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CHAP. 16. (7.)—THAT THERE WERE STATUARIES IN ITALY ALSO AT AN EARLY PERIOD.

Various circumstances prove, that the art of making statues was commonly practised in Italy at an early period. The statue in the Cattle Market1 is said to have been consecrated to Hercules by Evander; it is called the triumphal Hercules, and, on the occasion of triumphal processions, is arrayed in triumphal vestments. And then besides, King Numa dedicated the statue of the two-faced Janus;2 a deity who is worshipped as presiding over both peace and war. The fingers, too, are so formed as to indicate three hundred and sixty-five days,3 or in other words, the year; thus denoting that he is the god of time and duration.

There are also Etruscan statues dispersed in various parts of the world, which beyond a doubt were originally made in Etruria. I should have supposed that these had been the statues only of divinities, had not Metrodorus4 of Scepsis, who had his surname from his hatred to the Roman name,5 reproached us with having pillaged the city of Volsinii for the sake of the two thousand statues which it contained. It appears to me a singular fact. that although the origin of statues was of such great antiquity in Italy, the images of the gods, which were consecrated to them in their temples, should have been formed either of wood or of earthenware,6 until the conquest of Asia, which introduced luxury among us. It will be the best plan to enlarge upon the origin of the art of expressing likenesses, when we come to speak of what the Greeks call "plastice;"7 for the art of modelling was prior to that of statuary. This last, however, has flourished to such an extraordinary degree, that an account of it would fill many volumes, if we were desirous of making an extensive acquaintance with the subject: but as to learning everything connected with it, who could do it?

1 "Forum Boarium." See Chapter 5.

2 Livy, B. i. c. 19, informs us, that Numa made Janus of a form to denote both peace and war.—B.

3 The mode in which the fingers were placed, so as to serve the purpose here indicated, is supposed to have been by their forming the letters which were the Roman numerals for the figures in question. We are informed that some MSS. of Pliny give the number three hundred and fifty-five only, and there is reason to believe that, in the time of Numa, this was considered to be the actual number of days in the year. Some of the commentators, however, are disposed to read three hundred and sixty-five; and this opinion derives some support from Macrobius, who refers to this statue as indicating this latter number with its fingers.—B. The Bamberg MS. gives three hundred and sixty-five.

4 See end of B. iii.

5 "Misoromæus"—"Roman-hater." See end of B. iii.

6 Pliny himself informs us, in B. xxxv. c. 45, that the statue of Jupiter in the Capitol, erected by Tarquinius Priscus, was formed of earth.—B.

7 The art of moulding or modelling in argillaceous earth; see B. xxxv. cc. 43, 45.

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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