Pliny mentions among the works in bronze by Praxiteies a youthful Apollo, called “Sauroctonos” (Lizard-slayer).  Fig. 152 is a marble copy of this, considerably restored.  The god, conceived in the likeness of a beautiful boy, leans against a tree, preparing to stab a lizard with an arrow, which should be in the right hand.  The graceful, leaning pose and the soft beauty of the youthful face and flesh are characteristically Praxitelean.

Two or three satyrs by Praxiteles are mentioned by Greek and Roman writers, and an anecdote is told by Pausanias which implies that one of them enjoyed an exceptional fame.  Unfortunately they are not described; but among the many satyrs to be found in museums of ancient sculpture there are two types in which the style of Praxiteles, as we have now learned to know it, is so strongly marked that we can hardly go wrong in ascribing them both to him.  Both exist in numerous copies.  Our illustration of the first (Fig. 153) is taken from the copy of which Hawthorne wrote so subtle a description in “The Marble Faun.”  The statue is somewhat restored, but the restoration is not open to doubt, except as regards the single pipe held in the right hand.  No animal characteristic is to be found here save the pointed ears; the face, however, retains a suggestion of the traditional satyr-type.  “The whole statue, unlike anything else that ever was wrought in that severe material of marble, conveys the idea of an amiable and sensual creature—­ easy, mirthful, apt for jollity, yet not incapable of being touched by pathos.” [Footnote:  Hawthorne, “The Marble Faun,” Vol I, Chapter I.]

In the Palermo copy of the other Praxitelean satyr (Fig. 154) the right arm is modern, but the restoration is substantially correct.  The face of this statue has purely Greek features, and only the pointed ears remain to betray the mixture of animal nature with the human form.  The original was probably of bronze.

With Fig. 155 we revert from copies to an original work.  This is one of three slabs which probably decorated the pedestal of a group by Praxiteles representing Apollo, Leto, and Artemis; a fourth slab, needed to complete the series, has not been found The presumption is strong that these reliefs were executed under the direction of Praxiteles, perhaps from his design.  The subject of one slab is the musical contest between Apollo and Marsyas, while the other two bear figures of Muses.  The latter are posed and draped with that delightful grace of which Praxiteles was master, and with which he seems to have inspired his pupils The execution, however, is not quite faultless, as witness the distortion in the right lower leg of the seated Muse in Fig. l55—­otherwise an exquisite figure.