[576] Plato, Phileb., 64 E, regarded μετριότης and συμμετρία as qualities of beauty and virtue; cf. Aristotle, Metaphys., X, 3.7, and Nicom. Eth., V, 5.14, 1133b. Vitruvius, de Arch., I, 2, makes symmetry in architecture a quality of eurythmia: Item symmetria est ex ipsius operis membris conveniens consensus ex partibusque separatis ad universae figurae speciem ratae partis responsus.
[577] I, 2: Haec [eurythmia] efficitur, cum membra operis convenientia sunt, altitudinis ad latitudinem, latitudinis ad longitudinem, et ad summam omnia respondent suae symmetriae; cf. III, 1; Lucian, pro Imag., 14 (ῥυθμίζειν τὸ ἄγαλμα); Clem. Alex., Paedagog., 3.11 and 64 (εὐρυθμὸς καὶ καλὸς ἀνδριάς); Xen., Mem., III, 10.9 (ῥυθμός, of corselets); Plut., de Educ. puer., 11 (τῶν σωμάτων εὐρυθμία); Diod., I, 97. 6 (ῥυθμὸς ἀνδριάντων, i.e., rhythmic order or grace in statuary): id., II, 56.4.
[578] Vitruv., III, 1: <proportio>, quae graece ἀναλογία dicitur. Proportio est ratae partis membrorum in omni opere totiusque commodulatio, ex qua ratio efficitur symmetriarum.
[579] H. N., XXXIV, 65.
[580] Op. cit., e. g., XXXV, 67 and 128.
[581] Ueber die Kunsturteile bei Plinius, Ber. ueber d. Verhandl. d. k. saechs. Ges. d. Wiss. zu Leipzig, II, 1850, p. 131; cf. H. L. Urlichs, Ueber griech. Kunstschriftsteller (Diss. inaug., Wuerzburg, 1887).
[582] Principles of Greek Art, 1914, p. 20 (= Grammar of Greek Art, 1905, p. 22).
[583] Quoted by Gardner, op. cit., p. 22 (= Grammar, p. 23), from two papers by H. Brunn, Ueber tektonischen Styl in der griech. Plastik und Malerei, in Sitzb. Muen. Akad., 1883, pp. 299 f., 1884, pp. 507 f. Overbeck, I, pp. 266–277, explains rhythm in art as the Ordnung der Bewegung, in accordance with the definition of Plato: τῇ δὴ τῆς κινήσεως τάξει ῥυθμὸς ὄνομα εἴη: de Leg., 665 A.
[584] H. N., XXXIV, 58 (S. Q., 533): Numerosior in arte quam Polyclitus et in symmetria diligentior. The interpretation of this disputed passage depends, of course, on the meaning of numerosior, and whether we accept the curious statement of the manuscript that Myron surpassed Poykleitos in symmetry, or, by omitting the et (with Sillig), make it mean just the contrary and in harmony with the usual ancient view that symmetry was the salient characteristic of Polykleitan art. The passage, then, would contrast the symmetry of Polykleitos with the variety of Myron. This accords with Pliny’s use of numerosus elsewhere (e. g., XXXV, 130 and 138), which always refers to number. See Gardner, Hbk., p. 275 (note).
[585] Op. cit., XXXIV, 65, he says: Nova intactaque ratione quadratas veterum staturas permutando.