Note 2378 — BOOK XXXVI. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF STONES.

The Goddess of Retribution. Pausanias, B. i. c. 33, says that it was the work of Phidias, and that it was made of Parian marble, which the Persians had brought into Attica for the purpose of erecting a trophy. Strabo, however, in B. ix., says that it was the work of Agoracritus and Diodotus (an artist otherwise unknown), and that it was not at all inferior to the production of Phidias. Tzetzes again, Suidas, and Photius, say that it was the work of Phidias, and that it was presented by him to his favourite pupil, Agoracritus. Sillig rejects the story of the contest, and the decision by the suffrages of the Athenian people. Some modern writers have doubted also, whether a statue of Venus could be modified so as to represent Nemesis; but not with sufficient reason, Sillig thinks.