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.

"Cette Bouche-de-Vérité est une curieuse relique du moyen âge. Elle

servait aux jugements de Dieu. Figurez-vous une meule de moulin qui

ressemble, non pas à un visage humain, mais au visage de la lune:

on y distingue des yeux, un nez et une bouche ouverte où l'accusé

mettait la main pour prêter serment. Cette bouche mordait les

menteurs; au moins la tradition l'assure. J'y ai introduit ma

dextre en disant que le Ghetto était un lieu de délices, et je n'ai

pas été mordu."--_About, Rome Contemporaine._

On the other side of the portico is the tomb of Cardinal Alfanus, ob.

1150.

"The church was rebuilt under Calixtus II.; about A.D. 1128, by

Alfanus, Roman Chancellor, whose marble sepulchre stands in the

atrium, with his epitaph, along a cornice, giving him that most

comprehensive title, 'an honest man,' _vir probus_. Some more than

half-faded paintings, a Madonna and Child, angels, and two mitred

heads, on the wall behind the canopy, give importance to this

Chancellor's tomb. Though now disfigured exteriorly by a modern

façade in the worst style, interiorly by a waggon-vault roof and

heavy pilasters, this church is still one of the mediæval gems of

Rome, and retains many olden details: the classic colonnades,

probably left in their original place since the time of Adrian I.;

and the fine campanile, one of the loftiest in Rome; also the

sculptured doorway, the rich intarsio pavement, the high altar, the

marble and mosaic-inlaid ambones, the marble episcopal throne, with

supporting lions and a mosaic decoration above, &c.,--all of the

twelfth century. But we have to regret the destruction of the

ancient choir-screens, and (still more inexcusable) the

white-washing of wall surfaces so as entirely to conceal the

mediæval paintings which adorned them, conformably to that once

almost universal practice of polychrome decoration in churches,

prescribed even by law under Charlemagne. Ciampini (see his

valuable history of this basilica) mentions the iron rods for

curtains between the columns of the atrium, and those, still in

their place, in the porch, with rings for suspending; also a small

chapel with paintings, at one end of the atrium, designed for those

penitents who were not allowed to worship within the sacred

building--as such, an evidence of disciplinary observance, retained

till the twelfth century. Over the portal are some tiny

bas-reliefs, so placed along the inner side of the lintel that many

might pass underneath without seeing them: in the centre, a hand

blessing, with the Greek action, between two sheep, laterally; the

four evangelistic emblems, and two doves, each pecking out of a

vase, and one perched upon a dragon (more like a lizard), to

signify the victory of the purified soul over mundane

temptations."--_Hemans' Christian Art._

Close to this church stood the Palace of Pope Gelasius II. (1118).

Opposite the church is a beautiful fountain, erected by one of the

Medici, and beyond it the graceful round temple now called the _Temple

of Vesta_, supposed by Canina to have been that of Mater Matuta, and by

others to have been that of Hercules founded by Pompey. It is known to

have existed in the time of Vespasian. It is very small, the

circumference of the peristyle being only 156 feet, and that of the

cella 26 feet,--the height of the surrounding Corinthian columns

(originally twenty in number) 32 feet This temple was first dedicated as

a church under the name of S. Stefano delle Carrozze; it is now called

_Sta. Maria del Sole_.

This is not the Temple of Vesta (which was situated near the Church of

Sta. Maria Liberatrice in the Forum) of which Horace wrote:--

"Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis

Littore Etrusco violenter undis,

Ire dejectum monumenta regum

Templaque Vestæ."

_Carm._ i. 2.

The modern overhanging roof of the temple has been much objected to, as

it replaces an entablature like that on the temple of the Sibyl at

Tivoli; but artists admire the exquisite play of light and shade caused

by its rugged tiles, and, finding it a perfect "subject," wish for no

change.

"C'est auprès de la Bouche-de-Vérité, devant le petit temple de

Vesta, que la justice romaine exécute un meurtrier sur cent. Quand

j'arrivai sur la place, on n'y guillotinait personne; mais six

cuisinières, dont une aussi belle que Junon, dansaient la

tarantelle au son d'un tambour de basque. Malheureusement elles

divinèrent ma qualité d'étranger, et elles se mirent à polker

contre la mesure."--_About._

Close to this--overhanging a little hollow way--is the _Temple of

Fortuna Virilis_, built originally by Servius Tullius, but rebuilt

during the republic, and, if the existing building is really republican,

the most ancient temple remaining in Rome. It is surrounded by Ionic

columns (one side being enclosed in other buildings), 28 feet high,

clothed with hard stucco, and supporting an entablature adorned with

figures of children, oxen, candelabra, &c. The Roman matrons had a great

regard for this goddess, who was supposed to have the power of

concealing their personal imperfections from the eyes of men. At the

close of the tenth century this temple was consecrated to the Virgin,

but has since been bestowed upon _St. Mary of Egypt_.

Hard by, is a picturesque end of building, laden with rich but

incongruous sculpture, at one time called "The House of Pilate," but now

known as the _House of Rienzi_. It derives its present name from a long

inscription over a doorway, which tallies with the bombastic epithets

assumed by "The Last of the Tribunes" in his pompous letter of Aug. 1,

1347, when, in his semi-madness, he summoned kings and emperors to

appear before his judgment-seat. The inscription closes:--

"Primus de primis magnus Nicolaus ab imis,

Erexit patrum decus ob renovare suorum.

Stat patris Crescens matrisque Theodora nomen.

Hoc culmen clarum caro de pignore gessit,

Davidi tribuit qui pater exhibuit."

It is believed, from the inscription, that the house was fortified by

Nicholas, son of Crescentius and Theodora, who gave it to David, his

son; that the Crescentius alluded to was son of the famous patrician who

headed the populace against Otho III.; and that, three centuries later,

the house may have belonged to Cola di Rienzi, a name which is, in fact,

only popular language for Niccola Crescenzo. It is, however, known that

Rienzi was not born in this house, but in a narrow street behind S.

Tommaso, in the Rione alla Regola, where his father Lorenzo kept an inn,

and his mother, Maddalena, gained her daily bread as a washerwoman and

water-carrier--so were the Crescenzi fallen!

Here is the entrance to a suspension-bridge, which joins the remaining

arches of the _Ponte Rotto_, and leads to the Trastevere. On this site

was the Pons Æmilius, begun, B.C. 180, by M. Æmilius Lepidus and Marcus

Fulvius Nobilior, and finished by P. Scipio Africanus and L. Mummius,

the censors, in B.C. 142. Hence the body of the Emperor Heliogabalus was

thrown into the Tiber. The bridge has been three times rebuilt by

different popes, but two of its arches were finally carried away in an

inundation of 1598, and have never since been replaced. The existing

remains, which only date from the time of Julius III., are highly

picturesque.

"Quand on a établi un pont en fil de fer, on lui a donné pour base

les piles du Ponte-Rotto, élevé au moyen âge sur les fondements du

Pons Palatinus, qui fut achevé sous la censure de Scipion

l'Africain. Scipion l'Africain et un pont en fil de fer, voilà de

ces contrastes qu'on ne trouve qu'à Rome."--_Ampère, Emp._ ii. 209.

From this bridge is the best view of the Isola Tiberina and its bridges,

and hence, also, the Temple of Vesta is seen to great advantage. Just

below is the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima.

"Quand du Ponte-Rotto on considère le triple cintre de l'ouverture

par laquelle la Cloaca Maxima se déchargeait dans le Tibre, on a

devant les yeux un monument qui rappelle beaucoup de grandeur et

beaucoup d'oppression. Ce monument extraordinaire est une page

importante de l'histoire romaine. Il est à la fois la suprême

expression de la puissance des rois étrusques et le signe

avant-coureur de leur chute. L'on croit voir l'arc triomphal de la

royauté par où devait entrer la république."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._

ii. 233.

In the bed of the river a little lower down may be seen, at low water,

some massive fragments of masonry. Here stood the _Pons Sublicius_, the

oldest bridge in Rome, built by Ancus Martius (B.C. 639), on which

Horatius Cocles and his two companions "kept the bridge" against the

Etruscan army of Lars Porsenna, till--

"Back darted Spurius Lartius;

Herminius darted back:

And, as they passed, beneath their feet

They felt the timbers crack.

But when they turned their faces,

And on the farther shore

Saw brave Horatius stand alone,

They would have crossed once more.

