maner of Arts. It is knowne well enough sayth Cassiodorus * Variar 7. 15. that the studies of Arts are to be nourished and maintained with reasonable rewards Theophylactus Simocatus expresseth the same more copiously The hunger and thirst of gold in mankinde saith he * Epist 10. is very profitable for thereby our life is furnished with good arts cities are inhabited and mutuall contracts are performed with a great deale of ease To be briefe the inhabited world should be deprived of all decencie of order if for the intercourse of gold men stood not in need of one the other A mariner would not put to sea a traveller would not undertake a journey husbandmen would not be troubled with the keeping of plow-oxen the soveraignty of Royall scepters should want respect the subjects could not be honoured with dignities and revenues it should not be in the power of a General to lead an Army And if you will learne a great secret Gold is put in trust with the reines of vertue and vice the appetite of our soule is tried by it seeing it may very well be compared with the Celtick River in that it yeeldeth an unfallible proofe of counterfeit vertue CHAP. X. UPon the enjoying of glory followeth a confident boldnesse of art The Art hath been incredibly advanced sayth Pliny * Lib. xxxiv cap. 7. by successe first and afterward by boldnesse Understand here by Successe nothing else but that same veneration Art enjoyed as long as Kings and Nations made much of it Afterwards by boldnesse saith hee to insinuate unto us that this successe made the artificers more prompt and ready to venture upon greater matters The huge Colosses of the Antients may serve here for an example and Pliny in the sayd place bringeth in some of them for a testimony of their most confident boldnesse Zeuxis hath bin above all the rest admired for this boldnesse seeing hee did first enter into the gates opened by Apollodorus saith Pliny * Lib. xxxiiii cap. 7. and brought the pencill after it durst now doe something to a great glory Of the boldnesse of this excellent Artificer see Lucian in his little treatise intituled Zeuxis Dinocrates hath also given us a notable example of confidence which God willing shall be related in our Catalogue It was then very well avouched by Melanthius the Painter in his books written of the Art of painting that it is not amisse there should be perceived some kinde of selfe-liking hardnesse in the works of excellent Artificers See Laërt lib. iv in Polemone There is a Theseus done by Euphranor of whom he sayd that Parrhasius his Theseus was fed with roses but that his Theseus was fed with flesh See Pliny lib. xxxv cap. 11. So did then the Antients boldly follow the motions of their stirred spirit where as we on the contrary as if now all were perfect dare not bring forth any thing sayth Quintilian * Li. viii Orat Instit cap. 6. yea we suffer also many things invented by the Antients to decay § 2. Much then doth that excellencie of spirit availe that will not suffer it selfe to be daunted by the authoritie of them that are like to censure our worke For as the contrarie vice of a temerarie and arrogant confidence is verie much to be detested so is it not possible that art study yea advancement it selfe should helpe any thing without a discreet and constant confidence even as an unwarlike coward shall not be much the better though you furnïsh him with all manner of exquisit armor We are therefore above all things to avoid this preposterous shamefastnesse which is nothing else but a certaine kinde of feare sayth Quintilian * Li. xii orat Instit ca. 5. drawing backe our minde from those things that are to be done whereupon followeth most commonly confusion and loathing of what we have already begun so that no body doubteth to referre that passion among the number of vices that maketh us ashamed of doing well I am almost loth to say it because it may be mistaken that shame fastnesse is a vice but a lovely one yea such a one as doth most easily ingender vertues shee doth in the mean time great hurt causing all that is good in our wits and studies for want of publishing to be consumed by the rust of too much secrecie Howsoeuer confidence is the best way to amend this shamefastnesse and though a man bee nevr so shamefaced yet may he support himselfe by the helpe of a good conscience if he be but privy unto himselfe that hee wanteth no art Although a forward boldnesse be all in all yet may not the Artificer be so secure as not to understand the danger provided that it bee an understanding of the worke and no feare he may be moved with it though hee must not yeeld and fall downe under it For how great danger is there in this worke wherein wee are very often deceived by a shew of goodnesse Whosoever doth affect smooth things saith Horace * De Arte Poet. wanteth sinewes and spirit for the most part Hee that professeth great things is very often puffed up He that wil bee too secure and standeth alwayes in feare of a storme useth to creepe along the shore The very shunning of vice when it wanteth art leadeth us unto vice We are also lead into errour by the great multitude of them that judge amisse seeing unskilfull artificers doe alwayes in their opinion paint with more force And it is ever seene that the unlearned do beleeve those things to be of greater force which want art even as they use to think it a matter of greater strength to breake up than to open to teare asunder than to unty to draw than to leade They doe most frequently judge also that there is more greatnes in rude things than in such things as are polished yea that there is more copiousnesse in things wildely scattered than in things well and orderly digested As many then as are best experienced in thse arts doe most of all feare the difficultie of the work the severall events of the Art the doubtfull and uncertaine expectation of men It is not safe to do any thing foolishly before the face of the world when wee begin to try the hope of a durable name neither is it a small matter to undergoe the censure of the whole world so doth an invited guest also expect a great deale better entertainement than one that commeth of his own motion suddenly upon us Such as are provoked judge more nicely neither will they be satisfied with meere allurements and a kind of pleasing noveltie where they do look for the true force of Art It falleth out very often also that we spy the vices sooner in the workes of others than their vertues and whatsoever doth justly offend the spectator useth also to extinguish the glory of praise-worthy things in these arts chiefely which are not so much for necessarie use as
