HODOI ELEKTRONIKAI
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CALLISTRATE, Descriptions de statues [avec traduction anglaise]

Chapitre 5

  Chapitre 5

[5] ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΟΥ ΝΑΡΚΙΣΣΟΥ ΑΓΑΛΜΑ. Ἄλσος ἦν καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ κρήνη πάγκαλος ἐκ μάλα καθαροῦ τε καὶ διαυγοῦς ὕδατος, εἱστήκει δὲ ἐπ´ αὐτῇ Νάρκισσος ἐκ λίθου πεποιημένος. παῖς ἦν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἠίθεος, ἡλικιώτης Ἐρώτων, ἀστραπὴν οἷον ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος ἀπολάμπων κάλλους. ἦν δὲ τοιόνδε τὸ σχῆμα· κόμαις ἐπιχρύσοις ἤστραπτεν κατὰ μὲν τὸ μέτωπον τῆς τριχὸς ἑλισσομένης εἰς κύκλον, κατὰ δὲ τὸν αὐχένα κεχυμένης εἰς νῶτα, ἔβλεπε δὲ οὐκ ἀκράτως γαῦρον οὐδὲ ἱλαρὸν καθαρῶς· ἐπιπεφύκει γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὄμμασιν ἐκ τῆς τέχνης καὶ λύπη, ἵνα μετὰ τοῦ Ναρκίσσου καὶ τὴν τύχην εἰκὼν μιμῆται. ἔσταλτο δὲ ὥσπερ οἱ Ἔρωτες, οἷς καὶ τῆς ὥρας τὴν ἀκμὴν προσείκαστο. σχῆμα δὲ ἦν τὸ κοσμοῦν τοιόνδε· πέπλος λευκανθὴς ὁμόχρως τῷ σώματι τοῦ λίθου περιθέων εἰς κύκλον, κατὰ τὸν δεξιὸν ὦμον περονηθεὶς ὑπὲρ γόνυ καταβαίνων ἐπαύετο μόνην ἀπὸ τοῦ πορπήματος ἐλευθερῶν τὴν χεῖρα. οὕτω δὲ ἦν ἁπαλὸς καὶ πρὸς πέπλου γεγονὼς μίμησιν, ὡς καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος διαλάμπειν χρόαν τῆς ἐν τῇ περιβολῇ λευκότητος τὴν ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν αὐγὴν ἐξιέναι συγχωρούσης. ἔστη δὲ καθάπερ κατόπτρῳ τῇ πηγῇ χρώμενος καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν περιχέων τοῦ προσώπου τὸ εἶδος, δὲ τοὺς ἀπ´ αὐτοῦ δεχομένη χαρακτῆρας τὴν αὐτὴν εἰδωλοποιίαν ἤνυεν, ὡς δοκεῖν ἀλλήλαις ἀντιφιλοτιμεῖσθαι τὰς φύσεις. μὲν γὰρ λίθος ὅλη πρὸς ἐκεῖνον μετηλλάττετο τὸν ὄντως παῖδα, δὲ πηγὴ πρὸς τὰ ἐν τῇ λίθῳ μηχανήματα τῆς τέχνης ἀντηγωνίζετο ἐν ἀσωμάτῳ σχήματι τὴν ἐκ σώματος ἀπεργαζομένη τοῦ παραδείγματος ὁμοιότητα καὶ τῷ ἐκ τῆς εἰκόνος κατερχομένῳ σκιάσματι, οἷον τινὰ σάρκα τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος φύσιν περιθεῖσα. οὕτω δὲ ἦν ζωτικὸν καὶ ἔμπνουν τὸ καθ´ ὑδάτων σχῆμα, ὡς αὐτὸν εἶναι δοξάσαι τὸν Νάρκισσον, ὃν ἐπὶ πηγὴν ἐλθόντα τῆς μορφῆς αὐτῷ καθ´ ὑδάτων ὀφθείσης παρὰ Νύμφαις τελευτῆσαι λέγουσιν ἐρασθέντα τῷ εἰδώλῳ συμμῖξαι καὶ νῦν ἐν λειμῶσι φαντάζεσθαι ἐν ἠριναῖς ὥραις ἀνθοῦντα. εἶδες δ´ ἂν ὡς εἷς ὢν λίθος τὴν χρόαν καὶ ὀμμάτων κατασκευὴν ἥρμοζε καὶ ἠθῶν ἱστορίαν ἔσῳζεν καὶ αἰσθήσεις ἐνεδείκνυτο καὶ πάθη ἐμήνυεν καὶ πρὸς τριχώματος ἐξουσίαν ἠκολούθει εἰς τὴν τριχὸς καμπὴν λυόμενος. τὸ δὲ οὐδὲ λόγῳ ῥητὸν λίθος εἰς ὑγρότητα κεχαλασμένος καὶ ἐναντίον σῶμα τῇ οὐσίᾳ παρεχόμενος· στερεωτέρας γὰρ τετυχηκὼς φύσεως τρυφερότητος ἀπέστελλεν αἴσθησιν εἰς ἀραιόν τινα σώματος ὄγκον διαχεόμενος. μετεχειρίζετο δὲ καὶ σύριγγα, ἧς νομίοις θεοῖς ἐκεῖνος ἀπήρχετο καὶ τὴν ἐρημίαν κατήχει τοῖς μέλεσιν, εἴποτε μουσικοῖς ψαλτηρίοις προσομιλῆσαι ποθήσειεν. τοῦτον θαυμάσας, νέοι, τὸν Νάρκισσον καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς παρήγαγον εἰς Μουσῶν αὐλὴν ἀποτυπωσάμενος. {ἔχει δὲ λόγος, ὡς καὶ εἰκὼν εἶχεν.