In the different epochs of Egyptian sculpture, the Egyptian artists were bound by certain fixed canons or rules of proportion to guide them in their labors, and which they were obliged to adhere to rigidly. The following are the canons of three distinct epochs: 1. The canon of the time of the pyramids, the height was reckoned at six feet from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, and subdivisions obtained by one-half or one-third of a foot. 2. The canon from the twelfth to the twenty-second dynasty is only an extension of the first. The whole figure was contained in a number of squares of half a foot, and the whole height divided into eighteen parts. In these two canons the height above the sixth foot is not reckoned. 3. The canon of the age of Psammetici, which is mentioned by Diodorus, reckoning the entire height at twenty-one and one-fourth feet from the sole to the crown of the head, taken to the upper part. The proportions are different, but without any introduction of the Greek canon. The canon and the leading lines were originally traced in red, subsequently corrected by the principal artist in black, and the design then executed. In Egypt, almost every object of sculpture and architecture was painted. The colossal Egyptian statues are generally of granite, basalt, porphyry, or sandstone. The two colossi on the plain of Thebes are, of course, hard gritstone. The Egyptians also worked in dark and red granites, breccias, serpentines, arragonite, limestones, jaspers, feldspar, cornelian, glass, gold, silver, bronze, lead, iron, the hard woods, fir or cedar, sycamore, ebony, acacia, porcelain and ivory, and terra cotta. All objects, from the most gigantic obelisk to the minute articles of private life, are found decorated with hieroglyphics.

Egyptian sculptors were also remarkable for the correct and excellent representation of animals. They may, indeed, be noticed in their representation a freedom of hand, a choice and variety of forms, a truthfulness, and even what deserves to be called imitation, which contrast with the uniformity, the rigidity, the absence of nature and life, which human figures present. Plato mentions a law which forbade the artists to depart, in the slightest degree, in the execution of statues of the human form from the type consecrated by priestly authority. The artist, therefore, not being restricted in his study of the animal form, could thus give to his image greater variety of motion, and by imitating animals in nature, indemnify himself for the constraint he experienced when he represented Kings and priests. The two colossal lions in red granite, brought to England by the late Duke of Northumberland, may be considered as remarkably good specimens of Egyptian art, as applied to the delineation of animal forms. They evince a considerable knowledge of anatomy in the strongly-marked delineation of the muscular development. The form also is natural and easy, thus admirably expressing the idea of strength in a state of repose. They were sculptured in the reign of Amunoph III. The representations of the sacred animals, the cynocephalus, the lion, the jackal, the ram, etc., are frequently to be met with in Egyptian sculpture.

Greek.—The stages of the cycle of development of the art of sculpture in Greece may be given in five distinct periods or epochs, naming these, for greater convenience, chiefly from the name of the principal artist whose style prevailed at that period.

I. The Daedalean, or early ( -580 B.C.) II. The AEginetan, or archaic (580-480 B.C.) III. The Phidian, or the grand (480-400 B.C.) IV. The Praxitelean, or the beautiful (400-250 B.C.) V. The Decline (250- )

Prior to the age of Daedalus, there was an earlier stage in the development of art, in which the want of art, which is peculiar to that early stage, was exhibited in rude attempts at the representation of the human figure, for similar and almost identical rude representations are attempted in the early stages of art in all countries; as the early attempts of children are nearly identical in all ages. The presence of a god was indicated in a manner akin to the Fetichism of the African, by the simplest and most shapeless objects, such as unhewn blocks of stone and by simple pillars or pieces of wood. The first attempt at representation consisted in fashioning a block of stone or wood into some semblance of the human form, and this rude attempt constituted a divinity. Of this primitive form was the Venus of Cyprus, the Cupid of Thespiae; the Juno of Argos was fashioned in a similar rude manner from the trunk of a wild pear tree. These attempts were thus nothing more than shapeless blocks, the head, arms, and legs scarcely defined. Some of these wooden blocks are supposed to have been, in a coarse attempt at imitation, furnished with real hair, and to have been clothed with real draperies in order to conceal the imperfection of the form. The next step was to give these shapeless blocks a human form. The upper part assumed the likeness of a head, and by degrees arms and legs were marked out; but in these early imitations of the human figure the arms were, doubtless, represented closely attached to the sides; and the legs, though to a certain extent defined, were still connected and united in a common pillar.

The age of Daedalus marks an improvement in the modeling of the human figure, and in giving it life and action. This improvement in the art consisted in representing the human figure with the arms isolated from the body, the legs detached, and the eyes open; in fine, giving it an appearance of nature as well as of life, and thus introducing a principle of imitation. This important progress in the practice of the art is the characteristic feature of the school of Daedalus, for under the name of Daedalus we must understand the art of sculpture itself in its primitive form, and in its first stage of development. According to Flaxman, the rude efforts of this age were intended to represent divinities and heroes only—Jupiter, Neptune, Hercules, and several heroic characters, had the self-same face, figure, and action; the same narrow eyes, thin lips, with the corners of the mouth turned upwards; the pointed chin, narrow loins, turgid muscles; the same advancing position of the lower limbs; the right hand raised beside the head, and the left extended. Their only distinctions were that Jupiter held the thunderbolt, Neptune the trident, and Hercules a palm branch or bow. The female divinities were clothed in draperies divided into few and perpendicular folds, their attitudes advancing like those of the male figures. The hair of both male and female statues of this period is arranged with great care, collected in a club behind, sometimes entirely curled.

Between the rudeness of the Daedalean and the hard and severe style of the AEginetan there was a transitional style, to which period the artists Dipoenus and Scyllis are assigned by Pliny. The metopes of the temple of Selinus in Sicily, the bas-reliefs representing Agamemnon, Epeus, and Talthybius, in the Louvre, the Harpy monument in the British Museum, and the Apollo of Tenea, afford examples of this style.

AEginetan.—In the AEginetan period of sculpture there was still retained in the character of the heads, in the details of the costume, and in the manner in which the beard and the hair are treated, something archaic and conventional, undoubtedly derived from the habits and teachings of the primitive school. But there prevails at the same time, in the execution of the human form, and the manner in which the nude is treated, a knowledge of anatomy, and an excellence of imitation carried to so high a degree of truth as to give convincing proofs of an advanced step and higher stage in the development of the art. The following are the principal characteristics of the AEginetan style, as derived from a careful examination of the statues found in AEgina, which were the undoubted productions of the school of the AEginetan period. The style in which they are executed is called Hieratic, or Archaic.

The heads, either totally destitute of expression, or all reduced to a general and conventional expression, present, in the oblique position of the eyes and mouth, that forced smile which seems to have been the characteristic feature common to all productions of this archaic style; for we find it also on the most ancient medals, and on bas-reliefs of the primitive period.

The hair, treated likewise in a systematic manner in small curls or plaits, worked with wonderful industry, imitates not real hair, but genuine wigs, a peculiarity which may be remarked on other works in the ancient style, and of Etruscan origin. The beard is indicated on the cheek by a deep mark, and is rarely worked in relief, but, in the latter case, so as to imitate a false beard, and consequently in the same system as the hair. The costume partakes of the same conventional and hieratic taste; it consists of drapery, with straight and regular folds, falling in symmetrical and parallel masses, so as to imitate the real draperies in which the ancient statues in wood were draped. These conventional forms of the drapery and hair may, therefore, be considered as deriving their origin from an imitation of the early statues in wood, the first objects of worship and of art among the Greeks, which were frequently covered with false hair, and clothed with real draperies. The muscular development observable in these figures is somewhat exaggerated, but, considering the period, is wonderfully accurate and true to nature. The genius for imitation exhibited in this style, carried as far as it is possible in the expression of the forms of the body, although still accompanied by a little meagreness and dryness, the truth of detail, the exquisite care in the execution, evince so profound a knowledge of the structure of the human body, so great a readiness of hand—in a word, an imitation of nature so skillful, and, at the same time, so simple, that one can not but recognize in them the productions of an art which had arrived at a point which required only a few steps more to reach perfection. To the latter part of this period belong the sculptors Canachus, Calamis, and Pythagoras. Canachus was the sculptor of a famous statue of a nude Apollo in bronze, termed Philesius, at Didymi, near Miletus, and was considered as very hard in his style.

