ead is covered with a light cap of woven gold thread, very
beautiful. The teeth are white and perfect; the flesh and the tongue
retain their natural color; but if the glutinous substance is washed
off, the flesh blackens in less than an hour. Much care has been taken
in searching the tomb in which the corpse was found, in the hope of
discovering the epitaph, with her name; it must be an illustrious one,
because none but a noble and wealthy person could afford to be buried
in such a costly sarcophagus thus filled with precious ointments."

Translation of a letter of messer Daniele da San Sebastiano, dated
MCCCCLXXXV:--

"In the course of excavations which were made on the Appian Way, to
find stones and marbles, three marble tombs have been discovered
during these last days, sunk twelve feet below the ground. One was of
Terentia Tulliola, daughter of Cicero; the other had no epitaph. One
of them contained a young girl, intact in all her members, covered
from head to foot with a coating of aromatic paste, one inch thick. On
the removal of this coating, which we believe to be composed of myrrh,
frankincense, aloe, and other priceless drugs, a face appeared, so
lovely, so pleasing, so attractive, that, although the girl had
certainly been dead fifteen hundred years, she appeared to have been
laid to rest that very day. The thick masses of hair, collected on the
top of the head in the old style, seemed to have been combed then and
there. The eyelids could be opened and shut; the ears and the nose
were so well preserved that, after being bent to one side or the
other, they instantly resumed their original shape. By pressing the
flesh of the cheeks the color would disappear as in a living body. The
tongue could be seen through the pink lips; the articulations of the
hands and feet still retained their elasticity. The whole of Rome,
men and women, to the number of twenty thousand, visited the marvel of
Santa Maria Nova that day. I hasten to inform you of this event,
because I want you to understand how the ancients took care to prepare
not only their souls but also their bodies for immortality. I am sure
that if you had had the privilege of beholding that lovely young face,
your pleasure would have equalled your astonishment."

Translation of a letter, dated Rome, April 15, 1485, among Schedel's
papers in Cod. 716 of the Munich library:

"Knowing your eagerness for novelties, I send you the news of a
discovery just made on t