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SELECT GEMS. 
 
GEM 
 
 SELECTED FROM THE ANTIQUE, 
 
 WITH 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, 32, FLEET-STRE ET S 
 
 BY C. WHITTINGHAM, DEAN STREET. 
 
 1804. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 I HE intention of the present work is to disseminate a love of the 
 fine arts, and to introduce the general reader to a familiar acquaint- 
 ance with engraved gems. These interesting productions of art 
 are not yet universally known. They form the studies of the painter; 
 they delight the amateur; they charm the poet zvith poetical allusions; 
 and they instruct the antiquary and the philosopher with the por- 
 traits, the manners, and customs of various ages. It is not always, 
 however, that the fashionable beauty and the elegant idler, who con- 
 template these classical designs, among the ornaments of their dress, 
 and their furniture, know, that they are but copies of the precious re- 
 mains of antiquity ; that they constitute a particular study, and are a 
 perpetual source of curious information, and many-coloured amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 An humble individual ( the ingenious artist of the present work ) 
 has, at once, with the timidity of modesty \ and the resolution of enter- 
 prize, attempted to Jill a department which in our country has been 
 rarely occupied. The private collections that have been engraved are 
 costly and scarce; to none are illustrations subjoined; and the pub- 
 lic have, as yet, only the works of foreigners on these subjects. The 
 gentlemen who have cheerfully assisted the tvcll-meant endeavours 
 of the artist, have tasked their own industry, in collecting literary 
 
 a 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 materials, which, it is presumed, contain some information, and 
 greater entertainment on many curious topics. The selection, draw- 
 ing, and engraving, have proved an arduous undertaking, and claim 
 indulgence for the imperfections which necessarily attend most works 
 of art, and particularly those which require the fostering warmth of 
 public encouragement . But on a comparison with what has hitherto 
 been given, the artist is not without a hope to realise those fruits of 
 public favour, of which, in the reception of his early Numbers, he 
 has gathered the blossoms. 
 
/ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION l to 30 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS. 
 
 Jupiter ^giochus 1 
 
 Clio, or the Muse of History 4 
 
 Cupid and Psyche, the Allegorical Loves of, with various illustrative Gems 6 to 18 
 
 The Roman Nuptials; or Aldohrandine Marriage 19 
 
 Head of Priam 23 
 
 Apollo and Marsyas . . 28 
 
 Diomedes, with the Palladium 34 
 
 Jupiter and the Titans 37 
 
 Fragments and Attributes of Jupiter 39 
 
 Acratus, or winged Bacchus 44 
 
 Bacchus Reeling 47 
 
 Cupid curbing a Lion 48 
 
 Mercury presenting a Soul to Elysium 51 
 
 Gymnastic Exercises 53 
 
 Apollo, Fragments and Attributes of 56 
 
 /Egyptian Symbols and Hieroglyphics 59 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 STUDY OF ENGRAVED GEMS. 
 
 As Nature joying in her boundless reign 
 Adorns the tiny links of Beauty's lessening chain. 
 Her rival art, whom emulation warms, 
 Loves to astonish by diminished forms ; 
 And the consummate character to bring 
 Within the compass of the costly ring ; 
 Delightful talent of the patient hand. 
 Gaining o'er life such delicate command. 
 
 The heroes of old time were proud to wear 
 The seal engraven with ingenious care. 
 To this fine branch of useful art we owe 
 Treasures that grandeur may be proud to show ; 
 Features of men who on Fame's list enrolled, 
 Gave life and lustre to the world of old; 
 Worthies, whose statues fail'd Time's flood to stem. 
 Yet live effulgent in the deathless gem. 
 
 Hayley, Essay on Sculpture, Canto IV. 
 
 The history of the arts of antiquity is doubtless one of the 
 most interesting parts of history ; it every where exhibits to our 
 contemplation the most agreeable images, and the most consola- 
 tory ideas. 
 
 Of all the remaining monuments of ancient art, none are so 
 replete with entertainment and instruction, so various in their ob- 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 jects, and so delightful in their pursuit, as the study of engraved 
 gems, or the seal-rings of the ancients. These have preserved 
 the images and the attributes of the ancient mythology, and the 
 features of illustrious men ; they sometimes exhibit the most 
 curious details of ancient customs and religious ceremonies ; 
 ingenious and moral allegories ; and are often precious copies of 
 the most beautiful pieces of Grecian sculpture ; while others dis- 
 play a rich source of picturesque imagination ; the sports and 
 the models of the greatest artists. As these gems have been en- 
 graven on the most solid substances, they have not suffered any 
 alteration by time, but uniting to the beauty of their materials 
 the merit of the most perfect execution, make us admire the mi- 
 racles of an art, which (as it has been prettily observed, and as 
 Mr. Hayley tells us in our motto) appear by the delicacy and the 
 correctness of the workmanship to rival the industry of nature in 
 the beautiful formation of insects. 
 
 When we consider that gems preserve for the amateur the finest 
 copies of statues and groups ; for the antiquary the manners and 
 customs of the ancients ; for the historian remarkable events ; for 
 the painter his finest studies ; and for the poet innumerable 
 images ; we are sensible how extensive must be that learning 
 which is requisite to initiate the reader into the first elements of 
 these studies. Perhaps no work has yet appeared, composed in 
 a popular or an elegant form adapted to this purpose ; to com- 
 pose so agreeable a work is an honour reserved for a writer of 
 learning and taste ; this humble essay only aspires to be useful. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ANCIENT SCULPTURE. 
 
 If it be true, as Cicero judiciously observes, that those inven- 
 tions which originate in our wants must have preceded those 
 whose objects are our pleasures, and that the former are of re- 
 motest antiquity, one cannot place the origin of engraving too far 
 back. The earliest men were subjected to the same passions 
 which agitate ourselves. Ambition and self-love projected 
 schemes to immortalise themselves, by transmitting their actions 
 to their posterity ; by communicating even their thoughts, and 
 perpetuating the sentiments of their hearts, in those of their de- 
 scendants. The Passions were the first instructors of the Arts. 
 
 No single region of the spacious earth 
 
 Can take exclusive pride in Sculpture's birth, 
 
 Wherever God with bounty unconfined 
 
 Gave man his image, a creative mind, 
 
 Its lovely children, arts mimetic sprung, 
 
 And spoke through different lands in every tongue. 
 
 By love, by grief, by piety caressed, 
 
 Alternate nursling of each hallowed breast; 
 
 Rear'd by their care, to work as each inspires, 
 
 And fondly ministering to their desires. 
 
 Its origin indeed can hardly be traced to any particular nation; 
 for its first mechanical rudiments, such as the arts of grinding, 
 polishing, boring, and shaping hard stones into various forms, was 
 certainly taught by necessity to many tribes of savages, who could 
 never have had any intercourse. Stone hatchets, points of ar- 
 rows, or other missile weapons, chisels, and ornaments often cu- 
 riously cut, polished, and perforated, and yet made of flint, por- 
 phyry, and basaltes, jasper, and other hard stones, are found alike 
 in the sepulchral monuments of the most ancient savages of Eu- 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rope and Asia. The same kind of stone weapons, tools, and or- 
 naments, are found among the South Sea islanders. It is natu- 
 ral they should set the highest value on these first inventions, since 
 it is the useful they want ; but savages are not insensible even to 
 their agreeable qualities, and bright and high-coloured stones 
 charm their eyes as well as our own : and they become inestima- 
 ble, when superstition with her magical hand works them into 
 amulets and talismans. 
 
 In these works of the first infancy of art, we cannot but admire 
 the equal powers of mankind, however remotely they live from 
 each other ; the similarity of the effects of the same necessity. 
 
 At first men were satisfied to erect masses of stones ; a method 
 equally simple and durable ; yet they only served in time to ex- 
 cite curiosity, not to inform it. Their rude silence mortified 
 vanity. Their wants and their industry soon imagined a new 
 artifice to express themselves ; with some rude instrument they 
 attempted to scratch on the monumental stone some figures, to 
 which they affixed particular significations. An extended or a cir- 
 cular serpent, an animal, a plant, an eye or hand, a military 
 or an agricultural instrument, or similar inventions, were charac- 
 ters that contained so many expressions, or images, or words, 
 which, combined, formed a complete and connected language ; 
 a language not comprehended by the multitude, but studied 
 and practised by the more intelligent, who possessed the keys of 
 these symbols ; and hence the origin of Hieroglyphics. 
 
 Superstitious fear would seem to" be a passion more creative 
 than the energies of love or grief — the endeavours to represent 
 their divinities by the rudest symbols preceded every attempt to 
 express human figures. Stocks and stones were worshipped be- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 fore a statue, a bust, or a medallion existed. Stones of a cubic 
 form were their more general symbols ; and a collection of thirty 
 rude fragments, placed near each other at Pharae, in Achaia, is 
 recorded to have formed an assemblage of divinities, by the art- 
 less invention of distinguishing each stone by the name of a 
 deity. 
 
 Winkelman, Avhose learned works are composed with all the 
 enthusiasm of a votarist, points at the first rudeness of the art of 
 sculpture. The rustic god Terminus was nothing but a field-post, 
 whose quiet duty consisted in marking the bounds and limits of 
 grounds ; yet from such a block the human form divine gradually 
 took its rise. Castor and Pollux were indeed twins, but only 
 formed by two pieces of parallel wood, joined by a wand or rod 
 across, as thus n, and this form is still preserved in their sign in 
 the Zodiac. 
 
 Can we imagine a ruder state of the arts than that which the re- 
 presentation of the Graces exhibits at this early period? It con- 
 sisted simply of three white stones. When this rude symbol was 
 exchanged in the course of time for a more refined image, the 
 Greeks were solicitous to preserve some idea of the original type, 
 if we may credit the conjectural DTIancarville. He says, " the 
 union of these three white stones, which indicated the Graces at 
 Orchomenos, was preserved, when sculpture converted these 
 stones into statues ; the point by which they were joined became 
 the hand by which each of them reposes on the arm of the 
 others, while by that, which is not confined, they hold their dis- 
 tinguishing attributes. This charming attitude continued to in- 
 dicate the aid they lend to each other, the harmony which renders 
 them inseparable, and the pleasure they derive from their union. 
 Such we see them on medals, and on gems." Afterwards they 
 
 c 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 placed heads on these blocks ; the progressive form of the figure 
 was seen only in the breasts or middle of the image, to mark the 
 sex, which the face probably was two deformed to indicate. An 
 incision served to mark the formation of the thighs ; and it was 
 a long time before they conceived the idea of forming the legs. 
 
 The seals of the Greeks in early times were rude con- 
 trivances, and according to Winkelman a piece of worm-eaten 
 wood, or the bark of trees, served their purposes. The most 
 ancient gems, about the time of Homer, when the Indian 
 engraving tools were first introduced among the Greeks, must 
 have been rather signs than true representations of na- 
 ture. Such were the following : Death was represented with 
 crooked legs; Beauty and Youth were expressed by long tresses 
 of hair ; Power, by long hands ; and Swiftness and Agility, by long 
 feet. Often, indeed, these inartificial inventions were so dark 
 that we find them accompanied by the names of the subjects 
 meant to be represented ; the modest consciousness of the artist 
 was too sensible, that he was equally deficient in character and 
 expression. What a contrast between these first abortions of 
 human art and the exquisite forms of a Phidias and a Praxiteles ! 
 
 But the invention of hieroglyphics has been employed by 
 every nation, before they possessed an alphabet. These truly 
 may be termed the originals of engraving. With these they co- 
 vered their columns, their obelisks, the walls of their temples, 
 their palaces, and their tombs. Beneath the statues of their 
 heroes the engraven symbols traced their history. 
 
 The Egyptians, who so constantly employed their graver on 
 such hard substances as granite, basalt, and the marbles from their 
 invaluable quarries, were not long before they attained the art of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 engraving in intaglio on all kinds of metals, and finally on 
 precious stones. The holy writings particularly notice the art — 
 Witness the seal-ring, which Pharaoh took from his finger to 
 place on that of Joseph. — The stones in the breast-plate of 
 the high priest were engraven with the names of the tribes ; the 
 words are remarkable, " With the work of an engraver in stones, 
 like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave them ; and set 
 them in owchcs of gold, and put them on the shoulders of the 
 ephod." Even the names of the artists are honourably recorded ; 
 and no common mind is supposed to be capable of excelling in 
 such delicate performances, for " it was put in the heart of Beza- 
 leel, that he might teach them that were filled with wisdom to work 
 all manner of work of the engraver. 
 
 But though the Egyptians brought to some perfection the me- 
 chanical, theymade but little progress in the poetical, part. Their 
 invention was barren, and of the beautiful they had no concep- 
 tion. Their figures are generally executed with care, but the de- 
 sign is hard and stiff. We find on these Egyptian stones the di- 
 vinities of the country, and all those symbolical and hieroglyphi- 
 cal figures which still serve to excite, not to appease, the curiosity 
 of the learned. 
 
 But what can we hope from a people, whose artists were com- 
 pelled by their priests to conform to certain unvarying attitudes ; 
 no artist was permitted to alter the practice, or change the prin- 
 ciple of his unfortunate predecessor. 
 
 Stiffness and immobility formed the characteristic of the Egyp- 
 tian artists ; their taste was for the colossal, and the solid ; and 
 here it was sublime. But it is reasonable to conjecture, that the 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 defects of the artists of this ancient and mysterious nation arose 
 from their religious restraints ; for when they freed themselves 
 from the stated regulations of the priests, which they were allowed 
 to do in their imitations of animals, they were not without their 
 excellence. Their sphinxes and lions are admirable for the charm 
 and finish of their art. In these we trace a variety in the out- 
 line ; a free and flowing form ; a fine disposition of the parts ; 
 and animation expressed in the muscles and veins. 
 
 The art of engraving on precious stones in the East, was culti- 
 vated not so much to gratify an ostentatious luxury as from the 
 necessity which compelled these people to have recourse to seals 
 or stamps ; for no writing was held to be authentic unaccompa- 
 nied by the seal of the person who dictated it. Jezebel, writing 
 a letter in the name of Achab, carefully impresses it with the seal 
 of that Prince, that her orders may be executed without hesitation. 
 The Persian monarchs practised the same custom ; and Ahasue- 
 rus presented his ring to Esther, as a mark of his confidence. 
 Alexander, the conqueror of Darius, always used the seal of that 
 unfortunate monarch when lie sent his letters into Asia. At 
 Babylon, the Great had each their particular signet. 
 
 The art of engraving could make but little progress with these 
 people. The eastern religious codes, in which the existence of the 
 Fine Arts seems never to have been imagined, forbade the represen- 
 tation of all images, so that the engraved stones of the Arabians and 
 the Mussulmen exhibit nothing but inscriptions ; sometimes they 
 bear the name of the proprietor, or a passage from the Koran. 
 Genius will however stretch its wings, though they are chained ; 
 and the true Mussulman would sometimes venture, though his 
 taste was bad, into the regions of Fancy. We have seen a cast 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 of a gem on which the writing is so arranged, as to form the figure 
 of a man on horse-back. Of this fantastic and depraved taste we 
 have had several specimens in Europe*. 
 
 Among the Egyptian gems, of which there are more intaglios 
 than cameos, the greater part have the form of the consecrated 
 scarabeus or beetle, and the figures (or subject of the gem) are 
 engraven on its surface. They afterwards ground or cut away 
 the lower part of the scarabeus, preserving the upper surface, 
 cut into an oval form, to be more commodiously set into a ring 
 or seal. Such was the origin of the oval engraved stones, which 
 are still called scarabs, although the figure of the insect no longer 
 appears. The scarabeus was considered hy the Egyptians as a 
 symbol of the sun, the source of generation, probably because 
 they imagined that the scarab possessed the faculty of self-pro- 
 duction; it was also regarded as an emblem of courage, for they 
 imagined that all these insects were males, and consequently be- 
 held them with a kind of veneration. 
 
 The Etruscan scarabs, which are numerous, rarely exceed the 
 natural size of the insects they represent; but those of the Egyp- 
 tians are frequently of an extraordinary thickness, and some are 
 four inches in length. We shall shortly exhibit the particular 
 form of one of these gems, and point out the manner by which 
 they curiously contrived to introduce their figures. 
 
 * A drawing of the head of Charles I. is in the library of St. John's College, Oxford. It is 
 wholly composed of minute written characters, which at a small distance resemble the lines of 
 engraving. The lines of the head and ruff are said to contain the Book of Psalms, the Creed, and 
 Lord's Prayer. Of this kind is the portrait of Queen Anne, preserved in the British Museum. It is 
 not much above the size of the hand. On this drawing appear a number of lines and scratches, 
 which are said to include the entire contents of a thin folio volume shewn on this occasion to the 
 spectator. In the Menagiana we find several accounts of this species of curious idleness, much 
 like that of the great artist who transcribed the Iliad, and compressed it into a nutshell. 
 
 D 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Engraved stones of this kind were esteemed as amulets or 
 preservatives from unlucky accidents, or from the malice of ene- 
 mies. With these the forms of divinities and the vestments of 
 the priests were decorated, and they were distributed as honour- 
 able distinctions to persons who had become eminent either in 
 military employments, or in the offices of civil administration. 
 That these stones were generally attached to the dress or to the 
 person, appears by their being perforated, so as to admit a string, 
 by which they were either suspended from the neck or fastened 
 on the arm. 
 
 It has excited surprise that the Etruscans, a nation so distant 
 from Egypt, should have had the same singular kind of engraved 
 stones; but the circumstance merely shews that the Etruscans 
 copied the Egyptians, and probably, in adopting the scarabs of 
 Egypt, they likewise adopted the superstitious practices pre- 
 vailing in that country. 
 
 From these Egyptian and Etruscan gems, which are to be 
 classed with the earliest productions of the glyphic or engraver's 
 art, we may conclude that although they carried the mechanic 
 operation of the art to a considerable height, they made little or 
 no progress in the poetical or inventive part. We must distin- 
 guish the real Egyptian style from the Egyptio- Grecian, which 
 took place when Egyptian gems were afterwards executed by 
 Greek artists. 
 
 We discover on these stones the divinities of the country, and 
 all the hieroglyphics of their symbolical writing. Among these 
 divinities we find their Isis, Osiris, Horus, Anubis, Harpocrates, 
 &c. sometimes single and sometimes united. The flower of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 lotus or persea* (for which is meant, appears sometimes doubt- 
 ful) ornaments their forehead, or its stalk is held like a sceptre 
 in the hand of the divinity, who is sometimes represented 
 as sailing in a bark of the papyrus. The sistrum or rattle, 
 the situla or ewer, and the whip or scourge-)- are occasionally re- 
 presented. 
 
 Although our knowledge of the hieroglyphics of the Egyp- 
 tians is very confined, and will probably ever remain so, yet 
 learned conjecture and plausible reasoning have supplied the in- 
 quisitive mind with some materials. Time has preserved the cu- 
 rious work of Horapollo, of which the first book is, perhaps, the 
 work of a learned Egyptian, though the age in which he lived 
 is not exactly known. From other scattered notices we shall 
 glean a few, which, we hope, may prove not uninteresting. 
 
 The allegorical genius of the most remote antiquity (as Raspe 
 judiciously observes,) especially of Egypt, was pleased and 
 prompted equally by a spirit of wisdom, as well as of taste, to 
 represent that kind of knowledge which would be of the greatest 
 use to society. But what are the objects of that knowledge? 
 
