256. Young Hercules.

259. Figure probably intended for Apollo, restored as Minerva.

260. A Greek relief, from a tomb.

261. Penelope, on a pedestal, with a relief of Bacchus and Ariadne.

"L'attente de Penelope nous est presente, et, pour ainsi dire, dure encore pour nous dans cette expressive Penelope, dont le torse nous a montre un specimen de l'art grec sous la forme la plus ancienne."--_Ampere, Hist. Rome_, iii. p. 452.

264. *Apollo Sauroctonos (killing a lizard), found on the Palatine in 1777--a copy of a work of Praxiteles. Several other copies are in existence, one in bronze, in the Villa Albani, inferior to this.

The right arm and the legs above the knees are restorations, well executed.

"Apollon presque enfant epie un lezard qui se glisse le long d'un arbre. On sait, a n'en pouvoir douter, d'apres la description de Pline et de Martial, que cet Apollon, souvent repete, est une imitation de celui de Praxitele, et quand on ne le saurait pas, on l'eut devine."--_Ampere_, iii. 313.

265. Amazon, found in the Villa Mattei, the finest of the three Amazons in the Vatican, which are all supposed to be copies from the fifty statues of Amazons, which decorated the temple of Diana at Ephesus.

267. Drunken Satyr.

268. Juno, from Otricoli.

271, 390. Posidippus and Menander, very fine statues, perfectly preserved, owing to their having been kept through the middle ages in the church of S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna, where they were worshipped under the belief that they were statues of saints, a belief which arose from their having metal discs over their heads, a practice which prevailed with many Greek statues intended for the open air. The marks of the metal pins for these discs may still be seen, as well as those for a bronze protection for the feet, to prevent their being worn away by the kisses of the faithful,--as on the statue of St. Peter at St Peter's.

Between these statues we enter:

The _Hall of Busts_. Perhaps the best are:

278. Augustus, with a wreath of corn.

289. Julia Mammaea, mother of Alexander Severus.

299. Jupiter-Serapis, in basalt.

325. Jupiter.

357. Antinous.

388. *Roman Senator and his wife, from a tomb. (These busts, having been much admired by the great historian, were copied for the monument of Niebuhr at Bonn, erected, by his former pupil the King of Prussia, to his memory--with that of his loving wife Gretchen, who only survived him nine days.)

"Les tetes de deux epoux, representes au devant de leur tombeau d'ou ils semblent sortir a mi-corps et se tenant par le main, sont surtout d'une simplicite et d'une verite inexprimable. La femme est assez jeune et assez belle, l'epoux est vieux et tres-laid; mais ce groupe a un air honnete et digne qui repond pour tous deux d'une vie de serenite et de vertu. Nul recit ne pourrait aussi bien que ces deux figures transporter au sein des murs domestiques de Rome; en leur presence on se sent penetre soi-meme d'honnetete, de pudeur et de respect, comme si on etait assis au chaste foyer de Lucrece."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iv. 103.

Re-entering the Gallery of Statues, and following the left wall, are:

392. Septimius Severus.

393. Girl at a spring?

394. Neptune.

395. Apollo Cithardus.

396. Wounded Adonis.

397. Bacchus, from Hadrian's Villa.

398. Macrinus (Imp. 217).

399. aesculapius and Hygeia, from Palestrina.

400. Euterpe.

401. Mutilated group from the Niobides, found near Porta San Paolo.

405. Danaide.

406. Copy of the Faun of Praxiteles, very beautiful, but inferior to that at the Capitol.

422. Head of a fountain, with Bacchanalian Procession.

(Here is the entrance of the _Gabinetto delle Maschere_, which contains works of small importance. It is named from the mosaic upon the floor, of masks from Hadrian's Villa. It is seldom shown, probably because it contains a chair of rosso-antico, called "Sedia forata," found near the Lateran, and supposed to be the famous "Sella Stercoraria" used at the installation of the mediaeval popes, and associated with the legend of Pope Joan.

"Le Pape elu (Celestine III. 1191) se prosterne devant l'autel pendant que l'on chante le Te Deum: puis les Cardinaux Eveques le conduisent a son siege derriere l'autel: la ils viennent a ses pieds, et il leur donne le baiser de paix. On le mene ensuite a une chaise posee devant la portique de la Basilique du Sauveur de Latran. Cette chaise etait nommee des lors '_Stercoraria_,'

parceque elle est percee au fond: mais l'ouverture est petite, et les antiquaires jugent que c'etoit pour egouter l'eau, et que cette chaise servait a quelque bain."--_Fleury, Histoire Ecclesiastique_, xv. p. 525.)

462. Cinerary Urn of Alabaster.

414. *Sleeping Ariadne, found _c._ 1503--formerly supposed to represent Cleopatra.

"The effect of sleep, so remarkable in this statue, and which could not have been rendered by merely closing the lids over the eyes, is produced by giving positive form to the eyelashes; a distinct ridge, being raised at right angles to the surface of the lids, with a slight indented line along the edge to show the division."--_Shakspere Wood._

"La figure est certainement ideale et n'est point un portrait; mais ce qui ne laisse aucun doute sur le nom a lui donner, c'est un bas-relief, un peu refait, il est vrai, qu'on a eu la tres-heureuse idee de placer aupres d'elle.

"On y voit une femme endormie dont l'attitude est tout a fait pareille a celle de la statue, Thesee qui va s'embarquer pendant le sommeil d'Ariane, et Bacchus qui arrive pour la consoler. C'est exactement ce que l'on voyait peint dans le temple de Bacchus a Athenes.

"Cette statue, belle sans doute, mais peut-etre trop vantee, doit etre posterieure a l'epoque d'Alexandre. Sa pose gracieuse est presque manieree: on dirait qu'elle se regarde dormir. La disposition de la draperie est compliquee et un peu embrouillee, a tel point que les uns prennent pour une couverture ce que d'autres regardent comme un manteau."--_Ampere, Hist. Rom._ iii. 534.

Beneath this figure is a fine sarcophagus, representing the Battle of the Giants.

412, 413. "The Barberini Candelabra" from Hadrian's Villa.

416. Ariadne.

417. Mercury.

420. Lucius Verus--on a pedestal which supported the ashes of Drusus in the Mausoleum of Augustus.

From the centre of the Sala degli Animali we now enter:

The _Sala delle Muse_, adorned with sixteen Corinthian columns from Hadrian's Villa. It is chiefly filled with statues and busts from the villa of Cassius at Tivoli. The statues of the Muses and that called Apollo Musagetes (No. 516) are generally attributed to the time of the Antonines.