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?