The architecture of humanism; a study in the history of taste

THE

ETHICAL

FALLACY

145

hadlikewise

providedthe

powerofonehundred

and

forty horses.

It was

esteemeda

peculiar good for-

tunethatthesky

wascovered

onthatday. Every-

thingwent

well: the obelisk

was moved

by three

great

efforts,andanhour

beforesunset

itsankupon

its pedestal on

the backsof

the fourbronze

lions

which

appearto supportit.

The exultation

ofthe

people was

indescribableand thesatisfaction

of the

Pope complete.

Heremarked

in hisdiary that

he

had

succeededinthe most

difficultenterprise

which

themindof

mancouldimagine.

Hecausedmedals

commemorating

it to be struck,

received congratu-

latory

poems in every language,

and sent formal

announcements of it

toall potentates.

He affixed

a strange

inscription, boastingthat

hehad wrested

this

monument from the

emperors Augustus and

Tiberius,and

consecrated it tothe Holy

Cross

;

in

signof

whichhecausedacrosstobe

placeduponit,

in

whichwas inclosed a

supposedpiece of

the

true

Cross.*

^

'

Themodern labourerhaslostthesejoys

; buthe

has

notlostthemonaccountofhisPalladian

occupa-

tions. Whetherhe

be

settobuildthe

ForeignOffice

in

the Italian manner, or the Law Courts in the

• Ranke'sHistory
  ofthe

Popes,trans.S.Austin,vol.

I.bookiv.§8.

Ihavequoted

thepassageat

lengthbecause,besidesindicatingthe

religiousenthusiasmoftheworkmen,andtheirdelightinthe

work

(twosupposedmonopoliesoftheGothicbuilders),itillustratesthe

superbspiritofthebaroquePope,whogaveRome,forthesecond

time,animperialarchitecture.

K