[444]. Athen. xi. 14. Among the Egyptians were vases of papyrus. Bochart. Geog. Sac. i. 240.
[445]. Bruyerin, De Re Cibaria, l. iii. c. 9. This goblet could by no means have been a diminutive one, if Helen resembled her countrywomen generally, who were celebrated for their large bosoms: βαθύκολποι.—Anacr. v. 14. Bruyerin’s authority is Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxii. 23. “Minervæ templum habet Lindos, insula Rhodiorum, in quo Helena sacravit calycem ex electro. Adjicit historia, mammæ suæ mensura.” This, I suppose, is what Rousseau calls “Cette coupe célèbre à qui le plus beau sein du monde servit de moule.”—Nouv. Heloise, 1re partie. Lett. 23. t. i. p. 144,—though, I confess, I am not acquainted with the authors by whom it has been celebrated. Several votive offerings, representing the female breast, may be seen in the British Museum, among the Elgin Marbles. But the most curious relic of the ancient female form is mentioned in the following passage: “In the street just out of the gate of this villa I lately saw a skeleton dug out; and by desiring the labourers to remove the skull and bones gently, I perceived distinctly the perfect mould of every feature of the face, and that the eyes had been shut. I also saw distinctly the impression of the large folds of the drapery of the toga, and some of the cloth itself sticking to the earth. The city was first covered by a shower of hot pumice-stones and ashes, and then by a shower of small ashes mixed with water. It was in the latter stratum that the skeleton above described was found. In the Museum at Portici a piece of this sort of hardened mud is preserved; it is stamped with the impression of the breast of a woman, with a thin drapery over it. The skeleton I saw dug out was not above five feet from the surface. It is very extraordinary that the impression of the body and face should have remained from the year 79 to this day, especially as I found the earth so little hardened that it separated upon the least touch.”—Sir W. Hamilton, Acc. of Discov. at Pompeii, p. 15.
[446]. Athen. xi. 14.
[447]. Athen. xi. 15. Polyb. xii. 15. 6. xv. 35. 2.
[448]. See ariner’s Account, chap. 9.
[449]. Athen. xi. 15.
[450]. Iliad. ω. 234.
[451]. Athen. xi. 16.
[452]. Bentley, Dissert. on Phal. i. 175, sqq.
[453]. Plin. xxxiii. 2. Juven. v. 42. Athen. iv. 29.