Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The Roman Emperors in Marble - 3. Caligula
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
52 ROMAN DA YS.
traits of his muse’s and his own nature, in amiable
union.
Caius’ opinions in architecture were equally destruc-
tive. For his castles and villas, he made plans that he
thought the more ingenious, the more they defied a
sound understanding. The architect had to obey, and
in so far as life was dear to him, see that all was ready
within the time set by Caesar’s impatience.
Not far from the baths of Caracalla and the Porta
San Sebastiano, is a columbarium that belonged to the
freedmen of Augustus. Within, a niche is to be seen,
adorned in uncouth taste, with a spiral line broken off.
One would not have expected to find upon antique
ground a presage of the style that more than fifteen
hundred years later was to deck the churches and gates
of Rome with curled periwigs ; but one soon discovers
that this eccentricity did not spring from the taste, but
was imposed upon it, by the space. Had any of Cali-
gula’s castles been spared by time, I have a suspicion
that we should have been surprised to find in them,
many small prophecies of the grotesque and rococo man-
ners. But all that is left of his buildings are the mighty
ruined walls of his imperial palace on the Palatine, and a
foundation wall of the bridge he threw out from this hill
over the Forum Romanum to one of the summits of the
Capitoline. The bridge was a connecting link between
two liigh divinities, when they wished to take counsel
together upon things of importance. One of the gods
was Jupiter Capitolinus ; the other—for whom the em-
peror had built a temple, founded a priesthood, raised
golden statues and imagined costly sacrifices—was Caius
himself. When they spoke with each other, it took
place in this fashion : Caius, also called Jupiter Latiaris^
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