Phidian.—"This period (we here adopt Mr. Vaux's words) is the golden age of Greek art. During this period arose a spirit of sculpture which combined grace and majesty in the happiest manner, and by emancipating the plastic art from the fetters of antique stiffness, attained, under the direction of Pericles, and by the hand of Phidias, its culminating point. It is curious to remark the gradual progress of the arts; for it is clear that it was slowly and not per saltum that the gravity of the elder school was changed to the perfect style of the age of Phidias." In this phase of the art, the ideal had reached its zenith, and we behold a beauty and perfection which has never been equaled. In this age alone sculpture, by the grandeur and sublimity it had attained to in its style, was qualified to give a form to the sublime conceptions of the deity evolved by the mind of Phidias. He alone was considered able to embody and to render manifest to the eye the sublime images of Homer. Hence, he was called "the sculptor of the gods." It is well known that in the conception of his Jupiter Olympus, Phidias wished to render manifest, and that he succeeded in realizing, the sublime image under which Homer represents the master of the gods. The sculptor embodied that image in the following manner, according to Pausanias: "The god, made of ivory and gold, is seated on a throne, his head crowned with a branch of olive, his right hand presented a Victory of ivory and gold, with a crown and fillet; his left hand held a sceptre, studded with all kinds of metals, on which an eagle sat; the sandals of the god were gold, so was his drapery, on which were various animals, with flowers of all kinds, especially lilies; his throne was richly wrought with gold and precious stones. There were also statues; four Victories, alighting, were at each foot of the throne; those in front rested each on a sphinx that had seized a Theban youth; below the sphinxes the children of Niobe were slain by the arrows of Apollo and Artemis." This statue, Flaxman observes, sixty feet in height, was the most renowned work of ancient sculpture, not for stupendous magnitude alone, but more for careful majesty and sublime beauty. His Minerva in the Parthenon was of gold and ivory. The goddess was represented standing robed in a tunic, and her head covered with the formidable aegis; with her right hand she held a lance; in the left she held a statue of Victory about five feet high; her helmet was surmounted by a sphinx and two griffins, and over the visor eight horses in front in full gallop. The shield erected at the feet of the goddess was adorned on both sides with bas-reliefs. At the base of the statue were a sphinx and a serpent. This colossus was thirty-seven feet high. The gem of Aspasus and the silver tetra-drachm of Athens are said to be copies of the head of this Minerva.

Another remarkable statue of Phidias was the Athene Promachus, in the Acropolis. It represented the tutelary goddess of the Athenians, fully armed and in the attitude of battle, with one arm raised and holding spear in her hand. This work was of colossal dimensions and stood in the open air, nearly opposite the Propylaea. It towered above the roof of the Parthenon and it is said the crest of the helmet and the point of the spear could be seen far off by ships approaching Athens from Sunium. Its height is supposed to have been, with its pedestal, about seventy feet, the material was bronze. There are two marble statues which have come down to us, and which give some idea of the Minervas of Phidias. One is the Pallas of Velletri, which is supposed to be a copy of the Minerva Promachus (cut is on p. 530). The Farnese Minerva, at Naples, may afford some idea of the chryselephantine statue of the Parthenon. It does not, however, present the accessories of the Athenian figure. The Sphinx, the serpent and the shield are not represented. The sculptures of the Parthenon, now in the British Museum, can lead us to appreciate the manner of Phidias, and the character of his school, so observed by Flaxman. The statues of the pediments, the metopes, and bas-reliefs, are remarkable for the grandeur of style, simplicity, truth, beauty, which are the characteristics of this school. On the eastern pediment was represented the birth of Minerva, and on the western the contest between Minerva and Neptune for the guardianship of the soil of Attica. Of the figures still preserved to us of the eastern pediment, it has been generally supposed that the reclining figure may be identified as Theseus, that another is Ceres, a third Iris, the messenger, about to announce to mortals the great event of the birth of Minerva, which has just taken place, while the group of three female figures are considered to represent the three Fates. Of the western pediment, the remaining figures are Cecrops, the first King and founder of Athens, and Aglaura, his wife, and the river god, Ilissus, or Cephisus. The metopes, which generally represent single contests between the Athenians and the Centaurs, are in strong high relief, full of bold action and passionate exertion—though this is for the most part softened by great beauty of form and a masterly style of composition which knows how to adapt itself with the utmost freedom to the strict conditions of the space. These reliefs were placed high, as they were calculated for the full light of the sun, and to throw deeper shadows.

The frieze may be considered as the chief glory of the art of Phidias. The artists here expressed with the utmost beauty the signification of the temple by depicting a festive procession, which was celebrated every fifth year at Athens, in honor of Minerva, conveying in solemn pomp to the temple of the Parthenon the peplos, or sacred veil, which was to be suspended before the statue of the goddess. The end of the procession has just reached the temple, the archons and heralds await, quietly conversing together, the end of the ceremony. They are followed by a train of Athenian maidens, singly or in groups, many of them with cans and other vessels in their hands. Then follow men and women, then bearers of sacrificial gifts, then flute-players and musicians, followed by combatants in chariots, with four splendid horses. The whole is concluded by prancing horsemen, the prime of the manly youth of Athens. This frieze was within the colonnade of the Parthenon, on the upper part of the wall of the cella, and was continued round the building. By its position it only obtained a secondary light. Being placed immediately below the soffit, it received all its light from between the columns, and by reflection from the pavement below. Mr. Westmacott remarks that these works are unquestionably the finest specimens of the art that exist, and they illustrate fully and admirably the progress and, as it may be said, the consummation of sculpture. They exhibit in a remarkable degree all the qualities that constitute fine art—truth, beauty, and perfect execution. In the forms, the most perfect, the most appropriate and the most graceful have been selected. All that is coarse or vulgar is omitted, and that only is represented which unites the two essential qualities of truth and beauty. The result of this happy combination is what has been termed ideal beauty. These sculptures, however, which emanated from the mind of Phidias, and were most certainly executed under his eyes, and in his school, are not the works of his hands. Phidias himself disdained or worked but little in marble. They were, doubtless, the works of his pupils, Alcamenes, Agoracritus, Colotes, Paeonios, and some other artists of his time. For, as Flaxman remarks, the styles of different hands are sufficiently evident in the alto and basso rilievo. To the age of Phidias belong the sculptors Alcamenes, Agoracritus, and Paeonios. The greatest work of Alcamenes was a statue of Venus in the Gardens, a work to which it is said Phidias himself put the finishing touch. He also executed a bronze statue of a conqueror in the games, which Pliny says was known as the "Encrinomenos, the highly approved." Agoracritus, who, Pliny says, was such a favorite of Phidias that he gave his own name to many of that artist's works, entered into a contest with Alcamenes, the subject being a statue of Venus. Alcamenes was successful, Pliny tells us, not that his work was superior, but because his fellow-citizens chose to give their suffrages in his favor, in preference to a stranger. It was for this reason that Agoracritus, indignant at his treatment, sold his statue on the express condition that it should never be taken to Athens, and changed its name to Nemesis. It was accordingly erected at Rhamnus.

A marble statue of Victory, a beautiful Nike in excellent preservation, has been lately discovered at Olympia, bearing the name of Paeonios. This statue is mentioned by Pausanius as a votive offering set up by the Messenians in the Altis, the sacred grove of Zeus at Olympia. The statues in the eastern pediment of the temple of Jupiter at Olympia were by Paeonios, and those in the western by Alcamenes. The first represented the equestrian contest of Pelops against Oenomaus, and in the second the Lapithae were represented fighting with the centaurs at the marriage of Pirithous.

The frieze of the temple of Apollo at Bassae, near Phigaleia, in Arcadia, belongs to this period. It was the work of Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon. Contests with the Amazons and battles with the centaurs form the subject of the whole. The most animated and boldest compositions are sculptured in these reliefs. They exhibit, however, exaggeration, and are wanting in that repose and beauty which are the characteristics of the works of Phidias.

In the half draped Venus of Milo now in the Louvre, we have a genuine Greek work, which represents an intermediate style between that of Phidias and Praxiteles. "Grandly serious," Professor Lubke writes, "and almost severe, stands the goddess of Love, not yet conceived as in later representations, as a love requiring woman. The simple drapery, resting on the hips, displays uncovered the grand forms of the upper part of the body, which, with all her beauty, have that mysteriously unapproachable feeling which is the genuine expression of the divine."

Praxitilean. This period is characterized by a more rich and flowing style of execution, as well as by the choice of softer and more delicate subjects than had usually been selected for representation. In this the beautiful was sought, after rather than the sublime. Praxiteles may be considered the first sculptor who introduced this more sensual, if it may be so called, style of art, for he was the first who, in the unrobed Venus, combined the utmost luxuriance of personal charms with a spiritual expression in which the queen of love herself appeared as a woman needful of love, and filled with inward longing. He first gave a prominence to corporeal attractions, with which the deity was invested. His favorite subjects were of youthful and feminine beauty. In his Venus of Cnidos he exhibited the goddess in the most exquisite form of woman. His Cupid represented the beauty and grace of that age in boys which seemed to the Greeks the most attractive. His Apollo Sauroctonos presented the form of a youth of exquisite beauty and proportion. The Venus of Cnidos stands foremost as one of the celebrated art creations of antiquity. This artist represented the goddess completely undraped; but this bold innovation was justified by the fact that she was taking up her garment with her left hand, as if she were just coming from her bath, while with her right she modestly covered her figure. Many as are the subsequent copies preserved of this famous statue, we can only conceive the outward idea of the attitude, but none of the pure grandeur of the work of Praxiteles. In the Vatican (Chiaramonte gallery, No. 112) there is one of very inferior execution, but perhaps the only one which gives a correct idea of this Venus, as it corresponds as nearly as possible with the pose of the statue on the coin of Cnidos and with the description of Lucan.

His Cupid is represented as a slender, undeveloped boy, full of liveliness and activity, earnestly endeavoring to fasten the strings to his bow. A Roman copy of this statue is in the British Museum.

He also executed in bronze a Faun, which was known as "Periboetos, the much famed;" the finest of the many copies of this celebrated statue that have come down to us, is in the Capitol; and a youthful Apollo, styled Sauroctonos, because he is aiming an arrow at a lizard which is stealing towards him; a copy of this statue in marble is in the Vatican, and one in bronze in the Villa Albani.

