Grotii Verfio. Æquat Alexandri vultumque animumque ferocem Archelaus, or (according to others) Efclepiades, on the Statue of Alexander. All Alexander's powers of form and mind, The bronze exclaims, with Heaven-directed eyes, Plutarch, in one of his Moral Treatifes, has cited, with fome applause, the two laft lines of this epigram; and a very elegant, accomplished writer of our own country, Mr. Webb, has inserted a translation of them in his 7th Dialogue on the Beauties of Painting: but I think he has made the fuppofed fpeech of the hero rather more difrespectful to Jupiter than the Greek poet intended. I will give my reader an immediate opportunity of correcting me, if I am wrong in this fuppofition, by tranfcribing the couplet to which I allude: "Let us divide, O Jove!" the conqueror cries: 66 I, lord of earth! thou, tyrant of the skies !" WEBB, p. 172. edit. 1769. We are indebted to Plutarch for the interefting anecdote concerning the just reproof of Lyfippus to his brother artist Apelles*. The character of this great ftatuary appears to have been so noble, that his life was probably as worthy of being recorded for its virtues, as his productions were for their fidelity to truth and nature: yet, to our regret, we can know but very little of his personal history, and of his numerous invaluable works. The two eminent antiquarians, Winkelman and Caylus, have supposed that not a fingle fragment remains. D'Hancarville is inclined to believe that a buft of Bacchus, preserved at Portici, is a real work of this exquifite artift; and his reasons for thinking fo may serve to illustrate the peculiar excellencies of Lyfippus. "Le beau bufte Bacchus en bronze, confervé à Portici, étant un "chef-d'œuvre de l'art, il fût néceffairement exécuté avant la perte des "anciennes méthodes; et comme la tête de ce bufte, comparée au "col, feroit petite par rapport au refte du corps, comme le cheveux 66 en font admirablement bien travaillés, et comme on y remarque "d'ailleurs la plus grande élégance dans les moindres parties, cela m'a "faite dire ci-deffus que je croyois reconnoitre la main de Lyfippe dans ce rare morceau, car ce font les caractères que Pline donne expreffément à fes ouvrages, lib. xxxiv. Statuariæ arti plurimum traditur "contuliffe, capillum exprimendo, capita minora faciendo quam antiqui Propriæ hujus videntur effe argutiæ operum, cuftoditæ in mini 66 66 In fpeaking of Lyfippus, I must not fail to observe that his brother Lyfiftratus was also an eminent ftatuary, and particularly distinguished as the first who executed portraits with the utmoft exactness, by the ingenious device of taking a cast in plaifter from the face. Εν δε και Λύσιππος ο πλάτης Απελλήν εμέμψατο τον ζωγραφον, οτι την Αλεξανδρος γραφων εικόνα Κεραυνον ενεχείρισεν αυτός δε λογχην, ης την δόξαν εδε εις αφαιρήσεται χρόνος, αληθινην και ιδίαν ὅσαν. -PLUTARCHUS, de Ifide et Ofiride, p. 60. edit. Cantab. 1744. In citing the words of Pliny, which celebrate Lyfiftratus for this invention, I will venture to suggest a new reading in the paffage, which may vindicate (as I imagine) this interesting author from the charge of having expreffed himself rather abfurdly on this subject *. I have feen it fomewhere obferved, that a ftatue, refembling the diminutive Hercules of Lyfippus, was formerly in the poffeffion of the celebrated Pithou, who has been called the Varro of France: but I apprehend that interesting work of ancient art has long ceafed to exift; and as the animated poem, in which Statius has described the ftatue and its most amiable poffeffor, has not appeared (to my recollection) in our language, I shall conclude this note with an entire version of the Latin epistle I allude to, as the most pleasing tribute that antiquity has paid to the talents of Lyfippus. * "Hominis autem imaginem gypso e facie ipfâ primus omnium expreffit, cerâque in eam "formam gypfi infufâ emendare inftituit Lyfiftratus Sicyonius frater Lyfippi, de quo diximus. "Sic et fimilitudinem reddere inftituit: ante eum quam pulcherrimas facere ftudebant. "Idem et de fignis effigiem exprimere invenit. Crevitque res in tantum ut nulla figna ftatua"ve fine argilla fierent. Quo apparet antiquiorem hanc fuisse scientiam quam fundendi æris. Lib. xxxv. c. 12.-So ftood the paffage till the Paris editor of Pliny in twelve quartos made the following alteration: "ut nulla figna fuâ fine argillâ fierent." By changing the fuperfluous word ftatuæve into fuâ, he hoped to rectify the weakness of the paffage: but I apprehend another very flight alteration may improve it much more. Instead of fine argilla, I would read fine arte illâ; confidering those words as expreffing the invention of Lyfiftratus, and giving a little better sense to the clofe of the paffage," antiquiorem hanc fuiffe fcientiam, quam fun"dendi æris;" which may then fignify that this practice of cafting the real features in plaister was prior to the formation of perfect portraits in bronze. Hercules Epitrapezios. Forte remittentem curas, Phoeboque levatum Ah! miferi, quos noffe juvat, quid Phafidis ales Diftet ab hiberna Rhodopes grue: quis magis anfer Exta ferat: cur Thufcus aper generofior Umbro: Lubrica qua recubent conchylia mollius alga. Nobis verus amor, medioque Helicone petitus Sermo, hilarefque joci brumalem abfumere noctem Suaferunt, mollemque oculis expellere fomnum; Donec ab Elyfiis profpexit fedibus alter Caftor, et hefternas rifit Tithonia mensas. O bona nox! junctaque utinam Tirynthia luna! Nox, et Erythrææ Thetidis fignanda lapillis, Et memoranda diu, geniumque habitura perennem. Mille ibi tunc fpecies ærifque eborisque vetufti, Atque locuturas mentito corpore ceras Edidici. Quis namque oculis certaverit ufquam Vindicis, artificum veteres cognofcere ductus, Et non infcriptis auctorem reddere fignis? Hic tibi quæ docto multum vigilata Myroni Æra, laboriferi vivant quæ marmora cœlo Praxitelis, quod ebur Pifæo pollice rafum, |