rly
executed, that the marble actually emulates the softness of the flesh;
and you may count all the spines of the vertebrae, raising up the skin
as in the living body; yet this statue, with all its merit, seems
inferior to the celebrated dying gladiator of Ctesilas, as described by
Pliny, who says the expression of it was such, as appears altogether
incredible. In the court, on the opposite side of the Capitol, there is
an admirable statue of a lion devouring an horse, which was found by
the gate of Ostia, near the pyramid of Caius Cestius; and here on the
left hand, under a colonade, is what they call the Columna Rostrata,
erected in honour of Caius Duilius, who first triumphed over the
Carthaginians by sea. But this is a modern pillar, with the old
inscription, which is so defaced as not to be legible. Among the
pictures in the gallery and saloon above, what pleased me most was the
Bacchus and Ariadne of Guido Rheni; and the wolf suckling Romulus and
Remus, by Rubens. The court of the Palazzo Farnese is surrounded with
antique statues, among which the most celebrated are, the Flora, with a
most delicate drapery; the gladiator, with a dead boy over his
shoulder; the Hercules, with the spoils of the Nemean lion, but that
which the connoisseurs justly esteem above all the rest is Hercules, by
Glycon, which you know as well as I do, by the great reputation it has
acquired. This admirable statue having been found without the legs,
these were supplied by Gulielmo de la Porta so happily, that when
afterwards the original limbs were discovered, Michael Angelo preferred
those of the modern artist, both in grace and proportion; and they have
been retained accordingly. In a little house, or shed, behind the
court, is preserved the wonderful group of Dirce, commonly called the
Toro Farnese, which was brought hither from the thermae Caracallae.
There is such spirit, ferocity, and indignant resistance expressed in
the bull, to whose horns Dirce is tied by the hair, that I have never
seen anything like it, either upon canvass, or in stone. The statues of
the two brothers endeavouring to throw him into the sea are beautiful
figures, finely contrasted; and the rope, which one of them holds in a
sort of loose coil, is so surprisingly chizzelled, that one can hardly
believe it is of stone. As for Dirce herself, she seems to be but a
subaltern character; there is a dog upon his hind legs barking at the
bull, which is much admired. This a