Rome.
Authors differ very much in opinion with respect to the number of
inhabitants which Rome contained at the period when it was most
populous. Some accounts make them seven millions, and others a still
greater number. These seem all to be incredible exaggerations. It is not
probable, that what is properly called the city of Rome, ever extended
beyond the wall built by Belisarius, after he had defeated the Goths.
This wall has been frequently repaired since, and is still standing;
it is about thirteen or fourteen miles in circuit, which is nearly the
size that Rome was of, according to Pliny, in the days of Vespasian.
Those who assert, that the number of inhabitants in ancient Rome, when
it was most populous, could not exceed a million, exclusive of slaves,
are thought moderate in their calculation; but when we consider that
the circumference of thirteen or fourteen miles is not equal to that of
either Paris or London; that the Campus Martius, which is the best built
part of modern Rome, was a field, without a house upon it, anciently; and
that the rising ground, where St. Peter’s church and the Vatican stand,
was no part of old Rome; it will be difficult to conceive that ever Rome
could boast a million of inhabitants. For my own part, if the wall of
Belisarius is admitted as the boundary of the ancient city, I cannot
imagine it to have, at any time, contained above five or six hundred
thousand, without supposing the masters of the world to have been the
worst lodged people in it.
But if, in the computations above mentioned, the suburbs are included; if
those who lived without the walls are considered as inhabitants; in that
case there will be room enough for any number, the limits of the suburbs
not being ascertained.
The buildings immediately without the walls of Rome, which were
connectedly continued so as to merit the name of suburbs, were certainly
of vast extent; and with those of the town itself, must have contained
a prodigious number of people. By a calculation made by Mr. Byres, the
Circus Maximus was of sufficient size to accommodate three hundred and
eighty thousand spectators; and we are told by the Latin poets, that it
was usually full. Now if allowance is made for the superannuated, the
sick, and infirm; also for children, and those employed in their private
business, and for slaves, who were not permitted to remain in the Circus
during the games; Mr. Byres imagines that such a number as three hundred
and eighty thousand spectators could not be supplied by a city and
suburbs the number of whose inhabitants were much under three millions.
Whatever may have been the extent of the suburbs of Rome, it is probable
they were only formed of ordinary houses, and inhabited by people of
inferior rank. There are no remains of palaces, or magnificent buildings
of any kind, to be now seen near the walls, or indeed over the whole
Campania; yet it is asserted by some authors, that this wide surface was
peopled, at one period, like a continued village; and we are told of
strangers, who, viewing this immense plain covered with houses, imagined
they had already entered Rome, when they were thirty miles from the walls
of that city.
Some of the seven hills on which Rome was built, appear now but gentle
swellings, owing to the intervals between them being greatly raised by
the rubbish of ruined houses. Some have hardly houses of any kind upon
them, being entirely laid out in gardens and vineyards. It is generally
thought, that two-thirds of the surface within the walls are in this
situation, or covered with ruins; and, by the information I have the
greatest reliance on, the number of the inhabitants at present is about
one hundred and seventy thousand, which, though greatly inferior to what
Rome contained in the days of its ancient power, is more than it has
been, for the most part, able to boast since the fall of the Empire.
There is good authority for believing that this city, at particular
periods since that time, some of them not very remote, has been reduced
to between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants. The numbers have
gradually increased during the whole of this century. As it was much less
expensive to purchase new ground for building upon, than to clear any
ruins which, by time, had acquired the consistence of rock, great part of
the modern city is built on what was the ancient Campus Martius.
Some of the principal streets are of considerable length, and perfectly
straight. That called the Corso, is the most frequented. It runs from
the Porto del Popolo, along the side of the Campus Martius, next to
the ancient city. Here the nobility display their equipages during the
carnival, and take the air in the evenings in fine weather. It is indeed
the great scene of Roman magnificence and amusement.
The shops on each side, are three or four feet higher than the street;
and there is a path for the conveniency of foot passengers, on a level
with the shops. The palaces, of which there are several in this street,
range in a line with the houses, having no court before them, as the
hotels in Paris have; and not being shut up from the sight of the
citizens by high gloomy walls, as Devonshire and Burlington houses in
London are. Such dismal barricades are more suitable to the unsocial
character of a proud Baron, in the days of aristocratic tyranny, than to
the hospitable benevolent disposition of their present proprietor.
The Corso, I have said, commences at the fine area immediately within
the Porto del Popolo. This is the gate by which we entered Rome; it is
built in a noble style of elegant simplicity, from the design of Michael
Angelo, executed by Bernini.
The Strada Felice, in the higher part of the city, is about a mile and
a half in length from the Trinità del Monte, to the church of St. John
Lateran, on the Pincean hill. This street runs in a straight line, but
the view is interrupted by a fine church called St. Maria Maggiore. The
Strada Felice is crossed by another straight street, called the Strada
di Porta Pia, terminated at one end by that gate; and at the other by
four colossal statues in white marble, of two horses led by two men;
supposed by some, to be representations of Alexander taming Bucephalus;
and according to others, of Castor and Pollux. They are placed before
the Pope’s palace, on the Quirinal Hill, and have a noble effect.
