DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.786#0100
84 LUNI. [chap. xxxv.
to be neglected by the luxurious Romans of that age ;
and accordingly it soon came into extensive use, as the
Pantheon, the Portico of Octavia, the Pyramid of Oaius
Cestius, and other monuments of that period, remain to
testify ; and it was to this discovery that Augustus owed
his boast—that he had found Rome of brick, but had left
it of marble. From that time forth, it has been in use for
statuary, as well as for architectural decoration ; and from
the Apollo Belvidere to the Triumphs of Thorwaldsen,
" the stone that breathes and struggles " in immortal art,
has been chiefly the marble of Luna.5
(Quintino, Marmi Lunensi, cited by 5 For further notices of Luna and its
Miiller, I. 2, 4, n. 63); but the term port, I refer the reader to Targioni's
was of general application to the harder Toscana X. pp. 403—46B ; but especially
sorts of rock, and the use of it here is to the work of Promis, already cited,
expressive of the singularity of the cir- and to Repetti'sDizionariodellaToscana.
cumstance that the stone should be Promis' work is reviewed by Canina,
sawn, and the word would lose its force Bull. Inst. 1838, p. 142.
if applied to a soft volcanic formation.
to be neglected by the luxurious Romans of that age ;
and accordingly it soon came into extensive use, as the
Pantheon, the Portico of Octavia, the Pyramid of Oaius
Cestius, and other monuments of that period, remain to
testify ; and it was to this discovery that Augustus owed
his boast—that he had found Rome of brick, but had left
it of marble. From that time forth, it has been in use for
statuary, as well as for architectural decoration ; and from
the Apollo Belvidere to the Triumphs of Thorwaldsen,
" the stone that breathes and struggles " in immortal art,
has been chiefly the marble of Luna.5
(Quintino, Marmi Lunensi, cited by 5 For further notices of Luna and its
Miiller, I. 2, 4, n. 63); but the term port, I refer the reader to Targioni's
was of general application to the harder Toscana X. pp. 403—46B ; but especially
sorts of rock, and the use of it here is to the work of Promis, already cited,
expressive of the singularity of the cir- and to Repetti'sDizionariodellaToscana.
cumstance that the stone should be Promis' work is reviewed by Canina,
sawn, and the word would lose its force Bull. Inst. 1838, p. 142.
if applied to a soft volcanic formation.