Contemporary with Praxiteles was Scopas. His works exhibit powerful expression, grandeur, combined with beauty and grace. The group of Niobe and her children, at Florence, has been attributed to him. Another very celebrated work of Scopas was the statue of the Pythian Apollo playing on the lyre, which Augustus placed in the temple which he built to Apollo, on the Palatine, in thanksgiving for his victory at Actium. An inferior Roman copy of this statue is in the Vatican. He was also celebrated for his heads of Apollo. Of these many excellent copies are still extant, the finest being that formerly in the Giustiniani collection, and now in the British Museum.

The late discoveries at Halicarnassus have yielded genuine works of Scopas in the sculptures of the bas-reliefs of Mausoleum, erected by Artemisia in memory of her husband, Mausolus, King of Caria, the east side of which is known to have proceeded from his hands; the other sides by his contemporaries, Bryaxis, Timotheus and Leochares. Parts of these are now in the British Museum.

The bas-reliefs of the temple of Nike Apteros have been associated with the peculiarities which characterize the productions of Scopas. A figure of Victory, stooping to loose her sandal, in bas-relief from this temple, is remarkable for its admirably arranged drapery.

The sculptural decorations of the temple of Artemis, at Ephesus, the foundations of which have been lately discovered by Mr. Wood, there is every reason to believe were contributed by Praxiteles and Scopas. The drum of a column, with figures in bas-relief from this temple, has been lately added to the British Museum.

The beautiful figure of a Bacchante in bas-relief in the British Museum is generally referred to Scopas.

The following are some of the more particular characteristics of the human form, adopted by the Grecian sculptors of this age:

In the profile, the forehead and lips touch a perpendicular line drawn between them. In young persons, the brow and nose nearly form a straight line, which gives an expression of grandeur and delicacy to the face. The forehead was low, the eyes large, but not prominent. A depth was given to the eye to give to the eyebrow a finer arch, and, by a deeper shadow, a bolder relief. To the eyes a living play of light was communicated by a sharp projection of the upper eyelid, and a deep depression of the pupil. The eye was so differently shaped in the heads of divinities and ideal heads that it is itself a characteristic by which they can be distinguished. In Jupiter, Apollo, and Juno the opening of the eye is large, and roundly arched; it has also less length than usual, that the curve which it makes may be more spherical. Pallas likewise has large eyes, but the upper lid falls over them more than in the three divinities just mentioned, for the purpose of giving her a modest maiden look. Small eyes were reserved for Venuses and voluptuous beauties, which gave them a languishing air. The upper lip was short, the lower lip fuller than the upper, as this tended to give a roundness to the chin; the short upper lip, and the round and grandly-formed chin, being the most essential signs of genuine Greek formation. The lips were generally closed; they slightly open in the statues of the gods, especially in the case of Venus, but the teeth were never seen. The ear was carefully modeled and finished. The beauty, and especially the execution of them, is, according to Winkelman, the surest sign by which to discriminate the antique from additions and restorations. The hair was curly, abundant, and disposed in floating locks, and executed with the utmost imaginable care; in females it was tied in a knot behind the head. The frontal hair was represented as growing in a curve over the temples in order to give the face an oval shape. The face was always oval, and a cross drawn in the oval indicated the design of the face. The perpendicular line marked the position of the brow, the nose, the mouth, and the chin; the horizontal line passed through the eyes, and was parallel to the mouth. The hands of youth were beautifully rounded, and the dimples given; the fingers were tapered, but the articulations were not generally indicated. In the male form the chest was high, arched, and prominent. In the female form, especially in that of goddesses and virgins, the form of the breasts is virginal in the extreme, since their beauty was generally made to consist in the moderateness of their size. They were generally a little higher than nature. The abdomen was without prominence. The legs and knees of youthful figures are rounded with softness and smoothness, and unmarked by muscular movements. The proportion of the limbs was longer than in the preceding period. In male and female figures the foot was rounded in its form; in the female the toes are delicate, and have dimples over their first joints gently marked.

It is evident that this type of beauty of form, adopted by the Grecian sculptors, is in unison with, and exhibits a marked analogy to the type of face and form of the Greeks themselves, for, as Sir Charles Bell observes, the Greek face is a fine oval, the forehead full and carried forward, the eyes large, the nose straight, the lips and chin finely formed; in short, the forms of the head and face have been the type of the antique, and of all which we most admire.

The sculptors of this age, instead of aiming at an abstract, unattainable ideal, studied nature in its choicest forms, and attained the beautiful by selecting and concentrating in one those charms which are found diffused over all. They avoided the representation of all violent motions and perturbations of the passions, which would have completely marred that expression of serene repose which is a prominent characteristic of the beautiful period of Greek sculpture. Indeed, the chief object of the Greek sculptor was the representation of the beautiful alone, and to this principle he made character, expression, costume, and everything else subordinate.

Lysippus, the successor of Praxiteles and Scopas, was a contemporary of Alexander the Great. He contributed to advance their style by the peculiar fullness, roundness, and harmonious general effect by which it appears that his works were characterized. His school exhibited a strong naturalistic tendency, a closer imitation of nature, leading to many refinements in detail. It was unquestionably greater in portrait than in ideal works. Pliny thus speaks of his style: "He is considered to have contributed very greatly to the art of the statuary by expressing the details of the hair, and by making the head smaller than had been done by the ancients, and the body more graceful and less bulky, a method by which his statues were made to appear taller."

The portrait statues of Alexander the Great by Lysippus were very numerous. The great King would only allow himself to be modeled by Lysippus. The head of Alexander, as the young Ammon on the coins of Lysimachus, is said to have been designed by him. An athlete, scraping his body with a strigil, was the most famous of the bronze statues of Lysippus. The statue of an athlete in the Vatican, in a similar position, is supposed to be a marble copy of the original bronze of Lysippus; though an inferior work, it illustrates the statements of Pliny regarding the proportions adopted by Lysippus—a small head and the body long and slim. The bas-reliefs also on the monument of Lysicrates, representing the story of Dionysus and the Tyrrhenian pirates, presented all the characteristic features of the school of Lysippus. It was erected in the archonship of Euaenetus, B.C. 335.

The canon of Polycletus began to be generally adopted at this period. It was followed by Lysippus, who called the Doryphoros of that artist his master. In his practice of dealing with the heads and limbs of his figures, Lysippus was followed by Silanion and Euphranor, and his authority may be said to have governed the school of Greece to a late period of the art.

Pliny tells us that Euphranor was the first who represented heroes with becoming dignity, and who paid particular attention to proportion. He made, however, in the generality of instances, the bodies somewhat more slender and the heads larger. His most celebrated statue was a Paris, which expressed alike the judge of the goddesses, the lover of Helen, and the slayer of Achilles. The very beautiful sitting figure of Paris, in marble, in the Vatican, is, no doubt, a copy of this work.

Subsequently to these sculptors we have Chares, the Rhodian, who constructed the famous colossus of Helios at the entrance of the harbor of Rhodes, which was 105 feet high. It appears there is no authority for the common statement that its legs extended over the mouth of the harbor.

Of the later Asiatic or Rhodian schools we have the famous groups of the Laocoon, on page 555, and of Dirce tied to a bull, commonly called the Toro Farnese. In both of these the dramatic element is predominant, and the tragic interest is not appreciated. In the Laocoon consummate skill is shown in the mastery of execution; but if the object of the artist was to create pity or awe, he has drawn too much attention to his power of carving marble. The Laocoon was executed, according to Pliny, by Agesander, Polydorus and Athenodorus, natives of Rhodes. This group, now in the Vatican, was found in the baths of Titus. From the evidence of an antique gem, on which is engraved a representation of this group, we find the right arm of the Laocoon has been wrongly restored. In the gem the hand of Laocoon is in contact with his head, and not, as restored by Giovanni da Montorsoli, raised high.

The Farnese Bull, a work in which we possess the most colossal group of antiquity, was executed by Apollonius and Tauriscus, of Tralles. To the same school belongs the Dying Gladiator, who unquestionably represents, as usually supposed, a combatant who died in the amphitheatre. It is remarkable for the entire absence of ideal representation, and for its complete individuality and close imitation of nature. This statue is probably one of the masterpieces of the celebrated Pyromachus, who executed several groups, and large compositions of battle scenes for Attalus, King of Pergamus, to celebrate his decisive victory over the Gauls (B.C. 240).

To the later Athenian school belong probably the Belvidere Torso, so much admired by Michael Angelo, the Farnese Hercules, the Venus de'Medici, and the Fighting Gladiator. The Belvidere Torso is now considered to be a copy by Apollonius, the son of Nestor, of the Hercules of Lysippus, and probably executed in the Macedonian period. The Farnese Hercules is so exaggerated in its style as to have been deemed a work as late as the Roman empire. According to Flaxman, the Venus de'Medici is a deteriorated variety or repetition of a Venus of Praxiteles. It is now generally admitted that it is a work of the latest Macedonian period, probably by Cleomenes, whose name appears on its base. The Fighting Gladiator bears the name of Agasias of Ephesus. From the attitude of the figure it is clear that the statue represents not a gladiator, but a warrior contending with a mounted combatant, probably an Athenian, warding off a blow from a centaur.