} [5] ON THE STATUE OF NARCISSUS. There was a grove, and in it an exceedingly beautiful spring of very pure clear water, and by this stood a Narcissus made of marble. He was a boy, or rather a youth, of the same age as the Erotes ; and he gave out as it were , a radiance of lightning from the very beauty of his body. The appearance of the statue was as follows :—lt was shining with gilded hair, of which the locks encircled the forehead in a curve and hung free down the neck to the back ; and its glance did not express unmixed exultation nor yet pure joy, for in the nature of the eyes art had put an indication of grief, that the image might represent not only both Narcissus but also his fate. He was clothed like the Erotes, and he resembled them also in that he was in the prime of youth. The garb which adorned him was as follows : a white mantle, of the same colour as the marble of which he was made, encircled him ; it was held by a clasp on the right shoulder and reached down nearly to the knees, where it ended, leaving free, from the clasp down, only the hand. Moreover, it was so delicate and imitated a mantle so closely that the colour of the body shone through, the whiteness of the drapery permitting the gleam of the limbs to come out. He stood using the spring as a mirror and pouring into it the beauty of his face, and the spring, receiving the lineaments which came from him, reproduced so perfectly the same image that the two beings seemed to emulate each other. For whereas the marble was in every part trying to change the real boy so as to match the one in the water, the spring was struggling to match the skilful efforts of art in the marble, reproducing in an incorporeal medium the likeness of the corporeal model and enveloping the reflection which came from the statue with the substance of water as though it were the substance of flesh. And indeed the form in the water was so instinct with life and breath that it seemed to be Narcissus himself, who, as the story goes, came to the spring, and when his form was seen by him in the water he died among the water-nymphs, because he desired to embrace his own image, and now he appears as a flower in the meadows in the spring-time. You could have seen how the marble, uniform though it was in colour, adapted itself to the expression of his eyes, preserved the record of his character, showed the perception of his senses, indicated his emotions and conformed itself to the abondance of his hair as it relaxed to make the curls of his locks. Indeed, words cannot describe how the marble softened into suppleness and provided a body at variance with its own essence ; for though its own nature is very hard, it yielded a sensation of softness, being dissolved into a sort of porous matter. The image was holding a syrinx, the instrument with which Narcissus was wont to offer music to the gods of the flock, and he would make the desert echo with his songs whenever he desired to hold converse with stringed musical instruments. In admiration of this Narcissus, O youths, I have fashioned an image of him and brought it before you also in the halls of the Muses. And the description is such as to agree with the statue.


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Dernière mise à jour : 21/06/2007