2389 Lucian, Valerius Maximus, and Athenæus, tell the same improbable story, borrowing it from Posidippus the historian.
2390 Bacchus.
2393 Pliny is mistaken here: for in the time of Cicero, as we find in Verr. 4, 2, 4, the Thespian Cupid was still at Thespiæ, in Bœotia, where it had been dedicated by Phryne, and was not removed to Rome till the time of the emperors. It was the Parian Cupid, originally made for the people of Parium, that, after coming into the possession of Heius, a rich Sicilian, was forcibly taken from him by Verres.
2396 Frantic Bacchantes.
2397 Sacrificing Bacchantes.
2398 The name given in architecture to figures of females employed as columns in edifices. The Spartans, on taking the city of Carya, in Laconia, massacred the male inhabitants, and condemned the females to the most bitter servitude, as “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” Hence the memorials of their servitude thus perpetuated in architecture.
2401 “Symplegma.”
2403 Pausanias, B. I., speaks of three figures sculptured by Scopas; Erôs, Himeros, and Pothos. It is doubtful, however, whether they are identical with those here spoken of.
2404 Or “Desire.” The name of “Phaëthon” is added in most of the editions, but Sillig rejects it as either a gloss, or a corruption of some other name.
2405 “Campteras.” This, which is probably the true reading, has been restored by Sillig from the Bamberg MS. The καμπτὴρ was the bend or turning, round the goal in the race-course for chariots; and as Vesta was symbolical of the earth, these figures, Sillig thinks, probably represented the poles, as goals of the sun’s course.
2406 Figures of Virgins, carrying on their heads baskets filled with objects consecrated to Minerva.
2407 Dedicated to Neptune by Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, in the Ninth Region of the City.
2408 “Et” appears a preferable reading to the “aut” of the Bamberg MS.
2409 “Hippocampi.” It is pretty clear that by this name he cannot mean the small fish so called in B. xxxii. cc. 20, 23, 27, 30, 35, 38, 50, and 53, and alluded to in B. ix. c. 1; the Syngnathus hippocampus of Linnæus.
2410 A sea-divinity.
2411 “Pistrices.” See B. ix. cc. 2, 3, 15.
2412 Conqueror of Callæcia. See B. iv. c. 35. This temple was dedicated to Mars.
2413 A statue of Apollo, Hardouin thinks, which was originally brought from Seleucia by C. Sosius, the quæstor of M. Lepidus. See B. xiii. c. 5.
2414 Ajasson says that this work is identical with the group representing Niobe and her children, now at Florence. It was found in 1535, or, as some say, 1583, near the Lateran Gate at Rome; upon which, it was bought by Ferdinand de Medici, and placed in the park of one of his villas. More recently, the Emperor Leopold purchased it, and had it removed to Florence.
2415 The Temple of Janus, in the Eighth Region of the City.
2416 Probably by neither of them, as Janus was essentially an Italian Divinity. See Ovid’s Fasti, B. I.
2418 A large upper garment, reaching to the ankles.
2419 Both Liber and Libera were originally Italian Divinities, who presided over the vine and the fields. Pliny, however, always identifies the former with Bacchus, and other writers the latter with Persephone, or Proserpina, the daughter of Demeter or Ceres. Ovid, Fasti, B. iii. l. 512, calls Ariadne, “Libera.”
2420 See B. xvi. c. 76.
2422 All these figures have been found copied in the frescoes of Herculaneum.
2426 Hence, too, the use of the word “Mausoleum,” as meaning a splendid tomb.
2427 He means, probably, the extent of the colonnade or screen which surrounded it. The Mausoleum was erected at Halicarnassus.
2428 Facing east and west.
2429 Or “wing.” The “ptera,” or “pteromata,” properly speaking, were the two wings at the sides of a building. See Note 2431 below.
