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

Wilt thou not lead me into the house?
(Anonymous, Anth. Pal. 9.714) [17]
The first epigram, by Antipater of Sidon, dates to the first century B.C., and contains an
explanation: the speaking cow is alive, but, at the same time, fixed on a stone, therefore,
motionless. The statue, therefore, invites the viewer to experience it as a living animal
naturally found among other cows, while marking its status as a work of sculpture made
by Myron. Again, the poem presents a case of dissolution of the boundary between
reality and image, and the viewer’s awareness of it. In the second epigram, also by
Antipater, the statue directly addresses Myron by blaming him for its fixed location. The
statue states that were it not for this condition, it would have been able to feed, and thus
act as a living animal. The statue announces its inanimate status as Myron’s work of art,
while highlighting its apparent aliveness. In the third epigram, an anonymous, the statue
questions Myron directly. By specifying its set-up location by the altars, in the first
question, the statue identifies itself as a work of art, while its complain about not being
inside the house, in the second question, implies its wish to be treated as a living animal,
thus advertising its aliveness.
In the fourth epigram, attributed to Marcus Argentarius, and dating from the first
century B.C., the statue again addresses an unidentified viewer directly, as if it were a
living, speaking animal, while pinpointing its status as a work of art:
Stranger, if thou seest my herdsman, give him
this message, that the sculptor Myron tied me up here.
(Marcus Argentarius, Anth. Pal. 9.732) [133]
The speaking statue declares confidently its aliveness by asking the viewer a favor: to
inform its herdsman about its being tied up by Myron at a spot. In this way, the statue
implies that it could move as a living animal, were it not for its status as a work of art.
75