 * We know nothing of the blossom of the persea. We imagine the flower to be Lotus Nilo- 
 tica, called also, if we recollect right, Nymphaea Nelumbo. 
 
 Strabo mentions the persea, as an evergreen tree, bearing a fruit like a pear. Plutarch says, 
 it was sacred to Isis, because the fruit resembled a heart, and the leaf had the likeness of a 
 tongue. Galen says, it was a large tree, which, when growing in Persia, had a poisonous qua- 
 lity, causing the instant death of those who eat the fruit; but when transplanted into Egypt, the 
 pear-like fruit became innoxious, and good for eating. 
 
 f Situla signifies a small vessel used to hold water, a pail or ewer, also an urn, in which 
 lots intended to be drawn were placed. 
 
 Isis was represented with the sistrum in her right hand, which was rattled to announce the 
 swelling of the Nile; the situla was in her left, which is said to symbolize the efflux or retir- 
 ing of the inundation. See Rosini Antiq. Roman, p. 190. 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The regular return of the seasons; the inundations; the seed time 
 and harvest; the revolutions of the sun, moon, and stars, and 
 other wonders of nature, ever friendly and beneficent to those 
 who follow her laws. 
 
 Warburton, who has treated this subject with his usual inge- 
 nuity, has classed the hieroglyphic characters under three heads. 
 He says, the Jirst design was to make the principal circumstances of 
 the subject stand for the whole; thus, when they would describe a 
 battle, or two armies in array, they painted two hands, one hold- 
 ing a shield, and the other a bow — when a tumult, or popular in- 
 surrection, an armed man casting arrows — when a siege, a scaling 
 ladder. But all this is of the rudest simplicity. 
 
 The second, or more artificial method of contraction, was by 
 putting the instrument of the thing, whether real or metaphorical, for 
 the thing itself. Thus, an eye eminently placed was designed to 
 represent God's omniscience ; an eye and sceptre displayed the du- 
 ties of a monarch ; and a ship and pilot, the governor of the 
 universe. 
 
 The third, and still more artificial method was, by making one 
 thing stand for, or represent another, where any quaint resemblance 
 or analogy in the representative could be collected from their observa- 
 tions of nature, or their traditional superstitions. Sometimes this 
 kind of hieroglyphic was founded on their observations on the 
 form, and real or imaginary natures and qualities, of beings. Thus 
 the universe was designed by a serpent in a circle, whose variegated 
 spots signified the stars; and the sun-rise by the two eyes of the cro- 
 codile, because they seem to emerge from its head; a young wi- 
 dow, who will not admit of a second husband, by a black pigeon ; one 
 dead of a fever, contracted by what we call a coup desoleil, from 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13 
 
 the great solar heat, by a blind scarab; a client flying for relief 
 to his patron, and finding none from him, by a sparrow and owl; 
 an inexorable tyrant estranged from his people, by a vulture; sl 
 man initiated into the mysteries, by a grasshopper which they ima- 
 gined had no mouth. 
 
 They certainly employed hieroglyphics as a concise method 
 to communicate their ethical instructions. That a judge should 
 be alike insensible to interest, or to compassion, they de- 
 signed a man without hands, and with declining eyes. Of 
 their delight in sculptured gems we have a pleasing proof 
 in the circumstance recorded by iElian, that the chief of their 
 judges wore round his neck an image of Truth engraven on a 
 sapphire. The Peach tree was said to be more fruitful when 
 transplanted, than on its native spot, and hence they charac- 
 terised a person who had passed much of his life in travelling by 
 a peach tree in luxuriant fruit. They designated a melancholy 
 man by a hare sitting in her form, as being a most timorous and 
 solitary creature. But the hieroglyphic was not a single detached 
 emblem only, they often contrived to unite a series of them so 
 as to form an inscription, which the eye might perpetuate on 
 the memory. We learn this from one, preserved by Clemens of 
 Alexandria, who informs us that it was engraven on one of the 
 gates of the temple of Diospolis, in Egypt. On one side appeared 
 a child (the symbol of birth,) and an old man (the symbol of 
 death,) a hawk (the accepted symbol of the divinity,) a fish 
 (the symbol of hatred,) and on the other side a frightful croco- 
 dile (the symbol of effrontery and insolence.) All these sym- 
 bols united, expressed — O thou who art born and who diest, 
 remember that God hateth those whose insolent forehead never 
 blusheth ! 
 
 E 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Raspe, describing in his catalogue a number of these hierogl}'- 
 phic gems, observes, that we frequently find among them the 
 eye. — It is sometimes without eyebrows, sometimes marked only 
 by two eyelids, without a pupil appearing. Sometimes it is seen 
 ornamented with eye-lids in the greatest perfection; it is likewise 
 occasionally adorned with wings, or other expressive attributes, 
 which obviously proves that there are different modifications and 
 different ideas represented by the same symbol. It is the most 
 simple image of vision, and consequently of wisdom and providence. 
 It is thus applicable to the sun, which sees and makes every thing 
 to be seen; and to the Divinity who is every where present, and 
 from whom nothing can be hid. Eyes were seen in all the Egyp- 
 tian temples, and we learn from Diodorus and Plutarch, that the 
 eye was particularly the symbol of Osiris. On the obelisks and 
 other Egyptian fragments lately deposited in the British Mu- 
 seum, may be seen frequently repeated an eye surmounting several 
 zig-zag lines, with the figure of a slug' directly beneath them. 
 May not this signify that knowledge or prudence surmounts the 
 intricacies of life, while indolence sinks under them? 
 
 We frequently find in these gems a sphynx under a variety of 
 disguises — a large ape, or cynocephalus — a falcon or hawk mi- 
 tred, Sec. some of these have been explained by Horapollo, from 
 whose singular work on the ancient hieroglyphics, Warburton 
 derived his explanations. On his authority we shall describe two 
 or three of these subjects. He tells us the hawk signifies supreme 
 intelligence; the intelligent soul, and God — because the hawk 
 was called in Egyptian baith, from bai, soul, and eth 9 heart, which 
 the Egyptians looked upon as the seat, the residence, or the co- 
 vering of the soul. That the haAvk was a sacred bird, appears 
 by its being fed in the temples consecrated to Osiris. The 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 sphynx was always an emblem of the divine power, in different 
 aspects of observation. Sitting with one paw on the wheel of 
 Fortune, it is God, or Wisdom directing the vicissitudes of human 
 life, or the revolution of the stars. Looking at the caduceus of 
 Mercury (Hermes or Thot) stuck into the earth before it, signi- 
 fies the divine Wisdom, regulating the course of the sun and 
 moon, or the year. It is evidently, when it holds the handled 
 cross or phallus, a symbol of the generating power. However it 
 must be confessed, that, although no object so frequently recurs 
 among the hieroglyphics as the sphynx, we know very little of 
 this symbolical monster; and it has been of late conjectured that 
 this chimerical figure describes that period in the astronomical 
 system when the sun enters that part of the zodiac between the 
 Lion and the Virgin; which figures united form a sphynx, thus 
 expressing the exact time of the overflowing of the Nile. 
 
 Mr. Ilayley thus alludes to the Egyptian hieroglyphics, in his 
 elegant Essay on Sculpture : 
 
 " Does Fancy shrink from superstition's shapes, 
 Dog-headed gods, and consecrated apes, 
 From dark conceits, to learning's self unknown, 
 And the mute riddle on the mangled stone i" 
 
 Without doubt, this mode of recording events was the invention 
 of a rude people, for Warburton has shewn that hieroglyphical 
 writings have been practised by other nations, Avho were ignorant 
 of any better maimer of communicating their knowledge than by 
 painting their ideas. The Chinese, the Indians, the Mexicans, 
 and the Scythians had their hieroglyphics as well as the Egyp- 
 tians. It is well known how rapidly the account of the first land- 
 ing of the Spaniards in Mexico was transmitted to Montezuma 
 by their art of picture-writing. Herodotus supplies us with a 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 hieroglyphic which the Scythians sent to Darius pn his invasion 
 of their country; it consisted of a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five 
 arrows ; insinuating by these that if he did not fly away as swift- 
 ly as a bird, or conceal himself like a mouse or a frog, he would 
 perish by their arrows. 
 
 Thus much for Hieroglyphics, which expressing many ideas in 
 a very small compass, were peculiarly suited to the graver of 
 gems. 
 
 The antiquity of the Egyptians, has induced some antiquaries 
 to consider them as the source of all science and art; but some na- 
 tion probably preceded them in discovery, for their high civiliza- 
 tion proves an existence much anterior to the epocha to which 
 history and tradition have reached. And this Bailly, in his Letters 
 on the Origin of the Sciences, and D'Hancarville in his History 
 of the Art of Design, have sufficiently discussed. More recent 
 antiquaries have discovered that Indian is at least as venerable as 
 Egyptian antiquity; polished and engraved stones with Shanscrit 
 characters have been found in India, not yielding, for execution, 
 to the best works of the ancient Egyptian style. 
 
 The maritime commerce which the Etruscans successfully 
 pursued, connected them with the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, 
 and other oriental nations. If, however, they first received from 
 Egypt a knowledge of the glyphic art, they indulged their own 
 genius in their productions; and the subjects represented on their 
 stones were drawn from the religious system of the Greeks. Peace 
 and luxury in the progress of time familiarised them with the 
 fine arts, and the art of engravino- stones became one of their fa- 
 vourite pursuits. Dionysius Ilalicarnassensis records, that the 
 elder Tarquin, having conquered the Etruscans, despoiled their 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 magistrates of the rings they wore. The Etruscans introduced 
 their use among the Sabines, in an age when they were softened 
 by luxury, and susceptible of elegant pleasures. 
 
 The Egyptians placed the instruments of the arts in the hands 
 of the Greeks, while they dictated to Plato the principles of wis- 
 dom, and permitted Grecian legislators to transcribe their laws. 
 The Greeks were but a rude people, in their first intercourse with 
 the Egyptians; and the latter prided themselves on their early 
 distinction r for Herodotus says, they boasted of having invented 
 statues, and Diodorus Siculus mentions their notion that men 
 were first created in Egypt. 
 
 Mr. Hayley has applied a poetical image, descriptive of Egyp- 
 tian and Grecian fancy; alluding to Egyptian invention, he says, 
 
 " Let not nice taste, of purer fancy vain, 
 This praise of old and graceless art arraign ; 
 Should a magician usher to our view 
 An ancient wrinkled dame of dingy hue, 
 Big-boned and stiff, and uttering mangled verse, 
 Then should he say, with truth, " See Helen's nurse!" 
 The swarthy beldam friendly hands would shake, 
 And all would bless her for her nursling's sake. 
 Such Memphis' art to Attic minds endear'd, 
 For Greece, their Helen, was by Egypt rear'd. 
 
 The Greeks, once in possession of the art, were not long in 
 bringing it, like other arts of fancy and delineation, to the highest 
 imaginable perfection. Raspe justly observes that their improve- 
 ments were not improvements of the mechanical parts of the art, 
 or of the tools or method of engraving, for these, on account of 
 their great simplicity, could have undergone but little variation 
 from their beginning. The improvements of the Greeks arose 
 
 F 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from a more extensive use of the tool — a better choice and hap- 
 pier treatment of their subjects — from their consummate know- 
 ledge and imitation of nature, and finally, from a finer taste, in 
 which Homer was their master and Nature their standard. 
 
 The Egyptian sculpture has one remarkable deficiency; the 
 Egyptian statues hang their limbs in idleness and inactivity; 
 their legs and their arms adhere to the body in one dead mass. 
 Grecian art first made the marble tender, and the stone suscep- 
 tible. It breathed life into a statue, and touched into motion 
 the group contained in a ring. 
 
 The commercial intercourse of the Creeks with other nations 
 —their constant emulation, arising from their own small indepen- 
 dent states — their encouragement from aspiring individuals, who 
 purchased fame with the talents of the artist — their athletic exer- 
 cises, and the natural beauty of their forms, and the genial in- 
 fluence of their country and climate — all these causes united gave 
 the most powerful impulse to their genius ; and not the least of 
 these causes was the varied enchantment of their mythology. 
 Was it wonderful that they who so early felt the merits of Ho- 
 mer, (observes Raspe) should express his beauties, by the efforts 
 of the glyphic art? Beauties so different from that poverty of 
 invention, which the nations of Africa and Asia Avere enabled, 
 or allowed to give, from their sacred writings. By the study of 
 Nature and her laws, they formed their immortal works; she alone 
 they adored; she was their only object, standard, and test of art 
 and science, of genius and taste. 
 
 The learned and elegant writers, who have described the gems of 
 the Orlean collection, have themselves wrought a literary gem in 
 their beautiful groupings of mythological fiction; and it cannot 
 
 i 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 but interest our readers if we present them with this delicious 
 morsel. 
 
 " Cold and phlegmatic minds have frequently murmured 
 against those charming fictions with which Homer, Hesiod, and 
 succeeding poets, have embellished their works; but should these 
 inventions not conceal important truths, and frequently the most 
 useful instructions, still would it be wise to destroy a system 
 which peopled and animated all nature, and made a solemn 
 temple of the vast universe? Those flowers whose sparkling and 
 varied beauty we so much admire, are the tears of Aurora. It is 
 the breath of Zephyrus which gently agitates the leaves, while the 
 murmurs of the waters are the sighs of the Naiads. A god im- 
 pels the wind, a god pours out the rivers! Grapes are the gift of 
 Bacchus. Ceres presides over the harvest. Orchards are the care 
 of Pomona. Does a shepherd sound his reed on the summit of a 
 mountain, it is Pan who with his pastoral pipe returns the amo- 
 rous lay. When the sportsman's horn rouses the attentive ear, 
 it is Diana armed with her bow and quiver, more nimble than the 
 stag she pursues, who takes the diversion of the chase. The sun 
 is a god, who, riding on a car of fire, scatters through the universe 
 a flood of light. The stars are divinities, who measure the eter- 
 nal path of time with their golden beams. The moon, the lovely 
 sister of the sun, with milder glory slowly paces on her car through 
 the silence of the night, and consoles the world for the absence 
 of her brother. Neptune reigns in the seas, surrounded by the 
 Nereids, who dance to the joyous shells of the Tritons. In the 
 highest heaven is seated Jupiter, the father and sovereign of men 
 and gods; under his feet rolls the thunder, formed by the Cyclops 
 in the cavern of Lemnos ; his smile rejoices nature, and his nod 
 shakes the foundations of Olympus. Circling the throne of their 
 sovereign, or recumbent on purple beds, the other divinities quaff 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ambrosia from the golden cup presented by the youthful Hebe. 
 In the middle of this bright circle shines with distinguished lus- 
 tre the unrivalled beauty of Venus, adorned only by her magic 
 cestus, about which the Graces, the Smiles, and the Sports for 
 ever play ; in her hand is a smiling boy, whose power all earth, 
 all heaven confess." 
 
 We shall not be surprised at their fondness for the glyphic art, 
 and their numerous artists, when we find that the use of rings 
 and engraven stones was not restricted in Greece to particular 
 persons, or to certain ranks. Any one might wear them, and 
 nothing was better adapted to gratify the vanity of a people who 
 were ever alive to glory. These engravings were so many dura- 
 ble monuments, purchased at no ruinous cost. Every one might 
 preserve his own portrait, or perpetuate the deed which had il- 
 lustrated his name. If a wrestler carried the prize in the games, 
 if a soldier had signalized himself, he engraved this event on a 
 precious stone, and wore the gem as a victorious trophy. The 
 Greeks were superstitious as well as vain; and the image of a fa- 
 vourite divinity engraven on a ring was incessantly presented to 
 the adoring eye of the votary ; it attached his confidence and it 
 fortified his belief. For the sake of possessing these miniature 
 engravings themselves, from good sense, from vanity, from re- 
 ligion, they gave the amplest encouragement to this art and its 
 professors. 
 
 Numbers of every sort of these engraved stones, with beautiful 
 fragments of cameos, are frequently found on the sea shore, in the 
 vicinity of Naples, Baja, and Puzzoli, and in the towns of Sicily. 
 
 The Romans, before they were acquainted with the Greeks, 
 from the earliest period of the republic, and even under their 
 
INTRODUCTION. 2 1 
 
 kings wore rings. Those of their senators were originally made of 
 iron, and vestiges of this primaeval simplicity were perceivable in 
 their marriage ceremonies and in their triumphs*. In the for- 
 mer, the bridegroom presented an unadorned ring of iron to his 
 bride; and in the latter the triumpher, while the slave placed on 
 his head a crown of gold, wore, like that slave, a simple iron ring 
 on his finger. Such was the plain ornament with which Marius 
 triumphed over Jugurtha. In the process of time, only their am- 
 bassadors enjoyed the privilege of publicly wearing a gold ring. 
 The nobility were at length distinguished by this mark from the 
 plebeians; these latter were only allowed rings of silver; and 
 when a ring of gold was bestowed on one of them by a dictator 
 or a questor, he was admitted into the equestrian order. On the 
 contrary, whenever a Roman knight had dissipated his wealth, 
 he was compelled to give up his gold ring ; and if any disgrace- 
 ful act rendered a citizen incapable of holding a public office, he 
 was despoiled of his ring, and even his seal was erasedt. 
 
 This military republic at first regarded the liberal arts with 
 contempt, not distinguishing them from the mere manual ones; 
 they therefore made scarce any progress in them. Afterwards 
 when they penetrated into Greece and Asia, and observed the 
 high esteem in which great artists were held, they seemed to have 
 other eyes and finer feelings. The rude conquerors admired and 
 pillaged the treasures of Greece, and invited Dioscorides, Solon, 
 and their numerous brethren, to their haughty Rome. 
 
 For a length of time the Romans were debarred by their reli- 
 gious institution from the use of the graver. Numa, following 
 
 * Pliny, lib. xxxiii. c. 1. f Pliny, lib. xxxii. c. 12, 
 
 O 
 
22 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the example of Pythagoras, conceived that a knowledge of the 
 divinity could only be acquired by the mind*, and imagined 
 that it was derogatory to employ material and perishable objects 
 to represent it. The Romans long abstained from engraving any 
 image of the gods, but afterwards adopting the religious rites of 
 other nations, they became, like those nations, the slaves of su- 
 perstition Caprice invented all kinds of subjects to be en- 
 graven on their seal-rings. 
 
 A multiplicity of rings, which had been hitherto prohibited, was 
 now allowed; and from having been originally used as seals, be- 
 came curious and necessary ornaments:}:. They adorned the sta- 
 tues of their gods with them, that they might have a plea for 
 their own profusion, and at length became so fastidiously delicate, 
 that they had lighter rings to wear in the summer; a circum- 
 stance noticed by Juvenal §, who describes Crispinus as wearing 
 a summer-ring, and (doubtless hyperbolically) cooling it, by wav- 
 ing; it to and fro in his hand. 
 
 The Greeks and other nations had adopted the finger on the 
 left hand for the honourable distinction of the ring ; on the left 
 hand it was more conveniently worn ; more secure from fric- 
 tion, while the right was free to act||. But when magnificence 
 at length succeeded to the ancient frugality, they covered all their 
 fingers with rings, and even carried several on one finger, and 
 mounted several engraved stones in one ring^f. Pliny says, they 
 loaded their fingers with princely fortunes. 
 