The Macedonian age, to which most of these statues belonged, commenced with Alexander the Great, and terminated with the absorption of Greek art by the Romans.

Art having, in the two previous periods, reached its culminating point of perfection, as is the law of all development, when a culminating point is reached, a downward tendency and a period of decline begins, for the cycle of development must be completed and the stages of rise, progress, maturity, decline and decay run through.

No exact date, however, can be assigned to the beginning of the stage of decline; no sharp line of demarcation can be pointed out dividing one stage from the other. The decline was so gradual that there was an inevitable blending of the two. We perceive evident signs of decline in the fourth stage, while, in the fifth, or stage of decline, we sometimes meet some noble works of art partaking of the perfect style of the earlier periods. A period of decline inevitably and invariably follows an age of maturity and perfection. As Mr. Lecky observes, "The sculptor and the painter of the age of Praxiteles precipitated art into sensuality; both of them destroyed its religious character, both of them raised it to high aesthetic perfection, but in both cases that perfection was followed by a speedy decline." Muller remarks, "The creative activity, the real central point of the entire activity of art, which fashions peculiar forms for peculiar ideas, must have flagged in its exertions when the natural circle of ideas among the Greeks had received complete plastic embodiment, or it must have been morbidly driven to abnormal inventions. We find, therefore, that art, during this period, with greater or less degrees of skill in execution, delighted now in fantastical, now in effeminate productions, calculated merely to charm the senses. And even in the better and nobler works of the time there was still on the whole something—not, indeed, very striking to the eye, but which could be felt by the natural sense, something which distinguished them from the earlier works—the striving after effect." The spirit of imitation marked the later portion of this period of decline. The sculptors of this age, despairing of equaling the productions of the former age, gave themselves up completely to servile imitation. The imitation was naturally inferior to the original, and each succeeding attempt at imitation was but a step lower in degradation of the art. When they ceased to study nature they thought to repair the deterioration of the beauty of form by the finish of the parts, and in a still later period they gave, instead of a grandeur of style, an exaggeration of form. Lastly, being utterly unable to cope with their predecessors in the sculpture of statues, they had recourse to the manufacture of busts and portraits, which they executed in countless numbers. The art reached its lowest ebb, and thus the cycle of the development of Greek sculpture terminated in its last stage—utter decay and degradation.

Roman.—In the very early periods the Romans imitated the Etruscans, for, generally speaking, all the works of the first periods of Rome were executed by Etruscan artists. Their earliest statues of gods were in clay. Etruscan art exercised the greatest influence in Rome, for Rome was adorned with monuments of Etruscan art, in its very infancy; it was a Tuscan called Veturius Mamurius who made the shields (ancilia) of the temple of Numa, and who made, in bronze, the statue of Vertumna, a Tuscan deity, in the suburb of Rome. The Romans owed all their culture to the Etruscans, from whom they learned the arts of architecture, terra-cotta work, and painting; calling in artists of that more tasteful race when anything of that sort was required for the decoration of their simple edifices. The most ancient monuments of Rome thus corresponded with the contemporaneous style of Etruscan art; there is thus a similarity in the figures; the attributes alone can lead one to distinguish them, as these attributes tell if the statue was connected with the creed or modes of belief of Etruria or Rome. There was not, therefore, any Roman style, properly so called; the only distinction to be remarked is that the statues of the early periods, executed by the Romans, are characterized, like the Romans themselves of the same period, by a beard and long hair. At a late period all the architecture, all the sculpture of the public edifices at Rome, were in the Tuscan style, according to the testimony of Pliny.

After the second Punic war, Greek artists took the place of Etruscan artists at Rome; the taking of Syracuse gave the Romans a knowledge of the beautiful works of Greece, and the treasures of art brought from Corinth chiefly contributed to awaken a taste among them, and they soon turned into ridicule their ancient statues in clay; Greek art was gradually transferred to Rome; Greek artists began to abound there, and the history of Roman art was thenceforward confounded with that of the vicissitudes of Greek art. The style of the works of sculpture under the first Emperors may be considered as a continuation and sequel of the development of Greek sculpture. These works, more particularly the portrait statues, which were the prevailing works of this period, exhibit a great deal of force and character, though a want of care is visible in some parts, especially in the hair. The characters of the heads always bear out the descriptions which historians have given of the person they belong to, the Roman head differing essentially from the Greek, in having a more arched forehead, a nose more aquiline, and features altogether of a more decided character. It may be observed, however, as a general remark, that the Roman statues are of a thicker and more robust form, with less ease and grace, more stern, and of a less ideal expression than Greek statues, though equally made by Greek artists. Under Augustus, and the following Roman Emperors, to meet the demand for Greek statues to embellish their houses and villas, several copies and imitations of celebrated Greek works were manufactured by the sculptors of the age. The Apollo Belvidere, the Venus of the Capitol, and several copies of celebrated Greek works, in various Museums, such as the Faun, Cupid, Apollo Sauroctonos, and Venus of Praxiteles, the Discobolos of Myron, and several works of Scopas and Lysippus, are supposed to be of this age. Archaeologists are now generally agreed in thinking that the Apollo Belvidere is only a copy of a Roman period of a very fine Greek statue of about the beginning of the third century B.C., and that the original was in bronze. Another copy has been identified in a bronze statuette now in St. Petersburg, known as the Stroganoff Apollo. From this statuette it is found that the Apollo Belvidere held forward in his left hand, not a bow as was thought, but the aegis, in the attitude of spreading consternation among an enemy. The production of this statue is generally assigned to the period after the invasion of the Gauls, whom, in 278 B.C., the god drove in alarm from his sanctuary, at Delphi. (A cut of Apollo Belvidere is seen on page 495.)

Of the Faun of Praxiteles there are two copies in the Vatican, but both are inferior to that in the Capitol. A copy of the Cupid of Praxiteles is in the British Museum. Of the Apollo Sauroctonos there are two copies, one in the Vatican, and another in bronze in the Villa Albani. Of the Venus of Cnidos of Praxiteles there are several copies in the Vatican; one in particular, in the Chiaramonte Gallery, No. 112, though very inferior as a work of art, gives the exact pose of the original statue as it appears on the coin of Cnidos. The Venus of the Capitol is a Roman version of the Praxitelean statue; it differs in attitude. Several copies of the Discobolos of Myron are still in existence: one in the British Museum, one in the Vatican, and a third, much finer than either of the others, in the possession of Prince Massimo. A very fine marble copy of the celebrated bronze of Lysippus is in the Vatican. A copy of the Pythian Apollo by Scopas is in the same museum.

The noble statue of Augustus, discovered in 1863, and now in the Vatican, is a grand example of the portrait statues of this period. It is full of life and individuality. The pose is simple and majestic, as befitting the portrait of an Emperor. The bust of the young Augustus in the Vatican for depth of expression, individuality, truth to nature, and delicacy of finish and treatment, is a marvel in portraiture.

Under Tiberius and Claudius a limit was placed to the right of having statues exposed in public; consequently a lesser number of statues were made, and less attention was paid to the perfection of the portrait. However, some excellent works were produced in this period. The style became purer and more refined under Hadrian, for a partial revival of Greek art is attributed to this Emperor. The hair was carefully worked, the eyebrows were raised, the pupils were indicated by a deep cavity—an essential characteristic of this age, rare before this period, and frequently introduced afterwards; the heads required greater strength, without, however, increasing in character. Of the most remarkable productions of the age of Hadrian are the numerous repetitions of the statue of Antinous, an ideal portrait of Hadrian's favorite, exhibiting much artistic perfection. That in the Capitol is remarkable, not only for its exceeding beauty, but also for its correct anatomy. Of the Emperor Hadrian there is a fine portrait statue in the British Museum. Under the Antonines, the decay of the art was still more manifest, displaying a want of simplicity, and an attention in trivial and meretricious accessories. Thus, in the busts, the hair and the beard luxuriate in an exaggerated profusion of curls, the careful expression of features of the countenance being at the same time frequently neglected. This age was remarkable also for its recurrence to the style of a primitive and imperfect art in the reproduction of Egyptian statues.

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MOSAIC.

Mosaic, opus musivum, is a kind of painting made with minute pieces of colored substances, generally either marble or natural stones, or else glass, more or less opaque, and of every variety of hue which the subject may require, set in very fine cement, and which thus form pictures of different kinds, rivaling in color and hue those painted by the brush.

Early nations knew the art of mosaic, and it is supposed to derive its origin from Asia, where paintings of this kind were composed, in imitation of the beautiful carpets manufactured at all periods in those countries. The Egyptians employed it very probably for different purposes; no traces of it have, however, been found in the temples or palaces the ruins of which remain. There is in the Egyptian collection at Turin a fragment of a mummy case, the paintings of which are executed in mosaic with wonderful precision and truth. The material is enamel, the colors are of different hues, and their variety renders with perfect truth the plumage of birds. It is believed to be the only example of Egyptian mosaic.

The Greeks carried the art of mosaic to the highest perfection, assuming after the time of Alexander an importance which entitled it to be ranked as an independent art. Skillfully managing the hues, and giving to the figures in their compositions an exquisite harmony, they resembled at a slight distance real paintings. Different names were given to the mosaics, according as they were executed in pieces of marble of a certain size; it was then lithostroton, opus sectile; or in small cubes, in this case it was called opus tessellatum, or vermiculatum. The name of asaroton was given to a mosaic destined to adorn the pavement of a dining hall. It was supposed to represent an unswept hall, on the pavement of which the crumbs and remains of the repast which fell from the table still remained. It was said to be introduced by Sosus of Pergamus, the first mosaic artist of consequence of whom we hear.



