Cnidian _Aphrodite_, anyhow; now I want to know whether you
have also seen our own _Aphrodite of the Gardens_,--the Alcamenes.

_Poly_. I must be a dullard of dullards, if that most
exquisite of Alcamenes's works had escaped my notice.

_Ly_. I forbear to ask whether in the course of your many
visits to the Acropolis you ever observed the _Sosandra_ of
Calamis. [Footnote: This statue is usually identified with one of
Aphrodite by the same sculptor, mentioned in Pausanias. Soteira
('saviour') is known as an epithet of Aphrodite: but Sosandra
('man-saving') is explained as a nickname of the particular statue,
in playful allusion to Callias, the donor, who was apparently
indebted to Aphrodite for his success with a certain Elpinice.]

_Poly_. Frequently.

_Ly_. That is really enough for my purpose. But I should just
like to know what you consider to be Phidias's best work.

_Poly_. Can you ask?--The Lemnian _Athene_, which bears
the artist's own signature; oh, and of course the _Amazon_
leaning on her spear.

_Ly_. I approve your judgement. We shall have no need of other
artists: I am now to cull from each of these its own peculiar
beauty, and combine all in a single portrait.

_Poly_. And how are you going to do that?