 * Plutarch in vita Numae. f Pliny, lib. ii. c. 7 ; xxxiii. c. 3. 
 
 + Macrobius, lib. vii. c. 13. § Sat. i. || Macrobius, lib. vii. c. 13. 
 
 ^ See several curious rings of this kind, with seal-keys, in the Vignette, at the close of this 
 Introduction. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 23 
 
 Anions; their domestic uses of rings and seals was that of their 
 being substituted for the use we make of keys; one part of the 
 seal formed the wards of a key. They sealed their chests, and 
 their wine vessels, and whatever they wished to preserve from 
 the rapacity of their domestics. But the chief use of rings was 
 to seal their letters. After their letter was folded, or their 
 tablet closed, they tied round it a flaxen string, and at the 
 point where this riband finished they put their wax, or a kind 
 of chalk or soft earth, imported from Asia, which was prepared 
 to receive the impression of the seal. This wax was general- 
 ly moistened with saliva before they stampt it, to keep the seal 
 free from the wax and render the impression perfect*. The let- 
 ter thus sealed became a sacred deposit, and when the bearer 
 presented it to the person addressed, he was very particular to 
 make him observe both the cover and the seal. This custom has 
 been preserved from age to age. In the middle ages they were 
 at times distressed for seals ; for St. Bernard apologises, in one of 
 his letters, for not having sealed them, having mislaid his ring ; 
 and he informs Pope Eugenius, that his seal having been counter- 
 feited, he intends for the future to have a seal, which shall bear 
 his portrait and his name-f-. 
 
 From the chief in the Roman republic to the humblest citizen, 
 each had his respective seal. The seal of an emperor or a consul 
 did not differ from any other individual's, except in that high ve- 
 neration with which the character of its possessor invested it. 
 These sometimes trusted their seal with their confidential friends; 
 as did Augustus to Agrippa and Mecamas;}:, and Vespasian to 
 Mutianus. 
 
 * Juvenal Sat. i. Ovid. Trist. lib. v. eleg. 5. 
 
 t St. Bernard's Epist. 330— 339. + Dio. lib. 51. 
 
24 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As the head of every family had his own ring, no engraver was 
 permitted to make the same ring for two different persons, and 
 they employed the most severe prohibitions against it. Yet for- 
 geries were numerous ; and frauds and stratagems were success- 
 fully accomplished by such means, by the enemies of the Ro- 
 mans. Pompey, (the son of Pompey the Great) a great naval 
 commander, anticipating his melancholy end, and fearful of the 
 purpose to which his enemies might convert his ring, threw it 
 into the sea after his defeat*. 
 
 At the bed of the dying man his friends and heirs solicitously 
 stood to watch the fate of his ring. From various motives many 
 called aloud to inclose it in his funeral urn; and if the dying man 
 was silent respecting its destiny, they indecently snatched it from 
 his finger ere he expired-}-. A circumstance which the moral 
 Seneca groans over among the disordered manners of his age. 
 
 At Rome chiefly, the engravers and their art (observes Raspe) 
 had encouragement and employment much beyond any thing our 
 times and fashions permit our artists to expect. Seals were not 
 their only care ; such was the magnificent taste of the ancients, 
 the art was applied to the making of the richest jewellery for 
 wear and ornament. Not only bracelets, ear-rings, clasps, gir- 
 dles, &c. were ornamented by gems, but even the robes, gowns, 
 and shoes of the opulent and the elegant were richly set and va- 
 riegated with engraved stones, probably with cameos, which can- 
 not serve any other purpose than ornament. The same taste and 
 profusion sometimes adorned the helmets, breast-plates, sword- 
 handles, and even the saddles of their military men. The large 
 cameos had their place in cabinet work and furniture, and thou- 
 sands of gems were set in their gold and silver goblets, vases, &c. 
 
 * Florus, lib. iv. c. 2. Paterc. lib. ii. c'. 55. f P'' n y> exxxiii. c. I. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 which glittered on the sideboards of the opulent, or in the tem- 
 ples of their divinities. We have still left, for our astonishment, 
 beautiful cups and vases of solid onyx, sardonyx, and rock crystal, 
 exhibiting the finest relievo work; on calculation, we wonder at 
 the enormous cost of the time, the art, with the folly of convert- 
 ing such perishable materials into costliest treasures. 
 
 Even the poorer ranks caught a taste for engraved rings, and 
 aped their superiors by an external show of resemblance. Gilt, 
 or brass and iron rings were worn by them; and as they could 
 not purchase fine stones, the idea of imitating them in coloured 
 glass compositions was happily suggested; an event the most im- 
 portant in the history of engraved gems; for these imitations, 
 while they copy the colour and brilliancy of the originals in a 
 considerable degree, exactly preserve the beauty of the workman- 
 ship. At Rome they named these false stones gemma vitriae*, 
 or glass gems. We call them ancient pastes, and find them fre- 
 quently in antique vases. This art has been very happily reno- 
 vated in the present day, and no one has carried it to greater 
 perfection than the late Mr. Tassie. 
 
 The most illustrious characters of antiquity had so great a re- 
 gard for their collections of gems (observes Raspe) that they some- 
 times left them to the public to preserve them entire. Pompey 
 placed in the capitol the gems which he had found in the trea- 
 sures of Mithridates; Ccesar consecrated and gave to the temple of 
 Venus Genitrix his cabinet of gems, or dactyliotheca, which he 
 had collected with immense expence. Marcellus, and others, 
 made similar dedications. 
 
 * Salmasius, 1. c. p. 769. 
 
26 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The gems of several eminent characters have been recorded. 
 Mr. Hayley has on this subject observed, that " the seal rings 
 of antiquity form an extensive subject for curious and amusing- 
 research," and he has described, in harmonious verse, the subject 
 which Ulysses chose for his seal; an affectionate memorial of the 
 paternal passion. 
 
 " The heroes of old time were proud to wear 
 The seal engraven with ingenious care ; 
 And wise ulysses, if tradition's true, 
 No trifling pleasure from his signet drew. 
 A dolphin's form the sculptured stone exprest, 
 Of gracious Providence a graceful test; 
 Sav'd from the deep, these wat'ry guardians bore 
 His filial pride, telemachus, ashore; 
 And the fond sire display'd, with grateful joy, 
 The just memorial of his rescued boy." 
 
 Julius Caesar had for his seal, a Venus armed with a dart, of which 
 we have numerous copies; this was to flatter his pride of ancestry, 
 pretending that he descended from Venus and iEneas. Augustus, 
 when he assumed the empire, had a sphynx, which, at length, he 
 abandoned to elude the pleasantries of the wits; this sphynx (they 
 said) portends riddles. Afterwards he adopted the head of Alex- 
 ander, and at length his own portrait, engraved by Dioscorides. 
 Pompey's seal was a lion holding a sword : when, after his assas- 
 sination, it was presented to Caesar, the feeling or the crafty rival 
 burst into tears. The seal of Mecaenas was a frog ; an animal 
 which he made highly dreadful to the people ; for as it was usu- 
 ally annexed to his tax bills, the hoarse voice of the frog they de- 
 clared truly to be very unmusical. It was said that this amphi- 
 bious animal was symbolical of the power Mecaenas was invested 
 
INTRODUCTION. 2/ 
 
 with, both in land and sea affairs. Sylla, become haughty by 
 taking Jugurtha prisoner, had the humiliating event engraven on 
 the seal with which he constantly sealed his letters. This (says 
 Plutarch) touched Marius to the quick; so slight and frivolous 
 was the beginning of the enmity of those celebrated rivals, 
 which afterwards produced such implacable animosity, and 
 caused so much Roman blood to be shed. Scipio Africanus 
 bore on his seal the portrait of Syphax, whom he had conquered. 
 These instances sufficiently shew that engraved stones, however 
 various their subjects, served the ancients as seals. 
 
 The primitive christians, living among the Greeks and Romans, 
 retained the same customs; but regarding with horror every thing 
 that looked like paganism, and most of the subjects of seal-rings 
 forming some superstitious rite, they adopted seals of their own 
 invention, and by which they might be more easily recognised to 
 each other. Clemens of Alexandria exhorts them to engrave 
 symbols which should remind them of the mysteries of religion. 
 They used the monogram of Jesus, a dove, a fish, an anchor, 
 the ark of Noah, and the boat of St. Peter. These pious images 
 were not favourable to the arts ; they had neither variety nor 
 imagination. 
 
 The christian religion having spread over Europe, the universe 
 was changed, and exhibited a new spectacle. Engraved gems 
 were not as heretofore used on almost every occasion. During 
 several ages they were used as seals to give authenticity to pub- 
 lic acts. Princes had not always artists near them, and often 
 adopted some ancient gem. Pepin sealed with an Indian Bac- 
 chus, and Charlemagne sometimes with a Jupiter Serapis; 
 heads which, probably, they imagined were those of St. Paul or 
 St. Peter. 
 
28 
 
 I "NT RODUCTION. 
 
 Jjut the barbarism of the middle ages spread its clouds, and an 
 intellectual night set in. The nobility were not any more soli- 
 citous to procure a beautiful work of art; they stamped their feu- 
 dal and tyrannic charts with a seal, rude and heavy as their souls 
 and their swords; the pommel of which latter more than once 
 served as their seal, at a time they could not subscribe their 
 names. Even the magic lustre of the ring never dazzled their 
 ferocious eye. Ancient gems were dispersed and lost to the 
 world; and many are still dug out of the earth. The classical 
 muse of Mr. Rogers observes, 
 
 " They slept for ages in a second mine." 
 
 Their hardness has enabled them to resist both the fire and a col- 
 lision with other substances, while their minuteness has rescued 
 them from the barbarians. They were sometimes used to adorn 
 the altar-pieces, to stud the golden chalices of the abbeys, and 
 border the chests of relics; in this degraded state the finest gems 
 which now embellish the museums of monarchs, and the cabinets 
 of the curious, have been fortunately preserved. 
 
 We owe much to the profound ignorance of the monks; to 
 those who frequently could not read, the treasures of our litera- 
 ture; to men who, in respect to art, lived in total cecity, the 
 finest relics of antiquity. Had they known as much as they 
 have enabled us to know, it is probable that scarcely a gem 
 would have reached, nor a manuscript been consigned to us ; as 
 relics of paganism the heavy hand of gothic destruction had 
 crushed ages of taste. At length, when the liberal arts hung on 
 the verge of ruin, the immortal Medici arose — and all was sun- . 
 shine! Then their eyes opened, and their hands laboured; an- 
 tiquity scattered her models, and Valerio de Vicenza 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 emulated their excellence. Pikler, of recent celebrity, is, per- 
 haps, in no way inferior to his predecessors, and posterity will 
 pay its tribute to the merit of the living engravers of gems in our 
 awn country. 
 
 The frigid disciple of the cynic school has sometimes ex- 
 claimed, " And had they perished, what had we lost?" Without 
 adverting to the real value and beauty of the material on which 
 gems are engraven, or the splendor and diversity of the colours, 
 or that delight which even the vulgar eye takes in viewing pre- 
 cious stones, we are willing to confess that these are sensual and 
 luxurious enjoyments, which none can participate in, but their 
 opulent possessors. But the pleasures of the mind, which gems 
 communicate, are enjoyments for all, and are accessible to the 
 solitary student. We find them easily, and we can purchase them 
 cheaply; for the casts or impressions are as valuable as the ori- 
 ginals, for the purposes of art, and for their varied information. 
 We must visit museums to inspect marble statues; we must pur- 
 chase medals to study medals; but we find every day persons who 
 wear in their rings or seals ancient gems. To acquire some 
 knowledge respecting such sources of instruction and pleasure, 
 is a study happily adapted to a well educated mind. They pre- 
 serve for us a multitude of signs and symbols interesting towards 
 the history of the manners and customs of antiquity. The finest 
 copies of statues and groupes, some of which still exist while others 
 are lost, are executed on gems ; the faces and features of illustrious 
 men eminent for their genius or their power are faithfully retained 
 often more perfectly than on medals, which are so frequently in- 
 jured by friction and time. In gems, the artists have found an 
 infinite number of subjects for their imitation from the age of 
 Raphael and Michael Angelo to Reynolds and Fuseli ; poets are 
 
 i 
 
30 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not less indebted. From these precious treasures of antiquity 
 we may every day learn more and more to perfect our taste, ex- 
 ercise our curiosity, and adorn our imagination with the most 
 elevated and the most beautiful ideas. They constitute a library 
 without books, a gallery of pictures without paintings, and sculp- 
 ture without marble. 
 
SELECTION 
 
 OF 
 
 ANTIQUE GEMS. 
 
 JUPITER iEGIOCHUS. 
 
 THIS Jupiter is a cameo of the first order of Greek sculpture, superior 
 perhaps to any head we have met with of that deity. We have copied it 
 from a cast in the possession of a great collector. It was presented by the 
 Senator Juliani to the library of St. Marco ; and being sent to Rome to be 
 engraved, it was removed from thence by the French, who pretend to have 
 given to the Venetians some valuable manuscripts for it, in exchange. It 
 is now in the Musee Nationale, at Paris. 
 
 The serene majesty of this countenance would lead the reader to suppose it 
 to be " the mild Jupiter" the elegant Spence has recorded in his Polymetis; but 
 the armour declares it to be Jupiter ./Egiochus. This armour was peculiar to 
 Jupiter and Minerva, as we observe in all their statues. The term agis signi- 
 fied divine armour only ; it was sometimes a breast-plate with a Gorgon's head 
 placed in the centre. The term JEgiochus seems a favourite epithet applied 
 to Jupiter by Hesiod and Homer. In Hesychius, the account of the cegis is, 
 that it was a suit of armour made for Jupiter by the hands of Vulcan. In the 
 Monumenti Inediti of Winkelman we have a description of hair which resem- 
 
 B 
 
( 2 
 
 bles the mode shewn in this gem. " The hair of the Jupiter of Phidias, mo- 
 delled after the description of Homer, turned back in a variety of locks, whilst 
 others fell down on the forehead, curled and divided." 
 
 The Jupiter of the ancients is exhibited under various forms, exerting va- 
 rious powers. According to Herodotus, the genius of poetry created the 
 divinities of Greece ; and sculptors and painters only embodied their ideas. 
 Our artists (observes the ingenious Abbe Arnaud) do not sufficiently feel 
 the advantages they may derive from the study of Homer. The fine arts have 
 lighted their torches at his altar. When Phidias disclosed to the Athenians his 
 statue of Olympian Jove, he was questioned whence he had taken the august 
 and terrific form in which he had represented the god. Phidias repeated three 
 verses of Homer. The anecdote of Bouchardon is well known ; a friend took 
 him by surprise in a delirium of enthusiasm, and enquired the occasion of so 
 violent an emotion. " I am come from reading Homer, and now men appear 
 to be eight feet high, and a new nature opens to my eyes." Some of our own 
 artists appear to have studied Homer : if we examine that part of the art which 
 relates to design, something of the spirit of that mighty bard is visible in their 
 works ; but too often, by overstepping the modesty of nature, manner and 
 affectation disgust a correct taste. 
 
 Cameos are not always favourable to these representations on gems or pre- 
 cious stones, as there must always exist in the mind of the artist a wish to accom- 
 modate the colours of the stone with his ideas of the subject. An evident 
 superiority appears in figures and groupes found on intaglios to those on 
 cameos. 
 
 From the beauty of the gem before us, there must have been a happy com- 
 bination of art and nature, and little was sacrificed to keep the drawing and 
 proportion of the head separate from the colour of the ground. This gem 
 bears the same proportion in size to other gems that the colossal statues of the 
 ancients did to those of an ordinary size, and has all that squareness of cha- 
 racter and boldness of relief, which, by a judicious imitation, gives dignity to 
 every style of art. In historical, it may be traced in the works of Da Vinci, 
 Raphael, Michael Angelo, and Poussin, who enriched their compositions from 
 
3 
 
 the study of the numerous statues and gems that fell under their eyes. Of 
 their use and application in portrait painting our own country can boast an 
 example in Sir Joshua Reynolds. His mode of treating the light and shadow, 
 particularly in massing the features, appears to be the same as that we see on 
 antique statues judiciously placed for receiving the light. But this excellence, 
 like a salt which seasons the whole, is to be used with a sparing and cau- 
 tious art. 
 
 As well as the light and shadow, if we examine this gem by the rules of art, 
 it will be found to possess a dignity in the composition, well suited to the ma- 
 jesty of the deity. The turn of the head contrasts well with the body, and the 
 flowing and frequent lines of the hair and beard happily set off the plainness 
 and simple grandeur of the features. 
 
4 
 
 CLIO. 
 
 This Gem, like many others, has no very particular reference to the name 
 it bears ; and it has received several. For its excellence as a work of art it 
 has every claim to attention. 
 
 She holds in her left hand a scroll, on which her eyes are deeply occupied, 
 and the motion of her right, where the finger, as if just removed from the lips, 
 retains its position, indicates the most profound reflection on some passage 
 which appears to have particularly struck her mind. She holds her finger nearly 
 in the manner the god of silence, Harpocrates, is represented to do. The arm, 
 enveloped in drapery, precludes action, whilst the left hand, holding the scroll, 
 rests easily on the lap. The disposition of the legs and feet, with the chair, 
 forms altogether a striking example of that easy flow of line essential to 
 beauty. Her attitude commands silence; and every part of this elegant 
 figure is characteristic of attention. 
 
 Her seat or chair has the form of those which are frequently seen on Etrus- 
 can vases. The expression of this figure, her fine proportions, her noble and 
 natural attitude, the purity and elegance of the design, the intelligent manner 
 with which the drapery is executed, place this gem in the first rank of the most 
 beautiful we know. To the student, who desires to form himself on the true 
 principles of the antique, this figure offers the most perfect model of that noble 
 simplicity which is the secret magic of the great ancients. 
 
 We call this a Clio, or the Muse of History, from two circumstances uni- 
 formly preserved in all her figures ; the right hand being enveloped in her robe, 
 and her holding a scroll or volume in her left. The former characteristic is a 
 symbol of fidelity, which is the great feature of the historic muse, and that 
 
/ 
 
 5 
 
 this involution of the hand in the dress is an allegory of that signification we 
 learn from the following passage in Livy, when speaking of a procession of the 
 priestesses of Egeria * or Fidelity : " They sacrificed with their right hands en- 
 veloped in their garments, so that not even their fingers appeared, whereby 
 they intended to signify that fidelity was to be observed in their proceedings, 
 and to respect that virtue of which the right hand is at once the seat and the 
 symbol." Book I. Ch. VIII. 
 
 * Camoenis eum lucum sacravit quod earum sibi concilia cum conjuge sua Egeria essent: et soli 
 fidei solenne instituit, &c. 
 
 c 
 
6 
 
 CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
 
 The mythological tale of the loves of Cupid and Psyche is an allegory of the 
 human soul, which is sometimes nourished, and sometimes tormented, by the 
 passions. Psyche in Greek signifies the soul, and Cupid, desire. She is 
 frequently represented by a butterfly, not merely from the beautiful appear- 
 ance of that insect, but on account of its surviving the chrysalis or worm ; the 
 after-state of man is thus finely designated. We have a numerous series of 
 gems which tell their story by ingenious allegories ; and in all times it has been 
 a favourite subject of the most eminent artists. Sometimes Venus holds a 
 butterfly over the burning torch of Love ; Love and Psyche are caressing each 
 other; Love sometimes chains the hands of his unfortunate mistress, and tram- 
 ples on her; Love is himself chained to a column by Psyche; Love nails a but- 
 terfly on a tree, tears its wings, and burns them, &c. The butterfly, where- 
 ever it is met with on gems, indicates the soul, and we see one often issuing 
 from the mouth of a dying man. 
 
