Here, in front of the pilaster, the visitor must at once examine the
torso of a statue, supposed to be of Mercury; and a curious Greek
circular altar, ornamented with the heads and fillets of bulls and
stags, and inscribed with the names of Agathemeris and her son
Sosicles of Tlos. Having examined these two prominently placed
objects, the visitor should proceed at once to the general contents of
the division. He will be probably attracted first to two terminal
statues; or statues, of which the lower parts are not developed. They
occur frequently among the remains of Greek sculpture. These terminal
statues were held in great veneration; and they were found placed at
the corners of streets, at the doors of private dwellings, and before
temples. The custom of representing Mercury with a head upon a plain
column, appears to have been the origin of a fashion which the Greeks
subsequently extended to their representations of other deities. The
terminal figure in this division, with the winged cap, illustrates the
generality of these Hermae; it was found near Frascati, in the year
1770. The next remarkable object that will probably attract the
visitor's attention is the figure, found at Rome, of an Egyptian
tumbler, going through his performances on the back of a tame
crocodile, a barbarous species of entertainment undoubtedly, but not
more repulsive than that of the French aerönaut of last year, floating
over Paris on the back of an ostrich. Hereabouts are placed also a
small statue of the three-fold Hecate, a Diana found in the
Giustiniani Palace at Rome; a bust of Jupiter, conjectured to be a
copy from the work of the celebrated sculptor Polycletus, and a
sphinx. Here, too, are some interesting bas-reliefs. Upon one a
Bacchante (supposed to be a copy from Scopas), is represented with a
knife in her hand, and holding part of a kid; upon another (part of a
sarcophagus), Priam is represented praying to Achilles to give up
Hector's body; upon a third (a cippus) birds are drinking; and upon a
fourth (a fountain) are Pans and satyrs. Before turning to the lower
shelf, the visitor should also notice in this neighbourhood a
beautiful group of two dogs, found on the Monte Cagnuolo; a votive
foot, with a coiling serpent, and one or two sepulcral urns with
inscriptions. Upon the lower shelf are deposited an interesting series
of busts, including one of the Emperor Septimius Severus, found on the
Palatine Hill; one of Hadrian, found at Tivoli, on the site of
Hadrian's Villa; one from Athens, of the Emperor Nero; and one of
Caracalla, found in the Nunnery Gardens at the Quatro Fontane, on the
Esquiline Hill. Upon the upper shelf are two busts in relief, and the
front of a sarcophagus, with elaborate representations of the Muses.
Here is Terpsichore with the lyre of dancing, Thalia with the mask of
comedy. And now the way lies once more forward, into the