The true northerner., 1874-08-07
THE BURIED TREASURES OF ROME.

SCULPTURE. This is the sixth which has
been discovered to be composed of such
precious fragments. In this last and
sixth wall is colossal imperial statue,
nude, broken up in thousand pieces
a beautiful bustof Faustina theyounger,
intact another of some Roman per-
sonage of the first century n fragment
of a calendar with a mention of the
Feast of the Faun held in the Tiburtine
island Hermes, with an unknown,
bearded head two heads of canefora,
ornamented with q twisted crown;
head of young Bacchus ; three cylin-
drical and spherical vases, and bronze
vase with handles, ftled Uih ancient
aoheat! In the ruins of the market
house, near San Antonio, of which L
have previously spoken, there have
been found other bits of mineral blue
color, also two plates of ivory, united
by silver hinge on the outside is
the inscription, "Gallieni Concessi, V.
c." In the Mithraic ruins of the Villa
Palombara, which L mentioned i'll my
letter of April 30, they have found two
other Mithraic bas reliefs, which bear
traces of polychrome painting and have
this inscription on the outside: sc.
p. Primus Patem Fecit." A plate of
silver was found in the same place, in
closed in brouze cover.
The beautiful painted hall or triclinio
on the Via Merulana, which L have de-
scribed i'll preceding letters, is now COM
pletely cleared out it has mosaic
floor ; and we see semi-circular rows of
small marble seats one above the other,
which fill up the end. 1t was probably
an acadenlia or library, and those beau
tiful double rows of painted inches
very likely held MSS, or UOtunaen. AS
it was one of the decorative buildings
in the gardens of Mecenas, we can
readily imagine that its sumptuous
owner entertained in it imperial guests,
who sat and listened TO Horace or Vir-
gils last poem. When L was there a
few afternoons ago, at sunset, / thought
how charming it was to be able to re-
people it with such court crowd. /
stood alone in corner and bade my
visitors enter; there placed the great
men and women of earl y imperial times;
the mysterious, self-contained master
of them all, Octavius Augustus, and his
ruler, the handsome, hypocritical Livia,
with the severe matronly air of the
Pudiciza, surrounded by her court of
the learned and wise men of the day !;
the sad, jealous Octavia, disappointed,
widowed and motherless the reckless,
brilliant, beautiful daughter of Angus
tus, Julia, encircledby her noisy retinue
of futtering young beaux and wits,
flirting openly and daringly with Ovid,
and replying with quick, spirituelle
grace to her adoring fathers repri-
mands %, Caesar, have patience with
my young friends and me we shall all
soon grow old togetherp
In the debris of this charming tri-
clinic they found beardless bust of an
unknown parsonage in good preserva-
tion and of excellent workmanship /;
also a marble capital of a candlestick
and fragment of a stucco cornice,
which ran around the summit of this
beautiful hall. / mentioned in a pre-
ceding letter Greek epigram which
was found traced on the walls care
lessly, probably by some youth, one of
the .jeuneSse dOrce who surrounded the
| splendid but frail Julia. When these
lines were found, the learned daughter
Of Duke de Sermoneta Don Michel
Angelo Gaetani, the Countess Ersilia
Sovatelli, said at once " 1t is n Greek
epigram of Callimachus, and then at
that very moment she wrote off the
Latin version of it, and a graceful one
of her own in French. L Will give it to
it to you in English
" If L came of my own will to thy
house, O, Archinie, to give myself up
to the pleasures of the table, reproach
me thousand times. But if L did not
come OF my own will, you will do i'll to
reproach me. Wine and love urged me
on. Love took possession of me. Wine
made me unwise. When [ came to You
| asked not whose or what is this house,
but | embraced the sill of thy dwelling.
If that means injury, then in truth L
have done wrong. - Vatican Antholo-
gle, 11S, Tji.
The Countess Sovatelli is probably
one of the most learned women in Eu-
rope she is also young aud handsome.
and IS the center OF a circle of the most
distinguished scholars of the day. Her
father, Duke Sermoneta, is well known
to you in Boston as one of the greatest
Dante scholars living. In Italy his
'''A ASN iAAOih hhuIIch I'D dpIIcCldJtu, anu
his wit, which is as sparkling as it is
quick, and often keen as Saladins
scimitar, is delicious to Romans.
Duke Sermoneta's n1Ots are on the lips
OF every one. One of his last is charm
ing. An ambitious person sent Ser
moneta his MSS. of the Psalms of David
very poorly translated. The Duke re-
turned the MSS. with two biting words
on the outside, " GoHah Uendicato"
Goliath avenged). This is cleverer
than the famous mot of Prince de Ligne
on Nine. de Stael. In 1903 Corinne"
went to Vienna, where she met the
Prince. Each was fond of acting in
private theatricals ; they were too clever
as actors in real life to succeed on the
mimic scene, but while they were alive
to each others defects they were ignor-
ant of their own. One night Nine. de
Stael acted badly, as usual, in a poor
play of her own called "Hagar in the
Desert" After the play old Prince de
Ligne took Ouveroff aside and said, his
malicious, wicked old eyes sparkling
with fun
"Cher petit Are you not en-
chanted 3? Is not the piece excellent?