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30 ANCIENT GREECE. [CHAP. xv.a dwellingis intended to meet those very wants, and is inno respect founded on an idea connected with beauty. Thetemples are dwellings also, but the dwellings of the gods ;and as these have no wants in their places of abode, the artfinds here no obstacle to its inventions.The plasticart 1and painting bore to each other, amongthe Greeks, the opposite relation to that which they haveborne in modern times. The first was the most cultivated ;and though the latter attained the rank of an independentart, it never was able to gain the superiority. It is not forus here to explain the causes of this ;we need only mentionone, which to us is the most interesting. The more publicthe arts are among any people, the more naturally will theplastic art surpass that of painting. The works of both maybe public, and were so among the Greeks, but those of theformer are far better suited for public monuments thanthose of the latter. The works of painting find their placeonly on walls those of the;plastic art, existing entirely bythemselves, wherever there is room for them.The works of the plastic art, statues and busts, were, inthe times of which we speak, (and among the Greeks., witha few limitations, even in subsequent times,) only publicworks, that is, designed to be set up, not in private dwellings, but in public places, temples, halls, market-places,gymnasia, and theatres. I know of no one instance of astatue that belonged to a private man;and if there existsanyit isexample, an exception which confirms the generalrale. 2 Itmay be said, that it is only accidental that weknow of no such instances. But if any taste of that kindhad prevailed at Athens, we should find traces of it in thecomedians and orators. If these are consulted in vain forsuch indications, we are justified in concluding that no suchprivate tastes existed.Phidias and his successors, till the Macedonian age, didnot therefore labour to supply with their works the lousesand collections of individuals. This by no means implies,1The phrase p lactic art is used, because there is no other which embracesat once the works of stone and of bronze.2.r ca^^e anecdote be cited, which Pausanias relates, p. i. 46, of thecunning of Phryne to gain possession of the god of love made by her loverPraxiteles ? Even if it be true, the fact is in our favour ;for she consecratedit immediately as a public work of art in Thespi, Athen. p. 591 : in whichcity alone it was from that time to be seen. Cic. in Ver ii iv 2