DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0583
PORTRAITS OF DEMOSTHENES. 547
served. Other joint works of the brothers were the wooden statues of Lycur-
gos, the great Athenian orator and financier, who died about 324 B.C., and of
his three sons. Still others were a figure of Enyo, goddess of fierce war, and
ravager of towns, which was seen in the Temple of Ares in Athens by Pausa-
nias, and a Cadmos in Thebes.IoS2 Of Kephisodotos' work alone, we hear of
statues of contemporary poetesses, Anyte of Tegea, and Moiro of Byzantium,
as well as of philosophers, which were probably in bronze.,oS3 To the range
of more purely ideal subjects belong his statues in marble of a Leto, an Aphro-
dite, an Asclepios, and an Artemis, all of which were removed to Rome, and
are mentioned by Pliny as being respectively in the Palatine Temple, in the
possession of Asinius Pollio, and in the Portico of Octavia.IoS4 More celebrated
than these, but the subject of much controversy, was a group in Pergamon by
this same master,—a symplegtna (struggle), as Pliny calls it, in which, as he
says, the fingers seemed to press into flesh, and not marble. This struggle is
supposed to have been of erotic character, and is, possibly, to be associated
with the group, a satyr struggling with a nymph, preserved to us in several
if/'/icas.,°s5
One other master in Athens, Polyeuctos, is known to us from this time,
his fame being due to a portrait-statue he executed of Demosthenes, doubtless
the parent figure of existing portraits, in which the great patriot is represented
with the scanty robe, earnest, furrowed face, and frail body ascribed to him by
history. Polyeuctes' bronze portrait, put up in Athens in 280 B.C., repre-
sented Demosthenes as standing with folded hands,—a gesture, throughout
classic antiquity, expressive of perplexity, and often of affliction. Beneath was
the telling epigram, " Had, O Demosthenes, thy piercing and strenuous will
been supported by proportionate strength, they might have rescued thy father-
land from Philip!"1086 At a late date this bronze itself, or a copy, was seen
at Constantinople. The admiration of the Romans and of others for the great
men of the past, which led to the frequent repetition of their portraits for pri-
vate galleries or for libraries, explains the existence of the very many heads,
and even of several statues, of Demosthenes in marble. Of the heads, the one
in the royal gardens at Athens (Fig. 223) has a speaking life, which at once
impresses us when compared with the more generalized calm portraits of an
earlier and quieter time ; such, for instance,'as the Pericles (p. 324) traceable to
the fifth, or the Sophocles (p. 489) to the fourth, century. In this fragmentary
head of the Athenian orator, Demosthenes, the sunken cheeks seem to suggest
the frail body, and the closely pressed lips to witness to the struggle won over a
stammering speech. The earnest gaze, furrowed, thoughtful brow, and knitted
eyebrows show us, we feel, the noble patriot as he appeared daily among the
Athenians, harassed like him by the impending storms. Two complete statues
seem derived indirectly from the original bronze by Polyeuctos ; one being
in the Knole collection (England), and the other in the Vatican. Both have
served. Other joint works of the brothers were the wooden statues of Lycur-
gos, the great Athenian orator and financier, who died about 324 B.C., and of
his three sons. Still others were a figure of Enyo, goddess of fierce war, and
ravager of towns, which was seen in the Temple of Ares in Athens by Pausa-
nias, and a Cadmos in Thebes.IoS2 Of Kephisodotos' work alone, we hear of
statues of contemporary poetesses, Anyte of Tegea, and Moiro of Byzantium,
as well as of philosophers, which were probably in bronze.,oS3 To the range
of more purely ideal subjects belong his statues in marble of a Leto, an Aphro-
dite, an Asclepios, and an Artemis, all of which were removed to Rome, and
are mentioned by Pliny as being respectively in the Palatine Temple, in the
possession of Asinius Pollio, and in the Portico of Octavia.IoS4 More celebrated
than these, but the subject of much controversy, was a group in Pergamon by
this same master,—a symplegtna (struggle), as Pliny calls it, in which, as he
says, the fingers seemed to press into flesh, and not marble. This struggle is
supposed to have been of erotic character, and is, possibly, to be associated
with the group, a satyr struggling with a nymph, preserved to us in several
if/'/icas.,°s5
One other master in Athens, Polyeuctos, is known to us from this time,
his fame being due to a portrait-statue he executed of Demosthenes, doubtless
the parent figure of existing portraits, in which the great patriot is represented
with the scanty robe, earnest, furrowed face, and frail body ascribed to him by
history. Polyeuctes' bronze portrait, put up in Athens in 280 B.C., repre-
sented Demosthenes as standing with folded hands,—a gesture, throughout
classic antiquity, expressive of perplexity, and often of affliction. Beneath was
the telling epigram, " Had, O Demosthenes, thy piercing and strenuous will
been supported by proportionate strength, they might have rescued thy father-
land from Philip!"1086 At a late date this bronze itself, or a copy, was seen
at Constantinople. The admiration of the Romans and of others for the great
men of the past, which led to the frequent repetition of their portraits for pri-
vate galleries or for libraries, explains the existence of the very many heads,
and even of several statues, of Demosthenes in marble. Of the heads, the one
in the royal gardens at Athens (Fig. 223) has a speaking life, which at once
impresses us when compared with the more generalized calm portraits of an
earlier and quieter time ; such, for instance,'as the Pericles (p. 324) traceable to
the fifth, or the Sophocles (p. 489) to the fourth, century. In this fragmentary
head of the Athenian orator, Demosthenes, the sunken cheeks seem to suggest
the frail body, and the closely pressed lips to witness to the struggle won over a
stammering speech. The earnest gaze, furrowed, thoughtful brow, and knitted
eyebrows show us, we feel, the noble patriot as he appeared daily among the
Athenians, harassed like him by the impending storms. Two complete statues
seem derived indirectly from the original bronze by Polyeuctos ; one being
in the Knole collection (England), and the other in the Vatican. Both have