2, 4. Centaurs (in bigio-morato), by _Aristeas_ and _Papias_ (their names are on the bases), from Hadrian's villa.

3. The young Hercules, found on the Aventine. It stands on an altar of Jupiter.

"On voit au Capitole une statue d'Hercule tres-jeune, en basalte, qui frappe assez desagreablement, d'abord, par le contraste, habilement exprime toutefois, des formes molles de l'enfance et de la vigueur caracteristique du heros. L'imitation de la Grece se montre meme dans la matiere que l'artiste a choisie; c'est un basalt verdatre, de couleur sombre. Tisagoras et Alcon avaient fait un Hercule en fer, pour exprimer la force, et, comme dit Pline, pour signifier l'energie perseverante de dieu."--_Ampere, Hist.

Rom._ iii. 406.

5. aesculapius (in nero-antico), on an altar, representing a sacrifice.

Among the statues and busts round the room the more important are:--

9. Marcus Aurelius.

14. A Satyr.

21. Hadrian, as Mars, from Ceprano.

24. Hercules, in gilt bronze, found in the Forum-Boarium (the columns on either side come from the tomb of Cecilia Metella).

"On cite de Myron trois Hercules, dont deux a Rome; l'un de ces derniers a probablement servi de modele a l'Hercule en bronze dore du Capitole. Cette statue a ete trouvee dans le marche aux Bufs, non loin du grand cirque. L'Hercule de Myron etait dans un temple eleve par Pompee et situe pres du grand cirque; mais la statue du Capitole, dont le geste est maniere, quel que soit son merite, n'est pas assez parfaite qu'on puisse y reconnaitre une uvre de Myron. Peut-etre Pompee n'avait place dans son temple qu'une copie de l'un des deux Hercules de Myron et la donnait pour l'original; peut-etre aussi Pline y a-t-il ete trompe. La vanite que l'un montre dans tous les actes de sa vie et le peu de sentiment vrai que trahit si souvent la vaste composition de l'autre s'accordent egalement avec cette supposition et la rendent assez vraisemblable."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iii. 273.

28. Hecuba.

"Nous avons le personnage meme d'Hecube dans la Pleureuse du Capitole. Cette pretendue pleureuse est une Hecube furieuse et une Hecube en scene, car elle porte le costume, elle a le geste et la vivacite du theatre, je dirais volontiers de la pantomime.... Son regard est tourne vers le ciel, sa bouche lance des imprecations; on voit qu'elle pourra faire entendre ces hurlements, ces aboiements de la douleur effrenee que l'antiquite voulut exprimer en supposant que la malheureuse Hecube avait ete metamorphosee en chienne, une chienne a laquelle on a arrache ses petits."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iii. 468.

31. Colossal bust of Antoninus Pius.

_The Hall of the Faun_ derives its name from the famous Faun of rosso-antico, holding a bunch of grapes to his mouth, found in Hadrian's Villa. It stands on an altar dedicated to Serapis. Against the right wall is a magnificent sarcophagus, whose reliefs (much studied by Flaxman) represent the battle of Theseus and the Amazons. The opposite sarcophagus has a relief of Diana and Endymion. We should also notice--

15. A boy with a mask.

21. A boy with a goose (found near the Lateran).

Let into the wall is a black tablet--the Lex Regia, or Senatus-Consultum, conferring imperial powers upon Vespasian, being the very table upon which Rienzi declaimed in favour of the rights of the people.

_The Hall of the Dying Gladiator_ contains the three gems of the collection--"the Gladiator," "the Antinous of the Capitol," and the "Faun of Praxiteles." Besides these, we should notice--2. Apollo with the lyre, and 9. a bust of M. Junius Brutus, the assassin of Julius Caesar.

In the centre of the room is the grand statue of the wounded Gaul, generally known as the Dying Gladiator.

"I see before me the gladiator lie: He leans upon his hand--his manly brow Consents to death, but conquers agony, And his drooped head sinks gradually low,-- And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one, Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now The arena swims around him--he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.

"He heard it, but he heeded not--his eyes Were with his heart, and that was far away; He reck'd not of the life he lost, nor prize, But where his rude hut by the Danube lay There were his young barbarians all at play, There was their Dacian mother--he, their sire, Butchered to make a Roman holiday.

All this rushed with his blood--shall he expire, And unavenged? Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire!"

_Byron, Childe Harold._

It is delightful to read in this room the description in _Transformation_:--

"It was that room in the centre of which reclines the noble and most pathetic figure of the dying gladiator, just sinking into his death-swoon. Around the walls stand the Antinous, the Amazon, the Lycian Apollo, the Juno; all famous productions of antique sculpture, and still shining in the undiminished majesty and beauty of their ideal life, although the marble that embodies them is yellow with time, and perhaps corroded by the damp earth in which they lay buried for centuries. Here, likewise, is seen a symbol (as apt at this moment as it was two thousand years ago) of the Human Soul, with its choice of Innocence or Evil close at hand, in the pretty figure of a child, clasping a dove to her bosom, but assaulted by a snake.

