Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS., CHAP. 12.—IN HONOUR OF WHAT FOREIGNERS PUBLIC STATUES WERE ERECTED AT ROME.

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CHAP. 12.—IN HONOUR OF WHAT FOREIGNERS PUBLIC STATUES WERE ERECTED AT ROME.

I find also, that statues were erected in honour of Pythagoras and of Alcibiades, in the corners of the Comitium; in obedience to the command of the Pythian Apollo, who, in the Samnite War,¹ had directed that statues of the bravest and the wisest of the Greeks should be erected in some conspicuous spot: and here they remained until Sylla, the Dictator, built the senate-house on the site. It is wonderful that the senate should then have preferred Pythagoras to Socrates, who, in consequence of his wisdom, had been preferred to all other men² by the god himself; as, also, that they should have preferred Alcibiades for valour to so many other heroes; or, indeed, any one to Themistocles, who so greatly excelled in both qualities. The reason of the statues being raised on columns, was, that the persons represented might be elevated above other mortals; the same thing being signified by the use of arches, a new invention which had its origin among the Greeks. I am of opinion that there is no one to whom more statues were erected than to Demetrius Phalereus³ at Athens: for there were three hundred and sixty erected in his honour, there being reckoned at that period no more days in the year: these, however, were soon broken to pieces. The different tribes erected statues, in all the quarters of Rome, in honour of Marius Gratidianus, as already stated;⁴ but they were all thrown down by Sylla, when he entered Rome.

1 A.U.C. 441.

2 See B. vii. c. 31.

3 His life has been written by Diogenes Laertius, and he is mentioned by Cicero, de Fin. B. v. c. 19, and by Strabo.—B.

4 In B. xxxiii. c. 46.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 12.—IN HONOUR OF WHAT FOREIGNERS PUBLIC STATUES WERE ERECTED AT ROME.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 12.—IN HONOUR OF WHAT FOREIGNERS PUBLIC STATUES WERE ERECTED AT ROME.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.