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THE

London Magazine.

No. XV.

MARCH, 1821.

VOL. II.

THE STATUE OF THESEUS, AND THE SCULPTURE ROOM OF PHIDIAS.

MUTILATED and disfigured as it is, I never approach this majestic statue without feeling an indescribable awe, leading me, almost unconsciously, to take off my hat, and look up to it with silent reverence, as if I stood in the presence of some su perior being. This impression is probably compounded of the thrilling delight with which minds of any sus ceptibility usually contemplate the beauty of exquisite proportion of the vague apprehension inspired by gigantic bulk-and of that lingering homage still attaching itself to whatever has been once associated with the noblest and most solemn affections of the human heart, and contemplated as the figure of a divinity by the most civilized nations of the world. Whatever be the elements of the sensation, never did I feel it so intensely as yesterday, when I pored upon every limb and muscle of this masterpiece of antiquity, until I fell into a reverie, or waking dream; wherein, with all the inconsistency of those mental delusions, I imagined myself to be sometimes at Athens, under the administration of the cele brated Pericles, and again at Lon don, under the enlightened guidance of Lord Castlereagh-In vain did I endeavour to account for that contemporaneous burst of human genius, under the patronage of the former, which enabled Athens to leap suddenly to the very pinnacle of renown, producing those miracles of art and science, to which, wheVOL. III.

ther emerging from barbarism, or attempting improvement in the most refined state of civilization, the world has been invariably compell éd to turn back, as to the sole, im mutable, and eternal standards of purity and perfection. Fancy trans ported me to the period when the Parthenon was not yet completed; and methought that a ticket presented to me by Pannus, the kins man of Phidias, gave me admittance to the sculpture room of that immor tal artist, where all the glorious stai tues, for the two pediments of the building, were to be exhibited to some of the most distinguished citizens, previously to the indiscriminate ad mission of the people.

Never did so awful, so majestic a vision overwhelm my faculties. My spirit felt rebuked-my heart sank within me I seemed endeavourings to shrink into myself, as if I had in truded upon Olympus, and sacrile giously thrust myself into the pre sence of the immortal gods. Some time elapsed before I was sufficiently recovered to lift up my eyes, and fix them on the prodigies by which I was surrounded, when I observed that all the figures were arranged in the exact positions which they were to occupy in the respective pedi ments. Those intended for the front, which faces the Propylæa, and the long walls to the Piraus, represented the presentation of Minerva, by Jupiter, to the goddesses of Olympus." The sublime countenance; and stuX

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roused by the opening of a door, and the entrance of a mixed party, ushered in by Alcamenes and Coletes, pupils of Phidias; among whom ĺ distinguished a short thick-set man, remarkable for his slovenly dress, bald head, high forehead, and turned up nose. That is Socrates, said I, in a whisper;-I know him by his ugliness. What sort of mental hallucination possessed me I know not, but certainly I expressed neither surprise nor alarm at the miracle, when the statue of Theseus, in ano ther whisper, thus replied to my ob

pendous symmetry of the thunderer, who occupied the centre of the groupe, which remain indelibly impressed upon my heart, contrasted admirably with the milder majesty of the virgin Minerva; who, seated in her car, appeared to be slowly as cending Olympus. The figures for the posterior pediment, exhibited the dispute between Neptune and Minerva, to determine which of them should give a name to Attica; but before I could distinctly examine the blaze and glory of art which they displayed, I heard footsteps approaching; and, retiring to the extre-servation:-"That which indicates mity of the groupe, I seated myself in speechless admiration, behind the recumbent statue of Theseus.

Phidias, the superintendant of the works under Pericles, and author of the wonders with which I was surrounded, slowly advanced to the front of the principal groupe, and kneeling down with an expression of deep reverence, I heard him return thanks to the Gods that life and health had been granted him for the completion of his work; while he implored their forgiveness, if the imperfect conception of his mind, or inadequate execution of his hand, had disabled him from doing full justice to the divine originals.-Ah, said I to myself, here is the true secret of the inimitable sublimity of the Greek sculptors! That holy enthusiasmthat utter concentration of all the faculties necessary for the production of such masterpieces, can only be elicited by combining the stimulants of both worlds;-by believing that heaven as well as earth are waiting to shower down rewards upon the successful artist;-that the gods, as well as men, are to sit in judgment upon every effort of his chisel. Religions feelings only can create such prodigies of art, and religion only by dedicating them to the sacred edifices and public buildings, can adequately reward their creators. Hence the eminence of painting in Catholic countries, where every church is a perpetual stimulus, combining in the mind of the artist the excitement of devotion with the certainty of worldly remuneration; a conjunction of motives to which England must have recourse, if she ever hopes, in this respect, to equal her continental rivals.

