carrying off Ganymede: the eagle has all the appearance of being sensible of the importance of his burden, and for whom he is carrying it, being careful not to injure the youth with his talons, even through the garments.1507 He executed a figure, also, of Autolycus,1508 who had been victorious in the contests of the Pancratium, and for whom Xenophon wrote his Symposium;1509 the figure, also, of Jupiter Tonans in the Capitol, the most admired of all his works; and a statue of Apollo crowned with a diadem. He executed, also, a figure of Lyciscus, and one of the boy Lagon,1510 full of the archness and low-bred cunning of the slave. Lycius also made a figure of a boy burning perfumes.

We have a young bull by Menæchmus,1511 pressed down beneath a man’s knee, with its neck bent back:1512 this Menæchmus has also written a treatise on his art. Naucydes1513 is admired for a Mercury, a Discobolus,1514 and a Man sacrificing a Ram. Naucerus made a figure of a wrestler panting for breath; Niceratus, an Æsculapius and Hygeia,1515 which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome. Pyromachus represented Alcibiades, managing a chariot with four horses: Polycles made a splendid statue of Hermaphroditus; Pyrrhus, statues of Hygeia and Minerva; and Phanis, who was a pupil of Lysippus, an Epithyusa.1516

Stypax of Cyprus acquired his celebrity by a single work, the statue of the Splanchnoptes;1517 which represents a slave of the Olympian Pericles, roasting entrails and kindling the fire with his breath. Silanion made a statue in metal of Apollodorus, who was himself a modeller, and not only the most diligent of all in the study of this art, but a most severe criticizer of his own works, frequently breaking his statues to pieces when he had finished them, and never able to satisfy his intense passion for the art—a circumstance which procured him the surname of “the Madman.” Indeed, it is this expression which he has given to his works, which represent in metal embodied anger rather than the lineaments of a human being. The Achilles, also, of Silanion is very excellent, and his Epistates1518 exercising the Athletes. Strongylion1519 made a figure of an Amazon, which, from the beauty of the legs, was known as the “Eucnemos,”1520 and which Nero used to have carried about with him in his travels. Strongylion was the artist, also, of a youthful figure, which was so much admired by Brutus of Philippi, that it received from him its surname.1521

Theodorus of Samos,1522 who constructed the Labyrinth,1523 cast his own statue in brass; which was greatly admired, not only for its resemblance, but for the extreme delicacy of the work. In the right hand he holds a file, and with three fingers of the left, a little model of a four-horse chariot, which has since been transferred to Præneste:1524 it is so extremely minute, that the whole piece, both chariot and charioteer, may be covered by the wings of a fly, which he also made with it.

Xenocrates1525 was the pupil of Ticrates, or, as some say, of Euthycrates: he surpassed them both, however, in the number of his statues, and was the author of some treatises on his art.

Several artists have represented the battles fought by Attalus and Eumenes with the Galli;1526 Isigonus, for instance, Pyromachus, Stratonicus, and Antigonus,1527 who also wrote some works in reference to his art. Boëthus,1528 although more celebrated for his works in silver, has executed a beautiful figure of a child strangling a goose. The most celebrated of all the works, of which I have here spoken, have been dedicated, for some time past, by the Emperor Vespasianus in the Temple of Peace,1529 and other public buildings of his. They had before been forcibly carried off by Nero,1530 and brought to Rome, and arranged by him in the reception-rooms of his Golden Palace.1531

In addition to these, there are several other artists, of about equal celebrity, but none of whom have produced any first-rate works; Ariston,1532 who was principally employed in chasing silver, Callides, Ctesias, Cantharus of Sicyon,1533 Diodorus, a pupil of Critias, Deliades, Euphorion, Eunicus,1534 and Hecatæus,1535 all of them chasers in silver; Lesbocles, also, Prodorus, Pythodicus, and Polygnotus,1536 one of the most celebrated painters; also two other chasers in silver, Stratonicus,1537 and Scymnus, a pupil of Critias.

I shall now enumerate those artists who have executed works of the same class:— Apollodorus,1538 for example, Antrobulus, Asclepiodorus, and Aleuas, who have executed statues of philosophers. Apellas1539 has left us some figures of females in the act of adoration; Antignotus, a Perixyomenos,1540 and figures of the Tyrannicides, already mentioned. Antimachus and Athenodorus made some statues of females of noble birth; Aristodemus1541 executed figures of wrestlers, two-horse chariots with the charioteers, philosophers, aged women, and a statue of King Seleucus:1542 his Doryphoros,1543 too, possesses his characteristic gracefulness.