rubbing out what was painted as by painting There belongeth to this worke sayth Quintilian * Lib. x ca. 4. To adde to detract to change To adde or detract requireth lesse labour and iudgement but to allay those things that swell to raise those things that sinke to tie close those things that flow luxuriously to digest things that are without order to compose things that are loosed to restraine things that are insolent requireth double paines for those things are to be condemned which did please and what we thought not of is to bee invented Now it is no doubt but that the best way for emendation is to lay by the designe for a time till it may seem unto us a new or another mans invention lest our owne like new births please us too much Certainly so it is our mindes being caried away by the currant streame of a ready invention use to judge then more readily and warily when our running thoughts being staid give us time to consider what we have to doe Hence it is that Painters who after a reasonable pause returne to their discontinued workes as meere spectators doe more advance the art than others that doe not care what haste they make to finish the worke Those painters do very well saith Plutarch * De cohibendâ irâ who looke upon their workes before they accomplish them after some delay seeing they do renew their iudgements by turning their eyes now and then off from the worke It is only requred here this respite be not too long because it is most certaine that nothing is easily resumed after a great discontinuance For who doth not know that all arts and artificers receiue the greatest benefit by use sayth Sidonius * Lib. IX Epist 12. and that upon the neglect of usuall employments our armes waxe heavy in our bodies and our wits grow dull in the Arts From whence it ariseth also that a bow doth withstand our hand an Oxe doth withstand the yoke and a horse doth withstand the bridle when they are late or very seldome taken in hand § 10. Though wee have as yet somewhat diffusedly commended a slow and wary care unto the diligent Students of art yet may every one follow a shorter way to put himselfe in minde of this dutie if Augustus the Emperour his motto Festina lentè sound daily in his eares and as we have alreadie spoken of diverse things whereby the warie care of a leisurely haste is quite over-throwne so may wee not forget to mention what hurt the art receiveth by them who not contenting themselves with an ordinary haste have studied to finde out compendious wayes of painting When Arbiter doth reckon up the Arts lost by the carelesnesse of a most lazie age a magnificent and to speake so a chaste style sayth he * In Satyrico is neither stained nor puffed up but it waxeth greater by a naturall beautie that windie and unmeasurable babbling was not long since brought to Athens out of Asia and having blasted the hopefull spirits of young men as with a pestilent starre the rule of eloquence being once corrupted was strooke dumbe yea there did not so much as one Poëme appeare of a wholesome colour nothing could attaine to maturitie of age seeing all Arts were fed as it were with the same meat Picture also had no better end after the boldnesse of the Aegyptians found out a compendious way to so great an Art Wee see then how much these excellent Arts have beene wronged by them that studied compendiousnesse although it be hard to explaine what manner of compendiousnesse Petronius speaketh of seeing it cannot be understood of that manner of writing used by the ancient Aegyptians and mentioned in this Second booke cap. viii § 2. Neither can it be understood of another way of painting or rather staining cloathes used by the Aegyptians Cloathes are also painted in Aegypt sayth Plinie * Lib. xxxv Sub finem copitis undecimi after a rare and strange way they take white vailes and having rubbed and chafed them very much they besmeare them not with colours but with some juyces apt to drinke colours which appeareth not in the vailes after it is done but being dipped in a vatte of seething dye they are after a little while taken forth all painted The wonder is that though there is but one colour in the cauldron there are diverse made out of it in the cloathe the colour altering according to the qualitie of the juyce that receiveth it neither can it be washed out afterwards so the cauldron which should questionlesse confound the colours if it did receive them painted doth digest them out of one colour and painteth the vaile whilest it is a boiling and the singed cloathes are stronger then if they were not boiled at all But I rather thinke that the Aegyptians had some other abridgement of painting unknowne to us for nothing could hinder them to find out a short way of painting as well as Philoxenus Eretrius a scholar of the most swift painter Nicomachus seeing this Philoxenus as Plinie reporteth * Lib. xxxv cap. 10. having followed the swiftnesse of his Master did invent certaine shorter and more compendious wayes of painting CHAP. XII THe former care did not as yet shew it selfe more in