mighty strange things were wont to occur. The gods were astounded and messengers were sent post-haste to spread the news.

How the main incident was treated by Phidias we do not know, for the central group was long since destroyed, but we may be sure that the good taste of the Greeks avoided all grotesqueness. Probably the goddess was shown standing by the side of her august parent. What we do have, to own and enjoy, is a number of the subordinate figures, including the beautiful Iris who so eagerly carries the tidings. Like widening circles upon the water the interest spreads. The first seated woman lifts an arm as in wonder; the second has not grasped the message. Beyond and aloof, lost in day dreams, reposes the personified mountain, "Olympus" - or "Theseus" if you prefer - one of the most satisfying statues in the world, a wonder of truth and of skilful interpretation. That the backs of these figures should be as carefully completed as the parts which were visible has often been commented upon. Some see in it a deep religious significance - that the sculptor was working for the sight of the gods. May it not have been simply a result of his method of visualizing the body as a whole and shaping it from all sides as he wrought? If he carved without a model this would be far easier than developing one side alone.

When near them I think the three figures called, for no reason at all, "The Fates," the most beautiful sculpture in existence. (Pl. 80.) Their glory of form and the sparkle of their draperies are obvious. The charm of harmonious line and particularly the varied responses to the proclamation are subtler qualities. "The one which is detached has heard the voice and turns with one foot drawn back as though she were about to spring from her seat," writes Dr. Powers. "Then the more passive sitting figure, already disturbed, though dazed and unconscious from what source comes her awakening; and finally a reclining figure leaning upon the bosom of the last, and wrapped in a slumber which is the most perfect

embodiment of languorous repose known in all art. She rests as one who dreams of heaven. Even the messenger of the gods may well forbear to disturb such a repose." Some share of this beauty of "The Fates" is apparent to every eye, yet study constantly reveals new charms. Simple in mass, the composition grows richer. upon approach. The drapery is marvelous in its flow and its subtle blending of light and shade, offering happy effects at all distances. To know the sculpture of the Parthenon is like knowing the ceiling of the Sistine chapel; it is a liberal education and throws light upon any other work of art which one may study.

There is a figure which we like to attribute directly to Phidias. We call her the "Lemnian Athena" and hope that she is a reduction of that stately statue which the master erected upon the Acropolis for the Lemnians. She seems to us worthy of the tradition. For years the marble body stood incomplete in Dresden while the lonesome head was a treasured possession of Bologna. At last they were brought together at least a cast of the head was found to fit perfectly the broken neck - and another triumph of ancient art was presented to the world.

Phidias and Polyclitus, the great sculptors of the fifth century B.C., were succeeded in the fourth by Praxiteles and Skopas. Praxiteles chose subjects very different from those which interested Phidias. The days of monumental grandeur were past. The later artist represented the gods, to be sure, but he selected the subordinate, more human divinities, and pictured them with a less reverent touch. Pausanias, who traveled in Greece in the second century A.D., tells us that he saw in the Hera Temple at Olympia "a Hermes of stone carrying the young Dionysos; it was made by Praxiteles." In 1877 a party of German archaeologists found this very figure amid the ruins of the temple. (Pl. 81: 1.) The legs and arms were broken, but the body and head were intact. As fortune would have it, they even found the baby "Dionysos" later, used as a stone in the building of a wall. Thus the "Hermes" stands

today almost complete in the little museum of Olympia. He leans at ease upon a high stump over which he has thrown his mantle, and seems to be looking in smiling reverie at the quaint infant perched upon his left arm. The grace of his pose, the firm yet softly rounded forms, the combination of strength and gentleness so well shown in both the subject and the treatment, were a new revelation to the world. Here at last was an original directly from the hands of the great master. It was as fine as man had dreamed. If this was one of the minor works of Praxiteles, what must have been the beauty of his more celebrated achievements!

Here is another of those graceful, easy-going figures which Praxiteles introduced to the delighted world. (Pl. 81: 2.) That they were great favorites is evident from the number of Satyrs and Fauns to be found in the gardens and galleries of Europe. If the originals are gone it is fortunate that many copies and variations remain to cheer us. Perhaps I should have chosen "The Marble Faun" of the Capitol, extolled by Hawthorne, but there is something even more charming to my mind in this adolescent figure. How completely joyous and fancy-free he is; how innocent of "the higher life" and examinations!

It was a different mind which conceived the tragic group of Niobe and her ill-starred children; a different hand which carved them. Was it Skopas? We know that he excelled in the dramatic as Praxiteles did in joyous themes, but of all his somber visions not an original remains. A fine copy of the monumental mother and child is to be seen in Florence, but the most beautiful fragment is that of a daughter in the Chiaramonti gallery of the Vatican. (Pl. 81:3.) The picture gives but a hint of its rich drapery, so like that of the "Iris" of the Parthenon.

I am sure that many of my readers will wonder at my including the next figure. (Pl. 81: 4.) "With a world of beauty to choose from, why fill up with such things?" you will say. Quite right, quite right. I acknowledge that I should never