of the external
and surprising in nature, natural science when coming forward
as a mystical philosophy of nature, instead of enlightening
and stimulating, could only still more stupefy and paralyze;
and in presence of such a method it was better to rest satisfied
with the platitude which Cicero delivers as Socratic wisdom,
that the investigation of nature either seeks after things
which nobody can know, or after such things as nobody needs to know.

Art
Architecture

If, in fine, we cast a glance at art, we discover here
the same unpleasing phenomena which pervade the whole mental life
of this period. Building on the part of the state was virtually
brought to a total stand amidst the scarcity of money that marked
the last age of the republic. We have already spoken of the luxury
in building of the Roman grandees; the architects learned in consequence
of this to be lavish of marble--the coloured sorts such as
the yellow Numidian (Giallo antico) and others came into vogue
at this time, and the marble-quarries of Luna (Carrara)
were now employed for the first time--and began to inlay the floors
of the rooms with mosaic work, to panel the walls with slabs of marble,
or to paint the compartments in imitation of marble--the first steps
towards the subsequent fresco-painting. But art was not a gainer
by this lavish magnificence.

Arts of Design

In the arts of design connoisseurship and collecting were always
on the increase. It was a mere affectation of Catonian simplicity,
when an advocate spoke before the jurymen of the works of art
"of a certain Praxiteles"; every one travelled and inspected,
and the trade of the art-ciceroni, or, as they were then called,
the -exegetae-, was none of the worst. Ancient works of art
were formally hunted after--statues and pictures less, it is true,
than, in accordance with the rude character of Roman luxury,
artistically wrought furniture and ornaments of all sorts for the room
and the table. As early as that age the old Greek tombs of Capua
and Corinth were ransacked for the sake of the bronze and earthenware
vessels which had been placed in the tomb along with the dead.
for a small statuette of bronze 40,000 sesterces (400 pounds)
were paid, and 200,000 (2000 pounds) for a pair of costly carpets;
a well-wrought bronze cooking machine came to cost more than
an estate. In this barbaric hunting after art the rich amateur was,
as might be expected, frequently cheated by those