There is at Rome, by Timotheus, a Diana, in the Temple of Apollo in the Palatium, the head of which has been replaced by Avianius Evander.[2432] A Hercules, too, by Menestratus,[2433] is greatly admired; and there is a Hecate of his at Ephesus, in the Temple of Diana there, behind the sanctuary. The keepers of the temple recommend persons, when viewing it, to be careful of their eyes, so remarkably radiant is the marble. No less esteemed, too, are the statues of the Graces,[2434] in the Propylæum[2435] at Athens; the workmanship of Socrates the sculptor, a different person from the painter[2436] of that name, though identical with him in the opinion of some. As to Myron,[2437] who is so highly praised for his works in bronze, there is by him at Smyrna, An Old Woman Intoxicated, a work that is held in high estimation.
Asinius Pollio, a man of a warm and ardent temperament, was determined that the buildings which he erected as memorials of himself should be made as attractive as possible; for here we see groups representing, Nymphs carried off by Centaurs, a work of Arcesilas:[2438] the Thespiades,[2439] by Cleomenes:[2440] Oceanus and Jupiter, by Heniochus:[2441] the Appiades,[2442] by Stephanus:[2443] Hermerotes,[2444] by Tauriscus, not the chaser in silver, already[2445] mentioned, but a native of Tralles:[2446] a Jupiter Hospitalis[2447] by Papylus, a pupil of Praxiteles: Zethus and Amphion, with Dirce, the Bull,[2448] and the halter, all sculptured from a single block of marble, the work of Apollonius and Tauriscus, and brought to Rome from Rhodes. These two artists made it a sort of rivalry as to their parentage, for they declared that, although Apollodorus was their natural progenitor, Menecrates[2449] would appear to have been their father. In the same place, too, there is a Father Liber,[2450] by Eutychides,[2451] highly praised. Near the Portico of Octavia, there is an Apollo, by Philiscus[2452] of Rhodes, placed in the Temple of that God; a Latona and Diana also; the Nine Muses; and another Apollo, without drapery. The Apollo holding the Lyre, in the same temple, was executed by Timarchides.[2453] In the Temple of Juno, within the Porticos of Octavia, there is a figure of that goddess, executed by Dionysius,[2454] and another by Polycles,[2455] as also other statues by Praxiteles.[2456] This Polycles, too, in conjunction with Dionysius,[2457] the son of Timarchides, made the statue of Jupiter, which is to be seen in the adjoining temple.[2458] The figures of Pan and Olympus Wrestling, in the same place, are by Heliodorus;[2459] and they are considered to be the next finest group[2460] of this nature in all the world. The same artist also executed a Venus at the Bath, and Polycharmus another Venus, in an erect[2461] posture.
By the honourable place which the work of Lysias occupies, we may see in what high esteem it was held by the late Emperor Augustus, who consecrated it in honour of his father Octavius, in the Palatium, placing it on an arch within a small temple, adorned with columns: it is the figure of a four-horse chariot, with an Apollo and Diana, all sculptured from a single block. I find it stated, also, that the Apollo by Calamis, the chaser already[2462] mentioned, the Pugilists by Dercylides, and the statue of Callisthenes the historian, by Amphistratus,[2463] all of them now in the Gardens of Servilius, are works highly esteemed.
Beyond these, there are not many sculptors of high repute; for, in the case of several works of very great excellence, the number of artists that have been engaged upon them has proved a considerable obstacle to the fame of each, no individual being able to engross the whole of the credit, and it being impossible to award it in due proportion to the names of the several artists combined. Such is the case with the Laocoön, for example, in the palace of the Emperor Titus, a work that may be looked upon as preferable to any other production of the art of painting or of statuary. It is sculptured from a single block, both the main figure as well as the children, and the serpents with their marvellous folds. This group was made in concert by three most eminent artists,[2464] Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, natives of Rhodes. In similar manner also, the palaces of the Cæsars, in the Palatium, have been filled with most splendid statuary, the work of Craterus, in conjunction with Pythodorus, of Polydeuces with Hermoläus, and of another Pythodorus with Artemon; some of the statues, also, are by Aphrodisius of Tralles, who worked alone. The Pantheon of Agrippa has been decorated by Diogenes of Athens, and the Caryatides, by him, which form the columns of that temple, are looked upon as master-pieces of excellence: the same, too, with the statues that are placed upon the roof, though, in consequence of the height, they have not had an opportunity of being so well appreciated.
