But that which is by far the most worthy of our admiration, is the colossal statue of the Sun, which stood formerly at Rhodes, and was the work of Chares the Lindian, a pupil of the above-named Lysippus;[1323] no less than seventy cubits in height. This statue, fifty-six years after it was erected, was thrown down by an earthquake; but even as it lies, it excites our wonder and admiration.[1324] Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior. Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it. It is said that it was twelve years before this statue was completed, and that three hundred talents were expended upon it; a sum raised from the engines of warfare which had been abandoned by King Demetrius,[1325] when tired of the long-protracted siege of Rhodes. In the same city there are other colossal statues, one hundred in number; but though smaller than the one already mentioned, wherever erected, they would, any one of them, have ennobled the place. In addition to these, there are five colossal statues of the gods, which were made by Bryaxis.[1326]
Colossal statues used also to be made in Italy. At all events, we see the Tuscan Apollo, in the library of the Temple of Augustus,[1327] fifty feet in height from the toe; and it is a question whether it is more remarkable for the quality of the metal, or for the beauty of the workmanship. Spurius Carvilius also erected the statue of Jupiter which is seen in the Capitol, after he had conquered the Samnites,[1328] who fought in obedience to a most solemn oath; it being formed out of their breast-plates, greaves, and helmets, and of such large dimensions that it may be seen from the statue of Jupiter Latiaris.[1329] He made his own statue, which is at the feet of the other one, out of the filings of the metal. There are also, in the Capitol, two heads which are very much admired, and which were dedicated by the Consul P. Lentulus, one of them executed by the above-mentioned Chares,[1330] the other by Decius;[1331] but this last is so greatly excelled by the former, as to have all the appearance of being the work of one of the poorest of artists.
But all these gigantic statues of this kind have been surpassed in our own age by that of Mercury, made by Zenodotus[1332] for the city of the Arverni in Gaul,[1333] which was ten years in being completed, and the making of which cost four hundred thousand sesterces. Having given sufficient proof there of his artistic skill, he was sent for by Nero to Rome, where he made a colossal statue intended to represent that prince, one hundred and ten feet in height. In consequence, however, of the public detestation of Nero’s crimes, this statue was consecrated to the Sun.[1334] We used to admire in his studio, not only the accurate likeness in the model of clay, but in the small sketches[1335] also, which served as the first foundation of the work. This statue proves that the art of fusing [precious] brass was then lost, for Nero was prepared to furnish the requisite gold and silver, and Zenodotus was inferior to none of the ancients, either as a designer or as an engraver.[1336] At the time that he was working at the statue for the Arverni, he copied for Dubius Avitus, the then governor of the province, two drinking-cups, chased by the hand of Calamis,[1337] which had been highly prized by Germanicus Cæsar, and had been given by him to his preceptor Cassius Silanus, the uncle of Avitus; and this with such exactness, that they could scarcely be distinguished from the originals. The greater, then, the superiority of Zenodotus, the more certainly it may be concluded that the secret of fusing [precious] brass is lost.
(8.) Persons who possess what are called Corinthian bronzes,[1338] are generally so much enamoured of them, as to carry them about with them from place to place; Hortensius, the orator, for instance, who possessed a Sphinx, which he had made Verres give him, when accused. It was to this figure that Cicero alluded, in an altercation which took place at the trial: when, upon Hortensius saying that he could not understand enigmas, Cicero made answer that he ought to understand them, as he had got a Sphinx[1339] at home. The Emperor Nero, also, used to carry about with him the figure of an Amazon, of which I shall speak further hereafter;[1340] and, shortly before this, C. Cestius, a person of consular[1341] rank, had possessed a figure, which he carried with him even in battle. The tent, too, of Alexander the Great was usually supported, it is said, by statues, two of which are consecrated before the Temple of Mars Ultor,[1342] and a similar number before the Palace.[1343]
CHAP. 19.—AN ACCOUNT OF THE MOST CELEBRATED WORKS IN BRASS, AND OF THE ARTISTS, 366 IN NUMBER.
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 Demeas[1361] 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 Praxiteles[1371] and Euphranor;[1372] in the hundred and seventh, Aëtion[1373] 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: Zeuxis[1380] 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]