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22. While he was waiting in the Temple -and it took a long time for the king to be informed that strangers had arrived- Apollonius said: "O Damis, is there such a thing as painting?"
"Why yes," he answered, "if there be any such thing as truth."
"And what does this art do?"
"It mixes together," replied Damis, "all the colours there are, blue with green, and white with black, and red with yellow."
"And for what reason," said the other, "does it mix these? For it isn't merely to get a colour, like dyed wax."
"It is," said Damis, "for the sake of imitation, and to get a likeness of a dog, or a horse, or a man, or a ship, or of anything else under the sun; and what is more, you see the sun himself represented, sometimes borne upon a four horse car, as he is said to be seen here, and sometimes again traversing the heaven with his torch, in case you are depicting the ether and the home of the gods."
"Then, O Damis, painting is imitation?"
"And what else could it be?" said he: "for if it did not effect that, it would voted to be an idle playing with colours."
"And," said the other, "the things which are seen in heaven, whenever the clouds are torn away from one another, I mean the centaurs and stag-antelopes, yes, and the wolves too, and the horses, what have you got to say about them? Are we not to regard them as works of imitation?"
"It would seem so," he replied.
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