that their position at each extreme of the east frieze, with their masses of vertical lines, and the girlishness of their proportions as compared with the men and the gods, produces a singularly happy effect in closing in the whole scene; and if this, as a mere matter of composition, appeals to the artistic sense, was it not also a beautiful idea of the sculptor's to admit these young girls into the presence of the gods, so to speak, reserving the rest of the procession for the other sides of the frieze, with its commotion and its more pronounced suggestions of ordinary daily life?

Having thus made a rapid review of the east frieze as the climax of the procession, we shall now do best to pass round to the west, where the last section-the end of the cavalcade -is starting, or preparing to start. In this manner we shall be able to follow the procession not only as was most natural for a visitor to the Acropolis, but also as the sculptor wished us to follow it. With few exceptions the movement of the west frieze is towards the north angle. As we have already said, that was the natural direction for visitors to take. Ordinarily they would turn round the north angle of the colonnade and pass along under the north frieze. We must imagine ourselves taking that course. But even if we prefer turning round the south angle and passing along under the south frieze, we shall equally find that the sculptor in many instances has been at pains to represent his horses and riders, especially the horses, with their chests turned round partially to the front, as if to meet the eye of a visitor who is following up the procession from behind, observing first the flanks of the horses and afterwards their chests and heads. Their heads are mostly in profile, with a sharp, deep incision,

which, as has been well pointed out,' looks ungainly if we approach the frieze from the opposite direction. It will be observed also that the chests of the horses often reach the highest relief possible in the circumstances, and present to anyone following them the appearance of a billowy movement which helps to carry us on gently but surely.

The first group of horsemen we see on turning the north angle is still in a state of preparation, but beyond that the cavalcade breaks into speed, and so goes on till it reaches the chariots, of which there appear to have been nine, and forming a conspicuous feature midway along the frieze. It was just there that the greatest damage was done by the gunpowder explosion which blew out the centre of the cella walls. From the fragmentary chariot slabs that remain, aided by Carrey's drawings of those that have been destroyed, we can in a measure see how this striking series of chariots in the very centre of each long side must have provided the most attractive feature of all. The large and simple forms of the horses, together with the greater space around them, would supply an element of repose to the eye of the spectator, while yet the fiery action of the horses and the energy of the apobatae would carry on the general movement of the procession.

The first chariot we come to on the north side is standing still (xxiii.). After that the chariots also dash forward, till the foremost (xi.) of them is violently pulled up beside the group of bearded representatives of a fine manhood (evavópía). We next overtake in order youths playing on lyres and on flutes, others carrying jars (hydriae) and trays, then boys leading 1 W. Watkiss Lloyd, Trans. R. Soc. Lit., xvi. (1893).

sheep and cows for the great sacrifice. At this point we reach the north or south angle, as we choose, and find on the east side a quite new element of the procession-a string of young girls, the Ergastinae as they were called, who had been chosen to weave and embroider the new peplos for the image of Athenè, and who now were allowed to walk in the procession1 behind the peplos, carrying some of them vessels for the sacrifice, others an object which has been a source of perplexity, and to present a silver cup to the goddess.

It may be asked, Why was this bringing of the new peplos associated with so apparently different a scene as the bestowing of prizes after the Panathenaic games? We can only suppose that the games, the culminating procession, and the great sacrifice to the gods had been founded in connection with the new peplos. The fact that the peplos was conveyed through the streets spread like a sail on a ship must have had its own significance, though we we cannot pretend to fathom it. We can imagine the scene as a theoxenia or entertainment of the gods on a grand scale, and may even suppose that the peplos had been hung spread out on the Acropolis before being placed on the image of Athené, like the curtain displayed in the visit of Dionysos to Icarios, as seen in the bas-relief in the British Museum.

We may now consider certain matters of detail. In

1 Hesychius gives, ἐργαστῖναι· αἱ τὸν πέπλον ὑφαίνουσαι. See also the restoration of several fragments of inscriptions referring to them in the Buli. Corr. Hell. xiii. p. 170: οἱ πατ[έρες] τῶν παρθένων [τῶν ἠργ] ασμένων τῇ ̓Αθηνᾷ τὰ ἔρια τὰ

[εἰς τὸ]ν πέπλον ἐμφανίζουσι

πεπομπευκέναι κα]τὰ τὰ προστε ταγμένα ὡς ὅτι κ[άλλισ]τα καὶ ἐυσχημονέ[στατα κ]ατεσκευακέναι δὲ ἀυτὰς ἐκ[τῶν ἰ]δίων καὶ φιάλη[ν ἀργυρᾶ]ν ἀπὸ δρ[α]χμῶν ἑκατὸν ἣν καὶ [βούλεσθαι ἀναθεῖ[ναι τῇ ̓Αθηνᾷ ὑπό]μνημα κτλ.

the first place, there are no women in the whole procession except on the east frieze, and these, as we have seen, are mere girls. In the second place, there is throughout the frieze a large proportion of young men and boys. There are old and bearded men among the officials standing waiting on the Acropolis. Here and there we see a bearded man on horseback, and there was of course a special section of the procession which consisted of bearded men (N. 28-43 and S. 84-105) chosen as representatives of manhood (evavôpía). But otherwise the frieze of the Parthenon may be called a glorification of youth. The boy who brings the folded peplos, 35, and holds it up to the priest reminds one of the legendary boy Ion, when a ministrant at the temple of Delphi, where Euripides1 describes him as bringing forth embroidered curtains from the Treasury. It is sometimes a question whether this boy is in the act of giving or receiving the peplos. But observe that one corner of the robe is tightly pressed between his left elbow and his side. Such a movement seems to be not only natural in giving up the peplos, but distinctly and intentionally expressive of that action. It would not be in the least natural if the boy were receiving the peplos from the priest.

We may here compare the figure of a boy at one of the angles of the north frieze, 134. He is standing behind his young master, whose girdle he appears to be fastening. The young man is pulling down with both hands the skirt of his chiton, as he would naturally do just after the girdle had

1 Ion, 1141. These curtains formed a tent, on the roof of which was woven or embroidered a picture of the starry heavens, while the walls were formed O

of barbarian tapestries, representing ships at war with Greeks, fantastic creatures composed of men and animals, wild horses, lions, deer, and goats.

been tightened. The boy is eagerly bent in doing something. Both his hands, so far as they can be seen, are partially clasped together, the fingers of the right hand being visible under the left. That is hardly so explicit an indication of the act of fastening the girdle as could be wished, but it is intelligible if the fastening had just been completed. An alternative which has been proposed lately is that the boy is holding the reins of his master's horse. He is too eager and earnest for that, and, besides, the reins would surely be very long for a riding horse. On the marble there are holes on the horse's head to show that it had once had a metal bridle, and a drill-hole on the neck where metal reins had been attached. Apparently the reins had been left to hang loose on the neck of the horse. We should mention here that throughout the frieze there are many similar proofs of metal bridles and reins, occasionally also of metal wreaths on the heads of riders and others. Most probably it was bronze gilt that was employed.

But to return to the boys. The one fastening the girdle wears only a slight mantle doubled over his shoulders, which has been cut sharply down at the back, so as not to interfere with the angle line of the frieze behind him; the one holding up the peplos has a more ample mantle. Yet both boys stand in the same attitude, with the right foot thrown back a little, presenting the same outline down the back. We may say that they represent the same type, each performing an act of personal service. On the west frieze there are other two boys, 6 and 24, and they also may be described as personal attendants. One of them, 24, so far as the figure has been preserved, bears a considerable likeness to the boy