The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny
Introduction to Vol. III.
4706 words | Chapter 146
[2238] See B. v. c. 32.
[2239] Ajasson says that these bricks have been imitated by Fabroni,
with a light argillaceous earth, found in the territory of Sienna.
Delafosse thinks that a place called “Cala,” in the Sierra Morena,
probably marks the site of the cities above mentioned.
[2240] See B. iv. c. 5, and B. xxxvi. c. 4.
[2241] “Gerusia.”
[2242] See B. iii. c. 19.
[2243] In B. iii. c. 6.
[2244] See B. xviii. c. 29.
[2245] “Untouched by fire.” Native sulphur.
[2246] “Gleba.”
[2247] Sulphur has been always considered highly useful for the cure of
cutaneous affections.
[2248] From ἅρπαζω, “to carry away.”
[2249] Ovid, in his “Art of Love,” speaks of purifying houses with eggs
and sulphur.
[2250] See B. xxxi. c. 32.
[2251] There are three distinct kinds of bitumen. 1. Naphtha, also
known as petroleum, or rock-oil, inflammable, volatile, soluble in
alcohol, and found in France and Italy. 2. Asphalt, or bitumen of
Judæa, solid, insoluble in alcohol, and found in Lake Asphaltites in
Syria, more particularly. 3. Pissasphalt, of a medium consistency
between the other substances, of which it appears to be composed. See
B. xxiv. c. 25.
[2252] In B. v. c. 15.
[2253] Naphtha, most probably.
[2254] See B. xxiv. c. 25.
[2255] Chapter 109.
[2256] As to the “nitrum” of Pliny, see B. xxxi. c. 46.
[2257] “Asphalt plaster,” probably.
[2258] Or mint. See B. xix. c. 47, and B. xx. c. 53.
[2259] See B. xxxii. c. 13.
[2260] In B. xxxiv. c. 9.
[2261] Beckmann is of opinion that our _alum_ was not known to the
Greeks or Romans, and that what the latter called “alumen” was green
vitriol, or sulphate of the protoxide of iron, in an impure state.
Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 180. _Bohn’s Edition._ Dr. Pereira remarks,
however, that “there can be little doubt that Pliny was acquainted
with our alum, but did not distinguish it from sulphate of iron, for
he informs us that one kind of alum was white, and was used for dyeing
wool of bright colours.” Materia Medica, Vol. I, Delafosse identifies
the “alumen” of Pliny with double sulphate of alum and iron.
[2262] “Salsugo terræ.”
[2263] See Note 2261 above.
[2264] For gilding, Hardouin says.
[2265] The Roman provinces in Africa, other than Egypt.
[2266] Now Strombolo. See B. iii. c. 14.
[2267] Herodotus, B. ii., mentions the fact that King Amasis sent
the people of Delphi a thousand talents of this substance, as his
contribution towards rebuilding their temple.
[2268] “Fruitful,” or “useful.”
[2269] “Adulterated.”
[2270] See B. xx. c. 71.
[2271] “Split” alum. Probably iron alum, the French _alum de plume_; of
a flaky, silky appearance.
[2272] “Hairy alum.”
[2273] See B. xxxiv. cc. 2, 29.
[2274] So called, according to Dioscorides, from the “round” form of
the pieces.
[2275] He has previously said that the most esteemed kind was the
Egyptian, that of Melos being the next best.
[2276] Στυπτηρία, the “styptic.”
[2277] “Sero picis.” Hardouin is of opinion that under this name
pisselæon is intended. See B. xv. c. 7, B. xxiv. cc. 11, 24, and B.
xxv. c. 22.
[2278] At the beginning of this Chapter in part.
[2279] Aluminous silicates, as Delafosse remarks, more or less combined
with other minerals. Though employed for various purposes in the arts,
they are now but little used in medicine.
[2280] Probably because it was the more extensively employed of the
two, in “collyria,” or compositions for the eyes.
[2281] “Star” earth, apparently.
