Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK VII. <a id="note-link1" href="#note1">1</a> MAN, HIS BIRTH, HIS ORGANIZATION, AND THE INVENTION OF THE ARTS., CHAP. 39. (38.)—OF PAINTING; ENGRAVING ON BRONZE, MARBLE, AND IVORY; OF CARVING. <a href="#note-link1">1</a> We here enter upon the third division of Pliny's Natural History, which treats of Zoology, from the 7th to the 11th inclusive. Cuvier has illustrated this part by many valuable notes, which originally appeared in Lemaire's Bibliotheque Classique, 1827, and were afterwards incorporated, with some additions, by Ajasson, in his translation of Pliny, published in 1829; Ajasson is the editor of this portion of Pliny's Natural History, in Lemaire's Edition.

Home Collections/Texts Perseus Catalog Research Grants Open Source About Help

Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:

This text is part of:

Greek and Roman Materials

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

book : chapter

CHAP. 39. (38.)—OF PAINTING; ENGRAVING ON BRONZE, MARBLE, AND IVORY; OF CARVING.

King Attalus gave one hundred talents,¹ at a public auction, for a single picture of Aristides, the Theban painter.² Cæsar, the Dictator, purchased two pictures, the Medea and the Ajax of Timomachus, for eighty talents,³ it being his intention to dedicate them in the temple of Venus Genetrix. King Candaules gave its weight in gold for a large picture by Bularchus, the subject of which was the destruction of the Magnetes. Demetrius, who was surnamed the "taker of cities,"⁴ refused to set fire to the city of Rhodes, lest he should chance to destroy a picture of Protogenes, which was placed on that side of the walls against which his attack was directed. Praxiteles⁵ has been ennobled by his works in marble, and more especially by his Cnidian Venus, which became remarkable from the insane love which it inspired in a certain young man,⁶ and the high value set upon it by King Nicomedes, who endeavoured to procure it from the Cnidians, by offering to pay for them a large debt which they owed. The Olympian Jupiter day by day bears testimony to the talents of Phidias,⁷ and the Capitoline Jupiter and the Diana of Ephesus to those of Mentor;⁸ to which deities, also, were consecrated vases made by this artist.

1 According to the usual estimate of the value of the Attic talent, £193 12s., the sum given for this picture would be about £19,000.—B.

2 Nearly all the topics here treated of are again mentioned in B. xxxv., which is devoted to the fine arts. The 34th, 35th, and 36th Chapters of that Book, contain an account of all the celebrated painters of antiquity, and their principal works.—B.

3 Between £15,000 and £16,000.—B.

4 "Polioreetes."

5 We have a further account of this artist in B. xxxiv. c. 19, B. xxxv. c. 39 and 40, and B. xxxvi. c. 4.

6 This is referred to by Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 4, and by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 4.—B.

7 He is again mentioned in B. xxxiv. c. 19, B. xxxv. c. 34, and B. xxxvi. c. 4.—B.

8 Mentor is noticed for his skill in carving, B. xxxiii. c. 55.—B. Littré says, on referring to that passage, "we find that he was a worker in silver, and a maker of vases of great value." He seems disinclined to believe that he was a statuary. As Pliny tells us, ubi supra, none of his public works were in existence in Pliny's time. Some small cups, however, existed, which were highly prized, though some were undoubtedly spurious.

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.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar:

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

This text is part of:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

CHAP. 39. (38.)—OF PAINTING; ENGRAVING ON BRONZE, MARBLE, AND IVORY; OF CARVING.

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

This text is part of:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

CHAP. 39. (38.)—OF PAINTING; ENGRAVING ON BRONZE, MARBLE, AND IVORY; OF CARVING.

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