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ing that it is made use of in reference to subjects which have nothing to do with beauty; as, on the vase we are speaking of, it is found over two men fighting. On a vase explained by Signor Millingen, to represent Theseus obliging Procustes to lie on the same bed in which he was accustomed to torment strangers, is seen a young man crowned with an axe in his hand, and who hast just conquered another; on it is written Anuakos Kaλos. Millingen, however, takes this word in an amatory sense, and believes it to mean the beautiful Alchimachus, to whom this vase was presented. Passeri mentions a vase on which is drawn another vase between two men, on one side of whom is written Καλοι. We are of opinion that these vases, with such inscriptions, allude to the valour of the conquerors in the games, gymnastic exercises, or other sports, to whom they were given as a reward; to this correspond the subjects of the paintings on the patera, the five players of the quinquertium on the vase of Millingen, the two combatants; on that of Passeri, two young men to whom a reward is promised, and perhaps the inscription was not Καλοι, but Καλοις, to the brave; and on the Agrigentine vase Κλιταρκος Καλος, which is written near the young man holding the balance, whilst a man with a beard, on foot, standing between the youth just mentioned, and another on the opposite side of the balance, put something in the first basin to equalize the weight, and indicate the justice of the reward to the conqueror or conquerors. The names Κλιταρκος, Καλλικλες, were perhaps allegorical and suited to every victor, signifying an illustrious prince, renowned for glory. The circumstance of vases being given as prizes is mentioned by Pindar; not only for the gymnastic exercises, but also for music and tragedy.

During the feasts of Bacchus there was a musical contest of three days called Antisteria, on the third of which was awarded the prize of poetry; and in Troezene annual games of music, rowing and swimming, were instituted in honour of Bacchus Melanegides. That they were presented as rewards, the vase of Nícopolis adds a farther proof,

on which are painted youths dancing the Pyrrhic dance. This may be thought an example too modern, as Augustus was the founder of Nicopolis, and instituted those games in honour of Apollo, in which, according to Spanheim, were introduced Chori et saltationes ad aram Apollinis.

However, it is certain, the ancient custom of giving these vases as rewards was imitated. A medal of Perinthus, coined in honour of Heleogabalus, is a confirmation of this, on which is a naked man, taking hold of a vase with his right hand, and thus explained by Sestini; athleta nudus, capite pileo obtecto, adstans, e vase repando aliquid eximens; a victorious athlete about to carry away a vase obtained as his prize; and this will explain the reason of vases being crowned with palm so frequent on coins. Horace also alludes to this custom in his Ode to Censorinus, Donarem pateras, donarem tripodas, præmia fortium Grajorum, where fortium has the sense of Kan: it may be said that Horace here alludes to bronze vases, but in former ages they might have made use of earthen ones, whose construction is more simple than those of metal; antiquiorem writes Isidore, fuisse dicunt usum fictilium vasorum, quam fundendi aris, aut argenti, apud veteres enim nec aurea, nec argentea, sed fictilia vasa habebantur. They were then bestowed as rewards on conquerors, particularly those inscribed with Kaλos. But what has been the use of those, which have not this word upon them, and the subjects of whose painting are foreign to the ideas of prowess and valour? We think they were of service in celebrating the mysteries of Bacchus; and for what sort of vases were at that time employed to contain must and wine, see Origen, lib. xx. In Campania, which produced the best wines, especially the Falernian, these vases must have been in frequent use. Because then all that belonged to Bacchus and his mysteries served as symbols of human life, its various stages and future state, it came to pass that they thought of adorning these vases, which were first of wood and afterwards of baked clay, with pictures and emblems analogous to

the mystical ceremonies, allegories and initiations into the rites of Bacchus. The God represented as a child, a youth, an old man, was a type of the progress of human life; and compared with the sun, which rises in the morning, is vertical at noon, and sinks behind the mountains in the evening, through which it happened that the mysteries of the sun were often confounded with those of Bacchus. On these vases, therefore, and to such intents were painted natal feasts, and the toga pretexta, relative to the first stage of life, marriages, gymnastic exercises, hunting, wars, triumphs, spectacle, initiations, Bacchanalian sacrifices, and other scenes pertaining to youth and manhood: finally, instruction given to youth, sorrow, death, funerals, expiation, &c. give us a melancholy presentiment of our fatter days. To express all this, allegory was frequently employed; for example, the labours and deeds of Hercules and Theseus exhorted the young men to open themselves a road to glory by despising idleness and pleasure. The contest of drinking between Bacchus and Hercules, in which the latter is overcome, points out that strength falls before wine, and therefore we must be guarded against drunkenness. With the same intentions the Duke d'Urbino caused to be painted the deeds of Sacred History on his utensils. The worship of Bacchus being thus applied to the stages of life, it is no wonder that the vases were painted in this manner, and not only were made use of in his religious ceremonies, but, when their ornaments and elegance gave them a splendid appearance, that they should be presented as rewards and adorn the palaces of princes and nobles, as our porcelain and alabaster do at pre

sent.