It would be more difficult to convey an idea of the smaller and less
regular streets. I shall therefore only observe, in general, that Rome
at present exhibits a strange mixture of magnificent and interesting,
common and beggarly objects; the former consists of palaces, churches,
fountains, and above all, the remains of antiquity. The latter comprehend
all the rest of the city. The church of St. Peter’s, in the opinion
of many, surpasses, in size and magnificence, the finest monuments
of ancient architecture. The Grecian and Roman temples were more
distinguished for the elegance of their form, than their magnitude. The
Pantheon, which was erected to all the Gods, is the most entire antique
temple in Rome. It is said, that Michael Angelo, to confirm the triumph
of modern over ancient architecture, made the dome of St. Peter’s of the
same diameter with the Pantheon; raising the immense fabric upon four
pilasters; whereas the whole circle of the rotunda rests upon the ground.
This great artist, perhaps, was delighted with the idea of being thought
as superior to the ancient architects, as he was conscious of being
inferior to some of the sculptors of antiquity.
All who have seen St. Paul’s in London may, by an enlargement of its
dimensions, form some idea of the external appearance of St. Peter’s.
But the resemblance fails entirely on comparing them within; St. Peter’s
being lined, in many parts, with the most precious and beautiful marble,
adorned with valuable pictures, and all the powers of sculpture.
The approach to St. Peter’s church excells that to St. Paul’s in a
still greater proportion, than the former surpasses the latter either
in size, or in the richness and beauty of the internal ornaments. A
magnificent portico advances on each side from the front, by which means
a square court is formed immediately before the steps which lead into
the church. The two porticoes form two sides of the square, the third is
closed by the front of the church, and the fourth is open. A colonnade,
four columns deep, commences at the extremities of the porticoes; and
embracing, in an oval direction, a space far wider than the square, forms
the most magnificent area that perhaps ever was seen before any building.
This oval colonnade is crowned with a balustrade, ornamented by a great
number of statues; and consists of above three hundred large pillars,
forming three separate walks, which lead to the advanced portico, and
from that into the church. In the middle of the immense area, stands an
Egyptian obelisk of granite; and to the right and left of this, two very
beautiful fountains refresh the atmosphere with streams of clear water.
The delighted eye glancing over these splendid objects, would rest with
complete satisfaction on the stupendous fabric to which they serve as
embellishments, if the façade of this celebrated church had been equal in
beauty and elegance to the rest of the building. But this is by no means
the case, and every impartial judge must acknowledge, that the front of
St. Peter’s is, in those particulars, inferior to that of our St. Paul’s.
The length of St. Peter’s, taken on the outside, is exactly seven hundred
and thirty feet; the breadth five hundred and twenty; and the height,
from the pavement to the top of the cross, which crowns the cupola, four
hundred and fifty. The grand portico before the entrance, is two hundred
and sixteen feet in length, and forty in breadth.
It is usual to desire strangers, on their first entering this church,
to guess at the size of the objects, which, on account of the distance,
always seem less than they are in reality. The statues of the Angels,
in particular, which support the founts of holy water, when viewed
from the door, seem no bigger than children; but when you approach
nearer, you perceive they are six feet high. We make no such mistake
on seeing a living man at the same, or a greater distance; because
the knowledge we have of a man’s real size precludes the possibility
of our being mistaken, and we make allowance for the diminution which
distance occasions; but Angels, and other figures in sculpture, having no
determined standard, but being under the arbitrary will of the statuary,
who gives them the bulk of giants or dwarfs as best suits his purpose,
we do not know what allowance to make; and the eye, unused to such large
masses, is confounded, and incapacitated from forming a right judgment
of an object six feet high, or of any other dimensions, which it was not
previously acquainted with.
It is not my design to attempt a description of the statues, basso
relievos, columns, pictures, and various ornaments of this church; Such
an account, faithfully executed, would fill volumes. The finest of all
the ornaments have a probability of being longer preserved than would
once have been imagined, by the astonishing improvements which have of
late been made in the art of copying pictures in Mosaic. Some of the
artists here, have already made copies with a degree of accuracy, which
nobody could believe who had not seen the performances. By this means,
the works of Raphael, and other great painters, will be transmitted to
a later posterity than they themselves expected; and although all the
beauty of the originals cannot be retained in the copy, it would be gross
affectation to deny that a great part of it is. How happy would it make
the real lovers of the art in this age, to have such specimens of the
genius of Zeuxis, Apelles, and other ancient painters!
It has been frequently remarked, that the proportions of this church are
so fine, and the symmetry of its different parts so exquisite, that the
whole seems considerably smaller than it really is. It was, however,
certainly intended to appear a great and sublime object, and to produce
admiration by the vastness of its dimensions. I cannot, therefore, be of
opinion, that any thing which has a tendency to defeat this effect, can
with propriety be called an excellence. I should on the contrary imagine,
that if the architect could have made the church appear larger than it
is in reality, this would have been a more desirable effect; provided it
could have been produced without diminishing our admiration in some more
material point. If this could not be accomplished; if it is absolutely
certain, that those proportions in architecture, which produce the mod
beautiful effect on the whole, always make a building seem smaller than
it is; this ought rather to be mentioned as an unfortunate than as a
fortunate circumstance. The more I reflect on this, it appears to me
the more certain, that no system of proportions, which has the effect
of making a large building appear small, is _therefore_ excellent. If
the property of reducing great things to little ones is inherent in
all harmonious proportions; it is, in my opinion, an imperfection, and
much to be lamented. In small buildings, where we expect to derive our
pleasure from grace and elegance, the evil may be borne; but in edifices
of vast dimensions, capable of sublimity from their bulk, the vice of
diminishing is not to be compensated by harmony. The sublime has no
equivalent.