Mosaic was used to adorn the pavements, walls, and ceilings of public and private edifices. The Greeks in general preferred marble to every other material. A bed of mortar was prepared, which served as a base, which was covered with a very fine cement. The artist, having before him the colored design which he was to execute, fixed the colored cubes in the cement, and polished the entire surface when it had hardened, taking care, however, that too great a polish, by its reflection, might not mar the general effect of his work. The great advantage of mosaic is that it resists humidity, and all which could change the colors and the beauty of painting. Painting could not be employed in the pavement of buildings, and mosaics gave them an appearance of great elegance. The mosaic of the Capitol, found in Hadrian's Villa, may give an idea of the perfection which the Greeks attained to in that art. It represents a vase full of water, on the sides of which are four doves, one of which is in the act of drinking. It is supposed by some to be the mosaic of Pergamus mentioned by Pliny. It is entirely composed of cubes of marble, without any admixture of colored glass. Mosaic of this kind may be considered as the most ancient; it was only by degrees that the art of coloring marble, enamel, and glass multiplied the materials suited for mosaics, and rendered their execution much more easy. It was then carried to a very high degree of perfection. The mosaic found at Pompeii, which represents three masked figures playing on different instruments, with a child near them, is of the most exquisite workmanship. It is formed of very small pieces of glass, of the most beautiful colors, and of various shades. The hair, the small leaves which ornament the masks, and the eyebrows, are most delicately expressed. What enhances the value of this mosaic is the name of the artist who worked in it—Dioscorides of Samos. Another mosaic found at Pompeii is the beautiful one of Acratus on a Panther. The subjects represented in mosaics are in endless variety, and generally are derived from mythology or heroic myths. Landscapes and ornaments in borders, in frets, in compartments, intermingled with tritons, nereides, centaurs, are to be found on them. The principal subject is in the center, the rest serves as a bordering or framework. In the Greek tessellated pavement found at Halicarnassus, the mosaic is of very fine workmanship, being composed of small cubes of white, black and red marble.



Another and a still more remarkable mosaic was discovered in the House of the Faun, and is perhaps the most beautiful and magnificent specimen of the art that has yet been found. This mosaic, which is now preserved in the museum at Naples, is about eighteen feet long by nine broad. The subject represents a battle between Greeks and barbarians, the latter apparently of eastern race; but a variety of conjectures have been hazarded as to what battle is actually depicted. Some have seen in it the combat between Patroclus and Sarpedon, and the death of the latter; others have recognized in it the battles of the Granicus, of Arbela, of Plataea, of Marathon, etc. But the opinion most commonly adopted is that of Professor Quaranta, who refers the picture to the battle of Issus. The Grecian leader, supposed to represent Alexander the Great, is drawn with great beauty and vigor. Charging, bareheaded, in the midst of the fight, he has transfixed with his lance one of the Persian leaders, whose horse, wounded in the shoulder, had already fallen. The expression of physical agony in the countenance of the wounded man is admirably depicted. Another horse, which an attendant had brought for him, has arrived too late. The death of the Persian general has evidently decided the fortune of the day. In the background, the Persian spears are still directed against the advancing Greeks. But at the sight of the fallen general, another Persian leader in a quadriga, who, from the richness of his dress and accoutrements, the height of his tiara, and his red chlamys, is probably Darius himself, stretches forth his right hand in an attitude of alarm and despair, while the charioteer urges his horses to precipitate flight. Nothing can exceed the vigor with which both men and animals are depicted in this unequaled mosaic. If the Grecian hero really represents Alexander the Great, the mosaic may probably be a copy of a picture by Appelles, the only artist privileged to paint the Macedonian conqueror. It is unfortunate that the work has suffered much damage on the left side, or that which contains the Grecian host. It was, however, in this mutilated state when discovered, and seems to have been under a process of reparation. The border represents a river, apparently the Nile, with a crocodile, hippopotamus, ichneumon, ibises, etc.; whence some have been led to think that the mosaic is a copy of a picture on the same subject known to have been painted by a female Egyptian artist named Helena, and brought to Rome by Vespasian.

Painted floors were first used by the Greeks, who made and colored them with much care, until they were driven out by the mosaic floors called lithostrota. The most famous workman in this kind was Sosus, who wrought at Pergamus the pavement which is called asarotus oikos, the unswept hall, made of quarrels or square tesserae of different colors, in such a way as to resemble the crumbs and scraps that fell from the table, and such-like things as usually are swept away, as if they were still left by negligence upon the pavement. There also is admirably represented a dove drinking, in such a way that the shadow of her head is cast on the water. Other doves are seen sitting on the rim of the vessel preening themselves and basking in the sun. The first paved floors which came into use were those called barbarica and subtegulanea, which were beaten down with rammers, as may be known by the name pavimentum, from pavire, to ram. The pavements called scalpturata were first introduced into Italy in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, after the beginning of the third Punic war. But ere the Cimbric wars began, such pavements were in common use at Rome, and men took great delight and pleasure therein.

For galleries and terraces open to the sky, they were devised by the Greeks, who, enjoying a warm climate, used to cover their houses with them; but where the rain waters freeze, pavements of this sort are not to be trusted. To make a terrace of this sort, it is necessary to lay two courses of boards, one athwart the other, the ends of which ought to be nailed, that they should not twist nor warp; which done take two parts of new rubbish, and one of tiles stamped to powder; then with other three parts of old rubbish mix two parts of lime, and herewith lay a bed of a foot thickness, taking care to ram it hard together. Over this must be laid a bed of mortar, six fingers thick, and upon this middle couch, large paving-tiles, at least two fingers deep. This sort of pavement is to be made to rise to the center in the proportion of one inch and a-half to ten feet. Being thus laid, it is to be planed and polished diligently with some hard stone; but, above all, regard is to be had that the boarded floor be made of oak. As for such as do start or warp any way, they be thought naught. Moreover, it were better to lay a course of flint or chaff between it and the lime, to the end that the lime may not have so much force to hurt the board underneath it. It were also well to put at the bottom a bed of round pebbles.



And here we must not forget another kind of these pavements which are called Graecanica, the manner of which is this: Upon a floor well beaten with rammers, is laid a bed of rubbish, or else broken tile-shards, and then upon it a couch of charcoal, well beaten, and driven close together, with sand, and lime, and small cinders, well mixed together, to the thickness of half a foot, well leveled; and this has the appearance of an earthen floor; but, if it be polished with a hard smooth stone, the whole pavement will seem all black. As for those pavements called lithostrota, which are made of divers colored squares or dice, they came into use in Sylla's time, who made one at Praeneste, in the temple of Fortune, which pavement remains to be seen at this day.

It may be remarked here, that the Roman villa at Northleigh, in Oxfordshire, examined and described by Mr. Hakewill, abounded with beautiful pavements. The substratum of one of these, which had been broken, was investigated, when it was found that the natural soil had been removed to a depth of near seven feet, and the space filled up with materials which bear a near resemblance to those which Pliny recommends.

A specimen of the coarser sort of mosaic pavement is to be seen in the Townley Gallery, in the British Museum.

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LITERATURE.

The perfection which the Greeks attained in literature and art is one of the most striking features in the history of the people. Their intellectual activity and their keen appreciation of the beautiful constantly gave birth to new forms of creative genius. There was an uninterrupted progress in the development of the Grecian mind from the earliest dawn of the history of the people to the downfall of their political independence, and each succeeding age saw the production of some of those master works of genius which have been the models and admiration of all subsequent time.

The poets were the popular writers of ancient Greece; prose writers appear no earlier than the sixth century before the Christian era, at which time the first literary prose essay was produced, for which three contemporary authors claim the honor. The Greeks had arrived at a high degree of civilization before they can be said to have possessed a history of their own. Nations far behind them in intellectual development have infinitely excelled them in this respect. The imagination seems to have been entirely dazzled and fascinated with the glories of the heroic ages, and to have taken but little interest in the events which were daily passing around them. Poetry constitutes the chief part of early Greek literature. We give specimens of both Greek poetry and prose. We will not attempt to give specimens of all, but only such as are considered, by common consent, the best.

HOMER.

Seven cities have contested for the honor of the birth-place of Homer. It is now generally agreed that he was born about 950 B.C., in the City of Melesigenes.

It is not a little strange that nothing should be known with certainty of the parentage or of the birth-place, or even of the era of the greatest poet of antiquity, of him who, next to Milton, ranks as the greatest epic poet of the world. In two respects, all the accounts concerning him agree—that he had traveled much, and that he was afflicted with blindness. From the first circumstance, it has been inferred that he was either rich or enjoyed the patronage of the wealthy; but this will not appear necessary when it is considered that, in his time, journeys were usually performed on foot, and that he probably traveled, with a view to his support, as an itinerant musician or reciter. From most of the traditions respecting him, it appears that he was poor, and it is to be feared that necessity, rather than the mere desire of gratifying curiosity, prompted his wanderings. All that has been advanced respecting the occasion of his blindness is mere conjecture. Certain it is, that this misfortune arose from accident or disease, and not from the operation of nature at his birth; for the character of his compositions seems rather to suppose him all eye, than destitute of sight; and if they were even framed during his blindness, they form a glorious proof of the vivid power of the imagination more than supplying the want of the bodily organs, and not merely throwing a variety of its own tints over the objects of nature, but presenting them to the mind in a clearer light than could be shed over them by one whose powers of immediate vision were perfectly free from blemish.