To the conquerors in the Bacchanalian games, no doubt, were given vases with paintings on them, relating to such contests: when presented as marriage gifts they were adorned in a suitable style, &c. &c. On a vase in the possession of Sig. Santangeli, of Naples, is seen a nuptial ceremony, in a room furnished with several utensils, among which is observable a vase adorned with a similar subject. Perhaps the

vases used in nuptial feasts had another intention, that as they ought carefully to be preserved, so young men and women should bear to the marriage their bodies pure and chaste; and there are several proofs of the body being compared to a vase: Corpus quasi vas est, aut aliquod animi receptaculum. Cic. Tusc. Vas suum possidere in santificationem, St. Paul. Facio quod manifesto moechi haud ferme solent, refero vasa salva, Plautus. Words meaning, that as the vases are to be preserved entire, so the body is to be kept in chastity. For some such reasons those painted with the rites of Bacchus were placed in the graves, in which they are found of all sorts and qualities; and the ancients were accustomed to pour libations on the sepulchres, as Cicero witnesses (de legibus, lib. 2.), which was prohibited by Solon, and afterwards by the xii tables, ne sumptuosa respersio fiat, and Festus affirms that, in the xii tables, it is prohibited ne myrrhata potio mortuo injiceretur. Sig. Fran. Cancellieri, in his learned illustration of Epitaffi delle SS martiri Simplicia ed Orsa, treats in a

most learned manner of these libations and feasts. In proportion to the wealth, rank, and number of the friends of the deceased they placed in the tomb, or left them after their libations, more or less ornamented vases. Some with inscriptions, such as wais kaλλós, or with emblems and allusions to different games, might be placed with the dead to illustrate his victories, or attest his honours or profession. Others with Bacchanalian ceremonies, initiations, Bacchanals, &c. might have relation to the different degrees in those rites, and were buried with the Bacchanalian implements of their possessor.

The initiation into the mysteries of Bacchus gave hope of a better life; hence Cicero, neque solum cum lætitia vivendi rationem accepimus, sed etiam cum spe meliori moriendi. (De legibus, lib. ii. 24.) Libations of wine and precious liquors, poured on the dead body, augured a future and happier life; and, as earnest of his hope, they buried with him the symbols of his initiation. The same subjects, and for the same reasons, are sculptured on sarcophagi and

cinerary urns, and allude to the state, profession, degree in the mysteries, and the actions of the defunct.

Now let us proceed to their antiquity, and the length of time they were probably in use. The founda

tion of their great age rests on that of the sepulchres they are found in, which are hollowed out of the earth or rock, just large enough to contain a human body; in some of which are found more than twenty of different shapes, size, and colour. At Polignano, in Puglia, a sepulchre was opened in the garden belonging to the Bishop's palace, and in it were found twenty. four. Suetonius, in the Life of Cæsar, writes thus, (lib. i. c. 81.) Cum in Colonia Capua deducti lege Julia coloni ad extruendas villas sepulchra vetustissima disjicerent : idque eo studiosius facerent quod aliquantulum vasculorum operis antiqui scrutantes reperiebant, tabula anea in monumento, in quo dicebatur Capys conditor Capua sepultus, inventa est, conscripta literis verbisque grecis. It appears in this passage that he speaks of these vases, and if in Cæsar's time they were called antiqui operis, to what a height must their antiquity now be carried! The fact of their being found in this place, and a tablet of bronze with a Greek inscription, favor the idea of their Grecian origin. As a farther proof of what we have said, Strabo in lib. viii. writes, Corinthus, cum diu desertus jacuisset, instaurata est a divo Cæsare propter loci opportunitatem, missis co in coloniam libertinis plurimis. Hic cum rudera coepissent moliri, simulque sepulcra effodissent testacea opera multa, atque etiam ænea in venere, quorum admirati artificium, nullum sepulchrum non effoderunt, magnaque id genus rerum copia potiti, iisque magno divenditis Romam impleverunt necrocorinthiis, id est, mortuis Corinthi. The custom of burying in graves, or holes in the rock, is very ancient: Nam et Athenis, (says Cicero, de legibus), jam ille mos a Cecrope, ut aiunt, permansit hoc jus terra humandi; quam cum proximi injecerant, obductaque terra erat, frugibus obserebatur: and in the same book, at mihi quidem antiquissimum sepulturæ genus id