the ancient Artificers when by a praise-worthy Ingenuitie they called both upon Artists and Idiots desirous that all men should examine and censure the worke in hand Hesiodus his observation is well expressed by Minucius I have often heard sayth Minucius * Apud Livium lib. xxii ab v. c. that he is the best man that can advise himselfe what is fit to be done and that he is in the next ranke of goodnesse that is content to receive good advice but that on the contrarie side whosoever can neither advise himselfe nor will be directed by the advice of others is of a very ill nature The naturalist Heraclitus presseth this point somewhat neerer and applieth it to the liberall sciences when he sayth * Apud Maximum Ser. xxxiv that it is a great hinderance of our advancement if a man begin to have a good conceit of himselfe I am of opinion sayth Seneca * De Tranquanimi cap. 1. that many should have attained unto wisedome if they had not conceived themselves to be wise alreadie see also Arriani Epict. lib. II cap. 17. No man is able to passe through the secrets of Art sayth Fulgentius * De Virgilianâ continentiâ unlesse he first overcome the pompe of vaine glorie seeing the appetite of an idle praise doth never search out the truth but taketh all to it selfe whatsoever is offered by way of flattery Contrition extinguisheth all manner of presumption and for this reason is the Goddesse of wisedome called Tritonia because all contrition breedeth wisdome and verily none can be worse than those who tickle themselves with a false perswasion of Art though they are not very much past the
limmes sayth Tullie * Lib. I. de Officiis vide quoque Isocratem in Helenae encomio affoording us the greatest delight because all parts doe agree among themselves with a pleasant comelinesse Aristotle being asked wherefore men doe love faire things answered This is a blind mans question * Laert. lib. V. Stobaeus Serm. de Laude pulchritudinis Although now fairenesse of beautifull bodies doth very much take our mindes yet are wee more ravished by an accurat Imitation of this same beauty for our thoughts cheered up and elevated by the contemplation of an absolute Imitation of perfect beautie cannot containe themselves any longer they doe leape as it were for joy being extolled with the gallant bravery of what the eye beholdeth not otherwise rejoycing in the good successe of Art then if all we doe see were the worke of our owne hands Whosoever wrastleth with brasse or iron taming Nature by Art doth bestow the discipline upon the lovers of Art teaching them by what methods brasse is made obnoxious to our wills sayth Saint Basil * Basilius Seleuciae episcopus orat xiv Such as doe view the beautie of statues feele their eyes held by what they saw first but otherwhile turning their sight upon some other parts they beginne to doubt what they had best consider first sayth Hiemerius * Apud Photium Our sight viewing cast workes pictures carved workes and such like things made by the hand of men when it findeth the sweetnesse and beautie that is in them contenteth it selfe and desireth nothing more sayth Dionys Halicarnassensis * De Compos nominum Seeing then that in the contemplation of the rare workes of Art we are not so much taken with the beautie it selfe as with the succesfull boldnesse of Art provoking Nature to a strife it falleth out that not onely the Imitation of faire but of foule things also doth recreate our mindes We love to see a painted Lizard sayth Plutarch * De Poetis audiendis or an Ape or the face of Thersites not for any beautie there is in them but in regard of the similitude for though every foule thing by nature is hindred from seeming faire yet is the Imitation alwayes commended whether shee doth expresse the similitude of things foule or faire See also the same Plut. lib. v. Sympos probl 1. where he doth instance more upon this point § 8. Idiots then and such as never felt the power of these Arts may very well cease to wonder what maketh great and vigorous wits sticke so close to the contemplation of Pictures and Statues seeing it is most certaine that the satietie of good things is not so easily attained unto sayth Symmachus * Lib. IV. Epist 16. and things delightfull doe then most of all sollicite our minde when they seeme to fill it Teastie and ambitiously severe censurers also have but small reason to finde fault with such great and wealthy men as with an excessive cost do buy for strife all manner of Art valuing the rare works of great Masters according to the delight contentment they find in them I am of opinion sayth Tullie * Lib. IV. in Verrem where he speaketh of the workes of Art that we are to consider those things as they are esteemed in their judgments that are studious of such things Neither is it unlikely that brave and generous men sometimes might resolve of their owne accord to raise the price of Pictures and Statues because they could not endure that such honest and innoxious delights should be generally condemned and contemned it seemeth therefore that they have followed the praise-worthy course taken by Apelles when it did grieve him to see how little the rare workes of Protogenes were regarded at Rhodes The Rhodians sayth Plinie * Nat. hist lib. xxxv cap. 10. made very small account of Protogenes as domesticall things use alwayes to be slighted Wherefore when Apelles asked him the price of his workes he set them upon a very poore price but Apelles offered him fiftie talents noising abroad that he bought them to sell them for his owne workes This same fact made the Rhodians to understand their owne Artificer Neither would Apelles yeeld unto them till they had raised the price § 9. Whosoever therefore had rather lay out his monies upon honest and harmlesse occasions then to waste his patrimony with the mad sport of dicing and all other kind of