Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/142

152 their resemblance and contrast. One perfectly recognizes, in the aged head, the refined, handsome features of the boy; the form of the head is the same, and this is of a perfect Roman type, the head broad, rather than lofty, the forehead low, the expression is still mild, and even pure; but care has furrowed the brow; painful experience gives a bitter expression to the beautifully formed mouth; the imperial crown has depressed this clear, wise head. A head of Cæsar has still less of the Roman type. The countenance is long and narrow; the features, which are not beautiful, have here a more than usually noble and Cæsar-like expression. Three heads of Socrates, placed together, represent three degrees of ugliness. The sages and heroes of antiquity were, in a general way, not handsome people.

Now, my R——, I have nothing to tell you about the many galleries,—Doria, Berberini, Borghese, and others, which, like all other inquisitive and art-loving travelers in Rome, I have visited; neither about the Vatican, and its art-treasures. Good R——, do not expect that I shall weary you or myself with descriptions which so many others have given, and will give, better than I. Thank me, rather, that I will not detain you with that which cannot in any case be understood unless it be seen. Neither is it for these things that I have come hither. I have not come for the sake of the dead, but of the living. One thing I beg of you to believe, and that is, if you never visit Rome, if you are never able to behold any one of those immortal works of art which its museums contain, you may live a good, happy, and perfect life,