. From these reflections I was a

intellect, is always admired among the Greeks. It is a maxim with them, that the lower the eyes are placed, the more does the human recede from the animal character:— those of Socrates, (a solitary instance), occupy nearly the middle of his head; to this they attribute his superior wisdom; and by the wisdom of his head they measure their admiration of its form."-The statue was silent, and I felt somewhat surprised at the minute and technical manner in which Socrates proceeded to criti cise and examine the sculptures, until I recollected that he himself had been educated as a statuary, and attained such proficiency that the Three Graces, executed by his chisel, were long preserved in the citadel.

But I was soon to contemplate the most perfect union of intellectual and personal beauty, that the world perhaps ever produced; for a female stood before me, whose dignified, yet bewitching demeanour entirely rivetted my attention.-Though no longer in the first bloom of youth, and with a complexion enriched by the fervour of an Ionian sun, her countenance, when its features were not called into action, exhibited the majesty, beauty, and intelligence of the virgin Minerva; but no sooner did she smile, or even speak, than her dark hazel eyes shot forth a thousand fascinations; a voluptuous air diffused itself around her; and more Cupids seemed to lurk in her numerous dimples, than were ever summoned to the aid of Aphrodite, when she put forth all her allurements to win the prize from the Trojan shepherd. Her face, deportment, and figure seemed compounded of the muses, the graces, and the loves; while

her dress, splendid, yet exquisitely tasteful-provocative, yet perfectly decorous, assimilated most happily with the characteristics of the wearer. Who is that lovely creature? I exclaimed- 66 Aspasia," replied the statue.

Aspasia ! what a world of recollections does the name involve! Aspasia, the riddle and paradox of antiquity; the courtezan, and the female philosopher;-the keeper of a brothel, and the most accomplished politician in Athens;-the mistress of Lysicles, the grazier, and the instructor of Socrates;-the cause of the Sarnian war, and the writer of the celebrated funeral oration pronounced by Pericles in honour of its victims of which the eloquence was so touching, that the very mothers who had been rendered childless, followed him home with blessings, and showered garlands upon his head. Such was the celebrity of Aspasia, that Cyrus, the rival of Artaxerxes, bestowed her name upon his favourite mistress: - such was the ridicule and disrespect with which she was treated at Athens, that, in the comedies, she was publicly denominated "the new Omphale,”"Deïanira," and "Juno; nay, "the Prostitute!" Such was the infatuation of Pericles for this woman, that he was never known to depart upon business, or return, without saluting her, until at last he married her:--but, above all, notwithstanding the infamy of her vocation, such was the decorum of her public conduct, and the overpowering splendour of her various talents, that the matrons of Athens did not hesitate to take their daughters to her house, that they might hear her discourse, and profit by her instructions.

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And who is that grave personage, said I, upon whose arm she is leaning; whose dress, without any appearance of undue attention, is yet arranged with such scrupulous propriety; and whose head appears as much too long as that of Socrates is too round?

"That is Pericles, whose head, on account of its disproportionate length, is generally represented covered with a helmet, and who, for the same reason, has received from the comic poets the name of the onion-headed. The youth beside him is his eldest

son Xanthippus; Paralus, the Be cond of his sons, is led behind him, by Euryptolemus, his nephew ;-and yonder grey headed old man is his tutor, Anaxagoras, the Clazomenian, from his superior wisdom, surnamed "Nous," or the intelligence.-In the multiplicity of his public duties, Pericles forgot to make the necessary provision for his tutor's support; the philosopher had covered up his head, and was going to starve himself; when his pupil, hearing of his situation, ran instantly to his relief, expostulated, entreated forgiveness for his neglect, and implored him not to deprive his administration of so valuable a counsellor.-Uncovering his face, Anaxagoras exclaimed-" Ah Pericles! those that have need of a lamp, take care to supply it with oil.'