luxury doth not deserve any blame The great Captaine Marcellus as it is reported by Plutarch in his life having conquered Syracuse filled the Citie of Rome first of all with the knowledge of Greeke delicacies and when others did reprehend him for doing so he thought it better to slight their reprehensions and reproches glorying in what he had done Every one is drawn by a peculiar delight sayth Virgil * Eclogâ 2. they commit therefore a grosse error which measure the inclinations of other men by the recreations they themselves have made choice of by a particular instinct of nature for all things doe not seeme faire unto all men neither doe all men judge all things to be worth their paines sayth Aelian * In praefatione libri primi de animalibus Let us therefore beare with the recreations of other men sayth the younger Plinie * Lib. IX Epist 17. that they likewise may beare with ours The following words of Seneca doe containe a very grave and sober admonition What can you alleadge sayth he * Cap. 9. de Tranquill animi why that man is not as well to be pardoned that seeketh a great name by marble and ivorie as any other that gathereth up the workes of unknowne yea sometimes also disallowed Authors whilest he himselfe sitteth gaping among so many thousand Bookes delighting in nothing so much as in the out-side and bare titles of his Volumes But by chance shall any one grant mee now that men of great meanes and of a greater minde may please themselves in the fruition of these honest recreations and yet shall they not cease to blame other men of meaner sort and condition who not considering their owne poore estate run most greedily after such barren and unprofitable delights as cannot be maintained without an excessive expence of money and time To answer them therefore that can spare so much leisure from their owne affaires as to meddle with the doings of other men let them first understand that they mistake the whole matter grosly seeing men of ordinary estates need not spend themselves that way as to undergoe the charges of buying since great and generous spirits furnish their houses with such things not onely for their owne private contemplation but also for the free use of such as doe professe themselves to be Lovers and well-willers of Art thinking their cost well bestowed when many doe daily resort to their galleries Let them secondly know that they are not well advised when they goe about to
hist sayth that the Lacedaemonians also have approved of this law following in this point the custome of the Aegyptians Strabo * Lib. XV. Geograph likewise doth attribute this same custome unto the Indians and againe in another place * Lib. XVI Geograph to the Arabians As for the Aegyptians we may very well judge with Diodorus that by the meanes of this law they have attained to such a perfection of Art as shall be related in the third Chapter of our Third Booke Neither is it possible but such Artificers must needs excell that doe not admit any care but one Hence is it that Plato * Lib. IX de Legib. sendeth away out of his Citie all such Artificers as busie themselves with two severall Arts. It is better to doe one thing excellently sayth the younger Plinie * Lib. IX Epist 29. then doe many things meanly Aesopus sayd as it is reported by Stobaeus * Sermone de Republicâ that it is then like to goe ill with all when all men shall studie all things Neither is it possible sayth Quintilian * Orat. instit lib. x. cap. 3. that our whole minde should busie it selfe with many things at once for whensoever it doth but looke backe it ceaseth to marke what it beheld before CHAP. V. AS now the feare of severe lawes kept them in awe that went rashly about to leave the wholesome precepts of their good Masters so on the contrary good natures that would not swerve presumptuously aside from the received instructions were mightily incensed by emulation to follow them constantly that sped well in this same way The love of emulation is stronger then the feare of punishment threatned by lawes sayth Tacitus * Lib. III. Annal. c. 55. Vertue doth naturally affect glory and studieth ever to out-goe his fore-runners sayth Seneca * Lib. III. de Benef. c. 36. A horse doth then best of all run his race sayth Ovid * Lib. III. de Arte. when he is in the company of other horses which he may leave behinde him or follow It was bravely sayd of Scipio Africanus I am sure sayth he * Apud Livium li. xxviii ab v. c. that every magnanimous spirit doth not compare himselfe onely with them that are now at this present alive but also with the famous men of all ages It being therefore manifest enough that the greatest wits are ever by the prickes of emulation driven forward to greater matters it appeareth likewise that it is alwayes a certaine marke of a most base and dull spirit not to be stirred up to emulation by the earnestnesse of so many competitors as doe strive to attaine to the same perfection of Art so is it also most commonly seene that such as doe strive with no body deceive themselves with too much love of their owne workes and whilest they compare themselves onely with themselves it is unpossible but they must needs fall into a foolish liking and a most vaine admiration of what they have done He must needs attribute too much unto himselfe sayth Quintilian * Lib. I. orat instit cap. 2. that doth compare himselfe with no bodie We stand therefore in need of Emulation and that not a vulgar one Doest thou desire the glory of swiftnesse sayth Martial * Lib. XII Epigram 36. studie to goe beyond the tyger and the light Ostrich It is no glory at all to out-run asses § 2. Tullie giveth us a very good lesson it is meet sayth he * Circa initium libri de Perfecto oratore that all such as doe long with a fervent desire after great matters should try all and if any one hath not the ready helpe