CHAP. 40.—STATUES OF IRON; CHASED WORKS IN IRON.
Still, however, human industry has not failed to employ iron
for perpetuating the honours of more civilized life. The
artist Aristonidas, wishing to express the fury of Athamas
subsiding into repentance, after he had thrown his son Learchus
from the rock, [Note] blended copper and iron, in order that the
blush of shame might be more exactly expressed, by the rust of
the iron making its appearance through the shining substance of
the copper; a statue which still exists at Rhodes. There is also,
in the same city, a Hercules of iron, executed by Alcon, [Note] the
endurance displayed in his labours by the god having suggested
the idea. We see too, at Rome, cups of iron consecrated in
the Temple of Mars the Avenger, [Note] Nature, in conformity
with her usual benevolence, has limited the power of iron, by
inflicting upon it the punishment of rust; and has thus displayed
her usual foresight in rendering nothing in existence
more perishable, than the substance which brings the greatest
dangers upon perishable mortality.