Chapter iii.

On the way to St Peter’s the bridge of St Angelo is passed, and Corinne and Lord Nelville crossed it on foot.  “It was on this bridge,” said Oswald, “that, in returning from the Capitol, I for the first time thought deeply of you.”  “I did not flatter myself,” replied Corinne, “that the coronation at the Capitol would have procured me a friend, but however, in the pursuit of fame it was always my endeavour to make myself beloved.—­What would fame be to woman without such a hope?” “Let us stop here a few minutes,” said Oswald.  “What remembrance of past ages can produce such welcome recollections as this spot, which brings to mind the day when first I saw you.”  “I know not whether I deceive myself,” replied Corinne; “but it seems to me that we become more dear to one another in admiring together those monuments which speak to the soul by true grandeur.  The edifices of Rome are neither cold nor dumb, they have been conceived by genius, and consecrated by memorable events.  Perhaps, Oswald, it is even necessary that we should be enamoured of such a character as yours, in order to derive such pleasure from feeling with you all that is noble and fine in the universe.”  “Yes,” replied Lord Nelville; “but in beholding you, and listening to your observations, I feel no want of other wonders.”  Corinne thanked him in a bewitching smile.

On their way to St Peter’s they stopped before the castle of St Angelo.  “There,” said Corinne, “is one of those edifices whose exterior is most original; this is the tomb of Adrian, which, changed into a fortress by the Goths, bears the double character of its first and second destination.  Built for the dead, an impenetrable enclosure surrounds it; and, nevertheless, the living have added something hostile to it by the external fortifications, which form a contrast with the silence and noble inutility of a funereal monument.  On the top is seen an angel of bronze with a naked sword[7], and in the interior the most cruel prisons are contrived.  Every event of Roman history, from Adrian to our time, is connected with this monument.  It was here that Belisarius defended himself against the Goths, and, almost as barbarous as they who attacked him, threw at his enemy the beautiful statues that adorned the interior of the edifice[8].  Crescentius, Arnault de Brescia, Nicolas Rienzi, those friends of Roman liberty who so often mistook memories for hopes, defended themselves for a long time in this imperial tomb.  I love these stones which are connected with so many illustrious facts.  I love this luxury of the master of the world—­a magnificent tomb.  There is something great in the man who, possessing every enjoyment, every terrestrial pomp, is not dismayed from making preparations for his death a long time before hand.  Moral ideas and disinterested sentiments fill the soul when it in a manner breaks through the boundaries of mortality.