of his owne nature if he lack the force of a piercing wit if he thinke himselfe but slenderly furnished with the disciplines of great Arts let him for all that hold the best course he may seeing it is honourable enough that they which doe strive for the first place should be seene in the second or third neither have workmen instantly withdrawne themselves from the Arts they did professe because they could not imitate the beautie of that Venus at Coos or of that Jalysus wee saw sometimes at Rhodes neither hath the image of Jupiter Olympius or the statue of Doryphorus amazed them so much as that they should not try what they could performe and how farre they might goe yea there hath rather been such a multitude of them and every one hath deserved so much praise in his kinde that the best of their works causing admiration the meaner neverthelesse have obtained approbation See Columella in the preface of his first Booke of Husbandry where he maketh a large discourse upon these very words of Cicero But most of all doe the words of Velleius Paterculus demand our attention for after he hath expressed his admiration that so many brave wits and Artificers within a small compasse of time should at once rise and fall he staggereth at it not knowing what reason to give of so sudden an encrease and decrease of Arts till at length he contenteth himselfe with this conjecture Emulation sayth he * Sub finem libri primi hist is a nource of wits and whilest our imitation is provoked sometimes by envie sometimes by admiration it falleth out that the thing earnestly sought after is quickly brought to some height of perfection but then is it a very hard matter that any thing should continue long in that perfection seeing naturally what cannot goe forward goeth backward and as at the first we are very well disposed to overtake them that run before us so when we doe despaire to goe beyond them or else to keepe an even pace with them our earnestnesse together with our hope groweth cold and ceaseth to follow what it cannot overtake leaving therefore the whole matter as being afore-hand seased upon by others wee seeke a new one and passing by that wherein we cannot excell we doe looke about for something to worke upon whereupon it followeth that a frequent and wavering change turneth to be the greatest hindrance of perfection § 3. Although now the ancient Artificers were questionlesse by the heat of Imitation and by the unsufferable prickings of Emulation forcibly driven to a more earnest and accurat study of Art yet doe we not thinke that these Arts have been onely advanced by the mutuall Emulation there was betwixt the Artificers themselves but we do hold that the great fame of many most eloquent men in those times hath also stirred up the lively spirits of the Artificers not suffering them to rest till they had wrought something that might deserve the like fame This may be gathered out of the words of Plutarch alleadged before * Lib. I. c. 4. § 2. so hath it also been observed in latter times that the ages excelling in eloquence have also excelled in these Arts. All manner of sciences and eloquence have been revived in Germanie sayth Felix Faber
after this manner Having laid a statue made after the likenesse of a dead man in the darknesse of an obscure corner he brought in his friends one by one shewing them with a great deale of horrour and feare the man whom he pretended to have been murthered by himselfe craving also silence and help but when every one drew backe fearing to meddle with so dangerous a matter Callias alone readily and faithfully undertooke the societie of the danger his friend would put him to and hence was it that Alcibiades afterwards made most use of Callias as of a most trustie inward friend see Polyaenus lib. I. Stratagem There is good cause also why among the manifold use of Statues the woodden horses Vegetius speaketh of should be mentioned here not the fresh-water souldiers onely sayth he * Lib. I. de Re militari cap. 18. but the stipendiarie also were strictly enjoyned to practise the vaulting art which custome although now with some dissimulation is come downe to this present age Woodden horses were put under the roofe when it was winter in the open field when it was sommer and young men were compelled to get upon them first unarmed till they were used to it and afterwards in their full armour yea they went about it so carefully that they did get up and downe indifferently at the right or left side holding also drawne swords or long speares in their hands no wonder then that they should doe it in the tumult of a battell so readily who did practise it in the quietnesse of peace so studiously The Persians did not onely use their horses to the tingling sound of glattering armour and to the hoarse humming noise of an armed multitude but they threw also at the feet of their gallopping horses the images of dead men stuffed with chaffe least they should lose the use of their horses if in the heat of the fight they should start aside afrighted at those that lie slaine upon the ground see Aelianus de Animalib lib. XVI cap. 25. The Macedonian King Perseus preparing himselfe against the Romanes was informed that both Libya and their late victory over Antiochus had furnished them with elephants least therefore such a huge beast should fright the horses at the first sight he gave order that some cunning workmen should make woodden images resembling elephants in shape and colour that likewise a man should get upon this woodden frame and sound the trumpet thorough his snout in imitation of their lowd and dreadfull braying the horses therefore having often seene the sight and heard the noise were taught by this means to contemne the Elephants Polyaenus lib. IV. Stratag But among so many severall uses of Statues the inaugurated Statues may not be