Above the top, and at the sides of the centre leaf, on each of the four sides of the capital, spring two acanthus sheaths, out of each sheath spring three cauliculi; the one most distant from the centre forms a volute under one side of the angle of the abacus, and is supported by the turned-over top leaf of the sheath; the lowest cauliculi form two volutes touching one another at the centre. The third cauliculus comes from between the two former, and forms much smaller volutes than those immediately below them, touching
Fig. 181.—Capital of the Lysikrates monument. Greek Corinthian.
at the centre, but turning the reverse way to those beneath; from the middle of these springs a honeysuckle, whose top is as high as the top of the abacus, and there is a little floral sprig between the angle volutes and the honeysuckle, to relieve the bareness of the basket or bell. The foliage of this capital is exquisitely graceful, but the outline of the capital is not happy. The entablature is Ionic, to leave the frieze clear for the sculptured history of Bacchus, turning some pirates into dolphins. The architrave is deep with three equal fascias, the face of each one inclined inwards, and a cymatium. Above the cymatium of the frieze is a cornice with a heavy dentilled bed mould.
The Greeks were consummate artists, who bore in mind the adage that “rules are good for those who can do without them,” and adapted every part of their buildings to produce the effect of light and shade they wanted. The profiles of their mouldings were mostly slightly different in every example we have, and mostly approximate to conic sections, so as to have the shade less uniform, segments of circles being rarely used; and there was in Athens an affluence of excellent figure sculptors.
It has always seemed to me that the slight variations the Greeks made in their profiles to get perfection, and their passion for simplicity, were greatly due to their intimate knowledge of the nude human figure. All their recruits were exercised naked, and they must have noticed that the perfecting of the human shape by training was brought about by slight variations.
The Roman Orders.
The Romans, great people as they were in subjugating, governing, and civilizing so great a portion of the world, and possibly on that very account, were