[2282] From Eretria, in Eubœa. See B. iv. c. 21.
[2283] In Chapter 21 of this Book.
[2284] It appears to be a matter of doubt whether it was found at
Selinus, in Sicily, or the place of that name in Cilicia. See B. iii.
c. 14, and B. v. c. 22.
[2285] Agricola is of opinion that this earth had its name from the
place called Pnigeum, in the Libyan Mareotis. Other commentators would
have it to be derived from πνίγω, “to suffocate,” such being
its effect if taken internally.
[2286] See the next Chapter.
[2287] So called from ἀμπέλος, a “vine;” either because it was
applied to vines to kill the insects, or because its admixture with the
soil was favourable to the cultivation of the vine.
[2288] “Washes for beautifying the eye-brows.” See B. xxi. c. 73, B.
xxiii. c. 51, and B. xxxiii. c. 34.
[2289] Cimolian earth, known in modern chemistry as Cimolite, is not
a cretaceous earth, but an aluminous silicate, still found in the
island of Kimoli, or Argentiera, one of the Cyclades; See B. iv. c. 23.
Tournefort describes it as a white chalk, very heavy, tasteless, and
dissolving in water. It is found also at Alexandrowsk in Russia.
[2290] See Chapter 25 of this Book.
[2291] See B. xxxi. c. 46.
[2292] See B. xii. c. 51.
[2293] See B. v. c. 28.
[2294] Beckmann thinks that this may have been our common chalk. Vol.
II. p. 105.
[2295] This _seems_ to be the meaning of “crescit in macerando.”
[2296] A.U.C. 535, it is supposed.
[2297] As a plebiscitum.
[2298] “Desquamatur.” This is most probably the meaning of the word,
though Beckmann observes “that it was undoubtedly a term of art, which
cannot be further explained, because we are unacquainted with the
operation to which it alludes.”—Vol II. p. 104. _Bohn’s Edition._
[2299] “Funditur sulphure.” The meaning of these words is very
doubtful. Beckmann proposes to read “offenditur,” but he is not
supported by any of the MSS. He has evidently mistaken the meaning of
the whole passage.
[2300] Probably because it was too calcareous, Beckmann thinks.
[2301] See B. iv. c. 3, and B. xxxvi. c. 59.
[2302] Plate powder; from “argentum,” “silver.” See B. xvii. c. 4.
[2303] Whitening, or chalk washed and prepared, is still used for this
purpose.
[2304] The goal for the chariots.
[2305] This reading is restored by Sillig from the Bamberg MS., but
no particulars are known relative to the person alluded to; unless,
indeed, as Sillig suspects to be the case, he is identical with Publius
Syrus, the writer of mimes, mentioned in B. viii. c. 77.
[2306] Supposed by some to have been the Manilius who was author
of the poem called “Astronomica,” still in existence. It is more
probable, however, that he was the father of the poet, or perhaps the
grandfather; as it is clear from a passage in Suetonius, that Staberius
Eros taught at Rome during the civil wars of Sylla, while the poem must
have been written, in part at least, after the death of Augustus.
[2307] Being afterwards manumitted. Sillig thinks that they may have
arrived in Rome about B.C. 90.
[2308] “Catasta.” A raised platform of wood on which the slaves were
exposed for sale.
[2309] “Rectorem.” For an explanation of this allusion, see B. xxviii.
c. 14.
[2310] A native of Gadara in Syria, according to Josephus. Seneca
speaks of him as being more wealthy than his master.
[2311] Or Menodorus, who deserted Sextus Pompeius and went over to
Octavianus.
[2312] Who remained faithful to Pompeius, and died in his cause.
[2313] He is probably speaking in reference to her paramour, the
freedman Pallas. See B. xxxiii. c. 47.
[2314] As to the earths of Galata and Clypea, see B. v. c. 7. The
others are mentioned in B. iii. c. 11.
[2315] See end of B. ix.
[2316] See end of B. xxxiv.
[2317] See end of B. viii.
[2318] See end of Books vii. and xiv.
