an
interesting manner with the Phrygian cities of Laodicea and Colosse.
When St. Paul was preaching the Gospel through this part of Asia
Minor, the architects of Rome were conveying this splendid marble from
the quarries of the Cadmus, to adorn the palatial buildings of the
Imperial City. No marble was so highly esteemed as this, and no other
species is so frequently referred to by the Latin poets.

The high altar of the subterranean church, under which the relics of
St. Ignatius and St. Clement are supposed to lie, is covered by a
canopy supported by elegant columns of pavonazzetto marble; while the
high altar of the upper church is similarly surmounted by a double
entablature of Hymettian marble, supported by four columns of
pavonazzetto. The extra-mural church of St. Paul's had several
splendid pillars of Phrygian marble, taken by the emperor Theodosius
from the grandest of the law courts of the Republic; but these were
unfortunately destroyed during the burning of the old basilica about
sixty years ago. We see in the flat pilasters of this purple-veined
marble, now erect against the transepts of the restored church, the
vestiges of the magnificent AEmilian Basilica in the Forum, of whose
celebrated columns Pliny spoke in the highest terms. Specimens of
pavonazzetto are to be seen in almost every church in Rome. In the
interesting old Church of Sta. Agnese there are two columns of this
marble, the flutings of which are remarkable for their cabled
divisions. The gallery above is supported on small columns, most of
which are of pavonazzetto spirally fluted. In the Church of Santa
Maria degli Angeli there is also a remarkably fine specimen; while
there is a grand pair of columns in the vestibule of St. Peter's
between the transept and the sacristy. Fourteen fluted columns of
Phrygian marble have been dug up from the site of the Augustan Palace
on the Palatine; while the one hundred and twenty employed by the
emperor Hadrian, in the Temple of Juno and Jupiter erected by him,
have been distributed among several of the Roman churches. The side
walls of the splendid staircase of the Bracchi Palace are sheathed
with a very rare and beautiful variety, remarkable for the delicacy of
its veins and its brilliant polish. The veneer was produced by slicing
down two ancient columns discovered near the Temple of Romulus
Maxentius in the Forum, converted into the Church of SS. Cosma e
Damiano. But the finest of all the pavonazzetto