The Critics

while bathing, antinous was seen by minerva, who was so enamoured

of his beauty that, all armed as she happened to be, she descended1

from olympus to woo him; but, unluckily displaying her shield, with

the head of medusa on it, she had the unhappiness to see the

beautiful mortal turn to stone from catching2 a glimpse of it. she

straightway ascended3 to ask jove to restore him; but before this

could be done a sculptor4 and a critic passed that way and espied5

him.

"this is a very bad apollo," said the sculptor: "the chest is too

narrow, and one arm is at least a half-inch shorter than the other.

the attitude is unnatural6, and i may say impossible. ah! my

friend, you should see my statue of antinous."

"in my judgment7, the figure," said the critic, "is tolerably good,

though rather etrurian, but the expression of the face is decidedly

tuscan, and therefore false to nature. by the way, have you read

my work on 'the fallaciousness of the aspectual in art'？"