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автор Augustus J.C.Hare

WALKS IN ROME

TWO VOLS.

Volume I. Contents Volume I. Volume II. Contents Volume II. Index.

WALKS IN ROME

BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE
AUTHOR OF "MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE," "WANDERINGS IN SPAIN," ETC.




TWO VOLUMES.—I.



FIFTH EDITION



LONDON
DALDY, ISBISTER & CO.
56, LUDGATE HILL
1875

[All rights reserved]

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.

TO
HIS DEAR MOTHER

THE CONSTANT COMPANION OF MANY ROMAN WINTERS

These pages are Dedicated

BY THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS VOLUME I.

INTRODUCTORY. PAGE

THE ARRIVAL IN ROME

9 CHAPTER I.

DULL-USEFUL INFORMATION

27 CHAPTER II.

THE CORSO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD

36 CHAPTER III.

THE CAPITOLINE

109 CHAPTER IV.

THE FORUMS AND THE COLISEUM

159 CHAPTER V.

THE VELABRUM AND THE GHETTO

221 CHAPTER VI.

THE PALATINE

273 CHAPTER VII.

THE CŒLIAN

316 CHAPTER VIII.

THE AVENTINE

348 CHAPTER IX.

THE VIA APPIA

372 CHAPTER X.

THE QUIRINAL AND VIMINAL

433

INTRODUCTORY.

THE ARRIVAL IN ROME.

"AGAIN this date of Rome; the most solemn and interesting that my hand can ever write, and even now more interesting than when I saw it last," wrote Dr. Arnold to his wife in 1840—and how many thousands before and since have experienced the same feeling, who have looked forward to a visit to Rome as one of the great events of their lives, as the realization of the dreams and longings of many years.

An arrival in Rome is very different to that in any other town of Europe. It is coming to a place new and yet most familiar, strange and yet so well known. When travellers arrive at Verona, for instance, or at Arles, they generally go to the amphitheatres with a curiosity to know what they are like; but when they arrive at Rome and go to the Coliseum, it is to visit an object whose appearance has been familiar to them from childhood, and, long ere it is reached, from the heights of the distant Capitol, they can recognize the well-known form;—and as regards St. Peter's, who is not familiar with the aspect of the dome, of the wide-spreading piazza, and the foaming fountains, for long years before they come to gaze upon the reality?

"My presentiment of the emotions with which I should behold the Roman ruins, has proved quite correct," wrote Niebuhr. "Nothing about them is new to me; as a child I lay so often, for hours together, before their pictures, that their images were, even at that early age, as distinctly impressed upon my mind, as if I had actually seen them."

Yet, in spite of the presence of old friends and landmarks, travellers who pay a hurried visit to Rome, are bewildered by the vast mass of interest before them, by the endless labyrinth of minor objects, which they desire, or, still oftener, feel it a duty, to visit. Their Murray, their Baedeker, and their Bradshaw indicate appalling lists of churches, temples, and villas which ought to be seen, but do not distribute them in a manner which will render their inspection more easy. The promised pleasure seems rapidly to change into an endless vista of labour to be fulfilled and of fatigue to be gone through; henceforward the hours spent at Rome are rather hours of endurance than of pleasure—his cicerone drags the traveller in one direction,—his antiquarian friend, his artistic acquaintance, would fain drag him in others,—he is confused by accumulated misty glimmerings from historical facts once learnt at school, but long since forgotten,—of artistic information, which he feels that he ought to have gleaned from years of society, but which, from want of use, has never made any depth of impression,—by shadowy ideas as to the story of this king and that emperor, of this pope and that saint, which, from insufficient time, and the absence of books of reference, he has no opportunity of clearing up. It is therefore in the hope of aiding some of these bewildered ones, and of rendering their walks in Rome more easy and more interesting, that the following chapters are written. They aim at nothing original, and are only a gathering up of the information of others, and a gleaning from what has been already given to the world in a far better and fuller, but less portable form; while, in their plan, they attempt to guide the traveller in his daily wanderings through the city and its suburbs.

It must not, however, be supposed, that one short residence at Rome will be sufficient to make a foreigner acquainted with all its varied treasures; or even, in most cases, that its attractions will become apparent to the passing stranger. The squalid appearance of its modern streets, the filth of its beggars, the inconveniences of its daily life, will leave an impression which will go far to neutralize the effect of its ancient buildings, and the grandeur of its historic recollections. It is only by returning again and again, by allowing the feeling of Rome to gain upon you, when you have constantly revisited the same view, the same temple, the same picture, that Rome engraves itself upon your heart, and changes from a disagreeable, unwholesome acquaintance, into a dear and intimate friend, seldom long absent from your thoughts. "Whoever," said Chateaubriand, "has nothing else left in life, should come to live in Rome; there he will find for society a land which will nourish his reflections, walks which will always tell him something new. The stone which crumbles under his feet will speak to him, and even the dust which the wind raises under his footsteps will seem to bear with it something of human grandeur."

"When we have once known Rome," wrote Hawthorne, "and left her where she lies, like a long-decaying corpse, retaining a trace of the noble shape it was, but with accumulated dust and a fungous growth overspreading all its more admirable features—left her in utter weariness, no doubt, of her narrow, crooked, intricate streets, so uncomfortably paved with little squares of lava that to tread over them is a penitential pilgrimage; so indescribably ugly, moreover, so cold, so alley-like, into which the sun never falls, and where a chill wind forces its deadly breath into our lungs—left her, tired of the sight of those immense seven-storied, yellow-washed hovels, or call them palaces, where all that is dreary in domestic life seems magnified and multiplied, and weary of climbing those staircases which ascend from a ground-floor of cook-shops, cobblers'-stalls, stables, and regiments of cavalry, to a middle region of princes, cardinals, and ambassadors, and an upper tier of artists, just beneath the unattainable sky,—left her, worn out with shivering at the cheerless and smoky fireside by day, and feasting with our own substance the ravenous population of a Roman bed at night, left her sick at heart of Italian trickery, which has uprooted whatever faith in man's integrity had endured till now, and sick at stomach of sour bread, sour wine, rancid butter, and bad cookery, needlessly bestowed on evil meats,—left her, disgusted with the pretence of holiness and the reality of nastiness, each equally omnipresent,—left her, half lifeless from the languid atmosphere, the vital principle of which has been used up long ago or corrupted by myriads of slaughters,—left her, crushed down in spirit by the desolation of her ruin, and the hopelessness of her future,—left her, in short, hating her with all our might, and adding our individual curse to the infinite anathema which her old crimes have unmistakeably brought down:—when we have left Rome in such mood as this, we are astonished by the discovery, by-and-by, that our heartstrings have mysteriously attached themselves to the Eternal City, and are drawing us thitherward again, as if it were more familiar, more intimately our home, than even the spot where we were born."

This is the attractive and sympathetic power of Rome which Byron so fully appreciated—

"Oh Rome my country! city of the soul! The orphans of the heart must turn to thee, Lone mother of dead empires! and controul In their shut breasts their petty misery. What are our woes and sufferance? Come and see The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way O'er steps of broken thrones and temples. Ye! Whose agonies are evils of a day— A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.

"The Niobe of nations! there she stands Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe; An empty urn within her withered hands, Whose sacred dust was scattered long ago; The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now; The very sepulchres lie tenantless Of their heroic dwellers: dost thou flow, Old Tiber! through a marble wilderness? Rise, with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress!"

The impressiveness of an arrival at the Eternal City was formerly enhanced by the solemn singularity of the country through which it was slowly approached. "Those who arrive at Rome now by the railway," says Mrs. Craven in her 'Anne Severin,' "and rush like a whirlwind into a station, which has nothing in its first aspect to distinguish it from that of one of the most obscure places in the world, cannot imagine the effect which the words 'Ecco Roma' formerly produced, when on arriving at the point in the road from which the Eternal City could be descried for the first time, the postillion stopped his horses, and pointing it out to the traveller in the distance, pronounced them with that Roman accent which is grave and sonorous, as the name of Rome itself."

"How pleasing," says Cardinal Wiseman, "was the usual indication to early travellers, by voice and outstretched whip, embodied in the well-known exclamation of every vetturino, 'Ecco Roma.' To one 'lasso maris et viarum,' like Horace, these words brought the first promise of approaching rest. A few more miles of weary hills, every one of which, from its summit, gave a more swelling and majestic outline to what so far constituted 'Roma,' that is, the great cupola, not of the church, but of the city, its only discernible part, cutting, like a huge peak, into the dear winter sky, and the long journey was ended, and ended by the full realization of well-cherished hopes."

Most travellers, perhaps, in the old days came by sea from Marseilles and arrived from Civita Vecchia, by the dreary road which leads through Palo, and near the base of the hills upon which stands Cervetri, the ancient Cære, from the junction of whose name and customs the word "ceremony" has arisen,—so especially useful in the great neighbouring city. "This road from Civita Vecchia," writes Miss Edwards, the talented authoress of 'Barbara's History,' "lies among shapeless hillocks, shaggy with bush and briar. Far away on one side gleams a line of soft blue sea—on the other lie mountains as blue, but not more distant. Not a sound stirs the stagnant air. Not a tree, not a housetop, breaks the wide monotony. The dust lies beneath the wheels like a carpet, and follows like a cloud. The grass is yellow, the weeds are parched; and where there have been wayside pools, the ground is cracked and dry. Now we pass a crumbling fragment of something that may have been a tomb or temple, centuries ago. Now we come upon a little wide-eyed peasant boy, keeping goats among the ruins, like Giotto of old. Presently a buffalo lifts his black mane above the neighbouring hillock, and rushes away before we can do more than point to the spot on which we saw it. Thus the day attains its noon, and the sun hangs overhead like a brazen shield, brilliant, but cold. Thus, too, we reach the brow of a long and steep ascent, where our driver pulls up to rest his weary beasts. The sea has now faded almost out of sight; the mountains look larger and nearer, with streaks of snow upon their summits, the Campagna reaches on and on and shows no sign of limit or of verdure,—while, in the midst of the clear air, half way, so it would seem, between you and the purple Sabine range, rises one solemn solitary dome. Can it be the dome of St. Peter's?"

The great feature of the Civita Vecchia route was that after all the utter desolation and dreariness of many miles of the least interesting part of the Campagna, the traveller was almost stunned by the transition, when on suddenly passing the Porta Cavalleggieri, he found himself in the Piazza, of St. Peter's, with its wide-spreading colonnades, and high-springing fountains; indeed the first building he saw was St. Peter's, the first house that of the Pope, the palace of the Vatican. But the more gradual approach by land from Viterbo and Tuscany possessed equal if not superior interest.

"When we turned the summit above Viterbo," wrote Dr. Arnold, "and opened on the view on the other side, it might be called the first approach to Rome. At the distance of more than forty miles, it was of course impossible to see the town, and besides the distance was hazy; but we were looking on the scene of the Roman history; we were standing on the outward edge of the frame of the great picture, and though the features of it were not to be traced distinctly, yet we had the consciousness that they were before us. Here, too, we first saw the Mediterranean, the Alban hills, I think, in the remote distance, and just beneath us, on the left, Soracte, an outlier of the Apennines, which has got to the right bank of the Tiber, and stands out by itself most magnificently. Close under us in front, was the Ciminian lake, the crater of an extinct volcano, surrounded as they all are, with their basin of wooded hills, and lying like a beautiful mirror stretched out before us. Then there was the grand beauty of Italian scenery, the depth of the valleys, the endless variety of the mountain outline, and the towns perched upon the mountain summits, and this now seen under a mottled sky, which threw an ever-varying light and shadow over the valley beneath, and all the freshness of the young spring. We descended along one of the rims of this lake to Ronciglione, and from thence, still descending on the whole, to Monterosi. Here the famous Campagna begins, and it certainly is one of the most striking tracts of country I ever beheld. It is by no means a perfect flat, except between Rome and the sea; but rather like the Bagshot Heath country, ridges of hills with intermediate valleys, and the road often running between high steep banks, and sometimes crossing sluggish streams sunk in a deep bed. All these banks are overgrown with broom, now in full flower; and the same plant was luxuriant everywhere. There seemed no apparent reason why the country should be so desolate; the grass was growing richly everywhere. There was no marsh anywhere visible, but all looked as fresh and healthy as any of our chalk downs in England. But it is a wide wilderness; no villages, scarcely any houses, and here and there a lonely ruin of a single square tower, which I suppose used to serve as strongholds for men and cattle in the plundering warfare in the middle ages. It was after crowning the top of one of these lines of hills, a little on the Roman side of Baccano, at five minutes after six, according to my watch, that we had the first view of Rome itself. I expected to see St. Peter's rising above the line of the horizon, as York Minster does, but instead of that, it was within the horizon, and so was much less conspicuous, and from the nature of the ground, it looked mean and stumpy. Nothing else marked the site of the city, but the trees of the gardens and a number of white villas specking the opposite bank of the Tiber for some little distance above the town, and then suddenly ceasing. But the whole scene that burst upon our view, when taken in all its parts, was most interesting. Full in front rose the Alban hills, the white villas on their sides distinctly visible, even at that distance, which was more than thirty miles. On the left were the Apennines, and Tivoli was distinctly to be seen on the summit of its mountain, on one of the lowest and nearest parts of the chain. On the right and all before us lay the Campagna, whose perfectly level outline was succeeded by that of the sea, which was scarcely more so. It began now to get dark, and as there is hardly any twilight, it was dark soon after we left La Storta, the last post before you enter Rome. The air blew fresh and cool, and we had a pleasant drive over the remaining part of the Campagna, till we descended into the valley of the Tiber, and crossed it by the Milvian bridge. About two miles further on we reached the walls of Rome, and entered it by the Porta del Popolo."

Niebuhr coming the same way says:—"It was with solemn feelings that this morning from the barren heights of the moory Campagna, I first caught sight of the cupola of St. Peter's, and then of the city from the bridge, where all the majesty of her buildings and her history seems to lie spread out before the eye of the stranger; and afterwards entered by the Porta del Popolo."

Madame de Staël gives us the impression which the same subject would produce on a different type of character:—

"Le comte d'Erfeuil faisait de comiques lamentations sur les environs de Rome. Quoi, disait-il, point de maison de campagne, point de voiture, rien qui annonce le voisinage d'une grande ville! Ah! bon Dieu, quelle tristesse! En approchant de Rome, les postillons s'écrièrent avec transport: Voyez, voyez, c'est la coupole de Saint-Pierre! Les Napolitains montrent aussi le Vésuve; et la mer fait de même l'orgueil des habitans des côtes. On croirait voir le dôme des Invalides, s'écria le comte d'Erfeuil."

It was by this approach that most of its distinguished pilgrims have entered the capital of the Catholic world: monks, who came hither to obtain the foundation of their Orders; saints, who thirsted to worship at the shrines of their predecessors, or who came to receive the crown of martyrdom; priests and bishops from distant lands,—many coming in turn to receive here the highest dignity which Christendom could offer; kings and emperors, to ask coronation at the hands of the reigning pontiff; and among all these, came by this road, in the full fervour of Catholic enthusiasm, Martin Luther, the future enemy of Rome, then its devoted adherent. "When Luther came to Rome," says Ampère, in his 'Portraits de Rome à Divers Ages,' "the future reformer was a young monk, obscure and fervent; he had no presentiment, when he set foot in the great Babylon, that ten years later he would burn the bull of the Pope in the public square of Wittenberg. His heart experienced nothing but pious emotions; he addressed to Rome in salutation the ancient hymn of the pilgrims; he cried, 'I salute thee, O holy Rome, Rome venerable through the blood and the tombs of the martyrs.' But after having prostrated on the threshold, he raised himself, he entered into the temple, he did not find the God he looked for; the city of the saints and martyrs was a city of murderers and prostitutes. The arts which marked this corruption were powerless over the stolid senses, and scandalised the austere spirit of the German monk; he scarcely gave a passing glance at the ruins of pagan Rome;—and inwardly horrified by all that he saw, he quitted Rome in a frame of mind very different from that which he brought with him; he knelt then with the devotion of the pilgrims, now he returned in a disposition like that of the frondeurs of the Middle Ages, but more serious than theirs. This Rome of which he had been the dupe, and concerning which he was disabused, should hear of him again; the day would come when, amid the merry toasts at his table, he would cry three times, 'I would not have missed going to Rome for a thousand florins, for I should always have been uneasy lest I should have been rendering injustice to the Pope.'"

When one is in Rome life seems to be free from many of the petty troubles which beset it in other places; there is no foreign town which offers so many comforts and advantages to its English visitors. The hotels, indeed, are enormously expensive, and the rent of apartments is high; but when the latter is once paid, living is rather cheap than otherwise, especially for those who do not object to dine from a trattoria, and to drive in hackney carriages.

The climate of Rome is very variable. If the sirocco blows, it is mild and very relaxing; but the winters are more apt to be subject to the severe cold of the tramontana, which requires even greater precaution and care than that of an English winter. Nothing can be more mistaken than the impression that those who go to Italy are sure to find there a mild and congenial temperature. The climate of Rome has been subject to severity, even from the earliest times of its history. Dionysius speaks of one year in the time of the republic when the snow at Rome lay seven feet deep, and many men and cattle died of the cold.[1] Another year, the snow lay for forty days, trees perished, and cattle died of hunger.[2] Present times are a great improvement on these: snow seldom lies upon the ground for many hours together, and the beautiful fountains of the city are only hung with icicles long enough to allow the photographers to represent them thus; but still the climate is not to be trifled with, and violent transitions from the hot sunshine to the cold shade of the streets often prove fatal. "No one but dogs and Englishmen," say the Romans, "ever walk in the sun."

The malaria, which is so much dreaded by the natives, lies dormant during the winter months, and seldom affects strangers, unless they are inordinately imprudent in sitting out in the sunset. With the heats of the late summer this insidious ague-fever is apt to follow on the slightest exertion, and particularly to overwhelm those who are employed in field labour. From June to November the Villa Borghese and the Villa Doria are uninhabitable, and the more deserted hills—the Cœlian, the Aventine, and the greater part of the Esquiline,—are a constant prey to fever. The malaria, however, flies before a crowd of human life, and the Ghetto, which teems with inhabitants, is perfectly free from it. In the Campagna,—with the exception of Porto d'Anzio, which has always been healthy,—no town or village is safe after the month of August, and to this cause the utter desolation of so many formerly populous sites (especially those of Veii and Galera) may be attributed:—

"Roma, vorax hominum, domat ardua colla virorum;  Roma, ferax febrium, necis est uberrima frugum:  Romanæ febres stabili sunt jure fideles."

Thus wrote Peter Damian in the 10th century, and those who refuse to be on their guard will find it so still.

The greatest risk at Rome is incurred by those who, coming out of the hot sunshine, spend long hours in the Vatican and the other galleries, which are filled with a deadly chill during the winter months. As March comes on this chill wears away, and in April and May the temperature of the galleries is delightful, and it is impossible to find a more agreeable retreat. It is in the hope of inducing strangers to spend more time in the study of these wonderful museums, and of giving additional interest to the hours which are passed there, that so much is said about their contents in these volumes. As far as possible it has been desired to evade any mere catalogue of their collections,—so that no mention has been made of objects which possess inferior artistic or historical interest; while by introducing anecdotes connected with those to which attention is drawn, or by quoting the opinion of some good authority concerning them, an endeavour has been made to fix them in the recollection.

So much has been written about Rome, that in quoting from the remarks of others the great difficulty has been selection,—and the rule has been followed that the most learned books are not always the most instructive or the most interesting. No endeavour has been made to enter into deep archæological questions,—to define the exact limits of the Walls of Servius Tullius,—or to hazard a fresh opinion as to how the earth accumulated in the Roman Forum, or whence the pottery came, out of which the Monte Testaccio has arisen; but it has rather been sought to gather up and present to the reader such a succession of word pictures from various authors, as may not only make the scenes of Rome more interesting at the time, but may deepen their impression afterwards. This was the work which the late illustrious M. Ampère intended to carry out, and which he would have done so much better and more fully.

From the experience of many years the writer can truly say that the more intimately these scenes become known, the more deeply they become engraven upon the inmost affections. Rome, as Goethe truly says, "is a world, and it takes years to find oneself at home in it." It is not a hurried visit to the Coliseum, with guide book and cicerone, which will enable one to drink in the fulness of its beauty; but a long and familiar friendship with its solemn walls, in the ever-varying grandeur of golden sunlight and grey shadow—till, after many days' companionship, its stones become dear as those of no other building ever can be;—and it is not a rapid inspection of the huge cheerless basilicas and churches, with their gaudy marbles and gilded ceilings and ill-suited monuments, which arouses your sympathy; but the long investigation of their precious fragments of ancient cloister, and sculptured fountain,—of mouldering fresco, and mediæval tomb,—of mosaic-crowned gateway, and palm-shadowed garden;—and the gradually-acquired knowledge of the wondrous story which clings around each of these ancient things, and which tells how each has a motive and meaning entirely unsuspected and unseen by the passing eye.

The immense extent of Rome, and the wide distances to be traversed between its different ruins and churches, is in itself a sufficient reason for devoting more time to it than to the other cities of Italy. Surprise will doubtless be felt that so few pagan ruins remain, considering the enormous number which are known to have existed even down to a comparatively late period. A monumental record of A.D. 540, published by Cardinal Mai, mentions 324 streets, 2 capitols—the Tarpeian and that on the Quirinal,—80 gilt statues of the gods (only the Hercules remains), 66 ivory statues of the gods, 46,608 houses, 17,097 palaces, 13,052 fountains, 3785 statues of emperors and generals in bronze, 22 great equestrian statues of bronze (only Marcus Aurelius remains), 2 colossi (Marcus Aurelius and Trajan), 9026 baths, 31 theatres, and 8 amphitheatres!

It is impossible to speak too highly of the facilities afforded to strangers for seeing and enjoying everything, especially by the Roman nobility. The beautiful grounds of the Villa Borghese and the Villa Doria appear to be kept up at an enormous expense, solely for the use and pleasure of the public, and almost all the palaces and collections are thrown open on fixed days with unequalled liberality. In almost all these galleries, museums, and gardens the stranger is permitted to wander about and linger as he pleases, entirely unmolested by officious servants and ignorant ciceroni.

Those will enjoy Rome most who have studied it thoroughly before leaving their own homes. In the multiplicity of engagements in which a foreigner is soon involved, there is little time for historical research, and few are able to do more than "read up their Murray," so that half the pleasure and all the advantage of a visit to Rome are thrown away: while those who arrive with the foundation already prepared, easily and naturally acquire, amid the scenes around which the history of the world revolved, an amount of information which will be astonishing even to themselves. "People out of Rome," says Goethe, "have no idea how one is schooled there;" but then, as the author of 'Vera' remarks, "that is true of Rome, which Madame Swetchine said of life, viz. that you find exactly what you put into it."

The pagan monuments of Rome have been written of and discussed ever since they were built, and the catacombs have lately found historians and guides both able and willing,—about the later Christian monuments far less has hitherto been said. In English, except in the immense collection of interest which is imbedded in the works of Hemans, and in the few beautiful notices of some of the early martyrs by Mrs. Jameson, very little has been written; in French there is far more. There is a natural shrinking in the English Protestant mind from all that is connected with the story of the saints,—especially the later saints of the Roman Catholic Church. Many believe, with Addison, "that the Christian antiquities are so embroiled in fable and legend, that one derives but little satisfaction from searching into them." And yet, as Mrs. Jameson observes, when all that the controversialist can desire is taken away from the reminiscences of those, who to the Roman Catholic mind have consecrated the homes of their earthly life, how much remains!—"so much to awaken, to elevate, to touch the heart;—so much that will not fade from the memory, so much that may make a part of our after-life."

No attempt has been made in these pages to describe the country round Rome, beyond a few of the most ordinary drives and excursions outside the walls. The opening of the railways to Naples and Civita Vecchia have now brought a vast variety of new excursions within the range of a day's expedition—and the papal citadel of Anagni, the temples of Cori, the cyclopean remains of Segni, Alatri, Norba, Cervetri, and Corneto, and the wild heights of Soracte, will probably ere long become as well known as the oft-visited Tivoli, Ostia, and Albano. It is intended to supplement these "Walks in Rome" by a similar volume of "Excursions round Rome."

CHAPTER I.

DULL-USEFUL INFORMATION.

Hotels.—For passing travellers or bachelors, the best are: Hotel d'Angleterre, Bocca di Leone; Hotel de Rome, Corso. For families, or for a long residence: Hotel des Iles Britanniques, Piazza del Popolo; Hotel de Russie (close to the last), Via Babuino; Hotel de Londres, and Hotel Europa, Piazza di Spagna; Hotel Costanzi, Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino, in a high airy situation towards the railway-station, and very comfortable and well managed, but further from the sights of Rome. Less expensive, are: Hotel d'Allemagne, Via Condotti; Hotel Vittoria, Via Due Macelli; Hotel d'Italie, Via Quattro Fontane; Hotel della Pace, 8 Via Felice; Hotel Minerva, Piazza della Minerva, very near the Pantheon. A large new hotel is the "Quirinale," in the Via Nazionale.

Pensions are much wanted in Rome. The best are those of Miss Smith and Madame Tellenbach, in the Piazza di Spagna; Pension Suez, Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino; and the small Hotel du Sud, in the Capo le Case.

Apartments have lately greatly increased in price. An apartment for a very small family in one of the best situations can seldom be obtained for less than 300 to 500 francs a month. The English almost all prefer to reside in the neighbourhood of the Piazza di Spagna. The best situations are the sunny side of the Piazza itself, the Trinità de' Monti, the Via Gregoriana, and Via Sistina. Less good situations are, the Corso, Via Condotti, Via Due Macelli, Via Frattina, Capo le Case, Via Felice, Via Quattro Fontane, Via Babuino, and Via delle Croce,—in which last, however, are many very good apartments. On the other side of the Corso suites of rooms are much less expensive, but they are less convenient for persons who make a short residence in Rome. In many of the palaces are large apartments which are let by the year.

Trattorie (Restaurants) send out dinners to families in apartments in a tin box with a stove, for which the bearer calls the next morning. A dinner for six francs ought to be amply sufficient for three persons, and to leave enough for luncheon the next day. Restaurants where luncheons or dinners may be obtained upon the spot, are those of Bedeau, Via della Croce, and Nazzari, Piazza di Spagna. Those who wish for a real Roman dinner of Porcupine, Hedgehog, and other such delicacies, find it at the Falcone, where Ariosto used to lodge when in Rome.

English Church.—Just outside the Porta del Popolo, on the left. Services at 9 A.M., 11 A.M., and 3 P.M. on Sundays; daily service twice on week-days. The American Church is in the same building, with an entrance further on.

Post Office.—In the Piazza Colonna. The English mail leaves daily at 8 P.M.

Telegraph Office.—121 Piazza Monte-Citorio. A telegraph of 20 words to England, including name and address, costs 11 francs.

Bankers.—Hooker, 20 Piazza di Spagna; Macbean, 378 Corso; Plowden, 50 Via Mercede; Spada and Flamini, 20 Via Condotti.

For sending Boxes to England.—Welby, Strada Papala. (His agents in London, Messrs. Scott, 11 King William St.)

English Doctors.—Dr. Grigor, 3 Pa di Spagna; Dr. Small, 56 Via Babuino; Dr. Gason, 82 Via della Croce. German: Dr. Taussig, 144 Via Babuino. American: Dr. Gould, 107 Via Babuino. Italian: Dr. Valeri, 138 Via Babuino.

Homœopathic Doctor.—Dr. Liberali, 69 Via della Frezza.

Dentist.—Dr. Parmby, 93 Piazza di Spagna.

Sick-nurses.—Mrs. Meyer, 44 Via delle Carozze; the Nuns of the Bon-Secours at the convent in the Via del Banchi.

Chemists.—English Pharmacy, 498 Corso; Sininberghi, 134 Via Frattina; and Borioni, Via Babuino, are those usually employed by the English; but the chemists' shops in the Corso are as good, and much less expensive.

English House Agent.—Shea, 11 Piazza di Spagna.

English Livery Stables.—Jarrett, 3 Piazza del Popolo; Ranucci, Vicolo Aliberti.

Circulating Library.—Piale, 1, 2, Piazza di Spagna.

Booksellers.—Monaldini, Piazza di Spagna; Spithover, Piazza di Spagna; Bocca, 216 Corso; Loesther, 346 Corso.

Italian Masters.—Vannini, 31 Via Condotti (in the summer at the Bagni di Lucca); Monachesi (a Roman), 8 Via S. Sebastianello; Gordini, 374 Corso; N. Lucantini, 17 Via della Stamperia.

Photographers.—For views of Rome.—Watson, Via Babuino; Macpherson, 12 Vicolo Aliberti; Mang, 104 Via Felice; Anderson (his photographs sold at Spithover's); Joseph Phelps, 169 Via Babuino; Maggi, 329 Corso. For Artistic Bits, very much to be recommended, De Bonis, 11 Via Felice. For Portraits.—Suscipi, 48 Via Condotti (the best for medallions); Alessandri, 12 Corso (excellent for Cartes de Visite); Lais, 57 Via del Campo-Marzo; Ferretti, 50 Via Sta. Maria in Via.

Drawing Materials.—Dovizelli, 136 Via Babuino; Corteselli, 150 Via Felice. For commoner articles and stationery, the "Cartoleria," 214 Corso, opposite the Piazza Colonna.

Engravings.—At the Stamperia Nazionale (fixed prices), 6 Via della Stamperia, near the fountain of Trevi.

Antiquities.—Depoletti, 31 Via Fontanella Borghese; Innocenti, 118 Via Frattina; Santelli, 141 Via Frattina; Capobianchi, 152 Via Babuino.

Bronzes.—Röhrich, 104 Via Sistina; Chiapanelli, 92 Via Babuino; Dressler, 17 Via Due Macelli.

Cameos.—Saulini, 96 Via Babuino; Neri, 72 Via Babuino.

Mosaics.—Rinaldi, 125 Via Babuino; Boschetti, 74 Via Condotti.

Jewellers.—Castellani, 88 Via Poli (closed from 12 to 1), very beautiful, but very expensive; Pierret, 20 Piazza di Spagna; Innocenti, 33 Piazza Trinità de' Monti.

Roman Pearls.—Rey, 122 Via Babuino; Lacchini, 70 Via Condotti.

Bookbinder.—Olivieri, 1 Via Frattina.

Engraver.—(For visiting cards, &c.), Martelli, 139 Via Frattina.

Tailors.—Mattina (the "Poole" of Rome), Corso, opposite S. Carlo, entrance 2 Via delle Carozze; Vai, 60 Piazza di Spagna; Reanda, 61 Piazza. S. Apostoli; Evert, 77 Piazza Borghese.

Shoemakers.—Rubini, 223 Corso (none good).

Dressmaker.—Clarisse, 166 Corso.

Shops for Ladies' Dress.—Massoni, Palazzo Simonetti; the Ville de Lyon, 48 Via dei Prefetti (behind S. Lorenzo in Lucina); Sebastiani, 8 Via del Campo-Marzo; Giovannetti, 50 to 53 Campo-Marzo.

Roman Ribbons and Shawls.—Arvotti, 66 Piazza Madama (fixed prices); Bianchi, 82 Via della Minerva.

Gloves.—Cremonesi, 420 Corso; 4 Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina.

Carpets and small Household Articles.—Cagiati, 250 Corso.

German Baker.—Colalucci, 88 Via della Croce (excellent).

English Grocer.—Lowe, 76 Piazza di Spagna.

Italian Grocer and Wine Merchant.—Giacosa, Via della Maddalena.

Oil, Candles and Wood, &c.—Luigioni, 70 Piazza di Spagna.

English Dairy.—Palmegiani, 66 Piazza di Spagna.

Artists' Studios.—

Benonville, 61 Via Babuino,—landscapes.
Brennan, 76 Via Borghetto.
Coleman, 16 Via dei Zucchelli,—very good for animals.
Corrodi, 25 Angelo-Custode,—water-colour landscapes, very highly finished.
Desoulavy, 33 Via Margutta,—landscapes.
Fattorini, Via Margutta,—a very beautiful copyist.
Flatz, 3 Mario di Fiori,—sacred subjects.
Haseltine, J. H., 59 Via Babuino.
*Joris, 33 Via Margutta,—quite first-rate for figure subjects in water-colour.
Garelli, 217 Ripetta,—an admirable copyist, generally to be found in the Capitoline Gallery.
*Glennie, 17 Piazza Margana,—water-colour, first-rate.
Knebel, 33 Via Margutta,—oil landscapes.
Maes, 33 Via Margutta.
*Marianecci, 53 Via Margutta,—the prince of copyists.
Muller, 60 Piazza Barberini,—water-colour landscapes.
Podesti, 55 Via Margutta,—oil: large historical and sacred subjects.
Poingdestre, 36 Vicolo dei Greci—oil: landscapes.
Buchanan Read, 55 Via Margutta.
*Rivière, 36 Vicolo dei Greci,—water-colour.
De Sanctis, 33 Via Margutta.
Strutt (Arthur), 81 Via della Croce,—landscapes and figures, both oil and water-colour.
Tapiro (Spanish), 72 Sistina,—admirable for figures.
Tilton, 20 Via S. Basilio,—remarkable for his drawings of the Nile.
Vertunni, 53 Via Margutta.
Wedder, 55A Via Margutta.
*Penry Williams, 12 Piazza Mignanelli.

Sculptors' Studios.—

D'Epinay, 57 Via Sistina.
Fabj-Altini, 4 S. Nicolo in Tolentino.
Miss Foley, 53 Via Margutta,—admirable for medallion portraits and
busts, also the author of a beautiful fountain.
*Miss Hosmer, 118 Via Margutta—(Gibson's studio).
Miss Lewis, 8 Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino.
Macdonald, 7 Piazza Barberini.
Rosetti, 55 Via Margutta.
Story, 2 Via S. Nicolo in Tolentino.
Tadolini, 150A Via Babuino.
Wood (Shakspeare), 504 Corso,—excels in medallion portraits.
Wood (Warrington), 7 Piazza Trinità de' Monti.

It is impossible for a traveller who spends only a week or ten days in Rome to see a tenth part of the sights which it contains. Perhaps the most important objects are:

Churches.—S. Peter's, S. John Lateran, Sta. Maria Maggiore, S. Lorenzo fuori Mura, S. Paoli fuori Mura, S. Agnese fuori Mura, Ara Cœli, S. Clemente, S. Pietro in Montorio, S. Pietro in Vincoli, Sta. Sabina, Sta. Prassede and Sta. Pudentiana, S. Gregorio, S. Stefano Rotondo, Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, Sta. Maria del Popolo.

Palaces.—Vatican, Capitol, Borghese, Barberini (and, if possible, Corsini, Colonna, Sciarra, Rospigliosi, and Spada).

Villas.—Albani, Doria, Borghese, Wolkonski, and, though less important, Ludovisi.

Ruins.—Palace of the Cæsars, Temples in Forum, Coliseum, and, if possible, the ruins in the Ghetto, and the Baths of Caracalla.

It is desirable for the traveller who is pressed for time to apply at once to his Banker for orders for any of the villas for which they are necessary. The following scheme will give a good general idea of Rome and its neighbourhood in a few days. The sights printed in italics can only be seen on the days to which they are ascribed:—

Monday.—General view of Capitol, Gallery of Sculpture, Ara Cœli, General view of Forum, Coliseum, St. John Lateran (with cloisters), and drive out to the Via Latina and the aqueducts at Tavolato.

Tuesday.—Morning: St. Peter's and the Vatican Stanze. Afternoon: Villa Albani, St. Agnese, and drive to the Ponte Nomentana.

Wednesday.—Go to Tivoli (the Cascades, Cascatelle, and Villa d'Este).

Thursday.—Morning: Palace of the Cæsars. Afternoon: drive on the Via Appia as far as Torre Mezzo Strada; in returning, see the Baths of Caracalla.

Friday.—Morning: Palazzo Borghese, Palazzo Spada, The Ghetto, The Temple of Vesta, cross the Ponte Rotto to Sta. Cecilia; and end in the afternoon at St. Pietro in Montorio and the Villa Doria (or on Monday).

Saturday.—Frascati and Albano. Drive to Frascati early, take donkeys, by Rocca di Papa to Mte. Cavo; take luncheon at the Temple, and return by Palazzuolo and the upper and lower Galleries to Albano, whither the carriage should be sent on to await you at the Hotel de Russie. Drive back to Rome in the evening.

Sunday.—Morning: Sta. Maria del Popolo on way to English Church. Afternoon: St. Peter's again; drive to Monte Mario (Villa Mellini), or in the Villa Borghese, and end with the Pincio.

2d Monday.—Morning: Sta. Prassede, Sta. Pudentiana, Sta. Maria Maggiore. Afternoon: Sta. Sabina, Priorato Garden, English Cemetery, S. Paolo, and the Tre Fontane.

2d Tuesday.—Morning: Vatican Sculptures. Afternoon: S. Gregorio, S. Stefano Rotondo, S. Clemente, S. Pietro in Vincoli, Sta. Maria degli Angeli, S. Lorenzo fuori Mura, and drive out to the Torre dei Schiavi, returning by the Porta Maggiore.

2d Wednesday.—Morning: Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Rospigliosi, (and on Saturdays) Vatican Pictures. Afternoon: Forum in detail, SS. Cosmo and Damian, and ascend the Coliseum.

The following list may be useful as a guide to some of the best subjects for artists who wish to draw at Rome, and have not much time to search for themselves:—

Morning Light:
Temple of Vesta with the fountain.
Arch of Constantine from the Coliseum (early).
Coliseum from behind Sta. Francesca Romana (early).
Temples in the Forum from the School of Xanthus.
View from the Garden of the Rupe Tarpeia.
In the Garden of S. Giovanni e Paolo.
In the Garden of S. Buonaventura.
In the Garden of the S. Bartolomeo in Isola.
In the Garden of S. Onofrio.
On the Tiber from Poussin's Walk.
From the door of the Villa Medici.
At S. Cosimato.
At the back entrance of Ara Cœli.
At the Portico of Octavia.
Looking to the Arch of Titus up the Via Sacra.
In the Cloister of the Lateran.
In the Cloister of the Certosa.
Near the Temple of Bacchus.
On the Via Appia, beyond Cecilia Metella.
Torre Mezza Strada on the Via Appia.
Torre Nomentana, looking to the mountains.
Ponte Nomentana, looking to the Mons Sacer.
Torre dei Schiavi, looking towards Tivoli.
Aqueducts at Tavolato.

Evening Light:
From St. John Lateran.
From the Ponte Rotto.
From the Terrace of the Villa Doria (St. Peter's).
Palace of the Cæsars—Roman side—looking to Sta. Balbina.
Palace of the Cæsars—French side—looking to the Coliseum.
Apse of S. Giovanni e Paolo.
Near the Navicella.
Garden of the Villa Mattei.
Garden of the Villa Wolkonski.
Garden of the Priorato.
Porta S. Lorenzo.
Torre dei Schiavi, looking towards Rome.
Via Latina, looking towards the Aqueducts.
Via Latina, looking towards Rome.

The months of November and December are the best for drawing. The colouring is then magnificent; it is enhanced by the tints of the decaying vegetation, and the shadows are strong and clear. January is generally cold for sitting out, and February wet; and before the end of March the vegetation is often so far advanced that the Alban Hills, which have retained glorious sapphire and amethyst tints all winter, change into commonplace green English downs; while the Campagna, from the crimson and gold of its dying thistles and fenochii, becomes a lovely green plain waving with flowers.

Foreigners are much too apt to follow the native custom of driving constantly in the Villa Borghese, the Villa Doria, and on the Pincio, and getting out to walk there during their drives. For those who do not care always to see the human world, a delightful variety of drives can be found; and it is a most agreeable plan for invalids, without carriages of their own, to take a "course to the Parco di San Gregorio," or to the sunny avenues near the Lateran, and walk there instead of on the Pincio. A carriage for the return may almost always be found in the Forum or at the Lateran.

CHAPTER II.

THE CORSO AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

The Piazza del Popolo—Obelisk—Sta. Maria del Popolo—(The Pincio—Villa Medici—Trinità de' Monti) (Via Babuino—Via Margutta—Piazza di Spagna—Propaganda) (Via Ripetta—SS. Rocco e Martino—S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni)—S. Giacomo degli Incurabili—Via Vittoria—Mausoleum of Augustus—S. Carlo in Corso—Via Condotti—Palazzo Borghese—Palazzo Ruspoli—S. Lorenzo in Lucina—S. Sylvestro in Capite—S. Andrea delle Fratte—Palazzo Chigi—Piazza Colonna—Palace and Obelisk of Monte-Citorio—Temple of Neptune—Fountain of Trevi—Palazzo Poli—Palazzo Sciarra—The Caravita—S. Ignazio—S. Marcello—Sta. Maria in Via Lata—Palazzo Doria Pamfili—Palazzo Salviati—Palazzo Odescalchi—Palazzo Colonna—Church of SS. Apostoli—Palazzo Savorelli—Palazzo Buonaparte—Palazzo di Venezia—Palazzo Torlonia—Ripresa dei Barberi—S. Marco—Church of Il Gesu—Palazzo Altieri.

THE first object of every traveller will naturally be to reach the Capitol, and look down thence upon ancient Rome; but as he will go down to the Corso to do this, and must daily pass most of its surrounding buildings, we will first speak of those objects which will, ere long, become the most familiar.

A stranger's first lesson in Roman geography should be learnt standing in the Piazza del Popolo, whence three streets branch off—the Corso, in the centre, leading towards the Capitol, beyond which lies ancient Rome; the Babuino, on the left, leading to the Piazza di Spagna and the English quarter; the Ripetta, on the right, leading to the Castle of St. Angelo and St. Peter's. The scene is one well known from pictures and engravings. The space between the streets is occupied by twin churches, erected by Cardinal Gastaldi.

"Les deux églises élevées au Place du Peuple par le Cardinal Gastaldi à l'entrée du Corso, sont d'un effet médiocre. Comment un cardinal n'a-t-il pas senti qu'il ne faut pas élever une église pour faire pendant à quelque chose? C'est ravaler la majesté divine." Stendhal, i. 172.

It is in the church on the left that sermons are preached every winter on Sunday afternoons by some of the best Roman Catholic controversialists, just at the right moment for catching the Protestant congregations as they emerge from their chapels outside the Porta del Popolo.

These churches are believed to occupy the site of the magnificent tomb of Sylla, who died at Puteoli B.C. 82, but was honoured at Rome with a public funeral, at which the patrician ladies burnt masses of incense and perfumes on his funeral pyre.

The Obelisk of the Piazza del Popolo was placed on this site by Sixtus V. in 1589, but was originally brought to Rome and erected in honour of Apollo by the Emperor Augustus.

"Apollo was the patron of the spot which had given a name to the great victory of Actium; Apollo himself, it was proclaimed, had fought for Rome and for Octavius on that auspicious day; the same Apollo, the Sun-god, had shuddered in his bright career at the murder of the Dictator, and terrified the nations by the eclipse of his divine countenance." ... Therefore, "besides building a temple to Apollo on the Palatine hill, the Emperor Augustus sought to honour him by transplanting to the Circus Maximus, the sports of which were under his special protection, an obelisk from Heliopolis, in Egypt. This flame-shaped column was a symbol of the sun, and originally bore a blazing orb upon its summit. It is interesting to trace an intelligible motive for the first introduction into Europe of these grotesque and unsightly monuments of eastern superstition."—Merivale, Hist. of the Romans.

"This red granite obelisk, oldest of things, even in Rome, rises in the centre of the piazza, with a four-fold fountain at its base. All Roman works and ruins (whether of the empire, the far-off republic, or the still more distant kings) assume a transient, visionary, and impalpable character, when we think that this indestructible monument supplied one of the recollections which Moses and the Israelites bore from Egypt into the desert. Perchance, on beholding the cloudy pillar and fiery column, they whispered awe-stricken to one another, 'In its shape it is like that old obelisk which we and our fathers have so often seen on the borders of the Nile.' And now that very obelisk, with hardly a trace of decay upon it, is the first thing that the modern traveller sees after entering the Flaminian Gate."—Hawthorne's Transformation.

It was on the left of the Piazza, at the foot of what was even then called "the Hill of Gardens," that Nero was buried (A.D. 68).

"When Nero was dead, his nurse Eclaga, with Alexandra, and Acte the famous concubine, having wrapped his remains in rich white stuff, embroidered with gold, deposited them in the Domitian monument, which is seen in the Campus-Martius under the Hill of Gardens. The tomb was of porphyry, having an altar of Luna marble, surrounded by a balustrade of Thasos marble."—Suetonius.

Church tradition tells that from the tomb of Nero afterwards grew a gigantic walnut-tree, which became the resort of innumerable crows,—so numerous as to become quite a pest to the neighbourhood. In the eleventh century, Pope Paschal II. dreamt that these crows were demons, and that the Blessed Virgin commanded him to cut down and burn the tree ("albero malnato"), and build a sanctuary to her honour in its place. A church was then built by means of a collection amongst the common people; hence the name which it still retains of "St. Mary of the People."

Sta. Maria del Popolo was rebuilt by Bacio Pintelli for Sixtus IV. in 1480, and very richly adorned. It was modernized by Bernini for Alexander VII. (Fabio Chigi, 1655-67), of whom it was the family burial-place, but it still retains many fragments of beautiful fifteenth century work (the principal door of the nave is a fine example of this); and its interior is a perfect museum of sculpture and art.

Entering the church by the west door, and following the right aisle, the first chapel (Venuti, formerly Della Rovere[3]) is adorned with exquisite paintings by Pinturicchio. Over the altar is the Nativity—one of the most beautiful frescoes in the city; in the lunettes are scenes from the life of St. Jerome. Cardinal Christoforo della Rovere, who built this chapel and dedicated it to "the Virgin and St. Jerome," is buried on the left, in a grand fifteenth century tomb; on the right is the monument of Cardinal di Castro. Both of these tombs and many others in this church have interesting and greatly varied lunettes of the Virgin and Child.

