some they are nearly perfect. Leaving the visitor to examine and admire the various portions of the frieze in detail, let us point out particularly for his notice the series of slabs from No. 37 to No. 43 inclusive. These seven slabs, which are from the frieze of the north side, and form part of a train of citizens on horseback, are considered as being, in point both of composition

and execution, perhaps the finest known specimen of ancient lowrelief sculpture. The slab No. 47, representing two horsemenone riding before the other, and beckoning him on-is also much admired. This slab is the only original from the frieze of the western front, the other slabs representing the sculptures of that frieze (Nos. 48-61) being casts. 'There is a peculiarity,' says the catalogue, 'in the frieze of this west end which distinguishes it from that on the north and south sides of the temple. The subjects represented on the slabs of these two sides run into one another-that is, what was left imperfect on one slab is completed in the next; whereas in the west end, the subjects are nearly complete on each piece of marble. The western frieze is likewise distinguished from those of the two sides of the temple by the comparatively few figures introduced into it.' The intention apparently was to represent the figures on this frieze as stragglers closing the procession.

Statues or parts of statues from the pediments.-If it was not without deliberation that Phidias decided on the subjects for the metopes of the peristyle and the frieze of the cella, we may be sure that his choice of subjects for the sculptures of the two pediments was a matter of even greater anxiety with him, for of all

parts of a Greek temple the pediments were perhaps the most important. 'The sculptors of the pediments,' says Mr Cockerell in his description of the museum marbles, 'bore at least an equal degree of importance with the architecture, which was indeed the frame and vehicle of these works, and in some degree subservient to them. The number of figures introduced into the pediment depended on the style or number of columns of which the front was composed, and was proportioned to the size of the order; thus, in a temple that was octastyle (had eight columns in front), from twenty to twenty-five figures appear to have been employed; in the temple of Jupiter at Olympia, which was hexastyle (had six columns in front), from eleven to fifteen; in the hexastyle temple of Jupiter Panhellenius at Ægina, the same number.' By an architectural necessity, therefore, the subjects for the two pediments of the Parthenon required to be such as would admit of from twenty to twenty-five figures. Farther, the triangular form of the pediments imposed this additional limitation -that the figures should be more colossal or elevated in the middle, and smaller, or less erect, towards the sides; and this, too, without detriment to the harmony of the composition. Lastly, it was absolutely necessary that the subjects, like those of the metopes and the frieze of the cella, should relate to the mythological history of the goddess to whom the temple was dedicated.

All these conditions appear to have been admirably fulfilled by the choice of subjects actually made by Phidias :-The birth of Athene (Minerva)' for the eastern and principal pediment; and for the other 'The Contest between Athene and Poseidon (Neptune) for the guardianship of Attica.' Such at least, as far as can be inferred from the remaining fragments, and from the drawings we possess of the Parthenon while it was more complete than it now is, seem to have been selected by the sculptor. Nor could any others have been so appropriate. How, amid the astonished inhabitants of heaven, the virgin goddess sprang mature and ready-armed from the head of her father Jupiter, when it was severed by the axe of Vulcan; and how long afterwards she and the god Neptune contended on the Acropolis amid the local deities and the primeval heroes of Attica for the guardianship of so good a land-she causing the olive-tree to spring up where she stood, and he making water gush out from the ground by a stroke of his trident: what legends could be dearer than those to the heart of an Athenian? Treated as they had been by many artists before, Phidias resolved to treat them again in his own manner. What precise arrangement of the figures he adopted in each case, or even what the figures were that he actually introduced, has been a matter of dispute among artists and archæolo

gists. Regarding the western pediment, indeed, in which most of the figures were left standing, there could be no great controversy; but as in the eastern pediment only a few of the figures remained, it is only by conjecture and inference that it can be figured in its original and complete state. The restoration of the sculptures of both pediments as proposed by Mr Westmacott, after the suggestion of the Chevalier Brondsted, is probably the most accurate, as it is certainly the most poetical of any yet attempted.

