ks, and
issue from trunks maimed by men or by the winds; and in many places you
see the rocks surmounting the summits of the high mountains, covered
with a thin and faded moss; and in some places their true colour is
laid bare and made visible owing to the percussion of the lightnings of
Heaven, whose course is often obstructed to the damage of these rocks.
And in proportion as you descend towards the base of the mountains the
plants are more vigorous and their boughs and foliage are denser; and
their vegetation varied according to the various species of the plants
of which such woods are composed, and their boughs are of diverse
arrangement and diverse amplitude of foliage, various in shape and
size; and some have straight boughs like the cypress, and some have
widely scattered and spreading boughs like the oak and the chestnut
tree, and the like; some have very {127} small leaves, others have a
spare foliage like the juniper and the plane tree, and others; some
plants born at the same time are divided by wide spaces, and others are
united with no division of space between them.
[Sidenote: How to represent Night]
83.
That which is entirely devoid of light is all darkness; as the night is
like this and you wish to represent a night subject, represent a great
fire, so that the object which is nearest to the fire may be tinged
with its colour, since the object which is nearest the fire will
participate most in its nature. And as you will make the fire red, all
the objects which it illumines must be red also, and those which are
farther off from the fire will be dyed to a greater extent by the dark
colour of night. The figures which are between you and the fire appear
dark from the obscurity of the night, not from the glow of the
firelight, and those which are at the side are half dark and half
ruddy, and those which are visible beyond the edge of the flames will
be altogether lighted up by the red glow against a black background.
As to their action, make those which are near shield themselves with
their hands and cloaks against the intense heat with averted faces as
though about to flee; with regard to those who are farther off,
represent them chiefly in the act of raising their hands to their eyes,
dazzled by the intense glare.
{128}
[Sidenote: How to represent Storm]
84.
If you wish to represent well a storm, consider and weigh its effects
when the wind, blowing across the surface of the sea and t
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