Without glory, and excluded from every temple, is the statue of Hercules,[2465] in honour of whom the Carthaginians were accustomed to sacrifice human victims every year: it stands upon the ground before the entrance of the Portico of the Nations.[2466] There were erected, too, near the Temple of Felicity, the statues of the Thespian[2467] Muses; of one of which, according to Varro, Junius Pisciculus, a Roman of equestrian rank, became enamoured. Pasiteles,[2468] too, speaks in terms of high admiration of them, the artist who wrote five Books on the most celebrated works throughout the world. Born upon the Grecian[2469] shores of Italy, and presented with the Roman citizenship granted to the cities of those parts, Pasiteles constructed the ivory statue of Jupiter which is now in the Temple of Metellus,[2470] on the road to the Campus Martius. It so happened, that being one day at the Docks,[2471] where there were some wild beasts from Africa, while he was viewing through the bars of a cage a lion which he was engaged in drawing, a panther made its escape from another cage, to the no small danger of this most careful artist. He executed many other works, it is said, but we do not find the names of them specifically mentioned.
Arcesilaüs,[2472] also, is an artist highly extolled by Varro; who states that he had in his possession a Lioness in marble of his, and Winged Cupids playing with it, some holding it with cords, and others making it drink from a horn, the whole sculptured from a single block: he says, also, that the fourteen figures around the Theatre of Pompeius,[2473] representing different Nations, are the work of Coponius.
I find it stated that Canachus,[2474] an artist highly praised among the statuaries in bronze, executed some works also in marble. Saurus,[2475] too, and Batrachus must not be forgotten, Lacedæmonians by birth, who built the temples[2476] enclosed by the Porticos of Octavia. Some are of opinion that these artists were very wealthy men, and that they erected these buildings at their own expense, expecting to be allowed to inscribe their names thereon; but that, this indulgence being refused them, they adopted another method of attaining their object. At all events, there are still to be seen, at the present day, on the spirals[2477] of the columns, the figures of a lizard and a frog,[2478] emblematical of their names. In the Temple of Jupiter by the same artists, the paintings, as well as all the other ornaments, bear reference to the worship of a goddess. The[2479] fact is, that when the temple of Juno was completed, the porters, as it is said, who were entrusted with the carriage of the statues, made an exchange of them; and, on religious grounds, the mistake was left uncorrected, from an impression that it had been by the intervention of the divinities themselves, that this seat of worship had been thus shared between them. Hence it is that we see in the Temple of Juno, also, the ornaments which properly pertain to the worship of Jupiter.
Some minute works in marble have also gained reputation for their artists: by Myrmecides,[2480] there was a four-horse chariot, so small that it could be covered, driver and all, by the wings of a fly; and by Callicrates,[2481] some ants, in marble, the feet and other limbs of which were so fine as to escape the sight.
CHAP. 5. (6.)—AT WHAT PERIOD MARBLE WAS FIRST USED IN BUILDINGS.
This must suffice for the sculptors in marble, and the works that have gained the highest repute; with reference to which subject it occurs to me to remark, that spotted marbles were not then in fashion. In making their statues, these artists used the marble of Thasos also,[2482] one of the Cyclades, and of Lesbos, this last being rather more livid than the other. The poet Menander, in fact, who was a very careful enquirer into all matters of luxury, is the first who has spoken, and that but rarely, of variegated marbles, and, indeed, of the employment of marble in general. Columns of this material were at first employed in temples, not on grounds of superior elegance, (for that was not thought of, as yet), but because no material could be found of a more substantial nature. It was under these circumstances, that the Temple[2483] of the Olympian Jupiter was commenced at Athens, the columns of which were brought by Sylla to Rome, for the buildings in the Capitol.