calf is not the only proof with which the fcripture furnishes us: what we there read, with regard to the deftruction of that idol, deserves infinitely more attention. The scripture fays Mofes took the golden calf, burnt it, reduced it to powder, and afterwards mixed that powder with water which he made the Ifraelites drink *. Those who work in metals are not ignorant, that, in general, this operation is very difficult. Mofes probably had learned this fecret in Egypt. The fcripture remarks expressly, that he had been brought up in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; that is to fay, that Mofes had been inftructed in all the fciences which thefe people cultivated. I think then that at that time the Egyptians knew the art of performing this operation in gold, an operation of which, at the fame time, it is ne ceffary to thew the process. are The commentators are much troubled to explain the manner in which Mofes burnt and reduced to powder the golden calf; the most of them have only given vain conjectures, and such as are absolutely void of all probability. An able chymift has removed all the difficulties that can be formed about this operation. The means which he thinks Mofes has ufed very fimple. Inftead of tartar which we use for such a procels, the legislator of the Hebrews has ufed natron, which is very common in the east, and particularly near the Nile . What the fcripture adds, that Mofes made the Ifraelites drink this powder, proves that he knew perfectly well the whole force of its operation. He would aggravate the punishment of their disobedience. One could not invent a way which would render them more fenfible of it:"gold made potable by the process which I have mentioned, is of a deteftable taste *. We ought farther to look u pon as a mark of the rapid knowledge which many people had acquired in the art of working metals, the custom which was very ancient of ufing * Exod. c. 32. v. 20. 7 Acts, c. 7. v. 22. z Stahll, vitul. aureus, in opufc. chym. phyf.-med. p. 585. a See les mem. de l'acad. des fcienc. ann. 1733. mem. p. 315. It approaches to that of magiftery of fulphur. See Senac, n. cours de chymie, t. 2. p. 39. & 40. tin in many works: the manufactory of this metal may be ranked among the most difficult proceffes in metallurgy. It is yet certain that in the ages we are fpeaking of, they knew perfectly the art of preparing and using tin. The teftimonies of Mofes, and Homer, do not permit us to doubt of it. I could cite many other facts which equally mark the progrefs that the Egyptians and many other nations had already made in metallurgy: the facred story on one fide, and the profane writers on the other, would furnish me with abundant proofs; but I referve this detail for the following chapter, where I shall treat praticularly of gold work. WE CHA P. V. Of Sculpture, Gold work, and Painting. E cannot doubt that most of the arts which relate to defign, had been greatly cultivated in the ages we are at present running over. Embroidery, fculpture, ingraving of metals, and the knowledge of throwing them into fufion to make statues, were well known to the Egyptians, and many other people of Afia. I shall attend lefs to report the proofs, than to examine the taste which then took place in these fort of works. ARTICLE I. Of Sculpture. Tappears that the Egyptians had had at all times a great taste for coloffus's and gigantic figures. We fee the marks of it in most of the monuments erected by Sefoftris. Hiftory fays, that this Egyptian monarch caused to be placed before the temple of Vulcan his statue, and that of the queen Numb. c. 31. v. 22. See infra, art. 2. U 2 his his wife. These pieces, which were of one ftone, were 30 cubits high. The ftatues of his children, to the number of four, were not much lefs confiderable. They were 20 cubits high. Thefe facts are more than fufficient to prove the tafte that the Egyptians had for coloffus's. I shall have occafion in the fequel of this work to return again to this ar ticle. As to the part of defign, I have already mentioned it in the preceding books. I do not therefore think it neceffary to infist on it at present. I referve for the third part of this work fome particulars of the manner in which these people executed their coloffus's. I fhall add at the same time fome reflections on the taste and the practice of the Egyptian fchool. I know not in what clafs to range a very fingular monument which an ancient author faith had been executed by the orders of Sefoftris. This is the defcription, fuch as Clemens Alexandrinus reported after Athenodorus «. This author fays, that Sefoftris, having brought from the countries which he had travelled over, many able workmen, ordered the most skilful of them to make a statue