[2319] See end of B. ii.
[2320] See end of B. iii.
[2321] See end of B. ii.
[2322] See end of B. x.
[2323] See end of B. ii.
[2324] See end of B. vii.
[2325] See end of B. xvi.
[2326] A native of Longula in Latium. Though of dissolute character,
he was famous as an orator and satirical writer. It was he who accused
Nonius Asprenas of poisoning, as mentioned in Chapter 46 of this Book.
He died in exile at the island of Seriphos, about A.D. 33. His works
were at first proscribed, but were afterwards permitted by Caligula to
be read.
[2327] See end of B. vii.
[2328] See end of B. xxxiii.
[2329] The painter, mentioned at great length in Chapter 36 of this
Book, and elsewhere.
[2330] A painter of Sicyon, mentioned in Chapters 32 and 36 of this
Book.
[2331] Probably the painter of that name, mentioned in Chapter 36 of
this Book.
[2332] The artist mentioned in B. xxxiv. c. 19, and in Chapter 40 of
the present Book.
[2333] See end of B. xxxiii.
[2334] Possibly the painter of that name, mentioned in Chapter 40 of
this Book.
[2335] See end of B. ii.
[2336] See end of B. iii.
[2337] See end of B. xxx.
[2338] See end of B. iii.
[2339] See end of B. xii.
[2340] See end of Books iv., viii., xi., and xx.
[2341] See end of B. xx.
[2342] See end of Books iv. and xii.
[2343] See end of B. xii.
[2344] See end of B. xiii.
[2345] See end of B. xii.
[2346] See end of B. xii.
[2347] See end of B. xxix.
[2348] See end of B. xii.
[2349] See end of B. xii.
[2350] See end of B. xxxiii.
[2351] See end of B. xxxiii.
[2352] See B. xxxvii. cc. 7, 8, 11.
[2353] See the lines of Juvenal, Sat. x. l. 151, _et seq._
[2354] He alludes to vessels made of crystal, which, as Dalechamps
remarks, was long supposed to be nothing but ice in a concrete form.
See B. xxxvii. c. 9.
[2355] See B. viii. c. 82.
[2356] “Glandia.”
[2357] See Chapter 24 of this Book.
[2358] See Chapter 8 of this Book.
[2359] In the Eleventh Region of the City.
[2360] See B. xxxv. cc. 43, 45.
[2361] See B. xvii. c. 1.
[2362] These two artists are invariably mentioned together. Pausanias,
B. ii. c. 14, and B. iii. c. 17, speaks or them as the pupils or sons
of Dædalus; only intimating thereby, as Sillig thinks, that they were
the first sculptors worthy of being associated with the father of
artists. Pausanias, B. ii. c. 22, mentions ebony statues by them.
[2363] In the time of the Telchines, before the arrival of Inachus in
Argolis.
[2364] Pausanias says that this statue was completed by their pupils.
Clemens Alexandrinus mentions other works of theirs.
[2365] Another reading is “Anthermus.” Of many of these sculptors, no
further particulars are known.
[2366] Another cause of the quarrel is said to have been the refusal of
Bupalus to give his daughter in marriage to Hipponax. This quarrel is
referred to in the Greek Anthology, B. iii. Epigr. 26.
[2367] See B. xiv. c. 9.
[2368] See B. iv. c. 20.
[2369] Dedicated by Augustus, in the Tenth Region of the City.
[2370] Λύχνος being the Greek for a “lamp.”
[2371] See B. iii. c. 8: now known as the marble of Massa and Carrara,
of a bluish white, and a very fine grain.
[2372] A similar case has been cited, in the figure of St. Jerome, to
be seen on a stone in the Grotto of Our Saviour at Bethlehem, and in
a representation of the Crucifixion, in the Church of St. George, at
Venice. A miniature resembling that of the poet Chaucer is to be seen
on the surface of a small stone in the British Museum.
[2373] See B. xxxv. c. 44.
[2374] See B. xxxv. cc. 37, 40.