The second chapel, of the Cibo family, rich in pillars of nero-antico and jasper, has an altarpiece representing the Assumption of the Virgin, by Carlo Maratta. In the cupola is the Almighty, surrounded by the heavenly host.[4]

The third chapel is also painted by Pinturicchio. Over the altar, the Madonna and four saints; above, God the Father, surrounded by angels. In the other lunettes, scenes in the life of the Virgin;—that of the Virgin studying in the Temple, a very rare subject, is especially beautiful. In a frieze round the lower part of the wall, a series of martyrdoms in grisaille. On the right is the tomb of Giovanni della Rovere, ob. 1483. On the left is a fine sleeping bronze figure of a bishop, unknown.

The fourth chapel has a fine fifteenth century altar-relief of St. Catherine between St. Anthony of Padua and St. Vincent. On the right is the tomb of Marc-Antonio Albertoni, ob. 1485; on the left, that of Cardinal Costa, of Lisbon, ob. 1508, erected in his lifetime. In this tomb is an especially beautiful lunette of the Virgin adored by Angels.

Entering the right transept, on the right is the tomb of Cardinal Podocanthorus of Cyprus, a very fine specimen of fifteenth century work. A door near this leads into a cloister, where is preserved, over a door, the Gothic altar-piece of the church of Sixtus IV, representing the Coronation of the Virgin, and two fine tombs—Archbishop Rocca, ob. 1482, and Bishop Gomiel.

The choir (shown when there is no service) has a ceiling by Pinturicchio. In the centre, the Virgin and Saviour, surrounded by the Evangelists and Sibyls; in the corners, the Fathers of the Church—Gregory, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. Beneath are the tombs of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, and Cardinal Girolamo Basso, nephews of Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere), beautiful works of Andrea di Sansovino. These tombs were erected at the expense of Julius II., himself a Della Rovere, who also gave the windows, painted by Claude and Guillaume de Marseilles, the only good specimens of stained glass in Rome.

The high-altar is surmounted by a miraculous image of the Virgin, inscribed, "In honorificentia populi nostri," which was placed in this church by Gregory IX., and which, having been "successfully invoked" by Gregory XIII., in the great plague of 1578, has ever since been annually adored by the pope of the period, who prostrates himself before it upon the 8th of September. The chapel on the left of this has an Assumption, by Annibale Caracci.

In the left transept is the tomb of Cardinal Bernardino Lonati, with a fine fifteenth century relief of the Resurrection.

Returning by the left aisle, the last chapel but one is that of the Chigi family, in which the famous banker, Agostino Chigi (who built the Farnesina) is buried, and in which Raphael is represented at once as a painter, a sculptor, and an architect. He planned the chapel itself; he drew the strange design of the Mosaic on the ceiling (carried out by Aloisio della Pace), which represents an extraordinary mixture of Paganism and Christianity, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (as the planets), conducted by angels, being represented with and surrounding Jehovah; and he modelled the beautiful statue of Jonah seated on the whale, which was sculptured in the marble by Lorenzetto. The same artist sculptured the figure of Elijah,—those of Daniel and Habakkuk being by Bernini. The altarpiece, representing the Nativity of the Virgin, is a fine work of Sebastian del Piombo. On the pier adjoining this chapel is the strange monument by Posi (1771) of a Princess Odescalchi Chigi, who died in childbirth, at the age of twenty, erected by her husband, who describes himself, "In solitudine et luctu superstes."

The last chapel contains two fine fifteenth century ciboria, and the tomb of Cardinal Antonio Pallavicini, 1507.

On the left of the principal entrance is the remarkable monument of Gio. Batt. Gislenus, the companion and friend of Casimir I. of Poland (ob. 1670). At the top is his portrait while living, inscribed, "Neque hic vivus"; then a medallion of a chrysalis, "In nidulo meo moriar"; opposite to which is a medallion of a butterfly emerging, "Ut Phœnix multiplicabo dies": below is a hideous skeleton of giallo antico in a white marble winding-sheet, "Neque hic mortuus."

Martin Luther "often spoke of death as the Christian's true birth, and this life as but a growing into the chrysalis-shell in which the spirit lives till its being is developed, and it bursts the shell, casts off the web, struggles into life, spreads its wings, and soars up to God."

The Augustine Convent adjoining this church was the residence of Luther while he was in Rome. Here he celebrated mass immediately on his arrival, after he had prostrated himself upon the earth, saying, "Hail sacred Rome! thrice sacred for the blood of the martyrs shed here!" Here, also, he celebrated mass for the last time before he departed from Rome to become the most terrible of her enemies.

"Lui pauvre écolier, élevé si durement, qui souvent, pendant son enfance, n'avait pour oreiller qu'une dalle froide, il passe devant des temples tout de marbre, devant des colonnes d'albâtre, des gigantesques obélisques de granite, des fontaines jaillissantes, des villas fraîches et embellies de jardins, de fleurs, de cascades et de grottes. Veut-il prier? il entre dans une église qui lui semble un monde véritable, où les diamants scintillent sur l'autel, l'or aux soffites, le marbre aux colonnes, la mosaïque aux chapelles, au lieu d'un de ces temples rustiques qui n'ont dans sa patrie pour tout ornement que quelques roses qu'une main pieuse va déposer sur l'autel le jour du dimanche. Est-il fatigué de la route? il trouve sur son chemin, non plus un modeste banc de bois, mais un siège d'albâtre antique récemment déterré. Cherche-t-il une sainte image? il n'aperçoit que des fantaisies païennes, des divinités olympiques, Apollon, Vénus, Mars, Jupiter, auxquelles travaillent mille mains de sculpteurs. De toutes ces merveilles, il ne comprit rien, il ne vit rien. Aucun rayon de la couronne de Raphaël, de Michel-Ange, n'éblouit ses regards; il resta froid et muet devant tous les trésors de peinture et de sculpture rassemblés dans les églises; son oreille fut fermée aux chants du Dante, que le peuple répétait autour de lui. Il était entré à Rome en pèlerin, il en sort comme Coriolan, et s'écrie avec Bembo: 'Adieu, Rome, que doit fuir quiconque veut vivre saintement! Adieu, ville où tout est permis, excepté d'être homme de bien.'"—Audin, Histoire de Luther, c. ii.

It was in front of this church that the cardinals and magnates of Rome met to receive the apostate Christina of Sweden upon her entrance into the city.

On the left side of the piazza rise the terraces of the Pincio, adorned with rostral-columns, statues, and marble bas-reliefs, interspersed with cypresses and pines. A winding road, lined with mimosas and other flowering shrubs, leads to the upper platform, now laid out in public drives and gardens, but, till twenty years ago, a deserted waste, where the ghost of Nero was believed to wander in the middle ages.

Hence the Eternal City is seen spread at our feet, and beyond it the wide-spreading Campagna, till a silver line marks the sea melting into the horizon beyond Ostia. All these churches and tall palace roofs become more than mere names in the course of the winter, but at first all is bewilderment Two great buildings alone arrest the attention:

"Westward, beyond the Tiber, is the Castle of St. Angelo, the immense tomb of a pagan emperor with the archangel on its summit.... Still further off, a mighty pile of buildings, surmounted by a vast dome, which all of us have shaped and swelled outward, like a huge bubble, to the utmost scope of our imaginations, long before we see it floating over the worship of the city. At any nearer view the grandeur of St. Peter's hides itself behind the immensity of its separate parts, so that we only see the front, only the sides, only the pillared length and loftiness of the portico, and not the mighty whole. But at this distance the entire outline of the world's cathedral, as well as that of the palace of the world's chief priest, is taken in at once. In such remoteness, moreover, the imagination is not debarred from rendering its assistance, even while we have the reality before our eyes, and helping the weakness of human sense to do justice to so grand an object. It requires both faith and fancy to enable us to feel, what is nevertheless so true, that yonder, in front of the purple outline of the hills, is the grandest edifice ever built by man, painted against God's loveliest sky."—Hawthorne.

Here the band plays under the great palm-tree every afternoon except Friday. On Sunday afternoons the Pincio is in what Miss Thackeray describes as "a fashionable halo of sunset and pink parasols"—when immense crowds collect, showing every phase of Roman life; and disperse again as the Ave-Maria bell rings from the churches, either to descend into the city, or to hear benediction sung by the nuns in the Trinità de' Monti.

"When the fashionable hour of rendezvous arrives, the same spot, which a few minutes before was immersed in silence and solitude, changes as it were with the rapidity of a scene in a pantomime to an animated panorama. The scene is rendered not a little ludicrous by the miniature representation of the Ring in Hyde Park in a small compass. An entire revolution of the carriage-drive is performed in the short period of three minutes as near as may be, and the perpetual occurrence of the same physiognomies and the same carriages trotting round and round for two successive hours, necessarily reminds one of the proceedings of a country fair, and children whirling in a roundabout."—Sir G. Head's 'Tour in Rome.'

"The Pincian Hill is the favourite promenade of the Roman aristocracy. At the present day, however, like most other Roman possessions, it belongs less to the native inhabitants than to the barbarians from Gaul, Great Britain, and beyond the sea, who have established a peaceful usurpation over all that is enjoyable or memorable in the Eternal City. These foreign guests are indeed ungrateful, if they do not breathe a prayer for Pope Clement, or whatever Holy Father it may have been, who levelled the summit of the mount so skilfully, and bounded it with the parapet of the city wall; who laid out those broad walks and drives, and overhung them with the shade of many kinds of tree; who scattered the flowers of all seasons, and of every clime, abundantly over those smooth, central lawns; who scooped out hollows in fit places, and setting great basons of marble in them, caused ever-gushing fountains to fill them to the brim; who reared up the immemorial obelisk out of the soil that had long hidden it; who placed pedestals along the borders of the avenues, and covered them with busts of that multitude of worthies,—statesmen, heroes, artists, men of letters and of song,—whom the whole world claims as its chief ornaments, though Italy has produced them all. In a word, the Pincian garden is one of the things that reconcile the stranger (since he fully appreciates the enjoyment, and feels nothing of the cost,) to the rule of an irresponsible dynasty of Holy Fathers, who seem to have arrived at making life as agreeable an affair as it can well be.

"In this pleasant spot the red-trousered French soldiers are always to be seen; bearded and grizzled veterans, perhaps, with medals of Algiers or the Crimea on their breasts. To them is assigned the peaceful duty of seeing that children do not trample on the flower-beds, nor any youthful lover rifle them of their fragrant blossoms to stick in his beloved one's hair. Here sits (drooping upon some marble bench, in the treacherous sunshine,) the consumptive girl, whose friends have brought her, for a cure, into a climate that instils poison into its very purest breath. Here, all day, come nursery maids, burdened with rosy English babies, or guiding the footsteps of little travellers from the far western world. Here, in the sunny afternoon, roll and rumble all kinds of carriages, from the Cardinal's old-fashioned and gorgeous purple carriage to the gay barouche of modern date. Here horsemen gallop on thorough-bred steeds. Here, in short, all the transitory population of Rome, the world's great watering-place, rides, drives, or promenades! Here are beautiful sunsets; and here, whichever way you turn your eyes, are scenes as well worth gazing at, both in themselves and for their historical interest, as any that the sun ever rose and set upon. Here, too, on certain afternoons in the week, a French military band flings out rich music over the poor old city, floating her with strains as loud as those of her own echoless triumphs."—Hawthorne.

The garden of the Pincio is very small, but beautifully laid out. At a crossroads is placed an Obelisk, brought from Egypt, and which the late discoveries in hieroglyphics show to have been erected there, in the joint names of Hadrian and his empress Sabina, to their beloved Antinous, who was drowned in the Nile A.D. 131.

From the furthest angle of the garden we look down upon the strange fragment of wall known as the Muro-Torto.

"Le Muro-Torto offre un souvenir curieux. On nomme ainsi un pan de muraille qui, avant de faire partie du rempart d'Honorius, avait servi à soutenir la terrasse du jardin du Domitius, et qui, du temps de Bélisaire, était déjà incliné comme il l'est aujourd'hui. Procope racconte que Bélisaire voulait le rebâtir, mais que les Romains l'en empêchèrent, affirmant que ce point n'était pas exposé, parce que Saint Pierre avait promis de le défendre. Procope ajoute: 'Personne n'a osé réparer ce mur, et il reste encore dans le même état.' Nous pouvons en dire autant que Procope, et le mur, détaché de la colline à laquelle il s'appuyait, reste encore incliné et semble près de tomber. Ce détail du siége de Rome est confirmé par l'aspect singulier du Muro-Torto, qui semble toujours près de tomber, et subsiste dans le même état depuis quatorze siècles, comme s'il était soutenu miraculeusement par la main de Saint Pierre. On ne saurait guère trouver pour l'autorité temporel des papes, un meilleur symbole."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 397.

"At the furthest point of the Pincio, you look down from the parapet upon the Muro-Torto, a massive fragment of the oldest Roman wall, which juts over, as if ready to tumble down by its own weight, yet seems still the most indestructible piece of work that men's hands ever piled together. In the blue distance rise Soracte, and other heights, which have gleamed afar, to our imagination, but look scarcely real to our bodily eyes, because, being dreamed about so much, they have taken the aerial tints which belong only to a dream. These, nevertheless, are the solid framework of hills that shut in Rome, and its broad surrounding Campagna; no land of dreams, but the broadest page of history, crowded so full with memorable events, that one obliterates another, as if Time had crossed and recrossed his own records till they grew illegible."—Hawthorne.

In early imperial times the site of the Pincio garden was occupied by the famous villa of Lucullus, who had gained his enormous wealth as general of the Roman armies in Asia.

"The life of Lucullus was like an ancient comedy, where first we see great actions, both political and military, and afterwards feasts, debauches, races by torchlight, and every kind of frivolous amusement. For among frivolous amusements, I cannot but reckon his sumptuous villas, walks, and baths; and still more so the paintings, statues, and other works of art which he collected at immense expense, idly squandering away upon them the vast fortune he amassed in the wars. Insomuch that now, when luxury is so much advanced, the gardens of Lucullus rank with those of the kings, and are esteemed the most magnificent even of these."—Plutarch.

Here, in his Pincian villa, Lucullus gave his celebrated feast to Cicero and Pompey, merely mentioning to a slave beforehand that he should sup in the hall of Apollo, which was understood as a command to prepare all that was most sumptuous.

After Lucullus—the beautiful Pincian villa belonged to Valerius Asiaticus, and in the reign of Claudius was coveted by his fifth wife, Messalina. She suborned Silius, her son's tutor, to accuse him of a licentious life, and of corrupting the army. Being condemned to death, "Asiaticus declined the counsel of his friends to starve himself, a course which might leave an interval for the chance of pardon; and after the lofty fashion of the ancient Romans, bathed, perfumed, and supped magnificently, and then opened his veins, and let himself bleed to death. Before dying he inspected the pyre prepared for him in his own gardens, and ordered it to be removed to another spot, that an umbrageous plantation which overhung it might not be injured by the flames."

As soon as she heard of his death, Messalina took possession of the villa, and held high revel there with her numerous lovers, with the most favoured of whom, Silius, she had actually gone through the religious rites of marriage in the lifetime of the emperor, who was absent at Ostia. But a conspiracy among the freedmen of the royal household informed the emperor of what was taking place, and at last even Claudius was aroused to a sense of her enormities.

"In her suburban palace, Messalina was abandoning herself to voluptuous transports. The season was mid-autumn, the vintage was in full progress; the wine-press was groaning; the ruddy juice was streaming; women girt with scanty fawnskins danced as drunken Bacchanals around her: while she herself, with her hair loose and disordered, brandished the thyrsus in the midst, and Silius by her side, buskined and crowned with ivy, tossed his head to the flaunting strains of Silenus and the Satyrs. Vettius, one, it seems, of the wanton's less fortunate paramours, attended the ceremony, and climbed in merriment a lofty tree in the garden. When asked what he saw, he replied, 'an awful storm from Ostia'; and whether there was actually such an appearance, or whether the words were spoken at random, they were accepted afterwards as an omen of the catastrophe which quickly followed.

"For now in the midst of these wanton orgies the rumour quickly spread, and swiftly messengers arrived to confirm it, that Claudius knew it all, that Claudius was on his way to Rome, and was coming in anger and vengeance. The lovers part: Silius for the forum and the tribunals; Messalina for the shade of her gardens on the Pincio, the price of the blood of the murdered Asiaticus." Once the empress attempted to go forth to meet Claudius, taking her children with her, and accompanied by Vibidia, the eldest of the vestal virgins, whom she persuaded to intercede for her, but her enemies prevented her gaining access to her husband; Vibidia was satisfied for the moment by vague promises of a later hearing; and upon the arrival of Claudius in Rome, Silius and the other principal lovers of the empress were put to death. "Still Messalina hoped. She had withdrawn again to the gardens of Lucullus, and was there engaged in composing addresses of supplication to her husband, in which her pride and long-accustomed insolence still faintly struggled into her fears. The emperor still paltered with the treason. He had retired to his palace; he had bathed, anointed, and lain down to supper; and, warmed with wine and generous cheer, he had actually despatched a message to the poor creature, as he called her, bidding her come the next day, and plead her cause before him. But her enemy Narcissus, knowing how easy might be the passage from compassion to love, glided from the chamber, and boldly ordered a tribune and some centurions to go and slay his victim. 'Such,' he said, 'was the emperor's command'; and his word was obeyed without hesitation. Under the direction of the freedman Euodus, the armed men sought the outcast in her gardens, where she lay prostrate on the ground, by the side of her mother Lepida. While their fortunes flourished, dissensions had existed between the two; but now, in her last distress, the mother had refused to desert her child, and only strove to nerve her resolution to a voluntary death. 'Life,' she urged, 'is over; nought remains but to look for a decent exit from it.' But the soul of the reprobate was corrupted by her vices; she retained no sense of honour; she continued to weep and groan as if hope still existed; when suddenly the doors were burst open, the tribune and his swordsmen appeared before her, and Euodus assailed her, dumb-stricken as she lay, with contumelious and brutal reproaches. Roused at last to the consciousness of her desperate condition, she took a weapon from one of the men's hands and pressed it trembling against her throat and bosom. Still she wanted resolution to give the thrust, and it was by a blow of the tribune's falchion that the horrid deed was finally accomplished. The death of Asiaticus was avenged on the very spot; the hot blood of the wanton smoked on the pavement of his gardens, and stained with a deeper hue the variegated marbles of Lucullus."—Merivale, Hist. of the Romans under the Empire.

From the garden of the Pincio a terraced road (beneath which are the long-closed catacombs of St. Felix) leads to the Villa Medici, built for Cardinal Ricci da Montepulciano by Annibale Lippi in 1540. Shortly afterwards it passed into the hands of the Medici family, and was greatly enlarged by Cardinal Alessandro de Medici, afterwards Leo XI. In 1801 the Academy for French Art-Students, founded by Louis XIV., was established here. The villa contains a fine collection of casts, open every day except Sunday.

Behind the villa is a beautiful Garden (which can be visited on application to the porter). The terrace, which looks down upon the Villa Borghese, is bordered by ancient sarcophagi, and has a colossal statue of Rome. The garden side of the villa has sometimes been ascribed to Michael Angelo.

"La plus grande coquetterie de la maison, c'est la façade postérieure. Elle tient son rang parmi les chefs-d'œuvre de la Renaissance. On dirait que l'architecte a épuisé une mine de bas-reliefs grecs et romains pour en tapisser son palais. Le jardin est de la même époque: il date du temps où l'aristocratie romaine professait le plus profond dédain pour les fleurs. On n'y voit que des massifs de verdure, alignés avec un soin scrupuleux. Six pelouses, entourées de haies à hauteur d'appui, s'étendent devant la villa et laissent courir la vue jusqu'au mont Soracte, qui ferme l'horizon. A gauche, quatre fois quatre carrés de gazon s'encadrent dans de hautes murailles de lauriers, de buis gigantesques et de chênes verts. Les murailles se rejoignent au-dessus des allées et les enveloppent d'une ombre fraîche et mystérieuse. A droite, une terrasse d'une style noble encadre un bois de chênes verts, tordus et eventrés par le temps. J'y vais quelquefois travailler à l'ombre; et le merle rivalise avec le rossignol au-dessus de ma tête, comme un beau chantre de village peut rivaliser avec Mario ou Roger. Un peu plus loin, une vigne toute rustique s'étend jusqu'à la porte Pinciana, où Belisaire a mendié, dit-on. Les jardins petits et grands sont semés de statues, d'Hermes, et de marbres de toute sorte. L'eau coule dans des sarcophages antiques ou jaillit dans des vasques de marbre: le marbre et l'eau sont les deux luxes de Rome."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

"The grounds of the Villa Medici are laid out in the old fashion of straight paths, with borders of box, which form hedges of great height and density, and are shorn and trimmed to the evenness of a wall of stone, at the top and sides. There are green alleys, with long vistas, overshadowed by ilex-trees; and at each intersection of the paths the visitor finds seats of lichen-covered stone to repose upon, and marble statues that look forlornly at him, regretful of their lost noses. In the more open portions of the garden, before the sculptured front of the villa, you see fountains and flower-beds; and, in their season, a profusion of roses, from which the genial sun of Italy distils a fragrance, to be scattered abroad by the no less genial breeze."—Hawthorne.

A second door will admit to the higher terrace of the Boschetto; a tiny wood of ancient ilexes, from which a steep flight of steps leads to the "Belvidere," whence there is a beautiful view.

"They asked the porter for the key of the Bosco, which was given, and they entered a grove of ilexes, whose gloomy shade effectually shut out the radiant sunshine that still illuminated the western sky. They then ascended a long and exceedingly steep flight of steps, leading up to a high mound covered with ilexes.

"Here both stood still, side by side, gazing silently on the city, where dome and bell-tower stood out against a sky of gold; the desolate Monte Mario and its stone pines rising dark to the right. Behind, close at hand, were sombre ilex woods, amid which rose here and there the spire of a cypress or a ruined arch, and on the highest point, the white Villa Ludovisi; beyond, stretched the Campagna, girdled by hills melting into light under the evening sky."—Mademoiselle Mori.

From the door of the Villa Medici is the scene familiar to artists, of a fountain shaded by ilexes, which frame a distant view of St Peter's.

"Je vois (de la Villa Medici) les quatre cinquièmes de la ville; je compte les sept collines, je parcours les rues régulières qui s'étendent entre le cours et la place d'Espagne, je fais le d'enombrement des palais, des églises, des dômes, et des clochers; je m'égare dans le Ghetto et dans la Trastévère. Je ne vois pas des ruines autant que j'en voudrais: elles sont ramassées là-bas, sur ma gauche, aux environs du Forum. Cependant nous avons tout près de nous la colonne Antonine et la mausolée d'Adrien. La vue est fermée agréablement par les pins de la villa Pamphili, qui reunissent leurs larges parasols et font comme une table à mille pieds pour un repas de géants. L'horizon fuit à gauche à des distances infinies; la plaine est nue, onduleuse et bleue comme la mer. Mais si je vous mettais en présence d'un spectacle si étendu et si divers, en seul objet attirerait vos regards, un seul frapperait votre attention: vous n'auriez des yeux que pour Saint Pierre. Son dôme est moitié dans la ville, moitié dans la ciel. Quand j'ouvre ma fenêtre, vers cinq heures du matin, je vois Rome noyée dans les brouillards de la fièvre: seul, le dôme de Saint-Pierre est coloré par la lumière rose du soleil levant."—About.

The terrace ("La Passeggiata") ends at the Obelisk of the Trinità de' Monti, erected here in 1822 by Pius VII., who found it near the Church of Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme.

"When the Ave Maria sounds, it is time to go to the church of Trinità de' Monti, where French nuns sing; and it is charming to hear them. I declare to heaven that I am become quite tolerant, and listen to bad music with edification; but what can I do? The composition is perfectly ridiculous, the organ-playing even more absurd: but it is twilight, and the whole of the small bright church is filled with persons kneeling, lit up by the sinking sun each time that the door is opened; both the singing nuns have the sweetest voices in the world, quite tender and touching, more especially when one of them sings the responses in her melodious voice, which we are accustomed to hear chaunted by priests in a loud, harsh, monotonous tone. The impression is very singular; moreover, it is well known that no one is permitted to see the fair singers, so this caused me to form a strange resolution. I have composed something to suit their voices, which I have observed very minutely, and I mean to send it to them. It will be pleasant to hear my chaunt performed by persons I never saw, especially as they must in turn sing it to the 'barbaro Tedescho,' whom they also never beheld."—Mendelssohn's Letters.

"In the evenings people go to the Trinità to hear the nuns sing from the organ-gallery. It sounds like the singing of angels. One sees in the choir troops of young scholars, moving with slow and measured steps, with their long white veils, like a flock of spirits."—Frederika Bremer.

The Church of the Trinità de' Monti was built in 1495 by Charles VIII. of France, at the request of S. Francesco di Paola. At the time of the French revolution it was plundered, but was restored by Louis XVIII. in 1817. It contains several interesting paintings.

In the second chapel on the left is the Descent from the Cross, the masterpiece of Daniele da Volterra, declared by Nicholas Poussin to be the third picture in the world, but terribly injured by the French in their attempts to remove it.

"We might almost fancy ourselves spectators of the mournful scene,—the Redeemer, while being removed from the cross, gradually sinking down with all that relaxation of limb and utter helplessness which belongs to a dead body; the assistants engaged in their various duties, and thrown into different and contrasted attitudes, intently occupied with the sacred remains which they so reverently gaze upon; the mother of the Lord in a swoon amidst her afflicted companions; the disciple whom he loved standing with outstretched arms, absorbed in contemplating the mysterious spectacle. The truth in the representation of the exposed parts of the body appears to be nature itself. The colouring of the heads and of the whole picture accords precisely with the subject, displaying strength rather than delicacy, a harmony, and in short a degree of skill, of which M. Angelo himself might have been proud, if the picture had been inscribed with his name. And to this I believe the author alluded, when he painted his friend with a looking-glass near it, as if to intimate that he might recognize in the picture a reflection of himself."—Lanzi.

"Daniele da Volterra's Descent from the Cross is one of the celebrated pictures of the world, and has very grand features. The body is not skilfully sustained; nevertheless the number of strong men employed about it makes up in sheer muscle for the absence of skill. Here are four ladders against the cross, stalwart figures standing, ascending, and descending upon each, so that the space between the cross and the ground is absolutely alive with magnificent lines. The Virgin lies on one side, and is like a grand creature struck down by a sudden death-blow. She has fallen, like Ananias in Raphael's cartoon, with her head bent backwards, and her arm under her. The crown of thorns has been taken from the dead brow, and rests on the end of one of the ladders."—Lady Eastlake.

The third chapel on the right contains an Assumption of the Virgin, another work of Daniele da Volterra. The fifth chapel is adorned with frescoes of his school. The sixth has frescoes of the school of Perugino. The frescoes in the right transept are by F. Zuccaro and Pierino del Vaga; in that of the Procession of St. Gregory the mausoleum of Hadrian is represented as it appeared in the time of Leo X.

The adjoining Convent of the Sacré Cœur is much frequented as a place of education. The nuns are all persons of rank. When a lady takes the veil, her nearest relations inherit her property, except about 1000l., which goes to the convent. The nuns are allowed to retain no personal property, but if they wish still to have the use of their books, they give them to the convent library. They receive visitors every afternoon, and quantities of people go to them from curiosity, on the plea of seeking advice.

From the Trinità the two popular streets—Sistina and Gregoriana—branch off; the former leading in a direct line (though the name changes) to Sta. Maria Maggiore, and thence to St. John Lateran and Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme. The house adjoining the Trinità was that of Nicholas Poussin; that at the angle of the two streets, called the Tempietto, was once inhabited by Claude Lorraine. The adjoining house (64 Sistina)—formerly known as Palazzo della Regina di Polonia, from Maria Casimira, Queen of Poland, who resided there for some years—was inhabited by the Zuccari family, and has paintings on the ground-floor by Federigo Zuccaro. One of the rooms on the first-floor was adorned with frescoes by modern German artists at the expense of the Prussian consul Bartholdy, viz.:—

The Selling of Joseph: Overbeck.
Joseph and Potiphar's Wife: Veit.
Meeting of Joseph and his Brethren: Cornelius.
The Seven Lean Years: Overbeck.
Joseph interprets the Dreams in Prison: Schadow.
The Brethren bring Joseph's Coat to Jacob: Schadow.
Joseph interprets the Dreams of Pharaoh: Cornelius.
The Seven Plentiful Years: Veit.

On the left of the Piazza del Popolo, the Via Babuino branches off, deriving its name from the mutilated figure on a fountain halfway down. On the right is the Greek Church of S. Atanasio, attached to a college founded by Gregory XIII. in 1580.

"To-day, the feast of the Epiphany, I have witnessed mass according to the Greek rite. The ceremonies appear to be more stately, more severe, more significant, and at the same time more popular, than those of the Latin rite."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

Behind this street is the Via Margutta, almost entirely inhabited by artists and sculptors.

"The Via Margutta is a street of studios and stables, crossed at the upper end by a little roofed gallery with a single window, like a shabby Bridge of Sighs. Horses are continually being washed and currycombed outside their stable doors; frequent heaps of immondeazzajo make the air unfragrant; and the perspective is frequently damaged by rows of linen suspended across the road from window to window. Unsightly as they are, however, these obstacles in no wise affect the popularity of the Via Margutta, either as a residence for the artist, or a lounge for the amateur. Fashionable patrons leave their carriages at the corner, and pick their way daintily among the gutters and dust-heaps. A boar-hunt by Vallatti compensates for an unlucky splash; and a campagna sunset of Desoulavey glows all the richer for the squalor through which it is approached."—Barbara's History.

In this street also is situated the Costume Academy.

"Imagine a great barn of a room, with dingy walls half covered with chalk studies of the figure in all possible attitudes. Opposite the door is a low platform with revolving top, and beside it an écorché, or plaster figure bereft of skin, so as to exhibit the muscles. Ranges of benches, raised one above the other, occupy the remainder of the room; and if you were to look in at about eight o'clock on a winter's evening, you would find them tenanted by a multitude of young artists, mostly in their shirt sleeves, with perhaps three or four ladies, all disposed around the model, who stands upon the platform in one of the picturesque costumes of Southern Italy, with a cluster of eight lamps, intensified by a powerful reflector, immediately above his or her unlucky head.

The costumes are regulated by Church times and seasons. During Lent the models were mediæval dresses; during the winter and carnival, Italian costumes of the present day; and with Easter begin mere draperies, pieghe, or folds, as they are technically called.

Every evening the subject for the next night is chalked up on a black board beside the platform; for the next two nights rather; for each model poses for two evenings; the position of his feet being chalked upon the platform, so as to secure the same attitude on the second evening. Consequently, four hours are allowed for each drawing.... The pieghe are only for a single time, as it would be impossible to secure the same folds twice over.... The expense of attending the Academy, including attendance, each person's share in the model, and his own especial lamp, amounts to 2½d. an evening, or a scudo and a half (about 6s. 6d.) a month; marvellously cheap, it most be confessed."—H. M. B., in Once a Week.

The Babuino ends in the ugly but central square of the Piazza di Spagna, where many of the best hotels and shops are situated. Hence the Trinità is reached by a magnificent flight of steps (disgracefully ill kept), which was built by Alessandro Specchi at the expense of a private individual, M. Gueffier, secretary to the French embassy at Rome, under Innocent XIII.

"No art-loving visitor to Rome can ever have passed the noble flight of steps which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to the Church of the Trinità de' Monti without longing to transfer to his sketch-book the picturesque groups of models who there spend their day, basking in the beams of the wintry sun, and eating those little boiled beans whose yellow husks bestrew every place where the lower class Romans congregate—practising, in short, the 'dolce far niente.' Beppo, the celebrated lame beggar, is no longer to be seen there, having been banished to the steps of the Church of St. Agostino; but there is old Felice, with conical hat, brown cloak, and bagpipes, father of half the models on the steps. He has been seen in an artist's studio in Paris, and is reported to have performed on foot the double journey between Rome and that capital. There are two or three younger men in blue jackets and goat-skin breeches; as many women in folded linen head-dresses, and red or blue skirts; and a sprinkling of children of both sexes, in costumes the miniature fac-similes of their elders. All these speedily learn to recognise a visitor who is interested in that especial branch of art which is embodied in models, and at every turn in the street such a one is met by the flash of white teeth, and the gracious sweetness of an Italian smile."—H. M. B.

"Among what may be called the cubs or minor lions of Rome, there was one that amused me mightily. It is always to be found there; and its den is on the great flight of steps that lead from the Piazza di Spagna to the Church of the Trinità de' Monti. In plainer words, these steps are the great place of resort for the artists' 'Models,' and there they are constantly waiting to be hired. The first time I went up there, I could not conceive why the faces seemed so familiar to me; why they appeared to have beset me, for years, in every possible variety of action and costume; and how it came to pass that they started up before me, in Rome, in the broad day, like so many saddled and bridled nightmares. I soon found that we had made acquaintance, and improved it, for several years, on the walls of various Exhibition Galleries. There is one old gentleman with long white hair, and an immense beard, who, to my knowledge, has gone half-through the catalogues of the Royal Academy. This is the venerable or patriarchal model. He carries a long staff; and every knob and twist in that staff I have seen, faithfully delineated, innumerable times. There is another man in a blue cloak, who always pretends to be asleep in the sun (when there is any), and who, I need not say, is always very wide awake, and very attentive to the disposition of his legs. This is the dolce far niente model. There is another man in a brown cloak, who leans against a wall, with his arms folded in his mantle, and look out of the corners of his eyes, which are just visible beneath his broad slouched hat. This is the assassin model. There is another man, who constantly looks over his own shoulder, and is always going away, but never goes. This is the haughty or scornful model. As to Domestic Happiness, and Holy Families, they should come very cheap, for there are heaps of them, all up the steps; and the cream of the thing is, that they are all the falsest vagabonds in the world, especially made up for the purpose, and having no counterparts in Rome or any other part of the habitable globe."—Dickens.

"Climb these steps when the sun is setting. From a hundred belfries the bells ring for Ave Maria, and there, across the town, and in a blaze of golden glory, stands the great dome of St. Peter's: and from the terrace of the Villa Medici you can see the whole wonderful view, faintly pencilled Soracte far to your right, and below you and around you the City and the Seven Hills."—Vera.

The Barcaccia, the fountain at the foot of the steps, executed by Bernini, is a stone boat commemorating the naumachia of Domitian,—naval battles which took place in an artificial lake surrounded by a kind of theatre, which once occupied the site of this piazza. In front of the Palazzo di Spagna (the residence of the Spanish ambassador), which gives its name to the square, stands a Column of cipollino, supporting a statue of the Virgin, erected by Pius IX. in 1854, in honour of his new dogma of the Immaculate Conception. At the base are figures of Moses, David, Isaiah, and Ezekiel.

The Piazza di Spagna may be considered as the centre of the English quarter, of which the Corso forms the boundary.

"Every winter there is a gay and pleasant English colony in Rome, of course more or less remarkable for rank, fashion, or agreeability, with every varying year. Thrown together every day and night after night, flocking to the same picture-galleries, statue-galleries, Pincian drives, and church functions, the English colonists at Rome perforce become intimate, and in many cases friendly. They have an English library where the various meets for the week are placarded: on such a day the Vatican galleries are open; the next is the feast of Saint so-and-so; on Wednesday there will be music and vespers at the Sistine Chapel; on Thursday the pope will bless the animals—sheep, horses, and what-not; and flocks of English accordingly rush to witness the benediction of droves of donkeys. In a word, the ancient city of the Cæsars, the august fanes of the popes, with their splendour and ceremony, are all mapped out and arranged for English diversion."—Thackeray, The Newcomes.

The Piazza is closed by the Collegio di Propaganda Fede, founded in 1622 by Gregory XV., but enlarged by Urban VIII., who built the present edifice from plans of Bernini. Like all the buildings erected by this pope, its chief decorations are the bees of the Barberini. The object of the college is the education of youths of all nations as missionaries.

"The origin of the Propaganda is properly to be sought in an edict of Gregory XIII., by which the direction of eastern missions was confided to a certain number of cardinals, who were commanded to promote the printing of catechisms in the less known tongues. But the institution was not firmly established; it was unprovided with the requisite means, and was by no means comprehensive in its views. It was at the suggestion of the great preacher Girolamo da Narni that the idea was first conceived of extending the above-named institution. At his suggestion, a congregation was established in all due form, and by this body regular meetings were to be held for the guidance and conduct of missions in every part of the world. The first funds were advanced by Gregory; his nephew contributed from his private property; and since this institution was in fact adapted to a want, the pressure of which was then felt, it increased in prosperity and splendour. Who does not know the services performed by the Propaganda for the diffusion of philosophical studies? and not this only;—the institution has generally laboured (in its earliest years most successfully, perhaps) to fulfil its vocation in a liberal and noble spirit."—Ranke, Hist. of the Popes.

"On y reçoit des jeunes gens nés dans les pays ultramontains et orientaux, où sont les infidéles et les hérétiques; ils y font leur education religieuse et civile, et retournent dans leur pays comme missionnaires pour propager la loi."—A. Du Pays.

"Le collége du Propaganda Fede, ou l'on engraisse des missionnaires pour donner à manger aux cannibales. C'est, ma foi, un excellent ragout pour eux, que deux pères franciscains à la sauce rousse. Le capucin en daube, se mange aussi comme le renard, quand il a été gelé. Il y a à la Propagande une bibliothèque, une imprimerie fournie de toutes sortes de caractères des langues orientales, et de petits Chinois qu'on y élève ainsi que des alouettes chanterelles, pour en attraper d'autres."—De Brosses.

In January a festival is held here, when speeches are recited by the pupils in all their different languages. The public is admitted by tickets.

The Via Ripetta leaves the Piazza del Popolo on the right. Passing, on the right, a large building belonging to the Academy of St. Luke, we reach, on the right, the Quay of the Ripetta, a pretty architectural construction of Clement XI. in 1707.

Hence, a clumsy ferry-boat gives access to a walk which leads to St. Peter's (by Porta Angelica) through the fields at the back of S. Angelo. These fields are of historic interest, being the Prata Quinctia of Cincinnatus.

"L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the only hope of the Roman people, lived beyond the Tiber, opposite the place where the Navalia are, where he cultivated the four acres of ground which are now called the Quinctian meadows. There the messengers of the senate found him leaning on his spade, either digging a trench or ploughing, but certainly occupied in some field labour. The salutation, 'May it be well with you and the republic,' was given and returned in the usual form, and he was requested to put on his toga to receive a message from the senate. Amazed, and asking if anything was wrong, he desired his wife Racilia to fetch his toga from the cottage, and having wiped off the sweat and dust with which he was covered, he came forward dressed in his toga to the messengers, who saluted him as dictator, and congratulated him."—Livy, iii. 26.

The churches on the left of the Ripetta are, first, SS. Rocco e Martino, built 1657, by Antonio de Rossi, with a hospital adjoining it.

"The lying-in hospital adjoins the Church of San Rocco. It contains seventy beds, furnished with curtains and screens, so as to separate them effectually. Females are admitted without giving their name, their country, or their condition in life; and such is the delicacy observed in their regard, that they are at liberty to wear a veil, so as to remain unknown even to their attendants, in order to save the honour of their families, and prevent abortion, suicide, or infanticide. Even should death ensue, the deceased remains unknown. The children are conveyed to Santo Spirito; and the mother who wishes to retain her offspring, affixes a distinctive mark, by which it may be recognised and recovered. To remove all disquietude from the minds of those who may enter, the establishment is exempt from all civil, criminal, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and its threshold is never crossed except by persons connected with the establishment."—Dr. Donovan.

Then, opposite the quay, S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni, built for Sixtus V. by Fontana. It contains, near the altar, a striking figure of St. Jerome, seated, with a book upon his knees.

We will now follow the Corso, which, in spite of its narrowness and bad side-pavements, is the finest street in Rome. It is greatly to be regretted that this street, which is nearly a mile long, should lead to nothing, instead of ending at the steps of the Capitol, which would have produced a striking effect. It follows the line of the ancient Via Flaminia, and in consequence was once spanned by four triumphal arches—of Marcus Aurelius, Domitian, Claudius, and Gordian—but all these have disappeared. The Corso is perfectly lined with balconies, which, during the carnival, are filled with gay groups of maskers flinging confetti. These balconies are a relic of imperial times, having been invented at Rome, where they were originally called "Mœniana," from the tribune Mœnius, who designed them to accommodate spectators of processions in the streets below.

"The Corso is a street a mile long; a street of shops, and palaces, and private houses, sometimes opening into a broad piazza. There are verandahs and balconies, of all shapes and sizes, to almost every house—not on one story alone, but often to one room or another on every story—put there in general with so little order or regularity, that if, year after year, and season after season, it had rained balconies, hailed balconies, snowed balconies, blown balconies, they could scarcely have come into existence in a more disorderly manner."—Dickens.

On the left of the Corso is the Augustine Church of Gesù e Maria, with a façade by Rinaldi. Almost opposite, is the Church of S. Giacomo degli Incurabili, by Carlo Maderno. It is attached to a surgical hospital for 350 patients. In the adjoining Strada S. Giacomo was the studio of Canova, recognizable by fragments of bas-reliefs engrafted in its walls.

Three streets beyond this (on right) is the Via de' Pontefici (so called from a series of papal portraits, now destroyed, which formerly existed on the walls of one of its houses), where (No. 57R) is the entrance to the remains of the Mausoleum of Augustus.

"Hard by the banks of the Tiber, in the grassy meadows where the Roman youths met in athletic and martial exercises, there rose a lofty marble tower with three retiring stages, each of which had its terrace covered with earth and planted with cypresses. These stages were pierced with numerous chambers, destined to receive, row within row, and story upon story, the remains of every member of the imperial family, with many thousands of their slaves and freedmen. In the centre of that massive mound the great founder of the empire was to sleep his last sleep, while his statue was ordained to rise conspicuous on its summit, and satiate its everlasting gaze with the view of his beloved city."—Merivale.

The first funeral here was that of Marcellus, son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, and first husband of his daughter Julia, who died of malaria at Baiæ, B.C. 23.

"Quantos ille virûm magnam Mavortis ad urbem

 Campus aget gemitus! vel quæ, Tiberine, videbis

 Funera, cum tumulum præterlabere recentem!

 Nec puer Iliacâ quisquam de gente Latinos

 In tantum spe tollet avos; nec Romula quondam

 Ullo se tantum tellus jactabit alumno.

 Heu pietas, heu prisca fides, invictaque bello

 Dextera! non illi se quisquam impune tulisset

 Obvius armato, seu quum pedes iret in hostem,

 Seu spumantis equi foderet calcaribus armos.

 Heu, miserande puer! si qua fata aspera rumpas,

 Tu Marcellus eris."

Æneid

, vi. 873.

The next member of the family buried here was Agrippa, the second husband of Julia, ob. 12 B.C. Then came Octavia, sister of the emperor and widow of Antony, honoured by a public funeral, at which orations were delivered by Augustus himself, and Drusus, son of the empress Livia. Her body was carried to the tomb by Tiberius (afterwards emperor) and Drusus, the two sons of the empress. Drusus (B.C. 9) died in a German campaign by a fall from his horse, and was brought back hither for interment. In A.D. 14 the great Augustus died at Nola, and his body was burnt here on a funeral pile so gigantic, that the widowed Livia, dishevelled and ungirt, with bare feet, attended by the principal Roman senators, had to watch it for five days and nights, before it cooled sufficiently for them to collect the ashes of the emperor. At the moment of its being lighted an eagle was let loose from the summit of the pyre, under which form a senator, named Numerius Atticus, was induced, by a gift from Livia equivalent to 250,000 francs, to swear that he saw the spirit of Augustus fly away to heaven. Then came Germanicus, son of the first Drusus, and nephew of Tiberius, ob. A.D. 19, at Antioch, where he was believed to have been poisoned by Piso and his wife Plancina. Then, in A.D. 23, Drusus, son of Tiberius, poisoned by his wife, Livilla, and her lover, Sejanus: then the empress, Livia, who died A.D. 29, at the age of 86. Agrippina, widow of Germanicus (ob. A.D. 33), starved to death, and her two sons, Nero and Drusus, also murdered by Tiberius, were long excluded from the family sepulchre, but were eventually brought hither by the youngest brother Caius, afterwards the emperor Caligula. Tiberius, who died A.D. 37, at the villa of Lucullus at Misenum, was brought here for burial. The ashes of Caligula, murdered A.D. 41, and first buried in the Horti Lamiani on the Esquiline, were transferred here by his sisters. In his reign, Antonia, the widow of Drusus, and mother of Germanicus, had died, and her ashes were laid up here. The Emperor Claudius, A.D. 54, murdered by Agrippina; his son, Britannicus, A.D. 55, murdered by Nero; and the Emperor Nerva, A.D. 98, were the latest inmates of the mausoleum.

The last cremation which occurred here was long after the mausoleum had fallen into ruin, when the body of the tribune Rienzi, after having hung for two days at S. Marcello, was ordered to be burnt here by Jugurta and Sciaretta, and was consumed by a vast multitude of Jews (out of flattery to the Colonna, their neighbours at the Ghetto), "in a fire of dry thistles, till it was reduced to ashes, and no fibre of it remained."

There is nothing now remaining to testify to the former magnificence of this building. The area is used in summer as an open-air theatre, where very amusing little plays are very well acted. Among its massive cells a poor washerwoman, known as "Sister Rose," established, some ten years ago, a kind of hospital for aged women (several of them centagenarians), whom she supported entirely by her own exertions, having originally begun by taking care of one old woman, and gradually adding another and another. The English church service was first performed in Rome in the Palazzo Correa, adjoining this building.

Opposite the Via de' Pontefici, the Via Vittoria leaves the Corso. To the Ursuline convent in this street (founded by Camilla Borghese in the seventeenth century) Madame Victoire and Madame Adelaide ("tantes du Roi") fled in the beginning of the great French revolution, and here they died.

The Church of S. Carlo in Corso (on right) is the national church of the Lombards. It is a handsome building with a fine dome. The interior was commenced by Lunghi in 1614, and finished by Pietro da Cortona. It contains no objects of interest, unless a picture of the Apotheosis of S. Carlo Borromeo (the patron of the church), over the high altar, by Carlo Maratta, can be called so. The heart of the saint is preserved under the altar.

Just beyond this on the left, the Via Condotti—almost lined with jewellers'-shops—branches off to the Piazza di Spagna. The Trinità de' Monti is seen beyond it. The opposite street, Via Fontanella, leads to St. Peter's, and in five minutes to the magnificent—

Palazzo Borghese, begun in 1590 by Cardinal Deza, from designs of Martino Lunghi, and finished by Paul V. (Camillo Borghese, 1605-21), from those of Flaminio Ponzio. The apartments inhabited by the family are handsome, but contain few objects of interest.