"But with a crash like thunder

Fell every loosened beam,

And, like a dam, the mighty wreck

Lay right athwart the stream:

And a long shout of triumph

Rose from the walls of Rome,

As to the highest turret-tops

Was splashed the yellow foam."

_Macaulay's Lays._

The name "Sublicius" came from the wooden beams of its construction,

which enabled the Romans to cut it away. The bridge was rebuilt by

Tiberius and again by Antoninus Pius, each time of beams, but upon stone

piers, of which the present remains are fragments, the rest having been

destroyed by an inundation in the time of Adrian I.

On the Trastevere bank, between these two bridges, half hidden in shrubs

and ivy (but worth examination in a boat), are two gigantic _Heads of

Lions_, to which in ancient times chains were fastened, and drawn across

the river to prevent hostile vessels from passing.

Near this we enter the _Via S. Giovanni Decollato_, decorated with

numerous heads of John the Baptist in the dish, let into the walls over

the doors of the houses. The "Confraternità della Misericordia di S.

Giovanni Decollato," founded in 1488, devote themselves to criminals

condemned to death. They visit them in prison, accompany them to

execution, receive their bodies, and offer masses for their souls in

their little chapel. Vasari gives the highest praise to two pictures of

Francesco Salviati in the Church of S. Giov. Decollato, "before which

all Rome stood still in admiration,"--representing the appearance of the

angel to Zacharias, and the meeting of the Virgin and Elizabeth.

On the left is the _Hospital of Sta. Galla_, commemorating the pious

foundation of a Roman matron in the time of John I. (523--526), who

attained such celebrity, that she is still commemorated in the Roman

mass by the prayer--

"Almighty and merciful God, who didst adorn the blessed Galla with

the virtue of a wonderful love towards thy poor; grant us, through

her merits and prayers, to practise works of love, and to obtain

Thy mercy, through the Lord, &c. Amen."

On, or very near this site, stood the _Porta Carmentalis_, which, with

the temple beside it, commemorated Carmenta, the supposed mother of

Evander, a Sabine prophetess, who is made by Ovid to predict the future

grandeur of Rome.[88] Carmenta was especially invoked by women in

childbirth. The Porta Carmentalis was reached from the Forum by the

Vicus Jugarius. It was by this route that the Fabii went forth to meet

their doom in the valley of the Crimera. The Porta had two gates--one

for those who entered, the other for those who left it, so that in each

case the passenger passed through the "Janus," as it was called, upon

his right. After the massacre of the Fabii, the road by which they left

the city was avoided, and the Janus Carmentalis on the right was closed,

and called the Porta Scelerata.

"Carmentis portæ dextro via proxima Jano est

Ire per hanc noli, quisquis es; omen habet."

_Ovid, Fast._ ii. 201.

Just beyond the Porta Carmentalis was the district called _Tarentum_,

where there was a subterranean "Ara Ditis Patris et Proserpinæ."

We now reach (left) the _Church of S. Nicolo in Carcere_. It has a mean

front, with an inscription in honour of one of the Aldobrandini family,

and is only interesting as occupying the site of the three _Temples of

Juno Matuta, Piety(?), and Hope_, which are believed to mark the site of

the Forum Olitorium. The vaults beneath the church contain the massive

substructions of these temples, and fragments of their columns.

The central temple is believed to be that of Piety, built by M. Acilius

Glabrio, the duumvir, in B.C. 165 (though Pliny says that this temple

was on the site afterwards occupied by the theatre of Marcellus), in

fulfilment of a vow made by his father, a consul of the same name, on

the day of his defeating the forces of Antiochus the Great, king of

Syria, at Thermopylæ. Others endeavour to identify it with the temple

built on the site of the Decemviral prisons, to keep up the recollection

of the famous story, called the "Caritas Romana,"--of a woman condemned

to die of hunger in prison being nourished by the milk of her own

daughter. Pliny and Valerius Maximus tell the story as of a mother;

Festus only speaks of a father;[89]--yet art and poetry have always

followed the latter legend. A cell is shown, by torchlight, as the scene

of this touching incident.

"There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light

What do I gaze on? Nothing. Look again!

Two forms are slowly shadowed on my sight--

Two insulated phantoms of the brain:

It is not so; I see them full and plain--

An old man, and a female young and fair,

Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein

The blood is nectar:--but what doth she there,

With her unmantled neck, and bosom white and bare?

"But here youth offers to old age the food,

The milk of his own gift:--it is her sire,

To whom she renders back the debt of blood

Born with her birth. No, he shall not expire

While in those warm and lovely veins the fire

Of health and holy feeling can provide

Great Nature's Nile, whose deep stream rises higher

Than Egypt's river;--from that gentle side

Drink, drink, and live, old man! Heaven's realm holds no such tide.

"The starry fable of the milky-way

Has not thy story's purity; it is

A constellation of a sweeter ray,

And sacred Nature triumphs more in this

Reverse of her decree, than in the abyss

Where sparkle distant worlds:--Oh, holiest nurse!

No drop of that clear stream its way shall miss

To thy sire's heart, replenishing its source

With life, as our freed souls rejoin the universe."

_Childe Harold._

A memorial of this story of a prison is preserved in the name of the

church--S. Nicolo _in Carcere_. It was probably owing to this legend

that, in front of the Temple of Piety, was placed the _Columna

Lactaria_, where infants were exposed, in the hope that some one would

take pity upon and nurse them out of charity.

A wide opening out of the street near this, with a pretty fountain, is

called the _Piazza Montanara_, and is one of the places where the

country people collect and wait for hire.

"Le dimanche est le jour où les paysans arrivent à Rome. Ceux qui

cherchent l'emploi de leurs bras viennent se louer aux marchands de

campagne, c'est-à-dire aux fermiers. Ceux qui sont loués et qui

travaillent hors des murs viennent faire leurs affaires et

renouveler leurs provisions. Ils entrent en ville au petit jour

après avoir marché une bonne partie de la nuit. Chaque famille

amène un âne, qui porte le bagage. Hommes, femmes, et enfants,

poussant leur âne devant eux, s'établissent dans un coin de la

place Farnèse, ou de la place Montanara. Les boutiques voisines

restent ouvertes jusqu'à midi, par un privilège spécial. On va, on

vient, on achète, on s'accroupit dans les coins pour compter les

pièces de cuivre. Cependant les ânes se reposent sur leurs quatre

pieds au bord des fontaines. Les femmes, vêtues d'un corset en

cuirasse, d'un tablier rouge, et d'une veste rayée, encadrent leur

figure hâlée dans une draperie de linge très-blanc. Elles sont

toutes à peindre sans exception: quand ce n'est pas pour la beauté

de leurs traits, c'est pour l'élégance naïve de leurs attitudes.

Les hommes ont le long manteau bleu de ciel et le chapeau pointu;

là-dessous leurs habits de travail font merveille, quoique roussis

par le temps et couleur de perdrix. Le costume n'est pas uniforme;

on voit plus d'un manteau amadou rapiécé de bleu vif ou de rouge

garance. Le chapeau de paille abonde en été. La chaussure est

très-capricieuse; soulier, botte et sandale foulent successivement

le pavé. Les déchaussés trouvent ici près de grandes et profondes

boutiques où l'on vend des marchandises d'occasion. Il y a des

souliers de tout cuir et de tout âge dans ces trésors de la

chaussure; on y trouverait des cothurnes de l'an 500 de la

république, en cherchant bien. Je viens de voir un pauvre diable

qui essayait une paire de bottes à revers. Elles vont à ses jambes

comme une plume à l'oreille d'un porc, et c'est plaisir de voir la

grimace qu'il fait chaque fois qu'il pose le pied à terre. Mais le

marchand le fortifie par de bonnes paroles: 'Ne crains rien,' lui

dit-il, 'tu souffriras pendant cinq ou six jours, et puis tu n'y

penseras plus.' Un autre marchand débite des clous à la livre: le

chaland les enfonce lui-même dans ses semelles; il y a des bancs

_ad hoc_. Le long des murs, cinq ou six chaises de paille servent

de boutique à autant de barbiers en plein vent. Il en coute un sou

pour abattre une barbe de huit jours. Le patient, barbouillé de

savon, regarde le ciel d'un œil résigné; le barbier lui tire le

nez, lui met les doigts dans la bouche, s'interrompt pour aiguiser

le rasoir sur un cuir attaché au dossier de la chaise, ou pour

écorner une galette noire qui pend au mur. Cependant l'opération

est faite en un tour de main; le rasé se lève et sa place est

prise. Il pourrait aller se laver à la fontaine, mais il trouve

plus simple de s'essuyer du revers de sa manche.