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At this moment, Aspasia approaching the spot where I sat, disengaged her arm from that of Pericles.— "Go" said she playfully," and examine those glorious works; why do you bestow all your attentions upon me, and none upon those goddesses?" "Because," replied Pericles, " you are my only goddess." "Which of them?" resumed Aspasia, with an arch look." Take care, take care," said Socrates smiling;-" every one of those deities has been enamoured of more than one mortal, and if Pericles talks of exclusive devotion, even to a daughter of earth, he may have cause to rue their jealousy."-An obsequious smile, and ready laugh followed each of these observations from a listener behind, who instantly turned round to two companions, prepared with tablets to note down what he communicated in a whisper.

"That," said my marble colloquist, "is Cleon the factious demagogue, repeating what he has heard to Anytus and Melitus, and begging them to write it down, that it may be added to the materials of their intended prosecution against Socrates for impiety."-Those, then, are the scoundrels, said I to myself, who succeeded at last in procuring the death of that great philosopher, spite of his pretended Agatho-daemon, and his real virtues.-Phidias, too, owed his death to pestilent and unprincipled inform'ers of the same stamp-being accused of sacrilege in having introduced his

own effigy, as a bald old man, in the battle of the Amazons, represented upon Minerva's shield; as well as a portrait of Pericles, fighting with an Amazon, although the arm lifting up the spear, was artfully contrived, so as partly to conceal the face.-Nor did Aspasia escape an impeachment for impiety by Hermippus, the comic poet, from which she escaped only by the exertions of Pericles, who is reported to have shed more tears in her defence, than fell from him when so many of his friends and children perished in the great plague.-And had these men, said I, turning to the statue, so deep and sensitive a reverence for religion, as to feel the horror which they profess at such trifling peccadilloes?

"Treacherous knaves!" exclaimed the figure; "in their private orgies, and symposia, they make a mockery of every thing holy, and would tram ple on all the gods of Olympus, if it would advance them so many steps in their career of selfishness and ambition."

A loud and angry babbling of tongues in one corner of the room, attracted my attention, and casting my eyes in that direction, I perceived a knot of sophists wrangling fiercely about some new refutation of the well-known syllogistic puzzle Epimenides said all Cretans were liars; but Epimenides was himself a Cretan-therefore Epimenides was a liar-therefore the Cretans were not liars-therefore Epimenides was not a liar. Not one of them cast a glance at the surpassing marbles, or the distinguished living characters, by whom they were surrounded, and I soon found that all the realities of existence were hidden from their eyes, by a dense cloud of pedantry. To them the glories of nature and art were absolutely extinct; they lived in an atmosphere of quibbles; and while, in their perpetual and childish warfare, they were chopping at each other's heads with logic, and pelting one another with words, they would have been simply contemptible and ridiculous, had they not at the same time endeavoured, with a pes tilent subtlety, to jumble right and wrong, virtue and vice, and thus confound all the elements of the moral world, in one indistinguishable chaos

What a volume of wit sparkles in the countenance of that young man, who is listening to their jargon with a sneering smile. Jibes and jeers, jokes, ridicule and burlesque seem to be flickering in every corner of his mouth; angry sarcasm, and indignant rebuke, glimmer through the flashes of his eyes, tempered only by those gentler emanations from the muse within, which would have made him the brightest poet of his age, had not the follies and vices of Athens compelled him to become its severest comic satirist.I learnt from my communicative statue, that this was Aristophanes, watching both Socrates and the sophists, that he might burlesque them in his, comedy of the Clouds; and that his two companions were Eupolis and Cratinus, the comic poets; who, in their calumnious wantonness, scrupled not to affirm that Phidias received female visitors in his house, under pretext of exhibiting his sculptures, but with the real intention of affording a cover for intrigues, and acting as a pandar to Pericles.-Pyrilampes was also pointed out to me; who, because he had a collection of curious birds, particularly peacocks, was reported, upon the same scandalous authority, to purchase them, merely that they might be bestowed as presents upon those women who granted their favours to Pericles.

