Mithras.

There are two groups remaining, which seem worthy of particular note as examples of the manner in which the Romans adopted Deities from the Oriental systems of Mythology. They are called Mithras, deriving their name from the Persian word for the Sun. The First represents a young man, who has seized a bull and forced him to the ground. On his head is a Persian cap and tiara, and tunic: above which a cloak, fastened at the shoulder, floats in the air. He presses the bull to the ground with his left knee, and strikes a dagger into his shoulder with his right hand. A dog and serpent raise themselves to lick the blood which trickles from the wound, while a scorpion fastens on the bull beneath. Behind the bull are two small figures, probably priests of Mithras; one holding an inverted torch in his right hand, which the other also has probably carried in an upright position. This sculpture is in very coarse marble, and the workmanship is poor. On the plinth is a dedication to the Solar God Mithras, by Alcimus, a farm-servant of Tiberius Claudius Livianus. The subject of the Second group is similar, and most of the details are the same as in the last; but the workmanship and the marble out of which it is cut are much superior.

The figure, too, of the youth who is slaying the bull is

turned full to the spectator; and there are no attendant priests, or inscription on the plinth. This marble was brought from Rome by Charles Standish, Esq., in 1815, and purchased for the Museum in 1826.

VI.-BUSTS OF ROMAN EMPERORS, INCLUDING ONE PORTRAIT

STATUE.

The Museum has a fair collection of this class, which has considerable historical interest as offering portraits of men eminent in their day. In Rome itself the likenesses of the Kings and the men of the early Republic may have been originally taken from the waxfigures in the Atrium; which themselves, again, were sometimes purely ideal creations, as in the representations of the early Kings: while some were, probably, derived from the family features of descendants. The earliest authentic busts we know, which present real portraits, seem to be those of Scipio Africanus the Elder. The iconography of the Emperors is very complete, while the busts of the poets and men of learning are preserved in smaller number than among the Greeks. The Herculanean discoveries show us what a host of honorary statues, and in many cases what excellent ones, were erected by the Roman municipia.

In Roman art we find two classes of Imperial portraits, in which the character of the individual and the details of real life are given with the utmost fidelity, as for example, when the Emperor appears with his head veiled as Augur, or wearing the accoutrements of war as Imperator. And, secondly, those which may be called the Ideal Portraits, representing the individual either as a hero or a god.

The figure of Hadrian in the attitude of addressing his army (usually called the Allocutio type) is a good example of the former class. The Emperor is represented wearing the usual military dress, with his right hand raised and his left resting on the Perizonium, or short sword. His cuirass is richly ornamented, and in excellent preservation. On the upper part, near the neck, is the Gorgon's head. His boots are adorned by heads of lions. This statue was purchased from Mr. Millingen in 1821, but it is not known whence he procured it. In attitude and general composition it resembles that of M. Aurelius in the 'Mus. Capitol.,' Tome III. tab. Iviii.

The following are the Imperial busts in the collection, arranged in chronological order: A bust of Julius Cæsar, which bears a striking resemblance to the coins which we possess of that illustrious man. A bust of Augustus, formerly in the possession of Mr. Burke. A bust of

Tiberius, also from Mr. Burke's collection. A bust of Nero, brought from Athens by Dr. Askew in 1740, remarkable for the grandeur of the treatment, and probably an example of the contemporary Athenian school of art. A bust of Vitellius. A bust of an Empress, formerly called, according to Mr. Towneley's own arrangement, Messalina; but since, with more probability, assigned to Domitia. A head of Julia, the wife of Titus. A bust of Trajan, with the shoulders and breast uncovered. A bust of Hadrian, clothed in armour, with the paludamentum fastened upon the right shoulder by a round fibula, which is, however, modern; found in the ruins of Hadrian's villa, near Tivoli; and another bust of the same emperor, with the shoulders and breast naked, and larger than life, which was formerly in the collection of Pope Sixtus V., in the Villa Montalto. It may be remarked that both these busts exhibit beard and moustachios. It is said that Hadrian, who first of the Roman emperors adopted the custom of wearing the beard, was induced to do so to hide some natural defects of his countenance. A bust of Sabina, the wife of Hadrian-remarkable for the elaborate manner in which the hair of the head is plaited. The head-dresses and portraits of Plotina, Marciana, Matidia, and Sabina have a great general resemblance; but, on the whole, it is probable that this bust is correctly appropriated to Sabina. A bust of Elius Cæsar, whom Hadrian in the latter part of his life had in

tended for his successor, if he had not died about a year before that emperor. Another bust of Ælius, bequeathed by Mr. Payne Knight. A small bust of Antoninus Pius, formerly in the Barberini Palace at Rome, and a good specimen of the minute finish on the busts of the Antonine period. A bust larger than life of white marble, much discoloured, perhaps by fire, and probably that of Faustina the Younger, the wife of Marcus Aurelius. T. 100, a colossal bust of Marcus Aurelius (formerly in the Mattei collection), in his official dress as one of the Fratres Arvales, veiled with the prætexta, or sacerdotal

robe, and crowned with a wreath of corn, and with the sacred infulæ or fillets which were the appropriate marks of distinction worn by that order of priests. A head of Annia Faustina, the wife of Aurelius, commonly called Faustina the Younger; procured by Mr. Towneley, in 1777, "from a private house at Pozzuolo." A colossal bust of Lucius Verus, formerly in the Mattei collection, clothed in the paludamentum, and exhibiting a magnificent head of hair, of which he is said to have been very vain. A bust of L. Septimius Severus, clothed in the paludamentum, which is fastened upon the right shoulder by a circular fibula. This bust was discovered in 1776 on the Palatine Hill, in the part of the Palace of the Cæsars now occupied by the Villa Magnani. Severus died at York A.d. 211, but was buried at Rome in the Mausoleum of Hadrian, now the Castle of S. Angelo. A bust of Caracalla, draped in the paludamentum, and expressing strongly in the features of his face the savage cruelty of his character: it was found in 1776 in the gardens of the nuns at the Quattro Fontane on the Esquiline Hill. Another and smaller bust of the same emperor. A bust of Gordianus Africanus, commonly called Gordian the Elder, clad in the tunic, toga, and læna, and exhibiting an arrangement of the drapery not uncommon in busts of a late time. A bust, attributed by Mr. Towneley and Mr. Combe to Plautilla, the wife of Caracalla, but we think with better evidence to Otacilia Severa, the wife of Philip the Elder. The correctness of the determination depends on the portraits and style of head-dress preserved upon the coins of these Empresses. In the case of Plautilla, the head-dress and the features differ considerably from those of this bust; while, on the other hand, the head-dress on the bust appears in this exact form on the coins of Sabinia Tranquillina, Otacilia Severa, Herennia Etruscilla, Cornelia Salonina, and Cornelia Supera. This bust is well executed, and in good preservation.

With these busts of known personages may be arranged some other busts, certainly of the Roman Imperial times, which it is not now possible to identify with any known persons. These are,T. 106, a large head, covered with a mass of hair, and wearing a thick moustachio, which is generally supposed to be that of some barbarian chief. It was found in the Forum Trajanum, and has probably formed one of the ornaments of a triumphal arch. It has been conjectured to be Decebalus, the leader of Dacians, Arminius (Hermann), the German chieftain, or his son Thymelicus. This bust is a fine example of the grand monumental style of sculpture of Trajan's time. A bust, with the chlamys fastened by a round fibula over the left shoulder, and bearing an inscription purport