ely recent addition, in which case the statue may be a work
of the fourth century, or they were cast together with the figure. If
the latter be the fact the statue is of a comparatively recent age.
Doubts on the subject might be dispelled by a careful examination of
these crucial details, which I have not been able to undertake to my
satisfaction.

[Illustration: Bronze Statue of S. Peter.]

The destruction of old S. Peter's is one of the saddest events in the
history of the ruin of Rome. It was done at two periods and in two
sections, a cross wall being raised in the mean time in the middle of
the church to allow divine service to proceed without interruption,
while the destruction and the rebuilding of each half was accomplished
in successive stages.

[Illustration: Statue of S. Hippolytus.]

The work began April 18, 1506, under Julius II. It took exactly one
century to finish the western section, from the partition wall to the
apse. The demolition of the eastern section began February 21, 1606.
Nine years later, on Palm Sunday, April 12, 1615, the jubilant
multitudes witnessed the disappearance of the partition wall, and
beheld for the first time the new temple in all its glory.

It seems that Paul V., Borghese, to whom the completion of the great
work is due, could not help feeling a pang of remorse in wiping out
forever the remains of the Constantinian basilica. He wanted the
sacred college to share the responsibility for the deed, and summoned
a consistory for September 26, 1605, to lay the case before the
cardinals. The report revealed a remarkable state of things. It seems
that while the foundations of the right side of the church built by
Constantine had firmly withstood the weight and strain imposed upon
them, the foundation of the left side, that is, the three walls of the
circus of Caligula, which had been built for a different purpose, had
yielded to the pressure so that the whole church, with its four rows
of columns, was bending sideways from right to left, to the extent of
three feet seven inches. The report stated that this inclination could
be noticed from the fact that the frescoes of the left wall were
covered with a thick layer of dust; it also stated that the ends of
the great beams supporting the roof were all rotten and no longer
capable of bearing their burden. Then cardinal Cosentino, the dean of
the chapter, rose to say that, only a few days before, while mass was
being said at the altar