DA AND OBELISK SOUTH OF OLD S. PETER'S. (After
Bonanni)]

In the chronicle of Nicolo della Tuccia of Viterbo is the following
entry, dated 1458: "On the 27th day of June, news was circulated in
Viterbo that two days before a great discovery had been made in S.
Peter's of Rome. A priest of that church, having manifested the wish
to be buried in the chapel of S. Petronilla, in the tribune on the
right, where the story of the emperor Constantine was painted in
ancient times, they found, while digging there, a tomb of exquisite
marble, containing a sarcophagus, and inside of it, a smaller coffin
of cypress wood overlaid with silver. This silver, of eleven carats
standard, weighed eight hundred and thirty-two pounds. The bodies were
wrapped in a golden cloth which yielded sixteen pounds of that
precious metal. It was said that the bodies were those of Constantine
and his little son. No written record or sign was found except a cross
made in this shape: [Symbol: Maltese Cross] The Pope, Callixtus III.,
took possession of everything and sent the gold and silver to the
mint." We hear no more of the imperial mausoleum during the sixty
following years. In the diary of Marcantonio Michiel, of Venice, the
next discovery is registered under the date of December 4, 1519: "A
few days ago, while excavations were going on in the chapel of the
kings of France, for the rebuilding of one of the altars, several
antique coffins were found, and in one of them the bones of an old
Christian prince, wrapped in a pall of gold cloth and surrounded with
articles of jewelry. There was a necklace with a cross-shaped pendant,
believed to be worth three thousand ducats. I know that a certain
jeweller offered that amount of money for the dress alone to Giuliano
Lena, who was in charge of the excavations. The Pope attached great
importance to the jewels, although it was found out afterwards that
they were not worth two thousand ducats, on account of some flaws
in the stones, and of injury wrought by time on their mounting. The
prospect of finding more made them overturn the whole pavement of the
chapel." Another entry of the same diary, under the date of December
23, says: "The treasure-trove in the chapel of the kings of France
consists of eight pounds of gold from the melting of dresses, of a
cross of gold, dotted with emeralds, and of a second plain one, the
value of all being a little over one thousand ducats. The Pope made a
present of some to the