DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0029
Ch.I.
THROUGH ITALY.
19
mauds the river, and from its internal solidity
might defy all the ancient means of assault. The
parts therefore that remain, are such as were
adapted to this purpose; that is part of its base-
ment or platform and almost the whole of the
central circular building, though stripped of its
marbles, its pillars, its statues, and its cone. The
marbles disappeared at an early era, having been
employed in other buildings, or converted into
lime and used as mortar. The pillars were
transported to St. Paul’s fuori delle mura and
still adorn its nave; the statues despised in a
barbarous age were tumbled to the ground,
wedged into the w all, or hurled as missile wea-
pons against the assailants. Some few have been
discovered in the neighborhood; the greater
part may possibly still lie buried amidst the ruins.
The brazen cone or pine-apple stands in a gar-
den enclosed in one of the squares of the Vati-
can palace; and the sarcophagus, in which the
ashes of Hadrian were deposited, is said to be
one of the two now placed in the Corsini
chapel of St. John Lateran. In the course of
time various bastions, ramparts, and outworks
have been added to the original building ; several
houses for soldiers, provisions, magazines, &c.
are raised around ; and some very considerable
edifices containing spacious apartments, have
been erected on the solid mass of the sepulchre
c 2
THROUGH ITALY.
19
mauds the river, and from its internal solidity
might defy all the ancient means of assault. The
parts therefore that remain, are such as were
adapted to this purpose; that is part of its base-
ment or platform and almost the whole of the
central circular building, though stripped of its
marbles, its pillars, its statues, and its cone. The
marbles disappeared at an early era, having been
employed in other buildings, or converted into
lime and used as mortar. The pillars were
transported to St. Paul’s fuori delle mura and
still adorn its nave; the statues despised in a
barbarous age were tumbled to the ground,
wedged into the w all, or hurled as missile wea-
pons against the assailants. Some few have been
discovered in the neighborhood; the greater
part may possibly still lie buried amidst the ruins.
The brazen cone or pine-apple stands in a gar-
den enclosed in one of the squares of the Vati-
can palace; and the sarcophagus, in which the
ashes of Hadrian were deposited, is said to be
one of the two now placed in the Corsini
chapel of St. John Lateran. In the course of
time various bastions, ramparts, and outworks
have been added to the original building ; several
houses for soldiers, provisions, magazines, &c.
are raised around ; and some very considerable
edifices containing spacious apartments, have
been erected on the solid mass of the sepulchre
c 2