2430 She only survived her husband two years.
2431 Another reading, and perhaps a preferable one, is “one hundred” feet. The account given by Pliny is very confused, and Littré has taken some pains to explain the construction of this building. He is of opinion that in the first place, a quadrangular main building was erected, 63 feet in length on the north and south, the breadth of the east and west faces being shorter, some 42 feet perhaps. Secondly, that there was a screen of 36 columns surrounding the main building, and 411 feet in circumference. (He adopts this reading in preference to the 440 feet of the Bamberg MS.) That the longer sides of this screen were 113.25 feet in extent, and the shorter 92.125 feet. That between the main building and this screen, or colonnade, there was an interval of 25.125 feet. Thirdly, that the colonnade and the main buildings were united by a vaulted roof, and that this union formed the “Pteron.” Fourthly, that rising from this Pteron, there was a quadrangular truncated pyramid, formed of twenty-four steps, and surmounted with a chariot of marble. This would allow, speaking in round numbers, 37½ feet for the height of the main body of the building, 37½ feet for the pyramid, and twenty-five feet for the height of the chariot and the figure which it doubtless contained.
2432 Supposed to be the person alluded to by Horace, 1 Sat. 3, 90.
2433 He is mentioned also by Tatian, and is supposed to have lived about the time of Alexander the Great.
2434 “Charites.”
2435 “Porch,” or “Vestibule” of the Citadel at Athens.
2436 Mentioned in B. xxxv. c. 40. The present Socrates is identified by Pausanias, B. i. c. 22, and B. ix. c. 25, and by Diogenes Laertius, B. ii. c. 19, with the great Athenian philosopher of that name, son of the statuary Sophroniscus: but the question as to his identity is very doubtful. Diogenes Laertius adds, that whereas artists had previously represented the Graces naked, Socrates sculptured them with drapery.
2439 Or Muses of Thespiæ, in Bœotia.
2440 There have been several distinguished sculptors, all of this name. A statuary, son of Apollodorus the Athenian, made the celebrated Venus de Medici. It is the opinion of Visconti and Thiersch, that the artist here mentioned flourished before the destruction of Corinth.
2441 This name is doubtful, and nothing is known relative to the artist.
2442 “Hippiades” is the old reading, which Dalechamps considers to mean “Amazons.” The Appiades were Nymphs of the Appian Spring, near the temple of Venus Genetrix, in the Forum of Julius Cæsar. See Ovid, Art. Am. B. i. l. 81, and B. iii. l. 451; and Rem. Am. l. 659.
2443 From an inscription on a statue still extant, he is supposed to have been a pupil of Pasiteles, and consequently to have flourished about B.C. 25.
2444 Figures in which the form and attributes of Hermes, or Mercury, and Eros, or Cupid, were combined, Hardouin thinks.
2446 In Caria: see B. v. c. 29.
2447 Or “Xenias”—“Presiding over hospitality,” or “Protector of strangers.”
2448 The story was, that Zethus and Amphion bound Dirce, queen of Thebes, to the flanks of an infuriated bull, in revenge for the death of their mother, Antiope, who had been similarly slain by her. This group is supposed still to exist, in part, in the “Farnese Bull,” which has been in a great measure restored. Winckelmann is of opinion, however, that the Farnese Bull is of anterior date to that here mentioned, and that it belongs to the school of Lysippus.
2449 Probably a native of Rhodes. No further particulars of this artist appear to be known.
2450 Bacchus.
2454 Supposed by Sillig not to be the early statuary of Argos of that name, who flourished, probably, B.C. 476.
2456 “Pasiteles” would appear to be a preferable reading; for Pliny would surely have devoted more space to a description of these works of Praxiteles.
2457 The same artist that is previously mentioned, Sillig thinks.
2458 Of Jupiter.
2461 The first being in a stooping posture, washing herself.
2463 A sculptor of the age of Alexander the Great. He is also mentioned by Tatian. For an account of Callisthenes, see end of B. xii.
2464 Winckelmann supposes that these artists lived in the time of Lysippus; but, as may be discovered from an attentive examination of the present passage, Lessing and Thiersch are probably right in considering them to have been contemporaries of the Emperor Titus. This group is generally supposed to have been identical with the Laocoön still to be seen in the Court of the Belvedere, in the Vatican at Rome; having been found, in 1506, in a vault beneath the spot known as the Place de Sette Sale, by Felix de Fredi, who surrendered it, in consideration of a pension, to Pope Julius II. The group, however, is not made of a single block, which has caused some to doubt its identity: but it is not improbable, that when originally made, its joints were not perceptible to a common observer. The spot, too, where it was found was actually part of the palace of Titus. It is most probable that the artists had the beautiful episode of Laocoön in view, as penned by Virgil, Æn. B. II.; though Ajasson doubts whether they derived any inspiration from it. Laocoön, in the sublime expression of his countenance, is doing any thing, he says, but—
2465 This was an ancient and hideous idol, probably. Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Plautus, Lactantius, Arnobius, and Isidorus, all concur in saying that it was Saturn in honour of whom human victims were immolated.