"In the reign of Paul V. the Borghese became the wealthiest and most powerful family in Rome. In the year 1612, the church benefices already conferred upon Cardinal Scipione Borghese were computed to secure him an income of 150,000 scudi. The temporal offices were bestowed on Marc-Antonio Borghese, on whom the pope also conferred the principality of Sulmona in Naples, besides giving him rich palaces in Rome and the most beautiful villas in the neighbourhood. He loaded his nephews with presents; we have a list of them through his whole reign down to the year 1620. They are sometimes jewels or vessels of silver, or magnificent furniture, which was taken directly from the stores of the palace and sent to the nephews; at other times carriages, rich arms, as muskets and falconets, were presented to them; but the principal thing was the round sums of hard money. These accounts make it appear that to the year 1620, they had received in ready money 689,627 scudi, 31 baj; in luoghi di monte, 24,600 scudi, according to their nominal value; in places, computing them at the sum their sale would have brought to the treasury, 268,176 scudi; all which amounted, as in the case of the Aldobrandini, to nearly a million.

"Nor did the Borghese neglect to invest their wealth in real property. They acquired eighty estates in the Campagna of Rome; the Roman nobles suffering themselves to be tempted into the sale of their ancient hereditary domain by the large prices paid them, and by the high rate of interest borne by the luoghi di monte, which they purchased with the money thus acquired. In many other parts of the ecclesiastical states, the Borghese also seated themselves, the pope facilitating their doing so by the grant of peculiar privileges. In some places, for example, they received the right of restoring exiles; in others, that of holding a market, or certain exemptions were granted to those who became their vassals. They were freed from various imposts, and even obtained a bull, by virtue of which their possessions were never to be confiscated."—Ranke, Hist. of the Popes.

"Si l'on peut reprocher à Paul, avec Muratori, ses libéralités envers ses neveux, envers le cardinal Scipion, envers le duc de Sulmone, il est juste d'ajouter que la plupart des membres de cette noble famille rivalisèrent avec le pape de magnificence et de générosité. Or, chaque année, Paul V. distribuait un million d'écus d'or aux pélerins pauvres et un million et demi aux autres nécessiteux. C'est à lui que remonte la fondation de la banque du Saint-Esprit, dont les riches immeubles servirent d'hypothèques aux dépôts qui lui furent confiés. Mais ce fut surtout dans les constructions qu'il entreprit, que Paul V. déploya une royale magnificence."—Gournerie.

"The Palazzo Borghese is an immense edifice standing round the four sides of a quadrangle; and though the suite of rooms, comprising the picture-gallery, forms an almost interminable vista, they occupy only a part of the ground-floor of one side. We enter from the street into a large court surrounded with a corridor, the arches of which support a second series of arches above. The picture-rooms open from one into another, and have many points of magnificence, being large and lofty, with vaulted ceilings and beautiful frescoes, generally of mythological subjects, in the flat central parts of the vault. The cornices are gilded; the deep embrasures of the windows are panelled with wood-work; the doorways are of polished and variegated marble, or covered with a composition as hard, and seemingly as durable. The whole has a kind of splendid shabbiness thrown over it, like a slight coating of rust; the furniture, at least the damask chairs, being a good deal worn; though there are marble and mosaic tables which may serve to adorn another palace, when this has crumbled away with age."—Hawthorne.

The Borghese Picture Gallery is the best private collection in Rome, and is open to the public daily from 9 to 2, except on Saturdays and Sundays. The gallery is entered from the side of the palace towards the Piazza Borghese. It contains several gems, which are here marked with an asterisk; noticeable pictures are:—

1st Room.—Schools of Milan and Perugia.
1. Holy Family: Sandro Botticelli.
2. Holy Family: Lorenzo di Credi.
3. Holy Family: Paris Alfani Perugino.
4. Portrait: Lorenzo di Credi.
5. Vanity: School of Leonardo da Vinci.
27, 28. Petrarch and Laura.
32. St. Agatha: School of Leonardo.
33. The Young Christ: School of Leonardo.
34. Madonna: School of Perugino.
35. Raphael as a boy: Raphael?
43. Madonna: Francesco Francia?
44. Calvario: C. Crivelli.
48. St. Sebastian: Perugino.
49, 57. History of Joseph: Pinturicchio.
59. Presepio: Sketch attributed to Raphael when young.
61. St. Antonio: Francesco Francia.
66. Presepio: Mazzolino.
67. Adoration of the Child Jesus: Ortolano.
68. Christ and St. Thomas: Mazzolino?
69. Holy Family: Pollajuolo.
 

2nd Room.—Chiefly of the school of Garofalo.
6. Madonna with St. Joseph and St. Michael: Garofalo.
9. The mourners over the dead Christ: Garofalo.*
18. Portrait of Julius II.: Giulio Romano, after Raphael.
22. Portrait of a Cardinal: Bronzino? called Raphael.*
23. 'Madonna col divin' amore': School of Raphael.*
26. Portrait of Cæsar Borgia: Bronzino, attributed to Raphael.*[5]
28. Portrait of a (naked) woman: Bronzino.
36. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.
38. Entombment: Raphael.*

This picture was the last work of Raphael before he went to Rome. It was ordered by Atalanta Baglioni for a chapel in S. Francesco de' Conventuali at Perugia. Paul V. bought it for the Borghese. The 'Faith, Hope, and Charity' at the Vatican, formed a predella for this picture.

"Raphael's picture of 'Bearing the Body of Christ to the Sepulchre,' though meriting all its fame in respect of drawing, expression, and knowledge, has lost all signs of reverential feeling in the persons of the bearers. The reduced size of the winding-sheet is to blame for this, by bringing them rudely in contact with their precious burden. Nothing can be finer than their figures, or more satisfactory than their labour, if we forget what it is they are carrying; but it is the weight of the burden only, and not the character of it, which the painter has kept in view, and we feel that the result would have been the same had these figures been carrying a sack of sand. Here, from the youth of the figure, the bearer at the feet appears to be St. John."—Lady Eastlake.

40. Holy Family: Fra Bartolomeo.
43. Madonna: Fr. Francia.
44. Madonna: Sodoma.
51. St. Stephen: Francesco Francia.*
59. Adoration of the Magi: Mazzolino.
60. Presepio: Garofalo.
65. The Fornarina: Copy of Raphael, Giulio Romano?
69. St. John Baptist in the Wilderness: Giulio Romano.

3rd Room.—Chiefly of the school of Andrea del Sarto. (The works of this painter are often confounded with those of his disciple, Domenico Puligo.)

1. Christ bearing the Cross: Andrea Solario.
2. Portrait: Parmigianino.
5. 'Noli me tangere': Bronzino?
11. The Sorceress Circe: Dosso Dossi.
13. Mater Dolorosa: Solario?
22. Holy Family: School of Raphael.
24. Madonna and Child with three children: A. del Sarto.
28. Madonna, Child, and St. John: A. del Sarto.
29. Madonna, Child, St. John, and St. Elizabeth: Pierino del
Vaga.
33. Holy Family: Pierino del Vaga.
35. Venus and Cupids: A. del Sarto.
40. Danae: Correggio.*

In the corner of this picture are the celebrated Cupids sharpening an arrow.

42. Cosmo de' Medici: Bronzino.
46. The Reading Magdalene: School of Correggio.
47. Holy Family: Pomarancio.
48. The Flagellation: Sebastian del Piombo.*
49. St. M. Magdalene: A. del Sarto.

4th Room.—Bolognese school.

1. Entombment: Ann. Carracci.
2. Cumæan Sibyl: Domenichino.*
18. St. Francis: Cigoli.
20. St. Joseph: Guido Reni.
23. St. Francis: Ann. Carracci.
29. St. Domenic: Ann. Carracci.
36. Madonna: Carlo Dolce.
37. Mater Dolorosa: Carlo Dolce.
38, 41. Two heads for an Annunciation: Furino.
42. Head of Christ: Carlo Dolce.
43. Madonna: Sassoferrato.

5th Room.—
11, 12, 13, 14. The Four Seasons: Fr. Albani.

"The Seasons, by Francesco Albani, were, beyond all others, my favourite pieces; the beautiful, joyous, angel-children—the Loves, were as if creations of my own dreams. How deliciously they were staggering about in the picture of Spring! A crowd of them were sharpening arrows, whilst one of them turned round the great grindstone, and two others, floating above, poured water upon it. In Summer, they flew about among the tree-branches, which were loaded with fruit, which they plucked; they swam in the fresh water, and played with it. Autumn brought the pleasures of the chase. Cupid sits, with a torch in his hand, in his little chariot, which two of his companions draw; while Love beckons to the brisk hunter, and shows him the place where they can rest themselves side by side. Winter has lulled all the little ones to sleep; soundly and fast they lie slumbering around. The Nymphs steal their quivers and arrows, which they throw on the fire, that there may be an end of the dangerous weapons."—Andersen, in The Improvisatore.

15. La Caccia di Diana: Domenichino.
25. The Deposition, with Angels: F. Zuccari.

6th Room.—
5. Return of the Prodigal Son: Guercino.
7. Portrait of G. Ghislieri: Pietro da Cortona.
10. St Stanislaus with the Child Jesus: Ribera.*
12. Joseph Interpreting the Dreams in Prison: Valentin.
13. The Three Ages of Man. Copy from Titian by Sassoferrato.[6]
18. Madonna: Sassoferrato.
22. Flight of Æneas from Troy: Baroccio.

7th Room.—Richly decorated with mirrors, painted with Cupids by Girofiri, and wreaths of flowers by Mario di Fiori.

8th Room.—Contains nothing of importance, except a mosaic portrait of Paul V. by Marcello Provenzali.

9th Room.—Containing several interesting frescoes.

1. The Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana.
2. The Nuptials of Vertumnus and Pomona.
3. 'Il Bersaglio dei Dei.'

These three frescoes were brought hither from the Casino of Raphael, in the Villa Borghese (destroyed in the siege of Rome in 1849), and are supposed to have been painted by some of Raphael's pupils from his designs. The other frescoes in this room are by Giulio Romano, and were removed from the Villa Lante, when it was turned into a convent.

10th Room.—
2. Cupid blindfolded by Venus: Titian.
4. Judith: School of Titian.
9. Portrait: Pordenone.
13. David with the head of Goliath: Giorgione.*
14. St. John the Baptist preaching (unfinished): Paul Veronese.
16. St. Domenic: Titian.
19. Portrait: Giac. Bassano.
21. 'Sacred and Profane Love': Titian.*

"Out of Venice there is nothing of Titian's to compare to his Sacred and Profane Love. It represents two figures: one, a heavenly and youthful form, unclothed, except with a light drapery; the other, a lovely female, dressed in the most splendid attire; both are sitting on the brink of a well, into which a little winged Love is groping, apparently to find his lost dart.... Description can give no idea of the consummate beauty of this composition. It has all Titian's matchless warmth of colouring, with a correctness of design no other painter of the Venetian school ever attained. It is nature, but not individual nature: it is ideal beauty in all its perfection, and breathing life in all its truth, that we behold."—Eaton's Rome.

"Two female forms are seated on the edge of a sarcophagus-shaped fountain, the one in a rich Venetian costume, with gloves, flowers in her hands, and a plucked rose beside her, is in deep meditation, as if solving some difficult question. The other is unclothed; a red drapery is falling behind her, while she exhibits a form of the utmost beauty and delicacy; she is turning towards the other figure with the sweetest persuasiveness of expression. A Cupid is playing in the fountain; in the distance is a rich, glowing landscape."—Kugler.

30. Madonna: Giov. Bellini.
34. St. Cosmo and Damian: Venetian School.

11th Room.—Veronese school.
1. Madonna with Adam (?) and St. Augustine: Lorenzo Lotto, MDVIII.
2. St. Anthony preaching to the Fishes: P. Veronese?
3. Madonna: Titian?
11. Venus and Cupid on Dolphins: Luc. Cambiaso.
14. Last Supper: And. Schiavone.
15. Christ and the Mother of Zebedee's Children: Bonifazio.*
16. Return of the Prodigal Son: Bonifazio.*
17. Samson: Titian.
18. Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery: Bonifazio.
19. Madonna and Saints: Palma Vecchio.

In this picture the donors are introduced—the head of the man is grandly devout and beautiful.

25. Portrait of Himself: Titian?
27. Portrait: Giov. Bellini.
31. Madonna and St. Peter: Giov. Bellini.
32. Holy Family: Palma Vecchio.
33. Portrait of the Family of Licini da Pordenone: Bart. Licini da Pordenone.

12th Room.—Dutch and German school.
1. Crucifixion: Vandyke.
7. Entombment: Vandyke.
8. Tavern Scene: Teniers.
9. Interior: Brouerer.
19. Louis VI. of Bavaria: Albert Dürer?
21. Portrait: Holbein.
21. Landscape and Horses: Wouvermann.
22. Cattle-piece: Paul Potter.
24. Portrait: Holbein.
26. Skating (in brown): Berghem.
27. Portrait: Vandyke.
35. Portrait: Lucas von Leyden?
44. Venus and Cupid: Lucas Cranach.

The Palazzetto Borghese on the opposite side of the piazza, originally intended as a dower-house for the family, is now let in apartments. It is this house which is described as the "Palazzo Clementi," in Mademoiselle Mori.

At the corner of the Via Fontanella and the Corso is the handsome Palazzo Ruspoli, built by Ammanati in 1586. It has a grand white marble staircase erected by Lunghi in 1750. Beyond this are the palaces Fiano, Verospi, and Teodoli.

"Les palais de Rome, bien que n'ayant pas un caractère original comme ceux de Florence ou de Venise n'en sont pas moins cependant un des traits de la ville des papes. Ils n'appartiennent ni au moyen age, ni à la renaissance (la Palais de Venise seul rappelle les constructions massives de Florence); ils sont des modèles d'architecture civile moderne. Les Bramante, les Sangallo, les Balthazar Peruzzi, qui les ont batis, sont des maîtres qu'on ne se lasse pas d'étudier. La magnificence de ces palais reside principalement dans leur architecture et dans les collections artistiques que quelques-uns contiennent. Un certain nombre sont malheureusement dans un triste état d'abandon. De plus, à l'exception d'un très petit nombre, ils sont restés inachevés. Cela se conçoit; presque tous sont le produit du luxe célibataire des papes ou des cardinaux; très-peu de ces personages ont pu voir la fin de ce qu'ils avaient commencé. Leurs heritiers, pour le plupart, se souciaient fort peu de jeter les richesses qu'ils venaient d'acquerir dans les édifices de luxe et de vanité. A l'intérieur, le plus souvent, est un mobilier rare, suranné, et mesquin."—A. Du Pays.[7]

The Palazzo Bernini (151 Corso), on the left, has, inside its entrance, a curious statue of "Calumny" by Bernini, with an inscription relative to his own sufferings from slander.

On the right, the small piazza of S. Lorenzo opens out of the Corso. Here is the Church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, founded in the fifth century, but rebuilt in its present form by Paul V. in 1606. The campanile is of an older date, and so are the lions in the portico.

"When the lion, or other wild beast, appears in the act of preying on a smaller animal or on a man, is implied the severity of the Church towards the impenitent or heretical; but when in the act of sporting with another creature, her benignity towards the neophyte and the docile. At the portal of St Lorenzo in Lucina, this idea is carried out in the figure of a mannikin affectionately stroking the head of the terrible creature who protects, instead of devouring him."—Hemans' Christian Art.

No one should omit seeing the grand picture of Guido Reni, over the high altar of this church,—the Crucifixion, seen against a wild, stormy sky. Niccolas Poussin, ob. 1660, is buried here, and one of his best known Arcadian landscapes is reproduced in a bas-relief upon his tomb, which was erected by Chateaubriand, with the epitaph,—

"Parce piis lacrymis, vivit Pussinus in urnâ, Vivus qui dederat, nescius ipse mori. Hîc tamen ipse silet; si vis audire loquentem, Mirum est, in tabulis vivit, et eloquitur."

In "The Ring and the Book" of Browning, this church is the scene of Pompilia's baptism and marriage. She is made to say:—

—"This St. Lorenzo seems My own particular place, I always say. I used to wonder, when I stood scarce high As the bed here, what the marble lion meant, Eating the figure of a prostrate man."

Here the bodies of her parents are represented as being exposed after the murder:

—"beneath the piece Of Master Guido Reni, Christ on Cross, Second to nought observable in Rome."

On the left, where the Via della Vite turns out of the Corso, an inscription in the wall records the destruction, in 1665, of the triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius, which existed here till that time. The magnificence of this arch is attested by the bas-reliefs representing the history of the emperor, which were removed from it, and are preserved on the staircase of the palace of the Conservators.

"Les Barbares n'en savaient pas assez et n'avaient pas assez de patience pour démolir les monuments romains; mais, avec les ressources de la science moderne et à la suite d'une administration régulière, on est venu à bout de presque tout ce que le temps avait épargné. Il y'avait, par exemple, au commencement du XVI^e. siècle, quatre arcs de triomphe qui n'existent plus; le dernier, celui de Marc Aurele, a été enlevé par le pape Alexandre VII. On lit encore dans le Corso l'inconcevable inscription dans laquelle le pape se vante d'avoir debarrassé la promenade publique de ce monument, qui, vu sa date, devait être d'un beau style."—Ampère, Voyage Dantesque.

A little further down the Corso, on the left, the Via delle Convertite leads to S. Sylvestro in Capite, one of three churches in Rome dedicated to the sainted pope of the time of Constantine. This, like S. Lorenzo, has a fine mediæval campanile. The day of St. Sylvester's death, December 31 (A.D. 335), is kept here with great solemnity, and is celebrated by magnificent musical services. This pope was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, whence his remains were removed to S. Martino al Monte. The title "In Capite" is given to this church on account of the head of St John Baptist, which it professes to possess, as is narrated by an inscription engrafted into its walls.

The convent attached to this church was founded in 1318, especially for noble sisters of the house of Colonna who dedicated themselves to God. Here it was that the celebrated Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa di Pescara, came to reside in 1525, when widowed in her thirty-sixth year, and here she began to write her sonnets, a kind of "In Memoriam," to her husband. It is a curious proof of the value placed upon her remaining in the world, that Pope Clement VII. was persuaded to send a brief to the abbess and nuns, desiring them to offer her "all spiritual and temporal consolations," but forbidding them, under pain of the greater excommunication, to permit her to take the veil in her affliction.[8]

At the end of this street, continued under the name of Via de Mercede (No. 11 was the residence of Bernini), and behind the Propaganda, is the Church of S. Andrea delle Fratte, whose brick cupola by Borromini is so picturesque a feature. The bell-tower beside it swings when the bells are rung. In the second chapel on the right is the beautiful modern tomb of Mademoiselle Julie Falconnet, by Miss Hosmer. The opposite chapel is remarkable for a modern miracle (?) annually commemorated here.

"M. Ratisbonne, un juif, appartenant à une très-riche famille d'Alsace, qui se trouvait accidentellement à Rome, se promenant dans l'église de S. Andrea delle Fratte pendant qu'on y faisait les préparatifs pour les obsèques de M. de la Ferronays, s'y est converti subitement. Il se trouvait debout en face d'une chapelle dédiée à l'ange gardien, à quelques pas, lorsque tout-à-coup il a eu une apparition lumineuse de la Sainte Vierge qui lui a fait signe d'aller vers cette chapelle. Une force irrésistible l'y a entraíné, il y est tombé à genoux, et il a été à l'instant chrétien. Sa première parole à celui qui l'avait accompagné a été, en relevant son visage inondé de larmes: 'Il faut que ce monsieur ait beaucoup prié pour moi.'"—Récit d'une Sœur.

"Era un istante ch'io mi stava in chiesa allora che di colpo mi sentii preso da inesprimibile conturbamento. Alzai gli occhi; tutto l'edifizio s'era dileguato a' miei sguardi; sola una cappella aveva come in se raccolta tutta la luce, e di mezzo di raggianti splendori s' è mostrata diritta sull'altare, grande, sfolgoreggiante, piena di maestà, e di dolcezza, la Vergine Maria. Una forza irresistibile m'ha sospinto verso di lei. La Vergine m'ha fatto della mano segno d'inginocchiarmi; pareva volermi dire, 'Bene!' Ella non mi ha parlato ma io ho inteso tutto."—Recital of Alfonse Ratisbonne.[9]

M. de la Ferronays, whose character is now so well known from the beautiful family memoirs of Mrs. Augustus Craven, is buried beneath the altar where this vision occurred. In the third chapel on the left is the tomb of Angelica Kauffmann; in the right aisle that of the Prussian artist, Schadow. The two angels in front of the choir are by Bernini, who intended them for the bridge of S. Angelo.

Returning to the Corso, the Via S. Claudio (left) leads to the pretty little church of that name, adjoining the Palazzo Parisani. Behind, is the Church of Sta. Maria in Via.

At the corner of the Piazza Colonna is the Palazzo Chigi, begun in 1526 by Giacomo della Porta, and finished by Carlo Maderno. It contains several good pictures and a fine library, but is seldom shown.[10]

The most remarkable members of the great family of Chigi have been the famous banker Agostino Chigi, who lived so sumptuously at the Farnesina (see chap. 20), and Fabio Chigi, who mounted the papal throne as Alexander VII., and who long refused to have anything to do with the aggrandisement of his family, saying that the poor were the only relations he would acknowledge, and, like Christ, he did not wish for any nearer ones. To keep himself in mind of the shortness of earthly grandeur, this pope always kept a coffin in his room, and drank out of a cup shaped like a skull.

The side of the Piazza Colonna, which faces the Corso, is occupied by the Post-Office. On its other sides are the Piombino and Ferrajuoli palaces, of no interest. In the centre is placed the fine Column, which was found on the Monte Citorio in 1709, having been originally erected by the senate and people A.D. 174, to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (adopted son of the Emperor Hadrian,—husband of his niece, Annia Faustina,—father of the Emperor Commodus). It is surrounded by bas-reliefs, representing the conquest of the Marcomanni. One of these has long been an especial object of interest, from being supposed to represent a divinity (Jupiter?) sending rain to the troops, in answer to the prayers of a Christian legion from Mitylene. Eusebius gives the story, stating that the piety of these Christians induced the emperor to ask their prayers in his necessity, and a letter in Justin Martyr (of which the authenticity is much doubted), in which Aurelius allows the fact, is produced in proof. The statue of St. Paul on the top of the column was erected by Sixtus V.; the pedestal also is modern.

Behind the Piazza Colonna is the Piazza Monte Citorio, containing an Obelisk which was discovered in broken fragments near the Church of S. Lorenzo in Lucina. It was repaired with pieces of the column of Antoninus Pius, the pedestal of which may still be seen in the Vatican garden. Its hieroglyphics are very perfect and valuable, and show that it was erected more than 600 years before Christ, in honour of Psammeticus I. It was brought from Heliopolis by Augustus, and erected by him in the Campus Martius, where it received the name of Obeliscus Solaris, from being made to act as a sun-dial.

"Ei, qui est in campo, divus Augustus addidit mirabilem usum ad deprehendendas solis umbras, dierumque ac noctium ita magnitudines, strato lapide ad magnitudinem obelisci, cui par fieret umbra, brumæ confectæ die, sexta hora; paulatimque per regulas (quæ sunt ex die exclusæ) singulis diebus decresceret ac rursus augesceret: digna cognitu res et ingenio fœcundo. Manilius mathematicus apici auratam pilam addidit, cujus umbra vertice colligeretur in se ipsa alias enormiter jaculante apice ratione (ut ferunt) a capite hominis intellecta. Hæc observatio triginta jam ferè annos non congruit, sive solis ipsius dissono cursu, et cœli aliqua ratione mutato, sive universa tellure a centra suo aliquid emota ut deprehendi et in aliis locis accipio: sive urbis tremoribus ibi tantum gnomone intorto, sive inundationibus Tiberis sedimento molis facto: quanquam ad altitudinem impositi oneris in terram quoque dicantur acta fundamenta."—Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiv. 14.

The Palace of the Monte Citorio (designed by Bernini) contains public offices connected with police, passports, &c. On the opposite side of the piazza are the Railway and Telegraph Offices.

Proceeding up the Corso, the Via di Pietra (right) leads into the small Piazza di Pietra, one side of which is occupied by the eleven remaining columns of the Temple of Neptune, built up by Innocent XII. into the walls of the modern Custom-house. It is worth while to enter the courtyard in order to look back and observe the immense masses of stone above the entrance, part of the ancient temple,—which are here uncovered.

Close to this, behind the Palazzo Cini, in the Piazza Orfanelli, is the Teatro Capranica, occupying part of a palace of c. 1350, with gothic windows. The opposite church, Sta. Maria in Aquiro, recalls by its name the column of the Equiria, celebrated in ancient annals as the place where certain games and horse-races, instituted by Romulus, were celebrated. Ovid describes them in his Fasti. The church was founded c. 400, but was re-built under Francesco da Volterra in 1590.

A small increase of width in the Corso is now dignified by the name of the Piazza Sciarra. The street which turns off hence, under an arch (Via de Muratte, on the left), leads to the Fountain of Trevi, erected in 1735 by Niccolo Salvi for Clement XII. The statue of Neptune is by Pietro Bracci.

"The fountain of Trevi draws its precious water from a source far beyond the walls, whence it flows hitherward through old subterranean aqueducts, and sparkles forth as pure as the virgin who first led Agrippa to its well-springs by her father's door. In the design of the fountain, some sculptor of Bernini's school has gone absolutely mad, in marble. It is a great palace-front, with niches and many bas-reliefs, out of which looks Agrippa's legendary virgin, and several of the allegoric sisterhood; while at the base appears Neptune with his floundering steeds and tritons blowing their horns about him, and twenty other artificial fantasies, which the calm moonlight soothes into better taste than is native to them. And, after all, it is as magnificent a piece of work as ever human skill contrived. At the foot of the palatial façade, is strown, with careful art and ordered regularity, a broad and broken heap of massive rock, looking as if it may have lain there since the deluge. Over a central precipice falls the water, in a semicircular cascade; and from a hundred crevices, on all sides, snowy jets gush up, and streams spout out of the mouths and nostrils of stone monsters, and fall in glistening drops; while other rivulets, that have run wild, come leaping from one rude step to another, over stones that are mossy, shining and green with sedge, because, in a century of their wild play, nature has adopted the fountain of Trevi, with all its elaborate devices, for her own. Finally the water, tumbling, sparkling, and dashing with joyous haste and never ceasing murmur, pours itself into a great marble basin and reservoir, and fills it with a quivering tide; on which is seen, continually, a snowy semi-circle of momentary foam from the principal cascade, as well as a multitude of snow-points from smaller jets. The basin, occupies the whole breadth of the piazza, whence flights of steps descend to its border. A boat might float, and make mimic voyages, on this artificial lake.

"In the daytime there is hardly a livelier scene in Rome than the neighbourhood of the fountain of Trevi; for the piazza is then filled with stalls of vegetable and fruit dealers, chestnut-roasters, cigar-vendors, and other people whose petty and wandering traffic is transacted in the open air. It is likewise thronged with idlers, lounging over the iron railing, and with forestieri, who come hither to see the famous fountain. Here, also, are men with buckets, urchins with cans, and maidens (a picture as old as the patriarchal times) bearing their pitchers upon their heads. For the water of Trevi is in request, far and wide, as the most refreshing draught for feverish lips, the pleasantest to mingle with wine, and the wholesomest to drink in its native purity, that can anywhere be found. But, at midnight, the piazza is a solitude; and it is a delight to behold this untameable water, sporting by itself in the moonshine, and compelling all the elaborate trivialities of art to assume a natural aspect, in accordance with its own powerful simplicity. Tradition goes, that a parting draught at the fountain of Trevi ensures a traveller's return to Rome, whatever obstacles and improbabilities may seem to beset him."—Hawthorne's Transformation.

"Le bas-relief, placé au-dessus de cette fontaine, représente la jeune fille indiquant la source précieuse, comme dans l'antiquité une peinture représentait le même évènement dans une chapelle construite au lieu où il s'était passé."—Ampère, Emp. i. 264.

In this piazza is the rather handsome front of Sta. Maria in Trivia, formerly Sta. Maria in Fornica, erected by Cardinal Mazarin, on the site of an older church built by Belisarius—as is told by an inscription:—

"Hanc vir patricius Belisarius urbis amicus Ob culpæ veniam condidit ecclesiam. Hanc, idcirco, pedem qui sacram ponis in ædem Ut miseretur eum sæpe precare Deum."

The fault which Belisarius wished to expiate, was the exile of Pope Sylverius (A.D. 536), who was starved to death in the island of Ponza. The crypt of the present building, being the parish church of the Quirinal, contains the entrails of twenty popes (removed for embalmment)—from Sixtus V. to Pius VIII.—who died in the Quirinal Palace!

The little church near the opposite corner of the piazza is that of The Crociferi, and is still (1870) served by the Venerable Don Giovanni Merlini, Father General of the Order of the Precious Blood, and the personal friend of its founder, Gaspare del Buffalo.

The Fountain of Trevi occupies one end of the gigantic Palazzo Poli, which contains the English consulate. At the other end is the shop of the famous jeweller, Castellani, well worth visiting, for the sake of its beautiful collection of Etruscan designs, both in jewellery and in larger works of art.

"Castellani est l'homme qui a ressuscité la bijouterie romaine. Son escalier, tapissé d'inscriptions et de bas-reliefs antiques, fait croire que nous entrons dans un musée. Un jeune marchand aussi érudit que les archéologues fait voir une collection de bijoux anciens de toutes les époques, depuis les origines de l'Etrurie jusqu'au siècle de Constantin. C'est la source où Castellani puise les éléments d'un art nouveau qui détrônera avant dix ans la pacotille du Palais-Royal."—About, Rome Contemporaine.

"C'est en s'inspirant des parures retrouvées dans les tombes de l'Etrurie, des bracelets et des colliers dont se paraient les femmes étrusques et sabines, que M. Castellani, guidé par le goût savant et ingénieux d'un homme qui porte dignement l'ancien nom de Caetani, a introduit dans la bijouterie un style à la fois classique et nouveau. Parmi les artistes les plus originaux de Rome sont certainement les orfèvres Castellani et D. Miguele Caetani, duc de Sermoneta."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 388.

The Palazzo Sciarra (on left of the Corso), built in 1603 by Labacco, contains a gallery of pictures. Its six celebrated gems are marked with an asterisk. We may notice:—

1st Room.—
5. Death of St. John Baptist: Valentin.
13. Holy Family: Innocenza da Imola.
15. Rome Triumphant: Valentin.
20. Madonna: Titian.
23. Sta. Francesca Romana: Carlo Veneziano.

2nd Room.—
17. Flight into Egypt: Claude Lorrain.
18. Sunset: Claude Lorrain.

3rd Room.—
6. Holy Family: Francia.
9. Boar Hunt: Garofalo.
11. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.
17. A Monk led by an Angel to the Heavenly Spheres: Gaudenzio
Ferrari.
26. The Vestal Claudia drawing a boat with the statue of Ceres up
the Tiber: Garofalo.
29. Tavern Scene: Teniers.
33. The Fornarina: Copy of Raphael by Giulio Romano.
36. Holy Family with Angels: Lucas Cranach, 1504.

4th Room.—
1. Holy Family: Fra Bartolomeo.*

"The glow and freshness of colouring in this admirable painting, the softness of the skin, the beauty and sweetness of the expression, the look with which the mother's eyes are bent upon the baby she holds in her arms, and the innocent fondness with which the other child gazes up in her face, are worthy of the painter whose works Raphael delighted to study, and from which, in a great measure, he formed his principles of colouring."—Eaton's Rome.

5. St. John the Evangelist: Guercino.
6. The Violin Player (Andrea Marone?): Raphael.*

"The Violin Player is a youth holding the bow of a violin and a laurel wreath in his hand, and looking at the spectators over his shoulder. The expression of his countenance is sensible and decided, and betokens a character alive to the impressions of sense, yet severe. The execution is excellent,—inscribed with the date 1518."—Kugler.

7. St. Mark: Guercino.
8. Daughter of Herodias: Guercino.
12. Conjugal Love: Agostino Caracci.
16. The Gamblers: Caravaggio.*

"This is a masterpiece of the painter. A sharper is playing at cards with a youth of family and fortune, whom his confederate, while pretending to be looking on, is assisting to cheat. The subject will remind you of the Flemish School, but this painting bears no resemblance to it. Here is no farce, no caricature. Character was never more strongly marked, nor a tale more inimitably told. It is life itself, and you almost forget it is a picture, and expect to see the game go on. The colouring is beyond all praise."—Eaton's Rome.

17. Modesty and Vanity: Leonardo da Vinci.*

"One of Leonardo's most beautiful pictures is in Rome, in the Sciarra Palace—two female half-figures of Modesty and Vanity. The former, with a veil over her head, is a particularly pleasing, noble profile, with a clear, open expression; she beckons to her sister, who stands fronting the spectator, beautifully arrayed, and with a sweet seducing smile. This picture is remarkably powerful in colouring, and wonderfully finished, but unfortunately has become rather dark in the shadows."—Kugler.

19. Magdalen: Guido Reni.
24. Family Portrait: Titian.
25. Portrait: Bronzino.
26. St. Sebastian: Perugino.
29. Bella Donna: Titian.*

Sometimes supposed to represent Donna Laura Eustachio, the peasant Duchess of Alphonso I. of Ferrara.

"When Titian or Tintoret look at a human being, they see at a glance the whole of its nature, outside and in; all that it has of form, of colour, of passion, or of thought; saintliness and loveliness; fleshly power, and spiritual power; grace, or strength, or softness, or whatsoever other quality, those men will see to the full, and so paint, that, when narrower people come to look at what they have done, every one may, if he chooses, find his own special pleasure in the work. The sensualist will find sensuality in Titian; the thinker will find thought; the saint, sanctity; the colourist, colour; the anatomist, form; and yet the picture will never be a popular one in the full sense, for none of these narrower people will find their special taste so alone consulted, as that the qualities which would ensure their gratification shall be sifted or separated from others; they are checked by the presence of the other qualities, which ensure the gratification of other men.... Only there is a strange undercurrent of everlasting murmur about the name of Titian, which means the deep consent of all great men that he is greater than they."—Ruskin's Two Paths, Lect. 2.

31. Death of the Virgin: Albert Durer.
32. Maddalena della Radice: Guido Reni.*

"The two Magdalens by Guido are almost duplicates, and yet one is incomparably superior to the other. She is reclining on a rock, and her tearful and uplifted eyes, the whole of her countenance and attitude, speak the overwhelming sorrow that penetrates her soul. Her face might charm the heart of a stoic; and the contrast of her youth and enchanting loveliness, with the abandonment of grief, the resignation of all earthly hope, and the entire devotion of herself to penitence and heaven, is most affecting."—Eaton's Rome.[11]

Near the Piazza Sciarra, the Corso (as Via Flaminia) was formerly spanned by the Arch of Claudius, removed in 1527. Some reliefs from this arch are preserved in the portico of the Villa Borghese, and though much mutilated are of fine workmanship. The inscription, which commemorated the erection of the arch in honour of the conquest of Britain, is preserved in the courtyard of the Barberini Palace.

On the right of the Piazza Sciarra is the Via della Caravita, containing the small but popular Church of the Caravita,[12] used for the peculiar religious exercises of the Jesuits, especially for their terrible Lenten "flagellation" services, which are one of the most extraordinary sights afforded by Catholic Rome.

"The ceremony of pious whippings, one of the penances of the convents, still takes place at the time of vespers in the oratory of the Padre Caravita and in another church in Rome. It is preceded by a short exhortation, during which a bell rings, and whips, that is, strings of knotted whipcord, are distributed quietly amongst such of the audience as are on their knees in the nave. On a second bell, the candles are extinguished—a loud voice issues from the altar, which pours forth an exhortation to think of unconfessed, or unrepented, or unforgiven crimes. This continues a sufficient time to allow the kneelers to strip off their upper garments; the tone of the preacher is raised more loudly at each word, and he vehemently exhorts his hearers to recollect that Christ and the martyrs suffered much more than whipping. 'Show, then, your penitence—show your sense of Christ's sacrifice—show it with the whip.' The flagellation begins. The darkness, the tumultuous sound of blows in every direction—'Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us!' bursting out at intervals,—the persuasion that you are surrounded by atrocious culprits and maniacs, who know of an absolution for every crime—so far from exciting a smile, fixes you to the spot in a trance of restless horror, prolonged beyond bearing. The scourging continues ten or fifteen minutes."—Lord Broughton.

"Each man on entering the church was supplied with a scourge. After a short interval the doors were barred, the lights extinguished; and from praying, the congregation proceeded to groaning, crying, and finally, being worked up into a kind of ecstatic fury, applied the scourge to their uncovered shoulders without mercy."—Whiteside's Italy in the Nineteenth Century.

Beyond the Caravita is the Church of S. Ignazio, built by Cardinal Ludovisi. The façade, of 1685, is by Algardi. It contains the tomb of Gregory XIV. (Nicolo Sfondrati, 1590—91), and that of S. Ludovico Gonzaga, both sculptured by Le Gros.

"In S. Ignazio is the chapel of San Luigi Gonzaga, on whom not a few of the young Roman damsels look with something of the same kind of admiration as did Clytie on Apollo, whom he and St. Sebastian, those two young, beautiful, graceful saints, very fairly represent in Christian mythology. His festa falls in June, and then his altar is embosomed in flowers, arranged with exquisite taste; and a pile of letters may be seen at its foot, written to the saint by young men and maidens, and directed to Paradiso. They are supposed to be burnt unread, except by San Luigi, who must find singular petitions in these pretty little missives, tied up now with a green ribbon, expressive of hope, now with a red one, emblematic of love, or whatever other significant colour the writer may prefer."—Mademoiselle Mori.

The frescoes on the roof and tribune are by the Padre Pozzi.

"Amid the many distinguished men whom the Jesuits sent forth to every region of the world, I cannot recollect the name of a single artist unless it be the Father Pozzi, renowned for his skill in perspective, and who used his skill less as an artist than a conjuror, to produce such illusions as make the vulgar stare; to make the impalpable to the grasp appear as palpable to the vision; the near seem distant, the distant near; the unreal, real; to cheat the eye; to dazzle the sense;—all this has Father Pozzi most cunningly achieved in the Gesù and the Sant' Ignazio at Rome; but nothing more, and nothing better than this. I wearied of his altar-pieces and of his wonderful roofs which pretend to be no roofs at all. Scheme, tricks, and deceptions in art should all be kept for the theatre. It appeared to me nothing less than profane to introduce shams into the temples of God."—Mrs. Jameson.

On the left of the Corso—opposite the handsome Palazzo Simonetti—is the Church of S. Marcello (Pope, 308—10), containing some interesting modern monuments. Among them are those of Pierre Gilles, the traveller (ob. 1555), and of the English Cardinal Weld. Here, also, Cardinal Gonsalvi, the famous and liberal minister of Pius VII., is buried in the same tomb with his beloved younger brother, the Marchese Andrea Gonsalvi. Their monument, by Rinaldi, tells that here repose the bodies of two brothers—

"Qui cum singulari amore dum vivebant Se mutuo dilexissent Corpora etiam sua Una eademque urna condi voluere."

Here are the masterpieces which made the reputation of Pierino del Vaga (1501—1547). In the chapel of the Virgin are the cherubs, whose graceful movements and exquisite flesh-tints Vasari declares to have been unsurpassed by any artist in fresco. In the chapel of the Crucifix is the Creation of Eve, which is even more beautiful.

"The perfectly beautiful figure of the naked Adam is seen lying, overpowered by sleep, while Eve, filled with life, and with folded hands, rises to receive the blessing of her Maker,—a most grand and solemn figure standing erect in heavy drapery."—Vasari, iv.

This church is said to occupy the site of a house of the Christian matron Lucina, in which Marcellus died of wounds incurred in attempting to settle a quarrel among his Christian followers. It was in front of it that the body of the tribune Rienzi, after his murder on the Capitol steps, was hung up by the feet for two days as a mark for the rabble to throw stones at.

The next street to the right leads to the Collegio Romano, founded by St. Francis Borgia, Duke of Gandia (a descendant of Pope Alexander VI.), who, after a youth spent amid the splendours of the court of Madrid, retired to Rome in 1550, in the time of Julius III., and became the successor of Ignatius Loyola as general of the Jesuits. The buildings were erected, as we now see them, by Ammanati, in 1582, for Gregory XIII. The college is entirely under the superintendence of the Jesuits. The library is large and valuable. The Kircherian Museum (shown to gentlemen from ten to eleven on Sundays) is worth visiting. It contains a number of antiquities, illustrative of Roman and Etruscan customs, and many beautiful ancient bronzes and vases. The most important object is the "Cista Mistica," a bronze vase and cover, which was given as a prize to successful gladiators, and which was originally fitted up with everything useful for their profession.

The Observatory of the Collegio Romano has obtained a European reputation from the important astronomical researches of its director, the Padre Secchi.

The Collegio Romano has produced eight popes—Urban VIII., Innocent X., Clement IX., Clement X., Innocent XII., Clement XI., Innocent XIII., and Clement XII. Among its other pupils have been S. Camillo de Lellis, the Blessed Leonardo di Porto-Maurizio, the Venerable Pietro Berna, and others.

"Ignace, François Borgia, ont passé par ici. Leur souvenir plane, comme un encouragement et une bénédiction, sur ces salles où ils présidèrent aux études, sur ces chaires où peut-être retentit leur parole, sur ces modestes cellules qu'ils ont habitées. A la fin du seizième siècle, les élèves du collége Romain perdirent un de leurs condisciples que sa douce aménité et ses vertus angéliques avaient rendu l'objet d'un affectueux respect. Ce jeune homme avait été page de Philippe II.; il était allié aux maisons royales d'Autriche, de Bourbon et de Lorraine. Mais au milieu de ces illusions d'une grande vie, sous ce brillant costume de cour qui semblait lui promettre honneurs et fortune, il ne voyait jamais que la pieuse figure de sa mère agenouillée au pied des autels, et priant pour lui. A peine âgé de seize ans, il s'échappe de Madrid, il vient frapper à la porte du collége Romain, et demande place, au dortoir et à l'étude, pour Louis Gonzague, fils du comte de Castiglione. Pendant sept ans, Louis donna dans cette maison le touchant exemple d'une vie céleste; puis ses jours déclinèrent, comme parle l'Ecriture; il avait assez vécu."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 211.

We now reach (on right) the Church of Sta. Maria in Via Lata, which was founded by Sergius I., in the eighth century, but twice rebuilt, the second time under Alexander VII., in 1662, when the façade was added by Pietro da Cortona.

In this church "they still show a little chapel in which, as hath been handed down from the first ages, St. Luke the Evangelist wrote, and painted the effigy of the Virgin Mother of God."—See Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 155.

The subterranean church is shown as the actual house in which St. Paul lodged when he was in Rome.

"And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him."

"And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening." ...

"And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him."—Acts xxviii. 16, 23, 30, 31.

"St. Paul after his arrival at Rome, having made his usual effort, in the first place, for the salvation of his own countrymen, and as usual, having found it vain, turned to the Gentiles, and during two whole years, in which he was a prisoner, received all that came to him, preaching the kingdom of God. It was thus that God overruled his imprisonment for the furtherance of the gospel, so that his bonds in Christ were manifest in the palace, and in all other places, and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by his bonds, were much more bold to speak the word without fear. Even in the palace of Nero, the most noxious atmosphere, as we should have concluded, for the growth of divine truth, his bonds were manifest, the Lord Jesus was preached, and, more than this, was received to the saving of many souls; for we find the Apostle writing to his Philippian converts: 'All the saints salute you, chiefly they which are of Cæsar's household.' The whole Church of Christ has abundant reason to bless God for the dispensation which, during the most matured period of St. Paul's Christian life, detained him a close prisoner in the imperial city. Had he, to the end of his course, been at large, occupied, as he had long been, 'in labours most abundant,' he would, humanly speaking, never have found time to pen those epistles which are among the most blessed portion of the Church's inheritance. It was from within the walls of a prison, probably chained hand to hand to the soldier who kept him, that St. Paul indited the Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews."—Blunt's Lectures on St. Paul.

"In writing to Philemon, Paul chooses to speak of himself as the captive of Jesus Christ. Yet he went whither he would, and was free to receive those who came to him. It is interesting to remember amid these solemn vaults, the different events of St. Paul's apostolate, during the two years that he lived here. It was here that he converted Onesimus, that he received the presents of the Philippians, brought by Epaphroditus; it was hence that he wrote to Philemon, to Titus, to the inhabitants of Philippi and of Colosse; it was here that he preached devotion to the cross with that glowing eagerness, with that startling eloquence, which gained fresh power from contest and which inspiration rendered sublime.

"Peter addressed himself to the Circumcised; Paul to the Gentiles,[13]—to their silence that he might confound it, to their reason that he might humble it. Had he not already converted the proconsul Sergius Paulus and Dionysius the Areopagite? At Rome his word is equally powerful, and among the courtiers of Nero, perhaps even amongst his relations, are those who yield to the power of God, who reveals himself in each of the teachings of his servant.[14] Around the Apostle his eager disciples group themselves—Onesiphorus of Ephesus, who was not ashamed of his chain;[15] Epaphras of Colosse, who was captive with him, concaptivus meus;[16] Timothy, who was one with his master in a holy union of every thought, and who was attached to him like a son, sicut patri filius;[17] Hermas, Aristarchus, Marcus, Demas—and Luke the physician, the faithful companion of the Apostle, his well-beloved disciple—'Lucas medicus carissimus.'"—From Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne.

"I honour Rome for this reason; for though I could celebrate her praises on many other accounts—for her greatness, for her beauty, for her power, for her wealth, and for her warlike exploits,—yet, passing over all these things, I glorify her on this account, that Paul in his lifetime wrote to the Romans, and loved them, and was present with and conversed with them, and ended his life amongst them. Wherefore the city is on this account renowned more than on all others—on this account I admire her, not on account of her gold, her columns, or her other splendid decorations."—St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Ep. to the Romans.

