r having been led
captive in fetters of gold to grace the triumphal procession of her
conqueror.

For statuary purposes Lunar marble was extensively used in ancient
Rome. It formed the material out of which the sculptor produced some
of the noblest creations of his genius. Of these the Apollo Belvedere
in the Vatican collection is one of the most remarkable. The evidence
of its own material, as already mentioned, has dispelled the old idea
that it is one of the masterpieces of the Greek school; and Canova's
conjecture, based upon some peculiarities of its drapery, is in all
likelihood true, viz. that it was a copy of a bronze original, made,
probably at the order of Nero, for one of the baths of the imperial
villa at Antium, in whose ruins it was found in the fifteenth century.
From the time of the Romans, the white marble of the Montes Lunenses
has been used for decorative purposes in many of the churches and
public buildings of Italy. It formed the material out of which Michael
Angelo, Canova, and Thorwaldsen chiselled their immortal works. Its
quality and composition, however, vary very considerably, and small
crystals of perfectly limpid quartz, called _Carrara diamonds_, and
iron pyrites, occasionally occur, to the annoyance of the sculptor. It
becomes soon discoloured when exposed even to the pure air of Italy,
but it is capable of resisting decay for very long periods. The
opinion current in Paris, that the marbles of Carrara are unable to
withstand the effects of the climate of that city, is due to the
frequent use of inferior qualities, which are known to artists as
_Saloni_ and _Ravaccioni_, and whose particles have but a feeble
cohesion, and consequently slight durability.

All the white marbles which I have thus described were used in Rome
principally for external architecture; and beautiful as a city largely
built of them may have looked, it must have had, nevertheless, a
garishness and artificiality which would offend the artistic eye. When
newly constructed, the Roman temples in the time of the emperors must
have been oppressive, reflecting the hot sunshine from their snowy
cellae and pillared porticoes with an insufferable glare.
Marble--unlike sandstones, clay-slates, and basalts, which are kindred
to the earth and the elements, and find themselves at home in any
situation, all things making friends with them, mosses, lichens,
ivies--is a dead, cold material, and does not harmonise with
surrounding c