Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1058 STATUARIA ARS. STATUJARIA ARS.
the silver tetradrachm, but whether it was so used what is of real interest is to know the causes
in the flourishing times of Athens is doubtful. through which statuary, or, to use a more common
[DRACHMA.] but less appropriate term, sculpture, became so
It was also used in reference to weight, appa- prezeminently the art of the Greeks, that down to
rently like the Hebrew shekel and the Latin pondo, this day no other nation has produced artists that
in a general sense. The MINA (Pollux, ix. 6) and can compete with them, and that all look upon the
the Sicilian LITRA (Pollux, iv. 24), are both called Greeks as the great masters and models for all
stater. ages. Winckelmann has pointed out three great
(Sestini, degli Stateri Antichli; Hussey; Wurm; causes, viz. their innate genius, their religion, and
Bockh.) [P. S.] their social and political institutions; and these
STATERA, a steel-yard, [LIBRA; TRU- three points, if accurately examined, will certainly
TINA.] be found to have singularly co-operated in making
STATI DIES. [DIES, p. 409, b.] the Greek artists what they were. There is another
STATIO'NES. [CASTRA, p. 250, b.] point connected with the origin of Grecian sculpture
STATIO'NES FISCI. The Fiscus was di- lwhich appears to have led some modern writers to
vided into various departments, called Stationes, form erroneous opinions. The peculiar form of the
according to the different revenues belonging to it. Hermae [HERMAR] has given rise to the belief
(Cod. 4. tit. 31. s. 1; 10. tit. 5. s. 1.) Thus we that in the earliest statues the head only (bust)
read of a Stistio XX. hereditatiuia (Orelli, Inser. was represented, and that the remaining part of
n. 3332), a Statio Htereditatimu (Orelli, n. 3207; the body was expressed by a simple pillar or block.
Gruter, p. 451, n. 3); a Statio Annonac. (Orelli, This view is contrary to nature as well as to hisII. 4107, 4420.) See Walter, Gesch. des Rbm. tory, for neither a nation nor a child (which in this
Rechts, ~ 314. 2d ed. case may be fairly taken as a representative of a
STATIO'NES MUNICIPIO'RUM. [GRAE- nation in its infancy), when they begin to exercise
cOSTAsIS.] their imitative faculty, will rest satisfied with
STATOR, a public servant, who attended on forming the mere head of a human being, but enthe Roman magistrates in the provinces. The deavour to produce the whole as well as they can.
Statores seem to have derived their name from We may add, that no other nation presents such
standing by the side of the magistrate, and thus a phenomenon in the earliest history of its arts.
being at hand to execute all his commands; they The Hermae, therefore, cannot have arisen from an
appear to have been chiefly employed in carrying incapability of forming a whole human figure. They
letters and messages. (Cic. ad Famr. ii. 17, 19, appear rather to point to the time when the Greeks
xo 21; Dig. 4. tit. 6. s. 10.) Alexander Severus began to represent their gods in a human form. To
forbade the use of statores in the provinces, and give to a god the entire form of a man would have
commanded that their duties should be discharged been irreverent, whereas the head was necessary,
by soldiers. (Dig. 4. tit. 6. s. 10; Lamprid.,Ilex. and at the same time sufficient, to represent him
Sev. 52.) as a distinct individual being and endowed with
STATU LIBER. [MANUhvISSIO.] spiritual and thinking powers. The process of
STATUA'RIA ARS is in its proper sense the humanizing the gods must have been preceded
art of making statues or busts, whether they con- by the custom of representing them in unnatural
sist of stone or metal or other materials, and forms, or such as were partly human and partly
includes the art of making the various kinds of animal. The earliest images of the gods were pure
reliefs (alto, basso, and mezzo relieve). The an- images (not the gods themselves), and intended to
cients, accustomed to trace all their arts and express some thought or idea: now as the natural
sciences to a single person, who was generally be- figure of man is only expressive of itself, the
lieved to have been led to his discovery by some significant parts of two or more beings were put
accidental circumstance, relate several stories to together to express the idea which men had formed
account for the origin and discovery of the arts of of their gods. Such monstrous figures were repainting and statuary. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 5 and tained as representations of some gods down to the
43; compare Quintil. x. 2. ~ 7.) But arts such as latest times. As instances of this we may menthese cannot, like those which are the necessary tion Glaucus with the tail of a fish (Philostr. Icol.
result of particular local circumstances, or are in ii. 15), the Arcadian Pan with goat's feet (Hist.
their origin of a complicated nature, be assigned to lVl[ythol. Bilderb. ii. p. 161, &c.), and the Demeter
any particular nation or to any particular indi- of Phigaleia with the head and mane of a horse.
vidual: they spring up naturally in all countries, (Paus. viii. 42. ~ 3.) Homer's silence on such
and take their origin alike everywhere in the compound representations of the gods is no proof
imitative faculty bf man. It is, therefore, idle talk that they did not exist in early times.
when modern writers gravely repeat the stories Before proceeding to consider statuary in its
about the invention of sculpture or painting, or several stages of developement, it is necessary to
assign the invention of either of them to the make a few preliminary remarks respecting the
Egyptians or any other nation. These arts in their materials used by the Greeks in this art. On the
infant state existed among the Greeks from time whole it may be said that there is no material
immemorial, and if there are any resemblances applicable to statuary which was not used by
between the earliest works of Grecian art and those the Greeks. As soft clay is capable of being
of Egypt, we have still no right to infer that the shaped without difficulty into any form, and is
Greeks learnt them from the Egyptians, and we easily dried either by being exposed to the sun or
might as well assert that the Greeks learnt their arts by being baked, we may consider this substance to
from the Gauls or from the Siamese, for the works have been the earliest material of which figures
of these nations too resemble those of early Greece, were made. We have a trace of this in the story,
An art in its primitive state manifests itself nearly that Zeus, in his anger at Prometheus having stolen
il the smle manner in all parts of the world. But the fire, ordered Hephaestus to form Pandora of