Of the incidents in the life of Homer, almost as little is known as of his parentage and birth-place. However, the general account is that he was for many years a school-master in Smyrna; that, being visited by one Mentes, the commander of a Leucadian ship, he was induced by him to leave his occupation and travel; that, in company with this captain, he visited the various countries around the shores of the Mediterranean, and at last was left at Ithaca, in consequence of a weakness in his eyes. While in this island, he was entertained by a man of fortune named Mentor, who narrated to him the stories upon which afterwards the Odyssey was founded. On the return of Mentes, he accompanied him to Colophon, where he became totally blind. He then returned to Smyrna, and afterwards removed to Cyme (called also Cuma), in AEolis, where he received great applause in the recitations of his poems, but no pecuniary reward; the people alleging that they could not maintain all the Homeroi, or blind men, and hence he obtained the name of Homer. Thence he went about from place to place, acquiring much wealth by his recitations, and died at the Island of Ios, one of the Cyclades, where he was buried.

The works attributed to Homer consist of the two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, of twenty-four books each, the Batrachomyomachia, or "Battle of the Frogs and Mice," a humorous, mock-heroic poem, and somewhat of a parody on the Iliad; the Margites, a satirical, personal satire, and about thirty Hymns. All of these but the two great epics are now, however, considered as spurious.

But it was left to modern skepticism (which seems to think that to doubt shows a higher order of intellect than to believe on evidence) to maintain the bold position that the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" were a collection of separate lays by different authors, arranged and put together for the first time during the tyranny and by the order of Pisistratus, at Athens, about 550 B.C. The chief supporters of this theory are the celebrated German scholars, Wolf and Heyne, who flourished about the year 1800.

Those who may desire to go into the subject fully will read Wolf's "Prolegomena," and the strictures of his great opponent, G.W. Nitzsch; but a succinct account of the argument may be found in Browne's "Classical Literature," and in the "History of Greek Literature," by Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd.

Even Wolf himself candidly declares that when he reads the "Iliad" he finds such unity of design, such harmony of coloring, and such consistency of character, that he is ready to give up his theories, and to be angry with himself for doubting the common faith in the personality of Homer.

Professor Felton, in his excellent edition of the "Iliad," thus remarks in the preface: "For my part, I prefer to consider it, as we have received it from ancient editors, as one poem, the work of one author, and that author Homer—the first and greatest of minstrels. As I understand the 'Iliad,' there is a unity of plan, a harmony of parts, a consistency among the different situations of the same character, which mark it as the production of one mind; but of a mind as versatile as the forms of nature, the aspects of life, and the combinations of powers, propensities and passions in man are various." In these views, the literary world now very generally concurs.

"The hypothesis to which the antagonists of Homer's personality must resort implies something more wonderful than the theory which they impugn. They profess to cherish the deepest veneration for the genius displayed in the poems. They agree, also, in the antiquity usually assigned to them; and they make this genius and this antiquity the arguments to prove that one man could not have composed them. They suppose, then, that in a barbarous age, instead of one being marvelously gifted, there were many; a mighty race of bards, such as the world has never since seen—a number of miracles instead of one. All experience is against this opinion. In various periods of the world great men have arisen, under very different circumstances, to astonish and delight it; but that the intuitive power should be so strangely diffused, at any one period, among a great number, who should leave no successors behind them, is unworthy of credit. And we are requested to believe this to have occurred in an age which those who maintain the theory regard as unfavorable to the poetic art! The common theory, independent of other proofs, is prima facie the most probable. Since the early existence of the works can not be doubted, it is easier to believe in one than in twenty Homers."—Talfourd.

OPENING ARGUMENT OF THE ILIAD.

(By Homer.)

Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess sing! That wrath which hurl'd to Pluto's gloomy reign The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain; Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore, Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore; Since great Achilles and Atrides strove. Such was the sov'reign doom, and such the will of Jove.

Pope.

MINERVA ARMING HERSELF FOR BATTLE.

(By Homer.)

Minerva wrapt her in the robe that curiously she wove With glorious colors, as she sate on th' azure floor of Jove; And wore the arms that he puts on, bent to the tearful field. About her broad-spread shoulders hung his huge and horrid shield, Fring'd round with ever-fighting snakes; though it was drawn to life The miseries and deaths of fight; in it frown'd bloody Strife; In it shin'd sacred Fortitude; in it fell Pursuit flew; In it the monster Gorgon's head, in which held out to view Were all the dire ostents of Jove; on her big head she plac'd His four-plum'd glittering casque of gold, so admirably vast, It would an hundred garrisons of soldiers comprehend. Then to her shining chariot her vigorous feet ascend; And in her violent hand she takes his grave, huge, solid lance, With which the conquests of her wrath she useth to advance, And overturn whole fields of men; to show she was the seed Of him that thunders. Then heaven's queen, to urge her horses' speed, Takes up the scourge, and forth they fly; the ample gates of heaven Rung, and flew open of themselves; the charge whereof is given, With all Olympus and the sky, to the distinguish'd Hours; That clear or hide it all in clouds, or pour it down in showers. This way their scourge-obeying horse made haste, and soon they won The top of all the topful heavens, where aged Saturn's son Sate severed from the other gods.

Chapman's translation, v.

PARTING OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.

(By Homer.)

Hector now pass'd, with sad presaging heart, To seek his spouse, his soul's far dearer part; At home he sought her, but he sought in vain: She, with one maid of all her menial train, Had thence retired; and with her second joy, The young Astyanax, the hope of Troy: Pensive she stood on Ilion's towery height, Beheld the war, and sicken'd at the sight; There her sad eyes in vain her lord explore, Or weep the wounds her bleeding country bore. Hector this heard, return'd without delay; Swift through the town he trod his former way, Through streets of palaces and walks of state, And met the mourner at the Scaean gate. With haste to meet him sprung the joyful fair, His blameless wife, Aetion's wealthy heir.



The nurse stood near, in whose embraces press'd, His only hope hung smiling at her breast; Whom each soft charm and early grace adorn, Fair as the new-born star that gilds the morn. Silent the warrior smiled, and pleased resign'd To tender passions all his mighty mind: His beauteous princess cast a mournful look, Hung on his hand, and then dejected spoke; Her bosom labor'd with a boding sigh, And the big tear stood trembling in her eye. "Too darling prince! ah, whither dost thou run? Ah, too forgetful of thy wife and son! And think'st thou not how wretched we shall be, A widow I, a helpless orphan he! For sure such courage length of life denies, And thou must fall, thy virtues sacrifice. Greece in her single heroes strove in vain; Now hosts oppose thee, and thou must be slain! Oh grant me, gods! ere Hector meets his doom, All I can ask of heaven, an early tomb! So shall my days in one sad tenor run, And end with sorrows as they first begun. No parent now remains my griefs to share, No father's aid, no mother's tender care. The fierce Achilles wrapp'd our walls in fire, Laid Thebe waste, and slew my warlike sire! By the same arm my seven brave brothers fell, In one sad day beheld the gates of hell. My mother lived to bear the victor's bands, The queen of Hippoplacia's sylvan lands. Yet, while my Hector still survives, I see My father, mother, brethren, all in thee: Alas! my parents, brothers, kindred, all Once more will perish, if my Hector fall. Thy wife, thy infant, in thy danger share: O, prove a husband's and a father's care! That quarter most the skillful Greeks annoy Where yon wild fig-trees join the walls of Troy; Thou from this tower defend the important post; There Agamemnon points his dreadful host, That pass Tydides, Ajax, strive to gain. And there the vengeful Spartan fires his train. Thrice our bold foes the fierce attack have given, Or led by hopes, or dictated from heaven. Let others in the field their arms employ, But stay my Hector here, and guard his Troy." The chief replied: "That post shall be my care, Nor that alone, but all the works of war. How would the sons of Troy, in arms renown'd, And Troy's proud dames, whose garments sweep the ground, Attaint the lustre of my former name, Should Hector basely quit the field of fame? My early youth was bred to martial pains, My soul impels me to the embattled plains; Let me be foremost to defend the throne, And guard my father's glories and my own. Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates; (How my heart trembles while my tongue relates!) The day when thou, imperial Troy! must bend, Must see thy warriors fall, thy glories end. And yet no dire presage so wounds my mind, My mother's death, the ruin of my kind, Not Priam's hoary hairs defiled with gore, Not all my brothers gasping on the shore, As thine, Andromache! thy griefs I dread; I see the trembling, weeping, captive led! In Argive looms our battles to design, And woes of which so large a part was thine! To bear the victor's hard commands, or bring The weight of waters from Hyperia's spring. There, while you groan beneath the load of life, They cry, 'Behold the mighty Hector's wife!' Some haughty Greek, who lives thy tears to see, Embitters all thy woes by naming me. The thoughts of glory past, and present shame, A thousand griefs shall waken at the name! May I lie cold before that dreadful day, Press'd with a load of monumental clay! Thy Hector, wrapt in everlasting sleep, Shall neither hear thee sigh, nor see thee weep." Thus having spoke, the illustrious chief of Troy Stretch'd his fond arms to clasp the lovely boy. The babe clung crying to his nurse's breast, Scared at the dazzling helm and nodding crest. With secret pleasure each fond parent smiled, And Hector hasted to relieve his child; The glittering terrors from his brows unbound, And placed the gleaming helmet on the ground. Then kiss'd the child, and, lifting high in air, Thus to the gods preferr'd a father's prayer:— "O, thou whose glory fills the ethereal throne! And all ye deathless powers, protect my son! Grant him, like me, to purchase just renown, To guard the Trojans, to defend the crown; Against his country's foes the war to wage, And rise the Hector of the future age! So when, triumphant from successful toils Of heroes slain, he bears the reeking spoils, Whole hosts may hail him with deserved acclaim, And say, 'This chief transcends his father's fame;' While pleased, amidst the general shouts of Troy, His mother's conscious heart o'erflows with joy." He spoke, and fondly gazing on her charms, Restored the pleasing burden to her arms; Soft on her fragrant breast the babe he laid, Hush'd to repose, and with a smile survey'd. The troubled pleasure soon chastised by fear. She mingled with the smile a tender tear. The soften'd chief with kind compassion view'd, And dried the falling drops, and thus pursued:— "Andromache, my soul's far better part, Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart? No hostile hand can antedate my doom, Till fate condemns me to the silent tomb. Fix'd is the term to all the race of earth; And such the hard condition of our birth, No force can then resist, no flight can save, All sink alike, the fearful and the brave. No more—but hasten to thy tasks at home, There guide the spindle, and direct the loom: Me glory summons to the martial scene, The field of combat is the sphere for men; Where heroes war, the foremost place I claim, The first in danger, as the first in fame." Thus having said, the glorious chief resumes His towery helmet black with shading plumes. His princess parts, with a prophetic sigh, Unwilling parts, and oft reverts her eye, That stream'd at every look; then, moving slow, Sought her own palace, and indulged her woe. There, while her tears deplored the god-like man, Through all her train the soft infection ran. The pious maids their mingled sorrows shed, And mourn the living Hector as the dead.

