that of Italy was equally salubrious and pure, and yet the one has proved the grave, whilst the other was the cradle of genius. It is true, that art is indebted for its second birth to Italy, but it was under a different constitution that it revived: when its professors were rendered honourable instead of being branded as infamous, and their works were looked upon as efforts of intellect, and not regarded as mere productions of mechanical skill.

*

The inventive excellence of the Greeks, in works of taste has been attributed to various and united causes, but principally to the scope afforded to imagination by the sublimities of their mythology, and the splendour attendant upon the celebration of their national games. But let their origin be as it may, their ultimate perfection is solely attributable to the honours heaped on those who practised them, and the high rewards conferred by their countrymen on distinguished artists. Whilst the mercurial spirit of the Athenians and the other states was involving them in continual wars, their slaves and menials were occupied in the exercise of the mechanical and domestic

fluence of climate on mind is briefly but ingeniously discussed by Voltaire, Philos. Dict. art. Climate.

• Musée Français, Discours Historique sur la Sculpture, P. 43.

arts at home. But during their intervals of peace, when the haughty soldier returned flushed with triumph, he disdained to share with his servants and dependants the practice of these humbler professions. It was then, that to find encouragement for these turbulent warriors or restless citizens, the decree was passed, which forbade the exercise of sculpture or design to slaves, rendered the liberal arts the province of freemen alone, and dignified them for ever in the eyes of the Athenians.*

Thus, confined exclusively to the exalted portion of the state, riches or aggrandizement became in a short time a secondary object with the sculptor or the painter; and a laurel crown or a public decree was considered a higher gratification than the gold of individuals, or the most costly gains of the artist.† The crowd, dazzled with magnificence, bestowed a species of worship on those whose talents had adorned their cities; and they, in turn, be

Sir W. Young, Hist. Athens. Winkelmann, 1. iv. c. 8. + Polygnotus, a painter of Thasos (about 422 years before the Christian era), having ornamented the Poecile at Athens with his paintings of the Trojan war, refused to accept any remuneration, though pressed by the people to name his own price. For this disinterestedness he was rewarded by a decree of the Amphictyonic council, ordaining, that wherever he went he should be supported at the expense of the state.Plin. lib. xxxv. c. 9. Plutarch.

Winkelmann, liv. iv. c. 1.

came intoxicated* with the glorious pride arising from their elevation. The most distinguished individuals did not disdain to use the chisel or the pallet; the labour, as well as the design, equally ennobled genius; and the boldest conception was expressed in the most graceful execution. Honours and rewards rapidly swelled the number of candidates for national distinction, and on every public occasion the productions of numerous artists were exhibited for the selection of the state. Nor was patronage corrupted by an abandonment to the rich and the powerful, but entrusted to the assembled nation, whose united voices directed its conferment. § With the increasing passion of the people for the adornment of their national edifices, arose the ambition of individuals to contribute to their support, || and public osten

* Parrhasius, the Ephesian, was so exalted in his own opinion, as to lay claim to divine origin, and clothing himself with a crown of gold and a purple robe, he assumed the title of the "King of Painters."-Pliny.

+ So conscious were many of the painters of their own excellence, that they did not scruple to inscribe on their works, "It is easier to criticise than to imitate." And so glowingly were they admired by the people, that they did not presume to ridicule the arrogance of the inscription.

Sir W. Young. § Winkelmann, liv. iv. c. 1.

When Pericles was directing those public works which still remain to attest the magnificence of the ancient Greeks, and whose expense was defrayed by the money of the state,

tation was not unfrequently gratified by private munificence. At the same time, this universal appreciation, this fine and polished taste in works of design, ensured to those of its professors, to whom it was essential, an adequate compensation for their labours as often as they were offered for disposal.* Hence the artist, conscious that his productions were to be duly esteemed and worthily remunerated, sought only to render them excellent, be the pains or the time devoted to them ever so arduous or protracted; and the united lives of several individuals were, in some instances, devoted to the completion of one master-piece of genius.†

he was reproached by some financial citizens for so great an outlay of the public funds. "Do you conceive the sum exorbitant?" said he." Decidedly so," replied the Athenians.

"Then," rejoined Pericles, "I shall pay it from my own private fortune, and inscribe on those edifices, Pericles built them!"-"No! no!" exclaimed the impatient crowd, "we must have them paid from the public treasury, and let no expense be spared on their completion."--Plutarch.

* Zeuxis is said to have acquired so large a fortune by his pencil, that towards the close of his career, he was accustomed to make presents of his paintings, which he considered too valuable to be purchased by individuals at their real worth.Pliny.

+ The group of the Laocoon, which Winkelmann (1. vi. c. 3.) attributes to the age of Alexander the Great, is said to have occupied the entire lifetime of the individuals whose name it bears, Agesander, a Rhodian, and his two sons, Athenodorus

The sums expended by Pericles, with the concurrence of the Athenians, were immense; one hundred and eighty thousand pounds sterling are said to have been lavished on the Parthenon alone; and the entire cost of the Propyleium and the other buildings of the Acropolis must have exceeded three thousand talents, and this too at a period when labour was next to worthless,* and the marble for the edifices was found almost on the spot.

Such is a faint outline of the elevated rank enjoyed by the artists of Greece up to the period of her decline: the sculptor, the painter, and the poet, were classed with, and not unfrequently united the character of the warrior, the orator, and the sage ;† and those whose remain

and Polydorus. Its excellence is proportionate to such unexampled assiduity, and Pliny has well characterized it; "Opus omnibus et picturæ et statuariæ artis preferendum." (Nat. Hist. lib. xxxvi. c. 5.) The accuracy of this opinion of Winkelmann, as to its antiquity, has been disputed; since, with the exception of the description of the death of Laocoon and his sons, in the second book of the Eneid, (v. 199, et seq.) which applies equally to the story and the statue, no author has mentioned it before Pliny. Later connoisseurs have placed it between the reign of Augustus and that of Titus, in the ruins of whose palace it was discovered, in the popedom of Julius II.

A large portion of it was done by slaves.

+ Metrodorus, the last distinguished native painter of Greece, was carried to Rome by Paulus Æmilius, after the