The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.73

v1.c9.73

Nor were these beings merely the *dramatis personae* of myths and legends; most of them formed the subjects of plastic art among the Greeks and their greatest artists not only prepared them, but prized them most highly. It is said that Phryne, the Theban courtesan, after whom Praxiteles had chiselled two of his inimitable Venuses, wishing to possess the finest piece of work in the atelier of the great master, 'sent one day a servant to Praxiteles to tell him that his workshop was in flames, and that his works were in danger of being destroyed. Praxiteles rushed out in the greatest alarm and anxiety, exclaiming that "all was lost if his Satyr and Cupid were not saved".²⁴ The exclamation gave the shrewd woman an idea of what was the most valuable in the estimation of Praxiteles, and she took the Satyr for choice. This shows that it was possible for the artist who conceived and perfected the renowned Cnidian Venus and the handsomest Cupid, likewise to conceive and develop a Satyr, and, what is more to hold the Satyr and the Cupid in equal estimation. It is evident also that the nation which believed in a gross polytheistical religion, and accepted Triton and Pan for divinities, could appreciate, and, by its appreciation, lead to the production of the finest works of art that human ingenuity has ever brought forth. The Romans, likewise, following an equally gross polytheistical religion, and believing in the divinity of the two-headed Janus,²⁵ did produce works which continue to this day the models of perfection.