Athen. xii. 55. The kings of America, guided by the same taste, far exceeded the Persian monarchs in magnificence. Montaigne, having spoken of the natural quickness and intelligence of the Indians, adds: “L’espouvantable magnificence des villes de Cusco et de Mexico; et entre plusieurs choses pareilles, le jardin de ce roy, où tous les arbres, les fruicts, et toutes les herbes, selon l’ordre et grandeur qu’ils ont en un jardin, estoient excellemment formées en or: comme en son cabinet tous les animaux, qui naissoient en son estat et en ses mers: et la beauté de leurs ouvrages, en pierrerie, en plume, en cotton, en la peinture, montrent qu’ils ne nous cédoient non plus en l’industrie.” Essais, l. iii. c. vi. t. viii. p. 33. Cf. Solis, Histoire de la Conquête du Mexique, l. iii. c. xiv. Footnote 799: Xenoph. Hellen. vii. 1. 38. ----- We may here perhaps with propriety make mention of that multitude of golden statues[800] which thronged the temples of Greece. For it is not true, as Lucian pretends, that the Hellenic gods and goddesses were contented to shroud their beauty in marble, bronze, or ivory, while Mithras exhibited his rude visage, and Anubis his dog’s snout, in gold.[801] Even private individuals had statues erected to them of this precious metal; and there were not wanting those who, like Gorgias, at their own expense did the same honour to themselves.[802] ----- Footnote 800: Poll. viii. 86. Footnote 801: Lucian. Jup. Trag. § § 8. 9. Toxar. § 28. Cf. Alexand. § 18. Not to mention other statues we find, that there was at Proconnesos, and afterwards at Cyzicos, an image of Dindymenè of massive gold, except the face, which was wrought with the teeth of the hippopotamos. Pausan. viii. 46. 4. See also Winkel. Hist. de l’Art, on the statues of gold and ivory found in Greece, t. i. p. 35. The Minotaur, whether in picture or statue, was represented as a man with a bull’s head. Lucian. Var. Hist. lib. ii. § 41. Footnote 802: Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 24. According to the general testimony of ancient writers, however, the golden statue at Delphi was erected to the Leontine sophist, by a general subscription. Eudoc. Ion. p. 101. Valer. Max. viii. 15. Ext. 2. But from a passage in the Phædros, it may be inferred, that the practice prevailed as described in the text: Καὶ σοὶ ἐγώ, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐννέα ἄρχοντες, ὑπισχνοῦμαι χρυσῆν εἰκόνα ἰσομέτρητον εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀναθήσειν, οὐ μόνον ἐμαυτοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ σήν. Plat. Opp. t. i. p. 19.