"Les écrivains publics alternent avec les barbiers. On leur apporte

les lettres qu'on a reçues; ils les lisent et font la réponse:

total, trois sous. Dès qu'un paysan s'approche de la table pour

dicter quelque-chose, cinq ou six curieux se réunissent

officieusement autour de lui pour mieux entendre. Il y a une

certaine bonhomie dans cette indiscrétion. Chacun place son mot,

chacun donne un conseil: 'Tu devrais dire ceci.'--'Non; dis plutôt

cela.'--'Laissez-le parler,' crie un troisième, 'il sait mieux que

vous ce qu'il veut faire écrire.'

"Quelques voitures chargées de galettes d'orge et de maïs circulent

au milieu de la foule. Un marchand de limonade, armé d'une pince de

bois, écrase les citrons dans les verres. L'homme sobre boit à la

fontaine en faisant un aqueduc des bords de son chapeau. Le gourmet

achète des viandes d'occasion devant un petit étalage, où les

rebuts de cuisine se vendent à la poignée. Pour un sou, le débitant

remplit de bœuf haché et d'os de côtelettes un morceau de vieux

journal; une pincée de sel ajoutée sur le tout pare agréablement la

denrée. L'acheteur marchande, non sur le prix, qui est invariable,

mais sur la quantité; il prend au tas quelques bribes de viande, et

on le laisse faire; car rien ne se conclut à Rome sans marchander.

"Les ermites et les moines passent de groupe en groupe en quêtant

pour les âmes du purgatoire. M'est avis que ces pauvres ouvriers

font leur purgatoire en ce monde; et qu'il vaudrait mieux leur

donner de l'argent que de leur en demander; ils donnent pourtant,

et sans se faire tirer l'oreille.

"Quelquefois un beau parleur s'amuse à raconter une histoire; on

fait cercle autour de lui, et à mesure que l'auditoire augmente il

élève la voix. J'ai vu de ces conteurs qui avaient la physionomie

bien fine et bien heureuse; mais je ne sais rien de charmant comme

l'attention de leur public. Les peintres du quinzième siècle ont dû

prendre à la place Montanara les disciples qu'ils groupaient autour

du Christ."--_About, Rome Contemporaine._

An opening on the left discloses the vast substructions of the _Theatre

of Marcellus_. This huge edifice seems to have been projected by Julius

Caesar, but he probably made little progress in it. It was actually

erected by Augustus, and dedicated (_c._ 13 B.C.) in memory of the young

nephew whom he married to his daughter Julia, and intended as his

successor, but who was cut off by an early death. The theatre was

capable of containing 20,000 spectators, and consisted of three tiers of

arches, but the upper range has disappeared, and the lower is very

imperfect. Still it is a grand remnant, and rises magnificently above

the paltry houses which surround it. The perfect proportions of its

Doric and Ionic columns served as models to Palladio.

"Le mur extérieur du portique demi-circulaire qui enveloppait les

gradins offre encore à notre admiration deux étages d'arceaux et de

colonnes doriques et ioniques d'une beauté presque grecque. L'étage

supérieur, qui devait être corinthien, a disparu. Les _fornices_,

ou voûtes du rez-de chaussée, sont habitées encore aujourd'hui

comme elles l'étaient dans l'antiquité, mais plus honnêtement, par

de pauvres gens qui vendent des ferrailles. Au-dessous des belles

colonnes de l'enceinte extérieure, on a construit des maisons

modernes dans lesquelles sont pratiquées des fenêtres, et à ces

fenêtres du théâtre de Marcellus, on voit des pots à fleurs, ni

plus ni moins qu à une mansarde de la rue Saint Denis; des chemises

sèchent sur l'entablement; des cheminées surmontent la ruine

romaine, et un grand tube se dessine à l'extrémité.

"Dans les jeux célébrés à l'occasion de la dédicace du théâtre de

Marcellus, on vit pour la première fois un tigre apprivoisé,

_tigrim mansuefactum_. Dans ce tigre le peuple romain pouvait

contempler son image."--_Ampère, Emp._ i. 256.

In the middle ages this theatre was the fortress of the great family of

Pierleoni, the rivals of the Frangipani, who occupied the Coliseum;

their name is commemorated by the neighbouring street, Via Porta Leone.

The constant warfare in which they were engaged with their neighbours

did much to destroy the building, whose interior became reduced to a

mass of ruins, forming a hill, upon which Baldassare Peruzzi (1526)

built the _Palazzo Savelli_, of which the entrance, flanked by the two

armorial bears of the family, may be seen in the street (Via Savelli)

which leads to the Ponte Quattro Capi.

"Au dix-septième siècle, les Savelli exerçaient encore une

jurisdiction féodale. Leur tribunal, aussi régulièrement constitué

que pas un, s'appellait Corte Savella.[90] Ils avaient le droit

d'arracher tous les ans un criminel à la peine de mort: droit de

grâce, droit régalien reconnu par la monarchie absolue des papes.

Les femmes de cette illustre famille ne sortaient point de leurs

palais sinon dans un carosse bien fermé. Les Orsini et les Colonna

se vantaient que pendant les siècles, aucun traité de paix n'avait

été conclu entre les princes chrétiens, dans lequel ils n'eussent

été nominativement compris."--_About._

The palace has now passed to the family of Orsini-Gravina, who descended

from a senator of A.D. 1200. The princes of Orsini and Colonna, in

their quality as attendants on the throne (_principi assistenti al

soglio_), take precedence of all other Roman nobles.

"Nicolovius will remember the Theatre of Marcellus, in which the

Savelli family built a palace. My house is half of it. It has stood

empty for a considerable time, because the drive into the courtyard

(the interior of the ancient theatre) rises like the slope of a

mountain upon the heaps of rubbish; although the road has been cut

in a zig-zag, it is still a break-neck affair. There is another

entrance from the Piazza Montanara, whence a flight of

seventy-three steps leads up to the same story I have mentioned;

the entrance-hall of which is on a level with the top of the

carriage-way through the courtyard. The apartments in which we

shall live are those over the colonnade of Ionic pillars forming

the third story of the ancient theatre, and some, on a level with

them, which have been built out like wings on the rubbish of the

ruins. These enclose a little quadrangular garden, which is indeed

very small, only about eighty or ninety feet long, and scarcely so

broad, but so delightful! It contains three fountains--an abundance

of flowers: there are orange-trees on the wall between the windows,

and jessamine under them. We mean to plant a vine besides. From

this story, you ascend forty steps, or more, higher, where I mean

to have my own study, and there are most cheerful little rooms,

from which you have a prospect over the whole country beyond the

Tiber, Monte Mario, and St. Peter's, and can see over St. Pietro in

Montorio, indeed almost as far as the Aventine. It would, I think,

be possible besides to erect a loggia upon the roof (for which I

shall save money from other things), that we may have a view over

the Capitol, Forum, Palatine, Coliseum, and all the inhabited parts

of the city."--_Niebuhr's Letters._

Following the wall of the theatre, down a filthy street, we arrive at

the picturesque group of ruins of the "Porticus Octaviæ," erected by

Augustus, in honour of his sister (the unhappy wife of Antony), close to

the theatre to which he had given the name of her son. The exact form of

the building is known from the Pianta Capitolina,--that it was a

parallelogram, surrounded by a double arcade of 270 columns, and

enclosing the temples of Jupiter and Juno, built by the Greek

architects, Batracus and Saurus.[91]

With regard to these temples, Pliny narrates a fact which reminds one of

the story of the Madonna of Sta. Maria Nuova.[92] The porters having

carelessly carried the statues of the gods to the wrong temples, it was

imagined that they had done so from divine inspiration, and the people

would not venture to remove them, so that the statues always remained

where they had been placed, though their surroundings were utterly

unsuitable.

The _Portico of Octavia_ built by Augustus, occupied the site of an

earlier portico--the Porticus Metelli--built by A. Cæcilius Metellus,

after his triumph over Andriscus in Macedonia, in B.C. 146. Temples of

Jupiter Stator and Juno existed also in this portico, one of them being

the earliest temple built of marble in Rome. Before these temples

Metellus placed the famous group of twenty-five bronze statues, which he

had brought from Greece, executed by Lysippus for Alexander the Great,

and representing that conqueror himself and twenty-four horsemen of his

troop who had fallen at the Granicus.[93]

The existing fragment of the portico is the original entrance to the

whole. The building had suffered from fire in the reign of Titus, and

was restored by Septimius Severus, and of this time is the large brick

arch on one side of the ruin.

