But it is the interpretation of the _Idolino_ which chiefly interests us here. While Longpérier called the similar Paris statuette a _Mercure aptère_, and the publisher of the statue from Kyrene called that copy a _Hermes_, yet Kekulé, Bulle, and most other archæologists have seen in the _Idolino_ an athlete. The inner surface of its outstretched right hand is left rough, and the fingers are in the same position as those of the Paris bronze. Such a position can be explained satisfactorily by restoring the hand with a kylix or a φιάλη, such as was commonly used in libations. The left hand is smooth and evidently empty, though Bulle restores it with a victor’s fillet, and so, following Kekulé, calls the statue that of a boy victor, who is bringing an offering to the altar in honor of his victory. The marble statue in the Galleria delle Statue has the right forearm restored; in the Kyrene statue the right hand is preserved and has a thick object held downwards at a greater angle than in the _Idolino_. The photograph does not let us judge decisively, but it seems to be too thick an object for the remnants of a kylix. A marble statue in the Barberini Palace, Rome,[1083] which resembles the _Idolino_ so closely as to be considered a copy of it, though with variations of pose and technique, has the arms broken off, and so adds nothing to the solution of the motive of the _Idolino_. The fact that a palm-stem stands beside the right leg, however, adds weight to the interpretation as victor. Furtwaengler interprets the _Idolino_ and kindred works as divinities. Though boys serve at libations, he thinks they never perform the ritual act of pouring the libation.[1084] That a libation-pourer should appear in the guise of a boy victor (that of Xenokles) he calls a genuine Argive trait. Svoronos, also, has recently tried to show that the _Idolino_ is not a victor,[1085] but represents the hero Herakles. He compares the figure with a fourth-century Pentelic marble relief in Athens,[1086] which represents Herakles standing at the door of Hades and beside him a father leading his son up to the open air. The pose of the figure of Herakles resembles that of the _Idolino_ in a remarkable way. In the relief Herakles holds a kylix in the right hand[1087] and a club in the left, and a lion skin is thrown over the left arm. Svoronos believes that the left hand in the relief explains the turning in of the left hand of the _Idolino_—for he believes that the latter also held a club. We must, however, leave the final solution of the motive of the _Idolino_ and kindred works open, although inclining to the belief that they represent a victor. [Illustration: PLATE 14 Bronze Statue known as the _Idolino_. Museo Archeologico, Florence.] [Illustration: FIG. 26.—Marble Statue of an Athlete(?). National Museum, Athens.]