"From one of the windows of this saloon, we may see a broad flight of stone steps, descending alongside the antique and massive foundation of the Capitol, towards the battered triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, right below. Farther on, the eye skirts along the edge of the desolate Forum (where Roman washerwomen hang out their linen to the sun), passing over a shapeless confusion of modern edifices, piled rudely up with ancient brick and stone, and over the domes of Christian churches, built on the old pavements of heathen temples, and supported by the very pillars that once upheld them. At a distance beyond--yet but a little way, considering how much history is heaped into the intervening space--rises the great sweep of the Coliseum, with the blue sky brightening through its upper tier of arches. Far off, the view is shut in by the Alban mountains, looking just the same, amid all this decay and change, as when Romulus gazed thitherward over his half-finished wall.

"In this chamber is the Faun of Praxiteles. It is the marble image of a young man, leaning his right arm on the trunk or stump of a tree: one hand hangs carelessly by his side, in the other he holds a fragment of a pipe, or some such sylvan instrument of music. His only garment, a lion's skin with the claws upon the shoulder, falls half-way down his back, leaving his limbs and entire front of the figure nude. The form, thus displayed, is marvellously graceful, but has a fuller and more rounded outline, more flesh, and less of heroic muscle, than the old sculptors were wont to assign to their types of masculine beauty. The character of the face corresponds with the figure; it is most agreeable in outline and feature, but rounded and somewhat voluptuously developed, especially about the throat and chin; the nose is almost straight, but very slightly curves inward, thereby acquiring an indescribable charm of geniality and humour. The mouth, with its full yet delicate lips, seems so really to smile outright, that it calls forth a responsive smile. The whole statue--unlike anything else that ever was wrought in the 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. It is impossible to gaze long at this stone image, without conceiving a kindly sentiment towards it, as if its substance were warm to the touch, and imbued with actual life. It comes very near to some of our pleasantest sympathies."--_Hawthorne._

"Praxitele avait dit a Phryne de choisir entre ses ouvrages celui qu'elle aimerait le mieux. Pour savoir lequel de ses chefs-d'uvre l'artiste preferait, elle lui fit annoncer que le feu avait pris a son atelier. 'Sauvez, s'ecria-t-il, mon Satyre et mon Amour!'"--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iii. 309.

The west or right side of the Capitoline Piazza is occupied by _the Palace of the Conservators_, which contains the Protomoteca, the Picture Gallery, and various other treasures.

The little court at the entrance is full of historical relics, including remains of two gigantic statues of Apollo; a colossal head of Domitian; and the marble pedestal, which once in the mausoleum of Augustus supported the cinerary urn of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, with a very perfect inscription. In the opposite loggia are a statue of Rome Triumphant, and a group of a lion attacking a horse, found in the bed of the Almo. In the portico on the right is the only authentic statue of Julius Caesar; on the left, a statue of Augustus, leaning against the rostrum of a galley, in allusion to the battle of Actium.

_The Protomoteca_, a suite of eight rooms on the ground floor, contains a collection of busts of eminent Italians, with a few foreigners considered as naturalised by a long residence in Rome. Those in the second room, representing artists of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, were entirely executed at the expense of Canova.

At the foot of the staircase is a restoration by Michael Angelo of the column of Caius Duilius. On the upper flight of the staircase is a bas-relief of Curtius leaping into the gulf, here represented as a marsh.

"Un bas-relief d'un travail ancien, dont le style ressemble a celui des figures peintes sur les vases dits archaques, represente Curtius engage dans son marais; le cheval baisse la tete et flaire le marecage, qui est indique par des roseaux. Le guerrier penche en avant, presse sa monture. On a vivement, en presence de cette curieuse sculpture, le sentiment d'un incident heroque probablement reel, et en meme temps de l'aspect primitif du lieu qui en fut temoin."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom. i. 321._

On the first and second landings are magnificent reliefs, representing events in the life of Marcus Aurelius, Imp., belonging to the arch dedicated to him, which was wantonly destroyed, in order to widen the Corso, by Alexander VII.

"Jusqu'au legne de Commode Rome est representee par une Amazone; dans l'escalier du palais des Conservateurs, Rome, en tunique courte d'Amazone et le globe a la main, recoit Marc Aurele; le globe dans la main de Rome date de Cesar."--_Ampere_, iii. 242.

_The Halls of the Conservators_ consist of eight rooms. The 1st, painted in fresco from the history of the Roman kings, by the _Cavaliere d'Arpino_, contains statues of Urban VIII., by Bernini; Leo X., by the Sicilian Giacomo della Duca;[41] and Innocent X., in bronze, by Algardi.