"It was in this hall of Octavia that Titus and Vespasian celebrated

their triumph over Israel with festive pomp and splendour. Among

the Jewish spectators stood the historian Flavius Josephus, who was

one of the followers and flatterers of Titus ... and to this base

Jewish courtier we owe a description of the

triumph."--_Gregorovius, Wanderjahre in Italien._

Within the portico is the _Church of S. Angelo in Pescheria_. Here it

was that Cola Rienzi summoned, at midnight--May 20, 1347--all good

citizens to hold a meeting for the re-establishment of "the good

estate;" here he kept the vigil of the Holy Ghost; and hence he went

forth, bareheaded, in complete armour, accompanied by the papal legate,

and attended by a vast multitude, to the Capitol, where he called upon

the populace to ratify the Good Estate.

It is said that one of the causes which most incited the indignation of

Rienzi against the assumption and pride of the Roman families, was the

fact of their painting their arms on the ancient Roman buildings, and

thus in a manner appropriating them to their own glory. Remains of coats

of arms thus painted may be seen on the front wall of the Portico of

Octavia. It was also on this very wall that Rienzi painted his famous

allegorical picture. In this painting kings and men of the people were

seen burning in a furnace, with a woman half consumed, who personified

Rome,--and on the right was a church, whence issued a white-robed angel,

bearing in one hand a naked sword, while with the other he plucked the

woman from the flames. On the church tower were SS. Peter and Paul,

crying to the angel, "Aquilo, aquilo, succurri a l'albergatrice

nostra,"--and beyond this were represented falcons (typical of the Roman

barons) falling from heaven into the flames, and a white dove bearing a

wreath of olive, which it gave to a little bird (Rienzi), which was

chased by the falcons. Beneath was inscribed: "I see the time of great

justice, do thou await that time."

"Then turn we to her latest tribune's name,

From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee,

Redeemer of dark centuries of shame--

The friend of Petrarch--hope of Italy--

Rienzi! last of Romans! While the tree

Of Freedom's wither'd trunk puts forth a leaf,

Even for thy tomb a garland let it be--

The forum's champion, and the people's chief--

Her newborn Numa thou--with reign, alas! too brief."

_Childe Harold._

Through the brick arch of the Portico we enter upon the ancient

_Pescheria_, with the marble fish-slabs of imperial times still

remaining in use. It is a striking scene--the dark, many-storied houses

almost meeting overhead and framing a narrow strip of deep blue

sky,--below, the bright groups of figures and rich colouring of hanging

cloths and drapery.

"C'est une des ruines les plus remarquables de Rome, et une de

celles qui offrent ces contrastes piquants entre le passé et le

présent, amusement perpétuel de l'imagination dans la ville des

contrastes. Le portique d'Octavie est, aujourd'hui, le marché aux

poissons. Les colonnes et le fronton s'élèvent au milieu de

l'endroit le plus sale de Rome; leur effet n'en est pas moins

pittoresque, il l'est peut-être davantage. Le lieu est fait pour

une aquarelle, et quand un beau soleil éclaire les débris antiques,

les vieux murs sombres de la rue étroite où la poisson se vend sur

des tables de marbre blanc, et à travers laquelle des nattes sont

tendues, on a, à côté du monument romain, le spectacle d'un marché

du moyen âge, et un peu le souvenir d'un bazar d'Orient."--_Ampère,

Emp._ i. 179.

"Who that has ever been to Rome does not remember Roman streets of

an evening, when the day's work is done? They are all alive in a

serene and homelike fashion. The old town tells its story. Low

arches cluster with life--a life humble and stately, though rags

hang from the citizens and the windows. You realize it as you pass

them--their temples are in ruins, their rule is over--their

colonies have revolted long centuries ago. Their gates and their

columns have fallen like the trees of a forest, cut down by an

invading civilization."--_Miss Thackeray._

* * * * *

Here we are in the centre of the Jews' quarter--the famous _Ghetto_.

The name "Ghetto" is derived from the Hebrew word _chat_, broken,

destroyed, shaven, cut down, cast off, abandoned (see the Hebrew in

Isaiah xiv. 12; xv. 2; Jer. xlviii. 25, 27; Zech. xi. 10--14; &c.). The

first Jewish slaves were brought to Rome by Pompey the Great, after he

had taken Jerusalem, and forcibly entered the Holy of Holies. But for

centuries after this they lived in Rome in wealth and honour, their

princes Herod and Agrippa being received with royal distinction, and

finding a home in the Palace of the Cæsars,--in which Berenice (or

Veronica), the daughter of Agrippa, presided as the acknowledged

mistress of Titus, who would willingly have made her empress of Rome.

The chief Jewish settlement in imperial times was nearly on the site of

their present abode, but they were not compelled to live here, and also

had a large colony in the Trastevere; and when St. Peter was at Rome (if

the Church tradition be true), he dwelt, with Aquila and Priscilla, on

the slopes of the Aventine. Julius, Augustus, and Tiberius Cæsar treated

the Jews with kindness, but under Caligula they already met with

ill-treatment and contempt,--that emperor being especially irritated

against them as the only nation which refused to yield him divine

honours, and because they had successfully resisted the placing of his

statue in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem. On the destruction of

Jerusalem by Titus, thousands of Jewish slaves were brought to Rome, and

were employed on the building of the Coliseum. At the same time

Vespasian, while allowing the Hebrews in Rome the free exercise of their

religion, obliged them to pay the tax of half a skekel, formerly paid

into the Temple treasury, to Jupiter Capitolinus,--and this custom is

still kept up in the annual tribute paid by the Jews in the Camera

Capitolina.

Under Domitian the Jews were banished from the city to the valley of

Egeria, where they lived in a state of poverty and outlawry, which is

described by Juvenal,[94] and occupied themselves with soothsaying,

love-charms, magic-potions, and mysterious cures.[95]

During the reigns of the earlier popes, the Jews at Rome enjoyed a great

amount of liberty, and the anti-pope Anacletus II. (ob. 1138) was even

the grandson of a baptized Jew, whose family bore a leading part in

Rome, as one of the great patrician houses. The clemency with which the

Jews were regarded was, however, partly due to their skill as

physicians,--and long after their persecutions had begun (as late as

Martin V., 1417--31), the physician of the Vatican was a Jew. The first

really bitter enemy of the Jews was Eugenius IV. (Gabriele Condolmiere,

1431--39), who forbade Christians to trade, to eat, or to dwell with

them, and prohibited them from walking in the streets, from building new

synagogues, or from occupying any public post. Paul II. (1468) increased

their humiliation by compelling them to run races during the Carnival,

as the horses run now, amidst the hoots of the populace. This custom

continued for two hundred years. Sprenger's "Roma Nuova" of 1667,

mentions that "the asses ran first, then the Jews--naked, with only a

band round their loins--then the buffaloes, then the Barbary horses."

It was Clement IX. (Rospigliosi), in 1668, who first permitted the Jews

to pay a sum equivalent to 1500 francs annually instead of racing.

"On the first Saturday in Carnival, it was the custom for the heads

of the Jews in Rome to appear as a deputation before the

Conservators in the Capitol. Throwing themselves upon their knees,

they offered a nosegay and twenty scudi with the request that this

might be employed to ornament the balcony in which the Roman Senate

sate in the Piazza del Popolo. In like manner they went to the

senator, and, after the ancient custom, implored permission to

remain in Rome. The senator placed his foot on their foreheads,

ordered them to stand up, and replied in the accustomed formula,

that Jews were not adopted in Rome, but allowed from compassion to

remain there. This humiliation has now disappeared, but the Jews

still go to the Capitol, on the first Saturday of Carnival, to

offer their homage and tribute for the pallii of the horses, which

they have to provide, in memory that now the horses amuse the

people in their stead."--_Gregorovius, Wanderjahre._

The Jews were first shut up within the walls of the Ghetto by the

fanatical Dominican pope, Paul IV. (Gio. Pietro Caraffa, 1555--59), and

commanded never to appear outside it, unless the men were in yellow

hats, or the women in yellow veils. "For," says the Bull Cum Nimis,

"It is most absurd and unsuitable that the Jews, whose own crime

has plunged them into everlasting slavery, under the plea that

Christian magnanimity allows them, should presume to dwell and mix

with Christians, not bearing any mark of distinction, and should

have Christian servants, yea, even buy houses."

