In the centre of the first room is the celebrated bronze wolf of the
Capitol (1), thus alluded to by Virgil ("Æn." viii. 630):--
"By the wolf were laid the martial twins,
Intrepid on her swelling dugs they hung:
The foster-dam lolled out her fawning tongue:
They sucked secure, while, bending back her head,
She licked their tender limbs, and formed them as they fed."
Cicero (in "Catiline" iii. 8), mentions this object as a small gilt
figure of Romulus sucking the teat of a wolf, which was struck by
lightning, and which his hearers remembered to have seen in the
Capitol.
Dionysius, quoting from an older historian, Quintus Fabius Pictor,
speaks of a temple in which a statue is placed representing the above
incident. It is a wolf suckling two children; they are in brass, and
of ancient workmanship. This latter must not be confounded with the
statue mentioned by Cicero, which is generally believed to be the one
before us. The fracture on the hind leg may have been caused by
lightning, and traces of gilt may still be observed. It is not known
where it was found, but in Cicero's time (B.C. 106-43) it was to be
"seen in the Capitol." The workmanship of the wolf is of an early
period, Etruscan; the twins are Roman.
10. A bull, found in Trastevere in 1849. 4. "Thou seest the faces of
Hecate turned in three directions, that she may watch the cross-roads
cut into three pathways." She was the patroness of magic, and was also
set up before houses to ward off evil. This goddess is often
confounded with Diana. 8. The shepherd Martius, a bronze statue of a
boy extracting a thorn from his foot. 14. Horse found in Trastevere.
13. Foot found near the Colosseum.
The case on the left contains, amongst other objects, a bronze
inscription, with heads in alto-relief, of Septimius Severus,
Caracalla, and Julia Pia. 9. Gilt bronze statue of Hercules, found
amongst the remains of a temple of Hercules, behind the Church of S.
Maria in Cosmedin. 2, 3. Bronze globes, one of which was held in the
hand of Trajan's statue on his column. 15. Diana of the Ephesians in
bronze and marble. 6. A Camillus, one of the twelve youths who
assisted at the sacrifices. 7. Bust of Lucius Junius Brutus, who
expelled the Tarquins. 5. A fluted vase, found in the sea at Porto
d'Anzio; a gift of Mithridates, King of Pontus, to a gymnasium of the
Eupatorists.
_From the Hall of Bronzes we enter the_