THE GARDENS OF PAPAL ROME 
inscribed with the motto “ Procul este profani ,” into 
an inner court about ioo feet square, paved with 
terra-cotta tiles and planted with most beautiful orange 
trees. Here at length they beheld the renowned 
statues. In the centre of the garden were the colossal 
groups of the river-gods Nile and Tiber, with 
fountains sending up jets of water on either side. 
Close to the entrance stood the Hercules, with the 
boy in his arms; in a niche to the left, mounted on 
a massive pedestal, was the Apollo, “ famous in the 
whole world,” a life-size figure of the finest marble, 
and on the other side the still more wonderful group 
of Laocoon, “ a work,” they exclaimed, “ so natural 
and full of life that it can never, surely, be surpassed 
in the whole history of human art.” “ Even the 
exquisite grace of the Greek Venus,” continues Pesaro; 
“ nay, the glory of the celebrated Apollo itself, are 
forgotten in the presence of this most excellent 
work .” 1 So, in impassioned words that fill many 
pages of his narrative, the Venetian ambassador 
describes the wonders of the Belvedere, in the golden 
age of the Renaissance. 
Bramante’s creation, as may be supposed, gave a 
marked impulse to the art of gardening in Rome. 
Everywhere on the Seven Hills new gardens sprang 
1 E. Alberi, Relazioni degli ambasciatori Ve 7 ieti, Serie II, vol. iii. 
p. 116. 
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