The Ghetto, or Vicus Judæorum, as it was at first called, was shut in by

walls which reached from the Ponte Quattro Capi to the Piazza del

Pianto, or "Place of Weeping," whose name bears witness to the grief of

the people on the 26th July, 1556, when they were first forced into

their prison-house.

"Those Jews who were shut up in the Ghetto were placed in

possession of the dwellings of others. The houses in that quarter

were the property of Romans, and some of them were inhabited by

families of consideration, such as the Boccapaduli. When these

removed they remained the proprietors and the Jews only tenants.

But as they were to live for ever in these streets, it was

necessary that the Jews should have a perpetual lease to defend

them against a twofold danger,--negligence on the part of the owner

to announce to his Jewish tenant when his possession expired, or

bankruptcy if the owner raised his rent. Thus originated a law

which established that the Romans should remain in possession of

the dwellings let to the Jews, but that the latter should hold the

houses in fee farm; that is, the expiration of the contract cannot

be announced to a Jewish tenant, and so long as he pays the lawful

rent, the rent can never be raised; the Jew at the same time may

alter or enlarge his house as he chooses. This still existing

privilege is called the Jus Gazzaga. By virtue of it a Jew is in

hereditary possession of the lease, and can sell it to his

relations or others, and to the present day it is a costly fortune

to be in possession of a Jus Gazzaga, or a hereditary lease. Highly

extolled is the Jewish maiden who brings her bridegroom such a

dowry. Through this salutary law the Jew became possessed of a

home, which to some extent he may call his own."--_Gregorovius._

The Jews were kindly treated by Sixtus V. on the plea that they were

"the family from whom Christ came," and he allowed them to practise many

kinds of trades, and to have intercourse with Christians, and to build

houses, libraries, and synagogues, but his mild laws were all repealed

by Clement VIII. (Aldobrandini, 1592--1605), and under Clement XI. and

Innocent XIII. all trade was forbidden them, except that in old-clothes,

rags, and iron, "stracci feracci." To these Benedict XIV. (Lambertini)

added trade in drapery, with which they are still largely occupied.

Under Gregory XIII. (Buoncompagni, 1572--85) the Jews were forced to

hear a sermon every week in the church, first of S. Benedetto alla

Regola, then in S. Angelo in Peschiera, and every Sabbath police-agents

were sent into the Ghetto to drive men, women, and children into the

church with scourges, and to lash them while there if they appeared to

be inattentive.

"Now was come about Holy Cross Day, and now must my lord preach his

first sermon to the Jews: as it was of old cared for in the

merciful bowels of the Church, that, so to speak, a crumb at least

from her conspicuous table here in Rome, should be, though but once

yearly, cast to the famishing dogs, undertrampled and bespitten

upon beneath the feet of the guests; and a moving sight in truth

this, of so many of the besotted, blind, restive, and

ready-to-perish Hebrews! now maternally brought--nay (for He saith,

'Compel them to come in'), haled, as it were, by the head and hair,

and against their obstinate hearts, to partake of the heavenly

grace...."--_Diary by the Bishop's Secretary,_ 1600.

Though what the Jews really said, on thus being driven to church, was

rather to this effect:--

IX.

"Groan all together now, whee-hee-hee!

It's a-work, it's a-work, ah, woe is me!

It began, when a herd of us, picked and placed,

Were spurred through the Corso, stripped to the waist;

Jew-brutes, with sweat and blood well spent

To usher in worthily Christian Lent.

X.

'It grew, when the hangman entered our bounds,

Yelled, pricked us out to his church like hounds.

It got to a pitch, when the hand indeed

Which gutted my purse, would throttle my creed.

And it overflows, when, to even the odd,

Men I helped to their sins, help me to their God."

_R. B. Browning, Holy Cross Day._

This custom of compelling Jews to listen to Christian sermons was

renewed by Leo XII., and was only abolished in the early years of Pius

IX. The walls of the Ghetto also remained, and its gates were closed at

night until the reign of the present pope, who removed the limits of the

Ghetto, and revoked all the oppressive laws against the Jews. The humane

feeling with which he regarded this hitherto oppressed race is said to

have been first evinced,--when, on the occasion of his placing a liberal

alms in the hand of a beggar, one of his attendants interposed, saying,

"It is a Jew!" and the pope replied, "What does that matter, it is a

man?"

"The present population of the Ghetto is estimated at 3800, a

number out of all proportion, considering the small size of the

Ghetto, which covers less space than the fifth part of any small

town of 3000 inhabitants. The Jews are under the chief congregation

of the Inquisition, and their especial magistrate for all civil and

criminal processes is the Cardinal Vicar. The tribunal which

governs them consists of the Cardinal Vicar, the Prelato

Vicegerente, the Prelato Luogo-tenente Civile, and the Criminal

Lieutenant. In police matters, the President of the Region of S.

Angelo and Campitelli exercises the local police magistracy. The

Jewish community has itself the right of regulating its internal

order by the so-called Fattori del Ghetto, chosen every half-year.

The common tribute of the Ghetto to the state, and to various

religious bodies, amounts to about 13,000 francs."

Opposite the gate of the Ghetto near the Ponte Quattro Capi a converted

Jew erected a church, which is still to be seen, with a painting of the

Crucifixion on its outside wall (upon which every Jew must look as he

comes out of the Ghetto), and underneath an inscription in large letters

of Hebrew and Latin from Isaiah, lxv. 2:--"All day long I have stretched

out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people." The lower streets

of the Ghetto, especially the Fiumara, which is nearest to the banks of

the Tiber, are annually overflowed during the spring rains and melting

of the mountain snows, which is productive of great misery and distress.

Yet in spite of this, and of the teeming population crowded into its

narrow alleys, the mortality was less here during the cholera than in

any other part of Rome, and malaria is unknown here, a freedom from

disease which may perhaps be attributed to the Jewish custom of

whitewashing their dwellings at every festival. There is no Jewish

hospital, and if the Jews go to an ordinary hospital, they must submit

to a crucifix being hung over their beds. It is remarkable that the very

centre of the Jewish settlement should be the Portico of Octavia, in

which Vespasian and Titus celebrated their triumph after the fall of

Jerusalem. Here and there in the narrow alleys the seven-branched

candlestick may be seen carved on the house walls, a "yet living symbol

of the Jewish religion."

Everything may be obtained in the Ghetto: precious stones, lace,

furniture of all kinds, rich embroidery from Algiers and Constantinople,

striped stuffs from Spain,--but all is concealed and under cover. "Cosa

cercate," the Jew shopkeepers hiss at you as you thread their narrow

alleys, and try to entice you into a bargain with them. The same article

is often passed on by a mutual arrangement from shop to shop, and meets

you wherever you go. On Friday evening all shops are shut, and bread is

baked for the Sabbath, all merchandise is removed, and the men go to the

synagogue, and wish each other "a good Sabbath," on their return.[96]

In the Piazza della Scuola are five schools under one roof--the Scuola

del Tempio, Catilana, Castigliana, Siciliana, and the Scuola Nuova,

"which show that the Roman Ghetto is divided into five districts or

parishes, each of which represents a particular race, according to the

prevailing nationality of the Jews, whose fathers have been either

Roman-Jewish from ancient times, or have been brought hither from Spain

and Sicily; the Temple-district is said above all others to assert its

descent from the Jews of Titus." In the same piazza, is the chief

synagogue, richly adorned with sculpture and gilding. On the external

frieze are represented in stucco the seven-branched candlestick, David's

harp, and Miriam's timbrel. The interior is highly picturesque and

quaint, and is hung with curious tapestries on festas. The frieze which

surrounds it represents the temple of Solomon with all its sacred

vessels. A round window in the north wall, divided into twelve panes of

coloured glass, is symbolical of the twelve tribes of Israel, and a type

of the Urim and Thummim. "To the west is the round choir, a wooden desk

for singers and precentors. Opposite, in the eastern wall, is the Holy

of Holies, with projecting staves (as if for the carrying of the ark)

resting on Corinthian columns. It is covered by a curtain, on which

texts and various devices of roses and tasteful arabesques in the style

of Solomon's temple are embroidered in gold. The seven-branched

candlestick crowns the whole. In this Holy of Holies lies the sealed

Pentateuch, a large parchment roll. This is borne in procession through

the hall and exhibited from the desk towards all the points of the

compass, whereat the Jews raise their arms and utter a cry."

