Then we come to the sculpture, the main scope of the new museum, which
is distributed in a large vestibule, in a noble octagonal central hall
and in a long gallery. It was an excellent idea, adding much to the
interest which every stranger in Rome will take in the museum, to place
on each specimen a placard specifying the locality in which it was
discovered and the date of the finding. And this information is
admirably supplemented by a map hung against the wall showing in detail
the relative positions of all the places which have yielded up these
long-buried treasures. The number of specimens of sculpture is in all
one hundred and thirty-three; and it is impossible, without letting this
notice run to an immoderate length, to attempt to give an adequate
account of the various objects, or even of the principal among them.
There is a richly-ornamented and very characteristic head of Commodus,
which really looks as if it might have come from the sculptor's hands
yesterday. A colossal bust of Mæcenas, also the gift of Signor
Castellani, a bust of Tiberius, a small statue of the child Hercules, a
Venus Anadyomene, may be, and many others might be, mentioned. The
last-named is a very lovely statue of a young girl entirely nude. The
archæologists have chosen to call it a Venus, but it is to my thinking
clear that it never was intended for the laughter-loving goddess. The
expression of the face is perfectly and beautifully chaste, and indeed a
little sad. I should say that it must have been a nymph coming from the
bath, and just about to clothe herself with the drapery thrown over a
broken column at her knee as soon as she shall have completed the
arrangement of her tresses, with which her hands are (or, alas! were,
for the arms are wanting) engaged.

Room No. 10 contains a very extensive and most interesting collection of
ancient pottery. There are many of the painted vases with which the