"The Roman Jews expressed a wish to hear from St. Paul himself a statement of his religious sentiments, adding that the Christian sect was everywhere spoken against.... A day was fixed for the meeting at his private lodging.

"The Jews came in great numbers at the appointed time. Then followed an impressive scene, like that at Troas (Acts xxi.)—the Apostle pleading long and earnestly,—bearing testimony concerning the kingdom of God,—and endeavouring to persuade them by arguments drawn from their own Scriptures,—'from morning till evening.' The result was a division among the auditors—'not peace, but a sword,'—the division which has resulted ever since, when the Truth of God has encountered, side by side, earnest conviction with worldly indifference, honest investigation with bigoted prejudice, trustful faith with the pride of scepticism. After a long and stormy discussion, the unbelieving portion departed; but not until St. Paul had warned them, in one last address, that they were bringing upon themselves that awful doom of judicial blindness, which was denounced in their own Scriptures against obstinate unbelievers; that the salvation which they rejected would be withdrawn from them, and the inheritance they renounced would be given to the Gentiles. The sentence with which he gave emphasis to this solemn warning was that passage in Isaiah, which recurring thus with solemn force at the very close of the Apostolic history, seems to bring very strikingly together the Old Dispensation and the New, and to connect the ministry of Our Lord with that of His Apostles:—'Go unto this people and say: Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.'

" ... During the long delay of his trial St. Paul was not reduced, as he had been at Cæsarea, to a forced inactivity. On the contrary, he was permitted the freest intercourse with his friends, and was allowed to reside in a house of sufficient size to accommodate the congregation which flocked together to listen to his teaching. The freest scope was given to his labours, consistent with the military custody under which he was placed. We are told, in language peculiarly emphatic, that his preaching was subjected to no restraint whatever. And that which seemed at first to impede, must really have deepened the impression of his eloquence; for who could see without emotion that venerable form subjected by iron links to the coarse control of the soldier who stood beside him? how often must the tears of the assembly have been called forth by the upraising of that fettered hand, and the clanking of the chain which checked its energetic action.

"We shall see hereafter that these labours of the imprisoned Confessor were not fruitless; in his own words, he 'begot many children in his chains.' Meanwhile, he had a wider sphere of action than even the metropolis of the world. Not only 'the crowd which pressed upon him daily,' but also 'the care of all the churches' demanded his constant vigilance and exertion.... To enable him to maintain this superintendence, he manifestly needed many faithful messengers; men who (as he says of one of them) 'rendered him profitable service'; and by some of whom he seems to have been constantly accompanied, wheresoever he went. Accordingly we find him, during this Roman imprisonment, surrounded by many of his oldest and most valued attendants. Luke, his fellow-traveller, remained with him during his bondage; Timotheus, his beloved son in the faith, ministered to him at Rome, as he had done in Asia, in Macedonia, and in Achaia. Tychicus, who had formerly borne him company from Corinth to Ephesus, is now at hand to carry his letters to the shores which they had visited together. But there are two names amongst his Roman companions which excite a peculiar interest, though from opposite reasons,—the names of Demas and of Mark. The latter, when last we heard of him, was the unhappy cause of the separation of Barnabas and Paul. He was rejected by Paul, as unworthy to attend him, because he had previously abandoned the work of the Gospel out of timidity or indolence. It is delightful to find him now ministering obediently to the very Apostle who had then repudiated his services; still more to know that he persevered in this fidelity even to the end, and was sent for by St. Paul to cheer his dying hours. Demas, on the other hand, is now a faithful 'fellow-labourer' of the Apostle but in a few years we shall find that he had 'forsaken' him, having 'loved this present world.'

"Amongst the rest of St. Paul's companions at this time, there were two whom he distinguishes by the honourable title of his 'fellow-prisoners.' One of these is Aristarchus, the other Epaphras. With regard to the former, we know that he was a Macedonian of Thessalonica, one of 'Paul's companions in travel,' whose life was endangered by the mob at Ephesus, and who embarked with St. Paul at Cæsarea when he set sail for Rome. The other, Epaphras, was a Colossian, who must not be identified with the Philippian Epaphroditus, another of St. Paul's fellow-labourers during this time. It is not easy to say in what exact sense these two disciples were peculiarly fellow-prisoners of St. Paul. Perhaps it only implies that they dwelt in his house, which was also his prison.

"But of all the disciples now ministering to St. Paul at Rome, none has a greater interest than the fugitive Asiatic slave Onesimus. He belonged to a Christian named Philemon, a member of the Colossian Church. But he had robbed his master, and fled from Colosse, and at last found his way to Rome. Here he was converted to the faith of Christ, and had confessed to St. Paul his sins against his master."—Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul.

A fountain in the crypt is shown, as having miraculously sprung up in answer to the prayers of St. Paul, that he might have wherewithal to baptize his disciples. At the end of the crypt are some large blocks of peperino, said to be remains of the arch erected by the senate in honour of the Emperor Gordian III., and destroyed by Innocent VIII.

Far along the right side of the Corso now extends the façade of the immense Palazzo Doria, built by Valvasori (the front towards the Collegio Romano being by Pietro da Cortona, and that towards the Piazza Venezia by Amati). Entering the courtyard, one must turn left to reach the Picture Gallery (which is open on Tuesdays and Fridays, from ten till two)—a vast collection, which contains some grand portraits and a few other fine paintings.

The 1st Room entered is a great hall—to which pictures are removed for copying. It contains four fine sarcophagi, with reliefs of the Hunt of Meleager, the Story of Marsyas, Endymion and Diana, and a Bacchic procession. Of two ancient circular altars, one serves as the pedestal of a bearded Dionysus. The pictures are chiefly landscapes, of the school of Poussin and Salvator Rosa,—that of the Deluge is by Ippolito Scarsellino.

2nd Room.—In the centre a Centaur (restored), of basalt and rosso-antico. On either side groups of boys playing.

Pictures:—
4. Caritas Romana: Valentin.
5. Circumcision: Giov. Bellini?
7. Madonna and Saints: Basaiti.
15. Temptations of St. Anthony: Scuola di Mantegna.
19. St. John in the Desert: Guercino?
35. Birth of St. John: Vittore Pisanello.
21. Spozalizio: V. Pisanello.
23. St. Sylvester before Maximin II.: Pesellino.
24. Madonna and Child: F. Francia?
28. Annunciation: Fil. Lippi.
29. St. Sylvester and the Dragon: Pesellino (see the account of Sta. Maria Liberatrice). 33. St. Agnes on the burning pile: Guercino.
37. Magdalen: Copy of the Titian in the Pitti Palace.

4th Room.—
A bust of Innocent X. (with whose ill-acquired wealth this palace was built) in rosso-antico, with a bronze head: Bernini.

5th Room.—
17. The Money-changers: Quentin Matsys.

25. St. Joseph: Guercino. In the centre, a group of Jacob wrestling with the Angel: School of Bernini.

6th Room.—
8. Portrait of Olympia Maldacchini, the sister-in-law of Innocent X., who ruled Rome in his time.
13. Madonna: Carlo Maratta.
30. Sketch of a Boy: Incognito.

From this room we enter a small cabinet, hung with pictures of Breughel and Fiammingo, and containing a bust by Algardi, of Olympia Maldacchini-Pamfili, who built the Villa Doria Pamfili for her son.

7th Room.—
8. Belisarius in the desert: Salvator Rosa.
19. Slaughter of the Innocents: Mazzolino.

We now enter the Galleries—which begin towards the left—

1st Gallery.—
2. Holy Family in glory, and two Franciscan Saints adoring: Garofalo.
3. Magdalen: Annibale Caracci.
8. Two Heads: Quentin Matsys.
9. Holy Family: Sassoferrato.
10. Story of the conversion of S. Eustachio (see the description of his church): School of Albert Durer.
14. A Portrait: Titian.
15. Holy Family: Andrea del Sarto.
20. The Three Ages of Man: Titian.*
21. Return of the Prodigal Son: Guercino.
25. Landscape with the Flight into Egypt: Claude Lorraine.
26. The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth: Garofalo.
38. Copy of the "Nozze Aldobrandini:" Poussin.
45. Madonna: Guido Reni.
50. Holy Family: Giulio Romano, from Raphael.

2nd Gallery.—
6. Madonna: Fran. Francia.
14. "Bartolo and Baldo:" Raphael.*
17. Portrait: Titian.
21. Portrait of a Widow: Vandyke.
24. Three Heads, called Calvin, Luther, and Catherine: Giorgione.
26. Sacrifice of Isaac: Titian.
33. Portrait of a Pamfili: Vandyke.
40. Herodias with the Head of John the Baptist: Pordenone. A grand bust of Andrew Doria.
50. "The Confessor:" Rubens.
53. Joanna of Arragon: School of Leonardo da Vinci.*
56. Magdalene: School of Titian.
61. Adoration of the Infant Jesus: Gio. Batt. Benvenuti ('l'Ortolano').
66. Holy Family: Garofalo.
69. Glory crowning Virtue (a sketch): Correggio.
80. Portrait of Titian and his Wife: Titian. Also a number of pictures of the Creation: Breughel.

3rd Gallery.—
1, 6, 28, 34. Landscapes (with figures introduced): Ann. Caracci.
5. Landscape, with Mercury stealing cattle: Claude Lorraine.
10. Titian's Wife: Titian.
11. "Niccolaus Macchiavellus Historiar. Scriptor:" Bronzino.
12. "The Mill:" Claude Lorraine.*

"The foreground of the picture of 'the Mill' is a piece of very lovely and perfect forest scenery, with a dance of peasants by a brook-side; quite enough subject to form, in the hands of a master, an impressive and complete picture. On the other side of the brook, however, we have a piece of pastoral life; a man with some bulls and goats tumbling head foremost into the water, owing to some sudden paralytic affection of all their legs. Even this group is one too many; the shepherd had no business to drive his flock so near the dancers, and the dancers will certainly frighten the cattle. But when we look farther into the picture, our feelings receive a sudden and violent shock, by the unexpected appearance, amidst things pastoral and musical, of the military; a number of Roman soldiers riding in on hobby-horses, with a leader on foot, apparently encouraging them to make an immediate and decisive charge on the musicians. Beyond the soldiers is a circular temple, in exceedingly bad repair; and close beside it, built against its very walls, a neat water-mill in full work; by the mill flows a large river with a weir across it.... At an inconvenient distance from the water-side stands a city, composed of twenty-five round towers and a pyramid. Beyond the city is a handsome bridge; beyond the bridge, part of the Campagna, with fragments of aqueducts; beyond the Campagna the chain of the Alps; on the left, the cascades of Tivoli.

"This is a fair example of what is commonly called an 'ideal' landscape; i.e. a group of the artist's studies from nature, individually spoiled, selected with such opposition of character as may insure their neutralizing each other's effect, and united with sufficient unnaturalness and violence of association to insure their producing a general sensation of the impossible."—Ruskin's Modern Painters.

"Many painters take a particular spot, and sketch it to perfection; but Claude was convinced that taking nature as he found it, seldom produced beauty. Neither did he like exhibiting in his pictures accidents of nature. He professed to pourtray the style of general nature, and so his pictures were a composition of the various draughts which he had previously made from beautiful scenes and prospects."—Sir J. Reynolds.

 
18. Pietà: Ann. Caracci.
23. Landscape, with the Temple of Apollo: Claude Lorraine.
26. Portrait: Mazzolino.
27. Portrait: Giorgione.
33. Landscape, with Diana hunting: Claude Lorraine.

At the end of this gallery is a small cabinet, containing the gems of the collection:—

 
1. Portrait of a "Letterato:" Lucas V. Leyden?*
2. Portrait of Andrea Doria: Sebastian del Piombo.*
3. Portrait of Giannetto Doria: Bronzino.*
4. Portrait of S. Filippo Neri, as a boy: Barocci.
5. Portrait of Innocent X.; Gio. Battista Pamfili (1644—55): Velasquez.*
6. Entombment: John Emelingk.*

Here, also, is the bust of the late beloved Princess Doria (Lady Mary Talbot), which has always been veiled in crape since her death.

The 4th Gallery is decorated with mirrors, and with statues of no especial merit.

"In the whole immense range of rooms of the Palazzo Doria, I saw but a single fire-place, and that so deep in the wall that no amount of blaze would raise the atmosphere of the room ten degrees. If the builder of the palace, or any of his successors, have committed crimes worthy of Tophet, it would be a still worse punishment to him to wander perpetually through this suite of rooms, on the cold floors of polished brick tiles, or marble, or mosaic, growing a little chiller and chiller through every moment of eternity—or at least, till the palace crumbles down upon him."—Hawthorne, Notes on Italy.

Opposite the Palazzo Doria is the Palazzo Salviati. The next two streets on the left lead into the long narrow square called Piazza Santi Apostoli, containing several handsome palaces. That on the right is the Palazzo Odescalchi, built by Bernini, in 1660, for Cardinal Fabio Chigi, to whose family it formerly belonged. It has some fine painted and carved wooden ceilings. This palace is supposed to be the scene of the latest miracle of the Roman Catholic Church. The present Princess Odescalchi had long been bedridden, and was apparently dying of a hopeless disease, when, while her family were watching what they considered her last moments, the pope (Pius IX.) sent, by the hands of a nun, a little loaf (panetello), which he desired her to swallow. With terrible effort, the sick woman obeyed, and was immediately healed, and on the following day the astonished Romans saw her go in person to the pope, at the Vatican, to return thanks for her restoration!

The building at the end of the square is the Palazzo Valentini, which once contained a collection of antiquities.

Near this, on the left, but separated from the piazza by a courtyard, is the vast Palazzo Colonna, begun, in the fifteenth century, by Martin V., and continued at various later periods. Julius II. at one time made it his residence, and also Cardinal (afterwards San Carlo) Borromeo. Part of it is now the residence of the French ambassadors. The palace is built very near the site of the ancient fortress of the Colonna family—so celebrated in times of mediæval warfare with the Orsini—of which one lofty tower still remains, in a street leading up to the Quirinal.

The Gallery is shown every day, except Sundays and holidays, from 11 to 3. It is entered by the left wing. The first room is a fine, gloomy old hall, containing the family dais, and hung with decaying Colonna portraits. Then come three rooms covered with tapestries, the last containing a pretty statue of a girl, sometimes called Niobe. Hence we reach the pictures. The 1st Room has an interesting collection of the early schools, including Madonnas of Filippo Lippi; Luca Longhi; Botticelli; Gentile da Fabriano; Innocenza da Imola; a curious Crucifixion, by Jacopo d'Avanzo; and a portrait by Giovanni Sanzio, father of Raphael.

The ceiling of the 3rd Room has a fresco, by Battoni and Luti, of the apotheosis of Martin V. (Oddone Colonna, 1417—24). Among its pictures, are St. Bernard, Giovanni Bellini; Onuphrius Pavinius, Titian; Holy Family, Bronzino; Peasant dining, Annibale Caracci; St. Jerome, Spagna; Portrait, Paul Veronese; Holy Family, Bonifazio.

Hence we enter the Great Hall, a truly grand room, hung with mirrors and painted with flowers by Mario de' Fiori, and with genii by Maratta. The statues here are unimportant. The ceiling is adorned with paintings, by Coli and Gherardi, of the battle of Lepanto, Oct. 8, 1571, which Marc-Antonio Colonna assisted in gaining. The best pictures are the family portraits:—Federigo Colonna, Sustermanns; Don Carlo Colonna, Vandyke; Card. Pompeio Colonna, Lorenzo Lotto; Vittoria Colonna, Muziano; Lucrezia Colonna, Vandyke; Pompeio Colonna, Agostino Caracci; Giacomo Sciarra Colonna, Giorgione. We may also notice an extraordinary picture of the Madonna rescuing a child from a demon, by Niccolo d'Alunno, with a double portrait, by Tintoret, on the right wall, and a Holy Family of Palma Vecchio at the end of the gallery. Near the entrance are some glorious old cabinets, inlaid with ivory and lapis-lazuli. On the steps leading to the upper end of the hall is a bomb left on the spot where it fell during the siege of Rome in 1848.

(Through the palace access may be obtained to the beautiful Colonna Gardens; but as they are generally visited from the Quirinal, they will be noticed in the description of that hill.)

"On parle d'un Pierre Colonna, dépouillé de tous ses biens en 1100 par le pape Pascal II. Il fallait que la famille fût déjà passablement ancienne, car les grandes fortunes ne s'élèvent pas en un jour."—About.

"Si n'etoit le différent des Ursins et des Colonnois (Orsini and Colonna) la terre de l'Eglise seroit la plus heureuse habitation pour les subjects, qui soit en tout le monde."—Philippe de Comines. 1500.

"Gloriosa Colonna, in cui s' appoggia Nostra speranza, e'l gran nome Latino, Ch'ancor non torte del vero cammino L'ira di Giove per ventosa pioggia." Petrarca, Sonnetto X.

Adjoining the Palazzo Colonna is the fine Church of the Santi Apostoli, founded in the sixth century, rebuilt by Martin V., in 1420, and modernized, c. 1602, by Fontana. The portico contains a magnificent bas-relief of an eagle and an oak-wreath (frequently copied and introduced in architectural designs).

"Entrez sous la portique de l'église des Saints-Apôtres, et vous trouverez là, encadré par hasard dans le mur, un aigle qu'entoure une couronne d'un magnifique travail. Vous reconnaîtrez facilement dans cet aigle et cette couronne la représentation d'une ensigne romaine, telle que les bas-reliefs de la colonne Trajane vous en ont montré plusieurs; seulement ce qui était là en petit est ici en grand."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 168.

Also in the portico, is a monument, by Canova, to Volpato, the engraver. Over the sacristy door is the tomb of Pope Clement XIV. (Giov. Antonio Ganganelli, 1769-74), also by Canova, executed in his twenty-fifth year.

"La mort de Clément XIV. est du 22 Septembre, 1774. A cette époque, Alphonse de Liguori était évêque de Sainte-Agathe des Goths, au royaume de Naples. Le 22 Septembre, au matin, l'évêque tomba dans une espèce de sommeil léthargique après avoir dit la messe, et, pendant vingt-quatre heures, il demeura sans mouvement dans son fauteuil. Ses serviteurs s'étonnant de cet état, le lendemain, avec lui:—'Vous ne savez pas, leur dit-il, que j'ai assisté le pape qui vient de mourir.' Peu après, la nouvelle du décès de Clément arriva à Sainte Agathe."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 362.

In 1873 the traditional grave of St. Philip and St. James, the "Apostoli" to whom this church is dedicated, was opened during its restoration. Two bodies were found, enclosed in a sarcophagus of beautiful transparent marble, and have been duly enshrined. In the choir are monuments of the fifteenth century, to two relations of Pope Sixtus IV., Pietro Riario, and Cardinal Raffaelo Riario. To the right is the tomb of the Chevalier Girard, brother-in-law of Pope Julius II., and maître d'hôtel to Charles VIII. and Louis XII. of France. The tomb of Cardinal Bessarion was removed from the church, in 1702, to the cloisters of the adjoining Convent, which is the residence of the General of the Order of "Minori Conventuali" (Black Friars). The altar-piece represents the martyrdom of SS. Philip and James, by Muratori.

The heart of Maria Clementina Sobieski (buried in St. Peter's), wife of James III., called the First Pretender, is also preserved here, as is shown by a Latin inscription.

"Le roi d'Angleterre est devot a l'excès; sa matinée se passe en prières aux Saints-Apôtres, près du tombeau de sa femme."—De Brosses, 1739.

In 1552 this church was remarkable for the sermons of the monk Felix Peretti, afterwards Sixtus V.

"Suivant un manuscrit de la bibliothèque Alfieri, un jour, pendant qu'il était dans la chaire des Saints-Apôtres, un billet cacheté lui fut remis; Frère Félix l'ouvre et y lit, en face d'un certain nombre de propositions que l'on disait être extraites de ses discours, ce mot écrit en gros caractères: Mentiris (tu mens). Le fougueux orateur eut peine à contenir son émotion; il termina son sermon en quelques paroles, et courut au palais de l'Inquisition présenter le billet mystérieux, et demander qu'on examinât scrupuleusement sa doctrine. Cet examen lui fut favorable, et il lui valut l'amitié du grand inquisiteur, Michael Ghislieri, qui comprit aussitôt tout le parti qu'on pouvait tirer d'un homme dont les moindres actions étaient empreintes d'une inébranlable force de caractère."—Gournerie.

In this church is buried the young Countess Savorelli, the story of whose love, misfortunes, and death, has been celebrated by About, under the name of Tolla (the Lello of the story having been one of the Doria-Pamfili family).

"The convent which Tolla had sanctified by her death sent three embassies in turn to beg to preserve her relics: already the people spoke of her as a saint. But Count Feraldi (Savorelli) considered that it was due to his honour and to his vengeance to bear her remains with pomp to the tomb of his family. He had sufficient influence to obtain that for which permission is not granted once in ten years: the right of transporting her uncovered, upon a bed of white velvet, and of sparing her the horrors of a coffin. The beloved remains were wrapped in the white muslin robe which she wore in the garden on the day when she exchanged her sweet vows with Lello. The Marchesa Trasimeni, ill and wasted as she was, came herself to arrange her hair in the manner she loved. Every garden in Rome despoiled itself to send her its flowers; it was only necessary to choose. The funeral procession quitted the church of S. Antonio Abbate on Thursday evening at 7.30 for the Santi Apostoli, where the Feraldis are buried. The body was preceded by a long file of the black and white confraternities, each bearing its banner. The red light of the torches played upon the countenance of the beautiful dead, and seemed to animate her afresh. The piazza was filled with a dense and closely packed but dumb crowd; no discordant sound troubled the grief of the relations and friends of Tolla, who wept together at the Palazzo Feraldi....

"The Church of the Apostoli and the tomb of the poor loving girl, became at certain days of the year an object of pilgrimage, and more than one young Roman maiden adds to her evening litany the words, 'St. Tolla, virgin and martyr, pray for us.'"—About.

Just beyond the church is the Palazzo Muto-Savorelli (the home of Tolla, "Palazzo Feraldi") long the residence of Prince Charles Edward ("the last Pretender"), who died here in 1788. Hence the Via delle Vergini, with its dismal lines of latticed convent-windows, leads to the Fountain of Trevi.

Returning to the Corso, we pass (right) Palazzo Buonaparte, built by Giovanni dei Rossi in 1660. Here Lætitia Buonaparte—"Madame Mère"—the mother of Napoleon I., died February 2nd, 1836. The present head of the family is Cardinal Lucien-Louis Buonaparte, son of Prince Charles (son of Lucien) and of Princess Zénaïde, daughter of King Joseph of Spain. His only surviving brother is Prince Napoleon Buonaparte.

This palace forms one corner of the Piazza di Venezia, which contains the ancient castellated Palace of the Republic of Venice, built in 1468 by Giuliano da Majano (with materials plundered from the Coliseum) for Paul II., who was of Venetian birth. On the ruin of the republic the palace fell into the hands of Austria, and is still the residence of the Austrian ambassador, to whom it was specially reserved on the cession of Venice to Italy.

Opposite this, on a line with the Corso, is the Palazzo Torlonia, built by Fontana in 1650, for the Bolognetti family.

"Nobility is certainly more the fruit of wealth in Italy than in England. Here, where a title and estate are sold together, a man who can buy the one secures the other. From the station of a lacquey, an Italian who can amass riches, may rise to that of duke. Thus Torlonia, the Roman banker, purchased the title and estate of the Duca di Bracciano, fitted up the 'Palazzo Nuovo di Torlonia' with all the magnificence that wealth commands; and a marble gallery, with its polished floors, modern statues, painted ceilings, and gilded furniture, far outshines the faded splendour of the halls of the old Roman nobility."—Eaton's Rome.

"Un ancien domestique de place, devenu spéculateur et banquier, achète un marquisat, puis une principauté. Il crée un majorat pour son fils aîné et une seconde géniture en faveur de l'autre. L'un épouse une Sforza-Cesarini et marie ses deux fils à une Chigi et une Ruspoli; l'autre obtient pour femme une Colonna-Doria. C'est ainsi que la famille Torlonia, par la puissance de l'argent et la faveur du saint-père, s'est élevée presque subitement à la hauteur des plus grands maisons népotiques et féodales."—About.

The most interesting of the antiquities preserved in this palace is a bas-relief, representing a combat between men and animals, brought hither from the Palazzo Orsini, and probably pourtraying the famous dedication of the theatre of Marcellus on that site, celebrated by the slaughter of six hundred animals.

The end of the Corso—narrowed by a projecting wing of the Venetian Palace—is known as the Ripresa dei Barberi, because there the horses, which run in the races during the Carnival, are caught in large folds of drapery let down across the street to prevent their dashing themselves to pieces against the opposite wall.

Close to the end of this street, built into the wall of a house in the Via di Marforio, is one of the few relics of republican times in the city,—a Doric Tomb, bearing an inscription which states that it was erected by order of the people on land granted by the Senate to Caius Publicius Bibulus, the plebeian ædile, and his posterity. Petrarch mentions in one of his letters that he wrote one of his sonnets leaning against the tomb of Bibulus.

This tomb has a secondary interest as marking the commencement of the Via Flaminia, as it stood just outside the Porta Ratumena from whence that road issued. There are some obscure remains of another tomb on the other side of the street. The Via Flaminia, like the Via Appia, was once fringed with tombs.

From the Ripresa dei Barberi, a street passing under an arch on the right, leads to the back of the Venetian Palace, where is the Church of S. Marco, originally founded in the time of Constantine, but rebuilt in 833, and modernized by Cardinal Quirini in 1744. Its portico, which is lined with early Christian inscriptions, contains a fine fifteenth century doorway, surmounted by a figure of St. Mark. The interior is in the form of a basilica, its naves and aisles separated by twenty columns, and ending in an apse. The best pictures are S. Marco, "a pope enthroned, by Carlo Crivelli, resembling in sharpness of finish and individuality the works of Bartolomeo Viviani,"[18] and a Resurrection by Palma Giovane.

"The mosaics of S. Marco, executed under Pope Gregory IV. (A.D. 827—844), with all their splendour, exhibit the utmost poverty of expression. Above the tribune, in circular compartments, is the portrait of Christ between the symbols of the Evangelists, and further below SS. Peter and Paul (or two prophets) with scrolls; within the tribune, beneath a hand extended with a wreath, is the standing figure of Christ with an open book, and on either side, S. Angelo and Pope Gregory IV. Further on, but still belonging to the dome, are the thirteen lambs, forming a second and quite uneven circle round the figures. The execution is here especially rude, and of true Byzantine rigidity, while, as if the artist knew that his long lean figures were anything but secure upon their feet, he has given them each a separate little pedestal. The lines of the drapery are chiefly straight and parallel, while, with all this rudeness, a certain play of colour has been contrived by the introduction of high lights of another colour."—Kugler.

This church is said to have been originally founded in honour of the Evangelist in 337 by Pope Marco, but this pope, being himself canonized, is also honoured here, and is buried under the high altar. On April 25th, St. Mark's Day, a grand procession of clergy starts from this church. It was for the most part rebuilt under Gregory IV. in 838.

Behind the Palazzo Venezia is the vast Church of Il Gesù, begun in 1568 by the celebrated Vignola, but the cupola and façade completed in 1575 by his scholar Giacomo della Porta. In the interior is the monument of Cardinal Bellarmin, and various pictures representing events in the lives or deaths of the Jesuit saints,—that of the death of St. Francis Xavier is by Carlo Maratta. The high altar, by Giacomo della Porta, has fine columns of giallo-antico. The altar of St. Ignatius at the end of the left transept is of gaudy magnificence. It was designed by Padre Pozzi, the group of the Trinity being by Bernardino Ludovisi; the globe in the hand of the Almighty is said to be the largest piece of lapis-lazuli in existence. Beneath this altar, and his silver statue, lies the body of St. Ignatius Loyola, in an urn of gilt bronze, adorned with precious stones. A great ceremony takes place in this church on July 31st, the feast of St. Ignatius, and on December 31st a Te Deum is sung here for the mercies of the past year, in the presence of the pope, cardinals, and the people of Rome,—a really solemn and impressive service.

The Convent of the Gesù is the residence of the General of the Jesuits ("His Paternity"), and the centre of religious life in their Order. The rooms in which St. Ignatius lived and died are of the deepest historic interest. They consist of four chambers. The first, now a chapel, is that in which he wrote his "Constitutions." The second, also a chapel, is that in which he died. It contains the altar at which he daily celebrated mass, and the autograph engagement to live under the same laws of obedience, poverty, and chastity, signed by Laynez, Francis Xavier, and Ignatius Loyola. On its walls are two portraits of Ignatius Loyola, one as a young knight, the other as a Jesuit father, and portraits of S. Carlo Borromeo and S. Filippo Neri. It was in this chamber also that St. Francis Borgia died. The third room was that of the attendant monk of St. Ignatius; the fourth is now a kind of museum of relics containing portions of his robes and small articles which belonged to him and to other saints of the Order.

Facing the Church of the Gesù is the Palazzo Altieri, built by Cardinal Altieri in 1670, from designs of Giov. Antonio Rossi.

"Quand le palais Altieri fut achevé, les Altieri, neveux de Clément X., invitèrent leur oncle à le venir voir. Il s'y fit porter, et d'aussi loin qu'il aperçut la magnificence et l'étendue de cette superbe fabrique, il reboussa chemin le cœur serré, sans dire un seul mot, et mourut peu après."—De Brosses.

"On the staircase of the Palazzo Altieri, is an ancient colossal marble finger, of such extraordinary size, that it is really worth a visit."—Eaton's Rome.

This palace was the residence of the late noble-hearted vicar-general, Cardinal Altieri, who died a martyr to his devotion to his flock (as Bishop of Albano) during the terrible visitation of cholera at Albano in 1867.

The Piazza del Gesù is considered to be the most draughty place in Rome. The legend runs that the devil and the wind were one day taking a walk together. When they came to this square, the devil, who seemed to be very devout, said to the wind, "Just wait a minute, mio caro, while I go into this church." So the wind promised, and the devil went into the Gesù, and has never come out again—and the wind is blowing about in the Piazza del Gesù to this day.

CHAPTER III.

THE CAPITOLINE.

The Story of the Hill—Piazza del Campidoglio—Palace of the Senator—View from the Capitol Tower—The Tabularium—The Museo Capitolino—Gallery of Statues—Palace of the Conservators—Gallery of Pictures—Palazzo Caffarelli—Tarpeian Rock—Convent and Church of Ara-Cœli—Mamertine Prisons.

THE Capitoline was the hill of the kings and the republic, as the Palatine was of the empire.

Entirely composed of tufa, its sides, now concealed by buildings or by the accumulated rubbish of ages, were abrupt and precipitous, as are still the sides of the neighbouring citadels of Corneto and Cervetri. It was united to the Quirinal by an isthmus of land cut away by Trajan, but in every other direction was isolated by its perpendicular cliffs:—

"Arduus in valles et fora clivus erat." Ovid, Fast. i. 264.

Up to the time of the Tarquins, it bore the name of Mons Saturnus,[19] from the mythical king Saturn, who is reported to have come to Italy in the reign of Janus, and to have made a settlement here. His name was derived from sowing, and he was looked upon as the introducer of civilization and social order, both of which are inseparably connected with agriculture. His reign here was thus considered to be the golden age of Italy. His wife was Ops, the representative of plenty.[20]

"C'est la tradition d'un âge de paix représenté par le règne paisible de Saturne; avant qu'il y eut une Roma, ville de la force, il y eut une Saturnia, ville de la paix."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 86.

Virgil represents Evander, the mythical king of the Palatine, as exhibiting Saturnia, already in ruins, to Æneas.

"Hæc duo præterea disjectis oppida muris, Reliquias veterumque vides monumenta virorum. Hanc Janus pater, hanc Saturnus condidit arcem: Janiculum huic, illi fuerat Saturnia nomen." Æn. viii. 356.

When Romulus had fixed his settlement upon the Palatine, he opened an asylum for fugitive slaves upon the then deserted Saturnus, and here, at a sacred oak, he is said to have offered up the spoils of the Cæcinenses, and their king Acron, who had made a war of reprisal upon him, after the rape of their women in the Campus Martius; here also he vowed to build a temple to Jupiter Feretrius, where spoils should always be offered. But in the mean time, the Sabines, under Titius Tatus, besieged and took the hill, having a gate of its fortress (said to have been on the ascent above the spot where the arch of Severus now stands) opened to them by Tarpeia, who gazed with longing upon the golden bracelets of the warriors, and, obtaining a promise to receive that which they wore upon their arms, was crushed by their shields as they entered. Some authorities, however, maintain that she asked and obtained the hand of king Tatius. From this time the hill was completely occupied by the Sabines, and its name became partially merged in that of Mons Tarpeia, which its southern side has always retained. Niebuhr states that it is a popular superstition that the beautiful Tarpeia still sits, sparkling with gold and jewels, enchanted and motionless, in a cave in the centre of the hill.

After the death of Tatius, the Capitoline again fell under the government of Romulus, and his successor, Numa Pompilius, founded here a Temple of Fides Publica, in which the flamens were always to sacrifice with a fillet on their right hands, in sign of fidelity. To Numa also is attributed the worship of the god Terminus, who had a temple here in very early ages.

Under Tarquinius Superbus, B.C. 535, the magnificent Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which had been vowed by his father, was built with money taken from the Volscians in war. In digging its foundations, the head of a man was found, still bloody, an omen which was interpreted by an Etruscan augur to portend that Rome would become the head of Italy. In consequence of this, the name of the hill was once more changed, and has ever since been Mons Capitolinus, or Capitolium.

The site of this temple has always been one of the vexed questions of history. At the time it was built, as now, the hill consisted of two peaks, with a level space between them. Niebuhr and Gregorovius place the temple on the south-eastern height, but Canina and other authorities, with more probability, incline to the north-eastern eminence, the present site of Ara-Cœli, because, among many other reasons, the temple faced the south, and also the Forum, which it could not have done upon the south-eastern summit; and also because the citadel is always represented as having been nearer to the Tiber than the temple: for when Herdonius, and the Gauls, arriving by the river, scaled the heights of the Capitol, it was the citadel which barred their path, and in which, in the latter case, Manlius was awakened by the noise of the sacred geese of Juno.

The temple of Jupiter occupied a lofty platform, the summit of the rock being levelled to receive it. Its façade was decorated with three ranges of columns, and its sides by a single colonnade. It was nearly square, being 200 Roman feet in length, and 185 in width.[21] The interior was divided into three cells; the figure of Jupiter occupied that in the centre, Minerva was on his right, and Juno on his left. The figure of Jupiter was the work of an artist of the Volscian city of Fregellæ,[22] and was formed of terra-cotta, painted like the statues which we may still see in the Etruscan museum at the Vatican, and clothed with the tunica palmata, and the toga picta, the costume of victorious generals. In his right hand was a thunder-bolt, and in his left a spear.

"Jupiter angusta vix totus stabat in Æde; Inque Jovis dextra fictile fulmen erat." Ovid, Fast. i. 202.

At a later period the statue was formed of gold, but this figure had ceased to exist in the time of Pliny.[23] When Martial wrote, the statues of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, were all gilt.

"Scriptus es æterno nunc primum, Jupiter, auro, Et soror, et summi filia tota patris." Martial, xi. Ep. 5.

In the wall adjoining the cella of Minerva, a nail was fastened every year, to mark the lapse of time.[24] In the centre of the temple was the statue of Terminus.

"The sumptuous fane of Jupiter Capitolinus had peculiar claims on the veneration of the Roman citizens; for not only the great lord of the earth was worshipped in it, but the conservative principle of property itself found therein its appropriate symbol. While the statue of Jupiter occupied the usual place of the divinity in the furthest recess of the building, an image of the god Terminus was also placed in the centre of the nave, which was open to the heavens. A venerable legend affirmed, that when, in the time of the kings, it was requisite to clear a space on the Capitoline to erect on it a temple to the great father of the gods, and the shrines of the lesser divinities were to be removed for the purpose, Terminus alone, the patron of boundaries, refused to quit his place, and demanded to be included in the walls of the new edifice. Thus propitiated he was understood to declare that henceforth the bounds of the republic should never be removed; and the pledge was more than fulfilled by the ever increasing circuit of her dominion."—Merivale, Romans Under the Empire.

The gates of the temple were of gilt bronze, and its pavement of mosaic;[25] in a vault beneath were preserved the Sibylline books placed there by Tarquin. The building of Tarquin lasted 400 years, and was burnt down in the civil wars, B.C. 83. It was rebuilt very soon afterwards by Sylla, and adorned with columns of Pentelic marble, which he had brought from the temple of Jupiter Olympus at Athens.[26] Sylla, however, did not live to rededicate it, and it was finished by Q. Lutatius Catulus, B.C. 62. This temple lasted till it was burnt to the ground by the soldiers of Vitellius, who set fire to it by throwing torches upon the portico, A.D. 69, and dragging forth Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, murdered him at the foot of the Capitol, near the Mamertine Prisons.[27] Domitian, the younger son of Vespasian, was, at that time, in the temple with his uncle, and escaped in the dress of a priest; in commemoration of which, he erected a chapel to Jupiter Conservator, close to the temple, with an altar upon which his adventure was sculptured. The temple was rebuilt by Vespasian, who took so great an interest in the work, that he carried away some of the rubbish on his own shoulders; but his temple was the exact likeness of its predecessor, only higher, as the aruspices said that the gods would not allow it to be altered.[28] In this building Titus and Vespasian celebrated their triumph for the fall of Jerusalem. The ruin of the temple began in A.D. 404, during the short visit of the youthful Emperor Honorius to Rome, when the plates of gold which lined its doors were stripped off by Stilicho.[29] It was finally plundered by the Vandals, in A.D. 455, when its statues were carried off to adorn the African palace of Genseric, and half its roof was stripped of the gilt bronze tiles which covered it; but it is not known precisely when it ceased to exist,—the early fathers of the Christian Church speak of having seen it. The story that the bronze statue of Jupiter, belonging to this temple, was transformed by Leo I. into the famous image of St. Peter, is very doubtful.

Close beside this, the queen of Roman temples, stood the Temple of Fides, said to have been founded by Numa, where the senate were assembled at the time of the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, B.C. 133, who fell in front of the temple of Jupiter, at the foot of the statues of the kings: his blood being the first spilt in Rome in a civil war.[30] Near this, also, were the twin Temples of Mars and Venus Erycina, vowed after the battle of Thrasymene, and consecrated, B.C. 215, by the consuls Q. Fabius Maximus and T. Otacilius Crassus. Near the top of the Clivus was the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, built by Augustus, in consequence of a vow which he made in an expedition against the Cantabri when his litter was struck, and the slave who preceded him was killed by lightning. This temple was so near, that it was considered as a porch to that of Jupiter Capitolinus, and in token of that character, Augustus hung some bells upon its pediment.

On the Arx, or opposite height of the Capitol, was the Temple of Honour and Virtue, built B.C. 103, by Marius, with the spoils taken in the Cimbric wars. This temple was of sufficient size to allow of the senate meeting there, to pass the decree for Cicero's recall.[31] Here Nardini places the ancient Temple of Jupiter Feretrius, in which Romulus dedicated the first spolia opima. Here, on the site of the house of Manlius, was built the Temple of Juno Moneta, B.C. 345, in accordance with a vow of L. Furius Camillus.[32] On this height, also, was the Altar of Jupiter Pistor, which commemorated the stratagem of the Romans, who threw down loaves into the camp of the besieging Gauls, to deceive them as to the state of their supplies.[33]

"Nomine, quam pretio celebratior, arce Tonantis, Dicam Pistoris quid velit ara Jovis." Ovid, Fast. vi. 349.

It was probably also on this side of the hill that the gigantic Statue of Jupiter stood, which was formed out of the armour taken from the Samnites, B.C. 293, and which is stated by Pliny to have been of such a size that it was visible from the top of Monte Cavo.

Two cliffs are now rival claimants to be considered as the Tarpeian Rock; but it is most probable that the whole of the hill on this side of the Intermontium was called the Mons Tarpeia, and was celebrated under that name by the poets.

"In summo custos Tarpeiæ Manlius arcis Stabat pro templo, et Capitolia celsa tenebat: Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo. Atque hic auratis volitans argenteus anser Porticibus, Gallos in limine adesse canebat." Virgil, Æn. viii. 652.

"Aurea Tarpeia ponet Capitolia rupe, Et junget nostro templorum culmina cœlo." Sil. Ital. iii. 623.

... "juvat inter tecta Tonantis, Cernere Tarpeia pendentes rupe Gigantes." Claud. vi. Cons. Hon. 44.

Among the buildings upon the Intermontium, or space between the two heights, were the Tabularium, or Record Office, part of which still remains; a portico, built by Scipio Nasica,[34] and an arch which Nero built here to his own honour, the erection of which upon the sacred hill, hitherto devoted to the gods, was regarded even by the subservient senate as an unparalleled act of presumption.[35]

In mediæval times the revolutionary government of Arnold of Brescia established itself on this hill (1144), and Pope Lucius II., in attempting to regain his temporal power, was slain with a stone in attacking it. Here Petrarch received his laurel crown (1341); and here the tribune Rienzi promulgated the laws of the "good estate." At this time nothing existed on the Capitol but the church and convent of Ara-Cœli, and a few ruins. Yet the cry of the people at the coronation of Petrarch, "Long life to the Capitol and the poet!" shows that the scene itself was then still more present to their minds than the principal actor upon it. But, when the popes returned from Avignon, the very memory of the Capitol seemed effaced, and the spot was only known as the Goat's Hill,—Monte Caprino. Pope Boniface IX. (1389—94) was the first to erect on the Capitol, on the ruins of the Tabularium, a residence for the senator and his assessors, Paul III. (1544—50) employed Michael Angelo to lay out the Piazza del Campidoglio; when he designed the Capitoline Museum and the Palace of the Conservators. Pius IV., Gregory XIII., and Sixtus V. added the sculptures and other monuments which now adorn the steps and balustrade.[36]

Just beyond the end of the Corso, the Via della Pedacchia turns to the right, under a quaint archway in the secret passage constructed as a means of escape for the Franciscan Generals of Ara-Cœli to the Palazzo Venezia, as that in the Borgo is for the escape of the popes to S. Angelo. In this street is a house decorated with simple but elegant Doric details, and bearing an inscription over the door which shows that it was that of Pietro da Cortona.

The street ends in the sunny open space at the foot of the Capitol, with Ara-Cœli on its left, approached by an immense flight of steps, removed hither from the Temple of the Sun, on the Quirinal, but marking the site of the famous staircase to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which Julius Cæsar descended on his knees, after his triumph for his Gallic victories.[37]

The grand staircase, "La Cordonnata," was opened in its present form on the occasion of the entry of Charles V., in 1536.[38] At its foot are two lions of Egyptian porphyry, which were removed hither from the Church of S. Stefano in Cacco, by Pius IV. It was down the staircase which originally existed on this site, that Rienzi the tribune fled in his last moments, and close to the spot where the left-hand lion stands, that he fell, covered with wounds, his wife witnessing his death from a window of the burning palace above. A small space between the two staircases has lately been transformed into a garden, through which access may be obtained to four vaulted brick chambers, remnants of the substructions of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. A living wolf is kept here in commemoration of the nurse of Romulus and Remus.

At the head of the stairs are colossal statues of the twin heroes, Castor and Pollux (brought hither from the Ghetto), commemorating the victory of the Lake Regillus, after which they rode before the army to Rome, to announce the joyful news, watered their horses at the Aqua Argentina, and then passed away from the gaze of the multitude into celestial spheres. Beyond these, on either side, are two trophies of imperial times discovered in the ruin on the Esquiline, misnamed the Trophies of Marius. Next come statues of Constantine the Great and his son Constantine II., from their baths on the Quirinal. The two ends of the parapet are occupied by ancient Milliaria, being the first and seventh milestones of the Appian Way. The first milestone was found in situ, and showed that the miles counted from the gates of Rome, and not, as was formerly supposed, from the Milliarium Aureum, at the foot of the Capitol.

We now find ourselves in the Piazza del Campidoglio, occupying the Intermontium, where Brutus harangued the people after the murder of Julius Cæsar. In the centre of the square is the famous Statue of Marcus Aurelius, the only perfect ancient equestrian statue in existence. It was originally gilt, as may still be seen from marks of gilding upon the figure, and stood in front of the arch of Septimius-Severus. Hence it was removed by Sergius III. to the front of the Lateran, where, not long after, it was put to a singular use by John XIII., who hung a refractory prefect of the city from it by his hair.[39] During the rejoicings consequent upon the elevation of Rienzi to the tribuneship in 1347, one of its nostrils was made to flow with water and the other with wine. From its vicinity to the Lateran, so intimately connected with the history of Constantine, it was supposed during the middle ages to represent that Christian emperor, and this fortunate error alone preserved it from the destruction which befell so many other ancient imperial statues. Michael Angelo, when he designed the buildings of the Capitoline Piazza, wished to remove the statue to its present site, but the canons of the Lateran were unwilling to part with their treasure, and only consented to its removal upon an annual acknowledgment of their proprietorship, for which a bunch of flowers is still presented once a year by the senators to the chapter of the Lateran. Michael Angelo, standing in fixed admiration before this statue, is said to have bidden the horse "Cammina." Even until late years an especial guardian has been appointed to take care of it, with an annual stipend of ten scudi a year, and the title of "Il custode del Cavallo."

"They stood awhile to contemplate the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. 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. It is the most majestic representation of the kingly character that ever the world has seen. 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. He stretches forth his hand with an air of proud magnificence 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."—Hawthorne.

"I often ascend the Capitoline Hill to look at Marcus Aurelius and his horse, and have not been able to refrain from caressing the lions of basalt. You cannot stand on the Aventine or the Palatine without grave thoughts, but standing on the spot brings me very little nearer the image of past ages."—Niebuhr's Letters.

"La statue équestre de Marc-Aurèle a aussi sa légende, et celle-là n'est pas du moyen âge, mais elle a été recueillie il y a peu d'années de la bouche d'un jeune Romain. La dorure, en partie détruite, se voit encore en quelques endroits. A en croire le jeune Romain, cependant, la dorure, au lieu d'aller s'effaçant toujours davantage, était en voie de progrès. 'Voyez, disait-il, la statue de bronze commence à se dorer, et quand elle le sera entièrement, le monde finira.'—C'est toujours, sous une forme absurde, la vieille idée romaine, que les destinées et l'existence de Rome sont liées aux destinées et à l'existence du monde. C'est ce qui faisait dire au septième siècle; ainsi que les pèlerins saxons l'avaient entendu et le répétaient; 'Quand le Colisée tombera, Rome et le monde finiront.'"—Ampère, Emp. ii. 228.

