. 63.--THE STROGANOFF APOLLO.]

The answers of the authorities to these queries vary so much that here I
shall only mention the theory which I love, and which is accepted by
many. When the statue was found the left hand was missing, and a bow was
believed to have been the article which it held; and it was said that
Apollo had just shot an arrow on some dreadful flight, and was watching
for its effect. This theory was the principal one until 1860, when a
scholar, Stephani, called attention to the fact that in St. Petersburg
there is a bronze statuette, less than two feet high, which is almost
exactly the same as the Apollo Belvedere--too nearly the same to be an
accidental likeness. Now, as this is an antique bronze, it seems to
prove that both it and the marble of the Vatican are copies of an
ancient work. The statuette is called the Stroganoff Apollo, because it
belongs to the collection of a nobleman of that name. It is believed to
be one of a number of bronzes which were found near Janina in 1792, and
given by the son of Ali Pasha to his physician, Dr. Frank (Fig. 63).

The chief importance of this discovery was the fact that the left hand
was perfect, and did not hold a bow, but some soft, elastic substance
which Stephani believes to be the aegis, or shield, of Jupiter, on which
was the head of Medusa. The sight of this shield paralyzed those who saw
it; and though it belonged to Jupiter and Minerva, Jupiter sometimes
lent it to his son Apollo to aid him in his warfare; such instances are
recorded by Homer. After Stephani had told his idea of it, the German
scholar Ludwig Preller pointed out what seems to be the true meaning of
it by suggesting that Apollo was extending this dreadful _aegis_ before
the sight of the Gauls at Delphi, in B.C. 279. History relates that when
the Gauls approached Delphi the people asked the oracle if they should
carry away and conceal the treasures of the temple. The oracle replied,
"I myself and the White Maidens (meaning Athena and Artemis) will take
care of that." Then four thousand Greeks stood by ready to defend the
sacred place; but in the midst of the battle the youthful god came down
through the roof of the temple, and the White Maidens left their own
altars to aid him in driving back the barbarous foe. A great tempest
arose, and rocks fell from Parnassus on the heads of the Gauls, and it
seemed as if all the powers of heaven and earth had united to sustain
the Greeks against thei