DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0515
THE WORKS OF L YSIPPUS.
479
has been disputed. Ottfried Miiller translated the words ' as they ought
to be,' which interpretation neither agrees with the Latin nor gives an
intelligible sense. The words, as Brunn1 points out, must be taken in
their literal sense. He did not mould his statues according to any
fixed mathematical norm, but determined the relative proportion of
the different parts by the judgment of the eye alone. He cared less
for their being right according to measurement, than for their looking
right. We have seen the same principle carried out by the Greeks in
architecture, when they made the corner pillar of a temple larger than
the others in the same row that it might look to be of the same size.
We proceed to speak of such of his numerous works, all in bronze,
as are mentioned by ancient writers. These are
Zeus at Tarcntum,2 a colossal bronze statue, sixty feet in height;
which ranked in size next to the Colossus of Rhodes. Its enormous
weight seems to have protected it from the rapacity of Fabius Maxi-
mus in 209 B.C., who left the Zeus when he removed the Heracles and
placed it in the Capitol at Rome.3
Zeus in Sicyon, of bronze, by the side of which was a statue of
Artemis in gilt bronze, which may also have been the work of Lysippus.4
Zeus Nemesis in Argos, a temple statue.5
Zeus in Mcgara surrounded by the Muses.0
Poseidon in Corinth, mentioned by Lucian.7
Dionysus on Mount Helicon*
Helios on a Quadriga'* in Rhodes, afterwards in Rome, which Nero
disfigured by gilding.
Eros in Thespiic. Lysippus was bold enough to set up a bronze
statue of Eras in the same temple at Thespia; in which the renowned
marble image of the God by Praxiteles already stood.10 The well-
known Cupid with the bow of Heracles in the Capitol at Rome has
been, rather arbitrarily, referred to this work of Lysippus." The idea
of the strongest of demigods yielding up his weapons to the wan-
1 Kihistlcr Gcsch. i. 378.
'-' Strabo, vi. 278. l'lin. /V. //. xxxiy. 40.
* lie is reported to have sniil, when it was
proposed to carry off the tutelary deities
of the Tarentines, ' let us Ica-'C them thnr
angiy sm/s' (Liv. xxii. 16). Pint. Fab. 22.
■ Pausan. ii. 9. 6. » Ibid. ii. 20. 3.
■ Ibid. i. 43. 6. ' Jup. Ftag. 9.
* Pausan. ix. 30. t.
* Plin. N. //. xxxiv. 63 : ' Cum pretio
HKKt gratia artis.' Pausan. ix. 27. 3.
" l'y Visconti.
479
has been disputed. Ottfried Miiller translated the words ' as they ought
to be,' which interpretation neither agrees with the Latin nor gives an
intelligible sense. The words, as Brunn1 points out, must be taken in
their literal sense. He did not mould his statues according to any
fixed mathematical norm, but determined the relative proportion of
the different parts by the judgment of the eye alone. He cared less
for their being right according to measurement, than for their looking
right. We have seen the same principle carried out by the Greeks in
architecture, when they made the corner pillar of a temple larger than
the others in the same row that it might look to be of the same size.
We proceed to speak of such of his numerous works, all in bronze,
as are mentioned by ancient writers. These are
Zeus at Tarcntum,2 a colossal bronze statue, sixty feet in height;
which ranked in size next to the Colossus of Rhodes. Its enormous
weight seems to have protected it from the rapacity of Fabius Maxi-
mus in 209 B.C., who left the Zeus when he removed the Heracles and
placed it in the Capitol at Rome.3
Zeus in Sicyon, of bronze, by the side of which was a statue of
Artemis in gilt bronze, which may also have been the work of Lysippus.4
Zeus Nemesis in Argos, a temple statue.5
Zeus in Mcgara surrounded by the Muses.0
Poseidon in Corinth, mentioned by Lucian.7
Dionysus on Mount Helicon*
Helios on a Quadriga'* in Rhodes, afterwards in Rome, which Nero
disfigured by gilding.
Eros in Thespiic. Lysippus was bold enough to set up a bronze
statue of Eras in the same temple at Thespia; in which the renowned
marble image of the God by Praxiteles already stood.10 The well-
known Cupid with the bow of Heracles in the Capitol at Rome has
been, rather arbitrarily, referred to this work of Lysippus." The idea
of the strongest of demigods yielding up his weapons to the wan-
1 Kihistlcr Gcsch. i. 378.
'-' Strabo, vi. 278. l'lin. /V. //. xxxiy. 40.
* lie is reported to have sniil, when it was
proposed to carry off the tutelary deities
of the Tarentines, ' let us Ica-'C them thnr
angiy sm/s' (Liv. xxii. 16). Pint. Fab. 22.
■ Pausan. ii. 9. 6. » Ibid. ii. 20. 3.
■ Ibid. i. 43. 6. ' Jup. Ftag. 9.
* Pausan. ix. 30. t.
* Plin. N. //. xxxiv. 63 : ' Cum pretio
HKKt gratia artis.' Pausan. ix. 27. 3.
" l'y Visconti.