DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0516
SILANION AND OTHER SCULPTORS. 481
judgments, but a deep and tender sympathy for the victims takes possession of
us. Xiobe, the proud queen and fond mother, does not give herself over to
paroxysms of extravagant grief, though she beholds every earthly joy ruthlessly
torn from her in one short hour. No frantic gesticulation, no wild look, betrays
terror, rage, or other baser feelings. Unfathomable grief is there; but grief
which seems tempered by a consciousness of justice, and a certain degree of
submission. This moderation seems portrayed in her children also, as though
the gods in wisdom had not permitted the full measure of their punishment to
weigh too heavily on their innocent victims. Our natural aversion to scenes of
grief is, moreover, overcome by the great beauty which the sculptor has thrown
around the marbles. The disturbing bodily anguish is veiled from our eyes.
Indeed, the Greeks believed the wounds inflicted by the immortals to be pain-
less. Youth has been selected for all the forms. Even Niobe is not old: the
type of her face, its deeply set eyes and generous lines, show the ripeness, but
yet the freshness, of blooming womanhood. Moreover, touching marks of affec-
tion, occurring throughout, temper the terribleness of the scene. Niobe clasps
her youngest daughter in her fond embrace, and a brother strives to shield his
sister from her impending fate. In short, mother and children are of a race of
heroes; and a family resemblance of rich, full beauty runs through the whole.
The touching pathos, which the sculptors of the fourth century developed to a
higher degree than had been done before, appears here, even though shimmer-
mg through these remote copies of their original works.956
Many lesser stars cluster around the constellation of Scopas and Praxiteles.
The names of these minor masters are continually being culled from fragment-
ary pedestals discovered on Attic soil.957 Of some, honorable mention is made
by ancient authors; while the numerous sculptured tombstones and votive
monuments found in Attica testify to the high average excellence of the hum-
bler carvers, and a few fragments show the rare attainments of greater men.
Praxiteles' own sons and scholars, Kcphisodotos and Timarchos, were among
the younger generation, rising about these masters ; but, since their prime fell
long years after the death of Alexander, they belong properly to the opening
years of the following period, where they will find their place.
Silanion of Athens must have been a contemporary of Scopas and of Praxite-
les, since he is said to have made a portrait of Plato, who died in 348 B.C. (Olymp.
J°8. 1). This master was remarkable for having, although self-taught, attained
to great professional excellence.95s Among his works —of which we know little
more than the mere names — were several portraits, a few figures from heroic
1T>yth, but no gods. His Achilles is simply mentioned by Pliny as a noble work,
and of his Theseus in Athens we know even less. Of his dying Iocaste, the un-
happy w;fe anci mother of Oidipus> in Theban myth, we are told that he added
silver to the bronze in order better to give the pallor of death.959 Thus, if this
judgments, but a deep and tender sympathy for the victims takes possession of
us. Xiobe, the proud queen and fond mother, does not give herself over to
paroxysms of extravagant grief, though she beholds every earthly joy ruthlessly
torn from her in one short hour. No frantic gesticulation, no wild look, betrays
terror, rage, or other baser feelings. Unfathomable grief is there; but grief
which seems tempered by a consciousness of justice, and a certain degree of
submission. This moderation seems portrayed in her children also, as though
the gods in wisdom had not permitted the full measure of their punishment to
weigh too heavily on their innocent victims. Our natural aversion to scenes of
grief is, moreover, overcome by the great beauty which the sculptor has thrown
around the marbles. The disturbing bodily anguish is veiled from our eyes.
Indeed, the Greeks believed the wounds inflicted by the immortals to be pain-
less. Youth has been selected for all the forms. Even Niobe is not old: the
type of her face, its deeply set eyes and generous lines, show the ripeness, but
yet the freshness, of blooming womanhood. Moreover, touching marks of affec-
tion, occurring throughout, temper the terribleness of the scene. Niobe clasps
her youngest daughter in her fond embrace, and a brother strives to shield his
sister from her impending fate. In short, mother and children are of a race of
heroes; and a family resemblance of rich, full beauty runs through the whole.
The touching pathos, which the sculptors of the fourth century developed to a
higher degree than had been done before, appears here, even though shimmer-
mg through these remote copies of their original works.956
Many lesser stars cluster around the constellation of Scopas and Praxiteles.
The names of these minor masters are continually being culled from fragment-
ary pedestals discovered on Attic soil.957 Of some, honorable mention is made
by ancient authors; while the numerous sculptured tombstones and votive
monuments found in Attica testify to the high average excellence of the hum-
bler carvers, and a few fragments show the rare attainments of greater men.
Praxiteles' own sons and scholars, Kcphisodotos and Timarchos, were among
the younger generation, rising about these masters ; but, since their prime fell
long years after the death of Alexander, they belong properly to the opening
years of the following period, where they will find their place.
Silanion of Athens must have been a contemporary of Scopas and of Praxite-
les, since he is said to have made a portrait of Plato, who died in 348 B.C. (Olymp.
J°8. 1). This master was remarkable for having, although self-taught, attained
to great professional excellence.95s Among his works —of which we know little
more than the mere names — were several portraits, a few figures from heroic
1T>yth, but no gods. His Achilles is simply mentioned by Pliny as a noble work,
and of his Theseus in Athens we know even less. Of his dying Iocaste, the un-
happy w;fe anci mother of Oidipus> in Theban myth, we are told that he added
silver to the bronze in order better to give the pallor of death.959 Thus, if this