Pride, and not feeling or admiration, was, in fact, at all times the stimulus of the Romans to the cultivation of the fine arts. Even in the age of Augustus, the popular standard of value seems to have been regulated, not by merit or by mind, but by the puerile test of antiquity and elaborate finish; and the talent of the Grecian sculptors, even those the most endowed with genius or imagination, was employed, not on designs calculated to develope their intellectual powers, but in chiselling those busts and figures which were to perpetuate the names of their patrons. In these, of course, continued practice produced the most consummate skill; and we find, especially in later times, works of the Roman schools unrivalled in their excellence. But at the same time, this perfection was attained only by the sacrifice of more exalted branches of the art; and it has been well observed, that although Lysippus himself could not have produced a bust superior to that of Caracalla, still the artist who designed it would have been equally incapable of rivalling a work of Lysippus.‡

* Such are the heads of Macrinus, Septimus Severus, and Caracalla. Winkelmann, 1. iv. c. 6.

+ At the Farnese palace.

We find this observation to hold good even in the age of Augustus, all whose statues which have reached us are of

In monarchical governments we can generally discover a key to the tastes and manners of the times in the peculiar characteristics of their sovereigns; and the arts especially will be found in every era to take their tone from the habits of the court. At Rome, in particular, this principle was accurately demonstrated by the varied genius of the emperors. Thus sculpture, which under Augustus had still borne a dignified and manly air,* degenerated at once into frivolity and licentiousness under Tiberius, and was employed by Caligula and Claudius in placing their own portraits on the

indifferent merit, whilst his busts and portraits engraved in jewels are of the most exquisite workmanship. The decline too was so rapid, that in the reign of Caligula, only about twenty years after, the Emperor is described by Suetonius as breaking off the heads of Grecian statues to replace them with his own; thus tacitly admitting the inferiority of the artists of the age in the delineation of figure, however great their excellence in chiselling the head. Pliny, too, satirizes the practice, which continued to his time: "Artes desidia perdidit," says he in another place, in speaking of the Roman portraits in the reign of Vespasian, "et quoniam animorum imagines non sunt, negliguntur etiam corporum." (1. xxxv. c. 2.) Philemon Holland, in translating this passage, has rendered it thus: "Thus it is come to passe, that while artificers play them and sit still for want of worke, noble arts by these meanes are decaied and perished." (Plinius' Historie of the World, Lond. fol. 1601.)

Agincourt, v. ii. Sc. Introd. p. 15.

+ Winkelmann, l. vi. c. 5.

shoulders of Grecian statues which they had mutilated for the purpose. Of the age of Nero scarcely any marbles have reached us, but of the style of the period, we have ample records in the historians of the tyrant. The same passion for extravagance developed in his architecture manifested itself in the colossal statues and paintings of himself raised under his own directions; and the depravity of his taste is sufficiently evinced by the fact recorded by Pliny of his gilding the statue of Alexander by Lysippus.*

Still, even in this age of depravity, there

* Greece had been robbed by Caligula of a number of her remaining statues, which he caused to be carried to Rome, under the direction of his minion Memmius Regulus, The difficulty of transporting the Phidian Jupiter alone prevented its removal from Olympia. (Suetonius, Calig. c. 22.) In imitation of so worthy a model, Nero dispatched Acratus and Secundus Carinus into the Peloponnesus on a similar errand. "Enimvero per Asiam et Achaiam non dona tantum sed simulacra numinum abripiebantur, missis in eas provincias Acrato et Secundo Carinate. Ille libertus cuicumque flagitio promptus, hic Græca doctrina ore tenus exercitus, animum bonis artibus non imbuerat." (Tacitus Annal. 1. xv. 45.) So successful were their ravages, that amongst other treasures they brought away from Delphi alone, five hundred statues of bronze, which the tyrant applied to the decoration of his golden house. Amongst these splendid spoils was the celebrated Apollo Belvidere and the Gladiator of the Borghese palace, which were discovered at Anzio, the birth-place of Nero.

survived some spirits worthy of their ancient fame, who seemed to stand aloof from corruption; but their works can in no degree be regarded as specimens of popular talent or national taste. Such are the busts of Nero and Poppeia, and the sedent statue of Agrippina, the mother of the tyrant, productions worthy of the brightest days of Greece.*

The brief and despicable reigns of the suc cessors of Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, afforded scope neither for the cultivation nor improvement of sculpture; but under Vespasian, the exertions of the court seemed strenuously directed to the restoration of letters and refinement. The professors of the liberal arts found ample remuneration and protection in the dominions of the Emperor; and the gardens of Sallust, where he had fixed his favourite residence, were crowded, like the groves of the Academy, with the last scions of Grecian and of Roman genius. The ruins of this elegant retreat have proved a rich mine to the antiquary, and its precincts still afford an ample reward to the investigations of the scientific explorer.†

* Winkelmann, 1. vi. c. 6. Agincourt, v. ii. Introd. Sculp. p. 15.

† So late as 1765, two female statues, considerably mutilated, but of extreme beauty, were dug out from the gardens of Sallust; and Winkelmann observes, "Aussi a-t-on trouvé

But it would be alike tedious and unnecessary to enter into the minutiae of the decline of sculpture during the stormy and barbarous age which intervened from the death of Vespasian to the reign of Constantine the Great; the only brighter portion of it would be the interval between the accession of Trajan and that of Commodus, whilst the former, and his successors Hadrian and the Antonines, held the sceptre of Rome. The most enthusiastic patronage was then bestowed upon the Greeks;* but the efforts of the emperors were fruitlessly directed to recall the lost spirit of the Athenians. Their long neglected talents were verging on extinction, and the generous exertions of the throne were bestowed on an expiring object; they could only retard, but not turn aside the sure approach of dissolution. The Greeks, already benumbed by tyranny, had abandoned every other feeling than a calm endurance of their bondage; and in lieu of manly aspirings to overthrow the declining power of their despots, they dreamed only of crouching subserviency and base conciliation. With a profane imitaen fouillant ce terrain une grande quantité de statues et de bustes."-1. vi. c. 6.

* The column of Trajan was erected under the superintendence of Apollodorus, an Athenian, and presents in its sculptures a variety and richness of invention worthy a more glorious era.