ith capitals and bases of white marble, which stand in pairs within
the niches of the Pantheon. In consequence of the fires of former
generations, the marble has here and there a tinge of red on the
surface. In the Church of St. John Lateran there is a splendid pair of
fluted columns of _giallo antico_, which support the entablature over
a portal at the northern extremity of the transept. They are thirty
feet in height and nine feet in circumference, and were found in
Trajan's Forum. In the Arch of Constantine are several magnificent
_giallo antico_ columns and pilasters, which are supposed to have
belonged to the triumphal arch of Trajan. They are so damaged in
appearance, and so discoloured by the weather, that it is not easy,
without close inspection, to tell the material of which they are
composed. For pavements and the sheathing of interior walls _giallo
antico_ was used more frequently than almost any other kind of
marble; hence it is mostly found in fragments of thin slabs, with the
old polish still glistening upon them.

It is difficult to describe, so as to identify it, the species of
marble known as _Africano_. It has a great variety of tints, ranging
from the clearest white to the deepest black, through yellow and
purple. Its texture is very compact and hard, frequently containing
veins of quartz, which render it difficult to work. Its ancient name
is _Marmor Chium_, for it was brought to Rome from a quarry on Mount
Elias, the highest summit in the island of Chios--the modern
Scio--which contested the honour of being the birthplace of Homer. It
received its modern name of Africano, not from any connection with
Africa, but from its dark colour. It enters pretty frequently into the
decoration of the Roman churches, though it is rare to see it in large
masses. It seems to have been much in fashion for pavements, of which
many fragments may be seen among the ruins of Trajan's Forum. The side
wall of the second chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace in
the Piazza Navona is sheathed with large slabs of remarkably fine
Africano, "with edges bevelled like a rusticated basement." In the
Belvedere Cortile in the Vatican is a portion of an ancient column of
this marble, which is the most beautiful specimen in Rome; and the
principal portal of the portico of St. Peter's is flanked by a pair of
fluted Roman Ionic columns of Africano, which are the largest in the
city.

Closely allied to this marble is an ancient