|
"But the majestic river floated on, Out of the mist and hum of that low land, Into the frosty
starlight, and there moved, Rejoicing, through the hush'd Chorasmian waste, Under the solitary
moon;-he flow'd Right for the polar star, past Orgunje, Brimming, and bright, and large; then
sands begin To hem his watery march, and dam his streams, And split his currents; that for many
a league The shorn and parcell'd Oxus strains along Through beds of sand and matted rushy isles-
Oxus, forgetting the bright speed he had In his high mountain-cradle in Pamere, A foil'd circuitous
wanderer-till at last The long'd-for dash of waves is heard, and wide His luminous home of waters
opens, bright And tranquil, from whose floor the new-bathed stars Emerge, and shine upon the Aral Sea."
The nearest approach which the Romans have left us to such grandeur as this is to be found in their
statue called Marforio. The north wing of the Campidoglio group is known as the Museum of the Capitol,
and it is in the entrance court of this edifice that Marforio is now to be seen. If this most majestic
of all river-gods ever represented any particular river, the name of that river was forgotten centuries
ago. His title of Marforio was given him long since, because he once poured the water into a fountain which
stood in a small square to the left of the Senate House, where Augustus had erected the Martis Forum.
There he seems to have remained throughout the darkest days of Rome's decadence, surviving every vicissitude,
and always respected by the half-barbarous Romans of that time. Gregory XIII (Boncompagni, i572-i585)
is responsible for removing Marforio from this classic position and for separating him at that time from the
huge granite basin into which flowed the water from the urn on which he is leaning. Thenceforth the basin has
a history of its own, while Marforio's odyssey (he wandered for some time after leaving his old home) finally
brought him to the Campidoglio. Sixtus V then placed him on the left side of the piazza, facing the south wing.
This south wing, known as the Palazzo dei Conservatori, was the first of the present group of buildings to be
erected, Tommaso de' Cavalieri - a Roman gentleman and one of Michelangelo's few intimates - having had charge
of its construction in Michelangelo's lifetime. The north wing, or the Museum of the Capitol, was not done
until the architect Rainaldi erected it for Innocent X (Pamphili), twelve pontificates after the reign of Paul III.
During a period of one hundred and sixty years Marforio remained where Sixtus had placed him, and then Clement XII (Corsini)
installed him in the court of the Capitoline Museum, and again he was given a fountain to feed and protect.
|