"On entering the Ghetto, we see Israel before its tents, in full

restless labour and activity. The people sit in their doorways, or

outside in the streets, which receive hardly more light than the

damp and gloomy chambers, and grub amid their old trumpery, or

patch and sew diligently. It is inexpressible what a chaos of

shreds and patches (called _Cenci_ in Italian) is here accumulated.

The whole world seems to be lying about in countless rags and

scraps, as Jewish plunder. The fragments lie in heaps before the

doors, they are of every kind and colour,--gold fringes, scraps of

silk brocade, bits of velvet, red patches, blue patches, orange,

yellow, black and white, torn, old, slashed and tattered pieces,

large and small. I never saw such varied rubbish. The Jews might

mend up all creation with it, and patch the whole world as gaily as

harlequin's coat. There they sit and grub in their sea of rags, as

though seeking for treasures, at least for a lost gold brocade. For

they are as good antiquarians as any of those in Rome, who grovel

amongst the ruins to bring to light the stump of a column, a

fragment of a relief, an ancient inscription, a coin, or such

matters. Each Hebrew Winckelmann in the Ghetto lays out his rags

for sale with a certain pride, as does the dealer in marble

fragments. The latter boasts a piece of giallo-antico, the Jew can

match it with an excellent fragment of yellow silk; porphyry here

is represented by a piece of dark red damask, verde-antico by a

handsome patch of ancient green velvet. And there is neither jasper

nor alabaster, black marble, or white, or parti-coloured, which the

Ghetto antiquarian is not able to match. The history of every

fashion from Herod the Great to the invention of paletôts, and of

every mode of the highest as well as of the lower classes may be

collected from these fragments, some of which are really

historical, and may once have adorned the persons of Romulus,

Scipio Africanus, Hannibal, Cornelia, Augustus, Charlemagne,

Pericles, Cleopatra, Barbarossa, Gregory VII., Columbus, and so

forth.

"Here sit the daughters of Zion on these heaps and sew all that is

capable of being sewn. Great is their boasted skill in all work of

mending, darning, and fine-drawing, and it is said that even the

most formidable rent in any old drapery or garment whatsoever,

becomes invisible under the hands of these Arachnes. It is chiefly

in the Fiumara, the street lying lowest and nearest to the river,

and in the street corners (one of which is called Argumille, _i.e._

of unleavened bread), that this business is carried on. I have

often seen with a feeling of pain the pale, stooping, starving

figures, laboriously plying the needle,--men as well as women,

girls, and children. Misery stares forth from the tangled hair, and

complains silently in the yellow-brown faces, and no beauty of

feature recalls the countenance of Rachel, Leah, or Miriam,--only

sometimes a glance from a deep-sunk, piercing black eye, that looks

up from its needle and rags, and seems to say--'From the daughter

of Zion, all her beauty is departed--she that was great among the

nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become

tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her

cheeks; among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her

friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her

enemies. Judah is gone into captivity, because of affliction, and

because of great servitude; she dwelleth among the heathen, she

findeth no rest; all her persecutors overtook her between the

straits. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a

cloud in his anger!"--_Gregorovius, Wanderjahre._

The narrow street which is a continuation of the Pescheria, emerges upon

the small square called _Piazza della Giudecca_. In the houses on the

left may be seen some columns and part of an architrave, being the only

visible remains of the _Theatre of Balbus_, erected by C. Cornelius

Balbus, a general who triumphed in the time of Augustus, with the spoils

taken from the Garamantes, a people of Africa. It was opened in the same

year as the Theatre of Marcellus, and though very much smaller, was

capable of containing as many as 11,600 spectators.

To the right, still partly on the site of the ancient theatre, and

extending along one side of the Piazza delle Scuole, is the vast

_Palazzo Cenci_, the ancient residence of the famous Cenci family (now

represented by Count Cenci-Bolognetti), and the scene of many of the

terrible crimes and tragedies which stain its annals.

"The Cenci Palace is of great extent: and, though in part

modernized, there yet remains a vast and gloomy pile of feudal

architecture in the same state as during the dreadful scenes which

it once witnessed. The palace is situated in an obscure corner of

Rome, near the quarter of the Jews, and from the upper windows you

see the immense ruins of Mount Palatine, half hidden under the

profuse undergrowth of trees. There is a court in one part of the

palace supported by columns, and adorned with antique friezes of

fine workmanship, and built up, after the Italian fashion, with

balcony over balcony of open work. One of the gates of the palace,

formed of immense stones, and leading through a passage dark and

lofty, and opening into gloomy subterranean chambers, struck me

particularly."--_Shelley's Preface to "The Cenci."_

Opposite the further entrance of the Palace, is the tiny Church of _S.

Tommaso del Cenci_, founded 1113 by Cencio, bishop of Sabina; granted by

Julius II. to Rocco Cenci;--and rebuilt in 1575 by the wicked Count

Cenci.

"In 1585, Francesco Cenci was the head of the family, a man of

passions so ungovernable and heart so depraved, that he hesitated

at no species of crime. His first wife was a Princess Santa Croce,

whom he is believed to have poisoned in order to marry the

beautiful Lucrezia Petroni. His domestic cruelties to his children,

especially to his three elder sons, Giacomo, Christoforo, and

Rocco, were so terrible, that they petitioned the reigning Pope

Clement VIII. to interfere in their behalf, but he abruptly

dismissed them as rebels against the paternal authority; one

daughter, Marguerita, alone escaped from her miserable home, being

given in marriage by the pope to a Signor Gabrielli.

"The escape of this daughter made Francesco the more embittered

against the remainder of his family. His youngest child, Beatrice,

he immured in a solitary chamber, to which no one but himself was

admitted, and where he constantly starved and beat her severely.

When he received the news that his sons Christoforo and Rocco were

assassinated in the neighbourhood of Rome by an unknown hand, he

expressed the utmost joy, declaring that no money of his should

purchase masses for the repose of their souls, and that he could

have no peace until his wife and every child he had were in their

graves.

"Lucrezia, believing that the monster whom she had espoused was

possessed, in spite of his cruelty, by a criminal passion for his

own daughter, attempted secretly to save her, by presenting a

memorial to the pope imploring him to give her in marriage to a

Signor Guerra, who had long been attached to her. But this petition

was intercepted by Francesco, who then carried off Lucrezia and his

two youngest children, Beatrice and Bernardo, to Petrella, a vast

and desolate castle in the Apennines. Guerra, and Giacomo the

eldest remaining brother of Beatrice, hired a band of banditti in

the Sabine hills who were to attack the party on the way, and to

carry off Francesco for a ransom, liberating the women;--but the

rescue arrived too late.

"When they reached Petrella, Beatrice was incarcerated in a

subterranean dungeon, where she was persuaded that her lover Guerra

had been murdered, and was treated with such awful cruelty by her

father, that, for a time, she was deprived of her reason. One day a

servant, Marzio, whose betrothed had previously been seduced and

murdered by Francesco, roused by the shrieks of Beatrice, burst

into the room, and rushing upon his master dealt a terrible thrust

with a dagger on his neck, exclaiming, 'I murder thee, assassin of

thy own blood.' But Cenci arose uninjured, to the horror of Marzio,

who imagined that only a demon could avert such a blow, and who was

ignorant that he wore under his vestments, even in bed, a coat of

mail which covered his entire body.

"At length Beatrice contrived to communicate with her brother

Giacomo, who united with Guerra in hiring the services of Marzio

and of Olympio, another servant, who was inspired with an equal

thirst for vengeance upon Count Cenci. All felt that the death of

Francesco was the only hope for his unhappy family. The assassins

communicated with Lucrezia, who administered an opiate to her

husband, and then stole from him some keys which enabled her after

midnight to liberate Bernardo and Beatrice. The latter she found in

a state of stupefaction, and vainly endeavoured to rouse her,

signifying that the moment of escape had arrived. Beatrice showed

no symptom of surprise at the announcement, or at the visit of her

stepmother at that strange hour; she asked not how they had opened

her door, or how her liberty had been acquired. When they were all

assembled in the hall, Lucrezia told them the project, and asked

their aid. Bernardo at first hesitated, but Lucrezia roused him by

every argument she could urge and obtained his consent. Beatrice

made no reply.

