The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-25 00:00:00

ANTIPHON.

"It was more than the dusk evening, it was early
night, when Antiphon sat in his chamber, with all its
professional accompaniments around him, intently stu-
dying an astronomic chart. A small table, on which
was placed a tray filled with fruits, sweetmeats, flowers,
and wine, stood near; and ever at some more difficult
question the student would pause from his labour, and
turn his handsome manly face towards the light, refresh-
ing himself with some of the luxuries beside him. Ho
was net one to neglect the physical comforts in intellec-
tual joys; else that ripe and pleasure-loving underlip,
that bright, full, humid eye, those smooth and marked
brows, and that voluptuous gloss' upon his skin, told sad
falsehoods to the physiognomist. His attire too bespoke
the sensuousness and luxury of his character. It was
partly copied from that of the sophist, Georgias of Le-
ontium, who made all Athens, nay all Hellas, ring with
tales of his magnificence and splendour, and of how ho
would come to the Olympic games crowned with gold,
and clothed in all the insignia of a monarch. A purple
robe, bordered and starred with gold, reaching midway
to his leg, a saffron coloured scarf, or chlamvs, thrown
negligently over it; his black and scented locks combed
smoothly round his head and fastened with a broad
golden fillet; the sweet essences with which he had per-
fumed his person and his garments; the flowers which
decorated his ears; the massive rings that studded his
fingers; the large luxury of his couch and chair and
footstools; the wealth and gorgeous elegance scattered
about him, all told to which of the two natures hisincli-
nation led him; all evidenced the superiority of the
human over the divine, of earth over spirit. Everything
about him was beautiful. His water-cups were of the
finest porcelain made of the earth of Colias, of the most
graceful forms, and of bright yet harmonious colours;
his chairs and tables, couches and footstools, were cf
elaborate workmanship, costly materials, and draperied
with rich Milesian cloths; his pictures were as limtcus
as the chaste style of the day admitted; his statues
as voluptuous as Ctesilaos and Agoracreitos could or
dared produce. In all things around him might be seen
that one prevailing feeling of delight in sensuous, visible,
:la i
fie y, not because of its idea, but because of ts/or/a."
As affording a vivid and picturesque view of Grecian
manners " Amymone" is valuable. It depicts the
ceremonies of the marriage feast, the burial rites, the
symposiums, and the other domestic events of daily
recurrence with the Athenians. It carries us in ima-
gination to the fans of the Delphic Oracle ; to the
Olympic games; to the struggling of the athletes at
the pancratium, or boxing with the cestus. It con-
veys us at one moment along the path of the Pana•
thenaic procession, and, at another, initiates us into
the mysteries of the household games—astragals,
artiasmos, cuboi, and cottabos. Now we are jostling
against the hetairai in the opson market, now we
meet the ephehoi in the Cerameicos, now we listen to
the flute-players in the ()Lion, now we hear the
philosophers in the Lyceion, and now, again we wan-
der through the house of the eupatrid--travers-
ing the anthronitis or men's part of the dwelling,
and on through the passage called the mesaulos until
we have penetrated into those apartments
dedicated exclusively to the female portion of every
household. Of the eloquence with which all these
classic materials are grouped together and adorned