And when we possessed her, our folly was a desire to behold her huge, magnificent, and commanding all at once, the equal of the other great capitals of Europe--Berlin, Paris, and London.

Look at her! she is still my only love, my only consolation now that I am virtually dead, with nothing alive in me but my eyes." With the same gesture as before, he directed Pierre's attention to the window.

Under the glowing sky Rome stretched out in its immensity, empurpled and gilded by the slanting sunrays.

Across the horizon, far, far away, the trees of the Janiculum stretched a green girdle, of a limpid emerald hue, whilst the dome of St.Peter's, more to the left, showed palely blue, like a sapphire bedimmed by too bright a light.

Then came the low town, the old ruddy city, baked as it were by centuries of burning summers, soft to the eye and beautiful with the deep life of the past, an unbounded chaos of roofs, gables, towers, _campanili_, and cupolas.