First, let the visitor notice, placed in front of the third pilaster, a celebrated copy of the statue of Praxiteles, of Cupid bending his bow. This celebrated copy is four feet, three and a half inches, in height. It arrived in this country originally as a present to Edmund Burke, from Rome, by Barry, the painter. Numerous copies of this Cupid exist, and the one before the visitor is not the best.
In this compartment or division, the visitor should also remark several sepulchral urns with figures in relief. Amid other sepulchral monuments are, an altar inscribed by Annia Augustalis, to the manes of M. Clodius, his brother Felix, and to Tyrannus; and a bas-relief discovered near the mausoleum of Augustus, representing a Muse standing before a dramatic poet. Hereabouts also the visitor should notice an altar, ornamented with bas-reliefs, dedicated by Aurelius Timotheus to Diana; a small figure of Neptune from Athens; a veiled Ceres bearing a torch, from Athens; a draped Muse in terra cotta holding a lyre; and a cippus, with a representation of Silenus riding a panther. On turning to the lower shelf, the visitor will at once be struck with the sarcophagi. Here are three Etruscan sarcophagi, two of alabaster, and one in peperino. On all three are recumbent female figures, and in front of the first the hunt of the Calydonian boar; of the second, Scylla; and of the third, a bas-relief representing Achilles dragging Penthesilea from her chariot. On this shelf also are, a bas-relief showing Luna encompassed by the signs of the Zodiac, and a sun-dial supported by the claws and heads of lions. Turning now to the upper shelf, the visitor should examine the bas-reliefs deposited thereon. Upon the first, the visitor will notice a funeral car, shaped like a temple drawn by four horses, with Jupiter and the Dioscuri on the sides of the car; upon the second, the bas-relief represents Ulysses and Diomedes detecting Achilles disguised as a female among the daughters of Lycomedes; and the subject of the third relief is a marriage in the presence of Juno Pronuba, showing the bridegroom taking the bride's hand, and holding the marriage contract. Having glanced at these objects, the visitor's way lies forward to the
FOURTH DIVISION.
Here, in front of the pilaster, the visitor must at once examine the torso of a statue, supposed to be of Mercury; and a curious Greek circular altar, ornamented with the heads and fillets of bulls and stags, and inscribed with the names of Agathemeris and her son Sosicles of Tlos. Having examined these two prominently placed objects, the visitor should proceed at once to the general contents of the division. He will be probably attracted first to two terminal statues; or statues, of which the lower parts are not developed. They occur frequently among the remains of Greek sculpture. These terminal statues were held in great veneration; and they were found placed at the corners of streets, at the doors of private dwellings, and before temples. The custom of representing Mercury with a head upon a plain column, appears to have been the origin of a fashion which the Greeks subsequently extended to their representations of other deities. The terminal figure in this division, with the winged cap, illustrates the generality of these Hermae; it was found near Frascati, in the year 1770. The next remarkable object that will probably attract the visitor's attention is the figure, found at Rome, of an Egyptian tumbler, going through his performances on the back of a tame crocodile, a barbarous species of entertainment undoubtedly, but not more repulsive than that of the French aerönaut of last year, floating over Paris on the back of an ostrich. Hereabouts are placed also a small statue of the three-fold Hecate, a Diana found in the Giustiniani Palace at Rome; a bust of Jupiter, conjectured to be a copy from the work of the celebrated sculptor Polycletus, and a sphinx. Here, too, are some interesting bas-reliefs. Upon one a Bacchante (supposed to be a copy from Scopas), is represented with a knife in her hand, and holding part of a kid; upon another (part of a sarcophagus), Priam is represented praying to Achilles to give up Hector's body; upon a third (a cippus) birds are drinking; and upon a fourth (a fountain) are Pans and satyrs. Before turning to the lower shelf, the visitor should also notice in this neighbourhood a beautiful group of two dogs, found on the Monte Cagnuolo; a votive foot, with a coiling serpent, and one or two sepulcral urns with inscriptions. Upon the lower shelf are deposited an interesting series of busts, including one of the Emperor Septimius Severus, found on the Palatine Hill; one of Hadrian, found at Tivoli, on the site of Hadrian's Villa; one from Athens, of the Emperor Nero; and one of Caracalla, found in the Nunnery Gardens at the Quatro Fontane, on the Esquiline Hill. Upon the upper shelf are two busts in relief, and the front of a sarcophagus, with elaborate representations of the Muses. Here is Terpsichore with the lyre of dancing, Thalia with the mask of comedy. And now the way lies once more forward, into the
FIFTH DIVISION.
