Although historical tradition does not extend so far as to prove and verify this view of the subject, still it agrees with all that is characteristic of the Dorians. In the first place then, we know that sculpture was diligently cultivated at an early time in several Doric cities; first perhaps in Crete, the most ancient abode of Doric civilisation;(1748) then in Ægina,(1749) Sicyon, Corinth, Argos,(1750) and Sparta; for that the latter city, particularly at the time of the Persian war, was distinguished by its active pursuit of the arts, has been sufficiently proved in a former part of this work.(1751) Sicyon produced the Apollo of Canachus, of which we have elsewhere endeavoured to give an idea;(1752) and about the same time the Æginetan artists appear to have produced those groups of heroes, the fragments of which are the only sure records which we possess of the peculiarities of that school. For the information which we receive from Pausanias and others goes no further than that in Ægina many statues of the most ancient kind were sculptured, and that a certain hardness of style was preserved there longer than in Attica. The fragments, however, which remain, attest a liveliness of conception, and a truth of imitation, which in many points may be called perfect, and which excite our admiration, and even astonishment. On the other hand, we may remark in the countenances of the heroes, who evidently bear a Greek national physiognomy, though rudely and unpleasingly conceived, that respect for ancient customs which was a fundamental principle of the early times. That this happened at a time when Athens had already cast off every shackle, is a strong characteristic trait of the Dorians. These works, however, possess many other singularities, which cannot be referred to any peculiar disposition of that race. Chapter VIII. § 1. History and rhetoric little cultivated by the Dorians. § 2. Apophthegmatic style of expression used by the Dorians. § 3. Apophthegms of the Seven Sages. § 4. Griphus invented by the Dorians. § 5. Symbolical language of the Pythagorean philosophy.