654 
History of that City, while the revolu- 
tionary fanaticism of- our-own times pro- 
duced a variety of ravages. One ought 
to be a Vandal, or an Ostrogoth, not to 
be heart-sick at the report formerly made 
by Gregoire on that subject. 
Monuments are frequently altered. 
The changes made some years since in 
the Pantheon of Rome, are not advan- 
tageous to it. ‘Those who restore broken 
and mutilated statues, and adjust the 
fragments or the att:ibutes, often change 
the very nature of them. Cassanova and 
/Winkelmann, who reproach Cavaceppi 
with this, produce many examples of it. 
The statues and figures of bronze and me- 
dals lose in the fire that precious varnish, 
which is the guarantee of their antiquity, 
when ignorant possessors pretend to clean 
and polish them. Medals are exposed to 
many frauds. The head, reverse, and 
legend, are all changed. Othos, Perti- 
naxes, Gordians, are created at pleasure. 
I myself possess an Otho, with a reverse 
of Titus. Modern hands have affixed 
false names of engravers to ancient gems. 
Pichler has placed the name of Diosco- 
Tides on a stone representing Caligula, 
The name of Lysippus has been en- 
graved on the Hercules of Florence. 
Nothing is more frequent than coun- 
terfeit and false monuments. The me- 
dals fabricated by John Cavin of Padua, 
Cogornier Laurent of Parma, Dervien, 
&e. are well known, Several medals 
a: by Golz, have been suspected 
vy the antiquaries ; however, as the col- 
lection made by that learned man was 
Jost in its passage across the channel, it 
is difficult to decide on this subject. The 
naumachia of Verona in Panvinius, the 
theatre of Autun in Montfaucon, are fic- 
titious, That learned man was also de- 
ceived by the figure of Cybele, given by 
Ligori; and by the divinities of Brescia, 
drawn from Rossi. The Hercules, sketch- 
ed by De Hooghe, misled both Gargon 
and Keyssler. ‘The Cupid-keybearer, in 
Monttaucon, appears suspicious to Cas- 
sanova. Joseph Guerra has counter- 
feited the paintings of Herculaneum; and 
P. Fondi, Etruscan vases. It is to be 
wbserved, however, that medals, ,con- 
cerning the existence of which the great- 
est doubts were once entertained, have 
been discovered afterwards. The cabi- 
net of the late duchess dowager of Port- 
land contained several of these. 
It happens also, that real monuments 
are badly represented. It is thus that 
Struys and Serlio have given false plans, 
and fictitious designs of the ruins of Per- 
Retrospect of French Literature—Miscellanies. 
sepolis; Laurus, of the ancient edifices of 
Rome; Da Costa, of the amphitheatre 
of Capua; Jneas Vicus, of that of Ve- 
rona. Picart has drawn from his own 
imagination the statue of Memnon, think- 
ing that the original was no longer in 
existence. Rollin speaks of the statue 
of Laocoon, as if it also had been lost; 
and in Dryden’s Virgil that statue is 
badly designed: On an ancient stone 
which represents the murder of Polyx- 
ene, Gravelle has converted the Psyche 
into anurn, Tn the place of the Taurro- 
bolium, towards the extremity of the 
triumphal arch of Susa, we discover ~ 
Aaron sacrificing, in Moetjen’s plate. 
Many others have forged the figures of 
ancient divinities, instead of retaining 
those which the monuments present. 
Into how many feveries have those 
fallen who pretend to explain the remains 
of antiquity? According to Cardinal Ba- 
ronius, an Isis has been mistaken for the 
holy Virgin. A Prafectus Viarum, or 
superintendant of the high-ways, has been 
metamorphosed in Spain, into a St. Via- 
rus, as Mabillon attests, Engraved 
stones which bore a relation to the histo- 
ry of the Roman Emperors and their apo- 
theosis, were formerly displayed among 
the relics. An inscription in honour of 
Hercules, under the name of Semo sancus 
Deus fidius, made some believe that di- 
vine honours had been offered to Simon 
the magician. Monconnys has mistaken 
the sphinx near the pyramids of Egypt, 
for ahyena. Winkelmann has detected 
several similar errors; among others, 
that of Bellori, who imagined he discern- 
ed the @xpedition of the Emperor Galie- 
nus into the East, while Montfaucon 
beheld the intrigues of Mars and Venus, 
in amarble, which exhibits the marriage 
of Peleus and Thetis. On an urn in the 
Barbarini palace, Beger discovered Al- 
cestus devoting hiunself for Admetus, 
whereas it in reality represented the his- 
tory of Protesilaus, and Laodamia. 
The vames of the engravers on precious 
stones, were long mistaken for those of 
the personages they represented. Tych- 
sen was the first to give the true expla- 
nation of the inscription on the preten- 
ded pulpit of St. Paul at Venice. So 
much have some been deceived relative 
to the Runic monuments, that they have 
pretended to find Magog, the ark of 
Noah, and Sodom and Gomorra among 
them. 
In regard to the explanation of medals, 
nothing is more singular than the reveries 
of father Harduin; witness his explana- 
tion 
