The Lapith attacks the Centaur from behind, resting his right knee on
his crupper, and extending forward his right arm to seize the neck of
his foe. The Centaur, standing to the left, turns his human body half
round to meet his adversary. A skin is wound about his left arm by way
of shield. An ample chlamys hangs from the shoulders of the Lapith,
and he wears boots. His left arm was drawn back to strike. A hole near
the pit between the collar-bones and another on the lowest left rib
show where a sword-belt has been attached. Two similar holes are to
be seen on the body of the Centaur. These may have served for the
attachment of a bronze weapon held in the right hand. The head of
the Centaur still existed when Carrey drew this metope, but had
disappeared before the time of Stuart.
_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 2; Michaelis, pl. 3, iii.; _Stereoscopic_,
No. 81.
[Sidenote: =307.=]
The Centaur is victorious; with both hands raised above his head, he
is about to hurl on his prostrate foe a large hydria. His equine body
is rearing against the Lapith, who vainly endeavours to defend himself
with his uplifted buckler, while the Centaur strikes at him with his
fore feet. The right forearm of the Lapith, now wanting, has rested on
the ground. A fragment of his right foot still remaining on the base
of the metope below the left hind leg of the Centaur shows that this
leg was extended nearly at full length, as it is drawn by Carrey. The
heads of both these figures and the right arm of the Centaur are cast
from the originals in the museum at Copenhagen, which were sent from
Athens in 1688 by a Captain Hartmand, who probably served under Count
Königsmark in Morosini's army. Round the head of the Lapith is a
sinking into which a metallic band or wreath has been fitted. On the
ground under the body of the Lapith are some folds of his chlamys, a
fragment of which may be traced on his left arm. Michaelis adds to the
Centaur's left hind-leg a hoof and lower part of leg, the original of
which is in the museum at Copenhagen; but he expresses a doubt whether
this fragment does not belong to the right hind-leg. When Carrey drew
the metope, it was nearly perfect. On the upper margin of the marble
still remains the bead and reel moulding which once ornamented all the
metopes, but of which there are few traces elsewhere.
_Mus. Marbles_, VII., pl. 7; _Stereoscopic_, No. 82. For the
two heads, see Bröndsted, _Voyages et Recherches_, p. 171; _Mus.
Marbles_, VII., pl. 17; Michaelis, pl. 3, iv.
[Sidenote: =308.=]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Metopes 308, 309, from Carrey.]
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