Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part I. For the year 1757. / Giving some account of the present undertakings, studies, and labours, of the ingenious, in many considerable parts of the world.

by Various; Royal Society

III.

A weight, inscribed on one side EME, and on the other HABEBIS.

IV.

A small bolla d'oro, which (after that in the late Dr. Middleton's collection, and another preserved at Rome) is the third known to be extant in Europe. As this ornament was worn by so great a number of young persons at Rome, and made of gold, which is so capable of resisting the injuries of the weather, moisture, &c. one cannot but wonder at the extreme scarcity of these monuments in the cabinets of the curious. The most probable way of accounting for this (according to [44]Dr. Middleton) is, that the value of the materials, of which these bullæ were made, induced the poor labourers, as soon as they had found one, to sell it to the first goldsmith they met with for its real value (however small it might be), by weight.

V.

A little figure like a Faunus, excepting that about the head it had something of the character of the minotaur, viz. large curls upon the forehead, and several muscular protuberances, or tori, under the throat.

VI.

A figure in relievo of a man sitting with a bowl in his hand, which has been thought a Socrates. And indeed the features of the face bear a striking resemblance to those of that sage expressed in ancient monuments; as the bowl might properly refer to the well-known circumstance of his death. But the other insignia are not so suitable to the character of the subject, as one could wish: for he holds, partly in his hand, and partly under his arm, a short staff full of knots, and curved at the end like a shepherd's crook, such as we find borne by satyrs in some Bacchanalian pieces: and the skin of a beast appears hanging from the seat of his chair.

VII.

An antique painting of a muse with a capsula near her containing some volumes, from which hang labels showing the titles of the works. The same representation appears in another painting kept in a different part of the palace. Signor Paderni observed to me, that these remains would help the curious to form a more certain idea of the manner in which the ancients affixed titles to their volumes, than they have hitherto been able to obtain. The most complete description, that I can recollect, of an ancient book, with its appurtenances and decorations, is that of Martial addressed to one of his own.