And who is that handsome youth, said I, whose splendid armour, sparkling with steel and gold, is fashioned with such exquisite taste, and so happily adapted to display, the symmetry of his fine figure? That is Alcibiades," was the reply; "he has visited the Palestra this morning, merely as an excuse for appearing here in all the graces of his military costume; but the perfumes with which he is scented, and the affected lisp which affords him an excuse for disclosing his white teeth, show that he has been contemplating other conquests than those which are to be atchieved by arms-And yet in war, no one more dauntless and hardy, as he fully proved at the battle of Defium, where he saved the life of Socrates, as Socrates had saved his at the fight of Potidea.

At some distance from this Athenian Exquisite, stood Critias, and a party of rival sculptors and statu

aries, endeavouring not to see the most obvious merits in the works be fore them, and shrugging up their shoulders at the infatuation of Pericles, in patronizing an artist guilty of such gross blunders, as they had already detected. In fact, they had discovered that the wheel of Minerva's car wanted a linch-pin, while there were no marks for nails in one of the horse's shoes!

Three figures now approached me, whom I found to be Agatharchus, Parrhasius, and Zeuxis, the painters, the former of whom was vaunting the celerity and ease with which he finished his pieces. "If I boast," replied Zeuxis, "it shall be of the slowness with which I finish mine,"-a speech which, apparently, has not been thrown away upon the first of our modern artists; who, though he may be as deliberate as his Athenian predecessor, bids fair, at least, to rival him in celebrity.-Discovering from their conversation that they were all employed in decorating the walls of the Parthenon, I could not help reflecting upon the nobler destiny of the sculptor, whose immortal productions can be sent down unimpaired to the lowest posterity; while the most exquisite painters cannot hope to leave any evidence of their skill, after the lapse of a very few centuries, and must content them selves, like the artists before me, with the shadowy perpetuation of a name. Seated upon a stool, in front of the principal groupe, I observed two venerable looking men, each resting his chin upon a staff, while his hands were concealed by an ample beard. These were Sophocles and Euripides, the tragic writers, who agreed in pronouncing the composition before them defective, because it did not contain the fates or the furies, whose presence they had been accustomed to consider indispensable in their own productions. "Look attentively," said my marble communicant, "at that broad shouldered figure, in the philosopher's robes, conversing with two young men. It is Plato; and his companions are Xenophon and Thucydides, the historians; names which require no illustration, as they are assuredly destined to immortality."

Apart from the rest of the visi

tants, I distinguished a man of peculiarly sly expression, surveying the whole scene from the corners of his eyes; yet apparently wishing to assume an appearance of unconcern and indifference. This I found to be Damon, the deepest politician of Athens, the bosom friend and councellor of Pericles; who, in order to avoid the jealousy of the turbulent democracy, concealed his interference in state affairs, under the cloak of a professor of music. In this capa city, he had procured the Odeum to be built; where prizes were annually distributed to the best musical performers. He was conversing with Ictinus and Callicrates, the builders of the Parthenon, the latter of whom had just declared that it had already cost a thousand talents, and that he hoped the gold mines of Lauzium would hold out until it was completed-when a dislocation occurred in my ideas, which, without dissipating my reverie altogether, transferred it to modern times, and to the mutilated Theseus of the British Museum. As I gazed with intense admiration upon its back-that back, the sight of which Canova declared to be well worth a journey from Rome-I could not help exclaiming "with what delight must the ancients, with their exquisite relish for sculpture, have pored upon this chef d'œuvre of Phidias?'

"Alas!" replied the figure, "you forget that, although now the noblest fragment left, I then occupied, as a deified hero, but a very subordinate station among the deities of his majestic groupe. My recumbent pos ture was destined to fill up the angle of one pediment, as the Ilissus did of the other; and there was nothing but the celebrated horse's head between my figure, and the extremity of the building. This back, over which sculptors and anatomists now hang enraptured, might as well have been an unchiselled block; it was turned to the wall of the building, never meant to be seen; and in fact, no human eyes rested upon it for more than twenty-two centuries, when violence tore it from its position, and exhibited it to the applauses of the world. It was thus elaborately wrought, because it would have been held sacrilege, to dedicate any thing

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