forgotten which being set up by skilfull enchaunters in some unaccessible chauncell of the temple or else secretly digged in the ground were thought to appease the wrath of the Gods and to protect the Country from hostile invasions see Photius in Excerptis ex hist Olympiodori Such a one seemeth that same Talus to have been mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius * Lib. IV. Argonant ◠1638. and many other Authors Asius the Philosopher also made an image of Pallas by a certaine observation of Astronomicall influences tying the destinies of Troy to the preservation or losse of that Palladium see Tzetzes in Lycophronis Cassandram But of this God willing shall wee speake more at large in our Catalogue of Artificers If any one in the mean time desire to know something more concerning the inaugurated statues which now adays by them that are curious of such things are called Talisman let him reade the sixth Chapter of Gafarellus his Curiosities unheard § 5. What an endlesse labour it would be to reckon up the severall sorts of statues and Images made both for use and ornament not to alledge many authors may bee knowne out of Cassiodorus alone The Tuscanes are sayd to haue first found out statues in Italy saith hee * Variarum lib. VII 15. and Posteritie having embraced this invention of theirs hath very neer filled up the city with a number of people equall unto them that were begotten by Nature As therefore it might seeme a most temerarie unadvisednesse if I should undertake to mention all that ancient authors relate of the workes of statuary and picture so is it more agreeable with our meane wit and otherwise employed industry to promise but a little more than we have sayd alreadie not mentioning the majestical ornaments of Churches of market places and publique galleries seeing it is better to say nothing at all of them than to lessen their deserved admiration by a dry and homely expression Insisting therefore onely upon some other examples of the usefulnesse of these arts it may not seeme amisse to thinke that many of the ancients perchance have studied to fill publique and privat places with all kinde of rare pictures and statues for the same reason for which the Lacedemonians otherwise a blunt and course people made much of them For being a warrelike Nation and knowing well-shaped proper bodies to be most fit for war they were also most desirous to beget handsome children representing unto their great bellied wives the images of Apollo and Bacchus the fairest among the gods as also the pictures of Castor and Pollux Nireus Narcissus Hiacynthus young men of perfect beauty Appianus in his first booke of Hunting describeth this custom of theirs adding withall That such as bred horse-colts and pigeons did most commonly use some such like meanes to have their horse-colts and Pigeons speckled and painted after their own phantasie The practise of the Patriarch Jacob agreeth very well with this See Genes xxx and B. Hieronymus his Questions upon Genesis The shapes of bodies brought forth saith Pliny * Lib. VII Nat. hist cap. 12. are reputed to be sutable to the mindes of the Parents in which many casuall things beare a great sway things seene heard remembred phantasies also running in the mind at the very instant of conception a thought likewise running in the mind of either of both the Parents is conceived either to giue the whole shape to the child or els to mix it Whence it is that more differences are in man than in any other creature whatsoever seeing the nimblenesse of his thoughts the swiftnesse of his minde and the varietie of his wit do imprint in him images of many and seueral fashions whereas all other creatures have unmoveable minds and in their owne kinde alike Heliodorus groundeth the whole argument of his Aethiopicall history upon such an accident as is to be seen in his fourth and tenth booke Saint Austen * Retractat Lib. II. cap. 62. likewise relateth out of Soranus That a certaine deformed King of Cyprus was wont to set before his wife when hee meant to know her a most faire picture hoping to effect by this meanes that she should bring him forth faire children Galen also in his treatise de
signifieth that the waters come forth out of two mountaines as also that the plough-men of the next villages were wont to sacrifice upon that stone The bound-stone when it hath an horses hoofe engraved signifieth a race-marke and sendeth us to a fountaine Vide auctores vett de Limitib agrorum Tritones aerei Antiently on the tops of their highest towers they set Tritons made of brasse as now thinne plates of Latten or Copper framed in the shape of a Cocke and placed on the tops of steeples doe shew the winds Some were pleased to confine the windes within the number of foure saith Vitruvius * Lib. 1. ca. 6 from the Sun-rising in the Aequinoctial the East from the mid-day the South from the Sun-setting in the Aequinoctiall the West from the North the North winde But those that have made more diligent search have delivered them to be eight Andronicus Cyrrhestes most especially who for example and proofe thereof raised at Athens a Tower of marble eight square and he made in each flat side of the same the image of each wind directly opposit to the point from whence it blew and on the top of the said marble tower hee made a short Pike and set thereon a Triton of brasse with the right hand holding forth a three toothed rod so framed that it was carried about by the winde and ever stood directly against the blast and held out the rod pointing at the wind that blew over the Image of the same There are therefore placed betweene the East and South at the Sunne rising in the winter season the South-East winde betweene the South and West at the sunne setting in the Winter season the South-West winde betweene the West and North the North-West wind