alluded to ; and suggested that one of them in all probability was a
resemblance of one of the Ptolemies ; the head of thé statue is wanting,
and we fear it has been knocked off at some period by the Arabs
of the place, for the chance of disposing of it at Tripolÿ or Bengazi ;
a fate which has befallen many a beautiful example of Grecian art, now
lying in' thé city and the neighbourhood of Cyrene. I t is possible,
however, that it might be found in the course of excavation, although
we did not ourselves succeed in discovering it in the parts where we
dug for it about the statue. We remember to have been very
anxious upon the occasion, and fancied that we should know a head
of any of the Lagides, meet with it wherever we might. I t was from
the decorations carved upon the armour, as we have stated in another
place, that we imagined this statue to be the portrait of a Ptolemy ;
and it is well known that the eagle and the head of Jupiter Ammon
are usually borne on the coins of that family. If it had been possible,
we should have brought home what remains of this statue (which is
merely the trunk), as well as several other very excellent examples of
Grecian sculpture in its neighbourhood ; and we are convinced, that
excavation judiciously employed in the central and eastern parts of
Cyrene, would bring to light many beautiful specimens of art, now
covered only with the soil and vegetation which have been allowed
to accumulate for ages about them. There have been several -public
buildings of importance immediately without the walls inclosing the
theatre, of which plans might perhaps be satisfactorily made, if excavation
were employed for the purpose ; and it is very probable that
inscriptions might at the same time bè found, which would help to
throw light upon the nature of the buildings, and to ascertain the
period at which they were erected. There must be a considerable
number of those buried in different parts of the city ; for we never
saw an ancient town in which fewer inscriptions are to he seen than
that of Cyrene; especially for a town in which literature and the fine
arts were cultivated with so much success. The few which we copied
are scarcely worth inserting, and we shall only give (in addition to
that over the fountain) another in Doric Greek, which is given by
Signor Della Celia, in the reading of which we also differ in some
respects from his copy. I t was found upon a stone bearing the form
of a pedestal, immediately without the wall above mentioned; and the
Doctor has suggested that the remains of a female statue, seated in a
chair, which is lying in the road not far from it, was the representation
of Claudia Arete, the matron, in commemoration of whose benevolence
and virtue the inscription in question was erected by the
Cyreneans. We give it below *, but are not of opinion that the
* KAAYAIANAPATAN<flAlZK£l
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