DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61301#0301
THE HERMES OF PRAXITELES.
265
been the pupil or fellow-worker of Scopas, but of this we
have no certain tradition. At the time when he began
to be famous, something of serenity was restored to his
native city of Athens. But this was only the quiet of a
shattered strength, never the old, full, happy confidence.
It is just this confidence, this self-containedness, which
we miss from the work of Praxiteles ; it is just this look
in the face of the Hermes as of a man sunk in reverie,
who does not, cannot, perhaps will not, face the reality
of life; little of energy in the eyes, nothing of determi-
nation in the soft mouth.
It is not easy to enumerate the works of Praxiteles
chronologically, but there are reasons for placing the
Hermes early on the list. As we have said, it never
attained great repute. The fame of Praxiteles rested
above all on the Aphrodite he sculptured for the
people of Cnidus. Pliny and Lucian vie in the ex-
travagance of their praise of this statue; from their
hyperboles it is difficult to gather a sober word of
criticism. Men made the voyage only that they might
once behold her ; the goddess herself went through the
waves to gaze at the image she herself approved ; the
king of Bithynia offered to pay the whole national
debt of the Cnidians if they would sell the statue, but in
vain—and rightly, for by it alone their city was made
famous.
This was not the only statue of Aphrodite that Praxi-
265
been the pupil or fellow-worker of Scopas, but of this we
have no certain tradition. At the time when he began
to be famous, something of serenity was restored to his
native city of Athens. But this was only the quiet of a
shattered strength, never the old, full, happy confidence.
It is just this confidence, this self-containedness, which
we miss from the work of Praxiteles ; it is just this look
in the face of the Hermes as of a man sunk in reverie,
who does not, cannot, perhaps will not, face the reality
of life; little of energy in the eyes, nothing of determi-
nation in the soft mouth.
It is not easy to enumerate the works of Praxiteles
chronologically, but there are reasons for placing the
Hermes early on the list. As we have said, it never
attained great repute. The fame of Praxiteles rested
above all on the Aphrodite he sculptured for the
people of Cnidus. Pliny and Lucian vie in the ex-
travagance of their praise of this statue; from their
hyperboles it is difficult to gather a sober word of
criticism. Men made the voyage only that they might
once behold her ; the goddess herself went through the
waves to gaze at the image she herself approved ; the
king of Bithynia offered to pay the whole national
debt of the Cnidians if they would sell the statue, but in
vain—and rightly, for by it alone their city was made
famous.
This was not the only statue of Aphrodite that Praxi-