Arnobius

“ But why do I laugh at the sickles and tridents which have been given to the gods? why at the horns, hammers, and caps, when I know that certain images have [1] the forms of certain men, and the features of notorious courtesans? For who is there that does not know that the Athenians formed the Hermæ in the likeness of Alcibiades? Who does not know—if he read Posidippus over again—that Praxiteles, putting forth his utmost skill, [2] fashioned the face of the Cnidian Venus on the model of the courtesan Gratina, whom the unhappy man loved desperately? ”

“ To such an extent is there wantonness and childish feeling in forming those little images, adoring them as gods, heaping upon them the divine virtues, when we see that the artists themselves find amusement in fashioning them, and set them up as monuments of their own lusts! ”

“ This was a very common mode of expressing love among the ancients, the name of the loved one being carved on the bark of trees (as if the Loves or the mountain nymphs had done it) , on walls, doors, or, as in this case, on statues, with the addition “beautiful” (Suidas, s.v. Καλοί and ̔Ραμνουσία Νέμεσις, with Küster’s notes) . [Vol. ii. p. 187, note 1, this series.] ↑ Lit., “bones.”↑ Lit., “conditions,” habitus.↑ Lit., “similitude.”↑ Lit., “first among.”↑ Lit., “human things.” ”