Pope, Iliad, vi.

THE RACE OF MAN.

(By Homer.)

Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; Another race the following spring supplies; They fall successive, and successive rise: So generations in their course decay; So flourish these when those are past away.

Pope, Iliad, vi.

COUNCIL OF THE GODS.

(By Homer.)

Aurora now, fair daughter of the dawn, Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn; When Jove convened the senate of the skies, Where high Olympus' cloudly tops arise. The Sire of Gods his awful silence broke, The heavens attentive trembled as he spoke:— "Celestial states, immortal gods, give ear! Hear our decree, and reverence what ye hear; The fix'd decree, which not all heaven can move; Thou, Fate, fulfill it; and ye, Powers, approve! What god but enters yon forbidden field, Who yields assistance, or but wills to yield, Back to the skies with shame he shall be driven, Gash'd with dishonest wounds, the scorn of heaven: Or far, oh far, from steep Olympus thrown, Low in the dark Tartarean gulf shall groan, With burning chains fix'd to the brazen floors, And lock'd by hell's inexorable doors; As deep beneath the infernal center hurl'd, As from that center to the ethereal world. Let him who tempts me dread those dire abodes, And know the Almighty is the god of gods. League all your forces, then, ye powers above, Join all, and try the omnipotence of Jove: Let down our golden everlasting chain, Whose strong embrace holds heaven, and earth, and main; Strive all, of mortal and immortal birth, To drag, by this, the Thunderer down to earth: Ye strive in vain! If I but stretch this hand, I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land; I fix the chain to great Olympus' height, And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight! For such I reign, unbounded and above; And such are men and gods, compared to Jove."

Pope, Iliad, viii.

NIGHT-SCENE.

(By Homer.)

The troops exulting sat in order round, And beaming fires illumined all the ground. As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night! O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene; Around her throne the vivid planets roll, And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole, O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, And tip with silver every mountain's head; Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, A flood of glory bursts from all the skies: The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light. So many flames before proud Ilion blaze, And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays: The long reflections of the distant fires Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the spires.

Pope, Iliad, viii.

HATEFULNESS OF WAR.

(By Homer.)

Cursed is the man, and void of law and right, Unworthy property, unworthy light, Unfit for public rule, or private care; That wretch, that monster, who delights in war: Whose lust is murder, and whose horrid joy To tear his country, and his kind destroy!

Pope, Iliad, ix.

FALSEHOOD.

(By Homer.)

Who dares think one thing, and another tell, My heart detests him as the gates of hell.

Pope, Iliad, ix.

SHOWERS OF ARROWS.

(By Homer.)

As the feathery snows Fall frequent on some wintry day, when Jove Hath risen to shed them on the race of man, And show his arrowy stores; he lulls the wind Then shakes them down continual, covering thick Mountain tops, promontories, flowery meads, And cultured valleys rich, and ports and shores Along the margined deep; but there the wave Their further progress stays; while all besides Lies whelm'd beneath Jove's fast-descending shower; So thick, from side to side, by Trojans hurled Against the Greeks, and by the Greeks returned, The stony volleys flew.

Cowper, Iliad, xii.

PRIAM BEGGING THE BODY OF HECTOR.

(By Homer.)

"Think, O Achilles, semblance of the gods, On thine own father, full of days like me. And trembling on the gloomy verge of life. Some neighbor chief, it may be, even now Oppresses him, and there is none at hand, No friend to succor him in his distress. Yet, doubtless, hearing that Achilles lives, He still rejoices, hoping day by day, That one day he shall see the face again Of his own son, from distant Troy returned. But me no comfort cheers, whose bravest sons, So late the flowers of Ilium, are all slain. When Greece came hither, I had fifty sons; But fiery Mars hath thinn'd them. One I had, One, more than all my sons, the strength of Troy, Whom, standing for his country, thou hast slain— Hector. His body to redeem I come Into Achaia's fleet, bringing myself, Ransom inestimable to thy tent. Rev'rence the gods, Achilles! recollect Thy father; for his sake compassion show To me, more pitiable still, who draw Home to my lips (humiliation yet Unseen on earth) his hand who slew my son!" So saying, he waken'd in his soul regret Of his own sire; softly he placed his hand On Priam's hand, and pushed him gently away, Remembrance melted both. Rolling before Achilles' feet, Priam his son deplored, Wide-slaughtering Hector, and Achilles wept By turns his father, and by turns his friend Patroclus: sounds of sorrow fill'd the tent.

Cowper, Iliad, xxiv.

HELEN'S LAMENTATION OVER HECTOR.

(By Homer.)

Grief fell on all around; Then Helen thus breathed forth her plaintive sound:— "Hector, to Helen's soul more lov'd than all Whom I in Ilion's walls dare brother call, Since Paris here to Troy his consort led, Who in the grave had found a happier bed. 'Tis now, since here I came, the twentieth year, Since left my land, and all I once held dear: But never from that hour has Helen heard From thee a harsh reproach or painful word; But if thy kindred blam'd me, if unkind The queen e'er glanc'd at Helen's fickle mind— (For Priam, still benevolently mild, Look'd on me as a father views his child)— Thy gentle speech, thy gentleness of soul, Would by thine own, their harsher minds control. Hence, with a heart by torturing misery rent, Thee and my hapless self I thus lament; For no kind eye in Troy on Helen rests, But who beholds me shudders and detests."

Sotheby, Iliad, xxi.

We will here give a few pages of the history of the Trojan war, giving some of the characters, subjects, etc., referred to in the preceding poems in a prose story.

PARIS.

There was sorrow, instead of gladness, in the halls of Priam, because a son was born unto him, and because the lady Hecuba had dreamed a dream, from which the seers knew that the child should bring ruin on the Ilion land. So his mother looked with cold, unloving eyes on the babe as he lay weak and helpless in his cradle, and Priam bade them take the child and leave him on rugged Ida, for the fountain of his love was closed against him.

For five days the dew fell on the babe by night, and the sun shone fiercely on him by day, as he lay on the desolate hill-side, and the shepherd who placed him there to sleep the sleep of death looked upon the child and said, "He sleeps as babes may slumber on silken couches; the gods will it not that he should die." So he took him to his home, and the child grew up with ruddy cheek and nimble feet, brave and hardy, so that none might be matched with him for strength and beauty. The fierce wolves came not near the flocks while Paris kept guard near the fold, the robber lurked not near the homestead when Paris sat by the hearth. So all sang of his strength and his great deeds, and they called him Alexandros, the helper of men.

Many years he tended the flocks on woody Ida, but Priam, his father, dwelt in Ilion, and thought not to see his face again, and he said within himself, "Surely my child is long since dead, and no feast has been given to the gods that Paris may dwell in peace in the dark kingdom of Hades." Then he charged his servants to fetch him a bull from the herd, which might be given to the man who should conquer in the games, and they chose out one which Paris loved above all others that he drove out to pasture. So he followed the servants of Priam in grief and anger, and he stood forth and strove with his brethren in the games, and in all of them Paris was the conqueror. Then one of his brothers was moved with wrath, and lifted up his sword against him, but Paris fled to the altar of Zeus, and the voice of Cassandra, his sister, was heard saying, "O blind of eye and heart, see ye not that this is Paris, whom ye sent to sleep the sleep of death on woody Ida?"