fuisse videtur quo apud Xenophontem Cyrus utitur: redditur enim terræ corpus eodemque ritu regem nostrum conditum accepimus, gentemque Corneliam usque ad memoriam nostram hac sepultura scimus esse usam. C. Marius sitas reliquias apud Anienem dissipari jussit Sylla victor.

Pliny is of opinion that burning the dead was not a very old custom of the Romans; when it began in Greece and Italy cannot be exactly ascertained burning is mentioned by Homer, and it was resorted to during the plague at Athens, perhaps through the frequency of the deaths on these two occasions.Among the Romans it was practised

at the time of the institution of the xii tables, when it is said in urbe ne sepelito, neve urito.

As the progress of philosophical opinions became general the funeral rites were conducted in a more simple manner, particularly when the nature of the soul was better understood. It is attributed by Plutarch to Pythagoras, that he commanded nothing but a branch of olive should be put into the grave; and thus Pliny says defunctos se multi fictilibus soliis condi maluere Pythagoreo modo in myrti et oleæ atque populi nigræ foliis. Solon about the same time prohibited libations to be made over dead bodies, and restrained the ceremony and pomp of funerals. His mortuary laws were also adopted by the Romans. It appears then that after Solon and Pythagoras in Greece, and the laws of the xii tables in Rome, the advance of philosophy changed the manner of conducting burials; and by degrees the custom of burning was established, chiefly from the doctrine of the Stoics, who taught that every thing would end by combustion.

When the costly libations were put a stop to, and the manner of burying was changed, vases could no longer be placed in the tomb, and this luxury ceased on the introduction of cinerary urns, which were sculptured; this might be about the fourth or fifth age of Rome. We conjecture the use of painted vases to have continued beyond Olym. 83, and U. C. 300, from the circumstance of a vase being dup up at Athens, painted with the frontispiece of the Parthenon, which

was sculptured about that time. The inferences that have been drawn, respecting the age and the progress of the arts, from the style of painting on these vases, the costumes of the figures, and even from the shape of the letters, appear to us very uncertain; we will take for example the Agrigentine vase, which Lanzi refers to the first age of Rome. The form of the letters, says Sig. Boni in the words of Lanzi, is very ancient, nor are those of Simonides to he found amongst them; and the figures in profile declare it to be much anterior to his time: then he adds, "On it are two inscriptions, one is Talides made this, which repeated on the inside and outside, signifies that the artificer was pleased with his work." Now the authority of Pliny fixes this expression to belong to a much later period; he says, that among the statuaries, Policletus, who flourished Olym. 87, and among the painters, Apelles, in Olym. 62, introduced the custom of adding to their works the word faciebat, and afterwards the principal artists did the same, tanquam inchoata semper arte atque imperfecta, ut contra judiciorum varietates superesset artifici regressus ad veniam, veluti emendaturo quidquid desideraretur si non esset interceptus. From which he gives us to understand, that they put this mark on their works either through modesty or caution. According to Lanzi, then, this painter Talides, gave the example to Policletus and Apelles more than two centuries before the time when the want of improvement was confessed; and this not through modesty but from complacence to himself. It appears very clear to us, that this miserable vase-maker, although conscious of his inability, yet wished to emulate the great masters in his inscription at least, as inferior artists have their ciphers and marks in imitation of the great masters. The execution of this design is more conformable to the infancy than the youth of the arts, and the want of the letters of Simonides cannot be considered as material; for who can be ignorant that in every age there exist some rude and barbarous artists, who, without genius or study, foolishly endeavour to execute what can

scarcely be termed designs, but ra ther caricatures, with which they please those equally rude and ignorant as themselves? May it not follow, then, that when the arts rose to a higher state of pefection, whatever motive might have induced them, they continued in some of their works the ancient style, be

cause in that manner men were accustomed to worship the images of their gods, sculptured or painted? Thus, writing was not equally well preserved by all men in every nation; and although Simonides did not invent his alphabet till the fourth age of Rome, it is impossible from this to affirm, that a monument on which his letters are not, must be anterior to him; it might have been erected in the preceding age, or long after the times in which he lived, as this manner of writing could not have taken place suddenly in every part of the world, and those trivial artists are particularly fond of copying whatever has been in use, or what they have learned from tradition. Should the style of painting, and the characters on this vase, be allowed to be very ancient, it does not necessarily follow that the vase and the artist belong to the same age as the style. From this it appears to us that the use of painted vases, for whatever purpose, was continued at least to the fifth age of Rome.

