CHAP. 7.—ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS.
The ancients were in the habit of making the door-sills and even the doors of the temples of brass. I find it stated, also, that Cneius Octavius, who obtained a naval triumph over King Perseus,[1249] erected the double portico to the Flaminian Circus, which was called the “Corinthian” from the brazen capitals of the pillars.[1250] It is stated also, that an ordinance was made that the Temple of Vesta[1251] should be covered with a coating of Syracusan metal. The capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are made of similar metal. Even the opulence, too, of private individuals has been wrested to similar purposes. Spurius Carvilius, the quæstor, among the other charges which he brought against Camillus,[1252] accused him of having brazen doors in his house.
We learn from L. Piso,[1253] that Cneius Manlius was the first who introduced brazen banquetting-couches, buffets, and tables with single feet,[1254] when he entered the City in triumph, in the year of Rome 567, after his conquests in Asia. We also learn from Antias,[1255] that the heirs of L. Crassus, the orator, sold a number of banquetting-couches adorned with brass. The tripods,[1256] which were called Delphian, because they were devoted more particularly to receiving the offerings that were presented to the Delphian Apollo, were usually made of brass: also the pendant lamps,[1257] so much admired, which were placed in the temples, or gave their light in the form of trees loaded with fruit; such as the one, for instance, in the Temple of the Palatine Apollo,[1258] which Alexander the Great, at the sacking of Thebes, brought to Cyme,[1259] and dedicated to that god.
CHAP. 9. (4.)—WHICH WAS THE FIRST STATUE OF A GOD MADE OF BRASS AT ROME. THE ORIGIN OF STATUES, AND THE RESPECT PAID TO THEM.
But after some time the artists everywhere applied themselves to representations of the gods. I find that the first brass image, which was made at Rome, was that of Ceres; and that the expenses were defrayed out of the property that belonged to Spurius Cassius, who was put to death by his own father, for aspiring to the regal office.[1260] The practice, however, soon passed from the gods to the statues and representations of men, and this in various forms. The ancients stained their statues with bitumen, which makes it the more remarkable that they were afterwards fond of covering them with gold. I do not know whether this was a Roman invention; but it certainly has the repute of being an ancient practice at Rome.