426 THE STONES OF VENICE

Third side. I have mislaid my note of this side: Selvatico and Lazari called it “Isidore” (?) *

Fourth side. Solon with his pupils. Inscribed

“SAL^O UNO DEI SETE SAVI DI GRECIA CHE DIE LEGE.”

Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, who declares laws.

Note, by-the-by, the pure Venetian dialect used in this capital, instead of the Latin in the more ancient ones. One of the seated pupils in this sculpture is remarkably beautiful in the sweep of his flowing drapery.

Fifth side. The chastity of Scipio. Inscribed

“ISIPIONE A CHASTITA CH * * * E LA FIA (e la figlia?) * * ARE.”

A soldier in a plumed bonnet presents a kneeling maiden to the seated Scipio, who turns thoughtfully away.

Sixth side. Numa Pompilius building churches.

“NUMA POMPILIO IMPERADOR EDIFICHADOR DI TEMPI E CHIESE.”

Numa, in a kind of hat with a crown above it, directing a soldier in Roman armour (note this, as contrasted with the mail of the earlier capitals). They point to a tower of three stories filled with tracery.¹

Seventh side. Moses receiving the law. Inscribed

“QUANDO MOSE RECEVE LA LEGE I SUL MONTE.”

Moses kneels on a rock, whence springs a beautifully fancied tree, with clusters of three berries in the centre of three leaves, sharp and quaint, like fine Northern Gothic. The half figure of the Deity comes out of the abacus, the arm

* Can they have mistaken the ISIPIONE of the fifth side for the word Isidore?²

¹ [See Vol. IX. p. 261, where the decorative value of the tower is dwelt upon.]

² [For St. Isidore, see St. Mark’s Rest, § 148, and Stones of Venice, vol. iii. ch. ii. § 61; the inclusion of this martyr saint among the lawgivers would hardly be appropriate. It is, however, now impossible to recover the inscription. What remains is unintelligible; it begins “VOLO,” but a new piece of stone has displaced that on which the first syllables were carved. The sculpture is of a man with an open book, teaching boys to read.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]