Page:Greek Buildings Represented by Fragments in the British Museum (1908).djvu/100

 84 THE PARTHENON AND ITS SCULPTURES. The work was carried on amidst considerable political ob- struction, and Plutarch has quite an interesting essay on the political economy of art in the city, which he gives us to under- stand expresses the opinions of Pericles. That which was the delight of the Athenians and the wonder of strangers, he says, was the magnificence of the temples and public edifices. The opposition, asserting that Pericles wasted the public treasure, urged that it must be considered an act of tyranny when the money which had been contributed toward the war was lavished on adorning Athens with temples that cost i,ooo talents. Fig. 70.— Frieze : Angle Group, getting ready. Pericles answered that superfluous wealth was best expended on works which would be eternal monuments of its glory, and which during their execution would diffuse wealth — for all kinds of labour and materials being required, every art would be exer- cised and every hand employed, so that almost the whole city would gain while it was being adorned. Even the mechanics and common people would have their share of public money, while they would not be supported in idleness ; for the different materials such as stone, bronze, ivory, gold, ebony, and cypress, furnished employment to carpenters, masons, metal-workers, and others, and their transport employed sailors, carriers, paviors,