The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
The statue of Alexander Paris is the work of Euphranor:[1492] it is
much admired, because we recognize in it, at the same moment, all these
characteristics; we see him as the umpire between the goddesses, the
paramour of Helen, and yet the slayer of Achilles. We have a Minerva,
too, by Euphranor, at Rome, known as the “Catulina,” and dedicated
below the Capitol, by Q. Lutatius;[1493] also a figure of Good
Success,[1494] holding in the right hand a patera, and in the left an
ear of corn and a poppy. There is also a Latona by him, in the Temple
of Concord,[1495] with the new-born infants Apollo and Diana in her
arms. He also executed some brazen chariots with four and two horses,
and a Cliduchus[1496] of beautiful proportions; as also two colossal
statues, one representing Virtue, the other Greece;[1497] and a figure
of a female lost in wonder and adoration: with statues of Alexander and
Philip in chariots with four horses. Eutychides executed an emblematic
figure of the Eurotas,[1498] of which it has been frequently remarked,
that the work of the artist appears more flowing than the waters even
of the river.[1499]
Hegias[1500] is celebrated for his Minerva and his King Pyrrhus, his
youthful Celetizontes,[1501] and his statues of Castor and Pollux,
before the Temple of Jupiter Tonans:[1502] Hegesias,[1503] for his
Hercules, which is at our colony of Parium.[1504] Of Isidotus we have
the Buthytes.[1505]
Lycius was the pupil[1506] of Myron: he made a figure representing a
boy blowing a nearly extinguished fire, well worthy of his master, as
also figures of the Argonauts. Leochares made a bronze representing the
eagle carrying off Ganymede: the eagle has all the appearance of being
sensible of the importance of his burden, and for whom he is carrying
it, being careful not to injure the youth with his talons, even through
the garments.[1507] He executed a figure, also, of Autolycus,[1508] who
had been victorious in the contests of the Pancratium, and for whom
Xenophon wrote his Symposium;[1509] the figure, also, of Jupiter Tonans
in the Capitol, the most admired of all his works; and a statue of
Apollo crowned with a diadem. He executed, also, a figure of Lyciscus,
and one of the boy Lagon,[1510] full of the archness and low-bred
cunning of the slave. Lycius also made a figure of a boy burning
perfumes.
We have a young bull by Menæchmus,[1511] pressed down beneath a man’s
knee, with its neck bent back:[1512] this Menæchmus has also written
a treatise on his art. Naucydes[1513] is admired for a Mercury,
a Discobolus,[1514] and a Man sacrificing a Ram. Naucerus made a
figure of a wrestler panting for breath; Niceratus, an Æsculapius and
Hygeia,[1515] which are in the Temple of Concord at Rome. Pyromachus
represented Alcibiades, managing a chariot with four horses:
Polycles made a splendid statue of Hermaphroditus; Pyrrhus, statues
of Hygeia and Minerva; and Phanis, who was a pupil of Lysippus, an
Epithyusa.[1516]
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