a,_ he stood
gazing at the huge square edifice, which seemed to him like a die cut
from an immense block of stone.

"This really gives me an impression of grandeur and force," he said to
himself. "What a splendid palace! It looks like an ancient knight in
full armour, looking indifferently at everything, sure of his own
worth."

Caesar walked from one end of the _piazza_ to the other, absorbed in the
majestic pile of stone.

Kennedy surprised him in his contemplation.

"Now will you say that you are a good philistine?"

"Ah, well, this palace is magnificent. Here are grandeur, strength,
overwhelming force."

"Yes, it is magnificent; but very uncomfortable, my French colleagues
tell me."

Kennedy related the history of the Farnese Palace to Caesar. They went
through the Via del Mascherone and came out into the Via Giulia.

"This Via Giulia is a street in a provincial capital," said Kennedy;
"always sad and deserted; a Cardinal or two who like isolation are still
living here."

At the entrance to the Via dei Farnesi, Caesar stopped to look at two
marble tablets set into the wall at the two sides of a chapel door.

Cut on the tablets were skeletons painted black; on one, the words:
"Alms for the poor dead bodies found in the fields," and on the other:
"Alms for the perpetual lamp in the cemetery."

"What does this mean?" said Caesar.

"That is the Church of the Orison of the Confraternity of Death. The
tablets are modern."

They passed by the "Mascherone" again, and went rambling on until they
reached the Synagogue and the Theatre of Marcellus.

They went through narrow streets without sidewalks; they passed across
tiny squares; and it seemed like a dead city, or like the outskirts of a
village. In certain streets towered high dark palaces of blackish stone.
These mysterious palaces looked uninhabited; the gratings were eaten
with rust, all sorts of weeds grew on the roofs, and the balconies were
covered with climbing plants. At corners, set into the wall, one saw
niches with glass fronts. A painted madonna, black now, with silver
jewels and a crown, could be guessed at inside, and in front a little
lantern swung on a cord.

Suddenly a cart would come down one of these narrow streets without
sidewalks, driving very quickly and scattering the women and children
seated by the gutter.

In all these poor quarters there were lanes crossed by ropes loaded with
torn washing; there were wretched black shops f