Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1341

Rh ZEUXIS. gem in the Florentine Museum (Gori, vol. i. p. 95, No. 5 ; MUller, Denkm'dler d. alien Kunst, vol. i. p. xliii. No. 203). Lucian himself {Zeujc. 3) men- tions this work in illustration of a statement which he makes concerning Zeuxis's choice of subjects, namely, that " he did not paint those popular and common subjects (or at least very few of them), such as heroes, or gods, or battles, but he always aimed at novelty, and if any thing unusual or strange occurred to him, upon it he displayed the perfection of his art." A glance, however, at the subjects of the painter's works will show that this statement is to be accepted with a considerable deduction. Of the diligence, with which Zenxis elaborated his paintings, we have a proof in the reply which he made to Agatharcus, who, as was natural for a scine painter, was boasting of the rapidity with which he executed his works, when Zeuxis quietly observed : — " But I take a long time about mine " ('E7Cy Se TToAA^ XP^^V- l^lut. Per. 13). The tale is told with a slight variation by Plutarch, in another passage {De Amic. Mult. 5, p. 94, f.), that Zeuxis, being blamed for the slowness with which he worked, replied, " 1 confess that I take a long time to paint ; for I paint works to last a long time {^OjxoXoydi eV iroWcp XP^^V ypacpeiu, Kal yap €ts iroKvv hence the proverb, Pingo in aeternita- tem). There are other anecdotes told of Zeuxis in common with other great painters. Thus the ce- lebrated verse, ascribed to Apollodorus, is said by Pliny to have been written by Zeuxis upon his picture of an athlete : — "A man will find it easier to blame than to imitate " {Invisurum aliqiicm fa- cilius, quam imitaturum) : or, in the original, MiapL-qcTiTai ris [xaWov ^ /jLifiiiffeTai. The reproof addressed by Apelles to Megabyzus, or, as others say, to Alexander, is ascribed by Aelian ( V. H. ii. 2) to Zeuxis. (See Apelles, p. 221, a.) It is unnecessary to multiply references to pas- sages of the ancient writers in praise of Zeuxis. The remarkable fact that his name is not mentioned by Pausanias, is explained by the supposition, which is almost undoubtedly true, that his pictures were mostly upon panels, according to the general practice of the Greek painters, and therefore that they had either been destroyed or plundered before the time of Pausanias. The latter process would of course be carried on by the Roman conquerors of Greece with an eagerness proportioned to the celebrity of the artist, and accordingly we find several of his best works in the list of Pliny. Cicero also expressly tells us, with reference to the pictures which he painted for the temple of Juno at Croton, that not even the sanctity of the fane had availed for the preservation of any of them, except the Helen. He does not, however, say distinctly whether that great work was still at Croton in his time. Pliny mentions a Helen by Zeuxis as being at Rome, in the portico of Philip ; but he does not identify it with the picture painted for the Crotoniats, the subject of which indeed he does not mention : it is not improbable however that they were the same. The picture of Helen at Athens, in the portico called ^AXcphoDU 2Toa was of course not the same ; but it may have been a copy of it. (Eustath. ad 11. xi. 629, p. 836. 37). How the Athenians were robbed by Sulla of his Centaur, and how that picture perished, has been VOL. m. ZOE. 1329 already mentioned ; and his picture of the Muses was carried off to Rome, from Ambracia, by Fulvius Nobilior. In addition to the works which have been al- ready mentioned, we possess notices of the following pictures by Zeuxis. His Jupiter enthroned, with the gods standing by, is mentioned by Pliny with the epithet magnificus, and its subject confirms the opinion that it was one of the artist's finest works. Pliny also mentions his Marsyas Bound (Marsyas religutus), in the temple of Concord. A minute description of a painting on this subject is given by Philostratus, who, however, does not mention Zeuxis as its painter {Eikon. 2) ; and the subject frequently occurs on vases, sarcophagi, candelabra, and other remains of ancient art, as well as in the painting found at Herculaneum, and one or two others, which may be presumed to be more or less copied from the work of Zeuxis. (For an account of these works, see M tiller, Arch'dol. d. Kunst^ § 362, n. 4 ; for a sketch of the picture at Hercu- laneum, Miiller, Denhn'dW d. alien Kwist, vol. i. pi. xliii. No. 204 ; and fcr copies of other works, which represent the story of Apollo and Marsyas, see the Denkm'dler, vol. ii, pi. xiv. Nos. 149 — 154). The Menelaus of Zeuxis is mentioned by Tzetzes {Chil. viii. 196—198) i and his Boreas or Triton by Lucian {Timon, 54). Pliny tells us that he painted monochromes in shades of gray {manochro' mata ex albo) and also that there were some vases painted by him {figlina opera) at Ambracia, where they were left untouched by Fulvius Nobilior, when he took away the picture of the Muses. The statement of Cicero {Brutus, 18), that Zeuxis used only four colours, is explained in the Dictionary of Antiquities, s. v. Colores, p. 320, b. 2d ed. 2. An artist in gold {aurifex) in the household of Augustus, whose freedman he was, as we learn from an inscription on the columbarium of Livia. (Gori, Nos.l 1 4—122 ; Bianchini, No. 43 ; Welcker, Kunslblatt, 1827, No. 84 ; R. Rochette, Lettre d M. Schorn, p. 430). Respecting a supposed statuary Zeuxis, whose name arises from a false reading of Pliny, see SiLANiON and Zeuxiades. [P. S.] ZIBOETES or ZIPOETES {ZiSoirns or Ziirol- Trjs). 1. King of Bithynia, the son of Bas. He reigned for forty-eight years (b. c. 326 — 278). He carried on successful wars with Lysimachus and Antiochus, the son of Seleucus. (Memnon, ap. Phot. Cud. 224, p. 228, ed. Bekker.) In b. c. 315 he carried on a war against Astacus and Chalcedon. (Diod. xix. 60.) He founded a city which was called Zipoetium after him at the foot of Mount Lyperus. He lived to the age of seventy-six, and left behind him four children, the eldest of whom, Nicomedes, succeeded him. (Memnon, /. c.) 2. Son of the preceding, who established him- self in a part of Bithynia, and against whom Nico- medes carried on war in b. c. 277. It was for the purpose of overpowering him that Nicomedes called in the aid of the Gauls. (Li v. xxxviii. 16 ; comp. Clinton, Fasti Hellen. vol. iii. p. 411.) The name Tiboetes [Tiboetes] is by some cor- rected to Ziboetes. [C. P. M.] ZIGABE'NUS, EUTHY'MIUS. [Euthv- MIUS. I ZMILUS. [Smilis.] ZOE (Za>^), the name of several empresses of Constantinople, of whom the following were the most important : — 4q