" ... Francesco Cenci was murdered in his sleep. Marzio placed a

large nail or iron bolt on his right eye, which Olympio, with one

blow of a hammer, drove straight into the brain. The deed thus

accomplished, Marzio and Olympio wrapped the dead body in a sheet,

and carried it to a small pavilion built at the end of a

terrace-walk, overlooking an orchard. From this height they cast it

down on an old gnarled elder-tree, in order that when the body

should be found the next morning, it might appear that whilst

walking on the terrace, the foot of the count had slipped, and that

he had fallen head-foremost on one of the stunted branches of the

tree, which, piercing through his eye to the brain, had caused his

death. Returning to the hall, they received from Lucrezia a purse

of gold; Marzio, carrying with him a valuable cloak trimmed with

gold lace, turned towards Beatrice (who still stood leaning against

the table), and saying, 'I shall keep this as a memorial of you,'

departed with Olympio. The report of Francesco's death was not

spread through the castle until the next morning. Lucrezia then

rushed through the house uttering cries. In a day or two the

funeral took place, and immediately after the family returned to

Rome. Giacomo took possession of the Cenci palace, and Beatrice

daily improved in health of body and mind.

"Soon, however, the suspicious circumstances of Count Cenci's

death excited attention; the body was exhumed and examined, and

the inhabitants of Petrella placed under arrest, when a washerwoman

deposed to having received bloody sheets from one of the

inhabitants of the castle--she thought from Beatrice--the day after

the murder. On hearing this, the fear that he would turn against

them, induced Signor Guerra to hire assassins to pursue Olympio,

whom they despatched at Terni; but Marzio was arrested, and

confessed the circumstances of the murder, though when confronted

with Beatrice, he proclaimed her innocence of it, and declared her

incapable of crime.

"Guerra made good his escape, but the whole Cenci family were

thrown into prison and put to the torture. Giacomo, Bernardo, and

Lucrezia, unable to endure the sufferings of the rack, confessed at

once.

"Such, however, was not the case with the young and beautiful

Beatrice. Full of spirit and courage, neither the persuasions nor

threats of Moscati the judge could extort from her the smallest

confession. She endured the torture of the cord with all the

firmness which the purity of her heart inspired. The judge failed

to extort from her lips a single word which could throw a shade

over her innocence, and at length, believing it useless to pursue

the torture further, he suspended the proceedings, and reported

them to the pope. But Clement VIII, suspecting that the

unwillingness of Moscati to believe Beatrice guilty was induced by

her extreme beauty, only replied by consigning the prosecution to

another judge, and Beatrice was left in the hands of Luciani, 'a

man whose heart was a stranger to every feeling of humanity.' Upon

her renewed protestations of innocence, he ordered the torture of

the Vigilia.

"The torture of the Vigilia was as follows:--Upon a high

joint-stool, the seat about a span large, and instead of being

flat, cut in the form of pointed diamonds, the victim was seated:

the legs were fastened together and without support; the hands

bound behind the back, and with a running knot attached to a cord

descending from the ceiling: the body was loosely attached to the

back of the chair, cut also into angular points. A wretch stood

near, pushing the victim from side to side, and now and then, by

pulling the rope from the ceiling, gave the arms most painful

jerks. In this horrible position the sufferer _remained forty

hours_, the assistants being changed every fifth hour. At the

expiration of this time, Beatrice was carried into the prison more

dead than alive. The judge was annoyed at the account he received

of the fortitude of Beatrice, and, in a rage, he exclaimed, 'Never

shall it be said that a weak girl can escape from my hands, while

not one of those condemned have been able to resist my power!'

"On the third day the examination was renewed, and Beatrice was

condemned to the _tortura capillorum_. 'At a given signal, the

satellites of the tribunal carried Beatrice under a rope suspended

from the ceiling, and twisting into a cord her long and beautiful

hair, they attached it, with diabolical art, to the rope, so that

the whole body could by this means be raised from the ground. The

frightful preparations over, and her protestations of innocence

again disregarded, she was elevated from the ground by the hair of

her head; at the same time was added another torture, consisting of

a mesh of small cords twined about the fingers, twisting them

nearly out of joint and dragging the hand almost from the bone of

the arm. The wretched girl screamed with agony, while the judge

stood by, commanding the suspended rope to be tightened, and

raising the body by the hair from the ground gave it a sudden jerk,

exhorting her to confess. She cried out in a convulsion for water,

rolling her eyes in agony, and exclaiming, 'I am innocent.' The

torture being repeated with still greater cruelty, and the

fortitude of the young girl remaining unshaken, the judge,

believing it impossible that a young female could resist such

torments, concluded, with the superstition of the times, that she

carried about with her some witchcraft; he ordered her to be

examined, and finding no cause of suspicion, was about to have her

hair cut off, when it was suggested the torment of the _tortura

capillorum_ could not then be renewed; her hair was again fastened

to the rope, and for a whole hour she was subjected to such a

succession of cruelties as the heart shrinks from narrating: but

not a word escaped from her lips, that could compromise her

innocence.

"In the mean time Lucrezia, Giacomo, and Bernardo were taken into

the hall Erculeo, and in their presence a repetition of the torture

was ordered, to so awful an extent, that she fainted and lay

senseless. A new cruelty was devised--the _taxilla_,--her feet were

bared, and to the soles was applied a block of heated wood,

prepared in such a way as to retain the scorching heat; then did

the unhappy girl utter piercing shrieks, and remained some minutes

apparently dead. These accumulated tortures were repeated, until

her relations, who were handcuffed lest they should render her any

assistance, began to implore her with heart-rending tears and

entreaties to yield. To this the judge mingled threats and the

application of further torments, and enforced them with such

rigour, that the victim shrieked in agony, and exclaimed, 'Oh!

cease this martyrdom, and I will confess anything.'

"The tortures were at once suspended and restoratives applied,

while her family on their knees implored Beatrice to adhere to her

promise, urging that the unnatural cruelties of her father would be

a just defence for the crime imputed to her, and that by agreeing

to their deposition, she might give them a hope of common

liberation. The unhappy girl replied, 'Be it as you wish. I am

content to die if I can preserve you'--and to each interrogatory of

the judge she replied, '_E vero_,' until asked whether she did not

urge the assassins to kill her father, and, on their refusal,

propose to commit the crime herself, when she involuntarily

exclaimed, 'Impossible, impossible! a tiger could not do it; how

much less a daughter!' Threatened anew with the torture, she

answered not, but, raising her eyes to Heaven, and moving her lips

in prayer, she said, 'Oh my God, Thou knowest if this be true!'

Thus did the judge force from Beatrice an assent to a deed at which

her very nature revolted.

"Luciani hastened to the pope with the news that Beatrice had

confessed. Clement VIII. was seized with one of those fits of anger

to which he was subject, and exclaimed--'Let them all be

immediately bound to the tails of wild horses, and dragged through

the streets until life is extinct.' The horror evinced by all

classes at this sentence induced him to grant a respite of

twenty-five days, at the end of which a trial took place, and the

advocate Farinacci boldly pleaded the defence of the prisoners. But

while their fate was hanging in the balance, the Marchesa

Santa-Croce was murdered by her own son, which caused Clement to

order the immediate execution of the whole Cenci family, and the

entreaties of their friends only induced him to spare the life of

Bernardo, with the horrible proviso that he was to remain upon the

scaffold and witness the execution of his relations.

" ... During the fearful and protracted transit to the scaffold, it

was the custom of the satellites of the inquisition, at regular

intervals, to tear from the body pieces of flesh with heated

pincers, but in this instance the pope dispensed with this torture,

but ordered that Giacomo should be beaten to death and then

quartered. As the procession passed the piazza of the Palazzo

Cenci, Giacomo, who had appeared resigned, became dreadfully

agitated, and uttered heart-rending cries of, 'My children! my

children!' The people shouted, 'Dogs, give him his children!' The

procession was proceeding, when the multitude assumed such a

threatening aspect, that two of the Compagnia dei Confortati

thought themselves authorised to pause, the unhappy man imploring

them in accents of despair, to suffer him once more to behold his

children. The crowd became pacified on seeing Giacomo descend from

the cart and conducted to the vestibule of his palace, where they

brought to him his children and his wife. The latter fainted on the

last step.

"The scene that followed was the most affecting and painful that

the imagination can picture. His three children clung around his

legs, uttering cries that rent the hearts of all present The

unhappy man embraced them, telling them that in Bernardo they would

find a father; then, fixing his eyes on his unconscious wife, he

said, 'Let us go!' Reascending the cart, the procession stopped

before the prison of the Corte Savella.

