At first the colonists incised what was known as the Hellenic style, and then, as they fraternized with the Romans, and as the Romans made incisions under the Greek teaching, their glyptic works showed the Greek influence, and such works constituted the gems of the Græco-Romano. Many of the intaglios by Romans, of this school, were signed in Greek characters, and can be seen in my collection. This act of a Roman signing his name in characters other than the Latin letters peculiar to his own country shows how Grecian art was appreciated in the Græco-Roman epoch. [Illustration] [Illustration: GRÆCO-ROMAN.] ROMAN. The classic multitudinous gems of the Roman period: their emperors, statesmen, warriors, and poets--in fact, some of their gems have given to us the only perfect portraits in miniature that have been preserved from ancient time; incidents of their conflicts, their sports, games, and apparel--with the mass of chimeras and at times mysteries. The endless grand historical cameos, some of which in my collection represent nineteen and even twenty-two figures in good relief carefully engraved on a single stone. We know that gem-engraving in Rome in the prolific period was celebrated for the greatest diversity of subjects both in cameos and intaglios. Rome, the patroness of the ancient world. Rome did not achieve this phenomenal position unaided, though in its palmiest days it was the art shrine of the nations. To attain this position it drew from comparatively distant sources, and borrowed talent wherever it was available. When Rome’s reputation as the glyptic school was heralded and established throughout the nations as the art centre of the world, it became as we have inferred, the vortex into which hosts of artisans were attracted, and who, when once there, established themselves. They were well received; were elated with plenty of occupation, emolument, and good prices; in their new life they identified themselves with their fellow incisori, and became Romans, or, at least, Græco-Romans. In fact, the variety in styles and designs produced by all the ancient peoples of Italy was due to emigration. Profiting by the culture and art experience of Etruria, Rome learned from the Etruscan architects, potters, die-sinkers, and gem-engravers. They learned from these more ancient incisori many useful lessons which enabled them to accomplish wonders. Within the limited space available on those little gem stones, they depicted with complicated minuteness details of events in actual history, and displayed remarkable tact and astonishing powers of composition in their rendering of groups of figures and mythological deities in scenes of quasi historical events.