Marble beauties seem to suffer the same occasional eclipses as
those of flesh and blood. We looked at the Faun, the Dying Gladiator,
and other famous sculptures; but nothing had a glory round it, perhaps
because the sirocco was blowing. These halls of the Capitol have always
had a dreary and depressing effect upon me, very different from those of
the Vatican. I know not why, except that the rooms of the Capitol have a
dingy, shabby, and neglected look, and that the statues are dusty, and
all the arrangements less magnificent than at the Vatican. The corroded
and discolored surfaces of the statues take away from the impression of
immortal youth, and turn Apollo [The Lycian Apollo] himself into an old
stone; unless at rare intervals, when he appears transfigured by a light
gleaming from within.
March 23d.--I am wearing away listlessly these last precious days of my
abode in Rome. U----'s illness is disheartening, and by confining
------, it takes away the energy and enterprise that were the spring of
all our movements.
Pages:
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771