Room One.—David, Apollo and Daphne, Æneas and Anchises, all by Bernini.
Room Five.—Pauline Borghese, sister of the great Napoleon, as Venus Victrix, by Canova. Pictures—Story of Helen, by Gavin Hamilton.
Passing out of the villa, and proceeding along the ancient Via Flaminia, now Via Ponte Molle (which is traversed by a tramway), turning up the lane on the right, at the top we come to the
VILLA OF PAPA GIULIO.
On the left-hand side, at the corner of the lane, is the Casino, with sculptured cornices and a fountain. Beyond the Casino, and formerly connected with it by a corridor, is the villa where Pope Julius III. best loved to dwell, coming from the Vatican in his barge upon the Tiber. There remain two rooms with richly decorated ceilings by Zucchero, and a fine court with a fountain.
As the road is very dusty and uninteresting, we will take the lane, which conducts us, after a pleasant stroll, to the
ACQUA ACETOSA,
a mineral spring, enclosed in a fountain by Bernini, and surrounded by a small grove. The view of the Tiber here is very fine, particularly when the river has risen. On the opposite bank rises the picturesque ruin, Tor di Quinto, the tomb of Ovid's family. The hill to the right was the site of Antemnæ. (See [page 309].) Below, on the left,
THE PONTE MOLLE
bursts on our sight. It was built by Pius VII. in 1815, on the foundations of the Pons Milvius, "which the elder Scaurus is said to have built" (Marcellinus, xxvii. iii. 9), and near which Constantine defeated Maxentius, October 27th, 312, a victory so graphically depicted by Raphael on the Vatican walls. "Maxentius endeavouring to cross the bridge of boats constructed for the use of his army, a little below the Ponte Molle, was thrown by his frightened horse into the waters, and eaten up by the quicksands on account of the weight of his cuirass. Constantine had great difficulty in finding his corpse" (Aurelius Victor).