in the
remotest ages of human improvement.

The Apollo strikes a stranger with all its divine grandeur on the first
aspect; subsequent examination can add nothing to the force of the
impression which is then received; The Venus produces at first less
effect, but gains upon the mind at every renewal, till it rivets the
affections even more than the greatness of its unequalled
rival--emblematic of the charm of female excellence, which, if it
excites less admiration at first than the loftier features of manly
character, is destined to acquire a deeper influence, and lay the
foundation of more indelible affection.

The Dying Gladiator is perhaps, after the two which we have mentioned,
the finest statue which the Louvre contains. The moment chosen is finely
adapted for that expression of ideal beauty, which may be produced even
in a subject naturally connected with feelings of pain. It is not the
moment of energy or struggling, when the frame is convulsed with the
exertion it is making, or the countenance is deformed by the tumult of
passion; it is the moment of expiring nature, when the figure is relaxed
by the weakness of decay, and the mind is softened by the approach of
death; the moment when the ferocity of combat is forgotten in the
extinction of the interest which it had excited, when every unsocial
passion is stilled by the weakness of exhausted nature, and the mind,
in the last moments of life, is fraught with finer feelings than had
belonged to the character of previous existence. It is a moment similar
to that in which Tasso has so beautifully described the change in
Clorinda's mind, after she had been mortally wounded by the hand of
Tancred, but in which he was enabled to give her the inspiration of a
greater faith, and the charity of a more gentle religion:--

Amico h'ai vinto: io te perdon. Perdona
Tu ancora, al corpo no che nulla pave
All'alma si: deh per lei prega; e dona
Battesme a me, ch'ogni mia colpa lave;
In queste voci languide risuona
Un non so che di flebile e soave
Ch'al cor gli scende, ed ogni sdegno ammorza,
Egli occhi a lagrimar gl'invoglia e sforza.

The greater statues of antiquity were addressed to the worshippers in
their temples; they were intended to awaken the devotion of all classes
of citizens--to be felt and judged by all mankind. They were intended to
express characters superior to common nature, and they still express
them. They are free, therefor