The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-07-29
w..


The real interest Of Pausanias. however,
lay neither In the country nor In the people
OF his own age. but In those Of
the past which. though too often injured by
time. or defaced by violence, he still found
scattered In piofusion over Greece. II Is 10 y
description Of them that the greater part of hia
work is devoted. lie did not profess to cata-
loeue. still less to describe. them all. All that
a writer could reasonably hope TO accomplish
was TO make a choice OF the most interesting
monuments. and TO give a clear account Of
them. His selection of objects was determined
mainly by two leading principles. his anti
Quarian tastes and his religious curiosity.
The preference exhibited by Psusanias for
old over modern art. that Is TO say. for works
OF the fifth and fourth centuries b. c. over
those Of later periods, must have been well
founded for It has been shared by the best
judges. both in ancient and modern times.
Cicero. Diony sius Of Halicarnassus Quintilian
and our authors own contemporary, Lucian.
perhaps the most refined critic of art In anilq-
uity. mentions no artist Of later date than the
fourth century, Is. c.. The truth is that the
subjusation Of Greece by Macedonia struck
afatal blow at Greek art. No sculptor or painter
Of the first rank was born after the conquest,
~ "ihN . - Aih'iN "
the painting and sculpture Of the best period
Is not more marked than his preference for
buildings consecrated to religion over buildings
devoted to the purposes Of civic o. private
he. Rarely does he offer any general remarks
on the aspect and architecture Of tho cities he
describes. At Tanagra he praises the COM
plete separation Of the houses Of the people
from the ~sanotuaries Of the gods. Amphis,a.
he tells US. was handsomely built. and Iebadea
could compare with the most fourishn g cities
Of Greece In style and splendor. On the other
hand, he viewed with unconcealed disdain the
saualor and decay Of the Pbocian town OF Piano.
teus. In the cities he visited he does, indeed,
notice market-places, colonnades, courts Of
Justice, government offices. fountains, baths
and the houses and statues Of famous men, but
the number OF such buildings and monuments
In his pages Is small compared to tho number
OF temples and precincts, images and votive Of
ferings that he describes, and such notice as he
takes OF them seldom amounts 10 more than an
~allision. The civic buildings that he conde-
sends to delineate In any detail are but few,
Amongst these, however. may be mentioned
the Painted Colonnade at Athens. with its
famous pictures: the spacious and splendid
Persian Colonnade at Sparta. with Its columns
OF white marble, carved In tho shape Of Persian
c~aptves: the market place at Els and the Pho
clan Parliament House. with Its double row OF
columns running down the whole length OF
the hall and It's seats rising in tiers from the
columns up to the walls behind.
II is when he comes TO religious art and archi.
lecture that Pausanias seems to have felt him.
self most at home. He Is lavish Of details In
depicting the temples and sanctuaries. with
their store Of images. affairs and offerings. The
most elaborate Of his descriptions are those OF
the Temple Of Zeus at Olympia, with the great
image Of the god by Phidias; the scenes on the
Chest Of Cypselus in the Hereum at Olympia:
the reliefs on the throne OF Apollo at Amycla
and the paintings by Polygnotis In the Cnidlan
Iesche at Delphi. Apart from these oonspic,i-
Gus examples. almost every page Of his work
bears witness to his interest in the monuments
OF his religion. especially when they we're more
than usually old and quaint. His religious
bias, however. did not warp tho mind Of Pau
sanias 40 far as to render him Indifferent 20 the
Of greatmen and memorable events
on which his eye must have fallen at almost
every turn. He visited the battlsfelds Of
Marathon and. Platea and beheld tho trophis,
salamis he saw the trophy Of the great sea fight.
but he mentions no graves, Doubtless the
bones Of many yictors and vanquished lay to-
BE saw q sadder monument, the colossal stone
lion, on the grave Of the Thebans who had fallen
In the cause Of freedom. On the battlefield Il
Mandnea he found the grave Of Epaninonds-;
at Sparta the grave OF Leonida', and. among
the pine woods of the sacred isle that looks
across the blue Saronic gulf TO Attica the grave
OF the banished D~emoethenes. Al Thebes bs
sav the ruins Of Ptndar's house. the shields q
tbs, L.acedemonian officers who fell at Ieucus
and the figures OF white marble which Thrasy-
bulus and his comrades In exile and In arms
had dedicated ont OF gratitude for Theban hos
No wonder. that the traveller paused
amid monuments, which seemed in the gath
night Of barbarism to catch and reflect