_Racine._

Two hundred and fifty-five popes are reckoned from St Peter to Pio IX.

inclusive. A famous prophecy of S. Malachi, first printed in 1595, is contained in a series of mottoes, one for each of the whole line of pontiffs until the end of time. Following this it will be seen that only eleven more popes are needed to exhaust the mottoes, and to close the destinies of Rome, and of the world. The later ones run thus:--

"Pius VII. Aquila Rapax.

Leo XII. Canis et coluber.

Pius VIII. Vir religiosus.

Gregory XVI. de Balneis Etruriae.

Pius IX. Crux de cruce.

... Lumen in clo.

... Ignis ardens.

... Religio depopulata.

... Fides intrepida.

... Pastor angelicus.

... Pastor et nauta.

... Flos florum.

... De medietate lunae.

... De labore solis.

... Gloria olivae.

In persecutione extrema sacra Romanae Ecclesiae sedebit PETRUS Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulationibus: quibus transactis, civitas septicollis diruetur, et JUDEX tremendus judicabit populum."

The Cardinal Secretary of State has rooms above the pontifical apartments. His collection of antique gems is of European celebrity.

"Antonelli loge au Vatican, sur la tete du pape. Les Romains demandent, en maniere du calembour, lequel est le plus haut, du pape ou d'Antonelli."--_About, Question Romaine._

The entrance to the Museum of Statues (for those who do not come from the Sala Regia) is by the central door on the left of the Cortile S.

Damaso, whence you ascend a staircase and follow the loggia on the first floor, covered with stuccoes and arabesques by _Giovanni da Udine_, to the door of

The _Galleria Lapidaria_, a corridor 2131 feet in length. Its sides are covered on the right with Pagan, on the left with Early Christian inscriptions. Ranged along the walls are a series of sarcophagi, cippi, and funeral altars, some of them very fine. The last door on the left of this gallery is the entrance to the Library.

Separated from this by an iron gate, which is locked, except on Mondays, but opened by a custode (fee 50 c.), is the Museo Chiaramonti; but the visitors should first enter, on the left,

The _Braccio-Nuovo_, built under Pius VII. in 1817, by Raphael Stern, a fine hall, 250 feet long, filled with gems of sculpture. Perhaps most worth attention are (the _chefs d'uvre_ being marked with an asterisk):

_Right._--

5. *Caryatide.

This statue was admirably restored by Thorwaldsen. Its Greek origin is undoubted, and it is supposed to be the missing figure from the Erechtheum at Athens.

"Quand une fille des premieres familles n'avait pour vetement, comme celle-ci, qu'une chemise et par-dessus une demi-chemise; quand elle avait l'habitude de porter des vases sur sa tete, et par suite de se tenir droite; quand pour toute toilette elle retroussait ses cheveux ou les laissait tomber en boucles; quand le visage n'etait pas plisse par les mille petites graces et les mille petites preoccupations bourgeoises, une femme pouvait avoir la tranquille attitude de cette statue. Aujourd'hui il en reste un debris dans les paysannes des environs qui portent leurs corbeilles sur la tete, mais elles sont gatees par le travail et les haillons.

Le sein parait sous la chemise; la tunique colle et visiblement n'est qu'un linge; on voit la forme de la jambe qui casse l'etoffe au genou; les pieds apparaissent nus dans les sandales. Rien ne peut rendre le serieux naturel du visage. Certainement, si on pouvait revoir la personne reelle avec ses bras blancs, ses cheveux noirs, sous la lumiere du soleil, les genoux plieraient, comme devant une deesse, de respect et de plaisir."--_Taine, Voyage en Italie._

8. Commodus.

"La statue de Commode est tres curieuse par le costume. Il tient a la main une lance, il a des especes de bottes: tout cela est du chasseur, enfin il porte la tunique a manches dont parle Dion Cassius, et qui etait son costume d'amphitheatre."--_Ampere, Emp._ ii. 246.

9. Colossal head of a Dacian, from the Forum of Trajan.

11. Silenus and the infant Bacchus.

This is a copy from the Greek, of which there were several replicas. One, formerly in the Villa Borghese, is now at Paris. The original group is described by Pliny, who says that the name of the sculptor was lost even in his time. The greater portion of the child, the left arm and hand of Silenus, and the ivy-leaves, are restorations.

"Je pense que ce chef-d'uvre est une imitation modifiee du _Mercure nourricier de Bacchus_, par Cephisodote, fils de Praxitele."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iii. 332.

14. *Augustus, found 1863, in the villa of Livia at Prima-Porta.

"This is, without exception, the finest portrait statue of this class in the whole collection.... The cuirass is covered with small figures, in basso-relievo, which, as works of art, are even finer than the statue itself, and merit the most careful examination.

These small figures are, in their way, marvels of art, for the wonderful boldness of execution and minuteness of detail shown in them. They are almost like cameos, and yet, with all the delicacy of finish displayed, there is no mere smoothness of surface. The central group is supposed to represent the restoration to Augustus by King Phraates of the eagles taken from Crassus and Antony.

Considerable traces of colour were found on this statue and are still discernible. Close examination will also show that the face and eyes were coloured."--_Shakspere Wood._

17. aesculapius.

20. Nerva? Head modern.

23. *Pudicitia. From the Villa Mattei. Head modern.

"The portrait of a noble Roman lady, much disfigured by restorations. This statue shows the neglect, by a sculptor of great ability, of that thoroughness of execution which was such a characteristic of Greek art. Compare the great beauty of the lower portion of the drapery, seen from the front, with the poverty of execution at the back."--_Shakspere Wood._

"Qu'on regarde une statue toute voilee, par exemple celle de la Pudicite: il est evident que le vetement antique n'altere pas la forme du corps, que les plis collants ou mouvants recoivent du corps leurs formes et leurs changements, qu'on suit sans peine a travers les plis l'equilibre de toute la charpente, la rondeur de l'epaule ou de la hanche, le creux du dos."--_Taine._

26. Titus. Found 1828, near the Lateran (with his daughter Julia).

27, 40, 92. Colossal busts of Medusa, from the temple of Venus at Rome.

32, 33. Fauns, sitting, from the villa of Quintilius at Tivoli.

38. Ganymede, found at Ostia; on the tree against which he leans is engraved the name of Phaedimus.

39. Vase of black basalt, found on the Quirinal. It stands on a mosaic, from the Tor Marancia.

41. Faun playing on a flute, from the villa of Lucullus.

44. Wounded Amazon (both arms and legs are restorations).

"Les trois Amazones blessees de Rome ne peuvent etre que des copies de la celebre Amazone de Cresilas.... Ce Cresilas fut l'auteur du guerrier grec mourant qui selon toute apparence a inspire le pretendu Gladiateur mourant auquel s'applique merveilleusement bien ce que dit Pline du premier."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iii. 263.

47. Caryatide.

48. Bust of Trajan.

50. *Diana contemplating the sleeping Endymion.

53. Euripides.

"Le plus remarquable portrait d'Euripide est une belle statue au Vatican. Cette statue donne une haute idee de la sublimite de l'art tragique en Grece.... Regardez ce poete, combien toute sa personne a de gravite et de grandeur, rien n'avertit qu'on a devant les yeux celui qui aux yeux des juges severes, affaiblissait l'art et le corrompait; l'attitude est simple, le visage serieux, comme il convient a un poete philosophe. Ce serait la plus belle statue de poete tragique si la statue de Sophocle n'existait pas."--_Ampere_, iii. 572.