As the custom of burning the dead prevailed, small urns were used to deposit the ashes in, and the luxury of the vases was absorbed in that of the urns, which were embellished with sculptured ornaments of every sort, and were composed of baked clay, earth, marble, alabaster, stone, or whatever the country most abounded in; and after the introduction of riches, of bronze, and other precious materials, the common people alone still continued to use pots and vases of haked clay, especially those living among the vines, who joined the rites of Bacchus to the funeral ceremonies; and thus, in later times, they still enclosed in the graves small vases which were made use of in the simple traditionary rites of that God, although libations had been discontinued, or, if not entirely so, they had dwindled into a mere cere

monial form; whilst the Christians continued to place in the tomb of their martyrs, bottles, lamps, and other utensils, they altered only the emblem of the practice; and though it was entirely a Pagan superstition, they did it from an habitual custom, without being able to give any other reason.

As it always happens that that which has fallen into disuse comes into fashion again, thus it was with these vessels after the time of Augustus; this might have been through the earthen vases found at Capua and Corinth; and as the great desire for works in Corinthian brass caused speculators to counterfeit these labours, and as every one who gave himself airs of consequence must have either the true or the false, the very same thing probably occurred to the vases of Capua and Corinth. They were sought for and ordered from those places that were most famous for making such vases. Cicero commissioned Atticus to procure him some from Rhosus in Cilicia.

The art of painting ancient vases was not entirely lost in Greece, or Augustus endeavoured to rivive it, as the one said to have been found at Nicopolis proves.

Quintus Coponius, condemned for raising a sedition, was charged with having presented an earthen amphora, full of wine, to one who had given him a vote, according to Pliny, lib. xxxv. c. 46, and in his time were celebrated the earthen vessels of Samos, Pergamus, Sagun tum, Arretinum, Sarrentum, Reggium, Cumæ, and Mutina. But the kind of which we are speaking was not made, only those in common use, which is implied in the following words, major quoque pars hominum terrenis utitur vasis. One may judge of the expense attending even these, for Esop, the player, gave for one of baked clay a hunared sesterces; and the Emperor Vitellins caused one to be made of an exorbitant price and size, so that they were obliged to construct a furnace in the open country to bake it in. (Plin. I.c.) Applying what has been said to the vase in question there is no doubt that it is Grecian, because it was found at Girgentum, and has on it Greek in

scriptions; but the figures are of that ancient style which has been found on those of Campania. The design, the colours, and size of this vase, were accurately made in Naples by Christofer Wiesiolowski, an amateur and collector of antiquities, residing at Warsaw, from the original, which Count Walincki, a Pole, obtained with thirty others from Prince Petropersia, a Sicilian. They were all carried to Warsaw, and offered for sale to Stanislaus Augustus, King of Poland, but he not paying much attention to them, part were sent to Petersburgh, and sold to Prince Bedborodko, and at his death were dispersed into several hands. One, they say, is in the possession of Baron Morenheim, Secretary to the Grand Duke Constantine. The shape of it is like a crater, which was destined to hold a large quantity of wine, from whence they served it round at table in small cups; as Virgil

Crateres magnos statuunt et vina coronant.

A bearded combatant crowned with ivy, a long thyrsus in his right hand, in his left, from which arm hangs suspended a panther's or tiger's skin, a branch putting aside the lance of his bearded antagonist; who is overcome by him, and in the act of falling sustains himself on one knee, and rests on his shield, whilst he endeavours to retain his lance with his right hand, and not to yield to his conqueror. The thyrsus and tiger's skin point_out to us Bacchus, or at least a Bacchanalian; and we certainly ought to consider this as some exploit of Bacchus, and, perhaps, the following:-Bacchus, returning from the Indies, finds his preceptor, Nisus, unwilling to restore to him the kingdom of Thebes, which had been entrusted to his care by that hero; and Eginus relates, that a certain respect deters Bacchus from using force; and, waiting till the Trieteridian games, he disguised his soldiers as Bacchanalian women, and arrested him in the middle of the feast. This picture will not illustrate this passage of Eginus, unless we suppose Nisus to be arrested by Bacchus himself, or one of his

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