The Greeks An Introduction to Their Culture, 3rd edition

The book does not survive, but from accounts of it and quotations in other authors it
is clear that the sculptor thought the secret of beauty to lie in commensurability of
the parts:

... of finger to finger, and of all the fingers to the palm and the wrist, and of these
to the forearm and of the forearm to the upper arm and of all the parts to each
other. [cited by the medical writer Galen (c.AD129–99)] He said that the employ-
ment of a great many numbers would almost engender perfection in sculpture.
[cited by Philo (c. 30 BC–c.AD45)]

ART 247

FIGURE 58

Marble portrait bust

of Pericles. Roman

copy after a

Greek original,

1805,0703.91

Source:Photo © The

Trustees of the British

Museum