together with the offerings made to them, for the decoration of his
Golden House; it is said that from Delphi alone he received five hundred
statues of bronze.

At first the larger number of these art spoils were so placed as to be
constantly seen by the whole Roman people, and there is no doubt that
their influence was very great and went far to refine their ideas and
to prepare the way for the polish and grace of the Augustan age. Very
soon the individual desire for works of art was felt, and wealthy men
began to decorate their homes with pictures and statues; and at last
these things were thought to be necessary to the proper enjoyment of
life.

From all these causes there came about a revival of Greek art under the
Romans, and in it many beautiful works were produced. Indeed, the
greater portion of the sculptures which are now the pride of the
collections all over Europe belong to this period. It cannot be said
that the artists of this date originated much, but they followed the
greatest masters that ever lived; and if they repeated their subjects
they so changed them to suit the spirit of their time that they gave
their works a certain effect of being something new, and threw their own
individuality about them.

The list of names which can be given as belonging to Greek sculptors who
worked at Rome is long, and would have little interest here. Instead of
speaking of the artists I shall speak of the most famous works of the
time which remain; most of these are so placed that they are seen by
travellers, and have become familiar to all the world.

The beautiful statue which is known as the Venus de' Medici is so called
because after its discovery it rested for a time in the Medici Palace in
Rome. It was found in the seventeenth century in the Portico of Octavia
at Rome, and was broken into eleven fragments. The arms from the elbows
down are restored; when it was found it had traces of gilding on the
hair; the ears are pierced, as if gold rings had sometimes been placed
in them. In 1680 Duke Cosmo III. removed it to Florence, where it is the
chief glory of the famous Tribune of the Uffizi Gallery. Many persons
believe this to have been a copy of the renowned Cnidian Venus by
Praxiteles, of which I have told you. This Venus de' Medici was the
work of an Athenian artist named Cleomenes. He was the son of
Apollodorus, a sculptor who lived in Rome in the first or second century
of the Christian era. (Fig. 57.)

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