The gray peperino sarcophagus was discovered in the tomb of the Scipios on the Via Appia in 1780. It contained the remains of Scipio Barbatus. When it was opened, two thousand years after his death, the skeleton was found entire, with a ring upon one of the fingers. The ring passed into the hands of the Earl of Beverley, and the bones were removed to Padua by the Venetian senator, Angelo Quirini. On the wall are inscriptions found in the tomb. A bust of the poet Ennius surmounts the sarcophagus.
THE TORSO
of Hercules. The work of Apollonius, son of Nestor of Athens. Found near the Theatre of Pompey. It is considered to be the most perfect resemblance to human flesh, and was greatly admired by Raphael and Michael Angelo, the latter declaring that he was its pupil. Descending the stairs we reach
THE CHIARAMONTI CORRIDOR,
containing numerous monuments of Greek and Roman art. On the left going down. 733, Recumbent Statue of Hercules; 683, Hygeia; 682, Antoninus Pius; 681, Minerva; 635, Hercules with Ajax, found near Pompey's Theatre; 589, Mercury; 588, Group of Bacchus and Ampelus; 544, Silenus; 495, A Cupid, by Praxiteles; 494, Tiberius; 493, Diadumenianus; 450, Mercury; 422, Bust of Demosthenes; 419–417, Busts of Caius and Lucius, nephews of Augustus; 418, Julia, his daughter; 416, Augustus as a Youth; 401, Colossal Head of Augustus; 400, Tiberius; 399, Head of Tiberius; 353, Nymph on a Rock; 294, Hercules Resting; 262, A Smiling Child; 242, Apollo Citharœdus; 241, Juno suckling Mars; 240, Britannicus; 197, Minerva, with modern helmet and enamelled eyes; 177, Polyhymnia; 175, Niobe in Flight from Diana; 122, Diana; 121, Clio, the historical muse and guardian of truth; 120, Priestess of Vesta; 85, The God of Sleep; 62, Hygeia, the goddess of health; 61, Urania; 15, A consular statue; 6, Autumn.—Gates to Corridor of Inscriptions.—Returning. 13, Winter; 19, Paris; 18, Apollo; 17, A Faun. Entrance to the Nuovo Braccio. 112, Venus of Cnidos; 124, Drusus; 181, Hecate; 179, Myth of Alcestis; 245, Polyhymnia; 244, Ocean; 287, Sleeping Fisher Boy; 298, Bacchus; 297, Athlete; 343a, Brutus who stabbed Cæsar; 355–357, Figures found at Tusculum; 358, Captive; 453, Meleager; 498, Clotho; 497, Sarcophagus, with Corn-mills; 484, Diana; 547, Isis; 548, a Vestal; 580, Præfica; 591, Claudius; 627, Venus and Mars; 639, Julia Lœmia; 686, Tuccia, the vestal virgin, carrying water in a sieve from the Tiber to the Forum. (See Dionysius, ii. 69.) On the border is S. K. Pello, "By this proof a sepulchre and a calumny are removed from me." 685, Sarcophagus, representing the manufacture of oil; 684, Æsculapius.
THE NUOVO BRACCIO.
Built by Pius VII., in 1817, from the designs of Stern. The floor is composed of ancient mosaics, and is worthy of notice. The chief objects of interest are—5, Caryatide, supposed to be one of those which supported the portico of the Pandrosium at Athens, by Phidias; 8, Commodus; 9, Captive Dacian King; 11, Silenus; 14, Augustus, found in 1863 in the ruins of the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta; 17, Æsculapius; 20, Nerva; 23, Pudicitia, the goddess of modesty; 26, Titus; 92, Ganymedes, the cup-bearer of Jupiter; 44, Wounded Amazon; 47, Caryatide; 50, Diana; 53, Euripides; 56, Julia, daughter of Titus; 59, Plenty; 62, Demosthenes; 67, Athlete in the act of cleaning his arm with a strigil—the die, which he holds in his other hand, is an erroneous modern addition; 71, Amazon; 74, Clemency; 77, Antonia, the wife of Drusus the elder; 80, Plotina, wife of Trajan; 83, Ceres; 86, Fortune; 96, A. Marcus Antonius; 109, The Nile—the sixteen children are allegorical of the sixteen cubits at which the rise of the river begins to irrigate the land—one of the finest works of art in the Vatican, found near the Church of Minerva; 111, Julia, daughter of Titus; 114, Minerva; 117, Claudius; 120, Faun; 123, Lucius Verus; 126, Athlete; 129, Domitian; 132, Mercury. Passing through the iron gates, we enter
THE CORRIDOR OF INSCRIPTIONS,
the walls of which are adorned with three thousand pagan and eleven hundred Christian inscriptions brought from various catacombs and cemeteries. Retracing our way through the Museum, a glass door on the right at the entrance of the Museum conducts us to