mn is about one hundred and
six feet high, and originally was surmounted by a bronze statue of
Trajan, which was replaced by one of St. Peter by Pope Sixtus V. A band
of reliefs runs around this pillar in a spiral form; this band is six
hundred feet long, and the sculptures represent Trajan's campaign
against the Dacians. Many of the figures lose their effect on account of
the height at which they are placed. There are more than a hundred
scenes upon it, in which are about twenty-five hundred human figures,
besides many horses and other objects. The whole is executed with the
greatest care.

The real object of the whole work was to glorify the Emperor Trajan, and
he is represented in many of the scenes; sometimes he is conducting
engagements, storming a fort, or encouraging his troops; again he is
holding an audience, protecting the women of a conquered city, or
sitting in judgment on captives. Fig. 67 represents the Dacians
assaulting a Roman fort. It is winter, and while some have crossed the
ice in safety, others have broken through. Everything about it is
represented in the most life-like and matter-of-fact manner, and this
shows distinctly the principal difference between the Greek and the
Roman art when the latter was not influenced by the former. It is pure,
realistic, historical sculpture, and this pillar shows this at its very
best estate; it is a splendid specimen of this kind of art. In all these
many scenes there are but two mythological figures: one is Selene, used
to represent Night, and the other is _Jupiter tonans,_ who indicates
Storm. But the correctness and elegance of the sculptures show what the
Greek teaching did for the Romans; for it was to the Greeks that the
latter owed their knowledge of the human form and their power to render
it properly in sculpture.

[Illustration: FIG. 67.--FROM THE RELIEFS OF TRAJAN'S COLUMN.]

The last sort of ancient sculpture of which I shall speak is portrait
sculpture, and perhaps this belongs also to historical sculpture, for it
is by means of statues and busts that we know the faces and forms of
many of the great men and women who hold their places in the regard of
the world through all the centuries, because they were concerned in the
events which make up what we call the history of the world. We have said
that in Greece in very early times there were no portrait sculptures;
gradually they were introduced until, in the time of Alexander, portrait
statues were