The building at the back of the piazza is The Palace of the Senator, originally built by Boniface IX. (1389), but altered by Michael Angelo to correspond with his buildings on either side. The fountain at the foot of the double staircase was erected by Sixtus V., and is adorned with statues of river gods found in the Colonna Gardens, and a curious porphyry figure of Minerva—adapted as Rome. The body of this statue was found at Cori, but the head and arms are modern additions.

"Rome personnifiée, cette déesse à laquelle on érigea des temples, voulut d'abord être une Amazone, ce qui se conçoit, car elle était guerrière avant tout. C'est sous la forme de Minerve que Rome est assise sur la place du Capitole."—Ampère, Hist. Romaine, iii. 242.

In the interior of this building the Hall of the Senators contains some papal statues, and that of Charles of Anjou, who was made senator of Rome in the thirteenth century.

The Tower of the Capitol contains the great bell of Viterbo, carried off from that town during the wars of the middle ages, which is never rung except to announce the death of a pope, or the opening of the carnival. During the closing years of the temporal power of the popes, it has been difficult to obtain admission to the tower, but the ascent is well repaid by the view from the summit, which embraces not only the seven hills of Rome, but the various towns and villages of the neighbouring plain and mountains which successively fell under its dominion.

"Pour suivre les vicissitudes des luttes extérieures des Romains contre les peuples qui les entourent et les pressent de tous côtés, nous n'aurons qu'à regarder à l'horizon la sublime campagne romaine et ces montagnes qui l'encadrent si admirablement. Elles sont encore plus belles et l'œil prend encore plus de plaisir à les contempler quand on songe à ce qu'elles ont vu d'efforts et de courage dans les premiers temps de la république. Il n'est presque pas un point de cette campagne qui n'ait été témoin de quelque rencontre glorieuse; il n'est presque un rocher de ces montagnes qui n'est été pris et repris vingt fois.

"Toutes ces nations sabelliques qui dominaient la ville du Tibre et semblaient placées là sur des hauteurs disposées en demi-cercle pour l'envelopper et l'écraser, toutes ces nations sont devant nous et à la portée du regard.

"Voici de côté de la mer les montagnes des Volsques; plus à l'est sont les Herniques et les Æques; au nord, les Sabins; à l'ouest, d'autres ennemis, les Etrusques, dont le mont Ciminus est le rempart.

"Au sud, la plaine se prolonge jusqu'à la mer. Ici sont les Latins, qui, n'ayant pas des montagnes pour leur servir de citadelle et de refuge, commenceront par être des alliés.

"Nous pouvons donc embrasser le panorama historique des premiers combats qu'eurent à soutenir et que soutinrent si vaillamment les Romains affranchis."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 373.

Beneath the Palace of the Senator (entered by a door in the street on the right), are the gigantic remains of the Tabularium, consisting of huge rectangular blocks of peperino supporting a Doric colonnade, which is shown by an inscription still preserved to have been that of the public Record Office, where the Tabulæ, engraved plates bearing important decrees of the Senate, were preserved, having been placed there by Q. Lutatius Catulus in B.C. 79. A gallery in the interior of the Tabularium has been fitted up as a museum of architectural antiquities collected from the neighbouring temples. This building is as it were the boundary between inhabited Rome and that Rome which is a city of ruins.

"I came to the Capitol, and looked down on the other side. There before my eyes opened an immense grave, and out of the grave rose a city of monuments in ruins, columns, triumphal arches, temples, and palaces, broken, ruinous, but still beautiful and grand,—with a solemn mournful beauty! It was the giant apparition of ancient Rome."—Frederika Bremer.

The traces of an ancient staircase still exist, which led down from the Tabularium to the Forum. This is believed by many to have been the path by which the besiegers under Vitellius, A.D. 69, attacked the Capitol.

The east side of the piazza—on the left as one stands at the head of the steps—is the Museo Capitolino (open daily from 9 to 4, for a fee; and on Mondays and Thursdays gratis, from 2½ to 4½).

Above the fountain in the court, opposite the entrance, reclines the colossal statue of a river-god, called Marforio, removed hither from the end of the Via di Marforio (Forum Martis?) near the arch of Severus. This figure, according to Roman fancy, was the friend and gossip of Pasquin (at the Palazzo Braschi), and lively dialogues, merciless to the follies of the government and the times, used to appear with early morning, placarded on their respective pedestals, as passing between the two. Thus, when Clement XI. mulcted Rome of numerous sums to send to his native Urbino, Marforio asked, "What is Pasquino doing?" The next morning Pasquin answered, "I am taking care of Rome, that it does not go away to Urbino." In the desire of putting an end to such inconvenient remarks, the government ordered the removal of one of the statues to the Capitol, and, since Marforio has been shut up, Pasquino has lost his spirits.

From the corridor on the ground floor open several rooms devoted to ancient inscriptions and sarcophagi with bas-reliefs. The first room on the left has some bronzes—in the centre a mutilated horse, found, 1849, in the Trastevere.

"Calamis, venu un peu avant Phidias, n'eut point de rival pour les chevaux. Calamis, qui fut fondeur en bronze, serait-il l'auteur du cheval de bronze du Capitole, qui, en effet, semble plutôt un peu antérieur que postérieur à Phidias?"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 234.

At the foot of the staircase is a colossal statue of the Emperor Hadrian, found on the Cœlian.

The Staircase is lined with the fragments of the Pianta Capitolina, a series of marble slabs of imperial date (found in the sixteenth century under SS. Cosmo and Damian), inscribed with ground plans of Rome, and exceedingly important from the light they throw upon the ancient topography of the city.

The upper Corridor is lined with statues and busts. Here and elsewhere we will only notice those especially remarkable for beauty or historic interest.[40]

L. 12. Satyr playing on a flute.
R. 13. Cupid bending his bow.
R. 20. Old woman intoxicated.

"Tout le monde a remarqué dans le musée du Capitole une vieille femme serrant des deux mains une bouteille, la bouche entr'ouverte, les yeux mourants tournés vers le ciel, comme si, dans la jubilation de l'ivresse, elle savourait le vin qu'elle vient de boire. Comment ne pas voir dans cette caricature en marbre une reproduction de la Vielle Femme ivre de Myron, qui passait pour une des curiosités de Smyrne."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 272.

L. 26. The infant Hercules strangling a serpent.
L. 28. Grand Sarcophagus—the Rape of Proserpine.
R. 33. Satyr playing on a flute.
(In the wall on the left inscriptions from the columbarium of Livia.)
R. 43. Head of Ariadne.
L. 48. Sarcophagus—the birth and childhood of Bacchus.
L. 56. Statue, draped.
R. 64. Jupiter, on a cippus with a curious relief of Claudia drawing the boat with the image of the Magna Mater up the Tiber.
L. 69. Bust of Caligula.
R. 70. Marcus Aurelius, as a boy—a very beautiful bust.
R. 70. Statue of Minerva from Velletri. The same as that in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican.
R. 72. Trajan.
    76. In the window, a magnificent vase, found near the tomb of Cecilia Metella, standing on a puteal adorned with reliefs of the twelve principal gods and goddesses.

From the right of this corridor open two chambers. The first is named the Room of the Doves, from the famous mosaic found in the ruins of Hadrian's villa near Tivoli, and generally called Pliny's Doves, because Pliny, when speaking of the perfection to which the mosaic art had attained, describes a wonderful mosaic of Sosus of Pergamos, in which one dove is seen drinking and casting her shadow on the water, while others are pluming themselves on the edge of the vase. As a pendant to this is another Mosaic, of a Tragic and Comic Mask. In the farther window is the Iliac Tablet, an interesting relief in the soft marble called palombino, relating to the story of the destruction of Troy, and the flight of Æneas, and found at Bovillæ.

"L'ensemble de la guerre contre Troie est contenu dans un abrégé figuré qu'on appelle la Table Iliaque, petit bas-relief destiné à offrir un résumé visible de cette guerre aux jeunes Romains, et à servir dans les écoles soit pour l'Iliade, soit pour les poëmes cycliques comme d'un Index parlant.

"La Table Iliaque est un ouvrage romain fait à Rome. Tout ce qui touche aux origines troyennes de cette ville, inconnues à Homère et célébrées surtout par Stésichore avant de l'être par Virgile, tient dans ce bas-relief une place importante et domine dans sa composition."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 431.

In the centre of the room is a pretty statuette of a girl shielding a dove.

The second chamber, known as The Reserved Cabinet, contains the famous Venus of the Capitol—a Greek statue, found immured in a wall upon the Quirinal.

"La vérité et la complaisance avec lesquelles la nature est rendue dans la Vénus du Capitole faisaient de cette belle statue,—qui pourtant n'a rien d'indécent bien que par une pruderie peu chaste on l'ait reléguée dans un cabinet réservé,—faisaient de cette belle statue un sujet de scandale pour l'austérité des premiers chrétiens. C'était sans doute afin de la soustraire à leurs mutilations qu'on l'avait enfouie avec soin, ce qui l'a conservée dans son intégrité; ainsi son danger l'a sauvée. Comme on l'a trouvée dans le quartier suspect de la Suburra, on peut supposer qu'elle ornait l'atrium élégant de quelque riche courtisane."—Ampère, iii. 318.

The two smaller sculptures of Leda and the Swan, and Cupid and Psyche—two lovely children embracing (most needlessly secluded here), were found on the Aventine.

From the end of the gallery we enter

The Hall of the Emperors. In the centre is the beautiful seated statue of Agrippina (grand-daughter of Augustus—wife of Germanicus—and mother of Caligula).

"On s'arrête avec respect devant la première Agrippine, assise avec une si noble simplicité et dont le visage exprime si bien la fermeté virile."—Ampère, iv.

"Ici nous la contemplons telle que nous pouvons nous la figurer après la mort de Germanicus. Elle semble mise aux fers par le destin, mais sans pouvoir encore renoncer aux pensées superbes dont son âme était remplie aux jours de son bonheur."—Braun.

Round the room are ranged 83 busts of Roman emperors, empresses, and their near relations, forming perhaps the most interesting portrait gallery in the world. Even viewed as works of art, many of them are of the utmost importance. They are—

1. Julius Cæsar, nat. B.C. 100; ob. B.C. 44.
2. Augustus, Imp. B.C. 12—A.D. 14.
3. Marcellus, his nephew and son-in-law, son of Octavia, ob. B.C. 23, aged 20.
4, 5. Tiberius, Imp. A.D. 14-37.
6. Drusus, his brother, son of Livia and Claudius Nero, ob. B.C. 10.
7. Drusus, son of Tiberius and Vipsania, ob. A.D. 23.
8. Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, wife of the elder Drusus, mother of Germanicus and Claudius.
9. Germanicus, son of Drusus and Antonia, ob. A.D. 19.
10. Agrippina, daughter of Julia and Agrippa, granddaughter of Augustus, wife of Germanicus. Died of starvation under Tiberius, A.D. 33.
11. Caligula, Imp. A.D. 37-41, son of Germanicus and Agrippina. Murdered by the tribune Cherœa (in basalt).
12. Claudius, Imp. A.D. 41-54, younger son of Drusus and Antonia. Poisoned by Agrippina.
13. Messalina, third wife of Claudius. Put to death by Claudius, A.D. 48.

"Une grosse commère sensuelle, aux traits bouffis, à l'air assez commun, mais qui pouvait plaire à Claude."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 32.

14. Agrippina the younger, sixth wife of Claudius, daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder, great-granddaughter of Augustus. Murdered by her son Nero, A.D. 60.

"Ce buste la montre avec cette beauté plus grande que celle de sa mère, et qui était pour elle un moyen. Agrippine a les yeux levés vers le ciel, on dirait qu'elle craint, et qu'elle attend."—Emp. ii. 34.

15, 16. Nero, Imp. A.D. 54-69, son of Agrippina the younger by her first husband, Ahenobarbus. Died by his own hand.
17. Poppæa Sabina (?), second wife of Nero. Killed by a kick from
her husband, A.D. 62.

"Ce visage a la délicatesse presque enfantine que pouvait offrir celui de cette femme, dont les molles recherches et les soins curieux de toilette étaient célèbres, et dont Diderot a dit avec vérité, bien qu'avec un peu d'emphase, 'C'était une furie sous le visage des grâces.'"—Emp. ii. 38.

18. Galba, Imp. A.D. 69. Murdered in the Forum.
19. Otho, Imp. A.D. 69. Died by his own hand.
20. Vitellius (?), Imp. A.D. 69. Murdered at the Scalæ Gemoniæ.
21. Vespasian, Imp. A.D. 70-79.
22. Titus, Imp. A.D. 79-81. Supposed to have been poisoned by Domitian.
23. Julia, daughter of Titus.
24. Domitian, Imp. A.D. 81-96, son of Vespasian. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.

"Domitien est sans comparaison le plus beau des trois Flaviens: mais c'est une beauté formidable, avec un air farouche et faux."—Emp. ii. 12.

25. Longina (?).
26. Nerva (?), Imp. A.D. 96.
27. Trajan, Imp. A.D. 98-118.
28. Plotina, wife of Trajan.
29. Marciana, sister of Trajan.
30. Matidia, daughter of Marciana, niece of Trajan.
31, 32. Hadrian, Imp. A.D. 118-138, adopted son of Trajan.
33. Julia Sabina, wife of Hadrian, daughter of Matidia.
34. Elius Verus, first adopted son of Hadrian.
35. Antoninus Pius, Imp. A.D. 138-161, second adopted son of Hadrian.
36. Faustina the elder, wife of Antoninus Pius and sister of Elius Verus.
37. Marcus Aurelius, Imp. A.D. 161-180, son of Servianus by Paulina, sister of Hadrian, adopted by Antoninus Pius, as a boy.
38. Marcus Aurelius, in later life.
39. Annia Faustina, wife of Marcus Aurelius, daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina the elder.
40. Galerius Antoninus, son of Antoninus Pius.
41. Lucius Verus, son-in-law of Marcus Aurelius.
42. Lucilla, wife of Lucius Verus, daughter of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina the younger. Put to death at Capri for a plot against her husband.
43. Commodus, Imp. A.D. 180-193, son of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.
44. Crispina, wife of Commodus. Put to death by her husband at Capri.
45. Pertinax, Imp. A.D. 193, successor of Commodus, reigned three months. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.
46. Didius Julianus, Imp. A.D. 193, successor of Pertinax. Murdered in the Palace of the Cæsars.
47. Manlia Scantilla (?), wife of Didius Julianus.

48. Pescennius Niger,

49. Clodius Albinus,

—rival candidates (after murder of Didius

Julianus,

A.D.

193) for the Empire, which

they failed to obtain, and were both put to death.

50, 51. Septimius Severus, Imp. A.D. 193-211, successor of Didius Julianus.
52. Julia Pia, wife of Septimius Severus.
53. Caracalla, Imp. A.D. 211-217, son of Sept. Severus and Julia Pia. Murdered.
54. Geta, brother of Caracalla, by whose order he was murdered in the arms of Julia Pia.
55. Macrinus, Imp. A.D. 217, murderer and successor of Caracalla. Murdered.
56. Diadumenianus, son of Macrinus. Murdered with his father.
57. Heliogabalus, Imp. A.D. 218—222, son of Julia Soemis, daughter of Julia Mœsa, who was sister of Julia Pia. Murdered.
58. Annia Faustina, third wife of Heliogabalus, great-granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius.
59. Julia Mœsa, sister-in-law of Septimius Severus, aunt of Caracalla, and grandmother of Alexander Severus.
60. Alexander Severus, Imp., son of Julia Mammea, second daughter of Julia Mœsa. Murdered at the age of 30.
61. Julia Mammea, daughter of Julia Mœsa, and mother of Alexander Severus. Murdered with her son.
62. Julius Maximinus, Imp. 235—238; elected by the army. Murdered.
63. Maximus. Murdered with his father, at the age of 18.
64. Gordianus Africanus, Imp. 238; a descendant of Trajan. Died by his own hand.
65. (Antoninus) Gordianus, Junior, Imp. 238, son of Gordianus Africanus and Fabia Orestella, great-granddaughter of Antoninus Pius. Died in battle.

66. Pupienus, Imp. 238,

67. Balbinus, Imp. 238,

reigned together for four months and then

were murdered.

68. Gordianus Pius, Imp. 238, grandson, through his mother, of Gordianus Africanus. Murdered.
69. Philip II., Imp. 244, son of, and co-emperor with Philip I. Murdered.
70. Decius(?), Imp. 249—251. Forcibly elected by the army. Killed in battle.
71. Quintus Herennius Etruscus, son of Decius and Herennia Etruscilla. Killed in battle with his father.
72. Hostilianus, son or son-in-law of Decius, Imp. 251, with Treb. Gallus. Murdered.
73. Trebonianus Gallus, Imp. 251—254. Murdered.
74, 75. Volusianus, son of Trebonianus Gallus. Murdered.
76. Gallienus, Imp. 261—268. Murdered.
77. Salonina, wife of Gallienus.
78. Saloninus, son of Gallienus and Salonina. Put to death by Postumus, A.D. 259, at the age of 17.
79. Marcus Aurelius Carinus, Imp. 283, son of the Emperor Carus. Murdered.
80. Diocletian, Imp. 284-305; elected by the army.
81. Constantinus Chlorus, Imp. 305-306, son of Eutropius and Claudia, niece of the Emperor Claudius and Quintilius, father of Constantine the Great.
82. Julian the Apostate, Imp. 361-363, son of Julius Constantius and nephew of Constantine the Great. Died in battle.
83. Magnus Decentius, brother of the Emperor Magnentius. Strangled himself, 353.

"In their busts the lips of the Roman emperors are generally closed, indicating reserve and dignity, free from human passions and emotions."—Winckelmann.

"At Rome the emperors become as familiar as the popes. Who does not know the curly-headed Marcus Aurelius, with his lifted brow and projecting eyes—from the full round beauty of his youth to the more haggard look of his latest years? Are there any modern portraits more familiar than the severe wedge-like head of Augustus, with his sharp cut lips and nose,—or the dull phiz of Hadrian, with his hair combed down over his low forehead,—or the vain, perking face of Lucius Verus, with his thin nose, low brow, and profusion of curls,—or the brutal bull head of Caracalla,—or the bestial, bloated features of Vitellius?

"These men, who were but lay figures to us at school, mere pegs of names to hang historic robes upon, thus interpreted by the living history of their portraits, the incidental illustrations of the places where they lived and moved and died, and the buildings and monuments they erected, become like men of yesterday. Art has made them our contemporaries. They are as near to us as Pius VII. and Napoleon."—Story's Roba di Roma.

"Nerva est le premier des bons, et Trajan le premier des grands empereurs romains; après lui il y en eut deux autres, les deux Antonins. Trois sur soixante-dix, tel est à Rome le bilan des gloires morales de l'empire."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. liii.

Among the reliefs round the upper walls of this room are two,—of Endymion sleeping, and of Perseus delivering Andromeda, which belong to the set in the Palazzo Spada, and are exceedingly beautiful.

The Hall of Illustrious Men contains a seated statue of M. Claudius Marcellus (?), the conqueror of Syracuse, B.C. 212. Round the room are ranged 93 busts of ancient philosophers, statesmen, and warriors. Among the more important are:—

4, 5, 6.

Socrates.

48.

Cneius Domitius Corbulo, general under Claudius and Nero.

9.

Aristides, the orator.

49.

Scipio Africanus.

10.

Seneca (?).

52.

Cato Minor.

16.

Marcus Agrippa.

54.

Aspasia(?).

19.

Theophrastus.

55.

Cleopatra (?).

23.

Thales.

60.

Thucydides (?).

25.

Theon.

61.

Æschines.

27.

Pythagoras.

    62, 64.

Epicurus.

28.

Alexander the Great(?).

63.

Epicurus and Metrodorus.

30.

Aristophanes.

68, 69.

Masinissa.

31.

Demosthenes.

71.

Antisthenes.

38.

Aratus.

72, 73.

Julian the Apostate.

39, 40.

Democritus of Aldera.

75.

Cicero.

42, 43.

Euripides.

76.

Terence.

44, 45, 46.

Homer.

82.

Æschylus (?).

47.

Eumenides.

 

Among the interesting bas-reliefs in this room is one of a Roman interior with a lady trying to persuade her cat to dance to a lyre—the cat, meanwhile, snapping, on its hind legs, at two ducks; the detail of the room is given—even to the slippers under the bed.

The Saloon contains, down the centre,

1. Jupiter (in nero-antico), from Porto d'Anzio, on an altar with figures of Mercury, Apollo, and Diana.

2, 4. Centaurs (in bigio-morato), by Aristeas and Papias (their names are on the bases), from Hadrian's villa.

3. The young Hercules, found on the Aventine. It stands on an altar of Jupiter.

"On voit au Capitole une statue d'Hercule très-jeune, en basalte, qui frappe assez désagréablement, d'abord, par le contraste, habilement exprimé toutefois, des formes molles de l'enfance et de la vigueur caractéristique du héros. L'imitation de la Grèce se montre même dans la matière que l'artiste a choisie; c'est un basalt verdâtre, de couleur sombre. Tisagoras et Alcon avaient fait un Hercule en fer, pour exprimer la force, et, comme dit Pline, pour signifier l'énergie persévérante de dieu."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 406.

5. Æsculapius (in nero-antico), on an altar, representing a sacrifice.

Among the statues and busts round the room the more important are:—

9. Marcus Aurelius.

14. A Satyr.

21. Hadrian, as Mars, from Ceprano.

24. Hercules, in gilt bronze, found in the Forum-Boarium (the columns on either side come from the tomb of Cecilia Metella).

"On cite de Myron trois Hercules, dont deux à Rome; l'un de ces derniers a probablement servi de modèle à l'Hercule en bronze doré du Capitole. Cette statue a été trouvée dans le marché aux Bœufs, non loin du grand cirque. L'Hercule de Myron était dans un temple élevé par Pompée et situé près du grand cirque; mais la statue du Capitole, dont le geste est maniéré, quel que soit son mérite, n'est pas assez parfaite qu'on puisse y reconnaître une œuvre de Myron. Peut-être Pompée n'avait placé dans son temple qu'une copie de l'un des deux Hercules de Myron et la donnait pour l'original; peut-être aussi Pline y a-t-il été trompé. La vanité que l'un montre dans tous les actes de sa vie et le peu de sentiment vrai que trahit si souvent la vaste composition de l'autre s'accordent également avec cette supposition et la rendent assez vraisemblable."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 273.

28. Hecuba.

"Nous avons le personnage même d'Hécube dans la Pleureuse du Capitole. Cette prétendué pleureuse est une Hécube furieuse et une Hécube en scène, car elle porte le costume, elle a le geste et la vivacité du théâtre, je dirais volontiers de la pantomime.... Son regard est tourné vers le ciel, sa bouche lance des imprécations; on voit qu'elle pourra faire entendre ces hurlements, ces aboiements de la douleur effrénée que l'antiquité voulut exprimer en supposant que la malheureuse Hécube avait été métamorphosée en chienne, une chienne à laquelle on a arraché ses petits."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 468.

31. Colossal bust of Antoninus Pius.

The Hall of the Faun derives its name from the famous Faun of rosso-antico, holding a bunch of grapes to his mouth, found in Hadrian's Villa. It stands on an altar dedicated to Serapis. Against the right wall is a magnificent sarcophagus, whose reliefs (much studied by Flaxman) represent the battle of Theseus and the Amazons. The opposite sarcophagus has a relief of Diana and Endymion. We should also notice—

15. A boy with a mask.

21. A boy with a goose (found near the Lateran).

Let into the wall is a black tablet—the Lex Regia, or Senatus-Consultum, conferring imperial powers upon Vespasian, being the very table upon which Rienzi declaimed in favour of the rights of the people.

The Hall of the Dying Gladiator contains the three gems of the collection—"the Gladiator," "the Antinous of the Capitol," and the "Faun of Praxiteles." Besides these, we should notice—2. Apollo with the lyre, and 9. a bust of M. Junius Brutus, the assassin of Julius Cæsar.

In the centre of the room is the grand statue of the wounded Gaul, generally known as the Dying Gladiator.

"I see before me the gladiator lie: He leans upon his hand—his manly brow Consents to death, but conquers agony, And his drooped head sinks gradually low,— And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one, Like the first of a thunder-shower; and now The arena swims around him—he is gone, Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.

"He heard it, but he heeded not—his eyes Were with his heart, and that was far away; He reck'd not of the life he lost, nor prize, But where his rude hut by the Danube lay There were his young barbarians all at play, There was their Dacian mother—he, their sire, Butchered to make a Roman holiday. All this rushed with his blood—shall he expire, And unavenged? Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire!" Byron, Childe Harold.

It is delightful to read in this room the description in Transformation:—

"It was that room in the centre of which reclines the noble and most pathetic figure of the dying gladiator, just sinking into his death-swoon. Around the walls stand the Antinous, the Amazon, the Lycian Apollo, the Juno; all famous productions of antique sculpture, and still shining in the undiminished majesty and beauty of their ideal life, although the marble that embodies them is yellow with time, and perhaps corroded by the damp earth in which they lay buried for centuries. Here, likewise, is seen a symbol (as apt at this moment as it was two thousand years ago) of the Human Soul, with its choice of Innocence or Evil close at hand, in the pretty figure of a child, clasping a dove to her bosom, but assaulted by a snake.

"From one of the windows of this saloon, we may see a broad flight of stone steps, descending alongside the antique and massive foundation of the Capitol, towards the battered triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, right below. Farther on, the eye skirts along the edge of the desolate Forum (where Roman washerwomen hang out their linen to the sun), passing over a shapeless confusion of modern edifices, piled rudely up with ancient brick and stone, and over the domes of Christian churches, built on the old pavements of heathen temples, and supported by the very pillars that once upheld them. At a distance beyond—yet but a little way, considering how much history is heaped into the intervening space—rises the great sweep of the Coliseum, with the blue sky brightening through its upper tier of arches. Far off, the view is shut in by the Alban mountains, looking just the same, amid all this decay and change, as when Romulus gazed thitherward over his half-finished wall.

"In this chamber is the Faun of Praxiteles. It is the marble image of a young man, leaning his right arm on the trunk or stump of a tree: one hand hangs carelessly by his side, in the other he holds a fragment of a pipe, or some such sylvan instrument of music. His only garment, a lion's skin with the claws upon the shoulder, falls half-way down his back, leaving his limbs and entire front of the figure nude. The form, thus displayed, is marvellously graceful, but has a fuller and more rounded outline, more flesh, and less of heroic muscle, than the old sculptors were wont to assign to their types of masculine beauty. The character of the face corresponds with the figure; it is most agreeable in outline and feature, but rounded and somewhat voluptuously developed, especially about the throat and chin; the nose is almost straight, but very slightly curves inward, thereby acquiring an indescribable charm of geniality and humour. The mouth, with its full yet delicate lips, seems so really to smile outright, that it calls forth a responsive smile. The whole statue—unlike anything else that ever was wrought in the severe material of marble—conveys the idea of an amiable and sensual creature, easy, mirthful, apt for jollity, yet not incapable of being touched by pathos. It is impossible to gaze long at this stone image, without conceiving a kindly sentiment towards it, as if its substance were warm to the touch, and imbued with actual life. It comes very near to some of our pleasantest sympathies."—Hawthorne.

"Praxitèle avait dit à Phryné de choisir entre ses ouvrages celui qu'elle aimerait le mieux. Pour savoir lequel de ses chefs-d'œuvre l'artiste préférait, elle lui fit annoncer que le feu avait pris à son atelier. 'Sauvez, s'écria-t-il, mon Satyre et mon Amour!'"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 309.

The west or right side of the Capitoline Piazza is occupied by the Palace of the Conservators, which contains the Protomoteca, the Picture Gallery, and various other treasures.

The little court at the entrance is full of historical relics, including remains of two gigantic statues of Apollo; a colossal head of Domitian; and the marble pedestal, which once in the mausoleum of Augustus supported the cinerary urn of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, with a very perfect inscription. In the opposite loggia are a statue of Rome Triumphant, and a group of a lion attacking a horse, found in the bed of the Almo. In the portico on the right is the only authentic statue of Julius Cæsar; on the left, a statue of Augustus, leaning against the rostrum of a galley, in allusion to the battle of Actium.

The Protomoteca, a suite of eight rooms on the ground floor, contains a collection of busts of eminent Italians, with a few foreigners considered as naturalised by a long residence in Rome. Those in the second room, representing artists of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, were entirely executed at the expense of Canova.

At the foot of the staircase is a restoration by Michael Angelo of the column of Caius Duilius. On the upper flight of the staircase is a bas-relief of Curtius leaping into the gulf, here represented as a marsh.

"Un bas-relief d'un travail ancien, dont le style ressemble à celui des figures peintes sur les vases dits archaïques, représente Curtius engagé dans son marais; le cheval baisse la tête et flaire le marécage, qui est indiqué par des roseaux. Le guerrier penché en avant, presse sa monture. On a vivement, en présence de cette curieuse sculpture, le sentiment d'un incident héroïque probablement réel, et en même temps de l'aspect primitif du lieu qui en fut témoin."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 321.

On the first and second landings are magnificent reliefs, representing events in the life of Marcus Aurelius, Imp., belonging to the arch dedicated to him, which was wantonly destroyed, in order to widen the Corso, by Alexander VII.

"Jusqu'au lègne de Commode Rome est représentée par une Amazone; dans l'escalier du palais des Conservateurs, Rome, en tunique courte d'Amazone et le globe à la main, reçoit Marc Aurèle; le globe dans la main de Rome date de César."—Ampère, iii. 242.

The Halls of the Conservators consist of eight rooms. The 1st, painted in fresco from the history of the Roman kings, by the Cavaliere d'Arpino, contains statues of Urban VIII., by Bernini; Leo X., by the Sicilian Giacomo della Duca;[41] and Innocent X., in bronze, by Algardi. The 2nd room, adorned with subjects from republican history by Lauretti, has statues of modern Roman generals—Marc Antonio Colonna, Tommaso Rospigliosi, Francesco Aldobrandini, Carlo Barberini, brother of Urban VIII., and Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma. The 3rd room, painted by Daniele di Volterra, with subjects from the wars with the Cimbri, contains the famous Bronze Wolf of the Capitol, one of the most interesting relics in the city. The figure of the wolf is of unknown antiquity; those of Romulus and Remus are modern. It has been doubted whether this is the wolf described by Dionysius as "an ancient work of brass" standing in the temple of Romulus under the Palatine, or the wolf described by Cicero, who speaks of a little gilt figure of the founder of the city sucking the teats of a wolf. The Ciceronian wolf was struck by lightning in the time of the great orator, and a fracture in the existing figure, attributed to lightning, is adduced in proof of its identity with it.

"Geminos huic ubera circum Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem Impavidos: illam tereti cervice reflexam Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua."

Virgil, Æn. viii. 632.

"And thou, the thunder-stricken nurse of Rome! She-wolf! whose brazen-imaged dugs impart The milk of conquest yet within the dome Where, as a monument of antique art, Thou standest:—mother of the mighty heart, Which the great founder sucked from thy wild teat, Scorch'd by the Roman Jove's ethereal dart, And thy limbs black with lightning—dost thou yet Guard thy immortal cubs, nor thy fond charge forget?" Byron, Childe Harold.

Standing near the wolf is the well-known and beautiful figure of a boy extracting a thorn from his foot, called the Shepherd Martius.

"La ressemblance du type si fin de l'Apollon au lézard et du charmant bronze du Capitole le tíreur d'épine est trop frappante pour qu'on puisse se refuser à voir dans celui-ci une inspiration de Praxitèle ou de son école. C'est tout simplement un enfant arrachant de son pied une épine qui l'a blessé, sujet naïf et champêtre analogue au Satyre se faisant rendre ce service par un autre Satyre. On a voulu y voir un athlète blessé par une épine pendant sa course et qui n'en est pas moins arrivé au but; mais la figure est trop jeune et n'a rien d'athlétique. Le moyen âge avait donné aussi son explication et inventé sa legende. On raccontait qu'un jeune berger, envoyé à la découverte de l'ennemi, était revenu sans s'arrêter et ne s'était permis qu'alors d'arracher une épine qui lui blessait le pied. Le moyen âge avait senti le charme de cette composition qu'il interprétait à sa manière, car elle est sculptée sur un arceau de la cathédrale de Zurich qui date du siècle de Charlemagne."—Ampère, iii. 315.

Forming part of the decorations of this room are two fine pictures, a dead Christ with a monk praying, and Sta. Francesca Romana, by Romanelli. Near the door of exit is a bust said to be that of Junius Brutus.

"Il est permis de voir dans le buste du Capitole un vrai portrait de Brutus; il est difficile d'en douter en le contemplant. Voilà bien le visage farouche, la barbe hirsute, les cheveux roides collés si rudement sur le front, la physiognomie inculte et terrible du prémier consul romain; la bouche serrée respire la détermination et l'énergie; les yeux, formés d'une matière jaunâtre, se détachent en clair sur le bronze noirci par les siècles et vous jettent un regard fixe et farouche. Tout près est la louve de bronze. Brutus est de la même famille. On sent qu'il y a du lait de cette louve dans les veines du second fondateur de Rome, comme dans les veines du premier, et que lui aussi, pareil au Romulus de la légende, marchera vers son but à travers le sang des siens.

"Le buste de Brutus est placé sur un piédestal qui le met à la hauteur du regard. Là, dans un coin sombre, j'ai passé bien des moments face à face avec l'impitoyable fondateur de la liberté romaine."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 270.

The 4th Room contains the Fasti Consulares, tables found near the temple of Minerva Chalcidica, and inscribed with the names of public officers from Romulus to Augustus. The 5th Room contains two bronze ducks (formerly shown as the sacred geese of the Capitol) and a female head—found in the gardens of Sallust, a bust of Medusa, by Bernini, and many others. The 6th, or Throne Room, hung with faded tapestry, has a frieze in fresco, by Annibale Caracci, representing the triumphs of Scipio Africanus. The 7th Room is painted by Daniele da Volterra(?) with the history of the Punic Wars. The 8th Room (now used as a passage) is a chapel, containing a lovely fresco, by Pinturicchio, of the Madonna and Child with Angels.

"The Madonna is seated enthroned, fronting the spectator; her large mantle forms a grand cast of drapery; the child on her lap sleeps in the loveliest attitude; she folds her hands and looks down, quiet, serious, and beautiful: in the clouds are two adoring angels."—Kugler.

The four Evangelists are by Caravaggio; the pictures of Roman saints (Cecilia, Alexis, Eustachio, Francesca-Romana), by Romanelli.

By the same staircase, passing on the left a wonderful relief of the apotheosis of the wicked Faustina, we may arrive at the Picture Gallery of the Capitol (which can also be approached by a separate staircase, entered from an alley at the back of the building), reached by two rooms inscribed with the names of the Roman Conservators from the middle of the sixteenth century. This gallery contains very few first-rate pictures, but has a beautiful St. Sebastian, by Guido, and several fine works of Guercino. The most noticeable pictures are—

1st Room.—
2. Disembodied Spirit (unfinished): Guido Reni.
13. St. John Baptist: Guercino.
16. Mary Magdalene: Guido Reni.
20. The Cumæan Sibyl: Domenichino.
26. Mary Magdalene: Tintoretto.
27. Presentation in the Temple: Fra. Bartolomeo.
30. Holy Family: Garofalo.
52. Madonna and Saints: Botticelli?
61. Portrait of himself: Guido Reni.
78. Madonna and Saints: F. Francia, 1513.
80. Portrait: Velasquez.
87. St. Augustine: Giovanni Bellini.
89. Romulus and Remus: Rubens.

2nd Room.—
100. Two male portraits: Vandyke.
104. Adoration of the Shepherds: Mazzolino.
106. Two Portraits: Vandyke.
116. St. Sebastian: Guido Reni.
117. Cleopatra and Augustus: Guercino.
119. St. Sebastian: Lud. Caracci.
128. Gipsy telling a fortune: Caravaggio.
132. Portrait: Giovanni Bellini.
134. Portrait of Michael Angelo: M. Venusti?
136. Petrarch: Gio. Bellini?
142. Nativity of the Virgin: Albani.
143. Sta. Petronilla: Guercino. An enormous picture, brought hither from St. Peter's, where it has been replaced by a mosaic copy. The composition is divided into two parts. The lower represents the burial of Sta. Petronilla, the upper the ascension of her spirit.

"The Apostle Peter had a daughter, born in lawful wedlock, who accompanied him in his journey from the East. Petronilla was wonderfully fair; and Valerius Flaccus, a young and noble Roman, who was a heathen, became enamoured of her beauty, and sought her for his wife; and he, being very powerful, she feared to refuse him; she therefore desired him to return in three days, and promised that he should then carry her home. But she prayed earnestly to be delivered from this peril; and when Flaccus returned in three days, with great pomp, to celebrate the marriage, he found her dead. The company of nobles who attended him, carried her to the grave, in which they laid her, crowned with roses; and Flaccus lamented greatly."—Mrs. Jameson, from the Perfetto Legendario.

 
199. Death and Assumption of the Virgin: Cola della Matrice.

"Here the death of the Virgin is treated at once in a mystical and dramatic style. Enveloped in a dark blue mantle, spangled with golden stars, she lies extended on a couch; St. Peter, in a splendid scarlet cope as bishop, reads the service; St. John, holding the palm, weeps bitterly. In front, and kneeling before the couch or bier, appear the three great Dominican saints as witnesses of the religious mystery; in the centre St. Dominic; on the left, St. Catherine of Siena; and on the right, St. Thomas Aquinas. In a compartment above is the Assumption."—Jameson's Legends of the Madonna, p. 315.

 
123. Virgin and Angels: Paul Veronese.
124. Rape of Europa: Paul Veronese.

At the head of the Capitol steps, to the right of the terrace, is the entrance to the Palazzo Caffarelli, the residence of the Prussian minister. It has a small but beautiful garden, and the view from the windows is magnificent.

"After dinner, Bunsen called for us, and took us first to his house on the Capitol, the different windows of which command the different views of ancient and modern Rome. Never shall I forget the view of the former; we looked down on the Forum, and just opposite were the Palatine and the Aventine, with the ruins of the Palace of the Cæsars on the one, and houses intermixed with gardens on the other. The mass of the Coliseum rose beyond the Forum, and beyond all, the wide plain of the Campagna to the sea. On the left rose the Alban hills, bright in the setting sun, which played full upon Frescati and Albano, and the trees which edge the lake, and further away in the distance, it lit up the old town of Labicum."—Arnold's Letters.

From the further end of the courtyard of the Caffarelli Palace one can look down upon part of the bare cliff of the Rupe Tarpeia. Here there existed till 1868 a small court, which is represented as the scene of the murder in Hawthorne's Marble Faun, or "Transformation." The door, the niche in the wall, and all other details mentioned in the novel, were realities. The character of the place is now changed by the removal of the boundary-wall. The part of the rock seen from here is that usually visited from below by the Via Tor de' Specchi.

To reach the principal portion of the south-eastern height of the Capitol, we must ascend the staircase beyond the Palace of the Conservators, on the right. Here we shall find ourselves upon the highest part of

"The Tarpeian rock, the citadel Of great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth, So far renown'd, and with the spoils enriched Of nations." Paradise Regained.

"The steep Tarpeian, fittest goal of treason's race, The promontory whence the traitor's leap Cured all ambition." Childe Harold.

The dirty lane, with its shabby houses, and grass-grown spaces, and filthy children, has little to remind one of the appearance of the hill as seen by Virgil and Propertius, who speak of the change in their time from an earlier aspect.

"Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem, et Capitolia ducit, Aurea nunc, olim, silvestribus horrida dumis, Jam tum religio pavidos terrebat agrestes Dira loci; jam tum silvam saxumque tremebant." Virgil, Æn. viii. 347.

"Hoc quodcumque vides, hospes, qua maxima Roma est, Ante Phrygem Aeneam collis et herba fuit." Propertius, iv. eleg. I.

It was on this side that the different attacks were made upon the Capitol. The first was by the Sabine Herdonius at the head of a band of slaves, who scaled the heights and surprised the garrison, in B.C. 460, and from the heights of the citadel proclaimed freedom to all slaves who should join him, with abolition of debts, and defence of the plebs from their oppressors; but his offers were disregarded, and on the fourth day the Capitol was re-taken, and he was slain with nearly all his followers. The second attack was by the Gauls, who, according to the well-known story, climbed the rock near the Porta Carmentale, and had nearly reached the summit unobserved—for the dogs neglected to bark—when the cries of the sacred geese of Juno aroused an officer named Manlius, who rushed to the defence, and hurled over the precipice the first assailant, who dragged down others in his fall, and thus the Capitol was saved. In remembrance of this incident, a goose was annually carried in triumph, and a dog annually crucified upon the Capitol, between the temple of Summanus and that of Youth.[42] This was the same Manlius, the friend of the people, who was afterwards condemned by the patricians on pretext that he wished to make himself king, and thrown from the Tarpeian rock, on the same spot, in sight of the Forum, where Spurius Cassius, an ex-consul, had been thrown down before. To visit the part of the rock from which these executions must have taken place, it is necessary to enter a little garden near the German Hospital, whence there is a beautiful view of the river and the Aventine.

"Quand on veut visiter la roche Tarpéienne, on sonne à une porte de peu d'apparence, sur laquelle sont écrits ces mots: Rocca Tarpeia. Une pauvre femme arrive et vous mène dans un carré de choux. C'est de là qu'on précipita Manlius. Je serais desolé que le carré de choux manquât."—Ampère, Portraits de Rome.

This side of the Intermontium is now generally known as Monte Caprino, a name which Ampère derives from the fact that Vejovis, the Etruscan ideal of Jupiter, was always represented with a goat.[43] On this side of the hill, the viaduct from the Palatine, built by Caligula (who affected to require it to facilitate communication with his friend Jupiter), joined the Capitoline.

We have still to examine the north-eastern height, the site of the most interesting of pagan temples, now occupied by one of the most interesting of Christian churches. The name of the famous Church of Ara-Cœli is generally attributed to an altar erected by Augustus to commemorate the Delphic oracle respecting the coming of our Saviour, which is still recognised in the well-known hymn of the Church:

Teste David cum Sibylla.[44]

The altar bore the inscription "Ara Primogeniti Dei." Those who seek a more humble origin for the church, say that the name merely dates from mediæval times, when it was called "Sta, Maria in Aurocœlio." It originally belonged to the Benedictine Order, but was transferred to the Franciscans by Innocent IV. in 1252, since which time its convent has occupied an important position as the residence of the General of the Minor Franciscans (Grey-friars), and is the centre of religious life in that Order.

The staircase on the left of the Senators' palace, which leads to the side entrance of Ara-Cœli, is in itself full of historical associations. It was at its head that Valerius the consul was killed in the conflict with Herdonius for the possession of the Capitol. It was down the ancient steps on this site that Annius, the envoy of the Latins, fell (B.C. 340), and was nearly killed, after his audacious proposition in the temple of Jupiter, that the Latins and Romans should become one nation, and have a common senate and consuls. Here also,[45] in B.C. 133, Tiberius Gracchus was knocked down with the leg of a chair, and killed in front of the temple of Jupiter.

It is at the top of these steps, that the monks of Ara-Cœli, who are celebrated as dentists, perform their hideous, but useful and gratuitous operations, which may be witnessed here every morning!

Over the side entrance of Ara-Cœli is a beautiful mosaic of the Virgin and Child. This, with the ancient brick arches above, framing fragments of deep blue sky—and the worn steps below—forms a subject dear to Roman artists, and is often introduced as a background to groups of monks and peasants. The interior of the church is vast, solemn, and highly picturesque. It was here, as Gibbon himself tells us, that on the 15th of October, 1764, as he sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers, the idea of writing the "Decline and Fall" of the city first started to his mind.

"As we lift the great curtain and push into the church, a faint perfume of incense salutes the nostrils. The golden sunset bursts in as the curtain of the (west) door sways forward, illuminates the mosaic floor, catches on the rich golden ceiling, and flashes here and there over the crowd (gathered in Epiphany), on some brilliant costume or closely shaven head. All sorts of people are thronging there, some kneeling before the shrine of the Madonna, which gleams with its hundreds of silver votive hearts, legs, and arms, some listening to the preaching, some crowding round the chapel of the Presepio. Old women, haggard and wrinkled, come tottering along with their scaldini of coals, drop down on their knees to pray, and, as you pass, interpolate in their prayers a parenthesis of begging. The church is not architecturally handsome, but it is eminently picturesque, with its relics of centuries, its mosaic pulpits and floors, its frescoes of Pinturicchio and Pesaro, its antique columns, its rich golden ceiling, its gothic mausoleum to the Savelli, and its mediæval tombs. A dim, dingy look is over all—but it is the dimness of faded splendour; and one cannot stand there, knowing the history of the church, its great antiquity, and the varied fortunes it has known, without a peculiar sense of interest and pleasure.

"It was here that Romulus in the grey dawning of Rome built the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. Here the spolia opima were deposited. Here the triumphal processions of the emperors and generals ended. Here the victors paused before making their vows, until, from the Mamertine prisons below, the message came to announce that their noblest prisoner and victim—while the clang of their triumph and his defeat rose ringing in his ears, as the procession ascended the steps—had expiated with death the crime of being the enemy of Rome. On the steps of Ara-Cœli, nineteen centuries ago, the first great Cæsar climbed on his knees after his first triumph. At their base, Rienzi, the last of the Roman tribunes, fell—and if the tradition of the Church is to be trusted, it was on the site of the present high altar that Augustus erected the 'Ara Primogeniti Dei,' to commemorate the Delphic prophecy of the coming of our Saviour. Standing on a spot so thronged with memories, the dullest imagination takes fire. The forms and scenes of the past rise from their graves and pass before us, and the actual and visionary are mingled together in strange poetic confusion."—Roba di Roma, i. 73.

