on the Materials used in the City of Rome. 41 



cording to Olivier, in his travels, where it lies upon the schis- 

 tus it is white and very fine-grained. 



The Parian marble, extremely celebrated among the an- 

 cients, was found in the hill of Marpessa in that island, the 

 " Marpesia cautes" of Virgil.* It was noted for its white- 

 ness — H lapis candidissimus qui dicitur Parius." Antoninus. 

 It was principally used for statues ; -f- but the mausoleum of 

 Adrian, as we learn from Procopius, | was encrusted with it. 

 In colour it inclines to yellowish-white, while the Carrara mar- 

 ble is bluish-white. It appears to be in lamellar concretions, 

 which sometimes vary in opacity. 



The Tasian marble was white, but stained, and chiefly used 

 for building about the time of Nero. 



Such are the principal white marbles of the ancients. It is 

 alleged that some of the most famous statues are cut from Do- 

 lomite or magnesian limestone ; but I am not aware which, if 

 any, of those now mentioned have this character. In fact, it 

 is not agreed out of what marble the best statues are execut- 

 ed, so minute are the differences of the white marbles. 



Of the coloured marbles, the first we shall notice is the Ca- 

 rystian, corresponding to the modern Cipollino. It was quar- 

 ried near Carystos, now Castel-Rosso, in Eubaea (Negroponte,) 

 and was of a greenish colour, in lines or sinuous strata (Undosa 

 Carystos, Statius.) It was much used in Rome, and was early 

 introduced. Fine columns of it occur in the Temple of Anto- 

 ninus and Faustina, and others, which once stood in the Church 

 of St Paul, are now extremely injured by the fire which de- 

 stroyed that gorgeous edifice. Very fine ones adorned the 

 Temple of Peace, one of which now stands before St Maria 

 Maggiore. It is one of the commonest marbles in the ruins of 

 ancient edifices. 



The Africano of the moderns, which Nibby considers equi- 

 valent to the Chian marble of the ancients, would seem more 

 naturally to correspond to the " columnas ultima recisas Afri- 

 ca'" of Horace. Indeed, the derivation which the Italian an- 

 tiquary gives of the modern name, from the predominance of 



* Mn. vi. 471. + Ag*cf« Tgoc t*» /x*£fA.*£oylu<i>i*v t Strab. x. 



X Bellum Gothicum, i. 23. 