 This beautiful story has been told by Apuleius, in a turgid style ; and it has 
 afforded La Fontaine matter for a little, but tedious, volume. It has lately 
 been elegantly narrated by an anonymous poet. We present for the amuse- 
 ment of the reader an analysis of the charming fable. 
 
 A king and queen (so begins the fairy tale) had three daughters, all beau- 
 tiful ; the third was more than beautiful. She was compared to Venus; for 
 her was the worship of this deity neglected; Paphos, and Cnidos, and Cythera, 
 were deserted. The statues of Beauty were ungarlanded and uncrowned ; 
 her altars were without incense and sacrifices. Venus, indignant, summoned 
 her son signally to chastise the feeble mortal whose audacious beauty had 
 stolen away her adorers. 
 
 Yet Psyche drew no advantage from her charms ; all hastened to behold 
 her; all admired her; but she inspired no one with desire. Her sisters were 
 
jPab&AM Mayt.lSol t>? J 4>hn Murray 32 Fitei StrrU Zondoit. 
 
7 
 
 already married, and she alone, in the solitude of the palace, hated her own 
 beauties, which all were satisfied to praise without wishing to enjoy. 
 
 Her sympathising parents consulted the Oracle, which decreed that Psyche 
 should be exposed on the point of a rock, dressed in funeral robes ; that she 
 should have no mortal for a husband, but a ferocious and terrific monster, who 
 flying in the air desolates the earth, and makes the heavens tremble. Her 
 parents terrified, mingle their tears; they fear, and they obey. 
 
 Psyche, exhausted, tremblingly gave herself up to grief and to complaint, 
 when a Zephyr suddenly lifted her with his soft breath on his light wings into 
 a valley where he laid her down on a green bank, enamelled with flowers. 
 There she slept. — What was her astonishment when she awoke, to find herself 
 in a palace ornamented with as much taste as magnificence, and above all, 
 when, without perceiving any person, she heard voices congratulate her, and 
 supplicate for her commands. The palace resounds with celestial music ; 
 the most delicate viands, and the most exquisite wines, are served up by invi- 
 sible hands; delicious paintings enchant her eyes; she breathes a balmy air; 
 all her senses are charmed at once, and every moment they are struck by 
 changeful novelties. 
 
 Night came, and the beautiful Psyche yielded to the softness of repose ; 
 scarcely had she dosed, when a voice far softer and more melodious than all 
 the voices she had heard, whispered in her ear. A secret trouble agitates 
 her; she is ignorant of what she fears. A thousand thoughts distract her 
 tender imagination; but her husband is with her! He embraces her unseen, 
 but not unfelt. She is his wife ; but her invisible husband disappears with 
 the day. 
 
 Meanwhile the unhappy parents of Psyche were perishing with grief. Her 
 sisters each day wept at the foot of the rock on which she had been exposed ; 
 with lamenting cries they filled the surrounding valleys; the distant echoes 
 multiplied their accents, and the winds floated them to the ear of Psyche. 
 Her affectionate heart palpitated with domestic sympathies; she dwelt on 
 the thoughts of home, and sighed to console them. The brilliant inchant- 
 
8 
 
 ments that flattered her self-love, and her senses, never reached her heart ; 
 and the caresses of an invisible husband, did not compensate for the severity 
 of her solitude. She requested once more to embrace her sisters. Her hus- 
 band instantly rejected her intreaty, which, however, he had anticipated, and 
 warned her of the fatal consequences ; but overcome by her beauty, her tears 
 and her caresses, he at length consented, on condition, however, that if her 
 sisters indiscreetly enquired who her husband was, she would never acquaint 
 them of his strict command, that she should never attempt either to see, or to 
 know him. Psyche promised every thing; and the same Zephyr that had 
 transported her to this delicious abode, conveyed on its wings her two 
 sisters. 
 
 After having embraced each other a hundred times, Psyche displayed to 
 them the amazing beauties of her enchanting residence. Dazzled by such 
 magnificence, they ask who was the husband, or rather the god, who assem- 
 bled in one spot such beauties of nature, and such splendours of art ? Psyche, 
 faithful to her promise, answers that he was a beautiful youth whose cheek 
 was scarcely shadowed by its down ; but fearful to betray her secret, she sends 
 her sisters back to her family with rich gifts. They returned in a few days, 
 but with sentiments of a different colour from those they had first felt. 
 
 To the sisterly affection of longing to embrace Psyche, and the rapture 
 of having found her, now succeeded all the madness of envy, and the desire 
 of her ruin. They feigned at first to participate in her felicity and her plea- 
 sures ; afterwards they urged her to tell them the name, and describe the 
 person of her husband ; and the prudent, but forgetful, Psyche, who had 
 quite lost the recollection of her former account, painted him with quite 
 different features. 
 
 Convinced now that she had never seen her husband, they pretend to com- 
 passionate her destiny, and they wish, as they declare, that it was allowed 
 them to be silent ; but their duty and their tenderness compel them to 
 warn her of a danger that menaced her tranquillity. They recal to her 
 mind the frightful prediction of the Oracle. This unknown husband was no 
 doubt some horrid monster, to whose ferocity she would one day assuredly 
 
9 
 
 become the victim. — The alarmed and trembling Psyche abandons herself" 
 entirely to the counsels of her perfidious sisters, who engage to bring her a 
 lamp and a dagger, and advise her to seize that moment of time when the 
 monster would be asleep, to pierce him with her poniard. Alas! the too 
 credulous Psyche accepts these fatal gifts ! 
 
 At the fall of the night the husband arrives, caresses his beloved wife, and 
 sleeps ; then Psyche softly slides from his encircling arms, and taking in one 
 hand the lamp she had concealed, and in the other holding the poniard, 
 she advances, she approaches ; but — O heavens ! what is her surprise, while 
 by the light of the lamp, which, as if kindled by magic, suddenly bursts into 
 a wavering splendour, she perceives love himself reposing in the most charm- 
 ing attitude ! Pale, trembling, and dismayed, she directs the steel she pointed 
 at the god to her own bosom; but the poniard falls from her hand. While 
 she contemplates the lovely object before her, she regains her strength, and the 
 more she examines the heavenly boy, the more beautiful he appears, and with 
 a softer influence the enchantment steals over her senses. She beholds a head 
 adorned with flowing and resplendent tresses, diffusing celestial odours ; some 
 fall carelessly in curls on cheeks more beautifully blushing than the rose ; while 
 others float on a neck whiter than milk. On his shoulders are white wings whose 
 tender and delicate down, tremulously alive, is brilliant as the flowers yet hu- 
 mid with morning dew. His body was smooth and elegant ; the proud perfection 
 of Venus ! At the foot of the bed lay his bow, his quiver, and his arrows ; and 
 the curious Psyche, unwearied, touches and retouches his propitious weapons. 
 From the quiver she draws out one of the arrows, and with the tip of her finger 
 touching the point to try its sharpness, her trembling hand pierces the flesh, 
 and small drops of rosy blood are sprinkled on her skin. At that instant she 
 felt the wound in her heart; there it was not slight ! Deliciously enamoured 
 she gazes on the face of Love with insatiable eyes ; she breathes the warmest 
 kisses; and trembles lest he should awake. 
 
 While she yields to the rapture of her soul, ardent and lost, from the 
 lamp (as if it longed to touch the beautiful body its light so sweetly tinted) 
 a drop of boiling oil falls on the right shoulder of the god. Love awakes, 
 
 D 
 
 i 
 
10 
 
 shrieks, and flies away ! The unhappy Psyche catches his foot, and clings to 
 the volatile god till her strength is exhausted, and hopelessly she falls on the 
 green margin of a river. 
 
 Love suspends his flight for a moment; he loiters above a cypress, and in a 
 voice more in sorrow than in anger, reproaches his mistress for her unfaithful 
 credulity, her unjust fears, and above all for her inhuman design. Having 
 said this, the soft luxurious boy waves his wings and flies. Psyche, with eyes 
 dim with tears, traces his course for a moment; but in the midst of the sky, 
 the god melts into a shadow, and the shadow into air. The desolated Psyche, 
 urged on by despair, seeks to precipitate herself into the stream ; but the 
 waters, feeling the influence of Love, who rules all the elements, gently swell 
 to receive the beauteous maid, and softly float her to their flowery margin. 
 There Pan receives her, consoles, and exhorts her to soften the anger of Love 
 by her tears and her prayers. 
 
 Wandering from clime to clime, every where seeking for her husband, and 
 finding him no where ; ever suppliant, and ever rejected, the wife of Love 
 can discover no asylum on the earth. In the height of her misery she still 
 hoped her misfortunes would soon terminate ; but that most unhappy maid 
 knew not then of the afflictions the anger of Venus still reserved for her. 
 
 The mother of Love now discovered, that instead of having punished the 
 mortal against whom she was incensed, her son had made her his wife. In the 
 first moments of her rage she would have disarmed her son, broken his arrows, 
 and extinguished his torch. Beauty itself (soft as Beauty is when adulated) 
 is cruel, vindictive, and unforgiving when contemned. She condemns Psyche 
 to the most afflictive torments, and subjects her to the most cruel trials. All 
 nature sympathises with the sufferings of Psyche ; when men and gods aban- 
 don her, the inanimate creation is represented as endowed with sympathetic 
 affections. She passes into the depths of hell, and there executes the terrible 
 command of the vindictive power. At length Love, who trembles for her fate 
 and shudders lest she should perish under so many persecutions, flies to Jupi- 
 ter; tells him his adventures with her; talks with all his tenderness of his 
 affection, and who can talk like Love ? paints the scenes of her persecu- 
 
11 
 
 tion, and who can paint so lively ? describes the softness, the charms, the 
 innocence of his mistress, and solemnly adjures the father of creation to ordain 
 that he may be for ever united to Psyche, by the indissoluble bonds of a celestial 
 marriage. Jupiter assembles a synod of the divinities. They feel the inquietudes, 
 and approve the vows of Love. To calm the half-forgiving Venus, Psyche is ad- 
 mitted to the rank of a divinity, that Love may not be united to a simple mor- 
 tal. The celestial assembly applaud the union of Love and Psyche, and 
 from their marriage is born a daughter, whom they name Divine Pleasure. 
 
 The well-known gem, in the collection of the Duke of Marlborough, repre- 
 sents this mystical marriage ; a cameo of such exquisite beauty, and so often 
 engraven in this country, that it will be sufficient to mention it. The gem is 
 described by Dr. Darwin, with his accustomed brilliancy of versification and 
 warmth of fancy, though in this instance his description is not so correct as 
 it ought to have been. 
 
 Beneath a moving shade of fruits and flowers 
 Onward they march to Hymen's sacred bowers; 
 With lifted torch he lights the festive train, 
 Sublime, and leads them in his golden chain ; 
 Joins the fond pair, indulgent to their vows, 
 And hides with mystic veil their blushing brows. 
 
 This description omits a fine figure of a little winged Love, who pre- 
 cedes Hymen in preparing the nuptial couch which is likewise engraved. 
 Nor is the verse, 
 
 Beneath a moving shade of fruits and flowers, 
 
 however elegant, descriptive of its object. This " moving shade" is really a 
 basket filled with fruits, and raised over the heads of the bride and bridegroom. 
 It was an ancient custom with girls, desirous of marriage, to offer these baskets 
 of fruits to Diana at her festivals, and for that reason it was called the feast 
 of baskets ; the fruits being emblematical of a happy progeny in marriage. 
 
 The fable of Cupid and Psyche is perhaps an invention of Apuleius. No mention of Psyche, 
 nor any allusion to such amours of Cupid occurs in any Greek or Latin writer of an earlier date. 
 Apuleius calls it an old woman's story. It is related by an old hag in a cave of robbers to sooth 
 the grief of a young lady, their captive. " Ego te narrationibus lepidis anilibusque fabulis proti- 
 
n 
 
 ousevocabo: et incipit: Erant in quad am civitate Rex & Regina : hi tres numero filias forma 
 conspicuas habuerc." An imitation of the story is to be found with little alteration amongst 
 the French Contes des Fees, and English Fairy Tales. The opening of the narrative has become 
 almost proverbially descriptive of such stories. It is worthy of remark, that the figures of Cupid 
 and Psyche embracing, are found on many of the gems called Abraxas, from the name of an Egyp- 
 tian deity, whose worship the Gnostics and Basilidians in Syria and Egypt contrived to blend 
 with misconceived notions of Christianity. These gems were used as amulets or charms against 
 various maladies and perils. Basilides, heresiarch of Alexandria, was somewhat prior in time to 
 Apuleius. The former died about A. D. 125, the latter under Marcus Aurelius, between forty 
 and fifty years after. Whether Apuleius picked up the rudiments of his story among the Basili- 
 dians, in Egypt, or was altogether the inventor, it is probable that the gems which directly allude 
 to this fiction are not of higher antiquity than the time of Adrian. Fulgentius, said to have been 
 Bishop of Carthage in the sixth century, has allegorized the story of Apuleius. The French an- 
 notator on Apuleius says, " T. Fulgence a pretendu que cette fable enveloppoit un sens moral 
 fort beau, auquel il n'y a guere d'apparence qu' Apulee ait pensee. La ville dont il est park} 
 represente le monde. Le roi et la reine de cette ville sont dieu & la matiere. lis ont trois filles 
 qui sont la chair, la liberte, & 1' ame, &c." The dcscriber of the gems, in the Museum Florentinum, 
 says, The learned senator, Philip Bonaroti, has shewn that the fable of Cupid and Psyche is de- 
 rived from the solemn mysteries of Love celebrated among the Thespians, &c. and carefully con- 
 cealed from the profanation of the vulgar eye. It is highly probable, that of the many gems in 
 which the God of Love is variously represented, with or without the butterfly, a great number are 
 anterior to the time of Apuleius, and allude to sacred ceremonies ; that the butterfly was displayed 
 in those rites as a symbol of the soul : and that the gems, which bear the figure of Cupid chasing, 
 tormenting, caressing, and sporting with the butterfly, are emblematic of desire acting on the hu- 
 man soul : but it does not follow that they have any allusion to a fiction resembling that of Apu- 
 leius. They are probably founded on allegories of more ancient and of more sublime inven- 
 tion. 
 
 Cupid is represented on many of the gems as in a state of bondage : " Compedibus constrictus 
 conspicitur in gemmis 2, 3, 4. Tab. 81. sedensque more captivorum moerore tabescit. In gemma 2. 
 adrepente super compedes papilione alius Cupido ei palmam si victoria potiatur offert." — Mus. Flor. 
 It may be observed that in all the gems on which Cupid appears shackled, and on that in which 
 Psyche is represented sitting with a foot in fetters, or in a snare, the left foot only appears within 
 the curve. This, probably, alludes to some peculiarity of the sacred ceremonies. 
 
 Omens noticed on the left side were frequently considered as fortunate : there were, however, 
 certain exceptions : as when thunder was heard on the left, or an owl was perceived flying on 
 that side. Catullus, however, expressly shews the left .side to be of good omen in aff airs of Love. 
 
 Amor sinistram, ut ante 
 
 Dextram, sternuit approbationem. 
 At Acme leviter caput reflectens, 
 Et dulcis pueri ebrios ocellos 
 
Mo purpureo ore suaviata, 
 Sicinquit: Mea vita Septimi lie 
 Huic uni domino usque serviamus, &c. 
 Hoc ut dixit Amor sinistram, ut ante 
 Dextram sternuit approbationem. 
 Nunc ab auspicio bono profecti 
 Mutuis animis amant amantur *. 
 
 The foot of Psyche, within the bow of the shackle or snare, is naked. It may be remembered 
 that in the tale of Apuleius, when she is first seen by Cupid, she has been led out to a rock, on 
 which she is exposed, with the solemnities of funeral procession. Thus Dido having prepared her 
 funeral pile, 
 
 Unum exuta pedem vinclis in veste recincta 
 Testatur moritura deos. 
 
 In stygiis his nudipedalibus sinistrum pedem nudabant, says a commentator on the line in Virgil. 
 One foot was bared also in magical ceremonies : 
 
 Secreta nudo nemora lustravi pede, 
 says Medea, Seneca, Med. Act 4. Sc. 2. 
 
 The foot seems to be rather within a snare than in any thing resembling fetters. It appears 
 to be that used for catching birds ; and the application seems not inelegant to the purpose of in- 
 tangling these little winged airy beings. It is probable the Pedica mentioned in the Georgics : 
 Tunc gruibus pedicas & retia ponere cervis, &c. 
 
 Vine. G. 1 . 
 
 The Cupid bound to a pillar is thus noticed in the Museum Florentinum. " Ipse Cupido pcenis a 
 Psyche aflligitur, vinculisque ad columnam ligatus statuitur ludibrio ab omnibus, quasi saevissimus 
 tyrannus habendus." Tab. 79. V. I. Montfaucon, Vol. I. exhibits a figure of Cupid bound : 
 underwritten Spon. He wears a singular cap, resembling a turban, which passes as a bandeau 
 
 * An imperfect attempt to translate, in verse, 
 unacquainted with the original. 
 
 Cupid sneezing in his flight, 
 Once was heard upon the right l, 
 Boding woe to lovers true; 
 But now upon the left he flew, 
 And with sportive sneeze divine 
 Gave of joy the sacred sign. 
 Acme bent her lovely face, 
 Flush'd with rapture's rosy grace, 
 And those eyes that swam in bliss, 
 Prest with many a breathing kiss ; 
 
 the delicate Lines of C atullus is offered to readers 
 
 Breathing murm'ring soft and low, 
 Thus might life for ever flow ! 
 Lore of my life, and life of love ! 
 Cupid rules our fates above, 
 Ever let us vow to join 
 In homage at his happy shrine. 
 Cupid heard the lovers true, 
 Again upon the left he flew; 
 And with sportive sneeze divine 
 Renew'd of joy the sacred sign. 
 
 J Plutarch in his Po^atxa, Roman Questions, after assigning several reasons why omens observed on the left 
 were thought to bode good fortune, observes that the augurs, considering the earth to be in opposition to the hea- 
 vens, might think that what came from the right in heaven would be perceived upon the left on earth, and vice 
 versa. 
 
14 
 
 round the head, and suffers the hair to appear above it. The head of an ox is seen at the base of 
 the pillar or terminus. A chain passes round the body of the Cupid, and fetters one of his legs. 
 He raises his finger towards his eye, expressive of juvenile sorrow. The figure is not remarkable 
 for elegance. 
 
 The Greek lines of K^ayo^, in Brodaei Anthologia, 1500. Francfort. Wechel. folio, and 
 three more epigrams on the same subject, obviously refer to this or similar representations. 
 
 Kan x\an xai arwxfy (x^vavyo^s) 
 Weep and bemoan, insidious boy, 
 And wring your hands ; I see with joy 
 None will unbind you ; who is near 
 That heeds the piteous look you wear ? 
 How oft have you from mortal eyes 
 Forc'd briny tears ? what death-like sighs 
 Have lovers heav'd, whilst in their hearts 
 You stuck your sharp and cruel darts ? — 
 Still you with smiles and joy could hear 
 Their strains of sorrow and despair ! 
 Justly we triumph o'er your pains, 
 A tyrant once, now bound in chains. 
 
