[11] ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΟΥ ΗΙΘΕΟΥ ΑΓΑΛΜΑ. Τεθέασαι τὸν ἠίθεον ἐπ´ ἀκροπόλει, ὃν Πραξιτέλης ἵδρυσεν, ἢ δεῖ σοι τῆς τέχνης παραστῆσαι τὸ πρᾶγμα; παῖς ἦν ἁπαλός τε καὶ νέος πρὸς τὸ μαλθακόν τε καὶ νεοτήσιον τῆς τέχνης τὸν χαλκὸν μαλαττούσης, χλιδῆς δὲ ἦν καὶ ἱμέρου μεστὸς καὶ τὸ τῆς ἥβης ἔφαινεν ἄνθος, πάντα δὲ ἦν ἰδεῖν πρὸς τὴν τῆς τέχνης βούλησιν ἀμειβόμενα· καὶ γὰρ ἁπαλὸς ἦν μὴ μαχομένην τῇ ἁπαλότητι τὴν οὐσίαν ἔχων καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὑγρὸν ἤγετο ἐστερημένος ὑγρότητος καὶ ὅλως ἐξέβαινε τῆς αὐτοῦ φύσεως ὁ χαλκὸς τοὺς ὅρους εἰς τὸν ἀληθῆ τύπον μεθιστάμενος. ἄμοιρος δὲ ὢν πνεύματος καὶ τὸ ἔμπνουν ὑπεδύετο· ἃ γὰρ μὴ παρέλαβεν ὕλη μηδὲ εἶχεν ἔμφυτα, τούτων ἡ τέχνη τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐπορίζετο. ἐκοινοῦτο δὲ τὰς παρειὰς ἐρυθήματι, ὃ δὴ καὶ παράδοξον ἦν, χαλκοῦ τικτόμενον ἔρευθος καὶ παιδικῆς ἦν ἡλικίας ἄνθος ἐκλάμπον· κόμη δὲ εἶχεν ἕλικας ταῖς ὀφρύσιν ἐπιβαίνοντας. ὁ δὲ τῷ τελαμῶνι καταστέφων τὴν κόμην καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀφρύων ἀπωθούμενος τῷ διαδήματι τὰς τρίχας γυμνὸν πλοκάμων ἐτήρει τὸ μέτωπον. ὡς δὲ καὶ κατὰ μέρος ἐξητάζομεν τὴν τέχνην καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ δαιδάλματα, ἀφασίᾳ πληγέντες εἱστήκειμεν· ὅ τε γὰρ χαλκὸς εὐτραφῆ καὶ λιπῶσαν ἐπεδείκνυτο τὴν σάρκα καὶ πρὸς τὴν τριχὸς κίνησιν μεθηρμόζετο, ὁτὲ μὲν βοστρύχων οὔλων πλοκαῖς συνεξελιττόμενος, ὁτὲ δ´ ἐθελούσῃ τῇ τριχὶ ἐκτάδην κατὰ νώτου χυθῆναι συναπλούμενος καὶ ὁτὲ μὲν ἐθέλει τὸ πλάσμα καμφθῆναι πρὸς τὴν καμπὴν ἀνιέμενος, ὁτὲ δὲ ἐπιτεῖναι τὰ μέλη πρὸς τὸ σύντονον μεθιστάμενος. ὄμμα δὲ ἱμερῶδες ἦν αἰδοῖ συμμιγὲς ἀφροδισίᾳ καὶ ἐρωτικῆς γέμον χάριτος· καὶ γὰρ ᾔδει ζηλοῦν ὁ χαλκὸς τὸ ἐράσμιον καὶ ὑπήκουσεν ἐθέλοντι τῷ εἰδώλῳ γαυροῦσθαι. ἀκίνητος δὲ ὢν οὗτος ὁ ἔφηβος ἔδοξεν ἄν σοι κινήσεως μετέχειν καὶ εἰς χορείαν εὐτρεπίζεσθαι.

[11] ON THE STATUE OF A YOUTH. Have you seen on the acropolis the youth which Praxiteles set up, or must I set before you the work of art ? It was a boy tender and young, and art had softened the bronze to express softness and youth ; moreover, it abounded in daintiness and desire, and it made manifest the bloom of youth. Indeed, it was plain to see that in all points the statue was responsive to the will of the artist ; for it was tender though the essence of the bronze is opposed to tenderness, and though devoid of suppleness it yet inclined to be supple, and the bronze departed totally from the limitations of its own nature and was transmuted into the true qualities of the subject. Though not endowed with breath, it yet began to breathe ; since what the material had not inherited as a gift of nature, for all this art furnished the capacity. It imparted to the cheeks to make them blush—a thing incredible—a ruddiness born of the bronze, and a bloom of young boyhood shone from it. And the hair had curls which tended to fall over the eye-brows. But fastening his hair with a band and thrusting it back from his brows with a fillet, he kept his forehead bare of the locks. When, however, we went on to examine the statue part by part and the matters of artistry in it, we stood overcome by speechlessness; for the bronze showed the flesh well nurtured and sleek with oil, and it adapted itself to the movement of the hair, now coiling in strands of curly locks, now unfolding with the hair that strove to pour in broad mass clown the back; and where the figure wished to bend, the bronze would relax itself to the bending, and where the figure would make tense its limbs, the bronze would change and become rigid. The eye held a look of longing commingled with a passionate modesty, and was full of the grace of love; for the bronze knew how to imitate love's passion and yielded to the image when it wished to indulge in wantonness. Though it was motionless, this youth seemed to possess the power to move and to be making ready to dance.