between the North and East the North-East wind Vellus aureum That honourable badge of the golden fleece first instituted by Philip Duke of Burgondie second of that name is wont with much earnestnesse to bee desired and sought by the noblest Peers of a most flourishing kingdome even as long since the Flowre of Greece with Jason their leader underwent great labours and dangers in hope to possesse that Fleece although as it evidently appeareth this later fleece cast or graven by Goldsmiths art is far different from the former which that daring Youth caried away from Colchos for that golden fleece is thought to have been nothing else but a booke written in parchment teaching how by the helpe of Chymicall art gold is to bee made See Suidas in severall places Eustathius also ad vers 689 Dionysii de situ orbis where Charax a most antient Author of this opinion is alledged It seemeth therefore that the Antients not without reason derived the descent of Aeët as from the Sunne the onely nourisher and fountaine of mettal-breeding heate Diogenes also in Stobaeus * Serm. de Assiduitate witnesseth Medea to have been not a sorceresse but a woman of knowne wisedome who with laborious exercises hardned soft and effoeminate men and as it were with boiling restored them to the vigor of their former youth Palaephatus addeth That she had singular skill in colouring of hair and that by a certaine decoction found out by her she was wont to cure the infirmities of many by the benefit of this hot bath See Palaephatus de Fabulosis narrationibus Vertumnus was a god that did turne himselfe into all shapes See Propertius lib. iv Eleg. 2. His statues were erected in many severall places of the city of Rome and almost in every municipall towne of Italy his countenance was made uncertaine and he turned himselfe into the shape of divers gods according to the diversitie of the habit that was put upon him See Acron in Horat. lib. II. Sat. 7. Veritatis simulachrum The Aegyptian priests had the image of Truth cut in a pretious stone hanging about their neck See Aelian lib. xiv var. hist cap. 34. and Diodorus Siculus lib. I. Compare these places with the sacred history But observe here in the meane time that Aelian and Diodorus in stead of what we have translated an Image of Truth use a word signifying a statue of Truth So doth Pliny likewise speake after the same manner when hee saith * Lib. xxxiii nat hist ca. 3. Men also begin to carry Harpocrates and the statues of other Aegyptian gods on their fingers Seeing then it could not be that statues should hang about their neckes and that they should weare statues on their fingers wee do perceive by this confusion of names that there was but small difference made between the art of graving and statuary and we may upon this occasion very well digresse a little to the consideration of such things as were engraven § 12. Things engraven were of severall sorts Baltheus caelatus an engraved Belt Ovid. IX Metam vers 189. Capuli militum The hilts of souldiers swords are engraved with silver ivory beeing set light by sayth Pliny lib. xxxiii cap. 12. Theseus escaped present death by his engraved ivorv hilt See Ovid lib. vii Metam vers 423. Pausanias his sword famous for the waggon with foure horses it had engraved in the hilt was fatall unto Philip the King of Macedonia See Aelian lib. III var. hist cap. 45. and Valer Max. lib. I cap. 8 ex ext 9. Carrucae Carts engraved See Pliny lib. xxxiii cap. 11. Crystalla Some Crystall hath a flaw in it like unto a breach which is hid by the artificers when they do engrave something upon the Crystall See Pliny lib. XXXVII Cap. 2. Cunae segmentatae a cradle inlayd with wood of severall colours graved and carved in diuers shapes Juvenal Satyrâ vi vers 89. Esseda Britanna an engraved chariot used by the ancient Brittons in their wars Propert. lib. II Eleg. 1. Figulina vasa caelata earthen vessels with some engravings upon it See Martial lib. iv Epigr. 46. Cotys the king being by nature cholericke and very much given to chastise them severely that did commit some offences in their ordinary kinde of service when a stranger brought unto him thinne and brittle earthen vessels but neatly wrought with some carved and turned works he rewarded the stranger and brake all the vesiels Lest said he I should in an angry fume punish them too severely that might breake them unawares See Plutarch Apopht Regum Imperatorum Galeae caelatae brasen head-pieces engraved with Corinthian worke are mentioned by Tully lib. iv in Verrem So doth Juvenal also speake of an engraved helmet Satyrâ xi vers 103. Hydriae caelatae great water-pots engraved with Corinthian worke are mentioned by Tully lib. iv in Verrem Lesbium was a kinde of engraved vessel invented by the Lesbians See Festus Pomp. Panis caelaturae the engravings of bread See Pliny lib. xix cap. 4. Scuta caelata engraved shields It was an ordinary thing in the times of the Trojan war sayth Pliny * Lib. xxxi nat hist ca. 3. that the shields should containe images The originall of