 On a gem in the Florentine collection Psyche appears bound. On another the enraged deity 
 prepares to inflict severe corporal chastisement on his kneeling spouse. Others represent them 
 happily locked in mutual embraces. 
 
 Those which represent Cupid with the butterfly, without the Psyche, sometimes exhibit the 
 little deity captived, while the butterfly crawls over the bow of the snare. On one he appears 
 bound, and the butterfly is settled on the knot that holds his hands. On other gems he holds the 
 butterfly by its wings, and prepares to throw it into the fire upon an altar, or to singe it with a 
 torch. On a greater number he caresses or sports with it. 
 
 In amore haec sunt mala : bellum 
 Pax rursum, &c. 
 
 Hor. Sat. 3. lib. 2. 
 
 It has been observed (Polymetis) that the figures of Cupid with the butterfly, correspond with 
 representations on other gems which introduce the female form in lieu of the insect. On one, 
 Cupid is drawn in a triumphal car by two butterflies : on another by two Psyches. It is, how- 
 ever, remarkable, that although the poetry and sculpture of the ancients are continually illustrative 
 of each other, no allusion to the butterfly or to Psyche occurs in any of their poetical productions. 
 
 For descriptions of Cupid see Spence's Polymetis, and the references. 
 
 O; xaAAtoros it a.^ex.ta.foicn Seojcti. 
 
 Hesiod Theogonia, v. 120. 
 
J u Hi 'hid Junt4.i»oi br J.'hn Marry it Tl*<t Srrnr L.mJcn. 
 
CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
 
 This highly finished gem is an intaglio on cornelian, in the possession of Mr. 
 Charles Townly. In regard to its execution, it may justly rank with the first 
 among those that are called miracles of art. It is one of those gems that 
 seem to vie with nature in her production of the more minute parts of crea- 
 tion, such as we examine by the aid of the microscope. Equally excellent in 
 the separate parts as perfect in the whole, we admire the contrivance of the 
 subordinate objects, which, without taking the eye from the principal figures, 
 assist the general expression. Considered as a source of grace and beauty, 
 it has already appeared among the elegant forms of Cipriani and Angelica 
 KaufTrnan, whose best pictures are designed upon the model of the antique 
 statues, gems, and bas-reliefs. Many are entire copies, with the addition 
 only of colours and scenic decoration. This gem is the work of Pamphilos, 
 who is said to have been a disciple of Praxiteles*. 
 
 CUPID BOUND. 
 
 This stone is a convex jacinth, and in Mr. Tassie's catalogue is said to be in 
 the possession of Mr. Dutens. A beautiful simplicity characterizes this 
 emblem, in which nothing seems forced or extraneous. An indication of 
 emotion with the ancients was considered as sufficient : nor were any of the 
 passions, even the most violent, expressed as in extremes, or obscured by 
 complex allusions. The turn of the head with the face toward the, butterfly 
 is particularly beautiful, and points out at once the peculiar sufferings of the 
 Cupid, and the object of his regard. 
 
 * Possibly the Praxiteles who lived under Pompey, Cctsar, and Augustus, probably some later artist. 
 
 Plin. I. 33. c. 12. 
 
16 
 
 CUPID EMBRACING PSYCHE, 
 
 Is a cameo. It was brought to England by the Marquis Selini, who per- 
 mitted Mr. Tassie to add a cast of this (with several others) to his collection. 
 
 There are many gems on this subject, in which the figures appear standing, 
 and of equal height. We have selected this for its novelty. The action is 
 highly expressive of affection, and the forms are natural and elegant. If the 
 story of Cupid and Psyche has employed the pens of many learned and in- 
 genious writers among the moderns, it has been no less frequently the sub- 
 ject of the pencil and the graver. Raphael has pursued this story, through all 
 its interesting parts, in a series of paintings ; and it would be a copious cata- 
 logue of paintings of the old masters, which should enumerate all that have 
 been executed in illustration of this subject. But to come home to our own 
 times and country, we must not omit to mention a most beautiful and classical 
 picture, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. He has chosen the point of time when 
 Psyche, holding the lamp, discovers the beauty of her sleeping spouse. 
 
 This picture is in the possession of Mr. Rogers*. There is a cabinet, 
 painted with designs on this subject by Smirke, for Mr. Beckford, of Font 
 Hill. The performance does great credit to the artist, and gives us an op- 
 portunity of admiring the versatile powers both of his pencil and of his ima- 
 gination. 
 
 * The well-known author of that beautiful poem, " The Pleasures of Memory." 
 
\ 
 
fubliiKcA .htnr 4.i8o3 */• .Mm liitror si Fieri Strat iorulat. 
 
17 
 
 HEAD OF PSYCHE. 
 
 To give interest to a head, or single figure, requires often more skill and 
 knowledge of the art than where the subject admits of a greater variety. 
 
 This Head of Psyche is taken from a cast in Tassie's collection. It is said 
 to be engraved on cornelian ; but in whose possession it is not mentioned. 
 
 From the delicacy of the work, as well as the form of the features, we have 
 no doubt of its antiquity. The profile is perfectly Grecian. There are several 
 copies after this head, which shew it to have been in much estimation. It 
 is highly characteristic (both from the expression and action) of softness and 
 sensibility. The thought of placing the butterfly, a symbol of the soul, on the 
 bosom of the female, is impressively beautiful, and the situation considerably 
 assists the composition. 
 
 THE VIGNETTE 
 
 Contains the following gems, illustrative of the subject of Cupid and Psyche, 
 and expressive of the influence of love upon the soul. 
 
 Cupid embracing psyche, (half lengh figures) — is a cameo, an elegant 
 antique fragment, in the Florentine Museum. 
 
 Cupid burning a butterfly at an altar. — A cornelian in the possession 
 of Mr. Crusius. On many gems Cupid is represented as taking pleasure in 
 the torments he inflicts. This exhibits signs of remorse, by his turning away 
 his head from the object of his torture. It is probable that gems were made 
 
 F 
 
18 
 
 and presented on particular occasions, of which were it possible to give 
 the particulars, the interest we take in them, divested of such locality, would 
 be doubled. 
 
 Cupid seated on a shell, holding a butterfly. — This is, or was some 
 years since, the property of Lord Algernon Percy. The attitude and action of 
 this figure is very beautiful ; and we can trace its form in the boys of Guer- 
 cino, Cipriani, and Bartolozzi. Ogle, who published a quarto volume of 
 rude outlines taken from gems, speaking of this figure, supposes it to sym- 
 bolize the elevation of the soul by the sublime agency of love. 
 
 Cupid pursuing a butterfly. — The soul endeavouring to fly from the 
 pursuit of intemperate desire, appears to be typified in this elegant design. 
 There are several gems where the butterfly is seen feeding on the rose, 
 which may convey an idea of the purity of that essence which should serve 
 to nourish the immortal spirit. 
 
I 
 
 7iiiHrKtd Jttnt 4. hr John Murray M fit** Strut ftmkn 
 
* 
 
fttiiuhed Jfint U*±do4 byto/m Murray .12 ITctt Street londm. 
 
19 
 
 THE ROMAN NUPTIALS. 
 
 " Hail, wedded love, mysterious law — 
 
 " Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets. 
 
 " Here love his golden shafts employs, here lights 
 
 " His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings, 
 
 " Reigns here and revels." 
 
 Milton, Book iv. 1. 7oJ. 
 
 The subject of the gem before us is, above all others, calculated to excite 
 our liveliest sympathies — not only when we regard it as an elegant represen- 
 tation of a ceremony most interesting to oar strongest affections, but when 
 we reflect that the gem itself was probably an important instrument actually 
 employed in the happy ratification of a contract, which, near two thousand 
 years ago, consigned a beauteous female to the arms of an enraptured lover. 
 Male and female friends of either party, called pronubi and pronubae, ar- 
 ranged the marriage articles, wrote them carefully on tablets, and sealed 
 them with the annulus signatorius — the seal ring. The seal was sometimes 
 engraven on the metal of the ring, with the peculiar device of the wearer ; 
 either his own head, or the countenance of his mistress, or the busto, figure, 
 or symbol of some higher, but not more adored divinity. See Montfaucon, 
 ch. 11. p. 224. Pliny and Plutarch mention an iron ring, sent by the bride- 
 groom to his destined bride, which contained no gem, called pronubum, 
 the origin of which custom is noticed in our Introduction. Thus Juvenal : 
 
 Digito pignus fortasse dedisti. 
 
 The iron discipline and artificial barbarism of Sparta excluded even from 
 the marriage rite all delicacy, gaiety, and elegance ; but through Greece in 
 general, the native region of the Graces, the nuptial ceremony was adorned 
 with every adventitious charm which vivid fancy could devise, or taste ar- 
 range, or art unrivalled execute. The animated picture of the Grecian 
 marriage, in chap. 77. vol. 6. of the Travels of Anacharsis, will afford 
 abundant information, and no less delight, to any one who may wish to pur- 
 
 G 
 
20 
 
 sue the enquiry*. The ceremonies of marriage among the Romans are fully 
 detailed in books so very common, Kennet, &c. that it may suffice to notice 
 here only such circumstances as may serve to illustrate the group before us. 
 A female friend, or perhaps the figure of Juno Pronuba, delivers the bride to 
 her spouse, who receives her in the attitude of ceremony, holding her right 
 hand in his. The ceremony may be that called coemptio, which was more 
 common than the diffarreatio. Tacitus says, the latter, which was the more 
 ancient and solemn form, was generally laid aside, as it included many trou- 
 blesome, and, no doubt, expensive ceremonies. The contract of the co- 
 emptio was made by the parties mutually giving and receiving a piece of 
 money. The bride was crowned with flowers, marjoram, or vervain; and 
 her head and upper part of the face were covered with the flammeum or 
 wedding veil. This we see distinctly represented in all remains of ancient 
 sculpture which exhibit the marriage rite. In the beautiful gem of the 
 Duke of Marlborough, representing the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, the 
 veil covers the face of the little god as well as of the bride. Perhaps the most 
 celebrated representation of ancient nuptials is the venerable painting called 
 the Nozze Aldobrandine. It was found, says Montfaucon, in the time of 
 Clement the 8th, in the gardens of Maecenas, and deposited in the villa 
 Aldobrandina. The plate in M. is taken from Bartoli's Admiranda Roma- 
 narum Antiquitatum. " It is not at all damaged by fracture, though 
 brought, with the piece of the wall on which it was painted, from the Esqui- 
 line mount, where it was found, to this villa. The colours are much de- 
 cayed. Antiquaries judge it to be two thousand years old ; yet one may 
 still observe considerable beauty in the disposition of the colours, particularly 
 
 • 
 
 * From Travels of Anacharsis, chap. 77. vol. 6. 
 
 " Ismena wore a necklace of precious stones, and a robe in which gold and purple mingled 
 their colours. Their flowing hair, perfumed with costly essence, was adorned with chaplets 
 formed of Syracusan poppies, and other plants consecrated to Venus. Thus attired they mounted 
 a splendid car, and advanced towards the temple. — On the right hand of Ismena was the bride- 
 groom, and on her left a friend of Theogene's, whose duty it was to attend him during the cere- 
 mony. The eager multitude scattered flowers and perfumes along their way — These are more 
 than mortals they exclaimed — it is Apollo and Coronis ! — 
 
 — — — — The bride and bridegroom were received at the gate of the temple by the priest, 
 who presented to each a branch of ivy — a symbol of those ties which should unite them for 
 ever. 
 
21 
 
 as they set off one another in the several draperies." Wright's Travels, vol. 1, 
 1720. The bride appears completely enveloped in the flammeum and the 
 tunica talaris, both in the painting and on the gem. As allusion is made to 
 most of the Roman marriage rites in the Epithalamium of Julia and Manlius, 
 in Catullus, we shall cite, for the amusement of our readers, the particularly 
 descriptive stanzas from a late translation of that poet, and we shall also se- 
 lect from the notes. 
 
 God of the tender nuptial tie ; 
 Oh ! hither sacred Hymen fly* ! 
 Come, laughing boy, thy flowing hair 
 
 With fragrant marjoram adorn; 
 Thy saffron veil with speed prepare, 
 
 That veil by brides in marriage worn ; 
 And let thy yellow sandals glow 
 On thy bright feet that vie with snowf. 
 
 As once, of beauty justly vain, 
 
 The lovely queen of Paphian shades 
 Came conscious to the Phrygian swain ; 
 
 So lovely Julia Manlius weds, 
 And omens fair conspire to prove 
 How pure their bliss, how vast their lovej ! 
 
 * Hymenaeus is the same with Thalassus, who, according to Martial, epig. 42. lib. 12. was the god of marriage. 
 It was a word by which women were called to spin; hence used in marriage, as a warning to the bride to be a 
 good housewife. The name Thalassus is used by Catullus in a subsequent part of this ode ; it was a common ex- 
 pression of invocation sung in a chorus at a marriage feast. 
 
 f Catullus, perhaps, was not the first who crowned Hymen with marjoram ; many ancient poets crown him 
 with roses, and all give him the yellow sock. The flammeum, of a saffron or flame colour, the wedding colour of 
 the ancients, which the bride put on before she proceeded in form to her husband's house, is well known. The 
 much admired Marlborough gem, so finely engraven in Bryant's Mythology, represents the marriage proces- 
 sion at one view ; and the present one, from the celebrated fresco painting of the Aldrobrandini wedding, further 
 elucidates the nuptial ceremonies. It derives its name from being preserved in a garden pavilion of the Aldro- 
 brandini palace at Rome. Spence, iu his Polymetis, dial. 8. conjectures this to have been an institution of that 
 fine picture by Echion, which Pliny mentions, cap. 35. lib. 10. wherein was represented a woman lighting to the 
 nuptial bed a young bride, who modestly follows. 
 
 J Various were the omens observed at weddings. 
 
22 
 
 Thee anxious parents chief intreat 
 
 With bliss each darling child to crown ; 
 And virgins, in some sweet retreat, 
 
 To thee unloose the magic zone ; 
 To thee the bride, with listening fears, 
 Sighs, as the bridegroom's steps she hears*. 
 
 Hither, ye boys, your torches bring, 
 
 She comes in saffron veil array 'd ; 
 She comes! ye boys, your paeans sing; 
 
 Go, and with transport greet the maid ! 
 God of the tender nuptial tye, 
 O hither, sacred Hymen, fly ! 
 
 Soon shall the wanton song be heard, 
 
 And thou that hast so frequent crown'd 
 The passions of thy lustful lord, 
 
 Throw to the boys thy nuts aroundf ; 
 For see, thy master, virtuous grown, 
 Disdains such worthless love to own. 
 
 Enter, thou happy omen'd fair ! 
 
 The gate with polish'd labour bright, 
 And o'er the untouch'd threshold bear 
 
 Thy glittering feet of golden lightt. 
 
 * Virgins wore a girdle, generally of wool, for wool by the ancients was supposed to excite love, which the 
 bridegroom the first night unbound in bed. This custom is of Greek origin, and was first instituted by Lycurgus 
 Moschus records it in the story of Jupiter and Europa. Idyl 2. See Fawkes's version. 
 
 Jove sti ait assum'd another form and air, 
 And loos'd her zone. 
 
 f It was usual for the mirthful friends of the new married couple to sing obscene verses, which were tolerated 
 on this occasion, and called Fescennine, from having their origin in Fescennia, a town of Campania, though some 
 say they were so termed from their tendency to drive away noxious spe\\f;, fascina, or fascination, which the en- 
 vious might have used to destroy conjugal bliss. The custom of throwing nuts was of Athenian origin — perhaps it 
 was meant to divert the attention of the young guests from the new married couple, by the noise the scrambling 
 boys made. It imported, according to some, the renouncing of childhood, for children had many games with 
 nuts. 
 
 J The bride, entering her husband's house, was lifted over the threshold that she might not touch it : for this 
 various reasons have been assigned j the most plausible of which are, that it was either because the threshold was 
 sacred to Vesta, the goddess of chastity, who might be offended at her nuptials, or because she should avoid touch- 
 
23 
 
 Thou youth, in purple garb array'd, 
 
 Who chief dost on the bride attend ; 
 Send her thine arm's supporting aid, 
 
 The throne of rapture to ascend*. 
 
 Ye matrons of experienc'd age, 
 
 To your first husbands ever true, 
 Whose hearts no second loves engage. 
 
 Compose the maid in order duef ; 
 Sing, Hymen, source of all our joys, 
 Sing the sweet god of nuptial ties ! 
 
 Montfaucon, vol.3, pi. 132. has given a plate copied from the Admiranda 
 Romanarum Antiquitatum, in which are three figures, two of which precise- 
 ly resemble those of this gem. They were originally copied by Bartoli, from 
 a bas-relief then preserved in the Farnese palace, of which the gem appears 
 to be an ancient imitation, though the attitude of the pronuba is different. 
 The figure of the pronuba in the gem is not particularly worthy of notice. 
 The legs of the bridegroom appear not to be designed correctly. The right leg 
 is disproportionably long, and the left thigh contracted. But the figure of 
 the bride, and the easy flow of her drapery, is eminently graceful, and has 
 probably been occasionally selected by artists of learning as a subject of imi- 
 tation. If we recollect aright, a bride presented by the allegorical queen of 
 
 ing any spell, which some envious rival might have secretly laid there. Ovid, on another occasion, mentions 
 touching the threshold as a bad omen, 
 
 Missa foras iterum linien transire memento 
 
 Cautius, atque alte sobria fierre pedem. 
 
 tread with sober care, 
 
 And of the threshold let thy feet beware. 
 
 * The poet here addresses the boy or paranymphus, whose particular province it was to wait on the bride, and 
 attend her to the genial bed ; he was chosen of noble birth, and therefore wore the pra>texta, or garb bordered 
 with purple, and was one whose parents were living. There were always three attendant paranymplii ; one to pre- 
 cede the bride with a torch, and two others to support her. 
 
 f It was customary for the bride to be put to bed by a number of good old dames, who had been but once 
 wedded, such being supposed as most chaste. A second marriage with the Romans was considered as criminal. 
 We may also add, that the custom of the bride first entering the nuptial bed prevailed in ancient times, as it ha? 
 in more modern ages. 
 
 II 
 
24 
 
 riches (in the Moral Emblems of Otho Vaenius) to an ill-looking wretch sur- 
 rounded with money bags, bears a great resemblance to the figure before us. 
 The motto is 
 
 Scilicet uxorem cum dote fidemque & amicos, 
 
 Et genus & formam regina pecunia donat, 
 
 Ac bene nummatum decorat suadela Venusque. 
 
 HORACE. 
 
