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ANTIQUE STATUES. 153
French vessel, too, and he urges and spurs his men to
hasten the work. The September sun burns hard, and
the men sweat beneath their fez caps and turbans, as
they bear the marble down the shelves of the mountain.
Step by step they near the strand ; cable’s length by
cable’s length the ship flies towards the harbor. It is
VEstaft’tte with Mr. de Marcellus on board. Now the
sails are lowered and the anchor made fast. Mr. Brest
hurries to the spot, gives a cry of distress and points to
the band which, led or driven by the long-bearded monk,
is struggling with its burden down towards the Turkish
vessel. Mr. de Marcellus, accompanied by captain Robert
and a score of soldiers and seamen hurriedly armed, has-
tens to land.
What happened after that, has been a well-kept secret,
until the month of April of this present year, 1874. Ac-
cording to the declaration of the French secretary of
embassy, repeated in several writings, it was his own elo-
quent tongue that, after unceasing labor, succeeded in
amicably arranging the matter to the advantage of
France. The Turks gave way to his winged diplomatic
words, and the Greeks stood open-mouthed before this
inheritor of Isocrates’ and Demosthenes’ art. It makes
a singular impression to read these writings of Mr. Mar-
cellus. Self-complacency speaks in every line ; what
Mr. Brest and others have done to forward the matter, is
left in the shade ; it is de Marcellus, and him only,
France has to thank for the Aphrodite of Melos, he calls
her his ’’protegee" his "daughter," and it was his elo-
quence, that saved her to the culture of her new country
and the West.
A few months ago, however, an account of the matter
was published, through Mr. Jean Aicard, which differs
7*
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