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5 December 1912
Pension Dawes-Rose
12 Via Gregoriana, Roma
Dear Professor Freud,
I trust you have completely recovered from your Munich adventure. It must have meant a considerable expenditure in affect, for you had a difficult task to perform.
I am quite a convert to your feeling about Immortal Rome, “this divine city”, as you called it. It surpasses even my expectations, and is arousing in me all kinds of extensive thoughts about mankind. As yet, of course, my impressions are still disordered, and will need some time to get clearer.
I try to picture what are your favourite spots here. One I am sure is the Pincian, the Villa Medici, and especially perhaps the terrace below Santa Trinita, above the Spanish Square. Another would be, I wonder if you know it, in a charming old-world restaurant on the Aventine, the Castello dei Cesari by name.
My first pilgrimage the day after my arrival was to convey your greetings to Moses, and I think he unbent a little from his haughtiness. What a statue! Far finer than the copies would lead me to think. I have a strong fancy that the face bears resemblance to Michel Angelo himself, especially in the mouth and the breadth of cheek-bones. He must have felt like that at times over his “stone”, when he watched the people worshipping the golden calf of a pope. What an opportunity, to be asked to supply a tombstone for one's enemy—one that falls to the lot of few. It would be