[2375] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2376] “In the Gardens.” A suburb of Athens, in which there was a
temple of Venus, or Aphrodite Urania.
[2377] He is mentioned also by Pausanias and Strabo.
[2378] The Goddess of Retribution. Pausanias, B. i. c. 33, says that
it was the work of Phidias, and that it was made of Parian marble,
which the Persians had brought into Attica for the purpose of erecting
a trophy. Strabo, however, in B. ix., says that it was the work of
Agoracritus and Diodotus (an artist otherwise unknown), and that it
was not at all inferior to the production of Phidias. Tzetzes again,
Suidas, and Photius, say that it was the work of Phidias, and that
it was presented by him to his favourite pupil, Agoracritus. Sillig
rejects the story of the contest, and the decision by the suffrages of
the Athenian people. Some modern writers have doubted also, whether a
statue of Venus could be modified so as to represent Nemesis; but not
with sufficient reason, Sillig thinks.
[2379] See B. iv. c. 11.
[2380] A statue, Sillig supposes, of the goddess Cybele.
[2381] “Pandoras Genesis.”
[2382] Sillig is of opinion that this passage is corrupt, and is
inclined to think, with Panofka, that the reading should be “nascenti
adstantes,”—gods “standing by the new-born” Pandora.
[2383] In B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2384] See B. xxxv. c. 45.
[2385] “Velatâ specie.” There has been much discussion about the
meaning of these words; and Sillig is of opinion that the figure was
represented draped in a garment, which, while it seemed designed to
hide the person, really exposed it to view. This dress would not
improbably recommend it additionally to the inhabitants of Cos, who
were skilled in making the _Coæ vestes_, garments which, while they
covered the body, revealed its naked charms. See further mention of
them in B. ix. c. 26.
[2386] Visconti thinks that a statue still preserved in the Royal
Museum at Paris, is a copy of the Coan Venus. It has, however, a figure
of Cupid associated with it, which, as Sillig observes, militates
against the supposition.
[2387] The ancient writers abound in praises of this wonderful statue.
Lucian, however, has given the most complete and artistic description
of it. It was supposed by the ancients, to represent Venus as standing
before Paris, when he awarded to her the prize of beauty; but it has
been well remarked, that the drapery in the right hand, and the vase
by the side of the figure, indicate that she has either just left or
is about to enter the bath. The artist modelled it from Phryne, a
courtesan or hetæra of Athens, of whom he was greatly enamoured. It was
ultimately carried to Constantinople, where it perished by fire in the
reign of Justinian. It is doubtful whether there are any copies of it
in existence. There is, however, a so-called copy in the gardens of the
Vatican, and another in the Glyptothek, at Munich. A Venus in the Museo
Pio-Clementino, at Rome, is considered by Visconti and others to have
been a copy of the Cnidian Venus, with the addition of drapery. It is
supposed that Cleomenes, in making the Venus de Medici, imitated the
Cnidian Venus in some degree.
[2388] There are numerous Epigrams in reference to this statue in
the Greek Anthology; the most striking line in any of which is the
beautiful Pentameter:
Φεῦ! φεῦ! ποῦ γυμνὴν εἶδε με Πραξιτέλης;
“Alas! where has Praxiteles me naked seen?”
[2389] Lucian, Valerius Maximus, and Athenæus, tell the same improbable
story, borrowing it from Posidippus the historian.
[2390] Bacchus.
[2391] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2392] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2393] Pliny is mistaken here: for in the time of Cicero, as we find
in Verr. 4, 2, 4, the Thespian Cupid was still at Thespiæ, in Bœotia,
where it had been dedicated by Phryne, and was not removed to Rome till
the time of the emperors. It was the Parian Cupid, originally made for
the people of Parium, that, after coming into the possession of Heius,
a rich Sicilian, was forcibly taken from him by Verres.
[2394] Where it was destroyed by fire in the reign of Titus. See B.
xxxiv. c. 37.
[2395] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2396] Frantic Bacchantes.
