The Niobe of nations ! there she stands.
Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe;
An empty urn within her wither’d hands,
Whose holy dust was scatter’d long ago :
The Scipios’ tomb contains no ashes now;
The very sepulchres lie tenantlessOf their heroic dwellers: dost thou flow,
Old Tiber ! through a marble wilderness ?
Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress.
Byuon.
The Ponte Sisto was erected during the pontificateof Sixtus IV. , from whom it derives its name. The viewof Ms bridge recals to the mind of the traveller the clia-rac er of one of the most violent and depraved men whoeve- filled the chair of St. Peter. Profligate, avaricious,anc despotic, to supply means for his pleasures he notonh exposed to sale the offices of the church, but in-stihted new ones for the mere purpose of bartering them,an( when the indignation of the people was roused bythee infamous acts, he established an inquisition of thepres in order to stifle the voice of censure. His deathis aid to have been occasioned by vexation at the pro-spct of a general peace—“ Di grossi conti avrh avutoqusto pontefice nel tribunale di Dio,” says Muratori.