Essays in Portraiture (6-10)

LYCINUS Well, he permits you to look upon the statue even now, as it comes into being; and this is the way he makes the blend. From the Cnidian he takes only the head, as the body, which is unclothed, will not meet his needs. He will allow the arrangement of the hair, the forehead, and the fair line of the brows to remain as Praxiteles made them; and in the eyes also, that gaze so liquid, and at the same time so clear and winsome—that too shall be retained as Praxiteles conceived it. But he will take the round of the cheeks and all the fore part of the face from Alcamenes and from Our Lady in the Gardens; so too the hands, the graceful wrists, and the supple, tapering fingers shall come from Our Lady in the Gardens. But the contour of the entire face, the delicate sides of it, and the shapely nose will be supplied by the Lemnian Athena and by Phidias, and the master will also furnish the meeting of the lips, and the neck, taking these from his Amazon. Sosandra and Calamis shall adorn her with

modesty, and her smile shall be grave and faint like that of Sosandra, from whom shall come also the simplicity and seemliness of her drapery, except that she shall have her head uncovered. In the measure of her years, whatever it may be, she shall agree most closely with the Cnidian Aphrodite; that, too, Praxiteles may determine. What do you think, Polystratus? Will the statue be beautiful?

POLYSTRATUS Yes, surely, when it has been completed to the uttermost detail; for there is still, despite your unexampled zeal, one beauty that you have left out of your statue in collecting and combining everything as you did.

LYCINUS What is that ?

POLYSTRATUS Not the most unimportant, my friend, unless you will maintain that perfection of form is but little enhanced by colour and appropriateness in each detail, so that just those parts will be black which should be black and those white which should be, and the flush of life will glow upon the surface, and so forth. I fear we still stand in need of the most important feature !

LYCINUS Where then can we get all that? Or shall we call in the painters, of course, and particularly those who excelled in mixing their colours and in applying them judiciously? Come, then, let us call

in Polygnotus and Euphranor of old, and Apelles and Aétion. Let them divide up the work, and let Euphranor colour the hair as he painted Hera’s:[*] let Polygnotus do the becomingness of her brows and the faint flush of her cheeks, just as he did Cassandra in the Lesche at Delphi,[*] and let him also do her clothing, which shall be of the most delicate texture, so that it not only clings close where it should, but a great deal of it floats in the air. The body Apelles shall represent after the manner of his Pacate,[*] not too white but just suffused with red ; and her lips shall be done by Aétion like Roxana’s.[*] But stay!

We have Homer, the best of all painters, éven in the presence of Euphranor and Apelles. Let her be throughout of a colour like that which Homer gave to the thighs of Menelaus when he likened them to ivory tinged with crimson;[*] and let him also paint the eyes and make her “ox-eyed.” The Theban poet, too, shall lend him a hand in the work, to give her ‘violet brows.”[*] Yes, and Homer shall make her “laughter-loving” and “white-armed" and “rosy-fingered,” and, in a word, shall liken her to golden Aphrodite far more fittingly than he did the daughter of Briseus.[*]

This, then, is what sculptors and painters and poets can achieve; but who could counterfeit the fine flower of it all—the grace; nay, all the Graces in company, and all the Loves, too, circling hand in hand about her?

POLYSTRATUS It is a miraculous creature that you describe, Lycinus; “dropt from the skies”[*] in very truth, quite like something out of Heaven. But what was she doing when you saw her?

LYCINUS She had a scroll in her hands, with both ends of it rolled up, so that she seemed to be reading the one part and to have already read the other.[*]— As she walked along, she was discussing something or other with one of her escorts; I do not know what it was, for she did not speak so that it could be overheard. But when she smiled, Polystratus, she disclosed such teeth! How can I tell you how white they were, how symmetrical and well matched? If you have ever seen a lovely string of very lustrous, equal pearls, that is the way they stood in row; and they were especially set off by the redness of her lips. They shone, just as Homer says, like sawn ivory.[*] Nor could you say that some of them were too broad,

others misshapen, and others prominent or wide apart, as they are with most women. On the contrary, all were of equal distinction, of the selfsame whiteness, of uniform size, and similarly close together. In short, it was a great marvel; a spectacle transcending all human beauty !

POLYSTRATUS Hold still! I perceive now quite clearly who the woman is that you describe; I recognize her by just these points and also by her country. Besides, you said that there were eunuchs in her following.

LYCINUS Yes, and several soldiers.

POLYSTRATUS It is the Emperor’s mistress, you simpleton —the woman who is so famous!

LYCINUS What is her name?

POLYSTRATUS Like herself, it is very pretty and charming. She has the same name as the beautiful wife of Abradatas. You know whom I mean, for you have often heard Xenophon praise her as a good and beautiful woman.[*] LYCINUS Yes, and it makes me feel as if I saw her when I reach that place in my reading; I can almost hear

her say what she is described as saying, and see how she armed her husband and what she was like when she sent him off to the battle.