 This gem is said in Tassie's Catalogue to be the property of Lord Algernon 
 Percy, now Lord Beverly. It is worthy of particular notice, that the figures 
 appear to have been copied by the engraver of the gem from the bas-relief, 
 which, no doubt, represented several other figures attendant at the ceremony. 
 It was probably a decoration of a marble vase executed in honour of some 
 splendid nuptials. Bartoli's plate from the Farnese fragment contains only 
 three figures. The pronuba looks backward, as if speaking to some one im- 
 mediately behind. A cast from this fragment, preserved in the Royal 
 Academy, presents us with a fourth, whom the pronuba seems to address. 
 The attitude of the pronuba is altered by the engraver of the gem ; for as the 
 subject was complete with the introduction of three figures only, and was 
 more particularly suited to the compass of a gem, it became requisite to turn 
 the face of the attendant toward the principal figures. The gem engraver 
 has omitted a diadem, which appears on the head of the attendant in the 
 plate of Bartoli, which probably was characteristic of the Pronuba Juno, who 
 appears similarly decorated in some other plates. See Bartoli and Montfau- 
 con. It is more probable that the gem was taken from the vase, than the 
 latter from the former. Gems require very precise accuracy in every part of 
 the original design, as the smallest deviation must produce great incorrect- 
 ness in such a delicate operation and such minute execution. Thus many 
 gems appear to have been imitated from preceding bas-reliefs, and it was pro- 
 bably a usual method, even where the subject of the gem was a device of the 
 engraver's own imagination, to execute a small model in relief, from which 
 the gem was afterwards copied. 
 
I A/arch ?4*j8o-I At John Murray Mf'Uet Street Len&> 
 
25 
 
 HEAD OF PRIAM. 
 
 Homer, ft. 483. 
 
 On godlike Priam — breathless, pale, amaz'd, 
 All gaze, all wonder : — thus Achilles gaz'd. 
 
 Pope, b. 24. 1. 592. 
 
 This portrait of mild and venerable aspect is taken from a gem possessed by 
 the Duke of Devonshire. It is, probably, a traditional representation of the 
 features of the aged Priam. Traditional portraits, of which no prototypes 
 exist, taken perhaps originally from ideal representations, are familiar to 
 artists, who, without making accurate copies, preserve a general likeness in 
 their several designs to the attributed forms and features. Yet it is not im- 
 possible that sculptured portraits of the Greek and Trojan heroes might have 
 been executed by cotemporary artists ; were perhaps well known to Homer, 
 and preserved to a late period in Greece. Sculpture had certainly made con- 
 siderable progress toward perfection in the days of Homer, since he describes 
 so minutely the multitude of figures which decorated the shield of Achilles. 
 The sculptor was indeed a god; and there seem to be some particulars which 
 would defy the skill of any mortal sculptor to express : yet Homer had, no 
 doubt, seen specimens of finely sculptured armour, which probably 
 
 AouJaXo; txtxtktev 
 
 once was seen 
 
 In lofty Gnossus— — 
 Form'd by Dsedalean art. 
 
 Pope, b. 18. I, 682. 
 
 Daedalus flourished before the commencement of the Trojan war, and the 
 fame of his art was the theme of admiring Greece. Homer wrote somewhat 
 
26 
 
 less than two centuries after the destruction of Troy, and rather more than 
 nine hundred years before the birth of Christ. — Specimens of the earliest 
 sculpture might have been preserved to the latest days of Grecian art. We 
 have Saxon busts and reliefs executed not less than nine hundred years ago; 
 and the ruins of Egyptian Thebes, of Athens, and of Rome, retain fine spe- 
 cimens of sculpture, and even of painting, of more than twice that date. 
 Hence it is possible that the portraits of Priam might refer to some genuine 
 Trojan prototype. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that several pieces 
 of ancient sculpture, which clearly refer to the poetical history of Priam, re- 
 present the venerable monarch with striking similitude of countenance. In 
 the Mus. Flor. v. 2. tab. 30. is a plate from a jasper fragment representing 
 the figure of Priam sitting mournfully on the ground, as uttering 
 
 — — — OtJSt Tt1°<-X u Xai *»^ £al /bMI«« HT&CTU 
 
 Ai/Xn? ev ^oplojcrt xdXjv^o/xevo; k<x.to. xoirpov. 
 
 n. 6-io. 
 
 since the day that number'd with the dead 
 
 My hapless son, the dust has been my bed ; 
 Soft sleep a stranger to my weeping eyes, 
 My only food my sorrow and my sighs ! 
 
 B. 24. 1. 808. 
 
 He wears the Phrygian cap on the Florentine fragment as well as on 
 this gem. This cap also distinguishes a head of Paris in the Mus, Flor. 
 It is also seen on the head of the Deus Lunus*. 
 
 Of the Phrygian cap, or bonnet, it may be remarked that its form is by 
 no means dignified ; infinitely less so than the modern turban. This ef- 
 feminate character of the Asiatic dress was, in the early days of imperial 
 Rome, an object of occasional reproach; and the warm soft cap was not 
 exempted from the scoffs of the helmet-headed conquerors of surrounding na- 
 tions. In the ninth jEneid we find Numanus, the brother-in-law of Turnus, 
 
 * Lunum deum sive Lunam marem magno in honore a Mesopotamiae populis, praesertim a 
 Carrhenis, &c. cultum fuisse cognitum est, &c. Luna enascens protomae subjecta est — Pileo 
 Phrygio ornatur. — Tab. 40. 
 
27 
 
 deriding the effeminacy of the Trojans with particular allusion to this part 
 of their dress — 
 
 Our helms defend the young, disguise the grey, 
 
 We live by plunder, and delight in prey. 
 
 Your vests embroider'd with rich purple shine, 
 
 In sloth you glory, and in dances join. 
 
 Your vests have sweeping sleeves, with female pride, 
 
 Your turbans underneath your chins are ty'd*. 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 * Et tunicae manicas & habent sed imicula mitrae. 
 
 Ma. 9. 616. 
 
 So .Eneid 4. 1. 215. 
 
 Paris cum semiviro comitatu 
 
 Maeonia mentum mitra crinemque madentum 
 Subnexus 
 
 In the days of Priam, the Lydians were called Malonq, Maenes. The womanish cap, vari- 
 ously decorated, distinguished, by incircling gems or inferior ornaments, the rank of the 
 wearer. 
 
 Simple as the Phrygian cap may appear on the head of Priam, of Paris, and of the Deus 
 Lunus, it doubtless presented different appearances according to the different methods of put- 
 ting it on. Certain colours and ornaments, and particular fashions of wearing it, characterized 
 the nivea mitra of Bacchus. Valer. Flac. Arg. 1. 2. — The picta mitra of the harlot. Juvenal, 
 sat. 3. — The mitra of the satrap, and the mitra tiara, or diadema, of the priest and the monarch. 
 " Tiara, sacerdotis habitu, est pileum Phrygium quod dicunt." Suetonius in Nerone. — " Tiara, 
 deducta imposuit diadema." Note, " Carebat autem sacerdotalis tiara acumine quod regum ha- 
 bebat." See Rosini Antiq. Roman. 1. 5. p. 416. The episcopal mitre, now appearing only in 
 heraldry amongst us, was, no doubt, the maeonia mitra, having the redimicula elevated before 
 and behind, and suitably decorated. It was imitated, most probably, from the sacerdotal tiara 
 mentioned by Suetonius. 
 
 / 
 
'28 
 
 APOLLO AND MARSYAS. 
 
 This gem is not only remarkable for the grace and spirit displayed in its 
 execution, but for other particulars illustrating the fable. 
 
 The original is deposited in the Farnese cabinet, at Naples, and is a red 
 jasper*, a circumstance not to be considered as accidental; its sanguinary hue 
 is descriptive of the horrid subject. The ancient artists frequently selected 
 stones whose colours were analogous to their subjects, or to the divinity they 
 represented. Hence we find Neptunes and Leanders engraven on beryls, 
 which, from their sea-green hue, are preferred to gems of any other colour. 
 Bacchus's and Silenus's are found on the purple amethyst ; Apollo, or the 
 Sun, on the golden topaz ; and Proserpines on black stones. 
 
 The subject is Marsyas bound to a tree in order to be flayed alive; a pu- 
 nishment inflicted on the presumptuous musician for his temerity in attempt- 
 ing to contend in musical skill with Apollo himself. The god is represented 
 in a noble attitude, holding his lyre, and looking contemptuously on his un- 
 fortunate rival, whose hands are bound behind him to a tree. The young 
 Scythian, who is to flay him, kneels at the feet of the god, and appears to sup- 
 plicate for mercy ; it has been conjectured that he is Olympus, the disciple of 
 Marsyas. The double pipe of Marsyas is suspended on a leafless tree. 
 
 This gem is wrought in the purest style of engraving; an air of dignity and 
 triumph marks the character of Apollo, to which is added beauty of form, 
 perhaps too nearly approaching to feminine. The figure of Marsyas is 
 
 * Green jasper, when it has red spots, is called haematites, and vulgarly we call these 
 stones, blood stones. It is curious to observe, that they were employed in the middle ages, and 
 more recently by christian artists, to represent the figure of Christ after the flagellation, and 
 figures of the Virgin, and of the Martyrs. 
 
fuMithrd M'irrh ■/■/'.'• /fta-f br. Joint Mitrrny M 2'ittt .firerl London , 
 
29 
 
 finely contrasted, the anatomical markings are bold and decided. The con- 
 ception of the attitude is perfect, for the figure powerfully characterises de- 
 feat and subjection, and the blighted tree to which he is bound is, perhaps, 
 no bad emblem of his faded honours. 
 
 This was the subject which the cruel Nero adopted for his seal. He had 
 the folly to conceive himself to be the first musician of his age, and when he 
 selected for the subject of his seal, Apollo the vanquisher of Marsyas, he in- 
 timated to his rivals that they should not expect a more fortunate end, if 
 they attempted to contend with him. Another prince, of a very different 
 character, and who only felt his happiness to consist in diffusing it around 
 him, the magnificent Lorenzo de Medicis, also chose the same seal, but from 
 a more reasonable motive : he selected it for the finished beauty of the 
 workmanship : it bears his initials, and on all his favourite gems he had 
 these engraven. This undoubted antique engraving is, in fact, one of 
 the most precious remains of ancient art, and the applause (as Mariette ob- 
 serves) which it has obtained in all times is sufficiently proved by innumera- 
 ble copies. 
 
 Nero frequently had himself represented under the figure of Apollo. By 
 such means he promulgated his success in the study of the musical art, and 
 shewed the delight he took in the praises bestowed, on him for the victories 
 he had gained. He not only appeared on the stage at Rome, but proceeded 
 into Greece to contend for the crowns awarded in their public games, and 
 ordered statues to be erected to him in the habit of a performer on the lyre. 
 We see him also with a lyre in his hand on the coins struck by his command. 
 Suetonius informs us, that he had images of heroes and gods made to resem- 
 ble him in their features. He has been compared to a statue of Apollo, 
 and the god is introduced thus addressing him — 
 
 Ille mihi similis vultu, similisque decore, 
 Nec cantu nec voce minor. 
 
 Gorlasus, in his collection, gives a sardonyx engraved on both sides ; on 
 one are two profile heads of Nero, and his mother Agrippina, with a star be- 
 
30 
 
 fore, and a lyre behind them ; on the other side is engraved the present sub- 
 ject of Marsyas and Apollo, the face of which last bears the likeness of the 
 youthful Nero. Nero, who seems to have been a poetical, as well as a poli- 
 tical tyrant, could not have chosen a subject more expressive of his sangui- 
 nary disposition, and which more effectually served to communicate despair 
 to those who would have entered the lists with him; a list in which it shewed 
 more skill to be an applauder, than a competitor. 
 
 The fable of Marsyas is perhaps best told by Diodorus Siculus. The his- 
 torian records, " that they contended who could produce greater pleasure 
 and effect, each on his own instrument. The inhabitants of Nysa were their 
 judges. The god preluded by playing an air on his lyre. Marsyas then 
 breathed on the double flute (his own proud invention) and the judges, en- 
 chanted by the softness and novelty of the sounds which he skilfully 
 drew forth, awarded him the meed. Apollo having obtained a further 
 hearing, mingled the celestial tones of his voice with the sounds of his lyre ; 
 and carried the votes ; but Marsyas represented that the question to be 
 decided was not the charm of the voice, but that of the instrument, and that 
 it was unjust to contend with a single art, by blending two distinct arts — 
 The god replied, that he had employed no other means than those which 
 Marsyas himself had used; the finger and the mouth. The argument of 
 the god was held good, and on the third trial Apollo was finally de- 
 clared triumphant. Indignant at the temerity of the unfortunate Marsyas, 
 this inhuman rival flayed him alive." Such is the tale of Diodorus. Would 
 it not have been more worthy of this god to have pardoned an ingenious 
 rival ? but the story is instructive, for Apollo was the god of poets, and a 
 poet himself. The allegorical explanation of this fable by Fortunio Liceti, 
 in his Hieroglyphics, is very ingenious. He conceives this fable was in- 
 vented to express the superiority of the lyre over the flute; or rather vocal 
 over instrumental music. 
 
 The subject of this gem, and the pleasing manner of treating so horrid 
 a catastrophe, induces us to make an observation on the different taste of the 
 ancients from the modern artists, alike in the arts of poetry and design. This 
 beautiful gem exhibits nothing to disturb or shock our feelings, and we think 
 
31 
 
 that no work of the first order of Greek sculptors can be produced which 
 goes into a detail of barbarities. 
 
 We have now before us, the same subject executed by a modern artist, 
 and we are shocked at the (literal) execution! We behold Apollo trium- 
 phantly seated on a rock; at its foot is the young Scythian whetting his 
 knife, and Marsyas, with his arms above his head, suspended on a tree, 
 and with part of his body bearing traces of the already commenced revolt- 
 ing punishment. 
 
 We recollect another design of the same subject, where barbarity was ren- 
 dered still more barbarous. The butcher, for such the Scythian becomes here, 
 is in the act of tearing the skin off Marsyas with his hands, whilst the scalp- 
 ing knife is held (till wanted) between his teeth. When such subjects are 
 treated with so rude an invention, the artist succeeds not in exciting horror, 
 but disgust, at his own arid imagination and blunted taste ; like the poet 
 who shocks us on the stage with the gross realities of the tolling bell and 
 the gallows. A painter and a poet are not to abuse their art, of which 
 the beauty will alwaj^s be to give the reader and spectator something to fill 
 up from their own imagination. 
 
 Aut agitur res in scenis, aut acta refertur. 
 
 HORACE. 
 
 Some things are acted, others only told. 
 
 ROSCOMMON. 
 
 On this subject, Dr. Darwin has made the following ingenious observation : — 
 The true artist will discover the line of boundary between the tragic and the 
 horrid. For instance, if an artist should represent the death of an officer in 
 battle, by shewing a little blood on the bosom of his shirt, as if a bullet had 
 there penetrate; 1 ., the dying figure would affect the beholder with pity; and 
 if fortitude was at the same time expressed in his countenance, admiration 
 would be added to our pity. On the contrary, if the artist should chuse to 
 represent his thigh as shot away by a cannon ball, and should exhibit the 
 
 K 
 
32 
 
 bleeding flesh, and shattered bone of the stump, the picture would introduce 
 into our minds ideas from a butcher's shop, or a surgeon's operation room, 
 and we should turn from it with disgust. 
 
 Are we not shocked at the innumerable barbarities we see in the shapes of 
 martyrdoms, which pollute the canvass of the modern painters? They origi- 
 nate frequently in two causes; the artist wants genius to interest the atten- 
 tion by happier conceptions, and the people to whom such pictures are ad- 
 dressed want intelligence and correct feelings to awaken their sympathy by 
 means less gross. 
 
 How different is this manner of treating a terrific subject to that employed 
 by the graceful Reynolds ! exemplified in the death of Count Ugolino, and 
 his family. This picture, without any circumstance of apparent barbarity, 
 works on the feelings by the pictured mind and deep silent misery so mas- 
 terly expressed in the sublime head of the hopeless father. For pathos and 
 grandeur of design it yields to no composition. All speaks to the shuddering 
 mind of the spectator ! 
 
 The following lines from Simonides on the celebrated picture of Medea, by 
 an anonymous versifier in the Literary Journal, elegantly illustrate the prin- 
 ciple of which we have reminded the young artist. 
 
 When the great master all his art combin'd 
 To paint the tumults of Medea's mind , 
 Her inward struggles swelling into view, 
 Beneath the magic of her pencil grew : 
 Behold the vivid lines distinctly glow, 
 Stamp'd with a double character of woe. 
 Dark is the frown that clouds her gather'd brow. 
 But bright the tear that trickles from below ; 
 Parental pity in that glistening tear, 
 In that black frown a thousand threats appear; 
 Each look is pregnant with an offspring's fate, 
 Now life in love, now death is doom'd in hate — 
 But here the skilful artist drew a veil 
 O'er the dire sequel of the dreadful tale ; 
 
33 
 
 Else had we seen a pareiit's hand imbrued — 
 Suffice the horrid thought ! — in filial blood. 
 His fault'ring touch confess'd a finer soul, 
 Nor stain'd the canvass with a deed so foul 
 
34 
 
 DIOMEDES, WITH THE PALLADIUM. 
 
 This celebrated gem is a cornelian, the work of Dioscorides, whose name it 
 bears, in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, esteemed one of the 
 most perfect productions of art. 
 
 Diomedes appears descending from a square altar, decorated with a fes- 
 toon, holding in his left hand the Palladium, and in his right a sword ; in the 
 same attitude he is represented on other engraved stones. The guardian lies 
 dead at his feet, and the statue of Minerva upon a cippus turns her back to 
 him, that she may not witness the bloody sacrilege. The figure of Diomedes 
 is exquisitely drawn; the anatomical markings rather beautiful than strong, 
 but with perfect science. The action is that of a moment; on first sight he 
 appears sitting, but that could not be possible, from the situation of the left 
 leg and foot underneath the thigh: this in the act of rising to spring forward 
 might be admitted, and the space perceptible from the seat to the thigh, with 
 the menacing attitude of the figure, justifies the supposition. The subject is 
 an important event in the Trojan war; the seizing and carrying off the Palla- 
 dium, or guardian deity of Troy. Agreeably to ancient sculpture the hero is 
 represented naked : whenever drapery is introduced, it is generally for the pur- 
 pose of assisting the composition ; but in this instance it appears to do more. 
 It shews the sacred regard that even the hero, flushed with victor}^, felt for the 
 person of the divinity, by enveloping the hand which holds the hallowed 
 image in the drapery. To have grasped the consecrated idol with the naked 
 hand w r ould have been the most impious profanation. 
 
 This gem is considered as the ne plus ultra of art. Its style is finished with- 
 out harshness, and without the least appearance of manner, which may be de- 
 fined, that, where the means and not the end appears. This gem is a happy 
 union of finish and execution with the beautiful ideal, exhibiting the highest 
 possible degree of excellence. Dioscorides the celebrated artist lived under 
 
\ 
 
35 
 
 gustus ; and he must necessarily have had a marked superiority of talent, 
 to have occupied the first rank in this art, under the reign of a prince who 
 invited the most celebrated artists Greece possessed to adorn his throne, and 
 •embellish a reign fertile in the miracles of art, and perpetuated as the most 
 brilliant epocha of history. 
 
