WOMEN IN ARCHAEOLOGY 325 



Roman nobility, and is to-day ranked with those of the 

 Colonna and Orsini. 



Besides his thorough knowledge of Dante, whose Divina 

 Commedia he regarded as the great artistic production of 

 the human mind a work which he knew by heart the 

 Duke of Sermonetta was deeply versed in philology and 

 archseology. No one was more familiar with the history 

 and antiquities of Rome than he was, nor a greater friend 

 and patron of scholars of every nationality. The Palazzo 

 Caetani was the resort of not only the savants of Rome, 

 but also and especially of those who gathered from all 

 quarters of the world to study the rich collections of antiq- 

 uities for which the Eternal City is so famous. Here the 

 ablest authorities in history and archaeology discussed the 

 latest discoveries among the ruins of Greece and Asia 

 Minor, and the most recent finds in the Forum or amidst 

 the crumbling ruins of the palaces of the Caesars. 



Having such a father and brought up in such an envi- 

 ronment it is not surprising that Donna Ersilia acquired 

 at an early age that taste for archaeology which was, as 

 events proved, to constitute the chief occupation of her 

 long and busy life. Having enjoyed and studied literature 

 and the languages under the best masters in Rome, she 

 was thoroughly prepared for the work of deciphering 

 Greek and Latin inscriptions and for an intelligent study 

 of the ancient monuments of Italy and Hellas. 



Her learned countryman, A. de Gubernatis, assures us 

 that she has such a thorough knowledge of Latin and Greek 

 that she writes both with ease and elegance, and that she 

 is endowed with an admirable memory for philology and 

 archaeology. Besides being a mistress of several modern 

 languages, she is also familiar with Sanscrit. 



Since the death of her husband, in 1879, she has devoted 

 all her time, outside of that given to the care and educa- 

 tion of her children, to the pursuit of classical archaeology, 

 in which she has long been regarded as an authority of the 



