springs upon the Centaur's shoulders, and drags back
his head, that the brute may not gaze upon the charms he would
pollute. The figure behind the bride is supposed to represent Diana,
the goddess of Chastity. It is a pity that the leg and arm of the
Theseus, and one arm of the bridesmaid are fractured. The last slab of
those sculptured with the battle of the Centaurs, represents Apollo
and Diana in a car--Apollo the deliverer; Diana the guardian of female
chastity. Having fully examined these beautiful specimens of Greek art
of the time of Pericles, the visitor should turn at once to the
remaining slabs, which are devoted to the illustration of

A BATTLE WITH THE AMAZONS.

Plutarch gives a graphic account of those dissensions between Theseus
and the Amazons, which terminated in the famous war here celebrated.
"Philochorus," he says, "and some others relate, that he (Theseus)
sailed in company with Hercules into the Euxine Sea, to wage war with
the Amazons, and that he received Antiope as the reward of his valour,
but the greater number, (among whom are Pherecydes, Hellanicus, and
Herodotus,) tell us, that Theseus made the voyage with his own fleet
alone, some time after Hercules, and took that Amazon captive, which
is indeed the more probable account; for we do not read that any other
of his fellow-warriors made any Amazon prisoner. But Bion says, he
took and carried her off by a stratagem. The Amazons (he informs us)
being naturally lovers of men, were so far from avoiding Theseus when
he touched upon their coasts, that they sent him presents. Theseus
invited Antiope, who brought them, into his ship, and, as soon as she
was aboard, set sail. But the account of one Menecrates, who published
a history of Nice in Bithynia, is that Theseus, having Antiope aboard
his vessel, remained in those parts some time; and that he was
attended in this expedition by three young men of Athens, who were
brothers, Enneos, Thoas, and Solon. The last of these, unknown to the
rest, fell in love with Antiope, and communicated his passion to one
of his companions, who applied to Antiope about the affair. She firmly
rejected his pretensions, but treated him with civility, and prudently
concealed the matter from Theseus. But Solon, in despair, having
leaped into a river and drowned himself, Theseus, then sensible of the
cause, and the young man's passion, lamented his fate, and in his
sorrow recollected an order of the priestess, which he ha