ys: "But the excavations of Etruria
which have preserved, what with pictures, apparel, and fabrics, so many
of the antique sacerdotal ornaments, add almost nothing to the little we
know about the names and uses of them. Micali says that 'the mechanism
of the whole Etruscan government was beyond doubt priestly in its
institutions.' After such a declaration by one of the most accurate
narrators of ancient Italian history, I should scarcely know what to add
to convey an idea of the pomp in which the priestly class of Etruria
lived and robed itself. We can conjecture that the great poitrel in the
Etruscan museum in the Vatican, the two magnificent bridles of the
Campana museum, all the collars of extraordinary size and the large
bullae of various forms and dimensions which come from the various
collections, and the innumerable vases, paterae, cups, and goblets of
gold, silver, and bronze found in the sepulchres, were all implements,
furniture, and ornaments devoted to the service of religion. And such a
multitude of objects may give some indication both of the multiplicity
of the mysteries and sacred functions, and of the treasures which must
have been contained in the antique temples, plundered by the barbarians,
and then destroyed by the intolerant zeal of ignorant disciples of a
new, triumphant religion."

What the wealth of the favored Etruscan fanes must have been may be
conjectured from the fact that Dionysius carried from one on the
sea-coast treasures to the amount of $40,000,000.

Of the gold-working, Castellani's restorations and imitations will give
us a tolerable idea, so far as workmanship is concerned, though he
himself confesses to be unable to equal all its qualities. I translate
an interesting passage.

"Having proposed to ourselves, then, to restore as far as we could, and,
so to speak, to renew the antique gold-work, we first set ourselves to
search for the methods which the ancients must have used. It was
observed that in the ornaments of gold all the parts in relief were by
the ancients superimposed; that is to say, prepared separately and then
placed in position by means of soldering or some chemical process, and
not raised by stamping, casting, or chiselling. From this arises,
perhaps, the something spontaneous, the freedom and artistic neglect
which is seen in the works of the ancients, which appear all made by
hands guided by thought, while the moderns impress, I would say, a
certain perfect exac