fect of
the whole. For example, the head is small in proportion to the breadth
of the breast and shoulders; and because Hercules was a swift runner the
sculptor has made the legs too long to be natural. It is in such
particulars as these that the decline of art may be traced, even in
works that command admiration (Fig. 59).

The moment in which the god is represented is that which immediately
followed his securing the apples of the Hesperides, the wedding present
of Ge to Juno. Of all the labors of Hercules, perhaps this was the most
arduous. Juno had left these apples with the Hesperides for safekeeping.
These goddesses lived on Mount Atlas, and the serpent Ladon helped them
to guard their precious trust. Hercules did not know just where the
apples were kept, and this made his task all the more difficult. When,
therefore, he arrived at Mount Atlas he offered to hold up the world for
Atlas if he would go and fetch the apples. This Atlas did, but refused
to take the weight from Hercules again. However, Hercules took the
apples and hastened to his master, Eurystheus, with them. While
performing this labor he had a terrible struggle with Ladon, and some
accounts say that he killed the monster.

[Illustration: FIG. 59.--THE FARNESIAN HERCULES.]

Now, the statue represents the god with the apples in his right hand,
the world held on his back, while he leans heavily on his club covered
with a lion's skin. All the muscles of his body are swollen from his
struggle; his head droops, his whole expression of face and form is that
of sadness and weariness. The youthfulness and strength with which the
older sculptors invested him is not here. It is a splendid work, but it
is not of the best; it belongs to an age when there was too much
straining after effect, when the moderation of the best Greek masters
did not satisfy the spirit of the time; and no sculptor lived whose
power equalled that of Phidias or Lysippus.

There are some reliefs and vases of this Roman period that are very
interesting. I shall speak of but one relief--the Sacrifice of
Iphigenia, which is in Florence. It is called the work of Cleomenes, and
his name is inscribed upon it; but there is some doubt as to the
genuineness of the inscription. This relief is very beautiful. It
represents a priest cutting off the hair of the lovely maiden as a
preparation for her sacrifice.

[Illustration: FIG. 60.--THE APOLLO BELVEDERE.]

The story runs that Iphigenia was the