The floor of the church is of the ancient mosaic known as Opus Alexandrinum. The nave is separated from the aisles by twenty-two ancient columns, of which two are of cipollino, two of white marble, and eighteen of Egyptian granite. They are of very different forms and sizes, and have probably been collected from various pagan edifices. The inscription "A Cubiculo Augustorum" upon the third column on the left of the nave, shows that it was brought from the Palace of the Cæsars. The windows in this church are amongst the few in Rome which show traces of gothic. At the end of the nave, on either side, are two ambones, marking the position of the choir before it was extended to its present site in the sixteenth century.

The transepts are full of interesting monuments. That on the right is the burial-place of the great family of Savelli, and contains—on the left, the monument of Luca Savelli, 1266 (father of Pope Honorius IV.) and his son Pandolfo,—an ancient and richly sculptured sarcophagus, to which a gothic canopy was added by Agostino and Agnolo da Siena from designs of Giotto. Opposite, is the tomb of the mother of Honorius, Vana Aldobrandesca, upon which is the statue of the pope himself, removed from his monument in the old St. Peter's by Paul III.

On the left of the high altar is the tomb of Cardinal Gianbattista Savelli, ob. 1498, and near it—in the pavement, the half-effaced gravestone of Sigismondo Conti, whose features are so familiar to us from his portrait introduced into the famous picture of the Madonna di Foligno, which was painted by Raphael at his order, and presented by him to this church, where it remained over the high altar, till 1565, when his great niece Anna became a nun at the convent of the Contesse at Foligno, and was allowed to carry it away with her. In the east transept is another fine gothic tomb, that of Cardinal Matteo di Acquasparta (1302), a General of the Franciscans mentioned by Dante for his wise and moderate rule.[46] The quaint chapel in the middle of this transept, now dedicated to St. Helena, is supposed to occupy the site of the "Ara Primogeniti Dei."

Upon the pier near the ambone of the gospel is the monument of Queen Catherine of Bosnia, who died at Rome in 1478, bequeathing her states to the Roman Church on condition of their reversion to her son, who had embraced Mahommedanism, if he should return to the Catholic faith. Near this, upon the transept wall, is the tomb of Felice de Fredis, ob. 1529, upon which it is recorded that he was the finder of the Laocoon. The Chapel of the Annunciation, opening from the west isle, has a tomb to G. Crivelli, by Donatello, bearing his signature, "Opus Donatelli Florentini." The Chapel of Santa Croce is the burial-place of the Ponziani family, and was the scene of the celebrated ecstasy of the favourite Roman saint Francesca Romana.

"The mortal remains of Vanozza Ponziani (sister-in-law of Francesca) were laid in the church of Ara-Cœli, in the chapel of Santa Croce. The Roman people resorted there in crowds to behold once more their loved benefactress—the mother of the poor, the consoler of the afflicted. All strove to carry away some little memorial of one who had gone about among them doing good, and during the three days which preceded the interment, the concourse did not abate. On the day of the funeral Francesca knelt on one side of the coffin, and, in sight of all the crowd, she was wrapped in ecstasy. They saw her body lifted from the ground, and a seraphic expression in her uplifted face. They heard her murmur several times with an indescribable emphasis the word 'Quando? Quando?' When all was over, she still remained immoveable; it seemed as if her soul had risen on the wings of prayer, and followed Vanozza's spirit into the realms of bliss. At last her confessor ordered her to rise and go and attend on the sick. She instantly complied, and walked away to the hospital which she had founded, apparently unconscious of everything about her, and only roused from her trance by the habit of obedience, which, in or out of ecstasy, never forsook her."—Lady Georgiana Fullerton's Life of Sta. Fr. Romana.

There are several good pictures over the altars in the aisles of Ara-Cœli. In the Chapel of St Margaret of Cortona are frescoes illustrative of her life by Filippo Evangelisti,—in that of S. Antonio, frescoes by Nicola da Pesaro;—but no one should omit visiting the first chapel on the right of the west door, dedicated to S. Bernardino of Siena, and painted by Bernardino Pinturicchio, who has put forth his best powers to do honour to his patron saint with a series of exquisite frescoes, representing his assuming the monastic habit, his preaching, his vision of the Saviour, his penitence, death, and burial.

Almost opposite this—closed except during Epiphany—is the Chapel of the Presepio, where the famous image of the Santissimo Bambino d'Ara Cœli is shown at that season lying in a manger.

"The simple meaning of the term Presepio is a manger; but it is also used in the Church to signify a representation of the birth of Christ. In the Ara-Cœli the whole of one of the side-chapels is devoted to this exhibition. In the foreground is a grotto, in which is seated the Virgin Mary, with Joseph at her side and the miraculous Bambino in her lap. Immediately behind are an ass and an ox. On one side kneel the shepherds and kings in adoration; and above, God the Father is seen surrounded by crowds of cherubs and angels playing on instruments, as in the early pictures of Raphael. In the background is a scenic representation of a pastoral landscape, on which all the skill of the scene-painter is expended. Shepherds guard their flocks far away, reposing under palm-trees or standing on green slopes which glow in the sunshine. The distances and perspective are admirable. In the middle ground is a crystal fountain of glass, near which sheep, preternaturally white, and made of real wool and cotton wool, are feeding, tended by figures of shepherds carved in wood. Still nearer come women bearing great baskets of real oranges and other fruits on their heads. All the nearer figures are full-sized, carved in wood, painted, and dressed in appropriate robes. The miraculous Bambino is a painted doll swaddled in a white dress, which is crusted over with magnificent diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The Virgin also wears in her ears superb diamond pendants. The general effect of the scenic show is admirable, and crowds flock to it and press about it all day long.

"While this is taking place on one side of the church, on the other is a very different and quite as singular an exhibition. Around one of the antique columns a stage is erected, from which little maidens are reciting, with every kind of pretty gesticulation, sermons, dialogues, and little speeches, in explanation of the Presepio opposite. Sometimes two of them are engaged in alternate questions and answers about the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption. Sometimes the recitation is a piteous description of the agony of the Saviour and the sufferings of the Madonna, the greatest stress being, however, always laid upon the latter. All these little speeches have been written for them by their priest or some religious friend, committed to memory, and practised with appropriate gestures over and over again at home. Their little piping voices are sometimes guilty of such comic breaks and changes, that the crowd about them rustles into a murmurous laughter. Sometimes, also, one of the little preachers has a dispetto, pouts, shakes her shoulders, and refuses to go on with her part; another, however, always stands ready on the platform to supply the vacancy, until friends have coaxed, reasoned, or threatened the little pouter into obedience. These children are often very beautiful and graceful, and their comical little gestures and intonations, their clasping of hands and rolling up of eyes, have a very amusing and interesting effect."—Story's Roba di Roma.

At other times the Bambino dwells in the inner Sacristy, where it can be visited by admiring pilgrims. It is a fresh-coloured doll, tightly swathed in gold and silver tissue, crowned, and sparkling with jewels. It has servants of its own, and a carriage in which it drives out with its attendants, and goes to visit the sick. Devout peasants always kneel as the blessed infant passes. Formerly it was taken to sick persons and left on their beds for some hours, in the hope that it would work a miracle. Now it is never left alone. In explanation of this, it is said that an audacious woman formed the design of appropriating to herself the holy image and its benefits. She had another doll prepared of the same size and appearance as the "Santissimo," and having feigned sickness, and obtained permission to have it left with her, she dressed the false image in its clothes, and sent it back to Ara-Cœli. The fraud was not discovered till night, when the Franciscan monks were awakened by the most furious ringing of bells and by thundering knocks at the west door of the church, and hastening thither could see nothing but a wee naked pink foot peeping in from under the door; but when they opened the door, without stood the little naked figure of the true Bambino of Ara-Cœli, shivering in the wind and the rain,—so the false baby was sent back in disgrace, and the real baby restored to its home, never to be trusted away alone any more.

In the sacristy is the following inscription relating to the Bambino:—

"Ad hoc sacellum Ara Cœli a festo nativitatis domini usque ad festum Epiphaniæ magna populi frequentia invisitur et colitur in presepio Christi nati infantuli simulacrum ex oleæ ligno apud montem olivarum Hierosolymis a quodam devoto Minorita sculptum eo animo, ut ad hoc festum celebrandum deportaretur. De quo in primis hoc accidit, quod deficiente colore inter barbaras gentes ad plenam infantuli figurationem et formam, devotus et anxius artifex, professione laicus, precibus et orationibus impetravit, ut sacrum simulacrum divinitus carneo colore perfunctum reperiretur. Cumque navi Italiam veheretur, facto naufragio apud Tusciæ oras, simulacri capsa Liburnum appulit. Ex quo, recognita, expectabatur, enim a Fratribus, et jam fama illius a Hierosolymis ad nostras familiæ partes advenerat, ad destinatam sibi Capitolii sedem devenit. Fertur etiam, quod aliquando ex nimia devotione à quadam devota fœmina sublatum ad suas ædes miraculosè remeaverit. Quapropter in maxima veneratione semper est habitum a Romanis civibus, et universo populo donatum monilibus, et jocalibus pretiosis, liberalioribusque in dies prosequitur oblationibus."

The outer Sacristy contains a fine picture of the Holy Family by Giulio Romano.

The scene on the long flight of steps which leads to the west door of Ara-Cœli is very curious during Epiphany.

"If any one visit the Ara-Cœli during an afternoon in Christmas or Epiphany, the scene is very striking. The flight of one hundred and twenty-four steps is then thronged by merchants of Madonna wares, who spread them out over the steps and hang them against the walls and balustrades. Here are to be seen all sorts of curious little coloured prints of the Madonna and Child of the most extraordinary quality, little bags, pewter medals, and crosses stamped with the same figures and to be worn on the neck—all offered at once for the sum of one baiocco. Here also are framed pictures of the saints, of the Nativity, and in a word of all sorts of religious subjects appertaining to the season. Little wax dolls, clad in cotton-wool to represent the Saviour, and sheep made of the same materials, are also sold by the basket-full. Children and Contadini are busy buying them, and there is a deafening roar all up and down the steps, of 'Mezzo baiocco, bello colorito, mezzo baiocco, la Santissima Concezione Incoronata,'—'Diario Romano, Lunario Romano nuovo,'—'Ritratto colorito, medaglia e quadruccio, un baiocco tutti, un baiocco tutti,'—'Bambinella di cera, un baiocco.' None of the prices are higher than one baiocco, except to strangers, and generally several articles are held up together, enumerated, and proffered with a loud voice for this sum. Meanwhile men, women, children, priests, beggars, soldiers, and villani are crowding up and down, and we crowd with them."—Roba di Roma, i. 72.

"On the sixth of January the lofty steps of Ara-Cœli looked like an ant-hill, so thronged were they with people. Men and boys who sold little books (legends and prayers), rosaries, pictures of saints, medallions, chestnuts, oranges, and other things, shouted and made a great noise. Little boys and girls were still preaching zealously in the church, and people of all classes were crowding thither. Processions advanced with the thundering cheerful music of the fire-corps. Il Bambino, a painted image of wood, covered with jewels, and with a yellow crown on its head, was carried by a monk in white gloves, and exhibited to the people from a kind of altar-like erection at the top of the Ara-Cœli steps. Everybody dropped down upon their knees; Il Bambino was shown on all sides, the music thundered, and the smoking censers were swung."—Frederika Bremer.

The Convent of Ara-Cœli contains much that is picturesque and interesting. S. Giovanni Capistrano was abbot here in the reign of Eugenius IV.

Let us now descend from the Capitoline Piazza towards the Forum, by the staircase on the left of the Palace of the Senator. Close to the foot of this staircase is a church, very obscure-looking, with some rude frescoes on the exterior. Yet every one must enter this building, for here are the famous Mamertine Prisons, excavated from the solid rock under the Capitol.

The prisons are entered through the low Church of S. Pietro in Carcere, hung round with votive offerings and blazing with lamps.

"There is an upper chamber in the Mamertine Prisons, over what is said to have been—and very possibly may have been—the dungeon of St. Peter. The chamber is now fitted up as an oratory, dedicated to that saint; and it lives, as a distinct and separate place, in my recollection, too. It is very small and low-roofed; and the dread and gloom of the ponderous, obdurate old prison are on it, as if they had come up in a dark mist through the floor. Hanging on the walls, among the clustered votive offerings, are objects, at once strangely in keeping and strangely at variance with the place—rusty daggers, knives, pistols, clubs, divers instruments of violence and murder, brought here, fresh from use, and hung up to propitiate offended Heaven; as if the blood upon them would drain off in consecrated air, and have no voice to cry with. It is all so silent and so close, and tomblike; and the dungeons below are so black, and stealthy, and stagnant, and naked; that this little dark spot becomes a dream within a dream: and in the vision of great churches which come rolling past me like a sea, it is a small wave by itself, that melts into no other wave, and does not flow on with the rest."—Dickens.

Enclosed in the church, near the entrance, may be observed the outer frieze of the prison wall, with the inscription C. TIBIUS. C. F. RUFINUS. M.. COCCEIUS. NERVA. COS. EX. S. C., recording the names of two consuls of A.D. 22, who are supposed to have repaired the prison. Juvenal's description of the time when one prison was sufficient for all the criminals in Rome naturally refers to this building:

"Felices proavorum atavos, felicia dicas Sæcula, quæ quondam sub regibus atque tribunis Viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam." Sat. iii. 312.

A modern staircase leads to the horrible dungeon of Ancus Martius, sixteen feet in height, thirty in length, and twenty-two in breadth. Originally there was no staircase, and the prisoners were let down there, and thence into the lower dungeon, through a hole in the middle of the ceiling. The large door at the side is a modern innovation, having been opened to admit the vast mass of pilgrims during the festa. The whole prison is constructed of huge blocks of tufa without cement. Some remains are shown of the Scalæ Gemoniæ, so called from the groans of the prisoners—by which the bodies were dragged forth to be exposed to the insults of the populace or to be thrown into the Tiber. It was by this staircase that Cicero came forth and announced the execution of the Catiline conspirators to the people in the Forum, by the single word Vixerunt, "they have ceased to live." Close to the exit of these stairs the Emperor Vitellius was murdered. On the wall by which you descend to the lower dungeon is a mark, kissed by the faithful, as the spot against which St. Peter's head rested. The lower prison, called Robur, is constructed of huge blocks of tufa, fastened together by cramps of iron and approaching horizontally to a common centre in the roof. It has been attributed from early times to Servius Tullius; but Ampère[47] argues against the idea that the lower prison was of later origin than the upper, and suggests that it is Pelasgic, and older than any other building in Rome. It is described by Livy, and by Sallust, who depicts its horrors in his account of the execution of the Catiline conspirators.[48] The spot is shown to which these victims were attached and strangled in turn. In this dungeon, at an earlier period, Appius Claudius and Oppius the decemvirs committed suicide (B.C. 449). Here Jugurtha, king of Mauritania, was starved to death by Marius. Here Julius Cæsar, during his triumph for the conquest of Gaul, caused his gallant enemy Vercingetorix to be put to death. Here Sejanus, the friend and minister of Tiberius, disgraced too late, was executed for the murder of Drusus, son of the emperor, and for an intrigue with his daughter-in-law, Livilla. Here, also, Simon Bar-Gioras, the last defender of Jerusalem, suffered during the triumph of Titus.

The spot is more interesting to the Christian world as the prison of SS. Peter and Paul, who are said to have been bound for nine months to a pillar, which is shown here. A fountain of excellent water, beneath the floor of the prison, is attributed to the prayers of St. Peter, that he might have wherewith to baptize his gaolers, Processus and Martinianus; but, unfortunately for this ecclesiastical tradition, the fountain is described by Plutarch as having existed at the time of Jugurtha's imprisonment This fountain probably gave the dungeon the name of Tullianum, by which it was sometimes known, tullius meaning a spring.[49] This name probably gave rise to the idea of its connection with Servius Tullius.

It is hence that the Roman Catholic Church believes that St. Peter and St Paul addressed their farewells to the Christian world.

That of St. Peter:—

"Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.... Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."—2nd St. Peter.

That of St. Paul:—

"God hath not given us a spirit of fear.... Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.... I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things, for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.... I charge thee by God and by the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead ... preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine; ... watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."—2nd Timothy.

On July 4, the prisons are the scene of a picturesque solemnity, when they are visited at night by the religious confraternities, who first kneel and then prostrate themselves in silent devotion.

Above the Church of S. Pietro in Carcere, is that of S. Giuseppe del Falegnami, St. Joseph of the Carpenters.

"Pourquoi les guides et les antiquaires qui nous ont si souvent montré la voie triomphale qui mène au Capitale et nous en ont tant de fois énuméré les souvenirs; pourquoi aucun d'eux ne nous a-t-il jamais parlé de ce qui survint le jour du triomphe de Titus, là-bas, près des prisons Mamertines? Laisse-moi vous rappeler que ce jour-là le triomphateur, au moment de monter au temple, devant verser le sang d'une victime, s'arrêta à cette place, tandis que l'on détachait de son cortége un captif de plus haute taille et plus richement vêtu que les autres, et qu'on l'emmenait dans cette prison pour y achever son supplice avec le lacet même qu'il portait autour du cou. Ce ne fût qu'après cette immolation que le cortége reprit sa marche et acheva de monter jusqu'au Capitole! Ce captif dont on ne daigne nous parler, c'était Simon Bar-Gioras; c'était un des trois derniers défenseurs de Jérusalem; c'était un de ceux qui la défendirent jusqu'au bout, mais hélas! qui la défendirent comme des démons maîtres d'une âme de laquelle ils ne veulent pas se laisser chasser, et non point comme des champions héroïques d'une cause sacrée et perdue. Aussi cette grandeur que la seule infortune suffit souvent pour donner, elle manque à la calamité la plus grande que le monde ait vue, et les noms attachés à cette immense catastrophe ne demeurèrent pas même fameux! Jean de Giscala, Eléazar, Simon Bar-Gioras; qui pense à eux aujourd'hui? L'univers entier proclame et vénère les noms de deux pauvres juifs qui, quatre ans auparavant, dans cette même prison, avaient eux aussi attendu la supplice; mais le malheur, le courage, la mort tragique des autres, ne leur ont point donné la gloire, et un dédaigneux oubli les a effacés de la mémoire des hommes!"—(Anne Severin) Mrs. Augustus Craven.

"Along the sacred way Hither the triumph came, and, winding round With acclamation, and the martial clang Of instruments, and cars laden with spoil, Stopped at the sacred stair that then appeared, Then thro' the darkness broke, ample, star-bright, As tho' it led to heaven. 'Twas night; but now A thousand torches, turning night to day, Blazed, and the victor, springing from his seat, Went up, and, kneeling as in fervent prayer, Entered the Capitol. But what are they Who at the foot withdraw, a mournful train In fetters? And who, yet incredulous, Now gazing wildly round, now on his sons, On those so young, well pleased with all they see, Staggers along, the last? They are the fallen, Those who were spared to grace the chariot-wheels; And there they parted, where the road divides, The victor and the vanquished—there withdrew; He to the festal board, and they to die. "Well might the great, the mighty of the world, They who were wont to fare deliciously And war but for a kingdom more or less, Shrink back, nor from their thrones endure to look, To think that way! Well might they in their pomp Humble themselves, and kneel and supplicate To be delivered from a dream like this!" Rogers' Italy.

CHAPTER IV.

THE FORUMS AND THE COLISEUM.

Forum of Trajan—(Sta. Maria di Loreto)—Temple of Mars Ultor—Forum of Augustus—Forum of Nerva—Forum of Julius Cæsar—(Academy of St. Luke)—Forum Romanum—Tribune—Comitium —Vulcanal—Temple of Concord—Temple of Vespasian—Temple of Saturn—Arch of Septimius Severus—Temple of Castor and Pollux—Pillar of Phocas—Temple of Antoninus and Faustina—Basilica of Constantine—(Sta. Martina—S. Adriano—Sta. Maria—Liberatrice, SS. Cosmo and Damian—Sta. Francesca Romana)—Temple of Venus and Rome—Arch of Titus—(Sta. Maria Pallara—S. Buonaventura)—Meta Sudans—Arch of Constantine—Coliseum.

FOLLOWING the Corso to its end at the Ripresa dei Barberi, and turning to the left, we find ourselves at once amid the remains of the Forum of Trajan, erected by the architect Apollodorus for the Emperor Trajan on his return from the wars of the Danube. This forum now presents the appearance of a ravine between the Capitoline and Quirinal, but is an artificial hollow, excavated to facilitate the circulation of life within the city. An inscription over the door of the column, which overtops the other ruins, shows that it was raised in order to mark the depth of earth which was removed to construct the forum. The earth was formerly as high as the top of the column, which reaches, 100 Roman feet, to the level of the Palatine Hill. The forum was sometimes called the "Ulpian," from one of the names of the emperor.

"Before the year A.D. 107 the splendours of the city and the Campus beyond it were still separated by a narrow isthmus, thronged perhaps by the squalid cabins of the poor, and surmounted by the remains of the Servian wall which ran along its summit. Step by step the earlier emperors had approached with their new forums to the foot of this obstruction. Domitian was the first to contemplate and commence its removal. Nerva had the fortune to consecrate and to give his own name to a portion of his predecessor's construction; but Trajan undertook to complete the bold design, and the genius of his architect triumphed over all obstacles, and executed a work which exceeded in extent and splendour any previous achievement of the kind. He swept away every building on the site, levelled the spot on which they had stood, and laid out a vast area of columnar galleries, connecting halls and chambers for public use and recreation. The new forum was adorned with two libraries, one for Greek, the other for Roman volumes, and it was bounded on the west by a basilica of magnificent dimensions. Beyond this basilica, and within the limits of the Campus, the same architect (Apollodorus) erected a temple for the worship of Trajan himself; but this work probably belonged to the reign of Trajan's successor, and no doubt the Ulpian forum, with all its adjuncts, occupied many years in building. The area was adorned with numerous statues, in which the figure of Trajan was frequently repeated, and among its decorations were groups in bronze or marble, representing his most illustrious actions. The balustrades and cornices of the whole mass of buildings flamed with gilded images of arms and horses. Here stood the great equestrian statue of the emperor; here was the triumphal arch decreed him by the senate, adorned with sculpture, which Constantine, two centuries later, transferred without a blush to his own, a barbarous act of this first Christian emperor, to which however we probably owe their preservation to this day from more barbarous spoliation."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire, ch. lxiii.

The beautiful Column of Trajan was erected by the senate and people of Rome, A.D. 114. It is composed of thirty-four blocks of marble, and is covered with a spiral band of bas-reliefs illustrative of the Dacian wars, and increasing in size as it nears the top, so that it preserves throughout the same proportion when seen from below. It was formerly crowned by a statue of Trajan, holding a gilt globe, which latter is still preserved in the Hall of Bronzes in the Capitol. This statue had fallen from its pedestal long before Sixtus V. replaced it by the existing figure of St. Peter. At the foot of the column was a sepulchral chamber, intended to receive the imperial ashes, which were however preserved in a golden urn, upon an altar in front of it.

"And apostolic statues climb To crush the imperial urn, whose ashes slept sublime." Childe Harold, cx.

It was while walking in this forum, that Gregory the Great, observing one of the marble groups which told of a good and great action of Trajan, lamented bitterly that the soul of so noble a man should be lost, and prayed earnestly for the salvation of the heathen emperor. He was told that the soul of Trajan should be saved, but that to ensure this he must either himself undergo the pains of purgatory for three days, or suffer earthly pain and sickness for the rest of his life. He chose the latter, and never after was in health. This incident is narrated by his three biographers, John and Paul Diaconus, and John of Salisbury.[50]

The forum of Trajan was partly uncovered by Pope Paul III. in the sixteenth century, but excavated in its present form by the French in 1812. There is much still buried under the streets and neighbouring houses.

"All over the surface of what once was Rome it seems to be the effort of Time to bury up the ancient city, as it were a corpse, and he the sexton; so that, in eighteen centuries, the soil over its grave has grown very deep, by the slow scattering of dust, and the accumulation of more modern decay upon older ruin.

"This was the fate, also, of Trajan's forum, until some papal antiquary, a few hundred years ago, began to hollow it out again, and disclosed the whole height of the gigantic column, wreathed round with bas-reliefs of the old emperor's warlike deeds (rich sculpture, which, twining from the base to the capital, must be an ugly spectacle for his ghostly eyes, if he considers that this huge, storied shaft must be laid before the judgment seat, as a piece of the evidence of what he did in the flesh). In the area before the column stands a grove of stone, consisting of the broken and unequal shafts of a vanished temple, still keeping a majestic order, and apparently incapable of further demolition. The modern edifices of the piazza (wholly built, no doubt, out of the spoil of its old magnificence) look down into the hollow space whence these pillars rise.

"One of the immense gray granite shafts lies in the piazza, on the verge of the area. It is a great, solid fact of the Past, making old Rome actually visible to the touch and eye; and no study of history, nor force of thought, nor magic of song, can so vitally assure us that Rome once existed, as this sturdy specimen of what its rulers and people wrought. There is still a polish remaining on the hard substance of the pillar, the polish of eighteen centuries ago, as yet but half rubbed off."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

On the north of this forum are two churches: that nearest to the Corso is Sta. Maria di Loreto (founded by the corporation of bakers in 1500), with a dome surmounted by a picturesque lantern by Giuliano di Sangallo, c. 1506. It contains a statue of Sta. Susanna (not the Susanna of the Elders) by Fiammingo (François de Quesnoy), which is justly considered the chef-d'œuvre of the Bernini School. The companion church is called Sta. Maria di Vienna, and (like Sta. Maria della Vittoria) commemorates the liberation of Vienna from the Turks in 1683, by Sobieski, king of Poland. It was built by Innocent XI.

Leaving the forum at the opposite corner by the Via Alessandrina, and passing under the high wall of the Convent of the Nunziatina, a street, opening on the left, discloses several beautiful pillars, which, after having borne various names, are now declared to be the remains of the Temple of Mars Ultor, built by Augustus in his new forum, which was erected in order to provide accommodation for the crowds which overflowed the Forum Romanum and Forum Julium.

"The title of Ultor marked the war and the victory by which, agreeably to his vow, Augustus had avenged his uncle's death.

"'Mars ades, et satia scelerato sanguine ferrum; Stetque favor causa pro meliore tuus. Templa feres, et, me victore, vocaberis Ultor.'[51]

The porticoes, which extended on each side of the temple with a gentle curve, contained statues of distinguished Roman generals. The banquets of the Salii were transferred to this temple, a circumstance which led to its identification, from the discovery of an inscription here recording the mansiones of these priests. Like the priesthood in general, they appear to have been fond of good living, and there is a well-known anecdote of the Emperor Claudius having been lured by the steams of their banquet from his judicial functions in the adjacent forum, to come and take part in their feast. The temple was appropriated to meetings of the senate in which matters connected with wars and triumphs were debated.... Here while Tiberius was building a temple to Augustus upon the Palatine, his golden statue reposed upon a couch."—Dyer's City of Rome.

"Up to the time of Augustus, the god Mars, the reputed father of the Roman race, had never, it is said, enjoyed the distinction of a temple within the walls. He was then introduced into the city which he had saved from overthrow and ruin; and the aid he had lent in bringing the murderers of Cæsar to justice, was signalised by the title of Avenger, by which he was now specially addressed.... The temple of Mars Ultor, of gigantic proportions, 'Et deus est ingens et opus,' was erected in the new forum of Augustus at the foot of the Capitoline and Quirinal hills."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire.

"Ce temple était particulièrement cher à Auguste. Il voulut que les magistrats en partissent pour aller dans leurs provinces; que l'honneur du triomphe y fût décerné, et que les triomphateurs y fissent hommage à Mars Vengeur de leur couronne et de leur sceptre; que les drapeaux pris à l'ennemi y fussent conservés; que les chefs de la cavalerie exécutassent des jeux en avant des marches de ce temple; enfin que les censeurs, en sortant de leur charge, y plantassent le clou sacré, vieil usage étrusque jusque-là attaché au Capitole. Auguste désirait que ce temple fondé par lui prît l'importance du Capitole.

"Il fit dédier le temple par ses petit-fils Caius et Lucius; et son autre petit-fils, Agrippa, à la tête des plus nobles enfants de Rome, y célébra le jeu de Troie, qui rappelait l'origine prétendue troyenne de César; deux cent soixante lions furent égorgés dans la cirque, c'était leur place; deux troupes de gladiateurs combattirent dans les Septa ou se faisaient les élections au temps de la république, comme si Auguste eût voulu, par ces combats qui se livraient en l'honneur des morts, célébrer les funérailles de la liberté romaine."—Ampère, Emp. i. 224.

The temple of Mars stands at the north-eastern corner of the magnificent Forum of Augustus, which extended from here as far as the present Via Alessandrina, surpassing in size the forum of Julius Cæsar, to which it was adjoining. It was of sufficient size to be frequently used for fights of animals (venationes). Among its ornaments were statues of Augustus triumphant and of the subdued provinces—with inscriptions illustrative of the great deeds he had accomplished there; also a picture by Apelles representing War with her hands bound behind her, seated upon a pile of arms. Part of the boundary wall exists, enclosing on two sides the remains of the temple of Mars Ultor, and is constructed of huge masses of peperino. The arch, in the wall close to the temple, is known as Arco dei Pantani. The sudden turn in the wall here is interesting as commemorating a concession made to the wish of some proprietors, who were unwilling to part with their houses for the sake of the forum.

"C'est l'histoire du moulin de Sans-Souci, qui du reste paraît n'être pas vraie.

"Il est piquant d'assister aujourd'hui à ce ménagement d'Auguste pour l'opinion qu'il voulait gagner. Envoyant le mur s'infléchir parce-qu'il a fallu épargner quelques maisons, on croit voir la toute-puissance d'Auguste gauchir à dessein devant les intérêts particuliers, seule puissance avec laquelle il reste à compter quand tout intérêt général a disparu. L'obliquité de la politique d'Auguste est visible dans l'obliquité de ce mur, qui montre et rend pour ainsi dire palpable le manège adroit de la tyrannie, se déguisant pour se fonder. Le mur biaise, comme biaisa constamment l'empereur."—Ampère, Emp. i. 233.

(The street on the left—passing the Arco dei Pantani—the Via della Salita del Grillo, commemorates the approach to the castle of the great mediæval family Del Grillo; the street on the right leads through the ancient Suburra.)

At the corner of the next street (Via della Croce Bianca)—on the left of the Via Alessandrina—is the ruin called the "Colonnace," being part of the Portico of Pallas Minerva, which decorated the Forum Transitorium, begun by Domitian, but dedicated in the short reign of Nerva, and hence generally called the Forum of Nerva, on account of the execration with which the memory of Domitian was regarded. Up to the seventeenth century seven magnificent columns of the temple of Minerva were still standing, but they were destroyed by Paul V., who used part of them in building the Fontana Paolina. The existing remains consist of two half-buried Corinthian columns with a figure of Minerva, and a frieze of bas-reliefs.

"Les bas-reliefs du forum de Nerva représentent des femmes occupées des travaux d'aiguille, auxquels présidait Minerve. Quand on se rappelle, que Domitien avait placé à Albano, près du temple de cette déesse, un collège de prêtres qui imitaient la parure et les mœurs de femmes, on est tenté de croire qu'il y a dans le choix des subjets figurés ici une allusion aux habitudes efféminées de ces prétres."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 161.

"The portico of the temple of Minerva is most rich and beautiful in architecture, but woefully gnawed by time, and shattered by violence, besides being buried midway in the accumulation of the soil, that rises over dead Rome like a flood-tide. Within this edifice of antique sanctity a baker's shop is now established, with an entrance on one side; for everywhere, the remnants of old grandeur and divinity have been made available for the meanest neccessities of to-day."—Hawthorne.

It was in this forum that Nerva caused Vetronius Turinus, who had trafficked with his court interest, to be suffocated with smoke, a herald proclaiming at the time, "Fumo punitur qui vendidit fumum."

Returning a short distance down the Via Alessandrina, and turning (left) down the Via Bonella, we traverse the site of the Forum of Julius Cæsar, upon which 4000 sestertia (800,000 l.) were expended, and which is described by Dion-Cassius as having been more beautiful than the Forum Romanum. It was ornamented with a Temple of Venus Genetrix—from whom Julius Cæsar claimed to be descended—which contained a statue of the goddess by Archesilaus, a statue of Cæsar himself, and a group of Ajax and Medea by Timomacus. Here, also, Cæsar had the effrontery to place the statue of his mistress, Cleopatra, by the side of that of the goddess. In front of the temple stood a bronze figure of a horse—supposed to be the famous Bucephalus—the work of Lysippus.

"Cedat equus Latiæ qui, contra templa Diones, Cæsarei stat sede Fori. Quem tradere es ausus Pellæo Lysippa Duci, mox Cæsaris ora Aurata cervice tulit." Statius, Silv. i. 84.

The only visible remains of this forum are some courses of huge square blocks of stone (Lapis Gabinus), in a dirty court.

Part of the site of the forum of Julius Cæsar is now occupied—on the right near the end of the Via Bonella—by the Accademia di San Luca, founded in 1595, Federigo Zuccaro being its first director. The collections are open from 9 to 5 daily. A ceiling representing Bacchus and Ariadne, is by Guido. The best pictures are:—

Bacchus and Ariadne: Poussin.
Vanity: Paul Veronese.
Calista and the Nymphs: Titian.
The murder of Lucretia: Guido Cagnacci.
Fortune: Guido.
Innocent XI.: Velasquez.
The Saviour and the Pharisee: Titian.
A lovely fresco of a child: Raphael.
St. Luke painting the Virgin: Attributed to Raphael.

"St. Luke painting the Virgin has been a frequent and favourite subject. The most famous of all is a picture in the Academy of St. Luke, ascribed to Raphael. Here St. Luke, kneeling on a footstool before an easel, is busied painting the Virgin with the Child in her arms, who appears to him out of heaven, sustained by clouds; behind St. Luke stands Raphael himself, looking on."—Mrs. Jameson.

A skull preserved here was long supposed to be that of Raphael, but his true skull has since been found in his grave in the Pantheon.

"On a longtemps vénéré ici un crâne que l'on croyait être celui de Raphael; crâne étroit sur lequel les phrénologistes auront prononcé de vains oracles, devant lequel on aura bien profondément rêvé et qui n'était que celui d'un obscur chanoine bien innocent de toutes ces imaginations."—A. Du Pays.

Just beyond St. Luca, we enter the Forum Romanum.

The interest of Rome comes to its climax in the Forum. In spite of all that is destroyed, and all that is buried, so much still remains to be seen, and every stone has its story. Even without entering into all the vexed archæological questions which have filled the volumes of Canina, Bunsen, Niebuhr, and many others, the occupation which a traveller interested in history will find here is all but inexhaustible; and, after the disputes of centuries, the different sites seem now to be verified with tolerable certainty. The study of the Roman Forum is complicated by the succession of public edifices by which it has been occupied, each period of Roman history having a different set of buildings, and each in a great measure supplanting that which went before. Another difficulty has naturally arisen from the exceedingly circumscribed space in which all these buildings have to be arranged, and which shows that many of the ancient temples must have been mere chapels, and the so-called "lakes" little more than fountains.

"This spot, where the senate had its assemblies, where the rostra were placed, where the destinies of the world were discussed, is the most celebrated and the most classical of ancient Rome. It was adorned with the most magnificent monuments, which were so crowded upon one another, that their heaped-up ruins are not sufficient for all the names which are handed down to us by history. The course of centuries has overthrown the Forum, and made it impossible to define; the level of the ancient soil is twenty-four feet below that of to-day, and however great a desire one may feel to reproduce the past, it must be acknowledged that this very difference of level is a terrible obstacle to the powers of imagination; again, the uncertainties of archæologists are discouraging to curiosity and the desire of illusion. For more than three centuries learning has been at work upon this field of ruins, without being able even to agree upon its bearings; some describing it as extending from north to south, others from east to west. The origin of the Forum goes back to the alliance of the Romans and Sabines. It was a space surrounded by marshes, which extended between the Palatine and the Capitol, occupied by the two colonies, and serving as a neutral ground where they could meet. The Curtian Lake was situated in the midst. Constantly adorned under the republic and the empire, it appears that it continued to exist until the eleventh century. Its total ruin dates from Robert Guiscard, who, when called to the assistance of Gregory VII., left it a heap of ruins. Abandoned for many centuries, it became a receptacle for rubbish, which gradually raised the level of the soil. About 1547, Paul III. began to make excavations in the Forum. Then the place became a cattle-market, and the glorious name of Forum Romanum changed into that of Campo Vaccino.

"The Forum was surrounded by a portico of two stories, the lower of which was occupied by shops (tabernæ). In the beginning of the sixth century of Rome, two fires destroyed part of the edifices with which it had been embellished. This was an opportunity for isolating the Forum, and basilicas and temples were raised in succession along its sides, which in their turn were partly destroyed in the fire of Nero. Domitian rebuilt a part, and added the temple of Vespasian, and Antoninus that of Faustina."—A. Du Pays.

The excavations which were made in the Forum before 1871 are for the most part due to the generosity of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. The papal government always displayed the most extraordinary apathy about extending them, and, when a large excavation was made in the winter of 1869—70, by the British Archæological Society, in front of the Church of Sta. Martina, insisted on its being immediately filled up again, instead of extending it, as might easily have been done, to join the excavation which had long existed on the Clivus Capitolinus. Lately the excavations have been considerably increased, but were the roads leading to the Forum to be closed, and a large body of efficient labourers set to work, the whole of the Roman Forum and its surroundings might be laid bare in a month, without any injury to the interesting churches in its neighbourhood. At present, even that part which is disinterred is cut up by a number of raised causeways, which distract the eye and mar the general effect, and the excavations, recommenced by the Italian government, are slowly and inadequately carried on.

If we stand on the causeway in front of the arch of Septimius Severus, and turn towards the Capitol, we look upon the Clivus Capitolinus, which is perfectly crowded with historical sites and fragments, viz.:—

1. The modern Capitol, resting on the Tabularium. This is one of the earliest architectural relics in Rome. It is built in the Etruscan style, of huge blocks of tufa or peperino placed long-and cross-ways alternately. It was formerly composed of two stages called Camellaria. Only the lower now remains. It contained the tables of the laws. The corridor which remains in the interior is used as a museum of architectural fragments. The Tabularium probably communicated with the Ærarium in the temple of Saturn.

2. On the right of the excavated space, and nearest the Tabularium, the site of the Tribune, in front of which were the Rostra, to which the head of Octavius was affixed by Marius, and the head and hand of Cicero by Antony, and where Fulvia, the widow of Clodius, spat in his dead face, and pierced his inanimate tongue with the pin which she wore in her hair. In front of the rostrum were the statues of the three Sibyls called Tria Fata.

3. Below, a little(**typo? little?) more to the right, is the site of the Comitium, where the survivor of the Horatii was condemned to death, and saved by the voice of the people. Here, also, was the trophied pillar which bore the arms of the Curiatii. In the area of the Comitium grew the famous fig-tree which was always preserved here in commemoration of the tree under which Romulus and Remus were suckled by the wolf, and beneath which was a bronze representation of the wolf and the children.

4. A little more to the left, is the site of the Vulcanal, so called from an altar dedicated to Vulcan, a platform (still defined) where, in the earliest times, Romulus and Tatius used to meet on intermediate ground and transact affairs common to both; and where Brutus was seated, when, without any change of countenance, he saw his two sons beaten and beheaded. Adjoining the Vulcanal was the Græcostasis, where foreign ambassadors waited before they were admitted to an audience of the senate.

5. Below the Vulcanal, and just behind the Arch of Severus, is the site of the Temple of Concord, dedicated, with blasphemous inappropriateness, B.C. 121, by the consul Opimius, immediately after the murder of Caius Gracchus. Here Cicero pronounced his orations against Catiline before the senate. A pavement of coloured marbles remains. At its base are still to be seen some small remains of the Colonna Mænia, which was surmounted by the statue of C. Mænius, who decorated the rostra with the iron beaks of vessels taken in war.

6. The three beautiful columns which are still standing were attributed to a temple of Jupiter Tonans, but are now decided to belong to the Temple of Vespasian. The engravings of Piranesi represent them as buried almost to their capitals, and they remained in this state until they were disinterred during the first French occupation. The space was so limited in this part of Rome, that in order to prevent encroaching upon the street Clivus Capitolinus, which descends the hill between this temple and that of Saturn, the temple of Vespasian was raised on a kind of terrace, and the staircase which led to it was thrust in between the columns. This temple was restored by Septimius Severus, and to this the letters on the entablature refer, being part of the word Restituere. Instruments of sacrifice are sculptured on the frieze.

7. On the left of the excavated space, close beneath the Tabularium, a low range of columns recently re-erected represents the building called the School of Xanthus, chambers, for the use of the scribes and persons in the service of the curule ædiles, which derived their name from Xanthus, a freedman, by whom they were rebuilt.

8. The eight Ionic columns still standing, part of the Temple of Saturn, the ancient god of the Capitol. Before this temple Pompey sate surrounded by soldiers, listening to the orations which Cicero was delivering from the rostrum, when he received the personal address, "Te enim jam appello, et ea voce ut me exaudire possis." Here the tribune Metellus flung himself before the door and vainly attempted to defend the treasure of the Ærarium in this temple against Julius Cæsar. The present remains are those of an indifferent and late renovation of an earlier temple, being composed of columns which differ in diameter, and a frieze put together from fragments which do not belong to one another. The original temple was built by Tarquin, and was supposed to mark the site of the ancient Sabine altar of the god and the limit of the wood of refuge mentioned by Virgil.

9. Just below the Temple of Saturn is the site of the Arch of Tiberius, erected, according to Tacitus, upon the recovery by Germanicus of the standards which Varus had lost.

10. The remains of the Milliarium Aureum, which formed the upper extremity of a wall faced with marbles, ending near the arch of Severus in a small conical pyramid. Distances without the walls were inscribed upon the Milliarium Aureum, as distances within the walls were upon the pyramid (from which in this case they were also measured) which bore the name of Umbilicus Romæ. The Via Sacra, which is still visible, descended from the Capitol between the temples of Saturn and Vespasian,—being known here as the Clivus Capitolinus, and passed to the left of—

11. The Arch of Septimius Severus, which was erected by the senate A.D. 205, in honour of that emperor and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. It is adorned with bas-reliefs relating his victories in the east,—his entry into Babylon and the tower of the temple of Belus are represented. A curious memorial of imperial history may be observed in the inscription, where we may still discern the erasure made by Caracalla after he had put his brother Geta to death in A.D. 213, for the sake of obliterating his memory. The added words are OPTIMIS FORTISSIMISQVE PRINCIPIBUS—but the ancient inscription P. SEPT. LVC. FIL. GETÆ. NOBILISS. CÆSARI, has been made out by painstaking decipherers. In one of the piers is a staircase leading to the top of the arch which was formerly (as seen from coins of Severus and Caracalla) adorned by a car drawn by six horses abreast, and containing figures of Severus and his sons. It was in front of this arch that the statue of Marcus Aurelius stood, which is now at the Capitol.

"Les proportions de l'arc de Septime-Sévère sont encore belles. L'aspect en est imposant; il est solide sans être lourd. La grande inscription où se lisent les épithètes victorieuses qui rappellent les succès militaires de l'empereur, Parthique, Dacique, Adiabénique, se déploie sur une vaste surface et donne à l'entablement un air de majesté qu'admirent les artistes. Cette inscription est doublement historique; elle rappelle les campagnes de Sévère et la tragédie domestique qui après lui ensanglanta sa famille, le meurtre d'un de ses fils immolé par l'autre, et l'acharnement de celui-ci à poursuivre la mémoire du frère qu'il avait fait assassiner. Le nom de Géta a été visiblement effacé par Caracalla. La même chose se remarque dans une inscription sur bronze qu'on voit au Capitale et sur le petit arc du Marché aux bœufs dont j'ai parlé, où l'image de Géta a été effacée comme son nom. Caracalla ne permit pas même à ce nom proscrit de se cacher parmi les hiéroglyphes. En Egypte, ceux qui composaient le nom de Géta ont été grattés sur les monuments."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 278.

(The excavations in thé Forum are open to the public on the same days as the Palace of the Cæsars—Thursdays and Sundays.)

The platform on which we have been standing leads to the Via della Consolazione, occupying the site of the ancient Vicus Jugarius, where Augustus erected an altar to Ceres, and another to Ops Augusta, the goddess of wealth. (In this street, on the left, is a good cinque-cento doorway.) Where this street leaves the Forum was the so-called Lacus Servilius, a basin which probably derived its name from Servilius Ahala (who slew the philanthropist Sp. Mælius with a dagger near this very spot), and which was encircled with a ghastly row of heads in the massacres under Sylla. This fountain was adorned by M. Aggrippa with a figure of a hydra. The right side of the Forum is now occupied for a considerable distance by the disinterred remains of the Basilica Julia, begun by Julius Cæsar, and finished by Augustus, who dedicated it in honour of his daughter. A basilica of this description was intended partly as a Law Court and partly as an Exchange. In this basilica the judges called Centumviri held their courts, which were four in number:

"Jam clamor, centumque viri, densumque coronæ Vulgus: et infanti Julia tecta placent." Martial, vi. Ep. 38.

Beyond the basilica are three beautiful columns which belong to a restoration of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, dedicated by Postumius, B.C. 484. Here costly sacrifices were always offered in the ides of July, at the anniversary of the battle of the Lake Regillus, after which the Roman knights, richly clothed, crowned with olive, and bearing their trophies, rode past it in military procession, starting from the temple of Mars outside the Porta Capena. The entablature which the three columns support is of great richness, and the whole fragment is considered to be one of the finest existing specimens of the Corinthian order. None of the Roman ruins have given rise to more discussion than this. It has perpetually changed its name. Bunsen and many other authorities considered it to belong to the temple of Minerva Chalcidica; but as it is known that the position of the now discovered Basilica Julia was exactly between the temple of Saturn and that of Castor, and a passage of Ovid describes the latter as being close to the site of the temple of Vesta, which is also ascertained, it seems almost certain now that it belonged to the temple of the Dioscuri. Dion-Cassius mentions that Caligula made this temple a vestibule to his house on the Palatine.

