古希腊的很多雕塑都是再现希腊神话的,拉奥孔也不例外(这个罗马的大理石雕塑是原来古希腊青铜雕塑的复制品),莱辛(Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim)通过雕塑形象与维吉尔(Virgil)诗歌《伊尼特》(Aeneid)里描写的情景对比,提出了诗与画(以及一般的造型艺术)的区别,写了一本影响巨大的小书:《拉奥孔:论画与诗的界限》(Laocoon, or On the Limits of Painting and Poetry, 1766)。钱钟书先生也写过两篇文章来讨论同样的问题,一篇是《读拉奥孔》,另一篇是《中国诗与中国画》(都收在《七缀集》里)——莱辛的书和钱先生的文,当然用不着我来转述和摘抄了。
看见真的雕塑在眼前,不会想起莱辛的问题,却令人惊讶它的“高贵的单纯和静穆的伟大”(edle Einfalt und stille Grösse, noble simplicity and quiet greatness)——这是德国艺术史家Winckelman对希腊绘画雕塑的评价,莱辛也引用过。W还说(W. T. Steel的英译):
Just as the depths of the sea always remain quiet, however the surface may rage, in like manner the expression in the figures of the Greek artists shows under all passions a great and steadfast soul.
希腊艺术家们塑造的形象,不论在什么样的表情下,都藏着大海一样的伟大而沉静的心灵。
The expression of so great a soul goes far beyond the fashioning which beautiful Nature gives. The artist must have felt in himself the strength of spirit which he impressed upon the marble. Greece had artist and philosopher in one person, and more than one Metrodorus. Wisdom stretched out her hand to Art and breathed more than common souls into the figures that she wrought, etc., etc.
伟大心灵的表现是“巧夺天工”(beyond the fashing which beautiful nature gives,这句话恰好翻译了李贺的诗句:笔补造化天无功)。最重要的是,希腊人集哲学和艺术于一身,正因为哲学的帮助(“智慧之手伸向艺术”),她塑造的形象才有了不同寻常的灵魂……