We can scarcely do
more than refer the reader to a single source. In this case perhaps we
cannot do better than send the inquirer to the Victoria and Albert
Museum at South Kensington.
If we select another MS. of this early period it is the one which may be
said to be the oldest existing MS. in which the ornamentation is worthy
of as much notice as the pictures. We refer to the Collection of
Treatises by Greek physicians on plants, fishing, the chase, and kindred
matters in the same library as the Genesis fragment. It goes under the
name of "Dioscorides," who was one of the authors, and dates from the
beginning of the sixth century. The Genesis is a century older.
Engravings from the Dioscorides are given in Labarte's _Arts
industriels, etc._, pl. 78, and in Louandre's _Arts somptuaires, etc._,
i., pl. 2, 3.
Enough has been said on these earlier centuries to show quite clearly
the character of the art known as Early Christian. It is simply a
continuation of such art as had existed from classical times, and had,
in fact, passed from the Greeks, who were artists, to the Romans, who
were rarely better than imitators. It is carried on to the period when
it again is nourished by Greek ideas in the Later Empire, and once more
attains distinction in the splendid revival of art under the Emperor
Justinian.
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