Here, on the right, branches off the Via dei Fienili, once the Vicus Tuscus, or Etruscan quarter (see Chap. V.), leading to the Circus Maximus. At its entrance was the bronze statue of Vertumnus, the god of Etruria, and patron of the quarter. The long trough-shaped fountain here, at which such picturesque groups of oxen and buffaloes are constantly standing, is a memorial of the Lake of Juturna the sister of Turnus, or as she was sometimes described, the wife of Janus the Sabine war-god. This fountain, for such it must have been, was dried up by Paul V.

"At quæ venturas præcedit sexta kalendas, Hac sunt Ledæis templa dicata deis. Fratribus illa deis fratres de gente deorum Circa Juturnæ composuere lacus." Ovid, Fast. i. 705.

Here, close under the Palatine, is the site of the famous Temple of Vesta, in which the sacred fire was preserved, with the palladium saved from Troy. On the altar of this temple, blood was sprinkled annually from the tail of the horse which was sacrificed to Mars in the Campus-Martius. The foundation of the temple was attributed to Numa, but the worship must have existed in Pelasgic times, as the mother of Romulus was a vestal. It was burnt down in the fire of Nero, rebuilt and again burnt down under Commodus, and probably restored for the last time by Heliogabalus. Here, during the consulate of the young Marius, the high priest Scævola was murdered, splashing the image of Vesta with his blood,—and here (A.D. 68) Piso, the adopted son of Galba, was murdered in the sanctuary whither he had fled for refuge, and his head, being cut off, was affixed to the rostra. Behind the temple, along the lower ridge of the Palatine, stretched the sacred grove of Vesta, and the site of the Church of Sta. Maria Liberatrice was occupied by the Atrium Vestæ, a kind of convent for the vestal virgins. Here Numa Pompilius fixed his residence, hoping to conciliate both the Latins of the Palatine and the Sabines of the Capitoline by occupying a neutral ground between them.

"Quæris iter? dicam, vicinum Castora, canæ Transibis Vestæ, virgineamque domum, Inde sacro veneranda petes palatia Clivo." Martial, i. Ep. 70.

"Hic focus est Vestæ, qui Pallada servat et ignem. Hic fuit antiqui regia parva Numæ." Ovid, Trist. iii. El. 1.

"Hic locus exiguus, qui sustinet atria Vestæ, Tunc erat intonsi regia magna Numæ. Forma tamen templi, quae nunc manet, ante fuisse Dicitur; et formæ causa probanda subest. Vesta eadem est, et Terra; subest vigil ignis utrique, Significant sedem terra focusque suam. Terra pilæ similis, nullo fulcimine nixa, Aëre subjecto tam grave pendet onus. Arte Syracosia suspensus in aëre clauso Stat globus, immensi parva figura poli; Et quantum a summis, tantum secessit ab imis Terra. Quod ut fiat, forma rotunda facit. Par facies templi: nullus procurrit ab illo Angulus. A pluvio vindicat imbre tholus." Ovid, Fast. vi. 263.

"Servat et Alba, Lares, et quorum lucet in aris Ignis adhuc Phrygius, nullique adspecta virorum Pallas, in abstruso pignus memorabile templo." Lucan, ix. 992.

Close to the temple of Vesta was the Regia, where Julius Cæsar lived (as pontifex maximus)—where Pompeia his second wife admitted her lover Clodius in the disguise of a woman to the mysteries of the Bona Dea—whence Cæsar went forth to his death—and from which his last wife Calpurnia rushed forth with loud outcries to receive his dead body.

Somewhere in this part of the Forum was the famous Curtian Lake, so called from Mettus Curtius, a Sabine warrior, who with difficulty escaped from its quagmires to the Capitol after a battle between Romulus and Tatius.[52] Tradition declares that the quagmire afterwards became a gulf, which an oracle declared would never close until that which was most important to the Roman people was sacrificed to it. Then the young Marcus Curtius, equipped in full armour, leapt his horse into the abyss, exclaiming that nothing was more important to the Roman people than arms and courage; and the gulf was closed.[53] Two altars were afterwards erected on the site to the two heroes, and a vine and an olive tree grew there.[54]

"Hoc, ubi nunc fora sunt, udæ tenuere paludes: Amne redundatis fossa madebat aquis. Curtius ille lacus, siccas qui sustinet aras, Nunc solida est tellus, sed lacus ante fuit." Ovid, Fast. vi. 401.

Some fountain, like those of Servilius and Juturna, bearing the name of Lacus Curtius must have existed on this site to imperial times, for the Emperor Galba was murdered there.

"A single cohort still surrounded Galba, when the standard-bearer tore the Emperor's image from his spear-head, and dashed it on the ground. The soldiers were at once decided for Otho; swords were drawn, and every symptom of favour for Galba amongst the bystanders was repressed by menaces, till they dispersed and fled in horror from the Forum. At last, the bearers of the emperor's litter overturned it at the Curtian pool beneath the Capitol. In a few moments enemies swarmed around his body. A few words he muttered, which have been diversely reported: some said that they were abject and unbecoming; others affirmed that he presented his neck to the assassin's sword, and bade him strike 'if it were for the good of the republic;' but none listened, none perhaps heeded the words actually spoken; Galba's throat was pierced, but even the author of his mortal wound was not ascertained, while his breast being protected by the cuirass, his legs and arms were hacked with repeated gashes."—Merivale, vii. 73.

At the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus, on the left (looking towards the Arch of Titus) stood the Temple of Janus Quirinus, between the great Forum and the Forum of Julius Cæsar, and near the ascent to the Porta Janualis, by which Tarpeia admitted the Sabines to the Capitol. Procopius, in the sixth century, saw the little bronze temple of Janus still standing. This was one of many temples of the great Sabine god.

"Quum tot sint Jani; cur stas sacratus in uno, Hic ubi juncta foris templa duobus habes?" Ovid, Fast. i. 257.

This was the temple which was the famous index of peace and war, closed by Augustus for the third time from its foundation after the victory of Actium.[55]

" ...et vacuum duellis Janum Quirini clausit, et ordinem Rectum, et vaganti fræna licentiæ Injecit." Horace, Ode iv. 15.

Besides this temple there were three arches, whose sites are unknown, dedicated to Janus in different parts of the Forum.

" ...Hæc Janus summus ab imo Perdocet——" Horace, Ep. i. 1, 54.

The central arch was the resort of brokers and money-lenders.[56]

" ...Postquam omnis res mea Janum Ad medium fracta est." Hor. Sat. ii. 3, 18.

Along this side of the Forum stood the Tabernæ Argentariæ, the silversmiths' shops, and beyond them—probably in front of S. Adriano—were the Tabernæ Novæ, where Virginia was stabbed by her father with a butcher's knife, which he had seized from one of the stalls, saying, "This, my child, is the only way to keep thee free," as he plunged it into her heart.[57] Near this also was the statue of Venus Cloacina.[58]

The front of the Church of S. Adriano is a fragment of the Basilica of Æmilius Paulus, built with part of 1500 talents which Cæsar had sent from Gaul to win him over to his party. This basilica occupied the site of the famous Curia of Tullus Hostilius.

"Là se réunit, pour la première fois sous un toit, le conseil des anciens rois que le savant Properce, avec un sentiment vrai des antiquités romaines, nous montre tel qu'il était dans l'origine, se rassemblant au son de la trompe pastorale dans un pré, comme le peuple dans certains petits cantons de la Suisse."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 310.

The Curia was capable of containing six hundred senators, their number in the time of the Gracchi. It had no tribune,—each speaker rose in turn and spoke in his place. Here was "the hall of assembly in which the fate of the world was decided." The Curia was destroyed by fire, which it caught from the funeral pyre of Clodius. Around the Curia stood many statues of Romans who had rendered especial service to the state. The Curia Julia occupied the site of the Curia Hostilia in the early part of the reign of Augustus. Close by the old Curia was the Basilica Porcia, built by Cato the Censor, which was likewise burnt down at the funeral of Clodius. Near this, the base of the rostral column, Colonna Duilia, has been found.

Opposite the Basilica Julia, in the depth of the Forum, is the Column of Phocas, raised to that emperor by the exarch Smaragdus in 608. This is—

"The nameless column with a buried base,"

of Byron, but is now neither nameless nor buried, its pedestal having been laid bare by the Duchess of Devonshire in 1813, and bearing an inscription which shows an origin that no one ever anticipated.

"In the age of Phocas (602—610), the art of erecting a column like that of Trajan or M. Aurelius had been lost. A large and handsome Corinthian pillar, taken from some temple or basilica, was therefore placed in the Forum, on a huge pyramidal basis quite out of proportion to it, and was surmounted with a statue of Phocas in gilt bronze. It has so little the appearance of a monumental column, that for a long while it was thought to belong to some ruined building, till, in 1813, the inscription was discovered. The name of Phocas had, indeed, been erased; but that it must have been dedicated to him is shown by the date.... The base of this column, discovered by the excavations of 1816 to have rested on the ancient pavement of the Forum, proves that this former centre of Roman life was still, at the beginning of the seventh century, unencumbered with ruins."—Dyer's History of the City of Rome.

"Ce monument et l'inscription qui l'accompagne sont précieux pour l'histoire, car ils montrent le dernier terme de l'avilissement où Rome devait tomber. Smaragdus est le premier magistrat de Rome,—mais ce magistrat est un préfet, l'élu du pouvoir impérial et non de ses concitoyens;—il commande, non, il est vrai, à la capitale du monde, mais au chef-lieu du duché de Rome. Ce préfet, qui n'est connu de l'histoire que par ses lâches ménagements envers les Barbares, imagine de voler une colonne à un beau temple, au temple d'un empereur de quelque mérite, pour la dédier à un exécrable tyran monté sur le trône par des assassinats, au meurtrier de l'empereur Maurice, à l'ignoble Phocas, que tout le monde connaît, grâce à Corneille, qui l'a encore trop ménagé. Et le plat drôle ose appeler très-clément celui qui fit égorger sous les yeux de Maurice ses quatre fils avant de l'égorger lui-même. Il décerne le titre de triomphateur à Phocas, qui laissa conquérir par Chosroès une bonne part de l'empire. Il ose écrire: 'pour les innombrables bienfaits de sa piété, pour le repos procuré à l'Italie et à la liberté.' Ainsi l'histoire monumentale de la Rome de l'empire finit honteusement par un hommage ridicule de la bassesse à la violence."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 389.

A little behind the Column of Phocas are the marble slabs commemorating the sacrifices called Suovetaurilia, consisting of a pig, a sheep, and an ox, animals which are sculptured here in bold relief. On the side towards the Capitol a number of figures are represented, amongst them a woman presenting a child to the emperor, in reference to Trajan's asylum for orphans, or for those who were too poor to bring up their children. On the other side is a burning of deeds in reference to the famous remission of debts by Trajan.

Beyond this, on the left, the base of the famous statue of Domitian has been discovered as described by Statius:

"Ipse loci custos, cujus sacrata vorago, Famosusque lacus nomen memorabile servat." Silv. i. 66.

Here the Via Sacra turns, almost continuing the Vicus Tuscus. On its right, on a line with the Temple of the Dioscuri, has been discovered the base of the small Temple of Julius Cæsar (Ædes Divi Julii),[59] which was surrounded with a colonnade of closely-placed columns and surmounted by a statue of the deified triumvir. This was the first temple in Rome which was dedicated to a mortal.

"Fratribus assimilis, quos proxima templa tenentes Divus ab excelsa Julius æde videt." Ovid, Pont. El. ii. 2.

Dion Cassius narrates that this temple was erected on the spot where the body of Julius was burnt. It was adorned by Augustus with the beaks of the vessels taken in the battle of Actium, and hence obtained the name of Rostra Julia. He also placed here the statue of Venus Anadyomene of Apelles, because Cæsar had claimed descent from that goddess. Here, in A.D. 14, the body of Augustus, being brought from Nola, where he died, was placed upon a bier, while Tiberius pronounced a funeral oration over it, before it was carried to the Campus Martius.

The road turns again in front of the remains of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, erected by the flattery of the senate to the memory of the licentious Empress Faustina, the faithless wife of Antoninus Pius, whom they elevated to the rank of a goddess. Her husband, dying before its completion, was associated in her honours, and the inscription, which still remains on the portico, is "Divo antonino et divæ faustinæ. ex. s. c." The front of the temple is adorned with eight columns of cipolino, forty-three feet high, supporting a frieze ornamented with griffins and candelabra. The effect of these remains would be magnificent if the modern road were removed, and the temple were laid bare in its full height, with the twenty-one steps which formerly led to it. It is also greatly injured by the hideous Church of S. Lorenzo in Miranda, which encloses the cella of the temple, and whose name, says Ampère, naively expresses the admiration in which its builders held these remains.[60]

On the left we now reach the Church of SS. Cosmo and Damian, considered by Nibby and others to occupy the site of a temple of Remus. Ampère has since proved that this temple never existed, and that the remains are those of a Temple of the Penates, rebuilt by Augustus. Here Valerius Publicola had a house, to which he removed from the Velia, in deference to the wishes of the Roman people.

"Le sentiment d'effroi que la demeure féodale des Valérius causait, était pareille à celui qu'inspiraient aux Romains du moyen âge les tours des barons, que le peuple, dès qu'il était le maître, se hâtait de démolir. Valerius n'attendit pas qu'on se portât à cette extrémité, et il vint habiter au pied de la Velia. C'est le premier triomphe des plébéiens sur l'aristocratie romaine et la première concession de cette aristocratie."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 274.

A little further on are three gigantic arches, being all that remains of the magnificent Basilica of Constantine, which was 320 feet in length and 235 feet in width. The existing ruins are those of one of the aisles of the basilica. There are traces of an entrance towards the Coliseum. The roof was supported by eight Corinthian columns, of which one, remaining here till the time of Paul V., was removed by him to the piazza of Sta. Maria Maggiore, where it still stands. This site was previously occupied by the Temple of Peace, burnt down in the time of Commodus. This temple was the great museum of Rome under the empire, and contained the seven-branched candlestick and other treasures brought from Jerusalem,[61] as well as all the works of art which had been collected in the palace of Nero and which were removed hither by Vespasian. A statue of the Nile, with children playing around it, is mentioned by Pliny as among the sights in the temple of Peace.[62]

It was near this that the Via Sacra was crossed by the Arch of Fabius, erected B.C. 121, in honour of the conqueror of the Allobroges,—the then inhabitants of Savoy. Close to this portion of the Via Sacra also stood a statue of Valeria, daughter of Publicola, by whom the honours of the virgin Clœlia were disputed.

Besides those which we have noticed, there is mention in classical authors of many other buildings and statues which were once crowded into this narrow space; but all trace of many even of those enumerated is still buried many feet below the soil.

The modern name of Campo Vaccino, by which the Forum is now known, is supposed by some antiquaries to be derived from Vitruvius Vacco, who once had a house there.

"La guerre aux habitants de Privernum (Piperno) rattache à une localité du Palatin.... Les habitants de Fondi avaient fait cause commune avec les habitants de Privernum. Leur chef, Vitruvius Vacca, possedait une maison sur le Palatin; c'était un homme considérable dans son pays et même à Rome. Ils demandèrent et obtinrent grâce. Privernum fut pris, et Vitruvius Vacca, qui s'y était réfugié, conduit à Rome, enfermé dans le prison Mamertine pour y être gardé jusqu'au retour du consul, et alors battu de verges et mis à mort; sa maison du Palatin fut rasée, et le lieu où elle avait été garda le nom de Prés de Vacca."—Ampère, Histoire Romaine, iii. 17.

But the name will seem singularly appropriate to those who are familiar with the groups of meek-faced oxen of the Campagna, which are always to be seen lying in the shade under the trees of the Forum, or drinking at its water-troughs.

"'Romanoque Foro et lautis mugire Carinis.'

"Ce vers m'a toujours profondément frappé, lorsque je traversais le Forum, aujourd'hui Campo-Vaccino (le champ du bétail); je voyais en effet presque toujours à son extrémité des bœufs couchés au pied du Palatin. Virgile, se reportant de la Rome de son temps à la Rome ancienne d'Evandre, ne trouvait pas d'image plus frappante du changement produit par les siècles, que la présence d'un troupeau de bœufs dans le lieu destiné à être le Forum. Eh bien, le jour devait venir où ce qui était pour Virgile un passé lointain et presque incroyable se reproduirait dans la suite des âges; le Forum devait être de nouveau un lieu agreste, ses magnificences s'en aller et les bœufs y revenir.

"J'aimais à les contempler à travers quelques colonnes moins vieilles que les souvenirs qu'ils me retracaient, reprenant possession de ce sol d'où les avait chassés la liberté, la gloire, Cicéron, César, et où devait les ramener la plus grande vicissitude de l'historie, la destruction de l'empire romain per les barbares. Ce que Virgile trouvait si étrange dans le passé n'étonne plus dans le présent; les bœufs mugissent au Forum; ils s'y couchent et y ruminent aujourd'hui, de même qu'au temps d'Evandre et comme s'il n'était rien arrivé."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. 1. 211.

"In many a heap the ground Heaves, is if Ruin in a frantic mood Had done his utmost. Here and there appears, As left to show his handy-work not ours, An idle column, a half-buried arch, A wall of some great temple. It was once, And long, the centre of their Universe, The Forum—whence a mandate, eagle-winged, Went to the ends of the earth. Let us descend Slowly. At every step much may be lost, The very dust we tread stirs as with life, And not a breath but from the ground sends up Something of human grandeur. . . . . . Now all is changed; and here, as in the wild, The day is silent, dreary as the night; None stirring, save the herdsman and his herd, Savage alike; or they that would explore, Discuss, and learnedly; or they that come, (And there are many who have crossed the earth,) That they may give the hours to meditation, And wander, often saving to themselves, 'This was the Roman Forum!'" Rogers' Italy.

"We descended into the Forum, the light fast fading away and throwing a kindred soberness over the scene of ruin. The soil has risen from rubbish at least fifteen feet, so that no wonder that the hills look lower than they used to do, having been never very considerable at the first. There it was one scene of desolation, from the massy foundation-stones of the Capitoline Temple, which were laid by Tarquinius the Proud, to a single pillar erected in honour of Phocas, the eastern emperor, in the fifth century. What the fragments of pillars belonged to, perhaps we can never know; but that I think matters little. I care not whether it was a temple of Jupiter Stator or the Basilica Julia, but one knows that one is on the ground of the Forum, under the Capitol, the place where the tribes assembled, and the orators spoke; the scene, in short, of all the internal struggles of the Roman people."—Arnold's Journal.

"They passed the solitary column of Phocas, and looked down into the excavated space, where a confusion of pillars, arches, pavements, and shattered blocks and shafts—the crumbs of various ruins dropt from the devouring maw of Time—stand, or lie, at the base of the Capitoline Hill. That renowned hillock (for it is little more) now rose abruptly above them. The ponderous masonry, with which the hillside is built up, is as old as Rome itself, and looks likely to endure while the world retains any substance or permanence. It once sustained the Capitol, and now bears up the great pile which the mediæval builders raised on the antique foundation, and that still loftier tower, which looks abroad upon a larger page of deeper historic interest than any other scene can show. On the same pedestal of Roman masonry, other structures will doubtless arise, and vanish like ephemeral things.

"To a spectator on the spot, it is remarkable that the events of Roman history, and of Roman life itself, appear not so distant as the Gothic ages which succeeded them. We stand in the Forum, or on the height of the Capitol, and seem to see the Roman epoch close at hand. We forget that a chasm extends between it and ourselves, in which lie all those dark, rude, unlettered centuries, around the birthtime of Christianity, as well as the age of chivalry and romance, the feudal system, and the infancy of a better civilization than that of Rome. Or, if we remember these mediæval times, they look further off than the Augustan age. The reason may be, that the old Roman literature survives, and creates for us an intimacy with the classic ages, which we have no means of forming with the subsequent ones.

"The Italian climate, moreover, robs age of its reverence, and makes it look nearer than it is. Not the Coliseum, nor the tombs of the Appian Way, nor the oldest pillar in the Forum, nor any other Roman ruin, be it as dilapidated as it may, ever give the impression of venerable antiquity which we gather, along with the ivy, from the grey walls of an English abbey or castle. And yet every brick and stone, which we pick up among the former, had fallen, ages before the foundation of the latter was begun."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

"A Rome, vous marchez sur les pierres qui ont été les dieux de César et de Pompée: vous considérez la ruine de ces grands ouvrages, dont la vieillesse est encore belle, et vous vous promènerez tous les jours parmi les histoires et les fables.... Il n'y à que Rome où la vie soit agréable, où le corps trouve ses plaisirs et l'esprit les siens, où l'on est à la source des belles choses. Rome est cause que vous n'êtes plus barbares, elle vous a appris la civilité et la religion.... Il est certain que je ne monte jamais au Palatin ni au Capitole que je n'y change d'esprit, et qu'il ne me vienne d'autres pensées que les miennes ordinaires. Cet air m'inspire quelque chose de grand et de généreux que je n'avais point auparavant: si je rêve deux heures au bord du Tibre, je suis aussi savant que si j'avais étudié huit jours."—Balzac.

Before leaving the Forum we must turn from its classical to its mediæval remains, and examine the very interesting group of churches which have sprung up amid its ruins.

Almost opposite the Mamertine Prisons, surmounted by a handsome dome, is the Church of Sta. Martina, which contains the original model, bequeathed by the sculptor Thorwaldsen, of his Copenhagen statue of Christ in the act of benediction. The opposite transept contains a very inferior statue of Religion by Canova. The figure of Sta. Martina by Guerini reposes beneath the high altar. The subterranean church is well worth visiting. An ante-chapel adorned with statues of four virgin martyrs leads to a chapel erected at the cost and from the designs of Pietro da Cortona, whose tomb stands near its entrance, with a fine bust by Bernini. In the centre of the inner chapel lamps are burning round the magnificent bronze altar which covers the shrine of Sta. Martina, and beneath it, you can discover the martyr's tomb by the light of a torch which a monk lets down through a hole. In the tribune is an ancient throne. A side chapel contains the grave in which the body of the virgin saint, with three other martyrs, her companions, was found in 1634: it is adorned with a fine bas-relief by Algardi.

"At the foot of the Capitoline hill, on the left hand as we descend from the Ara Cœli into the Forum, there stood in very ancient times a small chapel dedicated to Sta. Martina, a Roman virgin, who was martyred in the persecution under Alexander Severus. The veneration paid to her was of very early date, and the Roman people were accustomed to assemble there on the first day of the year. This observance was, however, confined to the people, and not very general till 1634; an era which connects her in rather an interesting manner with the history of art. In this year, as they were about to repair her chapel, they discovered, walled into the foundations, a sarcophagus of terra-cotta, in which was the body of a young female, whose severed head reposed in a separate casket. These remains were very naturally supposed to be those of the saint who had been so long venerated on that spot. The discovery was hailed with the utmost exultation, not by the people only, but by those who led the minds and consciences of the people. The pope himself, Urban VIII., composed hymns in her praise; and Cardinal Francesco Barberini undertook to rebuild her church. Amongst those who shared the general enthusiasm was the painter, Pietro da Cortona, who was at Rome at the time, who very earnestly dedicated himself and his powers to the glorification of Sta. Martina. Her church had already been given to the Academy of Painters, and consecrated to St. Luke, their patron saint. It is now 'San Luca and Santa Martina.' Pietro da Cortona erected at his own cost, the chapel of Sta. Martina, and when he died, endowed it with his whole fortune. He painted for the altarpiece his best picture, in which the saint is represented as triumphing over the idols, while the temple in which she has been led to sacrifice, is struck by lightning from heaven, and falls in ruins around her. In a votive picture of Sta. Martina kneeling at the feet of the Virgin and Child, she is represented as very young and lovely; near her, a horrid instrument of torture, a two-pronged fork with barbed extremities, and the lictor's axe, signifying the manner of her death."—Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.

The feast of the saint is observed here on Jan. 30, with much solemnity. Then in all the Roman churches is sung the Hymn of Sta. Martina—

"Martinæ celebri plaudite nomini, Cives Romulei, plaudite gloriæ; Insignem mentis dicite virginem, Christi dicite martyrem.

Hæc dum conspicuis orta parentibus Inter delicias, inter amabiles Luxus illecebras, ditibus affluit Faustæ muneribus domus.

Vitæ despiciens commoda, dedicat Se rerum Domino, et munifica manu Christi pauperibus distribuens opes Quærit præmia cœlitum.

A nobis abigas lubrica gaudia Tu, qui martyribus dexter ades, Deus Une et trine: tuis da famulis jubar, Quo clemens animos beas. Amen."

There is nothing especial to notice in S. Adriano, which is built in the ruins of the basilica of Emilius Paulus, or in S. Lorenzo in Miranda, which occupies the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, but Sta. Maria Liberatrice, built on the site of the house of Numa and the convent of the Vestals, commemorates by its name a curious legend of the fourth century. On this site, it is said, dwelt in a cave, a terrible dragon who had slain three hundred persons with the poison of his breath. Into this cave, instructed thereto by St. Peter, and entrusting himself to the care of the Virgin, descended St. Silvester the Pope, attended by two acolytes bearing torches, and here, having pronounced the name of Christ, he was miraculously enabled to bind the dragon, and to shut him up till the day of Judgment. But when he ascended in safety, he found at the mouth of the cave two magicians who had followed him in the hope of discovering some imposture, dying from the poison of the dragon's breath,—and these also he saved alive.

We now reach the circular building which has been so long known as the temple of Remus. To the right of the entrance are two pillars of cipolino, almost buried in the soil. The porphyry pillars at the entrance, supporting a richly sculptured cornice, were probably set up in their present position when the temple was turned into a church. The bronze doors were brought from Perugia. If, as is now supposed, the temple on this site was that of the Penates, the protectors against all kinds of illness and misfortune, the modern dedication to the protecting physicians Cosmo and Damian may have had some reference to that which went before.

The Church of SS. Cosmo and Damiano was founded within the ancient temple by Pope Felix IV. in 527, and restored by Adrian I. in 780. In 1633 the whole building was modernized by Urban VIII., who, in order to raise it to the present level of the soil, cut the ancient church in half by the vaulting which now divides the upper and lower churches. To visit the lower church a monk must be summoned, who will bring a torch. This is well worth while. It is of great size, and contains a curious well into which Christian martyrs in the time of Nero are said to have been precipitated. The tomb of the martyrs Cosmo and Damian is beneath the altar, which is formed of beautiful transparent marble. Under a side altar is the grave of Felix IV. The third and lowest church (the original crypt) which is very small, is said to have been a place of refuge during the early Christian persecutions. Here is shown the altar at which Felix IV. celebrated mass while his converts were hiding here—the grave in which the body of the pope was afterwards discovered—and a miraculous spring, still flowing, which is said to have burst forth in answer to his prayers that he might have wherewithal to baptize his disciples. A passage which formerly led from hence to the Catacombs of St. Sebastian, was walled up, twenty years ago, by the paternal government, because twenty persons were lost in it. In this crypt were found the famous "Pianta Capitolina," now preserved in the Capitol. In the upper church, on the right of the entrance from the circular vestibule into the body of the building is this inscription—

"L'imagine di Madonna Santissima che esiste all'altar magg. parlò a S. Gregorio Papa dicendogli, 'Perchè piu non mi saluti mentre passando eri solito salutarmi?' Il santo domandò perdona e concesse a quelli che celebrano in quell'altare la liberazione dell'anima dal purgatorio, cioé per quell'anima per la quale si celebra la messa."[63]

Another inscription narrates—

"Gregorius primus concessit omnibus et singulis visitantibus ecclesiam istam sanctorum Cosmæ et Damiani mille annos de indulgentia, et in die stationis ejusdem ecclesiæ idem Gregorius concessit decem millia annorum de indulgentia."

Among the many relics preserved in this church are, "Una ampulla lactis Beatæ Mariæ Virginis"; "De Domo Sanctæ Mariæ Magdalenæ"; "De Domo Sancti Zachariæ profeta!"

Deserving of the most minute attention is the grand mosaic of Christ—coming on the clouds of sunset.

"The mosaics of SS. Cosmo and Damian (A.D. 526—530) are the finest of ancient Christian Rome. Above the arch appear, on each side of the Lamb, four angels, of excellent but somewhat severe style; then follow various apocalyptic emblems: a modern walling up having left but few traces of the four and twenty elders. A gold surface, dimmed by age, with little purple clouds, forms the background: though in Rome, at least, at both an earlier and later date, a blue ground prevailed. In the apsis itself, upon a dark blue ground, with golden-edged clouds, is seen the colossal figure of Christ; the right hand raised, either in benediction or teaching, the left holding a written scroll; above is the hand, which is the emblem of the First Person of the Trinity. Below, on each side, the apostles Peter and Paul are leading SS. Cosmo and Damiano, each with crowns on their heads, towards the Saviour, followed by St. Theodore on the right, and by Pope Felix IV., the founder of the church, on the left. This latter, unfortunately, is an entirely restored figure. Two palm-trees, sparkling with gold, above one of which appears the emblem of eternity, the phœnix—with a star-shaped nimbus, close the composition on each side. Further below, indicated by water-plants, sparkling also with gold, is the river Jordan. The figure of Christ may be regarded as one of the most marvellous specimens of the art of the middle ages. Countenance, attitude, and drapery combine to give him an expression of quiet majesty, which, for many centuries after, is not found again in equal beauty and freedom. The drapery, especially, is disposed in noble folds, and only in its somewhat too ornate details is a further departure from the antique observable. The saints are not as yet arranged in stiff parallel forms, but are advancing forward, so that their figures appear somewhat distorted, while we already remark something constrained and inanimate in their step. The apostles Peter and Paul wear the usual ideal costume. SS. Cosmo and Damiano are attired in the late Roman dress: violet mantles, in gold stuff, with red embroideries of oriental barbaric effect. Otherwise the chief motives of the drapery are of great beauty, though somewhat too abundant in folds. The high lights are brought out by gold and other sparkling materials, producing a gorgeous play of colour which relieves the figures vigorously from the dark blue background. Altogether, a feeling for colour is here displayed, of which no later mosaics with gold grounds give any idea. The heads, with the exception of the principal figure, are animated and individual, though without any particular depth of expression; somewhat elderly, also, in physiognomy, but still far removed from any Byzantine stiffness; St. Peter has already the bald head, and St. Paul the short brown hair and dark beard, by which they were afterwards recognizable. Under this chief composition, on a gold ground, is seen the Lamb upon a hill, with the four rivers of Paradise, and the twelve sheep on either hand. The great care of execution is seen in the five or six gradations of tints which the artist has adopted."—Kugler.

SS. Cosmo and Damian, to whom this church is dedicated, were two Arabian physicians who exercised their art from charity. They suffered under Diocletian. "First they were thrown into the sea, but an angel saved them; and then into the fire, but the fire refused to burn them; then they were bound to crosses and stoned, but the stones either fell harmless or rebounded on their executioners and killed them, so then the pro-consul Lycias, believing them to be sorcerers, commanded that they should be beheaded, and thus they died." SS. Cosmo and Damian were the patron saints of the Medici, and their gilt statues were carried in state at the coronation of Leo X. (Giovanni de' Medici). Their fame is general in many parts of France, where their fête is celebrated by a village fair—children who ask for their fairing of a toy or gingerbread calling it their "St. Côme."

"It is related that a certain man, who was afflicted with a cancer in his leg, went to perform his devotions in the Church SS. Cosmo and Damian at Rome, and he prayed most earnestly that these beneficent saints would be pleased to aid him. When he had prayed, a deep sleep fell upon him. Then he beheld St. Cosmo and St. Damian, who stood beside him; and one carried a box of ointments, and the other a sharp knife. And one said, 'What shall we do to replace this diseased leg when we have cut it off?' And the other replied, 'There is a Moor who has been buried just now at St. Pietro in Vincoli; let us take his leg for the purpose.' So they brought the leg of the dead man, and with it they replaced the leg of the sick man; anointing it with celestial ointment, so that he remained whole. When he awoke he almost doubted whether it could be himself; but his neighbours, seeing that he was healed, looked into the tomb of the Moor, and found that there had been an exchange of legs: and thus the truth of this great miracle was proved to all beholders."—Mrs. Jameson, from the Legenda Aurea.

Just beyond the basilica of Constantine, stands the Church of Sta. Francesca Romana, which is full of interest. It was first built by St. Sylvester on the site of the temple of Venus and dedicated to the Virgin, under the title of Sta. Maria Antica. It was rebuilt in A.D. 872 by John VIII., who resided in the adjoining monastery during his pontificate. An ancient picture attributed to St. Luke, brought from Troy in 1100, was the only object in this church which was preserved when the building was totally destroyed by fire in 1216, after which the church, then called Sta. Maria Nuova, was restored by Honorius III. During the restoration, the picture was kept at S. Adriano, and its being brought back led to a contest amongst the people, which was ended by a child exclaiming—"What are you doing? the Madonna is already in her own church." She had betaken herself thither none knew how.

In the twelfth century the church was given to the Lateran Canons, in the fourteenth to the Olivetan monks; under Eugenius IV., the latter extended their boundaries so far that they included the Coliseum, but their walls were forced down in the succeeding pontificate. Gregory XI., Paul II., and Cæsar Borgia, were cardinals of Sta. Maria Novella. In 1440 the name was changed to that of Sta. Francesca Romana, when that saint, Francesca de' Ponziani, foundress of the Order of Oblates, was buried here. Her tomb was erected in 1640 by Donna Agata Pamfili, sister of Innocent X., herself an Oblate. It is from the designs of Bernini, and is rich in marbles. The figure was not added till 1868.

"After the death of Francesca, her body remained during a night and a day at the Ponziani Palace, the Oblates watching by turns over the beloved remains.... Francesca's face, which had recently borne traces of age and suffering, became as beautiful again as in the days of youth and prosperity; and the astonished bystanders gazed with wonder and awe at her unearthly loveliness. Many of them carried away particles from her clothes, and employed them for the cure of several persons who had been considered beyond the possibility of recovery. In the course of the day the crowd augmented to a degree which alarmed the inhabitants of the palace, Battista Ponziani took measures to have the body removed at once to the church, and a procession of the regular and secular clergy escorted the venerated remains to Santa Maria Nuova, where they were to be interred.

"The popular feeling burst forth on the occasion; it was no longer to be restrained. Francesca was invoked by the crowd, and her beloved name was heard in every street, in every piazza, in every corner of the Eternal City. It flew from mouth to mouth, it seemed to float in the air, to be borne aloft by the grateful enthusiasm of a whole people, who had seen her walk to that church by her mother's side in her holy childhood; who had seen her kneel at that altar in the grave beauty of womanhood, in the hour of bereavement, and now in death, carried thither in state, she the gentle, the humble saint of Rome, the poor woman of the Trastevere, as she was sometimes called at her own desire."—Lady G. Fullerton's Life of Sta. Francesca Romana.

A chapel on the right of the church contains the monument of Cardinal Vulcani, 1322, supporting his figure, with Faith, Hope, and Charity sculptured in high relief below. Near the door is that of Cardinal Adimari, 1432, who died here after an ineffectual mission to the anti-pope Pedro da' Luna. In the left transept was a fine Perugino (removed 1867); in the right transept is the tomb of Pope Gregory XI., by Pietro Paolo Olivieri, erected by the senate in gratitude for his having restored the papal court to Rome from Avignon. A bas-relief represents his triumphal entry, with St. Catherine of Siena, by whose entreaties he was induced to return, walking before his mule. A breach in the walls indicates the ruinous state into which Rome had fallen, the chair of St. Peter is represented as floating back through the air, while an angel carries the papal tiara and keys; a metaphorical figure of Rome is coming forth to welcome the pope.

"The greatest part of the praise due to Gregory's return to Rome belongs to St. Catherine of Siena, who, with infinite courage, travelled to Avignon, and persuaded the pope to return, and by his presence to dispel the evils which disgraced Italy, in consequence of the absence of the popes. Thus it is not to be wondered at, that those writers, who rightly understand the matter, should have said that Catherine, the virgin of Siena, brought back to God the abandoned apostolical chair upon her shoulders."—Ughelli, Ital. Sacra, vi. col. 45.

Near Pope Gregory's tomb some blackened marks in the wall are shown as holes made by the (gigantic) knees of St. Peter, when he knelt to pray that Simon Magus might be dropped by the demons he had invoked to support him in the air, which he is said to have done to show his power on this spot.

"When the error of Simon was spreading farther and farther, the illustrious pair of men, Peter and Paul, the rulers of the Church, arrested it by going thither, who suddenly exhibited as dead, Simon, the putative God, on his appearance. For when Simon declared that he would ascend aloft into heaven, the servants of God cast him headlong to the earth, and though this occurrence was wonderful in itself, it was not wonderful under the circumstances, for it was Peter who did it, he who bears with him the keys of heaven, ... it was Paul who did it, he who was caught up into the third heaven."—St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

"Simon promised to fly, and thus ascend to the heavenly abodes. On the day agreed upon, he went to the Capitoline hill, and throwing himself from the rock, began his ascent. Then Peter, standing in the midst, said, 'O Lord Jesus, show him that his arts are in vain.' Hardly had the words been uttered, when the wings which Simon had made use of became entangled, and he fell. His thigh was fractured, never to be healed,—and some time afterwards, the unhappy man died at Aretia, whither he had retired after his discomfiture."—St. Ambrose.[64]

"There can be no doubt that there existed in the first century a Simon, a Samaritan, a pretender to divine authority and supernatural powers; who, for a time, had many followers; who stood in a certain relation to Christianity; and who may have held some opinions more or less similar to those entertained by the most famous heretics of the early ages, the Gnostics. Irenæus calls this Simon the father of all heretics. 'All those,' he says, 'who in any way corrupt the truth, or mar the preaching of the Church, are disciples and successors of Simon, the Samaritan magician.' Simon gave himself forth as a God, and carried about with him a beautiful woman named Helena, whom he represented as the first conception of his—that is, of the divine—mind, the symbol and manifestation of that portion of spirituality which had become entangled in matter."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 204.

The vault of the tribune is covered with mosaics.

"The restored tribune mosaics (A.D. 858—887, during the pontificate of Nicholas I.), close the list of Roman Byzantine works. By their time it had become apparent that such figures as the art of the day was alone able to achieve, could have no possible relation to each other, and therefore no longer constitute a composition; the artists accordingly separated the Madonna on the throne, and the four saints with uplifted hands, by graceful arcades. The ground is gold, the nimbuses blue. The faces consist only of feeble lines—the cheeks are only red blotches; the folds merely dark strokes; nevertheless a certain flow and fulness in the forms, and the character of a few accessories (for instance, the exchange of a crown upon the Virgin's head for the invariable Byzantine veil), seem to indicate that we have not so much to do here with the decline of Byzantine art, as with a northern and probably Frankish influence."—Kugler.

The convent attached to this church was the abode of Tasso during his first visit to Rome.

Behind Sta. Francesca Romana, and facing the Coliseum, are the remains generally known as the Temple of Venus and Rome, also called Templum Urbis (now sometimes called by objectors the "Portico of Livia"), which, if this name is the correct one, was originally planned by the Emperor Hadrian to rival the Forum of Trajan, erected by the architect Apollodorus. It was built upon a site previously occupied by the atrium of Nero's Golden House. Little remains standing except a cella facing the Coliseum, and another in the cloisters of the adjoining convent (these, perhaps, being restorations by Maxentius, c. 307, after a fire had destroyed most of the building of Hadrian), but the surrounding grassy height is positively littered with fragments of the grey granite columns which once formed the grand portico (400 by 200 feet) of the building. A large mass of Corinthian cornice remains near the cella facing the Coliseum. This was the last pagan temple which remained in use in Rome.[65] It was only closed by Theodosius in 391, and remained entire till 625, when Pope Honorius carried off the bronze tiles of its roof to St. Peter's.

"Ac sacram resonare viam mugitibus, ante Delubrum Romæ; colitur nam sanguine et ipsa More deæ, nomenque loci, ceu numen, habetur. Atque Urbis, Venerisque pari se culmine tollunt Templa, simul geminis adolentur thura deabus." Prudentius contr. Symm. v. 214.

"When about to construct his magnificent temple of Venus and Rome, Hadrian produced a design of his own and showed it with proud satisfaction to the architect Apollodorus. The creator of the Trajan column remarked with a sneer that the deities, if they rose from their seats, must thrust their heads through the ceiling. The emperor, we are assured, could not forgive this banter; but we can hardly take to the letter the statement that he put his critic to death for it."—Merivale, ch. lxvi.

In front of this temple stood the bronze statue of Clœlia, mentioned by Livy and Seneca, and (till the sixth century) the bronze elephants mentioned by Cassiodorus. Nearer the Coliseum may still be seen the remains of the foundation prepared by Hadrian for the Colossal Statue of Nero, executed in bronze by Zenodorus. This statue was twice moved, first by Vespasian, in A.D. 75, that it might face the chief entrance of his amphitheatre,[66] whose plan had been already laid out. At the same time—though it was a striking likeness of Nero—its head was surrounded with rays that it might represent Apollo. In its second position it is described by Martial:

"Hic ubi sidereus propius videt astra colossus Et crescunt media pegmata celsa via, Invidiosa feri radiabant atria regis, Unaque jam tota stabat in urbe domus." De Spect. ii.

It was again moved (with the aid of forty-two elephants), a few yards further north, by Hadrian, when he built his temple of Venus and Rome. Pliny describes the colossus as 110, Dion Cassius as 100 feet high.

"Hadrian employed an architect named Decrianus to remove the colossus of Nero, the face of which had been altered into a Sol. He does not seem to have accomplished the design of Apollodorus to erect a companion statue of Luna."—Merivale, ch. lxvi.

Near the Church of Sta. Francesca the Via Sacra passes under the Arch of Titus, which, even in its restored condition, is the most beautiful monument of the kind remaining in Rome. Its Christian interest is unrivalled, from its having been erected by the senate to commemorate the taking of Jerusalem, and from its bas-reliefs of the seven-branched candlestick and other treasures of the Jewish Temple. In mediæval times it was called the Arch of the Seven Candlesticks (septem lucernarum) from the bas-relief of the candlestick, concerning which Gregorovius remarks, that the fantastic figures carved upon it prove that it was not an exact likeness of that which came from Jerusalem. The bas-reliefs are now greatly mutilated, but they are shown in their perfect state in a drawing of Giuliano di Sangallo. On the frieze is the sacred river Jordan, as an aged man, borne on a bier. The arch, which was in a very ruinous condition, had been engrafted in the middle ages into a fortress tower called Turris Cartularia, and so it remained till the present century. This tower originally formed the entrance to the vast fortress of the powerful Frangipani family, which included the Coliseum and a great part of the Palatine and Cœlian hills; and here, above the gate, Pope Urban II. dwelt in 1093, under the protection of Giovanni Frangipani. The arch was repaired by Pius VII., who replaced in travertine the lost marble portions at the top and sides.

"Standing beneath the arch of Titus, and amid so much ancient dust, it is difficult to forbear the commonplaces of enthusiasm, on which hundreds of tourists have already insisted. Over the half-worn pavement, and beneath this arch, the Roman armies had trodden in their outward march, to fight battles, a world's width away. Returning victorious, with royal captives, and inestimable spoil, a Roman triumph, that most gorgeous pageant of earthly pride, has streamed and flaunted in hundred-fold succession over these same flagstones, and through this yet stalwart archway. It is politic, however, to make few allusions to such a past; nor is it wise to suggest how Cicero's feet may have stepped on yonder stone, or how Horace was wont to stroll near by, making his footsteps chime with the measure of the ode that was ringing in his mind. The very ghosts of that massive and stately epoch have so much density that the people of to-day seem the thinner of the two, and stand more ghost-like by the arches and columns, letting the rich sculpture be discerned through their ill-compacted substance."—Hawthorne, Transformation.

"We passed on to the arch of Titus. Amongst the reliefs there is the figure of a man bearing the golden candlestick from the Temple at Jerusalem, as one of the spoils of the triumph. Yet He who abandoned His visible and local temple to the hands of the heathen for the sins of His nominal worshippers, has taken to Him His great power, and has gotten Him glory by destroying the idols of Rome as He had done the idols of Babylon; and the golden candlestick burns and shall burn with an everlasting light, while the enemies of His holy name, Babylon, Rome, or the carcass of sin in every land, which the eagles of His wrath will surely find out, perish for ever from before Him."—Arnold's Journal.

"The Jewish trophies are sculptured in bas-relief on the inside of the arch beneath the vaulting. Opposite to these is another bas-relief representing Titus in the quadriga, the reins borne by the goddess Roma. In the centre of the arch, Titus is borne to heaven by an eagle. It may be conjectured that these ornaments to his glory were designed after the death of Vespasian, and completed after his own.... These witnesses to the truth of history are scanned at this day by Christians passing to and fro between the Coliseum and the Forum; and at this day the Jew refuses to walk beneath them, and creeps stealthily by the side, with downcast eyes, or countenance averted."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire, vii. 250.

"The restoration of the arch of Titus reflects the greatest credit on the commission appointed by Pius VII. for the restoration of ancient edifices. This, not only beautiful, but precious monument, had been made the nucleus of a hideous castellated fort by the Frangipani family. Its masonry, however, embraced and held together, as well as crushed, the marble arch; so that on freeing it from its rude buttresses there was fear of its collapsing, and it had first to be well bound together by props and bracing beams, a process in which the Roman architects are unrivalled. The simple expedient was then adopted by the architect Stern of completing the arch in stone; for its sides had been removed. Thus increased in solid structure, which continued all the architectural lines, and renewed its proportions to the mutilated centre, the arch was both completely secured and almost restored to its pristine elegance."—Wiseman's Life of Pius VII.

The processions of the popes going to the Lateran for their solemn installation, used to halt beside the arch of Titus while a Jew presented a copy of the Pentateuch, with a humble oath of fealty. This humiliating ceremony was omitted for the first time at the installation of Pius IX.

At this point it may not be inappropriate to notice two other buildings, which, though situated on the Palatine, are totally disconnected with the other objects occupying that hill.

