Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXVII. Summer
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Roman collector, maybe by Tiberius himself.
Over the writing table the marble head of Medusa
looked down upon me, fourth century b.c., found
by me at the bottom of the sea. On the huge
Cinquecento Florentine mantelpiece stood the
Winged Victory. On a column of africano by
the window the mutilated head of Nero looked
out over the gulf where he had caused his mother
to be beaten to death by his oarsmen. Over the
entrance door shone the beautiful Cinquecento
stained glass window presented to Eleonora Duse
by the town of Florence and given by her to me
in remembrance of her last stay in San Michele.
In a small crypt five feet below the Roman floor
of coloured marble slept in peace the two monks
I had come upon quite unaware when we were
digging for the foundations of the mantelpiece.
They lay there with folded arms just as they had
been buried under their chapel nearly five
hundred years ago. Their cassocks had mouldered
almost to dust, their dried-up bodies were light
as parchment, but their features were still well
preserved, their hands were still clasping their
crucifixes, one of them wore dainty silver buckles
on his shoes. I was sorry to have disturbed them
in their sleep, with infinite precautions I laid
them back in their little crypt. The lofty
archway with Gothic columns outside the chapel
looked just right, I thought. Where are such
columns to be found to-day? Looking down
from the parapet on the island at my feet, I told
Mastro Nicola that we were to begin at once the
emplacement for the sphinx, there was no time to
lose. Mastro Nicola was delighted, why didn’t
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