In the eastern pediment, Mr Westmacott supposes the centre figure to have been Zeus, or Jupiter, the father of gods and men, represented as seated on his throne in the middle of the whole universe, between Day, or the Beginning of Things, on his left, and Night, or the End of Things, on his right hand. The great deity was in the act of giving birth to the divine Athene, who was represented as the supreme miracle of creation rising from behind the god in all the splendour and effulgence of the most brilliant armour, her golden crest filling the apex of the pediment.' On either side of this centre-piece were the primeval gods and goddesses of Olympus, the statues to the right of Jupiter (to the left of the spectator) representing 'those deities that are connected with the progress of facts and rising life, while those to the left (to the right of the spectator) relate to the decline or consummation of things.' Immediately to the right and left of Jupiter are the genethlic divinities, or those which preside over birth;' to his right Venus Urania, or Celestial Venus, and beside her Hephæstus, or Vulcan, whose important part in the action was supposed to be over; to his left Eileithyia (the goddess of childbirth), balanced against Venus Urania, and, by her, Prometheus, balanced against Vulcan. The next in this classification was Mars, an appropriate attendant at the birth of a goddess essentially warlike; whilst Mercury balanced the space near Prometheus. Themis, the first wife of Jupiter, the mother of the Horæ, or Seasons, and also of the Fates, occupied the place near Mars; whilst the next in succession, and corresponding with Themis, to the left of Mercury, was most probably Vesta.' After these ten central statues-namely, Jupiter, Minerva, and the four attending divinities on each side-followed on the right (that is, after Themis), a group of three figures two seated, and one advancing or flying- usually supposed to be Ceres and her daughter Proserpine with Iris the messenger of the gods, but interpreted by Mr Westmacott to represent the three Horæ, or Seasons, the beneficent daughters of Themis, and the openers of the gates of heaven, two of them-Dice and Eunomia-being seated, while the third-Irene-has begun her course, but still

holds one of her sisters by the hand. Balancing these on the left side (that is, after Vesta) was another group of three figures representing the Fates, two of whom-Clotho and Lachesiswere seated, while the third-Atropos-reclined in the lap of one of her sisters. Lastly, on the extreme right filling the angle was a recumbent statue, usually called Theseus, but more properly supposed to be the god Cephalus, gazing at the car of the sun, which was seen, together with the horses' heads, and the upper part of the figure of the sun-god, Helios himself, just emerging from the sea; and, similarly placed in the angle on the extreme left was the winged-goddess Selene, or Night, descending with her chariot into the ocean, her horses just sinking beneath the waves. According to this restoration, the entire number of figures in the pediment (counting each of the two chariots with its horses and drivers but as one) would be sixteen; the probability is, however, that there were one or two more, which we cannot now supply, placed near the Seasons, on the one side, or the Fates on the other.*

Of the western pediment, Mr Westmacott's restoration is as follows:-Minerva and Neptune are placed near each other in the centre, Minerva on the left, Neptune on the right of the spectator: the latter is represented as having struck the earth with his trident, from which a stream of water is issuing, whilst the olive-tree of Minerva occupied the space between the deities, and rose to the apex of the pediment. The chariot of Minerva followed the goddess, accompanied by Victory without wings, who always conducted the car of Minerva, attended by Erichthonius, who performed the part of groom. This group was evidently balanced by the chariot of Neptune on the other side, supported by two figures-namely, Amphitrite, the wife of Neptune, and Leucothea or Halia (a mythical personage who threw herself into the sea). They were followed by a female figure with two children in her arms, representing Gè Kourotrophos, or Earth the Nourisher.' After her on the same side came Thalassè, or the sea, with young Venus in her lap, attended by Galena, or Calm; while following these were Cephisus, the god of the Attic river of that name, with his daughter Praxithea. Balancing all these on the Minerva side, and following the chariot

*The proposed restoration of Mr Westmacott, it is right here to remark, differs considerably from that adopted in the restored model of the Parthenon placed in the Phigalian Room. There, too, the central figure is Jupiter; but Minerva, instead of rising from behind him, as in Mr Westmacott's restoration, is on his right hand, already born, and receiving, as it were, his congratulations. On her left is Vulcan, leaning on the hatchet with which the work has been done. The other figures are also different. Besides these two restorations, others still different have been proposed by M. Quatremère de Quincy, and by Mr Cockerell,

of the goddess, with its attendants Victory and Erichthonius, were Cecrops, the Attic demigod and his family, Herse, Aglauros, Pandrosos, &c. Lastly, the two angles were occupied, that on the Minerva side by a recumbent statue of Ilissus, the Attic rivergod, and that on the Neptune side by a recumbent statue of the nymph Callirrhöe, the divinity of the only well of spring water which was known at Athens.

Of the two grand compositions thus described-compositions upon which, if upon any portion at all of the exterior sculptures of the temple, we may imagine Phidias himself to have occasionally employed his chisel-only a few fragments remain. These, however, are sufficient to show what a grand art ancient statuary must have been.

To the eastern pediment belonged Nos. 91-98; they are fragments, therefore, of the great composition of the Birth of Athene. Nos. 91 and 92 are fragments of the group that occupied the left angle of the pediment-Helios, the sun-god emerging in his chariot from the sea. No. 91 is the upper part of the god himself, the arms stretched forward, holding with god-like art the reins of his coursers atop the waves; in No. 92 we see the heads of the horses, just raised above the water, and snorting to begin the race. No. 93, which is the best preserved statue in the collec

tion, is the recumbent statue of the so-called Theseus, supposed (see above) by Mr Westmacott rather to represent Cephalus, and by some again taken for Hercules. The reason why Mr Westmacott and others refuse to believe that the statue was meant for Theseus is, that this hero, not being one of the primeval divinities, but only a later accession to the Pantheon, could have