The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

The accounts given by all us must be, of course, of the nature of imitations and
representations; and if we look at the portraiture of divine and of human bodies as
executed by painters, in respect of the ease or difficulty with which they succeed in
imitating their subjects in the opinion of onlookers, we shall notice in the first place that
as regards the earth and mountains and rivers and woods and the whole of heaven,
with the things that exist and move therein, we are content if a man is also able to
represent them with even a small degree of likeness; and further, that, inasmuch as we
have no exact knowledge about such subjects, we do not examine closely or criticize the
paintings, but tolerate, in such cases, an inexact and deceptive sketch. On the other hand,
whenever a painter tries to render a likeness of our own bodies, we quickly perceive what
is defective because of our constant familiar acquaintance with them, and become sever
critics of him who fails to bring out to the full all the points of similarity. And precisely
the same thing happens, as we should notice, in the case of discourse: in respect of what
is celestial and divine we are satisfied if the account possesses even a small degree of
likelihood, but we examine with precision what is mortal and human. To an account
given now on the spur of the moment indulgence must be granted, should we fail to make
it a wholly fitting representation; for one must conceive of mortal objects as being
difficult, and not easy, to represent satisfactorily.
144
Plato, Leges 668c-669b IV B.C.
Text: J. Burnet, ed., Platonis opera V (Oxford, 1907; repr. 1967).
Translation: T. L. Pangle, tr., The Laws of Plato (New York, 1980).
[AQ.] Ei0si\n dh&pou kata_ th_n o1yin h(mi=n a)peikasi/ai muri/ai.
[KL.] Nai/.
[AQ.] Ti/ ou}n ei1 tij kai\ e0n tou&toij a)gnooi= tw~n memimhme/nwn o3ti pot' e0sti\n
e3kaston tw~n swma&twn; a}r' a1n pote to& ge o)rqw~j au)tw~n ei0rgasme/non gnoi/h;
le/gw de\ to_ toio&nde, oi[on tou_j a)riqmou_j tou~ sw&matoj kai\ e9ka&stwn tw~n merw~n
ta_j qe/seij ei0 e1xei, o3soi te/ ei0sin kai\ o(poi=a par' o(poi=a au)tw~n kei/mena th_n
prosh&kousan ta&cin a)pei/lhfen—kai\ e1ti dh_ xrw&mata& te kai\ sxh&mata—h2 pa&nta
tau~ta tetaragme/nwj ei1rgastai: mw~n dokei= tau~t' a1n pote diagnw~nai/ tij to_
para&pan a)gnow~n o3ti pot' e0sti\ to_ memimhme/non zw|~on;
[KL.] Kai\ pw~j;
[AQ.] Ti/ d' ei0 gignw&skoimen o3ti to_ gegramme/non h2 to_ peplasme/non e0sti\n
a1nqrwpoj, kai\ ta_ me/rh pa&nta ta_ e9autou~ kai\ xrw&mata a3ma kai\ sxh&mata
a)pei/lhfen u(po_ th~j te/xnhj; a}ra& ge a)nagkai=on h1dh tw|~ tau~ta gno&nti kai\ e0kei=no
e9toi/mwj gignw&skein, ei1te kalo_n ei1te o3ph| pote\ e0llipe\j a2n ei1h ka&llouj;
[KL.] Pa&ntej menta2n w(j e1poj ei0pei=n, w} ce/ne, ta_ kala_ tw~n zw|&wn e0gignw&skomen.
[AQ.] 0Orqo&tata le/geij. a}r' ou}n ou) peri\ e9ka&sthn ei0ko&na, kai\ e0n grafikh|~ kai\ e0n
mousikh|~ kai\ pa&nth|, to_n me/llonta e1mfrona krith_n e1sesqai dei= tau~ta tri/a e1xein, o3
te/ e0sti prw~ton gignw&skein, e1peita w(j o)rqw~j, e1peiq' w(j eu}, to_ tri/ton, ei1rgastai
tw~n ei0ko&nwn h(tisou~n r(h&masi/ te kai\ me/lesi kai\ toi=j r(uqmoi=j;
ATHENIAN. There are of course myriad images which are visible to our eye.
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