[2397] Sacrificing Bacchantes.
[2398] The name given in architecture to figures of females employed
as columns in edifices. The Spartans, on taking the city of Carya, in
Laconia, massacred the male inhabitants, and condemned the females to
the most bitter servitude, as “hewers of wood and drawers of water.”
Hence the memorials of their servitude thus perpetuated in architecture.
[2399] Or companions of Bacchus. See B. xxxv. c. 36.
[2400] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2401] “Symplegma.”
[2402] Also mentioned in B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2403] Pausanias, B. I., speaks of _three_ figures sculptured by
Scopas; Erôs, Himeros, and Pothos. It is doubtful, however, whether
they are identical with those here spoken of.
[2404] Or “Desire.” The name of “Phaëthon” is added in most of the
editions, but Sillig rejects it as either a gloss, or a corruption of
some other name.
[2405] “Campteras.” This, which is probably the true reading, has been
restored by Sillig from the Bamberg MS. The καμπτὴρ was the
bend or turning, round the goal in the race-course for chariots; and
as Vesta was symbolical of the earth, these figures, Sillig thinks,
probably represented the poles, as goals of the sun’s course.
[2406] Figures of Virgins, carrying on their heads baskets filled with
objects consecrated to Minerva.
[2407] Dedicated to Neptune by Cneius Domitius Ahenobarbus, in the
Ninth Region of the City.
[2408] “Et” appears a preferable reading to the “aut” of the Bamberg MS.
[2409] “Hippocampi.” It is pretty clear that by this name he cannot
mean the small fish so called in B. xxxii. cc. 20, 23, 27, 30, 35, 38,
50, and 53, and alluded to in B. ix. c. 1; the Syngnathus hippocampus
of Linnæus.
[2410] A sea-divinity.
[2411] “Pistrices.” See B. ix. cc. 2, 3, 15.
[2412] Conqueror of Callæcia. See B. iv. c. 35. This temple was
dedicated to Mars.
[2413] A statue of Apollo, Hardouin thinks, which was originally
brought from Seleucia by C. Sosius, the quæstor of M. Lepidus. See B.
xiii. c. 5.
[2414] Ajasson says that this work is identical with the group
representing Niobe and her children, now at Florence. It was found in
1535, or, as some say, 1583, near the Lateran Gate at Rome; upon which,
it was bought by Ferdinand de Medici, and placed in the park of one of
his villas. More recently, the Emperor Leopold purchased it, and had it
removed to Florence.
[2415] The Temple of Janus, in the Eighth Region of the City.
[2416] Probably by neither of them, as Janus was essentially an Italian
Divinity. See Ovid’s Fasti, B. I.
[2417] See B. xxxv. c. 37.
[2418] A large upper garment, reaching to the ankles.
[2419] Both Liber and Libera were originally Italian Divinities,
who presided over the vine and the fields. Pliny, however, always
identifies the former with Bacchus, and other writers the latter with
Persephone, or Proserpina, the daughter of Demeter or Ceres. Ovid,
Fasti, B. iii. l. 512, calls Ariadne, “Libera.”
[2420] See B. xvi. c. 76.
[2421] A disciple of Marsyas, and a famous player on the flute. See p.
319.
[2422] All these figures have been found copied in the frescoes of
Herculaneum.
[2423] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2424] It is doubtful whether this is the same artist that is mentioned
in B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2425] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2426] Hence, too, the use of the word “Mausoleum,” as meaning a
splendid tomb.
[2427] He means, probably, the extent of the colonnade or screen which
surrounded it. The Mausoleum was erected at Halicarnassus.
[2428] Facing east and west.
[2429] Or “wing.” The “ptera,” or “pteromata,” properly speaking, were
the two wings at the sides of a building. See Note 2431 below.
[2430] She only survived her husband two years.