A lane runs up to the right from the arch of Titus. On the left is a gateway, surmounted by a faded fresco of St. Sebastian. Here is the entrance to a wild and beautiful garden, possessing most lovely views of the various ruins, occupying the site of the gardens of Adonis. This is the place where St. Sebastian underwent his (so-called) martyrdom, and will call to mind the many fine pictures, scattered over Europe, of the youthful and beautiful saint, bound to a tree, and pierced with arrows. The finest of these are the Domenichino, in Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and the Sodoma at Florence. He is sometimes represented as bound to an orange tree, and sometimes, as in the Guido at Bologna, to a cypress, like those we still see on this spot. Here was an important Benedictine Convent, where Pope Boniface IV. was a monk before his election to the papacy, and where the famous abbots of Monte Casino had their Roman residence. Here, in 1118, fifty-one cardinals took refuge, and elected Gelasius II. as Pope. The only building remaining is the Church of Sta. Maria Pallara or S. Sebastiano, containing some curious inscriptions relating to events which have occurred here, and—in the tribune, frescoes, of the Saviour in benediction with four saints, and below, two other groups representing the Virgin with saints and angels, placed, as we learn by the inscription beneath, by one Benedict—probably an abbot.

Further up the lane a "Via Crucis" leads to the Church of S. Buonaventura, "the seraphic doctor" (Cardinal and Bishop of Albano, ob. July 14, 1274), who in childhood was raised from the point of death (1221) by the prayers of St. Francis, who was so surprised when he came to life, that he involuntarily exclaimed, "O buona ventura"—("what a happy chance")—whence the name by which he was afterwards known.[67]

The little church contains several good modern monuments. Beneath the altar is shown the body of the Blessed Leonardo of Porto-Maurizio (ob. 1751), who arranged the Via Crucis in the Coliseum, and who is much revered by the ultra-Romanists for having prophesied the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The crucifix and the picture of the Madonna which he carried with him in his missions, are preserved in niches on either side of the tribune, and many other relics of him are shown in his cell in the adjoining convent of Minor Franciscans. Entered through the convent is a lovely little garden, whence there is a grand view of the Coliseum, and where a little fountain is shaded by two tall palm trees.

"Oswald went next to the monastery of S. Buenaventura, built on the ruins of Nero's palace. There, where so many crimes had reigned remorselessly, poor friars, tormented by conscientious scruples, doom themselves to fasts and stripes for the least omission of duty. 'Our only hope,' said one, 'is that when we die, our faults will not have exceeded our penances.' Nevill, as he entered, stumbled over a trap, and asked its purpose. 'It is through that we are interred,' answered one of the youngest, already a prey to the bad air. The natives of the south fear death so much that it is wondrous to find there these perpetual mementoes; yet nature is often fascinated by what she dreads, and such an intoxication fills the soul exclusively. The antique sarcophagus of a child serves as the fountain of this institution. The boasted palm of Rome is the only tree of its garden."—Madame de Staël, Corinne.

The arch of Titus is spoken of as being "in summa Via Sacra," as the street was called which led from the southern gate of Rome to the Capitol, and by which the victorious generals passed in their triumphant processions to the temple of Jupiter. Between the arch of Titus and the Coliseum, the ancient pavement of this famous road, composed of huge polygonal blocks of lava, has been allowed to remain. Here we may imagine Horace taking his favourite walk.

"Ibam forte Via Sacrâ, sicut meus est mos, Nescio quid meditans nugarum, et totus in illis." Sat. i. 9.

It appears to have been the favourite resort of the flaneurs of the day:

"Videsne, Sacram metiente te viam Cum bis ter ulnarum togâ, Ut ora vertat huc et huc euntium Liberrima indignatio?" Horace, Epod. 4.

The Via Sacra was originally bordered with shops, some of which, together with some baths, have been unearthed on the right of the road. Ovid alludes frequently to the purchases which might be made there in his time. In this especial part of the Via was the market for fruit and honey.[68]

"Dum bene dives ager, dum rami pondere nutant; Adferat in calatho rustica dona puer. Rure suburbano poteris tibi dicere missa; Illa vel in Sacra sint licet empta Via." Ovid, Art. Aman. ii. 263.

At the foot of the hill are the remains of the bason and the brick cone of a fountain called Meta Sudans, where the gladiators used to wash. Seneca, who lived in this neighbourhood, complains (Epist. lvi.) of the noise which was made by a showman who blew his trumpet close to this fountain.

On the right the Via Triumphalis leads to the Via Appia, passing under the Arch of Constantine. The lower bas-reliefs upon this arch, which are crude and ill-designed, refer to the deeds of Constantine; but the upper, of fine workmanship, illustrate the life of Trajan, which has led some to imagine that the arch was originally erected in honour of Trajan, and afterwards appropriated by Constantine. They were, however, removed from an arch of Trajan (whose ruins existed in 1430[69]), and were appropriated by Constantine for his own arch.

"Constantin a enlevé à un arc de triomphe de Trajan les statues de prisonniers daces que l'on voit au sommet du sien. Ce vol a été puni au seizième siècle, car, dans ce qui semble un accès de folie, Lorenzino, le bizarre assassin d'Alexandre de Médicis a décapité toutes les statues qui surmontaient l'arche Constantin, moins une, la seule dont la tête soit antique. Heureusement on a dans les musées, à Rome et ailleurs, bon nombre de ces statues de captifs barbares avec le même costume, c'est-à-dire le pantalon et le bonnet, souvent les mains liées, dans une attitude de soumission morne, quelque fois avec une expression de sombre fierté, car l'art romain avait la noblesse de ne pas humilier les vaincus; il ne les représentait point à genoux, foulés aux pieds par leurs vainqueurs; on ne donnait pas à leurs traits étranges un aspect qu'on eût pu rendre hideux; on les plaçait sur le sommet des arcs de triomphe, debout, la tête baissée, l'air triste."

"'Summus tristis captivus in arcu.'" Ampère, Emp. ii. 169.

The arch was further plundered by Clement VIII., who carried off one of its eight Corinthian columns to finish a chapel at the Lateran. They were formerly all of giallo-antico. But it is still the most striking and beautiful of the Roman arches.

"L'inscription gravée sur l'arc de Constantin est curieuse par le vague de l'expression en ce qui touche aux idées religieuses, par l'indécision calculée des termes dont se servait un sénat qui voulait éviter de se compromettre dans un sens comme dans l'autre. L'inscription porte que cet arc a été dédié a l'empereur parcequ'il a délivré la république d'un tyran (on dit encore la république!) par la grandeur de son âme et une inspiration de la Divinité, instinctu Divinitatis. Il parait même que ces mots ont été ajoutés après coup pour remplacer une formule peut-être plus explicitement païenne. Ce monument, qui célèbre le triomphe de Constantin, ne proclame donc pas encore nettement le triomphe du Christianisme. Comment s'en étonner, quand sur les monnaies de cet empereur on voit d'un côté le monogramme du Christ et l'autre l'effigie de Rome, qui était une divinité pour les païens?"—Ampère, Emp. ii. 355.

We now turn to the Coliseum, originally called The Flavian Amphitheatre. This vast building was begun in A.D. 72, upon the site of the reservoir of Nero, by the Emperor Vespasian, who built as far as the third row of arches, the last two rows being finished by Titus after his return from the conquest of Jerusalem. It is said that 12,000 captive Jews were employed in this work, as the Hebrews in building the Pyramids of Egypt, and that the external walls alone cost a sum equal to 17,000,000 francs. It consists of four stories, the first Doric, the second Ionic, the third and fourth Corinthian. Its circumference is 1641 feet, its length is 287, its width 182, its height 157. The entrance for the emperor was between two arches facing the Esquiline, where there is no cornice. Here there are remains of stucco decoration. On the opposite side was a similar entrance from the Palatine. Towards S. Gregorio has been discovered the subterranean passage in which the Emperor Commodus was near being assassinated. The numerous holes visible all over the exterior of the building were made in the middle ages, to extract the iron cramps, at that time of great value. The arena was surrounded by a wall sufficiently high to protect the spectators from the wild beasts, who were introduced by subterranean passages closed by huge gates, from the side towards the Cœlian. The podium contained the places of honour reserved for the Emperor and his family, the Senate, and the Vestal virgins. The places for the other spectators who entered by openings called vomitoria, were arranged in three stages (caveæ), separated by a gallery (præcinctio). The first stage for knights and tribunes, had 24 steps, the second (for the common people) 16, the third (for the soldiery) 10. The women, by order of the emperor, sate apart from the men, and married and unmarried men were also divided. The whole building was probably capable of containing 100,000 persons. At the top, on the exterior, may be seen the remains of the consoles which sustained the velarium which was drawn over the arena to shelter the spectators from the sun or rain. The arena could on occasions be filled with water for the sake of naval combats.

Nothing is known with certainty as to the architect of the Coliseum, though a tradition of the Church (founded on an inscription in the crypt of S. Martino al Monte), ascribes it to Gaudentius, a Christian martyr, who afterwards suffered on the spot.[70]

"The name of the architect to whom the great work of the Coliseum was entrusted has not come down to us. The ancients seem themselves to have regarded this name as a matter of little interest; nor, in fact, do they generally care to specify the authorship of their most illustrious buildings. The reason is obvious. The forms of ancient art in this department were almost wholly conventional, and the limits of design within which they were executed gave little room for the display of original taste and special character.... It is only in periods of eclecticism and renaissance, when the taste of the architect has wider scope, and may lead the eye instead of following it, that interest attaches to his personal merit. Thus it is that the Coliseum, the most conspicuous type of Roman civilisation, the monument which divides the admiration of strangers in modern Rome with St. Peter's itself, is nameless and parentless, while every stage in the construction of the great Christian temple, the creation of a modern revival, is appropriated with jealous care to its special claimants.

"The dedication of the Coliseum afforded to Titus an opportunity for a display of magnificence hitherto unrivalled, A battle of cranes with dwarfs representing the pigmies was a fanciful novelty, and might afford diversion for a moment; there were combats of gladiators, among whom women were included, though no noble matron was allowed to mingle in the fray; and the capacity of the vast edifice was tested by the slaughter of five thousand animals in its circuit. The show was crowned with the immission of water into the arena, and with a sea-fight representing the contests of the Corinthians and Corcyreans, related by Thucydides.... When all was over, Titus himself was seen to weep, perhaps from fatigue, possibly from vexation and disgust; but his tears were interpreted as a presentiment of his death, which was now impending, and it is probable that he was already suffering from a decline of bodily strength.... He lamented effeminately the premature decease he too surely anticipated, and, looking wistfully at the heavens, exclaimed that he did not deserve to die. He expired on the 13th September, 81, not having quite completed his fortieth year."—Merivale, ch. Ix.

"Hadrian gave a series of entertainments in honour of his birth-day, with the slaughter of a thousand beasts, including a hundred lions and as many lionesses. One magical scene was the representation of forests, when the whole arena became planted with living trees, shrubs, and flowers; to complete which illusion the ground was made to open, and send forth wild animals from yawning clefts, instantly re-covered with bushes.

"One may imagine the frantic excess to which the taste for gladiatorial combats was carried in Rome, from the preventive law of Augustus that gladiators should no more combat without permission of the senate; that prætors should not give these spectacles more than twice a year; that more than sixty couples should not engage at the same time; and that neither knights nor senators should ever contend in the arena. The gladiators were classified according to the national manner of fighting which they imitated. Thus were distinguished the Gothic, Dacian, Thracian, and Samnite combatants; the Retiarii, who entangled their opponents in nets thrown with the left hand, defending themselves with tridents in the right; the Secutores, whose special skill was in pursuit; the Laqueatores, who threw slings against their adversaries; the Dimachæ, armed with a short sword in each hand; the Hoplomachi, armed at all points; the Myrmillones, so called from the figure of a fish at the crest of the Gallic helmet they wore; the Bustuarii, who fought at funeral games; the Bestiarii, who only assailed animals; other classes who fought on horseback, called Andabates; and those combating in chariots drawn by two horses, Essedarii. Gladiators were originally slaves, or prisoners of war; but the armies who contended on the Roman arena in later epochs, were divided into compulsory and voluntary combatants, the former alone composed of slaves, or condemned criminals. The latter went through a laborious education in their art, supported at the public cost, and instructed by masters called Lanistæ, resident in colleges, called Ludi. To the eternal disgrace of the morals of Imperial Rome, it is recorded that women sometimes fought in the arena, without more modesty than hired gladiators. The exhibition of himself in this character by Commodus, was a degradation of the imperial dignity, perhaps more infamous, according to ancient Roman notions, than the theatrical performances of Nero."—Hemans' Story of Monuments in Rome.

The Emperor Commodus (A.D. 180-182), frequently fought in the Coliseum himself, and killed both gladiators and wild beasts, calling himself Hercules, dressed in a lion's-skin, with his hair sprinkled with gold-dust.

The gladiatorial combats came to an end, when, in A.D. 403, an oriental monk named Telemachus, was so horrified at them, that he rushed into the midst of the arena and besought the spectators to renounce them: instead of listening to him, they stoned him to death. The first martyrdom here was that of St Ignatius, said to have been the child especially blessed by our Saviour—the disciple of John—and the companion of Polycarp—who was sent here from Antioch, where he was bishop. When brought into the arena, he knelt down, and exclaimed, "Romans who are present, know that I have not been brought into this place for any crime, but in order that by this means I may merit the fruition of the glory of God, for love of whom I have been made prisoner. I am as the grain of the field, and must be ground by the teeth of the lions, that I may become bread fit for His table." The lions were then let loose, and devoured him, except the larger bones, which the Christians collected during the night.

"It is related of Ignatius that he grew up in such innocence of heart and purity of life, that to him it was granted to hear the angels sing; hence, when he became bishop of Antioch, he introduced into the service of his church the practice of singing the praises of God in responses, as he had heard the choirs of angels answering each other.... His story and fate are so well attested, and so sublimely affecting, that it has always been to me a cause of surprise as well as regret to find so few representations of him."—Jameson's Sacred Art, 693.

Soon after the death of Ignatius, 115 Christians were shot down here with arrows. Under Hadrian, A.D. 218, a patrician named Placidus, his wife Theophista, and his two sons, were first exposed here to the wild beasts, but when these refused to touch them were shut up in a brazen bull, and roasted by a fire lighted beneath. In 253, Abdon and Sennen, two rich citizens of Babylon, were exposed here to two lions and four bears, but on their refusing to attack them, were killed by the swords of the gladiators. In A.D. 259, Sempronius, Olympius, Theodulus, and Exuperia, were burnt at the entrance of the Coliseum, before the statue of the Sun. In A.D. 272, Sta. Prisca was vainly exposed here to a lion, then starved for three days, then stretched on a rack to have her flesh torn by iron hooks, then put into a furnace, and—having survived all these torments—was finally beheaded. In A.D. 277, Sta. Martina, another noble Roman lady, was exposed in vain to the beasts and afterwards beheaded in the Coliseum. St. Alexander under Antoninus; St. Potitus, 168; St. Eleutherius, bishop of Illyria, under Hadrian; St Maximus, son of a senator, 284; and Vitus, Crescentia, and Modesta, under Domitian, were also martyred here.[71]

"It is no fiction, but plain, sober, honest truth, to say: so suggestive and distinct is it at this hour: that, for a moment—actually in passing in—they who will, may have the whole great pile before them, as it used to be, with thousands of eager faces staring down into the arena, and such a whirl of strife, and blood, and dust going on there, as no language can describe. Its solitude, its awful beauty, and its utter desolation, strike upon the stranger, the next moment, like a softened sorrow; and never in his life, perhaps, will he be so moved and overcome by any sight, not immediately connected with his own affections and afflictions.

"To see it crumbling there, an inch a year; its walls and arches overgrown with green, its corridors open to the day; the long grass growing in its porches; young trees of yesterday springing up on its ragged parapets, and bearing fruit—chance produce of the seeds dropped there by the birds who build their nests within its chinks and crannies; to see its pit of fight filled up with earth, and the peaceful cross planted in the centre; to climb into its upper halls, and look down on ruin, ruin, ruin, all about it; the triumphal arches of Constantine, Septimius Severus, and Titus, the Roman Forum, the Palace of the Cæsars, the temples of the old religion, fallen down and gone; is to see the ghost of old Rome, wicked, wonderful old city, haunting the very ground on which its people trod. It is the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic, mournful sight conceivable. Never, in its bloodiest prime, can the sight of the gigantic Coliseum, full and running over with the lustiest life, have moved one heart, as it must move all who look upon it now, a ruin. God be thanked: a ruin!

"As it tops all other ruins: standing there, a mountain among graves: so do its ancient influences outlive all other remnants of the old mythology and old butchery of Rome, in the nature of the fierce and cruel Roman people. The Italian face changes as the visitor approaches the city; its beauty becomes devilish; and there is scarcely one countenance in a hundred, among the common people in the streets, that would not be at home and happy in a renovated Coliseum to-morrow."—Dickens.

The spot where the Christian martyrs suffered is now marked by a tall cross, devoutly kissed by the faithful,—and all round the arena of the Coliseum, are the small chapels or "stations," used in the Via Crucis, which is observed here at 4 P.M. every Friday, when a confraternity clothed in grey, with only the eyes visible, is followed by a crowd of worshippers who chaunt and pray at each station in turn,—after which a Capuchin monk preaches from a pulpit on the left of the arena. These sermons are often very striking, being delivered in a familiar style, and upon popular subjects of the day, but they also often border on the burlesque.

"Oswald voulut aller au Colisée pour entendre le Capucin qui devait y prêcher en plein air au pied de l'un des autels qui désignent, dans l'intérieur de l'enceinte, ce qu'on appelle la route de la Croix. Quel plus beau sujet pour l'éloquence que l'aspect de ce monument, que cette arène où les martyrs ont succédé aux gladiateurs! Mais il ne faut rien espérer à cet égard du pauvre Capucin, qui ne connâit de l'histoire des hommes que sa propre vie. Néanmoins, si l'on parvient à ne pas écouter son mauvais sermon, on se sent ému par les divers objets dont il est entouré. La plupart de ses auditeurs sont de la confrérie des Camaldules; ils se revêtent, pendant les exercises religieux, d'une espèce de robe grise qui couvre entièrement la tête et le corps, et ne laisse que deux petites ouvertures pour les yeux; c'est ainsi que les ombres pourraient être représentées. Ces hommes, ainsi cachés sous leurs vêtements, se prosternent la face contre terre, et se frappent la poitrine. Quand le prédicateur se jette à genoux en criant miséricorde de pitié! le peuple qui l'environne se jette aussi à genoux, et répète ce même cri, qui va se perdre sous les vieux portiques du Colisée. Il est impossible de ne pas éprouver alors une émotion profondément religieuse; cet appel de la douleur à la bonté, de la terre au ciel, remue l'âme jusque dans son sanctuaire le plus intime."—Madame de Staël.

"'C'est aujourd'hui Vendredi,' dit Guy, 'il y aura foule au Colisée, il vaudrait mieux, je crois, y aller un autre jour.'

"'Non, non,' dit Eveline, 'c'est précisément pour cela que je veux y aller. On m'a dit qu'il fallait le voir ainsi rempli de monde, et que d'ailleurs cette fête était curieuse.'

"'Ce n'est pas une fête,' dit Guy gravement, 'c'est un simple acte de dévotion qui se répète tous les Vendredis.'

"'En vérité,' dit Eveline, 'et pourquoi le Vendredi?'

"'Parceque c'est le jour où Christ est mort pour nous; par cette raison, vous ne l'ignorez pas, ce jour est demeuré consacré dans le monde chrétien ... dans le monde catholique du moins,' repondit Guy.

"'Mais à quel propos choisit-on le Colisée pour s'y réunir ce jour là?'

"'Parceque le Colisée a été baigné du sang des martyrs et que leur souvenir se mêle là plus qu'ailleurs à celui de la croix pour laquelle ils l'ont versé.'"—Mrs. Augustus Craven in Anne Severin.

The pulpit of the Coliseum was used for the stormy sermons of Gavazzi, who called the people to arms from thence in the revolution of March, 1848.

It is well worth while to ascend to the upper galleries (a man who lives near the entrance from the Forum will open a locked door for the purpose), as then only is it possible to realize the vast size and grandeur of the building.

"May, 1827.—Lastly, we ascended to the top of the Coliseum, Bunsen leaving us at the door, to go home; and I seated myself just above the main entrance, towards the Forum, and there took my farewell look over Rome. It was a delicious evening, and everything was looking to advantage:—the huge Coliseum just under me, the tufts of ilex and aliternus and other shrubs that fringe the walls everywhere in the lower part, while the outside wall, with its top of gigantic stones, lifts itself high above, and seems like a mountain barrier of bare rock, enclosing a green and varied valley. I sat and gazed upon the scene with an intense and mingled feeling. The world could show nothing grander; it was one which for years I had longed to see, and I was now looking at it for the last time. When I last see the dome of St. Peter's I shall seem to be parting from more than a mere town full of curiosities, where the eye has been amused, and the intellect gratified. I never thought to have felt thus tenderly towards Rome; but the inexplicable solemnity and beauty of her ruined condition has quite bewitched me, and to the latest hour of my life I shall remember the Forum, the surrounding hills, and the magnificent Coliseum."—Arnold's Letters.

The upper arches frame a series of views of the Aventine, the Capitoline, the Cœlian, and the Campagna, like a succession of beautiful pictures.

Those who visit the Coliseum by moonlight will realize the truthfulness of the following descriptions:—

"I do remember me, that in my youth, When I was wandering,—upon such a night, I stood within the Coliseum's wall, Midst the chief relics of almighty Rome; The trees which grew along the broken arches Waved dark in the blue midnight, and the stars Shone through the rents of ruin; from afar The watch-dog bayed beyond the Tiber; and More near from out the Cæsar's palace came The owl's long cry, and, interruptedly, Of distant sentinels the fitful song Began and died upon the gentle wind:— Some cypresses beyond the time-worn breach Appeared to skirt the horizon, yet they stood Within a bowshot where the Cæsars dwelt, And dwell the tuneless birds of night, amidst A grove which springs through levell'd battlements, And twines its roots with the imperial hearths; Ivy usurps the laurel's place of growth;— But the gladiator's bloody circus stands, A noble wreck in ruinous perfection! While Cæsar's chambers, and the Augustan halls, Grovel on earth in indistinct decay. And thou didst shine, thou rolling moon, upon All this, and cast a wide and tender light, Which softened down the hoar austerity Of rugged desolation, and fill'd up, As 't were anew, the gaps of centuries; Leaving that beautiful which still was so, And making that which was not, till the place Became religion, and the heart ran o'er With silent worship of the great of old:— The dead but scepter'd sovereigns, who still rule Our spirits from their urns." Manfred.

"Arches on arches! as it were that Rome, Collecting the chief trophies of her line, Would build up all her triumphs in one dome, Her Coliseum stands; the moonbeams shine As 't were its natural torches, for divine Should be the light which streams here, to illume The long-explored but still exhaustless mine Of contemplation; and the azure gloom Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume

"Hues which have words, and speak to ye of heaven, Floats o'er this vast and wondrous monument, And shadows forth its glory. There is given Under the things of earth, which Time hath bent, A spirit's feeling, and where he hath leant His hand, but broke his scythe, there is a power And magic in the ruined battlement, For which the palace of the present hour Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower." Childe Harold.

"No one can form any idea of full moonlight in Rome who has not seen it. Every individual object is swallowed in the huge masses of light and shadow, and only the marked and principal outlines remain visible. Three days ago (Feb. 2, 1787) we made good use of a light and most beautiful night. The Coliseum presents a vision of beauty. It is closed at night; a hermit lives inside in a little church, and beggars roost amid the ruined vaults. They had lighted a fire on the bare ground, and a gentle breeze drove the smoke across the arena. The lower portion of the ruin was lost, while the enormous walls above stood forth into the darkness. We stood at the gates and gazed upon this phenomenon. The moon shone high and bright. Gradually the smoke moved through the chinks and apertures in the walls, and the moon illuminated it like a mist. It was an exquisite moment!"—Goethe.

It is believed that the building of the Coliseum remained entire until the eighth century, and that its ruin dates from the invasion of Robert Guiscard, who destroyed it to prevent its being used as a stronghold by the Romans. During the middle ages it served as a fortress, and became the castle of the great family of Frangipani, who here gave refuge to Pope Innocent II. (Papareschi) and his family, against the anti-pope Anacletus II., and afterwards in the same way protected Innocent III. (Conti) and his brothers against the anti-pope Paschal II. Constantly at war with the Frangipani were the Annibaldi, who possessed a neighbouring fortress, and obtained from Gregory IX. a grant of half the Coliseum, which was rescinded by Innocent IV. During the absence of the popes at Avignon the Annibaldi got possession of the whole of the Coliseum, but it was taken away again in 1312, and placed in the hands of the municipality, after which it was used for bull-fights, in which (as described by Monaldeschi) nobles of high rank took part and lost their lives. In 1381 the senate made over part of the ruins to the Canons of the Lateran, to be used as a hospital, and their occupation is still commemorated by the arms of the Chapter (our Saviour's head between two candelabra) sculptured in various parts of the building. From the fourteenth century it began to be looked upon as a stone-quarry, and the Palazzos Farnese, Barberini, S. Marco, and the Cancellaria, were built with materials plundered from its walls. It is said that the first of these destroyers, Cardinal Farnese, only extorted permission from his reluctant uncle, Paul III., to quarry as much stone as he could remove in twelve hours, and that he availed himself of this permission to let loose four thousand workmen upon the building. Sixtus V. endeavoured to utilize it by turning the arcades into shops, and establishing a woollen manufactory, and Clement XI. (1700—1721) by a manufactory of saltpetre, but both happily failed. In the last century the tide of restoration began to set in. A Carmelite monk, Angelo Paoli, represented the iniquity of allowing a spot consecrated by such holy memories to be desecrated, and Clement XI. consecrated the arena to the memory of the martyrs who had suffered there, and erected in one of the archways the still existing chapel of Sta. Maria della Pietà. The hermit appointed to take care of this chapel was stabbed in 1742, which caused Benedict XIV. to shut in the Coliseum with bars and gates. After this time destruction became sacrilege, and the five last popes all contributed to strengthen and preserve the walls which remain. Even so late as thirty years ago, however, the interior was (like that of an English abbey) an uneven grassy space littered with masses of ruin, amid which large trees grew and flourished, and the clearing out of the arena, though exhibiting more perfectly the ancient form of the building, is much to be regretted by lovers of the picturesque.[72]

Among the ecclesiastical legends connected with the Coliseum, it is said that Gregory the Great presented some foreign ambassadors with a handful of earth from the arena as a relic for their sovereigns, and upon their receiving the gift with disrespect, he pressed it, when blood flowed from the soil. Pius V, urged those who wished for relics to gather up the dust of the Coliseum, wet with the blood of the martyrs.

In 1744 "the blessed Leonardo di Porto Maurizio," who is buried in S. Buonaventura, drew immense crowds to the Coliseum by his preaching, and obtained permission from Benedict XIV. to found the confraternity of "Amanti di Gesù e Maria," for whom the Via Crucis was established here. Recently the ruins have been associated with the holy beggar, Benoit Joseph Labré (beatified by Pius IX. in 1860), who died at Rome in 1783, after a life spent in devotion. He was accustomed to beg in the Coliseum, to sleep at night under its arcades, and to pray for hours at its various shrines.

The name Coliseum is first found in the writings of the Venerable Bede, who quotes a prophecy of Anglo-Saxon pilgrims.

"While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls, the world."[73]

The name was probably derived from its size; the amphitheatre of Capua was also called Colossus.

"When one looks at the Coliseum everything else becomes small; it is so great that one cannot keep its true image in one's soul; one only remembers it on a smaller scale, and returning thither again finds it again grown larger."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.

Once or twice in the course of every Roman winter the Coliseum is illuminated with Bengal lights.

"Les étrangers se donnent parfois l'amusement d'éclairer le Colisée avec des feux de Bengale. Cela ressemble un peu trop à un finale de mélodrame, et on peut préférer comme illumination un radieux soleil on les douces lueurs de la lune. Cependant j'avoue que la première fois que le Colisée m'apparut ainsi, embrasé de feux rougeâtres, son histoire me revint vivement à la pensée. Je trouvais qu'il avait en ce moment sa vraie couleur, la couleur du sang."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 156.

CHAPTER V.

THE VELABRUM AND THE GHETTO.

S. Teodoro—Sta. Anastasia—Circus Maximus—S. Giorgio in Velabro—Arch of Septimius Severus—Arch of Janus—Cloaca-Maxima—Sta. Maria in Cosmedin—Temple of Vesta—Temple of Fortuna Virilis—House of Rienzi—Ponte-Rotto—Ponte Sublicio—S. Nicolo in Carcere—Theatre of Marcellus—Portico of Octavia—Pescheria—Jewish Synagogue—Palazzo Cenci—Fontana Tartarughe—Palazzo Mattei—Palazzo Caetani—Sta. Caterina dei Funari—Sta. Maria Campitelli—Palazzo Margana—Convent of the Tor de' Specchi.

THE second turn on the right of the Roman Forum is the Via dei Fienili, formerly the Vicus Tuscus, so called from the Etruscan colony established there after the drying up of the marsh which occupied that site in the earliest periods of Roman history. During the empire, this street, leading from the Forum to the Circus Maximus, was one of the most important. Martial speaks of its silk-mercers; from an inscription on a tomb we know that the fashionable tailors were to be found there; and the perfumers' shops were of such abundance as to give to part of the street the name of Vicus Thurarius. At its entrance was the statue of the Etruscan god, Vertumnus, the patron of the quarter.[74] This was the street by which the processions of the Circensian games passed from the Forum to the Circus Maximus. In one of the Verrine Orations, an accusation brought by Cicero against the patrician Verres, was that from avaricious motives he had paved even this street—used for processions of the Circus—in such a manner that he would not venture to use it himself.[75]

All this valley was once a stagnant marsh, left by inundations of the Tiber, for in early times the river often overflowed the whole valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline hills, and even reached as far as the foot of the Quirinal, where the Goat's Pool, at which Romulus disappeared, is supposed to have formed part of the same swamp. Ovid, in describing the processions of the games, speaks of the willows and rushes which once covered this ground, and the marshy places which one could not pass over except with bare feet:

"Qua Velabra solent in Circum ducere pompas, Nil præter salices crassaque canna fuit, Sæpe suburbanas rediens conviva per undas Cantat, et ad nautas ebria verba jacit. Nondum conveniens diversis iste figuris Nomen ab averso ceperat amne deus. Hic quoque lucus erat juncis et arundine densus, Et pede velato non adeunda palus. Stagna recesserunt, et aquas sua ripa coërcet: Siccaque nunc tellus. Mos tamen ille manet." Fast. vi. 405.

We even know the price which was paid for being ferried across the Velabrum: "it was a quadrans, three times as much as one pays now for the boat at the Ripetta."[76] The creation of the Cloaca Maxima had probably done much towards draining, but some fragments of the marsh remained to a late period.

According to Varro the name of the Velabrum was derived from vehere, because of the boats which were employed to convey passengers from one hill to the other.[77] Others derive the name from vela, also in reference to the mode of transit, or, according to another idea, in reference to the awnings which were stretched across the street to shelter the processions,—though the name was in existence long before any processions were thought of.

It was the waters of the Velabrum which bore the cradle of Romulus and Remus from the Tiber, and deposited it under the famous fig-tree of the Palatine.

On the left of the Via dei Fienili (shut in by a railing, generally closed, but which will be opened on appealing to the sacristan next door) is the round Church of S. Teodoro. The origin of this building is unknown. It used to be called the temple of Romulus, on the very slight foundation that the famous bronze wolf, mentioned by Dionysius as existing in the temple of Romulus, was found near this spot. Dyer supposes that it may have been the Temple of Cybele; this, however, was upon, and not under, the Palatine. Be they what they may, the remains were dedicated as a Christian church by Adrian I., in the eighth century, and some well preserved mosaics in the tribune are of that time.

"It is curious to note in Rome how many a modern superstition has its root in an ancient one, and how tenaciously customs still cling to the old localities. On the Capitoline hill the bronze she-wolf was once worshipped as the wooden Bambino is now. It stood in the Temple of Romulus, and there the ancient Romans used to carry children to be cured of their diseases by touching it. On the supposed site of the temple now stands the church dedicated to S. Teodoro, or Santo Toto, as he is called in Rome. Though names must have changed and the temple has vanished, and church after church has here decayed and been rebuilt, the old superstition remains, and the common people at certain periods still bring their sick children to Santo Toto, that he may heal them with his touch."—Story's Roba di Roma.[78]

Further on the left, still under the shadow of the Palatine Hill, is the large Church of Sta. Anastasia, containing, beneath the altar, a beautiful statue of the martyred saint reclining on a faggot.

"Notwithstanding her beautiful Greek name, and her fame as one of the great saints of the Greek Calendar, Sta. Anastasia is represented as a noble Roman lady, who perished during the persecution of Diocletian. She was persecuted by her husband and family for openly professing the Christian faith, but being sustained by the eloquent exhortations of St. Chrysogonus, she passed triumphantly, receiving in due time the crown of martyrdom, being condemned to the flames. Chrysogonus was put to death with the sword and his body thrown into the sea.

"According to the best authorities, these two saints did not suffer in Rome, but in Illyria; yet in Rome we are assured that Anastasia, after her martyrdom, was buried by her friend Apollina in the garden of her house under the Palatine hill and close to the Circus Maximus. There stood the church, dedicated in the fourth century, and there it now stands. It was one of the principal churches in Rome in the time of St. Jerome, who, according to ancient tradition, celebrated mass at one of the altars, which is still regarded with peculiar veneration."—Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.

It was the custom for the mediæval popes to celebrate their second mass of Christmas night in this church, for which reason Sta. Anastasia is still especially commemorated in that mass.

To the left of the high altar is the tomb of the learned Cardinal Mai, by the sculptor Benzoni, who owed everything to the kind interest with which this cardinal regarded him from childhood. The epitaph is remarkable. It is thus translated by Cardinal Wiseman:

"I, who my life in wakeful studies wore, Bergamo's son, named Angelo, here lie. The empyreal robe and crimson hat I bore, Rome gave. Thou giv'st me, Christ, th' empyreal sky. Awaiting Thee, long toil I could endure: So with Thee be my rest now, sweet, secure."

Through this church, also, we may enter some of the subterraneous chambers of the Palace of the Cæsars.

The valley near this, between the Palatine and the Aventine, was the site of the Circus Maximus, of which the last vestiges were destroyed in the time of Paul V. Its ground plan can, however, be identified, with the assistance of the small circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, which still partially exists. It was intended for chariot-races and horse-races, and is said to have been first instituted by Tarquinius Priscus after his conquest of the Latin town of Apiolæ. It was a vast oblong, ending in a semicircle, and surrounded by three rows of seats, termed collectively cavea. In the centre of the area was the low wall called the spina, at each end of which were the metæ, or goals. Between the metæ were columns supporting the ova, egg-shaped balls, and Delphinæ, or dolphins, each seven in number, one of which was put up for each circuit made in the race. At the extremity of the Circus were the stalls for the horses and chariots called Carceres. This, the square end of the Circus, was termed oppidum, from its external resemblance to a town, with walls and towers. In the Circus Maximus, which was used for hunting wild beasts, Julius Cæsar made a canal, called Euripus,[79] ten feet wide, between the seats and the racecourse, to protect the spectators. The Ludi Circenses were first established by Romulus, to attract his Sabine neighbours, in order that he might supply his city with wives. The games were generally at the expense of the ædiles, and their cost was so great, that Cæsar was obliged to sell his Tiburtine villa, to defray those given during his ædileship. Perhaps the most magnificent games known were those in the reign of Carinus (Imp. A.D. 283), when the Circus was transformed into an artificial forest, in which hundreds of wild beasts and birds were slaughtered. At one time this Circus was capable of containing 385,000 persons.

At the western extremity of the Circus Maximus stood the Temple of Ceres, Liber, and Libera (said to have been vowed by the Dictator Albus Postumius, at the battle of the Lake Regillus), dedicated by the Consul Sp. Cassius, B.C. 492.

"Quand le père de Cassius l'eut immolé de ses propres mains à l'avidité patricienne, il fit don du pécule de son fils—un fils n'avait que son pécule comme un esclave—à ce même temple de Cérès que Spurius Cassius avait consacré, et par une féroce ironie, mit au bas de la statue faite avec cet argent, et qu'il dédiait à la déesse: 'Don de la famille Cassia.'

"L'ironie était d'autant plus amère, que l'on vendait auprès du temple de Cérès ceux qui avaient offensé au tribun.

"Ce temple, mis particulièrement sous la surveillance des édiles et où ils avaient leurs archives, était le temple de la démocratie romaine. Le farouche patricien le choisit pour lui faire adresser par son fils mort au service de la démocratie un dérisoire hommage."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 416.

We must now retrace our steps for a short distance, and descend into a hollow on the left, which we have passed, between the churches of S. Teodoro and Sta. Anastasia.

Here an interesting group of buildings still stands to mark the site of the famous ox-market, Forum Boarium. In its centre a brazen bull, brought from Egina,[80] once commemorated the story of the oxen of Geryon, which Hercules left to pasture on this marshy site, and which were stolen hence by Cacus,—and is said by Ovid to have given a name to the locality:

"Pontibus et magno juncta est celeberrima Circo Area, quæ posito de bove nomen habet." Fast. vi. 478.

The fact of this place being used as a market for oxen is mentioned by Livy.[81]

The Forum Boarium is associated with several deeds of cruelty. After the battle of Cannæ, a male and female Greek and a male and female Gaul were buried alive here;[82] and here the first fight of gladiators took place, being introduced by M. and D. Brutus, at the funeral of their father in B.C. 264.[83] Here the Vestal virgins buried the sacred utensils of their worship, at the spot called Doliola, when they fled from Rome after the battle of the Allia.[84]

Amongst the buildings which once existed in the Forum Boarium, but of which no trace remains, were the Temple of the Sabine deity Matuta, and the Temple of Fortune, both ascribed to Servius Tullius.

"Hac ibi luce ferunt Matutæ sacra parenti, Sceptiferas Servi templa dedisse manus." Ovid, Fast. vi. 479.

"Lux eadem, Fortuna, tua est, auctorque, locusque, Sed superinjectis quis latet æde togis? Servius est: hoc constat enim——" Fast. vi. 569.

The Temple of Fortune was rebuilt by Lucullus, and Dion Cassius mentions that the axle of Julius Cæsar's car broke down in front of it on occasion of one of his triumphs.[85] Another temple in this neighbourhood was that of Pudicitia Patricia, into which the noble ladies refused to admit Virginia, because she had espoused a plebeian consul[86] (see Chap. X.). Here, also, was the Temple of Hercules Victor, erected by Pompey.[87] The two earliest triumphal arches were built in this forum, being in honour of L. Stertinius, erected B.C. 196, after his victories in Spain.

The building which first attracts attention, among those now standing, is the Arch of Janus, the Sabine god. It has four equal sides and arches, turned to the four points of the compass, and forty-eight niches, probably intended for the reception of small statues. Bas-reliefs on the inverted blocks employed in the lower part of this edifice, show that they must have been removed from earlier buildings. This was probably used as a portico for shelter or business for those who trafficked in the Forum; there were many similar porticoes in ancient Rome.

On the left of the arch of Janus is a narrow alley, spanned by low brick arches, which leads first to the beautiful clear spring of the Aqua Argentina, which, according to some authorities, is the place where Castor and Pollux watered their horses after the battle of the Lake Regillus.

"Then on rode those strange horsemen, With slow and lordly pace; And none who saw their bearing Durst ask their name or race. On rode they to the Forum, While laurel boughs and flowers From house-tops and from windows, Fell on their crests in showers.

"When they drew nigh to Vesta, They vaulted down amain, And washed their horses in the well That springs by Vesta's fane. And straight again they mounted And rode to Vesta's door; Then, like a blast, away they passed, And no man saw them more." Macaulay's Lays.

The alley is closed by an arch of the celebrated Cloaca Maxima, the famous drain formed by Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome, to dry the marshy land of the Velabrum.

"Infima urbis loca circa Forum, aliasque interjectas collibus convalles, quia ex planis locis haud facile evehebant aquas, cloacis a fastigio in Tiberim ductis siccat."—Livy, lib. i. c. 38.

The Cloaca extended from the Forum to the Tiber, and is still, after 2,400 years, used, during the latter part of its course, for the purpose for which it was originally intended, though Pliny was filled with wonder that, in his time, it had already withstood the earthquakes, inundations, and accidents of seven hundred years. Strabo tells that the tunnel of the Cloaca was of sufficient height to admit a waggon laden with hay, but this probably supposes the water at its lowest. Agrippa, who cleaned out the Cloaca, navigated its whole length in a boat. The mouth of the Cloaca, composed of three concentric courses of blocks of peperino, without cement, is visible on the river a little to the right of the temple of Vesta.

"Ces lieux ont encore un air et comme une odeur de marécage—quand on rôde aux approches de la nuit dans ce coin désert de Rome où fut placée la scène des premiers moments de son premier roi, on y retrouve, à présent mieux qu'au temps de Tite-Live, quelque chose de l'impression que ce lieu devait produire il y a vingt-cinq siècles, à l'époque où, selon la vieille tradition, le berceau de Romulus s'arrêta dans les boues du Vélabre, au pied du Palatin, près de l'antre Lupercal. Il faut s'écarter un peu de cet endroit, qui était au pied du versant occidental du Palatin, et faire quelques pas à droite pour aller chercher les traces du Vélabre là où les rues et les habitations modernes ne les ont pas entièrement effacées. En s'avançant vers la Cloaca Maxima, on rencontre un enfoncement où une vieille église, elle-même au dedans humide et moisie, rappelle par son nom, San Giorgio in Velabro, que le Vélabre a été là. On voit sourdre encore les eaux qui l'alimentaient sous une voûte sombre et froide, tapissée de mousses, de scolopendres et de grandes herbes frissonnant dans la nuit. Alentour, tout a un aspect triste et abandonné, abandonné comme le furent au bord du marais, suivant l'antique récit, les enfants dont on croit presque ouïr dans le crépuscule les vagissements. L'imagination n'a pas de peine à se représenter les arbres et les plantes aquatiques qui croissaient sur le bord de cet enfoncement que voilà, et à travers lesquelles la louve de la légende se glissait à cette heure pour venir boire à cette eau. Ces lieux sont assez peu fréquentés et assez silencieux pour qu'on se les figure comme ils étaient alors, alors qu'il n'y avait ici, comme dit Tite-Live, vrai cette fois, que des solitudes désertes: Vastæ tunc solitudines erant."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 271.

The church with the picturesque campanile near the arch of Janus, is S. Giorgio in Velabro, founded in the fourth century, as the Basilica Sempronia, but repeatedly rebuilt. The architrave above its portico was that where Rienzi affixed his famous inscription, announcing the return to the Good Estate: "In breve tempo gli Romani torneranno al loro antico buono stato." The church is seldom open, except on its festival (Jan. 20), and during its station in Lent. The interior is in the basilica form, the long nave being lined by sixteen columns, of various sizes, and with strangely different capitals, showing that they have been plundered from ancient temples. The carving on some of the capitals is sharp and delicate. There is a rather handsome ancient baldacchino, with an old Greek picture let into its front, over the high altar. Beneath is preserved a fragment of the banner of St George. Some injured frescoes in the tribune replace mosaics which once existed here, and which were attributed to Giotto. In the centre is the Saviour, between the Virgin and St. Peter; on one side, St. George with the martyr's palm and the warrior's banner,—on the other, St. Sebastian, with an arrow. Several fragments of carving and inscriptions are built into the side walls. The pictures are poor and ugly which relate to the saint of the church, St. George (the patron of England and Germany), the knight of Cappadocia, who delivered the Princess Cleodolinda from the dragon.

"Among good specimens of thirteenth century architecture is the portico of S. Giorgio, with Ionic columns and horizontal architrave, on which is a gothic inscription, in quaint Leonine verse, informing us that the Cardinal (or Prior) Stephen, added this detail (probably the campanile also), to the ancient church—about the middle of the thirteenth century, as is supposed, though no date is given here; and in the midst of an age so alien to classic influences, a work in which classic feeling thus predominates, is remarkable."—Heman's Sacred Art.

Partly hidden by the portico of this church, is the beautiful miniature Arch of Septimius Severus, erected to the emperor, his wife Julia Pia, and his sons Caracalla and Geta, by the silversmiths (argentarii) who had their shops in the Forum Boarium on this very spot ("cujus loci qui invehent"). The part of the dedication relating to Geta (as in the larger arch of Septimius) was obliterated after his murder, and the words Fortissimo felicissimoque principi engraved in its place. The architecture and sculpture, part of which represents a sacrifice by the imperial family, prove the decadence of art at this period.

Proceeding in a direct line from the Arch of Janus, we reach the Church of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, on the site of a Temple of Ceres, dedicated by the consul Spurius Cassius, B.C. 493, and afterwards re-dedicated to Ceres and Proserpine, probably by Augustus, who had been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries in Greece. The church was built in the basilica form, in 782, by Adrian I., when the name Cosmedin, from the Greek κοσμος, is supposed to have been given, from the ornaments with which he adorned it It was intended for the use of the Greek exiles expelled from the East by the iconoclasts under Constantine Copronimus, and derived the epithet of Sta. Maria in Scuola Greca, from a "Schola" attached to it for their benefit. Another relic of the Greek colony which existed here is to be found in the name of the adjoining street, Via della Greca. In the middle ages the whole bank of the river near this was called Ripa Greca.

The interior of this church is of great interest. The nave is divided from the aisles by twelve ancient marble columns, of which two have especially curious antique capitals, and are evidently remains of the temple which once existed here. The choir is raised, as at S. Clemente. The pavement is of splendid Opus Alexandrinum (1120); the ambones are perfect; there is a curious crypt; the altar covers an ancient bason of red granite, and is shaded by a gothic canopy, supported by four Egyptian granite pillars; behind it is a fine episcopal throne, with lions, said to have been used by St. Augustine, an ancient Greek picture of the Virgin, and a graceful tabernacle of marble inlaid with mosaic, by Deodato Cosmati. In the sacristy is a very curious mosaic, one of the few relics preserved from the old St Peter's, A.D. 705. (There is another in S. Marco at Florence.) Crescimbeni, the founder and historian of the Arcadian Academy (d. 1728), is buried in this church, of which he was a canon. On St. Valentine's Day the skull of St. Valentine, crowned with roses, is exhibited here.

In the portico is the strange and huge mask of stone, which gives the name of Bocca della Verita to the neighbouring piazza. It was believed that if a witness, whose truthfulness was doubtful, were desired to place his hand in the mouth of this mask, he would be unable to withdraw it, if he were guilty of perjury.