"In their busts the lips of the Roman emperors are generally closed, indicating reserve and dignity, free from human passions and emotions."—Winckelmann.

"At Rome the emperors become as familiar as the popes. Who does not know the curly-headed Marcus Aurelius, with his lifted brow and projecting eyes—from the full round beauty of his youth to the more haggard look of his latest years? Are there any modern portraits more familiar than the severe wedge-like head of Augustus, with his sharp cut lips and nose,—or the dull phiz of Hadrian, with his hair combed down over his low forehead,—or the vain, perking face of Lucius Verus, with his thin nose, low brow, and profusion of curls,—or the brutal bull head of Caracalla,—or the bestial, bloated features of Vitellius?

"These men, who were but lay figures to us at school, mere pegs of names to hang historic robes upon, thus interpreted by the living history of their portraits, the incidental illustrations of the places where they lived and moved and died, and the buildings and monuments they erected, become like men of yesterday. Art has made them our contemporaries. They are as near to us as Pius VII. and Napoleon."—Story's Roba di Roma.

"Nerva est le premier des bons, et Trajan le premier des grands empereurs romains; après lui il y en eut deux autres, les deux Antonins. Trois sur soixante-dix, tel est à Rome le bilan des gloires morales de l'empire."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. liii.

Among the reliefs round the upper walls of this room are two,—of Endymion sleeping, and of Perseus delivering Andromeda, which belong to the set in the Palazzo Spada, and are exceedingly beautiful.

The Hall of Illustrious Men contains a seated statue of M. Claudius Marcellus (?), the conqueror of Syracuse, B.C. 212. Round the room are ranged 93 busts of ancient philosophers, statesmen, and warriors. Among the more important are:—

4, 5, 6.Socrates.48.Cneius Domitius Corbulo,general under Claudius and Nero.
9.Aristides, the orator.49.Scipio Africanus.
10.Seneca (?).52.Cato Minor.
16.Marcus Agrippa.54.Aspasia(?).
19.Theophrastus.55.Cleopatra (?).
23.Thales.60.Thucydides (?).
25.Theon.61.Æschines.
27.Pythagoras. 62, 64. Epicurus.
28.Alexander the Great(?).63.Epicurus and Metrodorus.
30.Aristophanes.68, 69. Masinissa.
31.Demosthenes.71.Antisthenes.
38.Aratus.72, 73. Julian the Apostate.
39, 40.Democritus of Aldera.75.Cicero.
42, 43.Euripides.76.Terence.
44, 45, 46.Homer.82.Æschylus (?).
47.Eumenides.

Among the interesting bas-reliefs in this room is one of a Roman interior with a lady trying to persuade her cat to dance to a lyre—the cat, meanwhile, snapping, on its hind legs, at two ducks; the detail of the room is given—even to the slippers under the bed.

The Saloon contains, down the centre,

1. Jupiter (in nero-antico), from Porto d'Anzio, on an altar with figures of Mercury, Apollo, and Diana.