[2431] Another reading, and perhaps a preferable one, is “one hundred”
feet. The account given by Pliny is very confused, and Littré has
taken some pains to explain the construction of this building. He is
of opinion that in the first place, a quadrangular main building was
erected, 63 feet in length on the north and south, the breadth of the
east and west faces being shorter, some 42 feet perhaps. Secondly, that
there was a screen of 36 columns surrounding the main building, and 411
feet in circumference. (He adopts this reading in preference to the
440 feet of the Bamberg MS.) That the longer sides of this screen were
113.25 feet in extent, and the shorter 92.125 feet. That between the
main building and this screen, or colonnade, there was an interval of
25.125 feet. Thirdly, that the colonnade and the main buildings were
united by a vaulted roof, and that this union formed the “Pteron.”
Fourthly, that rising from this Pteron, there was a quadrangular
truncated pyramid, formed of twenty-four steps, and surmounted with a
chariot of marble. This would allow, speaking in round numbers, 37½
feet for the height of the main body of the building, 37½ feet for
the pyramid, and twenty-five feet for the height of the chariot and the
figure which it doubtless contained.
[2432] Supposed to be the person alluded to by Horace, 1 Sat. 3, 90.
[2433] He is mentioned also by Tatian, and is supposed to have lived
about the time of Alexander the Great.
[2434] “Charites.”
[2435] “Porch,” or “Vestibule” of the Citadel at Athens.
[2436] Mentioned in B. xxxv. c. 40. The present Socrates is identified
by Pausanias, B. i. c. 22, and B. ix. c. 25, and by Diogenes Laertius,
B. ii. c. 19, with the great Athenian philosopher of that name, son of
the statuary Sophroniscus: but the question as to his identity is very
doubtful. Diogenes Laertius adds, that whereas artists had previously
represented the Graces naked, Socrates sculptured them with drapery.
[2437] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2438] See B. xxxv. c. 45.
[2439] Or Muses of Thespiæ, in Bœotia.
[2440] There have been several distinguished sculptors, all of this
name. A statuary, son of Apollodorus the Athenian, made the celebrated
Venus de Medici. It is the opinion of Visconti and Thiersch, that the
artist here mentioned flourished before the destruction of Corinth.
[2441] This name is doubtful, and nothing is known relative to the
artist.
[2442] “Hippiades” is the old reading, which Dalechamps considers to
mean “Amazons.” The Appiades were Nymphs of the Appian Spring, near the
temple of Venus Genetrix, in the Forum of Julius Cæsar. See Ovid, Art.
Am. B. i. l. 81, and B. iii. l. 451; and Rem. Am. l. 659.
[2443] From an inscription on a statue still extant, he is supposed to
have been a pupil of Pasiteles, and consequently to have flourished
about B.C. 25.
[2444] Figures in which the form and attributes of Hermes, or Mercury,
and Eros, or Cupid, were combined, Hardouin thinks.
[2445] In B. xxxiii. c. 55.
[2446] In Caria: see B. v. c. 29.
[2447] Or “Xenias”—“Presiding over hospitality,” or “Protector of
strangers.”
[2448] The story was, that Zethus and Amphion bound Dirce, queen of
Thebes, to the flanks of an infuriated bull, in revenge for the death
of their mother, Antiope, who had been similarly slain by her. This
group is supposed still to exist, in part, in the “Farnese Bull,”
which has been in a great measure restored. Winckelmann is of opinion,
however, that the Farnese Bull is of anterior date to that here
mentioned, and that it belongs to the school of Lysippus.
[2449] Probably a native of Rhodes. No further particulars of this
artist appear to be known.
[2450] Bacchus.
[2451] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2452] A different person, probably, from the painter, mentioned in B.
xxxv. c. 40.
[2453] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2454] Supposed by Sillig not to be the early statuary of Argos of that
name, who flourished, probably, B.C. 476.
[2455] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2456] “Pasiteles” would appear to be a preferable reading; for Pliny
would surely have devoted more space to a description of these works of
Praxiteles.
[2457] The same artist that is previously mentioned, Sillig thinks.
[2458] Of Jupiter.
