Praxitĕles

, a famous sculptor of Magna Græcia, who flourished about 324 years before the christian era. He chiefly worked on Parian marble, on account of its beautiful whitene . He carried his art to the greatest perfection, and was so happy in copying nature, that his statues seemed to be animated. The most famous of his pieces was a Cupid which he gave to Phryne. This celebrated courtesan, who wished to have the best of all the statues of Praxiteles, and who could not depend upon her own judgment in the choice, alarmed the sculptor, by telling him his house was on fire. Praxiteles upon this showed his eagerne to save his Cupid from the flames, above all his other pieces; but Phryne restrained his fears, and, by discovering her artifice, obtained the favourite statue. The sculptor employed his chisel in making a statue of this beautiful courtesan, which was dedicated in the temple of Delphi, and placed between the statues of Arch i dam us king of Sparta, and Philip king of Macedon. He also made a statue of Venus, at the request of the people of Cos, and gave them their choice of the godde , either naked or veiled. The former was superior to the other in beauty and perfection, but the inhabitants of Cos preferred the latter. The ♦ Cnidians, who did not wish to patronize modesty and decorum with the same eagerne as the people of Cos, bought the naked Venus, and it was so universally esteemed, that Nicomedes king of Bithynia offered the Cnidians to pay an enormous debt under which they laboured, if they would give him their favourite statue. This offer was not accepted. The famous Cupid was bought of the Thespians by Caius Cæsar and carried to Rome, but Claudius restored it to them, and Nero afterwards obtained po e ion of it. Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 40 ; bk. 8 , ch. 9 .— Pliny , bk. 7 , chs. 34 & 36. ♦ ‘Cnidans’ replaced with ‘Cnidians’