of Ofiris. This artist used in the compofition all the metals and all the fpecies of precious ftones which were then known; but, above all, he put into it the fame perfume with which they had, fay they, embalmed the bodies of Ofiris and Apis. He had given to the whole work a fky-blue colour. Each may form on the arrangement of the different matters what conjectures he pleases, by fuppofing, nevertheless, the reality of the fact, which to me appears improbable. There remain very few lights on the progress and flate of fculpture in Afia. It is certain, that, near the fame ages, this art was there in much ufe. The Ifraelites had caft the golden calf; Mofes had placed on the two extremities of the ark of alliance two cherubims of gold ". Homer speaks of a ftatue of Minerva much revered among the Trojans 1. Diod 1. 1. p. 67. See part. book 2. h Exod. c. 37. v. 7. &c. e Ibid.; Herod. 1. 2. n. 107. i Iliad. 1. 6. v. 302. c. He He places in the palace of Alcinous, ftatues of gold, reprefenting young people who carried torches to give light during the night. At the time of Paufanias they saw still in the city of Argos, a Jupiter in wood which was faid to have been found in the palace of Priam when Troy was taken1. These facts give us fufficiently to understand that sculpture was at that time much in ufe in Afia; but they do not inftruct us in the taste in which they made these statues. Mofes does not teach us any thing touching the form of the two cherubims which covered the ark, only that they had extended wings one oppofite to the other, and their faces turned fronting each other. This loose and uncertain description has given room to commentators to represent the cherubims differently. Each has formed a particular idea: I shall not trouble the readers with the detail. We are not more affured as to the form which the golden calf had. Yet there is great reason to think, that this idol had much resemblance to that of the ox Apis fo reverenced by the Egyptians. And I fhould think in confequence that it had a human figure with the head of an ox. There ftill remain at this time many of thefe Egyptian representations. If the golden calf was executed in the taste of these models, we might be certain that this piece had nothing eftimable on the score of elegance, and the correctnefs of defign. With refpect to the ftatue of Minerva which is fpoken of in the Iliad, Homer does not characterise the defign in any manner. He does not even tell us of what it was made. We can only conjecture that the goddefs was represented fitting. On a very remarkable occafion, Homer reprefents. the Trojan ladies going in form to put a veil over the knees of that ftatue ". As to the Jupiter found in the palace of Priam, Paufanias who had seen it, has given us no description of it. He only k Odyff. 1. 7. v. 100. I have already explained for what reafons I have placed the ifle of the Phaeacians in Afia, p. 84. L. 2. c. 24. p. 165. m Exod. loco cit. "Iliad. 1.6. v. 303. See alfo Strabo, l. 13. p. 897. observes, obferves, that the ftatue had three eyes, one of which was in the middle of the forehead.. Although the authors which I have just mentioned, have not been explicit on these pieces of high antiquity, I believe we may fay that all these works were of a very middling tafte, and entirely deftitute of elegance and agreeableness. I am not reduced to fimple conjectures to fupport this fentiment. It is more than probable in reality, that the ftatue of Minerva of which Homer fpeaks, was no other than the Palladium. We learn from Apollodorus, that this image was executed in the tafte of the Egyptian ftatues, having the legs and thighs joined together P. The Palladium must have been by consequence a fort of unformed and gross mass, without attitude and motionless. ARTICLE II. Of Gold work. Pulence, and luxury which is the confequence, have given birth to gold work. Pomp and effeminacy had contributed to perfect this art, whofe origin, as we have seen in the first part, afcended to very remote ages. The enumeration of all the facts which prove how much the works in gold were common in the ages we are at prefent bufied in, would engage us in infinite details: this of all the arts. which have relation to defign, is that which feems to have been most cultivated. Let us chufe fome proper fubjects to make known the progrefs of gold work, and find out the objects which can give us an idea of the point of perfection to which that art was come at that time in Egypt and in Afia. The fcripture acquaints us, that the Ifraelites, the moment L. 2. c. 24. p. 165, PL. 3. p. 180. It is in this fenfe that we ought to underftand the expreffion ovμßißrnos, which Apollodorus ufes, as Scaliger, Kufther, and many other critics have proved. they |