The Staircase is lined with the fragments of the Pianta Capitolina, a series of marble slabs of imperial date (found in the sixteenth century under SS. Cosmo and Damian), inscribed with ground plans of Rome, and exceedingly important from the light they throw upon the ancient topography of the city.
The upper Corridor is lined with statues and busts. Here and elsewhere we will only notice those especially remarkable for beauty or historic interest.[40]
L. 12. Satyr playing on a flute.
R. 13. Cupid bending his bow.
R. 20. Old woman intoxicated.
"Tout le monde a remarqué dans le musée du Capitole une vieille femme serrant des deux mains une bouteille, la bouche entr'ouverte, les yeux mourants tournés vers le ciel, comme si, dans la jubilation de l'ivresse, elle savourait le vin qu'elle vient de boire. Comment ne pas voir dans cette caricature en marbre une reproduction de la Vielle Femme ivre de Myron, qui passait pour une des curiosités de Smyrne."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 272.
L. 26. The infant Hercules strangling a serpent.
L. 28. Grand Sarcophagus—the Rape of Proserpine.
R. 33. Satyr playing on a flute.
(In the wall on the left inscriptions from the columbarium of Livia.)
R. 43. Head of Ariadne.
L. 48. Sarcophagus—the birth and childhood of Bacchus.
L. 56. Statue, draped.
R. 64. Jupiter, on a cippus with a curious relief of Claudia drawing the boat with the image of the Magna Mater up the Tiber.
L. 69. Bust of Caligula.
R. 70. Marcus Aurelius, as a boy—a very beautiful bust.
R. 70. Statue of Minerva from Velletri. The same as that in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican.
R. 72. Trajan.
76. In the window, a magnificent vase, found near the tomb of Cecilia Metella, standing on a puteal adorned with reliefs of the twelve principal gods and goddesses.
From the right of this corridor open two chambers. The first is named the Room of the Doves, from the famous mosaic found in the ruins of Hadrian's villa near Tivoli, and generally called Pliny's Doves, because Pliny, when speaking of the perfection to which the mosaic art had attained, describes a wonderful mosaic of Sosus of Pergamos, in which one dove is seen drinking and casting her shadow on the water, while others are pluming themselves on the edge of the vase. As a pendant to this is another Mosaic, of a Tragic and Comic Mask. In the farther window is the Iliac Tablet, an interesting relief in the soft marble called palombino, relating to the story of the destruction of Troy, and the flight of Æneas, and found at Bovillæ.
"L'ensemble de la guerre contre Troie est contenu dans un abrégé figuré qu'on appelle la Table Iliaque, petit bas-relief destiné à offrir un résumé visible de cette guerre aux jeunes Romains, et à servir dans les écoles soit pour l'Iliade, soit pour les poëmes cycliques comme d'un Index parlant.
"La Table Iliaque est un ouvrage romain fait à Rome. Tout ce qui touche aux origines troyennes de cette ville, inconnues à Homère et célébrées surtout par Stésichore avant de l'être par Virgile, tient dans ce bas-relief une place importante et domine dans sa composition."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 431.
In the centre of the room is a pretty statuette of a girl shielding a dove.
The second chamber, known as The Reserved Cabinet, contains the famous Venus of the Capitol—a Greek statue, found immured in a wall upon the Quirinal.