Page:The Voyage of Italy (1686).djvu/355

 Here is the tomb of the incomparable painter, Raphael Urbin,

In this temple stood anciently the famous Minerva made by Phidias of which histories ring. There also was placed the statue of Venus, in whose ear that incomparable pearl of Cleopatra hung, which upon riotous wager with M. Antony of them should make the most costly supper) she was going to throw into a glass of vinegar, to macerate it (as she had done another before) and drink it up: But M. Antony stopping her hand, and confessing himself overcome, the pearl saith Pliny, was put in the ear of Venus in the Pantheon. In the round holes over the altars, were set those heads of the gods of the heathens, which are now seen in the Belvedere of the Maschere. This temple and its porch were so lined anciently with brass, that there was enough of it to make diverse great cannons, by Pope Urban's command, and the great canopy with the four pillars which adorn St Peter’s high altar. And though the people and Pasquin, two equally senseless things, murmured much at the taking away of this brass, yet seeing the Pantheon received no damage thereby, and seeing it was improved to that hight, that it became Ecclesiae Ornamentum & Urbi Munimentum, the wiser sort of men thought it well employed, and let the people and malice talk. I had almost forgot to tell you that this Temple was made by Agrippa,