Before the fifth pilaster is a notable piece of sculpture found in the villa of Antoninus Pius—an erect figure of the youthful Bacchus clothed in the skin of a panther; and here also is a square altar ornamented with sphinxes in bas-relief, Apollo, Diana, and various religious symbols. A colossal toe attracts considerable attention in this division. It may have been an ornament in the rooms of an Eisenberg of the ancients, but more probably has been lost by a god. Let the visitor pause here before the terminal bust of Aeschines the orator, who impeached Demosthenes out of jealousy for his popularity with the people of Athens, and sullenly retired, after losing his cause and being mulcted of a thousand drachmas as the accuser, to Rhodes, where he occupied himself in teaching rhetoric. Other terminal statues occur in this division. Among these, in a glass, are small terminal busts, joined back to back, of Bacchus and Libera; three yellow and red marble heads of Libera; a yellow marble bearded Bacchus; and the bust of a Greek poet discovered at Bitolia. Hereabouts also are, a female head, the eyes of which have traces of inlaying; a bas-relief of Antinous; a curious female head, with the hair of a distinct block of marble, fitted upon it; the head of a child from Rome; the head of Jupiter from the corner of a sarcophagus; busts of Hercules and Serapis; a remarkable altar in the Egyptian style, curiously carved with the bull Apis, and Harpocrates drawn in a car by a hippopotamus. Turning to the upper shelf, the visitor will notice a satyr playing on a flute; six Amazons carved upon the fragment of a sarcophagus; and a sarcophagus found at Tusculum, with representations of Cupids bearing away the arms of Mars. A series of busts are deposited upon the lower shelf. These include busts of the wife of the Emperor Domitian; bust of Olympia; bust of the wife of Hadrian, Julia Sabina; bust of Tiberius; and a bust of Augustus. Before leaving this room the visitor should not fail to notice a few antiquities which should particularly interest him. These form a group of relics found in this country. They illustrate the doings of the Romans in this country.
ANTIQUITIES OF BRITAIN.
The first of these objects which the visitor will remark, is a curious cylindrical sarcophagus, discovered in the neighbourhood of St. Alban's, so lately as the year 1831. It contained some Roman vases. Another sarcophagus found at Southfleet, in Kent, is also included in the collection. In this sarcophagus several interesting relics were discovered, including a vessel containing burnt bones; and purple leather shoes embroidered with gold, and in the same neighbourhood other relics, including an earthern vessel, also containing bones, were found. The next object to which the visitor should direct his attention is the old cistern of a blacksmith, which had been found at Chesterford, in Essex, which turned out to be an ancient relic sculptured in high relief with figures of Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Venus. Three or four Roman altars found in various parts of the country, one to AEsculapius; a bas-relief of a Roman standard of the second legion; and pigs of lead inscribed with the names of Roman emperors. Having examined these objects, the visitor should pass at once westward into the
PHIGALEIAN SALOON.
He may here take a seat for a few moments and read the points of history which belong to this saloon, before he commences his examination of it. One year, while the present century was young, fifteen gentlemen encamped round about the ruins of a temple, known to the neighbouring inhabitants as the "columns." These columns were those believed to be the ruins of a temple of Apollo Epicurius, built by the citizens of ancient Phigaleia, in Arcadia. These "columns" were situated upon a shelf of land, high up the side of Mount Cotilium, and surrounded by a rich and various landscape. Lying scattered about were the shattered fragments of the sculptured frieze of the temple; and, with infinite labour the camp of explorers succeeded in gathering together and arranging the slabs which are now deposited in this, the Phigaleian saloon. To the sound of Arcadian music, workmen excavated in the neighbourhood of these ruins; and in 1814 the Prince Regent obtained a grant of 15,000£. to purchase them for the British Museum.