There were two artists of the name of Cephisodotus:1544 the earlier of them made a figure of Mercury nursing Father Liber1545 when an infant; also of a man haranguing, with the hand elevated, the original of which is now unknown. The younger Cephisodotus executed statues of philosophers. Colotes,1546 who assisted Phidias in the Olympian Jupiter, also executed statues of philosophers; the same, too, with Cleon,1547 Cenchramis, Callicles,1548 and Cepis. Chalcosthenes made statues of comedians and athletes. Daïppus1549 executed a Perixyomenos.1550 Daïphron, Democritus,1551 and Dæmon made statues of philosophers.

Epigonus, who has attempted nearly all the above-named classes of works, has distinguished himself more particularly by his Trumpeter, and his Child in Tears, caressing its murdered mother. The Woman in Admiration, of Eubulus, is highly praised; and so is the Man, by Eubulides,1552 reckoning on his Fingers. Micon1553 is admired for his athletes; Menogenes, for his four-horse chariots. Niceratus,1554 too, who attempted every kind of work that had been executed by any other artist, made statues of Alcibiades and of his mother Demarate,1555 who is represented sacrificing by the light of torches.

Tisicrates1556 executed a two-horse chariot in brass, in which Piston afterwards placed the figure of a female. Piston also made the statues of Mars and Mercury, which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome. No one can commend Perillus;1557 more cruel even than the tyrant Phalaris1558 himself, he made for him a brazen bull, asserting that when a man was enclosed in it, and fire applied beneath, the cries of the man would resemble the roaring of a bull: however, with a cruelty in this instance marked by justice, the experiment of this torture was first tried upon himself. To such a degree did this man degrade the art of representing gods and men, an art more adapted than any other to refine the feelings! Surely so many persons had not toiled to perfect it in order to make it an instrument of torture! Hence it is that the works of Perillus are only preserved, in order that whoever sees them, may detest the hands that made them.

Sthennis1559 made the statues of Ceres, Jupiter, and Minerva, which are now in the Temple of Concord; also figures of matrons weeping, adoring, and offering sacrifice; Simon1560 executed figures of a dog and an archer. Stratonicus,1561 the chaser in silver, made some figures of philosophers; and so did both of the artists named Scopas.1562

The following artists have made statues of athletes, armed men, hunters, and sacrifices—Baton,1563 Euchir,1564 Glaucides,1565 Heliodorus,1566 Hicanus, Leophon, Lyson,1567 Leon, Menodorus,1568 Myagrus,1569 Polycrates, Polyidus,1570 Pythocritus, Protogenes, a famous painter, whom we shall have occasion to mention hereafter;1571 Patrocles, Pollis, Posidonius1572 the Ephesian, who was also a celebrated chaser in silver; Periclymenus,1573 Philon,1574 Symenus, Timotheus,1575 Theomnestus,1576 Timarchides,1577 Timon, Tisias, and Thrason.1578

But of all these, Callimachus is the most remarkable, on account of his surname. Being always dissatisfied with himself, and continually correcting his works, he obtained the name of “Catatexitechnos;”1579 thus affording a memorable example of the necessity of observing moderation even in carefulness. His Laconian Female Dancers, for instance, is a most correct performance, but one in which, by extreme correctness, he has effaced all gracefulness. It has been said, too, that Callimachus was a painter also. Cato, in his expedition against Cyprus,1580 sold all the statues that he found there, with the exception of one of Zeno; in which case he was influenced, neither by the value of the metal nor by its excellence as a work of art, but by the fact that it was the statue of a philosopher. I only mention this circumstance casually, that an example1581 so little followed, may be known.

While speaking of statues, there is one other that should not be omitted, although its author is unknown, that of Hercules clothed in a tunic,1582 the only one represented in that costume in Rome: it stands near the Rostra, and the countenance is stern and expressive of his last agonies, caused by that dress. There are three inscriptions on it; the first of which states that it had formed part of the spoil obtained by L. Lucullus1583 the general; the second, that his son, while still a minor, dedicated in accordance with a decree of the Senate; the third, that T. Septimius Sabinus, the curule ædile, had it restored to the public from the hands of a private individual. So vast has been the rivalry caused by this statue, and so high the value set upon it.