Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . ely popular characters, were for a long time the bearers andrepresentatives of this satiric spirit. Every city has such a one : in Naples it is Iucuorpo de Napole, in Milan lUomo di Pietra, in Venice Sior Nioba, and in RomePasquino, Marforio, and the Abate Luigi. These are three decayed stone statues, ofuncertain origin, which were for centuries as well known to the populace as the Apollo,the Capitoline Venus, and the Antinous are known to lovers of Art, and which servedfor satires of all sorts to be stuck on to. The streets where they stood were called afte
Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . ely popular characters, were for a long time the bearers andrepresentatives of this satiric spirit. Every city has such a one : in Naples it is Iucuorpo de Napole, in Milan lUomo di Pietra, in Venice Sior Nioba, and in RomePasquino, Marforio, and the Abate Luigi. These are three decayed stone statues, ofuncertain origin, which were for centuries as well known to the populace as the Apollo,the Capitoline Venus, and the Antinous are known to lovers of Art, and which servedfor satires of all sorts to be stuck on to. The streets where they stood were called afterthem, and you may still find the Via di Pasquino, the Via di Marforio, and the Vicolo dellAbate Luigi. Pasquino originally promulgated the well-known mot Quod non feceruntBarbari, id fecerunt Barberini. This was levelled at Pope Urban the Eighth of thefamily of Barberini, who plundered the venerable monuments of Rome right and left insearch of building materials, and was truly in his way more destructive than the barbarians. 1 1 2. 244 ITAL Y. On another occasion, when an insignificant priestling had been turned by a stroke ofthe magic-working Papal sceptre into a Cardinal, and his sister, a poor washerwoman,released from her tubs and soap-suds, Marforio one day appeared bedaubed with dirt fromhead to foot, and Pasquino enquired of him Why are you so dirty, Marforio ? And,what do I see ? You have not even changed your shirt! Be quiet, answered Marforio. Yesterday they made a princess of my washerwoman. When Gregory the Fourteenth had set off on a journey through theprovinces, and left behind a govern-ment of regency composed of much-hated individuals, Pasquino askedMarforio : Why are you weeping ? And Marforio answered : How canyou ask ? Have we not lost ourshepherd ? Blockhead ! answersPasquino, consolingly, dont thedogs remain behind to look after thefold? These, and a thousand similarutterances, serve to show the secrethatred of the then existing order ofthings, which must
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