this custome did proceed out of a vertuous occasion that namely the owners image should be expressed in every one his shield The Carthaginians made both the shields and the images of gold bringing them into their campe So that their campe being taken Q. Martius the revenger of the Scipio's in Spaine found such a one and that shield was fastned over the gate of the Capitoline Temple till the first burning of the Capitol Achilles his shield is described by Homer lliad Σ. vers 474 sequ See also the yonger Philostratus in Pyrrho Aeneas his shield is described by Virgil lib. viii Aeneid Stesichorus and Euphorion relate that Ulysses carried the image of a dolphin in his shield See Tzetzes in Lycophronis Cassandram Alcibiades did ever study to seeme faire but most of all when he led an Army so was he then woont to have a shield made of ivory and gold and he had in it the ensigne of Cupid embracing the Lightning See Plutarch in Alcibiade and Athenaeus lib. xii Deipnosophist cap. 9. The shield of Crenaeus engraved with a most wonderfull art is described by Statius Papinius lib. ix Thebaïd vers 333. Nileus vainely boasting himself to issue forth from the Nile had the seven mouths of that noble river engraven upon his shield partly of gold partly of silver See Ovid lib. v Metamorph. vers 187. Scaevola mentioned by Silius Italicus lib. viii had the image of his resolute fore-father Mutius Scaevola engraved upon his shield The same Silius lib. xvii relateth that the shield of Scipio Africanus had the images of his father and his uncle engraved upon it Vehicula caelata so sayth Q. Curtius lib. III cap. 3. that there did follow the camp of Darius ten waggons engraved with a great deale of gold and silver Vitrum caelatum Of the engraving of glasse are these words of Pli. lib. xxxvi c. 26. some glasse is fashioned by blowing some is turned some is ingraved after the maner of silver § 13. After a sufficient relation of many workes of Art wee may not forget here the severall coines of money a thing most needfull for the commerce of Nations And what is money I pray you but silver cut in small faces and titles as Juvenal speaketh Satyrâ xiv vers 291. Those that know how to discerne the severall sorts of coines judiciously finde a wonderfull difference between the monies coined in the times when these Arts of imitation did flourish and when they were neglected and they doe esteeme it a most easie thing to know by the money what forwardnesse or backwardnesse of Art there was in the times that money was coined But among many most accurat sorts of coine anciently famous the Cyziceni stateres were most of all renowned as being well stamped they had a womans face on the one side and the fore-part of a Lion on the other side see Hesychius and Suidas as also Zenobius and Diogenianus parmiographers § 14. That the most ancient Hebrewes have had the use of sealing-rings is prooved by the ring Juda gave unto Thamar for a pledge till he should performe his promise see Genes xxxviii So doe we likewise read Exod. xxxix 6. that among other ornaments of the Priest they wrought onyx stones enclosed in ouches of gold graven as signets are graven with the names of the children of Israël The Grecians seeme to have attained a great deale later to the knowledge of sealing-rings and that either for ignorance as not knowing how to grave stones or else because they did respect gemmes more then to mangle them with cutting Their ignorance is detected by Hesychius Theophrast hist plant lib. v cap. I. Tzetzes adversum 508 Lycophronis Cassandrae for these authors doe teach us that the most ancient among them for want of other means were wont to seale with worm-eaten pieces of wood so doth Plinie * Lib. xxxiii cap. 1. also witnesse that the greatest part of the Nations that were under the Romane Empire had not yet in his age the use of rings and the Easterne Countries or Aegypt doe not yet signe sayth he being contented with bare letters Their veneration is mentioned by the same Plinie in the preface of his 37 booke where he sayth that they did thinke it unlawfull to violate gemmes and afterwards in the fifth chapter of the sayd booke where he doth speake of Smaradgs they are for the most part hollow sayth he as to gather the sight wherefore they are spared by the decree of men it being for bidden that they should be cut Herodotus * Lib. III. hist for all this relateth that the famous sealing-ring of Polycrates was a Smaradge graven by Theodorus Samius quite contrary to the opinion of Plinie lib. xxxvij cap. 1. But of this God willing more at large in our Catalogue of Artificers CHAP. IX THe use of these Arts therefore extending it selfe generally to all employments both in warre and peace it may not seeme strange that all sorts of men did honour them very much and that the spirits of the Artificers likewise finding themselves so much honoured for their Art did still endeavour to encrease this enjoyed favour by daily advancing these highly esteemed Arts. Industrie is fed by glorie sayth Salust orat 2. de Rep. ordinandâ as many as are led by the hope of glory and fame are wonderfully taken with the praise and approbation proceeding from the inferior sort of men also sayth the younger Plinie lib. IV epist 12. Honour doth nourish Arts sayth Tullie * Circa initium libri Primi Tuscul quaest and wee are all drawne by glory to take paines so are also such things ever neglected as are little regarded in the opinion of men All things certainly doe so much stand upon this reward that Picture also though shee doth possesse a great deale of pleasure and contentment in her owne selfe is very much encouraged by the present fruit of praise and opinion for what else meant C. Fabius a most noble Romane sayth Val. Maxim * Lib. VIII cap. 14. ex 6. who when he had painted the walls of the temple of Salus before dedicated by C. Junius Bubulcus he set his owne name to it as if a consular sacerdotall and triumphall familie stood yet in want of this ornament following herein the example of Phydias who so placed his owne image in the shield of Minerva that it could not be taken away without dissolving the whole joynture of the worke Quintilian therefore sayth very well * Lib. IV. orat instit cap. 2. wee doe all depend upon praise thinking it to be the uttermost end of our labour Sauros and Batrachos may serve for an example who being Lacedaemonians by nation made temples within the porches of Octavia sayth Plinie * Lib. xxxvi nat hist cap. 5. some hold also that being very wealthy they built them on their owne charges hoping for the honour of an inscription which being denied them they found meanes to steale it