Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/769

Rh SCOP AS. the group. There is a head of Niobe in the col- lection of Lord Yarborough, which has some claim to be considered as the original. Our space forbids our entering on the various questions which have been raised respecting this group, such as the genuineness or originality of the figures, the manner of grouping them, and the aesthetic character of the whole com- position : on these matters the reader is referred to the works now quoted. (Miiller, Arch'doL d. Kunst, § 126, ed. Welcker, 1848, and the authorities there quoted ; Denk?n'dler, vol. ii. pi. xxxiii. xxxiv. ; Thiersch, Epochen, pp. 368 — 371 ; Fenny Cyclo- paedia, art. Niobe.) 4. Statues of other Divinities. — Pliny {H. N. xxxvi. 5. s. 4. § 10) ascribes to Scopas a much- admired sitting statue of Vesta in the Servilian gardens (respecting the corrupt words which follow, see Sillig's Pliny), a sitting Colossus of Mars in the temple of Brutus Callaicus, and a Minerva at Cnidus {ib. § 5) ; and the following works are mentioned by other writers : — a statue of Hermes (Anth. Flanud. iv. 192 ; Brunck. Anal. vol. iii. p. 197 ; Jacobs, Append. Anth. Pal. vol. ii. p. 684) : a marble Heracles, at Sicyon (Paus. ii. 10. § 1): a beardless Aesculapius and a Hygieia, at Gortyna in Arcadia (Paus. viii. 28. § 1): a statue of Athena, which stood on one side of the entrance of the temple of Apollo Ismenius, outside the gates of Thebes ; on the other side of the entrance was a Hermes by Pheidias ; and the two statues were called Tlpovaoi (Paus. ix. 10. § 2): a Hecate at Argos (Paus. ii. 22. § 8) : and two Furies at Athens. (Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 30, ed. Syl- burg ; Sillig. Gat. Art. s. v. Calus.) 5. But the most esteemed of all the works of Scopas, according to Pliny, was his group which stood in the shrine of Cn. Domitius in the Fla- minian circus, representing Achilles conducted to the island of Leuce by the divinities of the sea. It consisted of figures of Neptune, Thetis, and Achilles, surrounded by Nereids sitting on dolphins and huge fishes (kt^ttj) and hippocampi, and attended by Tritons, and by an assemblage of sea monsters, which Pliny describes by the phrase Chorus Phord et pistrices et multa alia marina. All these figures, lie adds, were by the hand of Scopas himself, and would have been enough to immortalize the artist, even if they had cost the labour of his whole life. Midler thinks it probable that Scopas infused into this marine group something of the spirit of those Bacchic revellers upon the land whom he was so successful in pourtraying, making the Tritons to resemble Satyrs, and the Nereids Maenads. There is still extant a beautiful statue of a Nereid on a bippocamp, both in the Florentine Gallery and the Museum at Naples {Tafeln zu Meyer'^s Kunst- (/pschichte, pi. 1 0, A), besides other statues of sea gods and monsters, but none of them can be as- signed with certainty to the group of Scopas. (Muller, Arehaol. §§ 125, 126, 402.) The above list contains, we believe, all the known works of Scopas, except a Canophoros mentioned by Pliny, which was in the collection of Asinius Pollio. There is also a hopelessly corrupt passage of Pliny (xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 33), in which Scopas appears to be mentioned as the maker of bronze statues of philosophers ; but perhaps the name ought to be altogether banished from the passage (see Sillig, Cat. Art., and edition of Pliny, and Janus, Cod. Bamb. app. to Sillig's Pliny). If thia passage be rejected, there is no mention by SCRIBONIA. 757 Pliny of any work in bronze by Scopas, although his name appears in the chronological list of sta- tuaries at the beginning of the chapter. But even that passage is, as has been seen, involved in dif- ficult}', and one proposed emendation, that of Thiersch, would banish the name of Scopas from it altogether, substituting Onatas. The only work in bronze expressly ascribed to Scopas is the Aphro- dite Pandemus at Elis, mentioned, as above stated, by Pausanias. Raoul-Rochette enumerates, among the ancient engravers, a Scopas, whom he considers to be a Greek artist, of the Roman period (Lettre a M. Schorn, pp. 153, 154). It is not improbable that among the Parian artists descended from Scopas, one of the same name may have practised this branch of the art at the period in question ; and if the antiquaries be correct in supposing the subject of one of the gems bearing his name to be the head of Sextus Pompeius, this evidence would be sufficient. Visconti, however, doubts the genuine- ness of the inscription on that gem ; and besides, there is no positive evidence that the portrait is that of Sextus Pompeius. With regard to the other two gems bearing the inscription SKOIIA, it is pretty evident that on the one, which represents an Apollo Citharoedus, the inscription merely indicates that the subject is copied from the celebrated Apollo of Scopas ; and it seems by no means im- probable that the case is similar with respect to the other, which represents a naked female coming out of the bath. [P. S.] SCO'PASIS {^Koiwaa-is, :$K6ira(Tis), a king of the Scythians, commanded one of the three divi- sions of his countrymen, when Scythia was in- vaded by Dareius Hystaspis. It was the body under the command of Scopasis, which, arriving at the Danube before Dareius reached it in his re- treat, endeavoured, though without success, to prevail on the lonians to destroy the bridge of boats over the river, and thus ensure the de- struction of the Persians. (Herod, iv. 120, 128, 136; Just. ii. 5.) [E. E.] SCOPELIA'NUS (2/coireXiaj/(5s), a sophist, rhetorician, and poet, of Clazomenae, was the dis- ciple of Nicetes of Smyrna, and flourished under Domitian and Nerva, a little before Polemon and Herodes Atticus. He taught at Smyrna, and had Herodes among his pupils. He devoted himself to poetry, and especially to tragedy. His life is re- lated at great length by Philostratus ( Vit. Sophist. i. 21), who speaks of him with very high respect. (Welcker, die Griexh. Trag. p. 1323; Clinton, Fast. Rom. A. n. 93.) [P. S.] SCORPIA'NUS, AE'LIUS, consul a. d. 276, when Probus was proclaimed emperor. (Vopisc Prob. 11.) SCRIBCNIA. The wife of Octavianus, after- wards the emperor Augustus, had been previously married to two men of consular rank, according to Suetonius (^Aug. 62). This writer, however, does not mention their names ; and we know the name of only one of them, namely P. Cornelius Scipio, of whose consulship, however, there is no record. [Scipio, No. 31. j By him she had two children, P. Cornelius Scipio, who was consul, B. c. 16, and a daughter, Cornelia, who was married to Paulus Aerailius Lepidus, censor B. c. 22. [Lepidus, No. 19.] Scribonia was the sister of L. Scribonius Libo, who was the father-in-law of Sex. Poinpey, the son of Poinpev the Great. [Libo, No. 4.] 3,0 3