ful home, which reposed in safety under the protection of her
lance and shield."

The attributes of this goddess, as given in Greek literature and shown
forth in Greek art, are very varied and hard to be understood as
belonging to one person. She is the patroness of war, and in Homer's
Iliad she is represented as rushing into battle in this wise:

"The cuirass donn'd of cloud-compelling force
And stood accoutred for the bloody fray.
Her tasselled aegis round her shoulders next
She threw, with terror circled all around,
And on its face were figured deeds of arms
And Strife and Courage high, and panic Rout.
There too a Gorgon's head of monstrous size
Frown'd terrible, portent of angry Jove.
. . . . . . . In her hand
A spear she bore, long, weighty, tough, wherewith
The mighty daughter of a mighty sire
Sweeps down the ranks of those her hate pursues."

But this warlike goddess is also represented as the wise counsellor who
restrains Achilles from rash action; and though she does not shrink from
war and danger, yet the most precious gift to her people was not the
war-horse, but the olive, the emblem of peace, and to her honor was this
sacred tree planted. "She stands in full armor, with brandished lance,
on the highest point of the Acropolis, and yet she is the patroness of
all household and female work, in which she herself excels."

It is very interesting to notice that in the early representations of
Athena, while she is very warlike in her bearing and raises her lance in
her right hand, she also carries in her left the distaff and the spindle
and the lamp of knowledge. In the later art of Phidias she is still
stern and severe, but her face also expresses dignity and grandeur of
thought and character. Later still, her warlike attributes are made less
prominent: the shield rests on the ground, and the lance is more like a
sceptre, until, in the decline of art, she is represented as lovely and
gentle, and all her grand power is lost, and she is not above a great
number of other goddesses who are attractive for their soft, lovely
grace, but have no selfhood, no individuality to command our admiration
or respect.

We come now to speak of the Elgin marbles from the frieze of the
Parthenon. It was about thirty-five feet above the floor, three feet
three inches broad, and about five hundred and twenty-two feet long. It
represented a continuous procession, and the subject is called the