He stretches forth his hand with an air of grand beneficence and unlimited authority, as if uttering a decree from which no appeal was permissible, but in which the obedient subject would find his highest interests consulted a command that was in itself a benediction.” A sight of the old heathen emperor is enough to create an evanescent sentiment of loyalty even in a democratic bosom, so august does he look, so fit to rule, so worthy of man’s profoundest homage and obedience, so inevitably attractive of his love.

It is the most majestic representation of the kingly character that ever the world has seen. The moonlight glistened upon traces of the gilding which had once covered both rider and steed these were almost gone, but the aspect of dignity was still perfect, clothing the figure as it were with an imperial robe of light. They stood awhile to contemplate the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. “The party ascended the winding way that leads from the Forum to the Piazza of the Campidoglio on the summit of the Capitoline Hill. There are lengthy descriptions of both painted and plastic arts, as in the protracted notice of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline: Yet, most of the book is actually a series of dreamy and unfocused meditations on Rome, the loss of innocence, and in particular the relation of art to nature. My own Meridian Classic edition quotes Henry James’ description of the novel: “…the murder committed by Donatello under Miriam’s eyes and the ecstatic wandering, afterward, through the ‘blood-stained streets of Rome.’” Reading this note, one may be primed to think that The Marble Faun is a dark and seedy tale of slaughter – a macabre murder story set in an exotic locale.

Yet, the knowledge of the American teen here is faithfully predictive of the knowledge of the American adult, and it can be safely conjectured that few inside this country – and even fewer outside of it – have read this bizarre combination of fantasy, languid aestheticism, and heavy-handed sermonizing allegory. If they are advanced students, they may be aware of his authorship of The Blithesdale Romance. Nearly any high school student in America could tell you one or two details about the plot of The Scarlet Letter, and likely add some comments on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritanism. The Marble Faun is not one of the masterworks of American literature.

The marble faun by nathaniel hawthorne