VIII. THE DUCAL PALACE 411

signs of dignity of character in the features, and the way in which it can exalt the principal figure in any subject by a few touches.

§ 105. SEVENTEENTH CAPITAL. This has been so destroyed by the sea wind, which sweeps at this point of the arcade round the angle of the palace, that its inscriptions are no longer legible, and great part of its figures are gone. Selvatico states them as follows; Solomon, the wise; Priscian, the grammarian; Aristotle, the logician; Tully, the orator; Pythagoras, the philosopher; Archimedes, the mechanic; Orpheus, the musician; Ptolemy, the astronomer. The fragments actually remaining are the following.¹

First side. A figure with two books, in a robe richly decorated with circles of roses. Inscribed “SALOMON (SAP)IENS.”

Second side. A man with one book, poring over it; he has had a long stick or reed in his hand. Of inscription only the letters “GRAMMATIC” remain.²

Third side. “ARISTOTLE”: so inscribed. He has a peaked double beard and a flat cap, from under which his long hair falls down his back.

Fourth side. Destroyed.

Fifth side. Destroyed, all but a board with three (counters?) on it.

Sixth side. A figure with compasses. Inscribed “GEOMET**.”

Seventh side. Nothing is left but a guitar with its handle wrought into a lion’s head.

Eighth side. Destroyed.

¹ [This capital is again described in Fors Clavigera, Letter 77. Ruskin had casts and photographs made of it. The capital has now been renewed.]

² [The new capital adds “PRISCIANUS,” and on the third side “ARISTOTELES DIALECTICUS.” The fourth side now shows a man with a book on his knee, and with the left hand raised, as if teaching, inscribed “TULIUS RHETORICUS,” Tulius standing of course for Marcus Tullius Cicero. On the fifth side the restored inscription is “PUTHAGORAS ARITHMETICUS”; the three objects are perhaps weights. On the sixth side the name, much contracted, is Archimedes. On the seventh is the inscription “TUBAL CHAIN MUSICUS.” This is evidently a mistake for Jubal, “the father of all such as handle the harp and organ,” whereas Tubal-cain was “an instructor ... in brass and iron” (Genesis iv. 21, 22). Selvatico gives the original inscription as “Orpheus Musicus.” The eighth side now shows the figure of a bearded man with a pointed cap, sitting; his left hand raised, pointing to a representation of the sun, moon, and stars; inscribed “TOLEMÆUS ASTROLOGUS,” i.e. Ptolemy, the astronomer.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]