ally came to his mind, and it occurred to him for the first time
that Cecilia had been a noble name among the old Romans, that it had
come down unchanged, and that there had doubtless been more than one
Vestal Virgin who had borne it. The Vestal in his dream was certainly
called Cecilia. He was in the humour, now, to smile at what he called
his own folly, and as he strode along he almost laughed aloud. Before
the sun should set, the whole matter would be definitely at rest, and he
would be wondering how he could ever have been foolish enough to attach
any importance to it. He followed the Appian Way back to the city, with
a light heart.

CHAPTER IX

The Villa Madama was probably never inhabited, for it was certainly
never quite finished, and the grand staircase was not rebuilt after
Cardinal Pompeo Colonna set fire to the house. That was in the wild days
when Rome was sacked by the Constable of Bourbon's Spaniards and
Franzperg's Germans, and Pope Clement the Seventh was shut up in the
stronghold of Sant' Angelo; and at nightfall he looked from the windows
of the fortress and saw the flames shoot up on the slope of Monte Mario,
from the beautiful place which Raphael of Urbino had designed for him,
and which Giovanni of Udine had decorated, and he told those who were
with him that Cardinal Colonna was revenging himself for his castles
sacked and burned by the Pope's orders.

That was nearly four hundred years ago, and the great exterior staircase
was never rebuilt; but in order to save that part of the little palace
from ruin unsightly arches were reared up against the once beautiful
wing, and because of Giulio Romano's frescoes and Giovanni of Udine's
marvellous stucco work, the roof has been always kept in good repair.
Moreover, a good deal has been written about the building, some of which
is inaccurate, to say the least; as, for instance, that one may see the
dome of Saint Peter's from the windows, whereas the villa stands halfway
down the slope of the hill on the side which is away from the church,
and looks towards the Sabines and towards Tivoli and Frascati.

Those who have taken the trouble to visit the villa in its half-ruinous
condition, and who have lingered on the grass-grown terraces and at the
noble windows, on spring afternoons, when the sun is behind the hill,
can easily guess what it became when it passed into the ownership of the
Contessina Cecilia Palladio. Her