yia, who accompanied the Argonauts to Colchis along with his brother Calais. In Bithynia, the two brothers, who are represented with wings, delivered Phineus from the persecution of the Harpies, and drove these monsters as far as the islands called Strophades. (Vid. Strophades, and Harpyia-Apollod., 1, 9; 3, 15. -Hygin., fab., 14.—Ovid, Met., 8, 716.—Pausan., 3, 16.)

ZETHUS, a son of Jupiter and Antiope, brother to Amphion. (Vid. Amphion.)

ZEUGIS OF ZEUGITANA, a district of Africa in which Carthage was situated. It extended from the river Tusca to the Hermaan promontory, and from the coast to the mountains that separated it from Byzacium. (Isid., Hist., 14, 5.-Plin., 5, 4.)

ZEUGMA, or the Bridge, the name of the principal passage of the river Euphrates, southwest of Edessa. An ancient fortress by which it was commanded is still called Roum-Cala, or the Roman Castle; to which may be added, that on the opposite shore there is a place called Zeugme. (Plin., 5, 24.—Curt., 3, 7.-Tacit., Ann., 12, 12.)

ZEUS, the name of Jupiter among the Greeks. (Vid. remarks under the article Jupiter.)

He

beautiful maidens in the city, and, having selected five
of the fairest, copied all that was most beautiful and
perfect in the form of each, and thus completed his
Helen. Pliny, in his relation of the same circum-
stance, omits to give the particular subject of the
painting, or the terms of the original contract, and
states that the whole occurred, not among the people
of Crotona, but those of Agrigentum, for whom, he
says, the piece was executed, to fulfil a vow made by
them to the goddess. This great artist, on several
occasions, painted pictures for cities and states.
gave his Alcmena, representing Hercules strangling
the serpents in his cradle, in the sight of his parents,
to the Agrigentines, and a figure of Pan to his patron
Archelaus of Macedon. The most celebrated of the
pictures of Zeuxis, besides the Helen and the Alcme-
na, were, a Penelope, in which Pliny assures us that
not only form, but character, was vividly expressed; a
representation of Jupiter seated on his throne, with
all the gods around doing him homage; a Marsyas
bound to a tree, which was preserved at Rome; and
a wrestler, beneath which was inscribed a verse, to the
effect that it was easier to envy than to imitate its ex-
cellence. Lucian has left us an admirable description
of another painting of his, representing the Centaurs,
in which he particularly applauds the delicacy of the
drawing, the harmony of the colouring, the softness of
the blending shades, and the excellence of the pro-
portions. He left many draughts in a single colour
on white. Pliny censures him for the too great size
of the heads and joints, in comparison with the rest
of the figures. Aristotle complains that he was a
painter of forms rather than of manners, which seems
contrary to the eulogium passed by Pliny on the
representation of Penelope. The story respecting
the contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius has been
frequently related. It is said that the former paint-
ed a cluster of grapes with such perfect skill that
the birds came and pecked at them. Elated with so
unequivocal a testimony of his excellence, he called
to his rival to draw back the curtain, which he sup-
posed concealed his work, anticipating a certain tri-
umph. Now, however, he found himself entrapped,
for what he took for a curtain was only a painting of
one by Parrhasius; upon which he ingenuously con-
fessed himself defeated, since he had only deceived
birds, but his antagonist had beguiled the senses of an
experienced artist. Another story is related of a simi-
iar kind, in which he overcame himself, or, rather, one
part of his work was shown to have excelled at the ex-
pense of the other. He painted a boy with a basket of
grapes, to which the birds as before resorted; on which
he acknowledged that the boy could not be well painted,
since, had the similitude been in both cases equal, the
birds would have been deterred from approaching.
From these stories, if they may be credited, it would
appear that Zeuxis excelled more in depicting fruit than
in painting the human form. If this were the case, it is
strange that all his greater efforts, of which any ac-
counts have reached us, were portraits, or groups of
men or deities. The readiness which Zeuxis has, in
these instances, been represented as manifesting to ac-
knowledge his weakness, is scarcely consistent with the
usual tenour of his spirit. At all events, the victory
of Parrhasius proved very little respecting the merit of
the two artists. The man who could represent a cur-
tain to perfection would not necessarily be the great-
est painter in Greece. Even were exactness of imi-
tation the sole excellence in the picture, regard must
be had to the cast of the objects imitated, in reference
to the skill of the artists by whom they were chosen.

ZEUXIS, a celebrated painter, born at Heraclea, in Magna Græcia, and who flourished about B.C. 400. (Plin., 35, 9, 36.—Elian, V. H., 4, 12.-Hardouin, ad Plin, l. c.-Sillig, Dict. Art., p. 130, not.) He studied under either Demophilus or Neseas, artists respecting whom nothing is known but that one of them was his master. Soon, however, he far outstripped his instructer, as Apollodorus intimated in verses expressive of his indignation that Zeuxis should have moulded to his own use all previous inventions, and stolen the graces of the best masters; thus paying a high though involuntary compliment to his gifted rival. Apollodorus having first practised chiaro-oscuro, could not endure that his glory should be eclipsed by a younger artist, who availed himself of his improvements to rise to a higher degree of excellence. Zeuxis seems to have rapidly risen to the highest distinction in Greece, and acquired by the exercise of his art, not only renown, but riches. Of the latter advantage he was more vain than became a man of exalted genius. He appeared at the Olympic games attired in a mantle on which his name was embroidered in letters of gold, a piece of most absurd display in one whose name was deeply impressed on the hearts and imaginations of those by whom he was surrounded. He does not, however, seem to have been chargeable with avarice; or, at least, this passion, if it existed, was subservient to his pride; for, when he had attained the height of his fame, he refused any longer to receive money for his pictures, but made presents of them, because he regarded them as above all pecuniary value. In the earlier part of his career he was accustomed, however, to exhibit his productions for money, especially his most celebrated painting of Helen. The truth seems to have been, that the ruling passion of Zeuxis was the love of pomp, an ever-restless vanity, a constant desire and craving after every kind of distinction.-Very little is known respecting the events of the life of this celebrated painter. He was not only successful in securing wealth and the applause of the multitude, but was honoured with the friendship of Archelaus, king of Macedon. For the palace of this monarch he executed numerous pictures. Cicero informs us, that the inhabitants of Crotona prevailed on Zeuxis to come to their city, and to paint there a number of pieces, which were intended to adorn the temple of Juno, for which he was to receive a large and stipulated sum. On his arrival, he in--Zeuxis is said to have taken a long time to finish his formed them that he intended only to paint the picture of Helen, with which they were satisfied, because he was regarded as peculiarly excellent in the delineation of women. He accordingly desired to see the most

chief productions, observing, when reproached for his slowness, that he was painting for eternity.-Festus relates that Zeuxis died with laughter at the picture of an old woman which he himself had painted. So

extraordinary a circumstance, however, would surely | by Tittman, in 1808, at the Leipzig press, along with have been alluded to by some other writer, had it been the Lexicon of Photius, in 3 vols. 4to, the first two true. There seems good reason, therefore, to believe volumes being devoted to the Lexicon of Zonaras. it fictitious. (Encyclop. Metropol., div. 2, vol. 1, p. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. Gr., vol. 6, p. 288.) 405, seqq.)

ΑΝ

ESSAY

ON THE

MEASURES, WEIGHTS, AND MONEYS

OF THE

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