But Paris would not dwell in the sacred Ilion, for he loved not those who sought to slay him while he was yet a helpless child, and again he tended the flocks on the wide plains and up the rough hillsides. Strong he was of limb and stout of heart, and his face shone with a marvelous beauty, so that they who saw it thought him fair as the bright heroes. There, as he wandered in the woody dells of Ida, he saw and wooed the beautiful Oenone, the child of the river-god, Kebren. Many a time he sat with the maiden by the side of the stream, and the sound of their voices was mingled with the soft murmur of the waters. He talked to her of love, and Oenone looked up with a wondrous joy into his beautiful face, when the morning dew glistened white upon the grass and when the evening star looked out upon the pale sky.

So was Paris wedded to Oenone, and the heart of the maiden was full of happiness, for none was braver or more gentle—none so stout of heart, so lithe of limb, so tender and loving as Paris. Thus passed the days away in a swift dream of joy, for Oenone thought not of the change that was coming.

There was feasting and mirth among the gods and men, for the brave Peleus had won Thetis, the maiden of the sea, for his bride; and she rose from the depths of her coral caves to go to his home in Phthia. The banquet was spread in his ancient hall, and the goblets sparkled with the dark wine, for all the gods had come down from Olympus to share the feast in the house of Peleus. Only Eris was not bidden, for she was the child of War and Hatred, and they feared to see her face in the hours of laughter and mirth; but her evil heart rested not till she found a way to avenge herself for the wrong which they had done to her.

The gods were listening to the song of Phoebus Apollo as he made sweet music on the strings of his harp, when a golden apple was cast upon the table before them. They knew not whence it came, only they saw that it was to be a gift for the fairest in that great throng, for so was it written on the apple. Then the joy of the feast was gone, and the music of the song ceased, for there was a strife which should have the golden prize; and Here, the Queen, said, "The gods themselves do obeisance to me when I enter the halls of Olympus, and men sing of the glory of my majesty; therefore must the gift be mine." But Athene answered, and said, "Knowledge and goodness are better things than power; mine is the worthier title." Then the fair Aphrodite lifted her white arm, and a smile of triumph passed over her face as she said, "I am the child of love and beauty, and the stars danced in the heaven for joy as I sprang from the sea foam; I dread not the contest, for to me alone must the golden gift be given."

So the strife waxed hot in the banquet hall, till Zeus spake with a loud voice, and said, "It needs not to strive now. Amid the pine forest of Ida dwells Paris, the fairest of the sons of men; let him be judge, and the apple shall be hers to whom he shall give it." Then Hermes rose and led them quickly over land and sea, to go to the rough hillside where Paris wooed and won Oenone.

Presently the messenger of Zeus stood before Paris, and said, "Fairest of the sons of men, there is strife among the undying gods, for Here and Aphrodite and Athene seek each to have the golden apple which must be given to her who is most fair. Judge thou, therefore, between them when they come, and give peace again to the halls of Zeus."

In a dream of joy and love Oenone sate by the river-side, and she looked on her own fair face, which was shown to her in a still calm pool where the power of the stream came not, and she said to herself, "The gods are kind, for they have given to me a better gift than that of beauty, for the love of Paris sheds for me a wondrous beauty over the heaven above and the broad earth beneath." Then came Paris, and said, "See, Oenone, dearest child of the bright waters, Zeus hath called me to be judge in a weighty matter. Hither are coming Here, the Queen, and Aphrodite and Athene, seeking each the golden apple which must be given to her alone who is the fairest. Yet go not away, Oenone; the broad vine leaves have covered our summer bower; there tarry and listen to the judgment, where none may see thee."

So Paris sat in judgment, and Here spake to him, and said, "I know I am the fairest, for none other has beauty and majesty like mine. Hearken, then, to me, and I will give thee power to do great deeds among the sons of men, and a name which the minstrels shall sing of among those who shall be born in long time to come." But Athene answered, "Heed not her words, O Paris. Thy hand is strong and thy heart is pure, and the men among whom thou dwellest honor thee even now because thou hast done them good. There are better things than power and high renown; and if thou wilt hearken to me, I will give thee wisdom and strength; and pure love shall be thine, and the memory of happy days when thou drawest near to the dark land of Hades."

Then Paris thought that he heard the voice of Oenone, and it seemed to whisper to him, "Wisdom and right are better than power, give it to Athene." But Aphrodite gazed upon him with laughing eyes, as she came up closer to his side. Her dark curls fell waving over his shoulder, and he felt the breath from her rosy lips, as she laid her hand on his arm and whispered softly in his ear, "I talk not to thee of my beauty, for it may be thou seest that I am very fair, but hearken to me, and I will give thee for thy wife the fairest of all the daughters of men." But Paris answered, "I need not thy gift, O child of the bright sea foam, for fairer wife than Oenone no mortal man may hope to have. Yet art thou the fairest of all the daughters of the undying gods, and the gift of the fairest is thine."

So he placed the golden apple in the palm of her snow-white hand, and the touch of her slender fingers thrilled through the heart of Paris as she parted from him with smiling lip and laughing eye. But Here, the Queen, and Athene, the virgin child of Zeus, went away displeased, and evermore their wrath lay heavy on the city and land of Ilion.

Then went Paris to Oenone, and he twined his arms around her and said, "Didst thou see the dark countenance of the lady Here when I gave to the fairest the gift which the fairest alone may have? Yet what care I for the wrath of Here and Athene? One smile from the lips of Aphrodite is better than their favor for a whole life long." But Oenone answered sadly, "I would that thou mayest speak truly, Paris; yet in my eyes the lady Athene is fairer far, and Aphrodite is ever false as fair." Then Paris clasped her closer in his arms and kissed her pale cheek, and said nothing.



But the fierce wrath of Eris was not ended yet. Far away in the western land, there was sore famine in the kingdom of the mighty Menelaus, the people died by the wayside, and the warriors had no strength to go forth to the battle or the huntsmen to the chase. Many times they sought to know the will of the gods, but they heard only dark words for answers, till Phoebus Apollo said that the famine should never cease from the land until they brought from Ilion the bones of the children of Prometheus, whom Zeus bound on the desolate crags of Caucasus. So Menelaus, the King, departed from his home and went to the city of Priam. There he saw the beautiful Paris, and took him to the Spartan land, for he said that Paris should return home rich and wealthy. So Paris believed his words, and sailed with him over the wide sea. Long time he abode in Sparta, and day by day he saw the lady Helen in the halls of Menelaus. At the first he thought within himself, "I would that Oenone were here to see the wife of Menelaus, for surely she is fairer than aught else on the earth." But soon he thought less and less of Oenone, who was sorrowing for his long sojourn in the strange land, as she wandered amid the pine forests of woody Ida.

Quickly sped the days for Paris, for his heart was filled with a strange love, and the will of Eris was being accomplished within him. He thought not of Oenone and her lonely wanderings on heathy Ida; he cared not for the kindly deeds of Menelaus; and so it came to pass that, when Menelaus was far away, Paris spoke words of evil love to Helen and beguiled her to leave her home. Stealthily they fled away, and sailed over the sea till they came to the Ilion land; and Helen dwelt with Paris in the house of his father, Priam.

But Oenone mourned for the love which she had lost, and her tears fell into the gentle stream of Kebren as she sat on its grassy banks. "Ah me," she said, "my love hath been stung by Aphrodite. O Paris, Paris! hast thou forgotten all thy words? Here thine arms were clasped around me, and here, as thy lips were pressed to mine, thou didst say that the wide earth had for thee no living thing so fair as Oenone. Sure am I that Helen hath brought to thee only a false joy; for her heart is not thine as the heart of a maiden when it is given to her first love; and sure am I, too, that Helen is not a fairer wife than I, for my heart is all thine, and the beauty of woman is marred when she yields herself to a lawless love. But the cloud is gathering round thee; and I am sprung from the race of the gods, and mine eyes are opened to behold the things that willingly I would not see. I see the waters black with ships, and the hosts of the Achaians gathered round the walls of Ilion. I see the moons roll round, while thy people strive in vain against the wrath of Here and the might of the son of Peleus; and far away I see the flames that shall burn the sacred Ilion. I see thy father smitten down in his own hall, and the spear that shall drink thy life-blood. Ah me! for the doom that is coming, and for the pleasant days when we loved and wandered among the dells of Ida."

So Paris dwelt with Helen in the house of Priam; but men said, "This is no more the brave Alexandros," for he lay at ease on silken couches, and his spear and shield hung idle on the wall. For him the wine sparkled in the goblet while the sun rose high in the heavens, and he cared only to listen to the voice of Helen, or the minstrels who sang of the love and the bowers of laughter-loving Aphrodite. And Helen sat by his side in sullen mood, for she thought of the former days and of the evil which she had done to the good King Menelaus. Then there came into her heart a deep hatred for Paris, and she loathed him for his false words and his fond looks, as he lay quaffing the wine and taking his rest by day and by night upon the silken couches.