A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

APELLES.
coon, and probably coloured like Titian" (Notes on
Du Fresnoy, note 37); and, though the point has
been disputed, such is the general judgment of the
best modern authorities. It need scarcely be said,
that not one of the pictures of Apelles remains to
decide the question by.
In order to understand what was the excellence
which was peculiar to Apelles, we must refer to
the state of the art of painting in his time. (Dict.
of Ant. s. v. Painting.) After the essential forms
of Polygnotus had been elevated to dramatic effect
and ideal expression by Apollodorus and Zeuxis,
and enlivened with the varied character and feeling
which the school of Eupompus drew forth from
direct observation of nature, Apelles perceived that
something still was wanting, something which the
refinements attained by his contemporaries in grouping, perspective, accuracy, and finish, did not supply-something which he boasted, and succeeding
ages confirmed the boast, that he alone achievednamely, the quality called xdapts, venustas, grace
(Plin. xxxv. 36. ~ 10; Quintil. xii. 10; Plut. Demet. 22; Aelian, V. H. xii. 41); that is, not only
beauty, sublimity, and pathos, but beauty, sublimity, and pathos, each in its proper measure; the
expending of power enough to produce the desired
effect, and no more; the absence of all exaggeration,
as well as of any sensible deficiency; the most natural and pleasing mode of impressing the subject on
the spectator's mind, without displaying the means
by which the impression is produced. In fact, the
aeaning which Fuseli attaches to the word seems
o be that in which it was used by Apelles: "By
/race I mean that artless balance of motion and:epose sprung from character, founded on propriety,,vhich neither falls short of the demands nor overcaps the modesty of nature. Applied to execution,
t means that dexterous power which hides the
neans by which it was attained, the difficulties
t has conquered." (Lect. 1.) In the same Lecture.?useli gives the following estimate of the character
if Apelles as an artist: " The name of Apelles in
'liny is the synonyme of unrivalled and unattainble excellence, but the enumeration of his works
Moints out the modification which we ought to ap-;ly to that superiority; it neither comprises excluive sublimity of invention, the most acute discrinination of character, the widest sphere of compreiension, the most judicious and best balanced
omposition, nor the deepest pathos of expression:
is great prerogative consisted more in the unison
han in the extent of his powers; he knew better
that he could do, what ought to be done, at what
oint he could arrive, and what lay beyond his
each, than any other artist. Grace of conception
nd refinement of taste were his elements, and
rent hand in hand with grace of execution and
iste in finish; powerful and seldom possessed
Ingly, irresistible when united: that he built both
n the firm basis of the former system, not on its
ibversion, his well-known contest of lines with
'rotogenes, not a legendary tale, but a well at-sted fact, irrefragably proves:.... the corollaries
"re may adduce from the contest are obviously
iese, that the schools of Greece recognized all one
lemental principle: that acuteness and fidelity of
ye and obedience of hand form precision; precion, proportion; proportion, beauty: that it is the
ittle more or less,' imperceptible to vulgar eyes,
"hinch constitutes grace, and establishes the supeority of one artist above another: that the know

APELLICON. 223
ledge of the degrees of things, or taste, presupposes
a perfect knowledge of the things themselves: that
colour, grace, and taste, are ornaments, not substitutes, of form, expression, and character; and,
when they usurp that title, degenerate into splendid faults. Such were the principles on which
Apelles formed his Venus, or rather the personification of Female Grace,-the wonder of art, the
despair of artists." That this view of the Venus
is right, is proved, if proof were needed, by the
words of Pliny (xxxv. 36. ~ 10), " Deesse iis
unam Venerem dicebat, quam Graeci Charita vocant," except that there is no reason for calling
the Venus "the personification of Female Grace;"
it was rather Grace personified in a female form.
Apelles wrote on painting, but his works are
entirely lost. [P. S.]
APELLES ('AAreAX^s), a disciple of Marcion,
departed in some points from the teaching of his
master. Instead of wholly rejecting the Old
Testament, he looked upon its contents as coming
partly from the good principle, partly from the
evil principle. Instead of denying entirely the
reality of Christ's human body, lie held that in his
descent from heaven he assumed to himself an
aerial body, which he gave back to the air as he
ascended. He denied the resurrection of the body,
and considered differences of religious belief as
unimportant, since, said he, " all who put their
trust in the Crucified One will be saved, if they
only prove their faith by good works."
Apelles flourished about A. D. 188, and lived to
a very great age. Tertullian (Praescript. Haeret.
30) says, that he was expelled from the school of
Marcion for fornication with one Philumene, who
fancied herself a prophetess, and whose fantasies
were recorded by Apelles in his book entitled,avepdareis. But since Rhodon, who was the
personal opponent of Apelles, speaks of him as
universally honoured for his course of life (Euseb.
H. E. v. 13), we may conclude that the former
part of Tertullian's story is one of those inventions
which were so commonly made in order to damage
the character of heretics. Besides the,avewpdoems,
Apelles wrote a work entitled " Syllogisms," the
object of which Eusebius states (1. c.) to have been,
to prove that the writings of Moses were false.
It must have been a very large work, since Ambrose (De Paradis. 5) quotes from the thirty-eighth
volume of it. (See also Tertull. adv. iMarcion.
iv. 17; Augustin. de ler. 23; Epiphanius, Haer.
44.) [P. S.]
APE'LLICON ('A7reAAtmcKw ), a native of Teos,
was a Peripatetic philosopher and a great collector
of books. In addition to the number which his
immense wealth enabled him to purchase, he stole
several out of the archives of different Greek cities.
His practices having been discovered at Athens, he
was obliged to fly from the city to save his life.
He afterwards returned during the tyranny of
Aristion, who patronized him, as a member of the
same philosophic sect with himself, and gave him
the command of the expedition against Delos,
which, though at first successful, was ruined by
the carelessness of Apellicon, who was surprised by
the Romans under Orobius, and with difficulty
escaped, having lost his whole army. (Athen. v.
pp. 214, 215.) His library was carried to Rome
by Sulla. (B. c. 84.) Apellicon had died just before. (Strab. xiii. p. 609.)
Apellicon's library contained the autographs of