ON THE HUMAN FIGURE.

Various excerpts from the natural history of Pliny, on the statues of the ancients.

Bronze was commonly used for statues of the Gods. The first one I find having been made in Rome of this metal is that of Ceres; the expenses were taken from the goods of Spurius Cassius, who, aspiring to royalty, was killed by his father. From Gods, bronze passed to statues of men and various representations. The ancients gave them a tint with bitumen, which is all the more surprising since later they took pleasure in gilding them. I do not know if this invention is Roman, but it is not ancient among us. Statues were only erected for those whose actions deserved immortality. It was initially for victories in sacred games, especially the Olympic games, where it was customary to erect a statue for the victors. For those who had won three times in these same games, their statues resembled the different parts of the body, which is why they were called εικισταί, similes, resembling. I do not know if it was not the Athenians who first erected statues, by public authority, to the Tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogiton; this happened the same year as the Kings were expelled from Rome. By a commendable emulation, this practice was then universally adopted: from then on, the public squares of municipal towns were adorned with statues: and by inscriptions on their bases, the memory and dignities of the great were perpetuated.

Translation Notes

- "εικισταί" (eikistai) is a Greek word meaning "resembling" or "similar".
- "Cerès" is referred to as the Roman goddess of agriculture, equivalent to the Greek goddess Demeter.