 A most accurate judge of the art, the learned M. Mariette, in his Cata- 
 logue of the Gems of the King of France's Cabinet, thus expresses himself on 
 the works of this excellent engraver : — One of the most precious methods of 
 engraving is that, where, in imitation of the finest bas-reliefs, the figures with- 
 out having scarcely any prominence, and even appearing flat to the eye, re- 
 tain, however, a roundness and a sufficient body to detach themselves from 
 the surface, and not appear adherent to it. It is that manner where those 
 same figures, although apparently slightly wrought, are however expressed in 
 all their parts with so much taste, justness, and precision, that it is not possi- 
 ble to form any thing more elegant, nor more exact. Science is there ren- 
 dered subservient to a noble and amiable simplicity, and only presents to 
 the eye just sufficient to elevate our ideas. It was this great and dignified 
 manner which adorned the golden days of Greece, and it was this manner 
 which became the favourite study of the celebrated Dioscorides, if we may 
 judge by several engraved gems which bear his name. 
 
 Mr. Levezow, of Berlin, has recently published an ingenious Archaeological 
 Essay on the classification of eugraved stones; and to display its utility, he 
 selected those of the Rape of the Palladium by Diomedes. We here find that 
 the gem, of which we present a copy to the reader, was originally preserved in 
 the cabinet of Louis XIV. who presented it to his daughter, the princess of 
 Conti; she afterwards made a gift of it to her physician, Dodart, from whom 
 it passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Homberg, who appears to have 
 sold it to the jeweller Houbert, who parted with it to Mr. Sevin, and from 
 this last possessor it is finally deposited in the valuable collection of the Duke 
 of Devonshire. Such is the genealogy of the stone. 
 
 Of the dissertation of Mr. Levezow, we have seen the analysis in the Ma- 
 gazin Ency eloped ique. The rape of the Palladium was a favourite subject 
 
 L 
 
36 
 
 of the ancients. We find in Tassie's Catalogue seventy-eight gems which 
 represent this subject ; yet this list is not complete. This family of engraved 
 stones are remarkable, both for the beauty of the stones and the emulation 
 which the artists felt in engraving them. 
 
 As a specimen how he conceives gems may be usefully classed so as to 
 perpetuate some historical event, by its gradual developement, he arranges 
 these stones under five classes. 
 
 The first class exhibits Diomed in the interior of the temple, before he has 
 seized the Palladium. Here he discovers five stones. 
 
 The second exhibits Diomed at the instant when he is carrying off the 
 Palladium, and contains six stones. 
 
 The third includes those in which Diomed, having seized the Palladium, is 
 yet in the interior of the temple. This class is the most important, both for 
 the number and the perfection of the art. Mr. Levezow here marks two di- 
 visions : Diomed alone — and Diomed accompanied by Ulysses. To the 
 first division belongs the beautiful gem the reader has before him. 
 
 The fourth class exhibits Diomed at the instant of departing from the 
 temple, carrying off the Palladium. 
 
 The fifth shews Diomed and Ulysses proceeding on their return to the 
 camp. 
 
 "We have laid before our readers the result of the analysis of this ingenious 
 dissertation, because we consider it as useful, while such an arrangement is 
 undoubtedly entertaining. It is a classification, which gives the collector a 
 new kind of pleasure, that of a narrative. There are many historical and fa- 
 bulous events, which may be pursued in a similar manner, and a series of 
 gems thus arranged, although each of them may not possess equal beauty, 
 becomes a little volume, where every part will impress itself on the mind by 
 the most powerful of all languages — the language of picture. 
 
f„/.:,M UarrJi24*iOot \yJ~o7aiM2irraf! 12 flrtcSa-r/t London 
 
37 
 
 JUPITER AND THE TITANS. 
 
 Jupiter darting lightning on the Giants ; in the Farnese Museum, at Naples, 
 with the name of the engraver A0HNIQN, has a flower upon the extremity 
 of his sceptre; the same ornament is found upon the sceptre of Juno in 
 many medals *. 
 
 Of the countenance on this gem we may observe in the words of Seneca, 
 
 Vultus est illi Jovis 
 Sed fulminantis. 
 
 Here. fur. v. 723. 
 
 The Giants and Titans, that are fabled to have sprung from the earth, 
 are represented with two serpents in place of legs, in allusion to their ori- 
 gin being similar to that of worms, and other reptiles, which seem to be the 
 production of the earth. 
 
 Pherecydes, of Syros, fancied the gods to assume such forms to express 
 their gliding and quick motion f; perhaps from the same opinion Varro de- 
 rived the etymology of the name of Proserpine J. A similar idea is expressed 
 by Cipselo, the ancient sculptor, in forming Boreas with tails of serpents in- 
 stead of legs§. 
 
 But authors are not agreed either as to the precise form or number of the 
 Titans; — the forms are given on ancient monuments, but with some varia- 
 tion; in this cameo the serpents commence at the trunk, but in a sarcopha- 
 gus in the possession of the sculptor Penna^f, they are attached at the knees. 
 Ten Titans appear there in combat, but the gods are not represented. 
 
 * Golz. Graec. tab. iC. 21. f Act. Lips. a. 1750, p. 4G3. 
 
 + De Ling. Lat. I. 4. p. 17. 1. 21. § Pausan. 1. 5. p. 424, 1. 22. 
 
 ^[ Now in the Pope's museum. \ 
 
38 
 
 In the museum of the Roman college is preserved a relievo, in silver, of 
 Pallas striking Enceladus, one of the Titans, with lightning; — this subject is 
 also found in gems and medals*. 
 
 The ancients thought that thunder was caused by the rattling of Jupiter's 
 chariot over the arch of heaven, while he darted the fulmen from his hand. 
 Hence Salmoneus built a bridge of brass to imitate Jupiter Tonans : 
 
 JEre & cornipedum pulsu siraularat equorum. 
 
 Ilesiod, in his Theogony, has described the Titanic war in a high spirit of 
 poetry, and Milton has evidently made the freest use of the ancient bard. 
 We shall transcribe a few lines from Cooke's version. After exhibiting the 
 gods tearing rocks from their foundations, and hurling them against the 
 Titanic race, Hesiod says of the gods : — 
 
 " Lo, where, with haughty strides, each warrior trod ! 
 Hell felt the weight, and sunk beneath the god ; 
 All Tartarus could hear the blows from far, 
 Such was the big, the horrid voice of war V 
 
 Milton has imitated the sublime conception, in several parts — 
 
 Hell heard th' unsufferable noise — 
 
 ■ confounded chaos roared, 
 
 And felt tenfold confusion. 
 
 This is not the place to pursue the British Homer's numerous imitations 
 of Hesiod. 
 
 The following lines illustrate our gem : — 
 
 Here Jove above the rest conspicuous shin'd, 
 In valour equal to his strength and mind, 
 Erect and dauntless see the thunderer stand, 
 The bolts red hissing from his vengeful hand ; 
 The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove, 
 Nor the flash spares the verdure of the grove ; 
 Fierce glows the air, the boiling ocean roars, 
 And the seas wash with burning waves their shores. 
 The dazzling vapours round the Titans glare, 
 A light too powerful for their eyes to bear. 
 
 * Descr. desPier.gr. du Cab. de Stosch, p. 51. Monumenti Antichi Inediti, da Giovanni 
 Winckelman. Roma, 1767. 
 
39 
 
 VIGNETTE. 
 
 FRAGMENTS AND ATTRIBUTES OF JUPITER. 
 
 Jupiter ammon, cornelian, mus. flor. — There is an air of melancholy so- 
 lemnity in this finely executed countenance, which is still noticeable in the 
 heads of old men in the superior classes of society among the Turks in 
 Persia, vEgypt, and Arabia. The horns mark the Corniger Jupiter described 
 by Lucan, the tortis cornibus Ammon, lib. 9. 514. — The name of Ammon, 
 taken from <zw-os, the sand, denotes the site of his temple amid the deserts. 
 For a description of the Oasis see Browne's Travels. The oracle, according 
 to ancient tradition, was established about eighteen centuries before the 
 time of Augustus, by two doves which flew from Thebais, in JEgypt; one 
 to Dodona, the other to the Lybian Oasis. "When it pronounced Alexan- 
 der to be the son of Jupiter, the gross flattery ruined its reputation. Many 
 heads of Alexander are marked with the horns of Ammon. — It is well 
 known that horns in eastern metaphor denoted strength — " Thy horn shall 
 be exalted," promised power and prosperity. Ancient fable relates, that 
 Jupiter appeared in the form of a ram to Bacchus, in the deserts of Africa, 
 and led him and his army to the fountains of the Oasis. — Hence, it is 
 said, that ancient statues of the god, in iEgypt, wore the head of a ram, 
 which the statuaries afterwards altered into the face of Jupiter. Quintus 
 Curtius says, lib. 4. that the object of worship in the temple of Jupiter Am- 
 mon was, umbilico similis, something resembling a navel, adorned with 
 emeralds and other jewels, and borne by the priests in a golden boat. 
 But Lucan, differing from Quintus Curtius, describes both the statue and 
 the Oasis with great precision and impressive energy. 
 
 Now to the sacred temple they draw near, 
 Whose only altars Lybian lands revere; 
 There, but unlike the Jove by Rome adorM, 
 A form uncouth, stands heaven's almighty lord. 
 
 M 
 
40 
 
 No regal ensigns grace his potent hand, 
 
 Nor shakes he there the lightning's flaming brand ; 
 
 But ruder to behold, a horned ram 
 
 Belies the god, and Amnion is his name. 
 
 ROWE. 
 
 Profile of Jupiter. — A garnet in Mr. Townley's collection. The distin- 
 guishing characteristic of this fragment is that of severity united with dig- 
 nity. Phidias being asked how he could conceive that air of majesty raised 
 into divinity, which he had expressed in the face of Jupiter, replied, he had 
 only copied it from Homer*. Homer's lines are chiefly descriptive of the 
 hair, the eyebrows, and the beard ; indeed to these the best heads of Jupiter 
 owe much of their dignity. Beards were fallen into disrepute in the days of 
 Augustus ; hence Virgil, in copying Homer's description, has omitted all the 
 picturesque strokes on the beard, hair, and eyebrows, for which Macrobius 
 censures him, and Scaliger extols him. It is justly observed by Spence, that 
 we are led astray by our prejudice for modern fashion, to contradict our own 
 eyes and our own judgment. A full beard is now only to be seen on the 
 lowest of the people, and therefore it is that we associate an idea of mean- 
 ness to the thing itself; yet in the East, a full beard carries an idea of 
 majesty with it. We would not either enter into the history of the beard (of 
 which there exists a very curious one) nor compose an eulogium on the 
 beard itself ; but we only wish to inculcate to the lovers of art, the necessity 
 of emancipating themselves from the close chains of prejudice, and not to try 
 by the standard of modern modes the fine relics of antiquity. Scaliger, 
 like a true modern critic, attempts to be extremely humorous on the beard of 
 Homer's Jupiter, while he extols Virgil for his omission of this appendage to 
 the majesty of the god — but sober truth, and the truth of criticism, will 
 agree with Spence, that Virgil described Jupiter in the properest manner for 
 the Romans, and Homer in the noblest manner for the Greeks. An artist 
 of this day ought, however, to be of no country. 
 
 The style of execution in the gem before us is free, even to negligence ; 
 but it exhibits those happy touches of the master, which sometimes appear 
 in a first effort, and which finishing seldom improves. 
 
 * Macrob. lib. 5. c. 14. Val. Max. lib. 3. c. 7. 
 
41 
 
 Jupiter Tonans. — This thundering Jupiter is from a sulphur cast from 
 Cab. Stosch. This justly esteemed fragment is a very shallow intaglio, like 
 many of the antique gems; yet the anatomical expression loses nothing of 
 its force, truth, and beauty. The disposition of the figure is justly appro- 
 priate to the action of launching the thunderbolt, and from what remains of 
 this beautiful figure we must lament the accident that has deprived us of the 
 whole. 
 
 We shall just observe from Spence, that the best artists seem to have 
 taken great care never to represent Jupiter in violent anger. He ever re- 
 tains his majesty, and points his lightning with a composed air. It is only 
 the low artist, and in the worst age of taste, who disturbs his celestial face, 
 and swells out the cheeks with rage. How different from the air of that 
 fine bust of the Jupiter terribilis at Rome; the terror is majestic; the anger 
 is the anger of Jupiter. 
 
 The Fulmen. — A cornelian in the king of Prussia's collection. As a pecu- 
 liar attribute of Jupiter, we have given a gem of the thunderbolt. 
 
 Fulgur signified the blaze of the lightning, fulmen, the bolt, or a solid 
 substance supposed to strike objects which were destroyed by lightning*. 
 The fulmen in the hand of Jupiter was a sort of hieroglyphic, and had three 
 different appearances and significations. The first is a cone, or conical 
 wreath of flame (called sometimes the briitum fulmen). This was adapted to 
 Jupiter when mild and calm. The second is the cone with the addition of 
 two transverse darts or wings on each side, to denote swiftness. This cha- 
 racterized Jupiter inflicting punishment. The third is a handful of loose 
 flames provided for the infliction of some extraordinary and exemplary destruc- 
 tion. — The thundering legion bore the winged fulmen spread over their 
 shield, as appears by the Antonine pillars. This fulmen agrees with the 
 epithets trifidum and trisulcum in the Latin poets. There is a figure of 
 Jupiter in Buonarotti's collection, at Florence, brandishing the three-forked 
 lightning, as against some guilty wretch, with the conical fulmen under his 
 feet, as of no use in cases requiring severity. 
 
 * Pliny, lib. ii. 43. 
 
42 
 
 Virgil, in the eighth book of the Eneid, verse 429, describes the Cyclops 
 forming the bolts of Jove, and the materials of which they are composed. 
 
 Three rays of writhen rain, of fire three more, 
 Of winged southern winds, and cloudy store, 
 As many parts, the dreadful mixture frame, 
 And fears are added and avenging flame. 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 This is more poetically spirited than closely translated. We do not find 
 here the 
 
 Fulgores nunc terrificos, sonitumque, metumque 
 Miscebant operi. 
 
 The noise and terror of thunder. — Perhaps Pitt may notice this particu- 
 lar in his version. Virgil evidently alludes to the form of thunder as re- 
 presented on gems, or medals. 
 
 Pitiscus, in his curious Lexicon Antiquitatum Romanarum, under the ar- 
 ticle Fulmen, has a variety of Roman superstitions concerning it. They gave 
 different names to the Fulmen, relative to the effects which they imagined it 
 produced. Fulmen attestatum, was the thunder which confirmed what the 
 first announced; Vanmn y which had more noise than meaning, or, at least 
 produced no ill ; Consiliare, that determined to begin a doubtful matter, or 
 not to begin it; Familiare, which prognosticated some domestic misfortune ; 
 Publicum, from which they drew predictions for thirty years, and Privatum, 
 only for ten. Such, with others, were the mysteries and the property of the 
 Augurs, who so skilfully determined whether the thunder fell to the right, or 
 to the left ; or whether the strokes were even or odd ; and were so profound 
 in the vocabulary of that noisy language of their gods. 
 
 Eagle's head. — A cornelian in the collection of lord beverly. The 
 engravings on ancient gems furnish us with many beautiful specimens of skill 
 in the formation of animals, birds, and symbolical reptiles. We have seen 
 nothing superior to the Eagle's head from which our plate is taken. Its 
 sharpness and clear relief is in the highest degree beautiful, and can only be 
 
43 
 
 equalled by the character and expression of the proud bird of Jove. Heads 
 of eagles, insulated as the present one, are frequently seen on monuments and 
 medals. The ancients are well known to have succeeded to perfection in en- 
 graving birds, and in none more than in their favourite eagle. 
 
 The artist, who engraved the present fine head, intended, doubtless, only 
 to convey an idea of his talents, by inclosing, in so small a space, a head, 
 which, by its great character, elevates the imagination, and gives to us, as it 
 were by inference, the body which belongs to the haughty bird. 
 
 N 
 
44 
 
 ACRATUS. 
 
 AVe have engraven this gem from a sulphur cast in the collection of Baron 
 Stosch. It is not less remarkable for beauty, than for the rarity of its 
 subject. 
 
 It has sometimes been confounded with the busts of Cupid — but it is un- 
 doubtedly a winged Bacchus, called Acratus, or the genius of pure wine, 
 one of the most favourite companions of Bacchus. It is deeply engraven on 
 an amethyst, in Dactyliotheca Victoriorum; the purple colour of the stone 
 confirms its Bacchic character. 
 
 Acratus is crowned with myrtle, ivy, and rose buds, with wings on his 
 shoulders, and his right arm wrapped in his dress. Pausanias*, describing 
 the representations of the gods which decorated the mansion of Polytion, de- 
 dicated in his time to Bacchus, mentions Acratus, an attendant genius on the 
 god of wine, and describes his countenance projecting from the wall. He in- 
 forms us, that the Amiclei adored Bacchus under the name of Psila, which in 
 the Doric signified zvings wine (he adds) lightens and exalts the soul, as wings, 
 birds. As wings are a known celestial emblem (observes the writer of the 
 Museum Worsleianum, p. 69,) it is not incredible that the sculptor might 
 have employed them to express the spirit which exalts the brain, and warms 
 the heart, and fires the blood. 
 
 Athenaeus describes, in his first book, a repast taken in the morning, called 
 Acratism, consisting of bread dipped in the Acratos or pure wine, from 
 cin^uTog (acratos) signifying without mixture, or pure wine. Among his quo- 
 tations, Book 2, we find a remarkable expression of Ion of Chios, who 
 calls wine ** an ungovernable child with a dark bull's eye." Does he not 
 allude to such a personification of Bacchus as the one before us? the dark 
 
 * Attics. 
 
Jiidltf/ud M.ir.A 2-t *idu4 John Afu/-n(r .V fltft Srrrrt l.»ti,t,>n 
 
45 
 
 eye of the bull at once expressing the purple colour and sparkling fierce- 
 ness of pure wine. 
 
 The enveloped arm is typical of fidelity, as we have noticed in our de- 
 scription of Clio, page 5, and here is supposed to have been introduced to 
 convey an idea of the god's abhorrence of the vile adulteration of his be- 
 loved juice, and of the secrecy required in the confidential intercourse of 
 Bacchic festivity. 
 
 That the Acratus was a kind of attendant genius on Bacchus, appears by 
 a fact related of Nero, so notorious for the wickedness and absurdity of his 
 frolics. He had the folly of assuming the divine character of Bacchus, or at 
 least of publicly personating that deity with great pomp; which is likewise 
 related of Alexander. It was on such an occasion that the Roman tyrant 
 gave the name of Acratus to one of his manumised slaves. 
 
 The figure of Acratus, in the Worsleian plate, appears to have suggested 
 to Mr. Fuseli the idea of his Eros, in the representation of Eros and Dione, 
 which decorates Dr. Darwin's Temple of Nature j however, the subject is 
 evidently copied from a fine gem of Cupid embracing Psyche. On a familiar 
 acquaintance with the finest gems, we discover what a rich treasury of sub- 
 jects they offer to the imitative arts, and with what freedom they have been 
 employed by the greatest painters. 
 
 We may observe on this joyous and fascinating head, all the charm of 
 ideal infant beauty, so rarely met with on antique gems. The light exhi- 
 laration of wine vivifies the smiling aspect and delicate countenance of the 
 boy. The inclination to laugh is the cheerfulness of a voluptuary; in his 
 happy age, one may imagine he is experiencing the first sensations of volup- 
 tuousness, and his soul plunged in a soft reverie, between sleeping and wak- 
 ing, seeks to combine his fugitive images, and to realise the enchanting 
 phantoms. The features of the god are all softness, but the joy which fills 
 his soul does not entirely discover itself in his musing countenance. This 
 
 Et quocumque deus circum caput egit honestum. 
 
