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

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153<br />

Pl<strong>in</strong>y 34.72 A.D. I<br />

Text <strong>and</strong> translation: H. Rackham, ed., tr., Pl<strong>in</strong>y. Natural History IX. Books XXXIII-<br />

XXXV (Cambridge, Mass. <strong>and</strong> London, 1952; repr. 1995).<br />

Amphicrates Leaena laudatur. Scortum haec, lyrae cantu familiaris Harmodio et<br />

Aristogitoni. Consilia eorum de tyrannicidio usque <strong>in</strong> mortem excruciata a tyrannis non<br />

prodidit; quam ob rem Athenienses, et honorem habere ei volentes nec tamen scortum<br />

celebrasse, animal nom<strong>in</strong>is eius fecere atque, ut <strong>in</strong>tellegeretur causa honoris, <strong>in</strong> opere<br />

l<strong>in</strong>guam addi artifice vetuerunt.<br />

Amphicrates is praised for his Leaena; she was a harlot admitted to the friendship <strong>of</strong><br />

Harmodius <strong>and</strong> Aristogeiton because <strong>of</strong> her skill as a harpist, who though put to the<br />

torture by the tyrants till she died refused to betray their plot to assass<strong>in</strong>ate them.<br />

Consequently the Athenians wish<strong>in</strong>g to do her honour <strong>and</strong> yet unwill<strong>in</strong>g to have made a<br />

harlot famous, had a statue made <strong>of</strong> a lioness, as that was her name, <strong>and</strong> to <strong>in</strong>dicate the<br />

reason for the honour paid her <strong>in</strong>structed the artist to represent the animal as hav<strong>in</strong>g no<br />

tongue.<br />

154<br />

Pl<strong>in</strong>y 34.75 A.D. I<br />

Text: H. Rackham, ed., tr., Pl<strong>in</strong>y. Natural History IX. Books XXXIII-XXXV (Cambridge,<br />

Mass. <strong>and</strong> London, 1952; repr. 1995).<br />

Translation: J. J. Pollitt, <strong>The</strong> Art <strong>of</strong> Ancient <strong>Greece</strong>: Sources <strong>and</strong> Documents (1965;<br />

second ed., Cambridge, 1990; repr. 1998).<br />

Canachus Apoll<strong>in</strong>em nudum, qui Philesius cognom<strong>in</strong>atur, <strong>in</strong> Didymaeo Aeg<strong>in</strong>etica aeris<br />

temperatura, cervumque una ita vestigiis suspendit, ut l<strong>in</strong>um subter pedes trahatur alterno<br />

morsu calce digitisque ret<strong>in</strong>entibus solum, ita vertebrato ungue utrisque <strong>in</strong> partibus, ut a<br />

repulsu per vices resiliat.<br />

Kanachos [was the sculptor <strong>of</strong>] a nude Apollo, which bears the cognomen Philesios, <strong>in</strong><br />

the sanctuary at Didyma, made from bronze <strong>of</strong> the Aeg<strong>in</strong>itan formula; <strong>and</strong> with it a stag<br />

which is suspended <strong>in</strong> its tracks <strong>in</strong> such a way that a str<strong>in</strong>g can be drawn underneath its<br />

feet, with the heel <strong>and</strong> toe alternately reta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g their grip, for a “tooth” on each part is so<br />

geared that when one is dislodged by pressure the other <strong>in</strong> its turn spr<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong>to place.<br />

155<br />

Pl<strong>in</strong>y 34.80 A.D. I<br />

Text <strong>and</strong> translation: H. Rackham, ed., tr., Pl<strong>in</strong>y. Natural History IX. Books XXXIII-<br />

XXXV (Cambridge, Mass. <strong>and</strong> London, 1952; repr. 1995).<br />

403

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