It Would Be Ridiculous In Me To Enter Into A Detail Of The Vast
Collection Of Marbles, Basso Relievos, Inscriptions, Urns, Busts,
And Statues, Which Are Placed In The Upper Apartments Of This
Edifice.
I saw them but once, and then I was struck with the
following particulars.
A bacchanalian drunk; a Jupiter and Leda,
at least equal to that in the gallery at Florence; an old
praesica, or hired mourner, very much resembling those wrinkled
hags still employed in Ireland, and in the Highlands of Scotland,
to sing the coronach at funerals, in praise of the deceased; the
famous Antinous, an elegant figure, which Pousin studied as canon
or rule of symmetry; the two fauns; and above all the mirmillone,
or dying gladiator; the attitude of the body, the expression of
the countenance, the elegance of the limbs, and the swelling of
the muscles, in this statue, are universally admired; but the
execution of the back is incredibly delicate. The course of the
muscles called longissimi dorsi, are so naturally marked and
tenderly executed, that the marble actually emulates the softness
of the flesh; and you may count all the spines of the vertebrae,
raising up the skin as in the living body; yet this statue, with
all its merit, seems inferior to the celebrated dying gladiator
of Ctesilas, as described by Pliny, who says the expression of it
was such, as appears altogether incredible. In the court, on the
opposite side of the Capitol, there is an admirable statue of a
lion devouring an horse, which was found by the gate of Ostia,
near the pyramid of Caius Cestius; and here on the left hand,
under a colonade, is what they call the Columna Rostrata, erected
in honour of Caius Duilius, who first triumphed over the
Carthaginians by sea.
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