 Georgic. 2. v. 392. 
 
46 
 
 amiable, but subdued joy, characterizes every face of Bacchus. We have 
 observed, in our article of Apollo and Marsyas, that the ancient artists 
 studiously avoided the convulsive extremes either of joy or grief. Spence, in 
 hisPolymetis, is justly offended with Dryden's translation of this line in Virgil, 
 Dryden mentions the praise of the god in "jolly hymns," and then 
 translates the verse, 
 
 On whate'er side he turns his honest face. 
 
 Beautiful or graceful had been the appropriate epithet — but the truth is, 
 that the hasty poet often sacrificed his taste to his rapid genius, and 
 " seems to have borrowed his idea of Bacchus from the vulgar represen- 
 tation of him on our sign posts, and so calls it (in downright English) 
 Bacchus's honest face /" 
 
 On the whole, the Acratus before us is finely executed ; its tender joy ac- 
 cords with the elevation of the wings, which may be conceived as flutter- 
 ing, and give the best finish imaginable to the composition. 
 
IbiUthed MtircA 3t*jSti4 tr .John ICrr.tr .1? Ftttt Stral 1,'n.Um. 
 
47 
 
 BACCHUS REELING. 
 
 FROM AN ANTIQUE PASTE IN THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S COLLECTION. 
 
 The god is here represented with his legs bending, on staggering feet, op- 
 pressed by the copious inspirations of the grape. He raises his slight dra- 
 pery with his right hand, carrying the thyrsus upon his left shoulder ; the 
 whole exhibits all the disorder of his orgasm. It is one of the master pieces 
 of the art of the ancients, both for the beauty of the figure and the spirit of 
 the expression. 
 
 This gem has been copied by a modern, who scorned the wise experience 
 and the nature of the ancients. Desirous of outdoing the incomparable ori- 
 ginal, he has thrown the centre of gravity upon the two knees, and placed 
 the legs much more parallel than they are in the original. We have noticed 
 this fact, as perhaps it may not be uninstructive to a young artist. 
 
 Statius gives the most lively picture of Bacchus in his Thebais ; the fol- 
 lowing line describes our gem : 
 
 Ebria Maeoniis firmat vestigia thyrsis. 
 
 He, with his thyrsis, devious as he strays, 
 Confirms his drunken steps and wandering ways. 
 
 The origin of the attribute of the thyrsus, given by the poets to this god, 
 seems undecided ; some assert that, being a javelin or lance encircled by ivy, 
 or vine leaves, it typifies the furor which wine inspires ; while others imagine 
 that it only shews that great drinkers are in want of something to keep them 
 steady. 
 
 0 
 
48 
 
 CUPID CURBING A LION. 
 
 FROM A SARDONYX IN THE CABINET OF STROZZI. 
 
 This powerful deity is here represented with a whip and bridle, mounted 
 on a lion, who has the head of a goat between his paws. 
 
 Among the allegorical gems typifying the power of love, we see him 
 subjugating all nature. Here we observe him curbing the most powerful 
 of the animal creation, even in the pursuit of his prey. The spirit and ac- 
 tion found in this gem form its greatest excellence. 
 
 From a Greek epigram of Archias, on this gem, we have been favoured 
 with the following elegant translation : 
 
 See, the proud monarch of the woods submits ! 
 Young Cupid on his back in triumph sits ! 
 Now checks him with a rein, now strives to urge 
 The Lybian monster with his goading scourge. 
 Innumerable fears my bosom move, 
 Whilst thus I meditate the power of love j 
 I dread the ravage in my gentle breast 
 Of him, who thus controuls a savage beast. 
 
 Love is painted by the poets under very opposite forms. Sometimes 
 timid as a child, at others cruel as a conqueror, and again, glorious as a 
 divinity, according as he influences the human heart. But his attributes 
 wear a menacing character; his bow, his quiver, his arrows, his torch, all 
 proclaim his resistless character. 
 
 Artists have followed the descriptions of poets. We find on gems, Love, 
 as a child, wrestling with Hercules, who finds no defence in his club; Love 
 
ZktftitfteA March bt Jvhii Murray 39 Flttr Street Zerutsm. 
 
49 
 
 is seen sporting with the claws of a lion, or driving a car with harnessed 
 animals of the most ferocious natures; sometimes riding on a lion, he en- 
 chants him by the harmony of his lyre, or leads him by one hand, while the 
 other holds his lighted torch. Love is sometimes seen sporting among the 
 Tritons, and fluttering over the waves. Perhaps the most beautiful of all 
 these subjects, is Love playing on his lyre, seated on a lion, who seems to 
 march with slow steps; a happy conception, whose simplicity is admired be- 
 cause, without bridle or whip, arms or torch, Love, merely by the magical 
 tones of his assuasive lyre, conducts at his pleasure a sovereign animal. 
 
 Lucian in one of his Dialogues (Deor. Dialog, xii.) evidently alludes to 
 these gems. Venus tells Cupid, that since he has touched the brain of 
 old Cybele for joung Atis, she has become so crazy that Mount Ida is full 
 of consternation ; and I fear if that goddess ever recovers, she will sacrifice 
 you to the vengeance of her priests, who will give you up to be devoured by 
 her lions — " Feel perfectly at ease (replies Love) on that head; lamfamiliar 
 with lions ; I sometimes amuse myself with riding on them, and the most 
 docile courser is not more obedient to his rider, than a lion is in my 
 hands." 
 
 On the person of Love may we be allowed to notice a novel invention of 
 Raphael, in his picture of Cupid, who is showing Psyche to the Graces, in 
 the Farnesian palace. This Cupid is perfectly red ; of a brick colour. He 
 is reflected on the Graces, whose beautiful forms receive a rosy tint ; Love 
 resembles a burning coal, whose splendour is reflected on every surrounding 
 object. The conceit is probably derived from some Italian poets, who de- 
 scribe the son of Venus, not with a fair skin, but with one of the colour of 
 fire. 
 
 II color del suo volto 
 Piu che fuoco e vivace. 
 
 " The colour of his face is more ardent than fire." 
 
 Some of the medals of Alexander the Great bear a Cupid mounted on a 
 lion — the German antiquaries have explained the symbol, merely as far as 
 
50 
 
 the lion may be said to be emblematic of the courage and power of this great 
 monarch ; but when one- recollects (observes the writers in the Orlean Col- 
 lection,) that in the midst of his conquests, the conqueror of the world was 
 himself subdued by Love, can we mistake the true meaning of this alle- 
 gorical type? 
 
51 
 
 MERCURY DEDICATING A SOUL TO HEAVEN. 
 
 Of this exquisite gem, we find no particular account of the artist or the 
 subject. Our plate was engraven from a cast in Mr. Tassie's Collection. 
 
 The allegorical gem before us we may consider as having been engraven 
 to perpetuate a tender and exalted sentiment on the loss of a beloved 
 friend. 
 
 It is certain that many subjects, whose invention had struck their admirers 
 either for their felicity, or their beauty, became common, to artists, and were 
 always kept at hand whenever a similar occasion presented itself. This ob- 
 servation is authorised by numerous facts. Addison in his travels through 
 Italy, notices the frequent representation of the rape of Proserpine, cut in 
 bas reliefs, or sarcophagus's of the ancients; and he justly infers, that the appli- 
 cation of this story is agreeable to the heathen mythology, and would serve 
 on many occasions. The fate of a young and beautiful maiden, cut off in the 
 bloom of youth, might well be indicated by Pluto, the god of eternal shades, 
 becoming enamoured of her charms, and transferring her to his sunless 
 caves. 
 
 Mercury was the messenger of the gods ; he wears a winged cap called 
 Petasus, and generally wings for his feet called Talaria. He usually holds 
 lightly between his fingers the Cadacens, by which he drives the spirits of 
 the departed before him; it is a golden rod entwined by two green ser- 
 pents. The origin of his Caduceus is a pleasing fiction. He was the pa- 
 cificator as well as the messenger of the gods. One day seeing two serpents 
 fighting, he put his rod between them, reconciled them instantly, and they 
 mutually embraced and clung to his rod, where they remain as an emblem 
 
 P 
 
52 
 
 of peace. Ambassadors sent to make peace are called Caduceatores. Mer- 
 cury is thus described by Ovid : 
 
 Parva mora est, alas pedibus virgamque potenti 
 Soraniferam sumpsisse manu, tegimenque capillis. 
 
 Met. Lib. 1. 
 
 His flying hat he fastens on his head, 
 
 Wings on his heels were hung, and in his hand 
 
 He holds his snaky sleep-producing wand. 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 Claudian, indeed calls him, 
 
 Commune profundis 
 Et superis numen, qui fas per limen utrumque 
 Solus habes, geminoque facis commercia mundo, 
 I, celeres proscinde notos, et jussa superbo 
 
 Redde Jovi 
 
 Claud. Rapt. Pros. Lib. 1. 
 
 Of hell and heaven the common messenger ! 
 
 Who canst alone appear in either court, 
 
 Free of both worlds, which own thy glad resort. 
 
 HUGHES. 
 
 These passages prove the connexion which Mercury had with this lower 
 world ; he was the servant (for his cap is a servant's cap) of the gods, and the 
 mediator between the gods and men, performing likewise the office of con- 
 ducting the souls of men to the Hades, or the regions of the dead. 
 
 He is ever represented under a form young, airy, and light, with his 
 limbs finely turned j every thing about him denotes swiftness and volatility. 
 
 We discover all this in the attitude and expression of the figure before us. 
 It floats in air. His cldamys, or short mantle, lightly fastened to his shoul- 
 der, waves behind him; the ancient artists generally marked the motion of 
 any person going on swiftly, or any divinity in flight, by the flying back 
 of the drapery. 
 
totttif/ud April irt.iSoi fy J,i/ui ltutreg S3 Flea So-taZondmi. 
 
53 
 
 The butterfly, on the extremity of the lamp, beautifully applies to the soul 
 on the verge of life; and the action of the god looking upwards implies a de- 
 dication of that soul ; probably an apotheosis, conferred on some illustrious 
 mortal, now exalted to the divine abodes. 
 
 VIGNETTE. 
 
 GYMNASTIC EXERCISES; 
 
 A driver in his chariot with four horses on the gallop. 
 A quoit player throwing his quoit near a term. 
 
 A wrestler, or boxer, in front, anointing his body near a tripod with a 
 vase. 
 
 A young man carrying the trochus, or a large circle of brass upon his left 
 shoulder, and having in his right hand the key with which he kept it in mo- 
 tion. An exercise common in England amongst children in the spring. 
 
 The gymnastic games of the ancients were established in Greece from the 
 remotest antiquity. Their objects were military exercises, and to acquire that 
 agility, address, and valour, which decided the fate of battles, created emula- 
 tion, and roused men to risk every danger. They were the school and exhi- 
 bition of the only virtue which was then regarded, military virtue ; and re- 
 sembled the tournaments in the age of chivalry. 
 
 These games, at length, degenerated into mere parade and amusement for 
 the common people ; sanctified by religion at Rome and in Greece, or used as 
 simple exercises for health. The laborious exercises of the gymnasium 
 consisted in running, leaping, throwing the quoit, wrestling and boxing. 
 
54 
 
 We are struck by an observation of the learned Raspe on this subject. In 
 whatever point of view we consider these games (says he) they are too much 
 neglected at present. We have the parade, military exercises, and marti- 
 nets sufficient for all the great military evolutions ; but have we any to form 
 the mind, the heart, or the body of the soldier ? We are tormented with a 
 number of diseases, since we have lost the prudence and the habit of pre- 
 venting or curing them by suitable exercises. We become dull, heavy, 
 awkward and embarrassed, because we have not learnt, or ceased to employ 
 the strength of our limbs. There are soldiers who can scarcely walk, and 
 horsemen who know not how to mount their horses, and sailors afraid of 
 their element. 
 
 The education, the discipline, and manner of living of the ancients had 
 great advantages over ours. I do not view these games with the prejudices 
 of the antiquary, nor with a predilection for masters of dancing, fencing, rid- 
 ing, wrestling, or boxing; their merits have been discussed by physicians 
 and by military men. Baron Grothauss pronounced in 1778, at the univer- 
 sity of Gottingen, a curious discourse on the subject, and has since proved 
 by his own and his servants example, that nothing is wanting but resolution 
 to attain, by proper exercises, the activity, agility, and strength of the an- 
 cient soldier. 
 
 We may arrange the gems which are connected with these gymnastic 
 exercises into different series. 
 
 1. The chariot race, and games of the circus. 
 
 2. Races on horseback and dcsultores. 
 
 3. Wrestlers. 
 
 4. Boxers, quoit throwers, vaulters. 
 
 5. Gladiators. 
 
 6. Shows of amusement. 
 
 The ancients carried their gymnastic exercises to a dangerous extreme ; 
 and those who were devoted to their practice must have considerably in- 
 jured their health, and rendered themselves incapable of more useful exer- 
 cises, by the singular fatigues they underwent. The acute, the eccentric 
 De Pauw, in his curious work on the Greeks, declares the gymnastic was 
 
55 
 
 a most pernicious art, and only enervated the human race. Those who 
 constantly exercised themselves in boxing or wrestling, became leaner every 
 day, from their thighs to their feet, while their superior parts acquired a 
 prodigious bulk. Those who incessantly practised leaping or foot-racing 
 became meagre from their head to their haunches, while their inferior parts 
 were of an enormous size. The Discoboli were those athletics who flung 
 large and heavy quoits, made of wood or stone, but much thicker in the mid- 
 dle than at the extremity; these they were to launch to the extremity of the 
 career, which must have required a most violent exertion. These men 
 had monstrous fleshy arms, with necks that lost all their flexibility, which they 
 could neither turn to the right or left, because the head violently pressed 
 the vertebra, to increase the power of flinging the quoit. The nervous system 
 of man cannot, without injury, undergo these violent exercises, which the 
 new theories of new philosophers, have lately attempted to revive. When 
 nature feels herself oppressed in any part of the human body, she instantly 
 avenges her own cause ; thus these violent wrestlers found, while their hands 
 became stronger, their feet became more feeble; while the foot-racer found 
 his feet fortified at the expence of his weakened arms. 
 
 A moderated exercise of these games would certainly not have proved so 
 pernicious; but it is acutely observed by De Pauw, that this moderation 
 could never have been practised, because the whole was founded on emula- 
 tion ; each was resolved to out-do his predecessor or his rival, and for one 
 athlete who won a wreath, a hundred perished in their feeble essays, and bit 
 the dust on which his rival triumphed. 
 
 2 
 
56 
 
 VIGNETTE. 
 
 APOLLO. 
 
 A fragment part of the face of apollo, with the remaining part of his bow, 
 from a sulphur cast in Stosch's Collection. 
 
 The original is a master piece of the art ; a single glance of the eye shews 
 the beauty of the god, and the excellence of the engraving j the beauty and 
 majesty of the countenance is truly divine. The bow characterizes the 
 archer-god. 
 
 Apollo Musicus holding the lyre, a cameo from Stosch's Collection. 
 Two flutes are at the feet of the god ; these flutes have tubes or prominences 
 fixed upon the holes, like the flute of one of the muses seen in Bartoli's 
 pitture antiche del sepolcro de Nasoni Tav. 5. This gem appears to us a 
 composition complete in all its parts, and from the frequent use which has 
 been made of the attitude on numberless occasions, we are justified in class- 
 ing this figure of the musical god among the most graceful attitudes. 
 
 Half-length of apollo, a cameo in the Marlborough Collection. A 
 bust crowned with laurel, the quiver on the shoulder, and the bow in the 
 left hand. From the style of engraving, it must be one of those cameos 
 where nothing is sacrificed to the strata or colours of the stone, and from a 
 cast in sulphur might easily be mistaken for an intaglio. An air of simpli- 
 city and elegance prevails through the character. 
 
 Head of apollo engraved on hyacinth ; an orange or saffron coloured 
 stone on which they frequently engraved the divinity of the sun. The head 
 of the god is crowned with laurel, and full of inspiration and dignity. The 
 style of engraving is exquisite, and deserves the attention of the student in 
 
ttiitttfai H •f i«<i4 <i J"fut Murr.n « Mtt» Sinn tang*! 
 
1 
 
5? 
 
 forming his taste for character in design; one of the most neglected parts 
 of the student in design. We too frequently observe a sameness of character 
 prevailing in compositions of considerable merit ; but when a young artist 
 has seriously applied to the study of the antique, he will run no risk in 
 consulting ordinary life, for character and expression. This variety of 
 character in design constitutes no small portion of the celebrity so justly 
 obtained by Mr. Smirke and Mr. Stothard. 
 
 An antique lyre, with fillets. Cornelian. The fillets tied on this ancient 
 instrument of music, mark its sacred use. By these they were accustomed 
 to suspend the lyre in temples, or other holy places, in honour of the 
 gods. When the lyre appears without these bandeaus, it is given merely 
 as a simple attribute. 
 
 The number of strings were not always the same in the lyre; some had 
 three, four, five, and even to twelve; each distinguished by appropriate 
 names, such as the tetracorda, pentacorda, &c. They touched the strings 
 of the lyre in two manners; either by striking them with the plectrion, a 
 kind of short rod of ivory or polished wood, which they held in the right 
 hand, or in pinching the strings between the fingers. 
 
 It may be observed, that the ends of the lyre form two horns, (called 
 by the Romans its cornua) these were anciently of reed, afterwards they 
 were KEPATA, real horns. See Mus. Florent. According to the old poetical 
 legend, Mercury, after stealing some bulls which belonged to Apollo, re- 
 tired to a secret grotto at the foot of a mountain in Arcadia. On entering 
 the cave he found a tortoise; and having killed it for his food, as he was 
 amusing himself with the shell he was pleased with the sound it gave from its 
 concave figure. Having also found out that a thong pulled straight, and 
 fastened at each end, when struck by the finger produced a musical sound, 
 he cut several thongs out of the hides he had stolen, and fastened them tightly 
 to the shell of the tortoise, on which he had fixed a pair of the horns of oxen, 
 and in playing on them, made a novel music to amuse himself in his retreat. 
 This account of the first invention of the lyre, (observes Spence) is not alto- 
 gether unnatural. We have ancient lyres represented as made of the entire 
 
58 
 
 shell of the tortoise ; and the Romans had a sort of lyre called testudo, or 
 the tortoise. Without the knowledge of this circumstance, many passages 
 of the Latin poets would not be intelligible. Mr. Cosway has made a beau- 
 tiful design from this fable, of the origin of the lyre ; it is a pleasing illustra- 
 tion of the principle which derives the origin of most inventions and arts 
 from accident. 
 
 "VVe shall further observe, that the lyre was consecrated to the praises of 
 the god, and the flute to the eulogiums of mortals. Horace seems to point 
 at this distinction, in the 12th ode of the first book, 
 
 Quern virum aut Heroa lyra vel acri 
 Tibia sumes celebrare Clio ? 
 
 What man, what hero, on the tuneful lyre 
 Or sharp-toned flute, will Clio chuse to raise, 
 Deathless to fame ? 
 
 FRANCIS. 
 
Infill, h.;i ,IA„ j j,j,,J ,)„lu, +ft,rr< n M f lra .<trttt L.'n.ton . 
 
RARE