2466 “Ad Nationes.” A portico built by Augustus, and adorned with statues representing various nations.
2467 “Thespiades.” They were brought by Mummius from Thespiæ, in Bœotia. See B. xxxiv. c. 19, and Note 2439, above.
2469 Magna Græcia.
2470 Built by Metellus Macedonicus.
2471 “Navalia.” This was the name of certain docks at Rome, where ships were built, laid up, and refitted. They were attached to the Emporium, without the Trigeminian Gate, and were connected with the Tiber.
2473 In the Ninth Region of the City. These figures are mentioned also by Suetonius, C. 46.
2475 A singular combination of names, as they mean “Lizard” and “Frog.” No further particulars of these artists are known, but they appear to have lived in the time of Pompey.
2476 Of Juno and Apollo.
2478 Winckelmann, in Vol. II. p. 269, of the Monumenti Antichi ined., gives the chapiter of an Ionic column, belonging to the church of San Lorenzo, without the walls, at Rome, on the volutes of which are represented a frog and a lizard.
2479 The old reading is adopted here, in preference to that of the Bamberg MS., which does not appear reconcileable to sense in saying that this temple of Jupiter was originally made in honour of Juno; for in such case there could be no mistake in introducing the emblems of female worship.
2480 A sculptor of Miletus. See B. vii. c. 21.
2481 A Lacedæmonian artist. See B. vii. c. 21.
2482 As well as that of Paros.
2483 Only completed in the time of the Emperor Adrian.
2484 Cebriones, the charioteer of Hector. See Il. B. xvi. l. 735.
2486 This is generally explained as meaning ordinary stone, but covered with elaborate paintings, as was then the practice in the magnificent villas that were built at Tibur, the modern Tivoli. See, however, Chapter 48, and Note 2784.
2487 As applied to the decorations of the walls of houses.
2488 This date does not agree with that given to Scopas, one of the artists who worked at the Mausoleum, in the early part of B. xxxiv. c. 19. Sillig, however, is inclined to think that there were two artists named Scopas, and would thus account for the diversity of about seventy years between the dates.
2489 See end of B. ii.
2490 Owing to the liberality of Cæsar, he amassed great riches. He is repeatedly attacked by Catullus (Carm. xxix., xliii., lvii.), and accused of extortion, and other vices. Horace also speaks of him in terms of ridicule, I Sat. 5, 37.
2491 See B. iv. c. 21.
2493 The black marbles, Ajasson remarks, are comparatively rare. He is of opinion that the colour of the Lucullan marble was the noir antique of the French, and says that it is to be found at Bergamo, Carrara, Prato in Tuscany, and near Spa in Belgium.
2494 “Chios” is another reading.
2495 “Thundering Jupiter.” This temple was built by Augustus.
2496 Ajasson says that his remarks on the choice of the sand for this purpose, are very judicious.
2497 A recommendation worse than useless, Ajasson remarks.
2498 For this purpose, at the present day, granular corindon, or yellow emery, is used, as also a mixture composed of the oxides of lead and of tin; the substance being repeatedly moistened when applied.
2500 A city in Crete where the stone was prepared for use.
2501 “Cotes.”
2502 Books III. IV. V. and VI.
2503 The modern Ophite, both Noble, Serpentine, and Common.
2504 From the Greek ὄφις, a “serpent.”
2505 This would appear to be a kind of Apatite, or Augustite, found in crystalline rocks.
2506 A superstition, owing solely to the name and appearance of the stone.
2507 From the Greek τέφρα, “ashes.” The modern Tephroite is a silicate of manganese.
2508 Memphis, in Egypt.
2509 A variety of the modern Porphyry, possibly; a compact feldspathic base, with crystals of feldspar. Ajasson refuses to identify it with porphyry, and considers it to be the stone called Red antique, of a deep uniform red, and of a very fine grain; which also was a production of Egypt.
2510 “Small stone.”
2511 Of porphyrites.