ing works now ennoble the memory of fallen Greece, were honoured as her benefactors and ornaments during the brightest days of her glory. For some time after the death of Alexander the Great, the arts underwent but slight apparent decline; but from the commencement of the first Macedonian war, and the interference of the Romans in the affairs of Greece, their senile deterioration kept pace with the debasement of the land which had fostered their infant improvement. The genius of the Roman people seems to have been at all periods hostile, rather than congenial, to the advancement of the softer embellishments and polite accomplishments of society. From the expulsion of the Tarquinii down almost to the conquest of Perseus, in order to instruct his children in rhetoric and philosophy.-Plutarch. This commingling of art and learning seems to have continued even to a later period; and Diognetus, the tutor of Marcus Aurelius, united, like Metrodorus, the characters of painter and philosopher, which in some degree may account for the equal predilection of that Emperor for arts and letters. "La philosophie ellemême," says Agincourt, " ne dédaignait pas, dans ses graves entretiens, d'expliquer aux artistes la théorie de cette partie sublime des arts d'imitation. Socrate leur demandait compte des moyens qu'ils employaient pour exprimer les passions, et il se plaisait à les éclairer par ses conseils: artiste lui-même, il modelait la statue des grâces, en dictant les préceptes de la sagesse."-Sculp. Intr. ii. 9. Emeric David, Disc. p. 14. Achæan conquest, they had assumed, in their domestic as well as national character, a tone of austerity and stern simplicity, which, whilst it was rather an outward assumption than an innate regard for virtue, tended to rusticize society, and banish polish and refinement. * The arts, under these circumstances, were for many centuries unknown amongst them; and it was only when they had penetrated into the fertile regions of Sicily, that they were struck with amazement at the grandeur and ornaments of her cities. But though they might admire, the Romans were totally unable to appreciate the value of their spoils; they looked upon them merely as the productions of subdued mechanics, and attached no honour or importance to the glowing genius which designed them. As decorations for their houses, they were fully alive to their beauty; and after the conquest of Macedonia and Achaia, the plunder of the Grecian cities was eagerly collected as ornaments for the mansions of the conquerors. In these glorious monuments, • Musée Napoleon, vol. viii. p. 153. + The first introduction of the Romans to an acquaintance with the beauties of Grecian art was, according to Livy, on the occasion of the conquest of Syracuse by M. Claudius. Marcellus, when the spoils of the captured city were applied to the decoration of the Capitol and the temple dedicated by him near the Porta Capena. "Dum hæc in Hispania VOL. II. however, they could trace no unwonted developement of thought, and perceive no superior geruntur, Marcellus captis Syracusis, quum cætera in Sicilia tanta fide atque integritate composuisset, ut non modo suam gloriam sed etiam populi Romani majestatem augeret; ornamenta urbis, signa, tabulasque, quibus abundabant Syracuse, Romam devexit. Hostium quidem illa spolia et parta belli jure: ceterum inde primum initium mirandi Græcarum artium opera," &c.-Liv. 1. xxv. c. 41.-After the overthrow of Philip, T. Quinctius, in like manner, bore to Italy the spoils of Macedonia, (ibid. 1. xxxiv. c. 52.) and M. Fulvius, having at a subsequent period subdued the Etolians, was accused to the Senate of having robbed Ambracia of her richest treasures of art, in order to have them removed to Rome (ibid. 1. xxxviii. c. 43.); when he was defended by C. Flaminius on the grounds that the charge would equally apply to Marcellus for the sack of Syracuse, or Q. Fulvius for that of Capua, to Quinctius for despoiling Philip, to M. Acilius and L. Scipio for similar conduct to Antiochus, or Cn. Manlius for the plunder of the Gauls. This formidable list may give some idea of the treasures already amassed by the Romans; but even these were as nothing compared to their after acquisitions. The spoils and plunder of Metellus, after the defeat of Perseus, were immense; and amongst an incredible number of statues, were the equestrian figures, cast in bronze by Lysippus, in honour of those of the guards of Alexander who had died in defending his person at the passage of the Granicus. (Winkelmann, 1. vi. c. 4.) Marcus Scaurus deprived Sicyon of its statues and paintings in order to decorate his theatre, (Pliny, l. xxxv. c. 40.); and finally, Mummius, with less taste and equal rapacity, swept away with a ruthless hand the glories of luxurious Corinth. Strabo, on the authority of Polybius, relates, that after the siege the Ro effort of creative mind; they looked upon them as mere matters of convenience, not as objects of respectful admiration.* man soldiers played at dice upon the celebrated painting of Bacchus, by Aristides; and similar acts of barbarism induced the lines of Juvenal: "Tunc rudis et Græcas mirari nescius artes Sat. xi. v. 100. To these succeeded the ravages of Sylla after the Mithridatic war, when, besides an infinity of statues and marbles, the dictator transported to Rome the very columns of the temple of Jupiter Olympius. (Pliny, l. xxxvi. c. 5.) Thebes, Sparta, and Mycenae shared a similar fate; and the temples of Delphi, Epidauris, and Elis were alike ravaged by Sylla, who, though the destroyer of art in Athens, aspired to become its patron at Rome. In a subsequent portion of this chapter I shall have occasion to mention the successive spoliations of the Roman emperors; the present will suffice to show the passion for Grecian works, and the extent of its gratification, as it existed at Rome about the period of the subjection of Achaia. Les Grecs cultivèrent et perfectionnèrent les Romains ne les les arts par sentiment : adoptèrent que par orgueil. Les Grecs les cherirent parce qu'ils honoraient la patrie, les Romains ne les suffrirent que parce qu'ils la decoraient; enfin pour faire comprendre à ce sujet la difference de l'esprit national, en Grèce ils ne pouvaient être exercés que par des hommes libres; à Rome la profession d'artiste n'était le partage que des esclaves; c'est à dire, que là ils étaient un objet d'amour, et ici un objet de This new taste for decoration quickly brought to Rome the humiliated artists of the subjugated province, who prepared to ply for bread in the land of the spoiler those arts which they had cultivated for the adornment of their own. The Romans, scorning to participate in those pursuits in which they saw themselves so far outdone by their tributaries, affected to despise what they despaired to imitate, and committed almost exclusively to the conquered Greeks those arts whose productions had now become to them necessaries of life. Their patronage, faste."-Musée Napoleon, vol xi. p. 149. Caylus, Antiquités Grecques, &c. vol. i. p. 158. A member of the Fabian family having degraded the rank of his house by the cultivation of painting, such as it then existed at Rome, (previous to the first Punic war,) the appellation of "Pictor" was thenceforth attached as a stigma to his name. Even Augustus, who professed so highly to estimate the value of the arts, made it a favour to permit Quintus Pedius, a youth of a consular family who was born dumb, to be instructed in painting as a pastime for those hours in which nature had incapacitated him for the enjoyment of more patrician studies. The Greeks themselves learned early to adopt those barbarous ideas of their masters; and the grand object of Lucian's "Dream" is to point out the inferiority of sculpture to the more esteemed pursuits of literature. + "On n'en est pas moins fondé à soutenir que le bel art de la peinture ne jouit d'aucune considération à Rome, et que les raisons qui firent rassembler ses productions dans cette capitale du monde n'influèrent jamais ni sur le gout des |