No. 160.
Mr. Read
to Mr. Evarts.
Athens , May 10, 1877. (Received May 28.)
Sir: I have the honor to acquaint you with the remarkable fact that the arms of the celebrated Venus of Milo have been discovered within a few days in the island of Melos, at a distance of less than thirty feet from the place where the statue itself was found in 1820. The arms are exquisitely modeled. One hand holds a kind of disk or shield. The workmanship and the locality compel even the skeptical to acknowledge the authenticity of these wonderful relics.
I have applied to the Greek Government for permission to take a plaster cast, and if I am successful I shall pray the Department to accept the same with the Alcibiadean treaty, which I have nearly ready also to present to it. (See my No. 259.)
It is not a little singular that the news of the death of the finder of the famous Venus Victnx of Milo, now in the Louvre, has just reached Greece, at the moment when the other portions of that great work of art are being brought to light.
I have, &c.,