Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-12-10
THE STATUE OF THE DYING
GIAnu Tn1

THE STATUE OF THE DYING
GLADIATOR.
From HilIiard's Six Months in italy we take the
following description of the celebrated antique
statueof The Dying Gladiator, ? in the Capitoline
Museum al Rome, Italy, an aecurate copy Of
which, in marble, by J. Colt, distinguished sculp
tor, is now on exhibition at Morrison's building
"A street, near Pennsy lvania avenue.
"The last room into which the traveller passes
contains several works OF the highest excellence
and, above all, the Dying Gladiator, statue o.
such surprising merit as this should have room
by ITSELF for in It's presence il is difficult 10 look al
anything else. IL is now admitted by the best aI
thorties that the statue is dying Gaul and not 4
gladiator; but 10 the popular mind the old appella
ton will cling forever. Byrons immortal sianza--
an exquisite creation ofgenius equal to the theme
which inspired ills alone enough 10 fasten il
there with associations that can never be severed
But there is no work Of art respecting which sucl
discussions are more Intrusive or unnecessary
We do not ask whom il represents, because we
are so wholly absorbed with what il is. Its power
and pathos are independent of time, place, ant
condition. "a
"What is it we see before us? A man dying
nothing more II is that which happens TO al
men--the only inevitable fact in every life. MOI
Is II marked or conspicuous person. He is mol
a hero or poet, or an orator The form is moi
ideal, the head is not intellectual the lips are moi
refined The shadows Of great thoughts never
darkened that commonplace brow, nor did the
touch OF beauty ever thrill along those coarse
ibres. But the charm and power of the statue
consists In the amazing truth with which the two
great elements of humanity and mortality are de-
lineated. Avigorous animal life is suddenly stop
ped be the touch of death, and the sensible warm
notion becomes kneaded clod' before oul
eyes. The artist gives us all the pathos and the
tragedy ofdeath without its ghasilness and horror
an ia I,no f~sxx 81
ed with coarse employments and vulgar assoca.
tons, but an immortal spirit breaking through its
walls OF clay. The rags Of life fall away from him
and ne puts on the dignity and grandeur of death.
We feel ourselves in the presence of that
Awful Power before whose lev sceptre all mortal
distinctions are leveed. Life and death are all
that for time we can admit into the mind.
As the sentiment aRd expression ofthis statue
are admirable, so is the mechanical execution oil
the highest merit The skill with which the phys
ical effects ofdeath upon the human frame are rep
resented is most strongly felt by those whose pro-
iessslonaltr training and experience make theirjudg
ment upon such points the most valuable. The
hair short and crisp and matted by the sweat ofthe
death struggle, the wrinkled brow, the dropping
lid, the lips distended with pair, and the sinking
languor of the whole frame, give proof of pa
tient eye and skilfnl hand No statue was ever
more marked by simplicity, or more free from any
thing like extravaganza or carcature Such q
subject presents many temptations, and unless
an artists taste and judgment were equal 10 his ge
MUS he would hardy have escaped falling into the
weakness OF OVERRIDING the tragic element and OF
laying such weight upon our sympathes that they
would have given way under the pressure. But
here nothing has been done for effect. No vulgar
applause is courted, and the decency and dignity
OF truth are scrnpulously observed.
"lf ii be right to judge of works of art subjec-
lively. and not objeclively-that is, exclusively by
the effect which they leave upon the individual
no cOnfemnIqfae fham--I al; n-.I-
at the head OF all the statues in the world To me-
none others were SO expressive, so significant, so
.ull OF deep meaning. At each successive visit il
seemed TO be new work. TO reveal something
which before had been unspoken, TO awaken
echoes which before had been silent Though a
solitary figure, taken in and comprehended by the
eye at single glance, il involves broad circle OF
experience and suggestion.
"Such is ever the case with the creations which
genius gives us when il walks in the way oftruth,
and, disdaning the morbid The fantastic, and the
grotesque, gives shape 10 our common visions,
and reality to the universal dream.
"This statue is indissoluby associated with By-
rons immortal stanza,* which, familiar as il is,
can no more become hackneyed than the relations
of husband and father on which il is founded.
From lines like these, which everybody reads
and everybody remembers-especially when con-
nected with objects OF permanent and general in
terest--we learn how much we owe 10 the poets.
Who that has ever seen snow falling upon wafer
has not had distinct pleasure in the sight from
The ne Illustration of the blefduraton Of sensual
pleasures which Burns has drawn from il?
Or like the snowfall in the river
A moment white, then melis forever
"Who that has ever beheld a scarlet maple in
our autumn woods has not felt that a new charm
was given TO it by the lovely image which il sug-
gested to Bryant?
" But meath yon crimson tree
Lover 10 listening maid might breathe his flame,
Nor mark, within its roseate canopy
Her blush Of maiden shame
So we who look upon the statue since the
stanza was written, il by finer light than ever
shone3 upon IL before For us alone the rude
hut by the Danube is reared, and those young
barbarans are sporting upon IFS banks. We may
form some notion Of our obligations by mae ming
what would have been the emotions of a man of
cultivation and sensbility IL the poet had sudden
ly put the lines into his hands while he was stand
ing before the statue. Would not something like
the miracle Of Pygmalion have taken place before
his eyesl Would not the marble breast have APP
peared 10 heave with emotion, and the. droopinQ
brow TO be darkened with suffering?
*a' see before me the Gladiator lie:
He leans upon his hand-his manly brow
Consents 10 death, but conquers agony,
And his droop'd head sinks gradually low
And through his side the last drops, ebbing
slow
From the red cash. fall heavy, one by one,
Like the first Of thunder-shower; and now
The arena swims around him--he is gone,
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which haild the
wretch who won.
10 He heard il, but he needed not--his eyes
Were with his heart, and that was far away;
He reck'd not Of the life he lost nor prize,
But where his rude hut by the Danube lay
There were his young barbarians all at play,
There was their Dacian mother-he their sire
Butcherd TO make Roman holiday
All this rushd with his blood. Shall he expire.
And unavengedf Arise ye. Goihs, and glut
yourireg"
THE YOUNG HUSBAND, by Mrs. Grey,
III author OF the Gamblers Wife and the Bosom