[2459] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2460] “Symplegma.” See Note 2401, page 314.
[2461] The first being in a stooping posture, washing herself.
[2462] In B. xxxiii. c. 55, and B. xxxiv. c. 18.
[2463] A sculptor of the age of Alexander the Great. He is also
mentioned by Tatian. For an account of Callisthenes, see end of B. xii.
[2464] Winckelmann supposes that these artists lived in the time of
Lysippus; but, as may be discovered from an attentive examination
of the present passage, Lessing and Thiersch are probably right in
considering them to have been contemporaries of the Emperor Titus. This
group is generally supposed to have been identical with the Laocoön
still to be seen in the Court of the Belvedere, in the Vatican at
Rome; having been found, in 1506, in a vault beneath the spot known
as the Place _de Sette Sale_, by Felix de Fredi, who surrendered it,
in consideration of a pension, to Pope Julius II. The group, however,
is not made of a _single_ block, which has caused some to doubt its
identity: but it is not improbable, that when originally made, its
joints were not perceptible to a common observer. The spot, too, where
it was found was actually part of the palace of Titus. It is most
probable that the artists had the beautiful episode of Laocoön in view,
as penned by Virgil, Æn. B. II.; though Ajasson doubts whether they
derived any inspiration from it. Laocoön, in the sublime expression of
his countenance, is doing any thing, he says, but—
“Clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit.”
“Sending dire outcries to the stars of heaven.”
[2465] This was an ancient and hideous idol, probably. Plato, Diodorus
Siculus, Plautus, Lactantius, Arnobius, and Isidorus, all concur
in saying that it was Saturn in honour of whom human victims were
immolated.
[2466] “Ad Nationes.” A portico built by Augustus, and adorned with
statues representing various nations.
[2467] “Thespiades.” They were brought by Mummius from Thespiæ, in
Bœotia. See B. xxxiv. c. 19, and Note 2439, above.
[2468] See B. xxxv. c. 45, and end of B. xxxiii.
[2469] Magna Græcia.
[2470] Built by Metellus Macedonicus.
[2471] “Navalia.” This was the name of certain docks at Rome, where
ships were built, laid up, and refitted. They were attached to the
Emporium, without the Trigeminian Gate, and were connected with the
Tiber.
[2472] See B. xxxv. c. 45.
[2473] In the Ninth Region of the City. These figures are mentioned
also by Suetonius, C. 46.
[2474] See B. xxxiv. c. 19.
[2475] A singular combination of names, as they mean “Lizard” and
“Frog.” No further particulars of these artists are known, but they
appear to have lived in the time of Pompey.
[2476] Of Juno and Apollo.
[2477] “Spiræ.” See Chapter 56 of this Book.
[2478] Winckelmann, in Vol. II. p. 269, of the _Monumenti Antichi
ined._, gives the chapiter of an Ionic column, belonging to the church
of San Lorenzo, without the walls, at Rome, on the volutes of which are
represented a frog and a lizard.
[2479] The old reading is adopted here, in preference to that of the
Bamberg MS., which does not appear reconcileable to sense in saying
that _this_ temple of Jupiter was originally made in honour of Juno;
for in _such case_ there could be no mistake in introducing the emblems
of female worship.
[2480] A sculptor of Miletus. See B. vii. c. 21.
[2481] A Lacedæmonian artist. See B. vii. c. 21.
[2482] As well as that of Paros.
[2483] Only completed in the time of the Emperor Adrian.
[2484] Cebriones, the charioteer of Hector. See Il. B. xvi. l. 735.
[2485] See B. xxxiii. c. 23.
[2486] This is generally explained as meaning ordinary stone, but
covered with elaborate paintings, as was then the practice in the
magnificent villas that were built at Tibur, the modern Tivoli. See,
however, Chapter 48, and Note 2784.
[2487] As applied to the decorations of the walls of houses.
[2488] This date does not agree with that given to Scopas, one of the
artists who worked at the Mausoleum, in the early part of B. xxxiv. c.
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