The 2nd room, adorned with subjects from republican history by _Lauretti_, has statues of modern Roman generals--Marc Antonio Colonna, Tommaso Rospigliosi, Francesco Aldobrandini, Carlo Barberini, brother of Urban VIII., and Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma. The 3rd room, painted by _Daniele di Volterra_, with subjects from the wars with the Cimbri, contains the famous _Bronze Wolf of the Capitol_, one of the most interesting relics in the city. The figure of the wolf is of unknown antiquity; those of Romulus and Remus are modern. It has been doubted whether this is the wolf described by Dionysius as "an ancient work of brass" standing in the temple of Romulus under the Palatine, or the wolf described by Cicero, who speaks of a little gilt figure of the founder of the city sucking the teats of a wolf. The Ciceronian wolf was struck by lightning in the time of the great orator, and a fracture in the existing figure, attributed to lightning, is adduced in proof of its identity with it.

"Geminos huic ubera circum Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem Impavidos: illam tereti cervice reflexam Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua."

_Virgil, aen._ viii. 632.

"And thou, the thunder-stricken nurse of Rome!

She-wolf! whose brazen-imaged dugs impart The milk of conquest yet within the dome Where, as a monument of antique art, Thou standest:--mother of the mighty heart, Which the great founder sucked from thy wild teat, Scorch'd by the Roman Jove's ethereal dart, And thy limbs black with lightning--dost thou yet Guard thy immortal cubs, nor thy fond charge forget?"

_Byron, Childe Harold._

Standing near the wolf is the well-known and beautiful figure of a boy extracting a thorn from his foot, called the Shepherd Martius.

"La ressemblance du type si fin de l'Apollon au lezard et du charmant bronze du Capitole _le tireur d'epine_ est trop frappante pour qu'on puisse se refuser a voir dans celui-ci une inspiration de Praxitele ou de son ecole. C'est tout simplement un enfant arrachant de son pied une epine qui l'a blesse, sujet naf et champetre analogue au Satyre se faisant rendre ce service par un autre Satyre. On a voulu y voir un athlete blesse par une epine pendant sa course et qui n'en est pas moins arrive au but; mais la figure est trop jeune et n'a rien d'athletique. Le moyen age avait donne aussi son explication et invente sa legende. On raccontait qu'un jeune berger, envoye a la decouverte de l'ennemi, etait revenu sans s'arreter et ne s'etait permis qu'alors d'arracher une epine qui lui blessait le pied. Le moyen age avait senti le charme de cette composition qu'il interpretait a sa maniere, car elle est sculptee sur un arceau de la cathedrale de Zurich qui date du siecle de Charlemagne."--_Ampere_, iii. 315.

Forming part of the decorations of this room are two fine pictures, a dead Christ with a monk praying, and Sta. Francesca Romana, by _Romanelli_. Near the door of exit is a bust said to be that of Junius Brutus.

"Il est permis de voir dans le buste du Capitole un vrai portrait de Brutus; il est difficile d'en douter en le contemplant. Voila bien le visage farouche, la barbe _hirsute_, les cheveux roides colles si rudement sur le front, la physiognomie inculte et terrible du premier consul romain; la bouche serree respire la determination et l'energie; les yeux, formes d'une matiere jaunatre, se detachent en clair sur le bronze noirci par les siecles et vous jettent un regard fixe et farouche. Tout pres est la louve de bronze. Brutus est de la meme famille. On sent qu'il y a du lait de cette louve dans les veines du second fondateur de Rome, comme dans les veines du premier, et que lui aussi, pareil au Romulus de la legende, marchera vers son but a travers le sang des siens.

"Le buste de Brutus est place sur un piedestal qui le met a la hauteur du regard. La, dans un coin sombre, j'ai passe bien des moments face a face avec l'impitoyable fondateur de la liberte romaine."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ ii. 270.

The 4th Room contains the _Fasti Consulares_, tables found near the temple of Minerva Chalcidica, and inscribed with the names of public officers from Romulus to Augustus. The 5th Room contains two bronze ducks (formerly shown as the sacred geese of the Capitol) and a female head--found in the gardens of Sallust, a bust of Medusa, by _Bernini_, and many others. The 6th, or Throne Room, hung with faded tapestry, has a frieze in fresco, by _Annibale Caracci_, representing the triumphs of Scipio Africanus. The 7th Room is painted by _Daniele da Volterra_(?) with the history of the Punic Wars. The 8th Room (now used as a passage) is a chapel, containing a lovely fresco, by _Pinturicchio_, of the Madonna and Child with Angels.

"The Madonna is seated enthroned, fronting the spectator; her large mantle forms a grand cast of drapery; the child on her lap sleeps in the loveliest attitude; she folds her hands and looks down, quiet, serious, and beautiful: in the clouds are two adoring angels."--_Kugler._