Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/372

 362 Journal of Philology. with which they were associated. Just as Geography naturally laid itself out for broad features and general details, Periegetic literature took in the particular and the local; no monument was too insignificant for notice, so long as it was bound up with the memory of some person or event, that made a figure in Foretime. In proportion as a place was rich in historical recol- lections, the greater was the minuteness and completeness of details By thus collecting local traditions, Periegetic litera- ture made itself supplementary to the historical literature of an earlier age, and served as a bridge to connect the old world with the new." (Curtius, Peloponnesos, Band. I. p. 122.) Of the de- partment of literature thus ably characterised by the learned author of the "Peloponnesos" Polemon was one of the most famous exponents. If on every ground the loss of his works is to be deplored, so especially may that loss be regarded as irrepa- rable as respects the history of ancient art. This we are fully warranted in affirming, both from the reputation of their author and from the mere titles of the works themselves. The rirrapa /3i/3Xta, for example, nepi tqov dva6r}paTvi nivdnav, and the treatise npos 'Avrlyovov nepl faypcxpw which has already been referred to in these pages. For a more complete enumeration of his works, Vossius or Fabrieius may be consulted with advantage: for a survey of his fragments, I may refer to Preller's valuable edition. I have called Polemon a stepping-stone to Pausanias, whose works form in fact the only exception to the otherwise total loss of Periegetic literature. As I have lying before me the admirable and recent work of Curtius, which may be called a commentary on Pausanias, I think it due to my readers to give them his esti- mate of that author. Something, at any rate, they shall meet with worth perusal before they lay this article down. " Pausanias had by nature no other qualification for the execution of his work than a lively interest in the old haunts and monuments of