"Here Beatrice and Lucrezia appeared before the gates, conducted by

the Confortati. They knelt down and prayed for some time before the

crucifix, and then walked on foot behind the carriage. Lucrezia

wore a robe of black, and a long black veil covered her head and

shoulders; Beatrice in a dark robe and veil, a handkerchief of

cloth of silver on her head, and slippers of white velvet,

ornamented with crimson sandals and rosettes, followed.... Twice

during the passage, an attempt was made to rescue Beatrice, but

each failed, and she reached the chapel, where all the condemned

were to receive the blessing of the Sacrament before execution.

"The first brought out to ascend the scaffold was Bernardo, who,

according to the conditions of his reprieve, was to witness the

death of his relatives. The poor boy, before he had reached the

summit, fell down in a swoon, and was obliged to be supported to

his seat of torture. Preceded by the standard and the brethren of

the Misericordia, the executioner next entered the chapel to convey

Lucrezia. Binding her hands behind her back, and removing the veil

that covered her head and shoulders, he led her to the foot of the

scaffold. Here she stopped, prayed devoutly, kissed the crucifix,

and taking off her shoes, mounted the ladder barefoot. From

confusion and terror, she with difficulty ascended, crying out,

'Oh, my God! oh, holy brethren, pray for my soul, oh, God, pardon

me!' The principal executioner beckoned to her to place herself on

the block; the unhappy woman, from her unwieldy figure, being

unable to do so, some violence was used, the executioner raised his

axe, and with one stroke severed the head from the body! Catching

it by the hair, he exposed it, still quivering, to the gaze of the

populace; then wrapping it in the veil, he laid it on a bier in the

corner of the scaffold, the body falling into a coffin placed

underneath. The violence used towards the sufferer had so excited

the multitude, that a universal uproar commenced. Forty young men

rushed forward to the chapel to rescue Beatrice, but were again

defeated, after a short struggle....

"Meanwhile Beatrice, kneeling in the chapel absorbed in prayer,

heeded not the uproar that surrounded her. She rose, as the

standard appeared to precede her to the block, and with eagerness

demanded, 'Is my mother then really dead?'--Answered in the

affirmative, she prayed with fervour; then raising her voice, she

said, 'Lord, thou hast called me, and I obey the summons

willingly, as I hope for mercy!' Approaching her brother, she bade

him farewell, and with a smile of love, said, 'Grieve not for me.

We shall be happy in heaven, I have forgiven thee.' Giacomo

fainted; his sister, turning round, said, 'Let us proceed!' The

executioner appeared with a cord, but seemed afraid to fasten it

round her body. She saw this, and with a sad smile said, 'Bind this

body; but hasten to release the soul, which pants for immortality!'

"Scarcely had the victim arrived at the foot of the scaffold, when

the square, filled with that vast multitude before so uproarious,

suddenly assumed the silence of a desert. Each one bent forward to

hear her speak; with every eye riveted on her, and lips apart, it

seemed as if their very existence depended on any words she might

utter. Beatrice ascended the stairs with a slow but firm step. In a

moment she placed herself on the block, which had caused so much

fear to Lucrezia. She did not allow the executioner to remove the

veil, but laid it herself upon the table. In this dreadful

situation she remained a few minutes, a universal cry of horror

staying the arm of the executioner. But soon the head of his victim

was held up separated from the trunk, which was violently agitated

for a few seconds. The miserable Bernardo Cenci, forced to witness

the fate of his sister, again swooned away; nor could he be

restored to his senses for more than half an hour.

"Meanwhile the scaffold was made ready for the dreadful punishment

destined for Giacomo. Having performed some religious ceremonies,

he appeared dressed in a cloak and cap. Turning towards the people,

he said in a clear voice, 'Although in the agonies of torture I

accused my sister and brother of sharing in the crime for which I

suffer, I accused them falsely. Now that I am about to render an

account of my actions to God, I solemnly assert their entire

innocence. Farewell, my friends. Oh, pray to God for me.'

"Saying these words, he knelt down; the executioner bound his legs

to the block and bandaged his eyes. To particularise the details of

this execution would be too dreadful; suffice it to say, he was

beaten, beheaded, and quartered in the sight of that vast

multitude, and by the side of a brother, who was sprinkled with his

blood. All was now over.

"..... Near the statue of St. Paul, according to custom, were

placed three biers, each with four lighted torches. In these were

laid the bodies of the victims. A crown of flowers had been placed

around the head of Beatrice, who seemed as though in sleep, so

calm, so peaceful was that placid face, while a smile such as she

wore in life still hovered on her lips. Many a tear was shed over

that bier, many a flower was scattered around her, whose fate all

mourned--whose innocence none questioned.

"On that night the bodies were interred. The corpse of Beatrice,

clad in the dress she wore on the scaffold, was borne, covered with

garlands of flowers, to the church of San Pietro in Montorio; and

buried at the foot of the high altar, before Raffaelle's celebrated

picture of the Transfiguration."[97]

Retracing our steps to the Piazza della Giudecca and turning left down a

narrow alley, which is always busy with Jewish traffic, we reach the

_Piazza delle Tartarughe_, so called from the tortoises which form part

of the adornments of its lovely little fountain,--designed by Giacomo

della Porta, the four figures of boys being by Taddeo Landini.

At this point we leave the Ghetto.

* * * * *

Forming one side of the Piazza delle Tartarughe is the _Palazzo

Costaguti_, celebrated for its six splendid ceilings by great artists,

viz.:--

1. _Albani_: Hercules wounding the Centaur Nessus.

2. _Domenichino_: Apollo in his car, Time discovering truth,

&c., much injured.

3. _Guercino_: _Rinaldo_ and _Armida_ in a chariot drawn by dragons.

4. _Cav. d'Arpino_: Juno nursing Hercules, Venus and Cupids.

5. _Lanfranco_: Justice and Peace.

6. _Romanelli_: Arion saved by the dolphin.

In a corner of the piazza, is a well-known _Lace-Shop_, much frequented

by English ladies, but great powers of bargaining are called for. Almost

immediately behind this is one of the most picturesque mediæval

courtyards in the city.

On the same line, at the end of the street, is the _Palazzo Mattei_,

built by Carlo Maderno (1615) for Duke Asdrubal Mattei, on the site of

the Circus of Flaminius. The small courtyard of this palace is well

worth examining, and is one of the handsomest in Rome, being quite

encrusted, as well as the staircase, with ancient bas-reliefs, busts,

and other sculptures. It contained a gallery of pictures, the greater

part of which have been dispersed. The rooms have frescoes by

_Pomerancio_, _Lanfranco_, _Pietro da Cortona_, _Domenichino_, and

_Albani_.

Behind this, facing the Via delle Botteghe Oscure, is the vast _Palazzo

Caëtani_, now inhabited by the learned Don Michael-Angelo Caëtani (Duke

of Sermoneta and Prince of Teano), whose family is one of the most

distinguished in the mediæval history of Rome, and which gave Boniface

VIII. to the church:

"Lo principe de' nuovi farisei."

_Dante, Inferno,_ xxvii.

It claims descent from Anatolius, created Count of Gaieta by Pope

Gregory II. in 730.

Close to the Palazzo Mattei is the _Church of Sta. Caterina de' Funari_,

built by Giacomo della Porta, in 1563, adjoining a convent of

Augustinian nuns. The streets in this quarter are interesting as bearing

witness in their names to the existence of the Circus Flaminius, the

especial circus of the plebs, which once occupied all the ground near

this. The _Via delle Botteghe Oscure_, commemorates the dark shops which

in mediæval times occupied the lower part of the circus, as they do now

that of the Theatre of Marcellus. The Via dei Funari, the ropemakers who

took advantage for their work of the light and open space which the

interior of the deserted circus afforded. The remains of the circus

existed to the sixteenth century.

Near this, turning right, is the _Piazza di Campitelli_, which contains

the _Church of S. Maria in Campitelli_, built by Rinaldi for Alexander

VII. in 1659, upon the site of an oratory erected by Sta. Galla in the

time of John I. (523-6), in honour of an image of the Virgin, which one

day miraculously appeared imploring her charity, in company with the

twelve poor women to whom she was daily in the habit of giving alms. The

oratory of Sta. Galla was called Sta. Maria in Portico, from the

neighbouring portico of Octavia, a name which is sometimes applied to

the present church. The miraculous mendicant image is now enshrined in

gold and lapis-lazuli over the high altar. Other relics supposed to be

preserved here are the bodies of Sta. Cyrica, Sta. Victoria, and Sta.

Vincenza, and half that of Sta. Barbara! The second chapel on the right

has a picture of the Descent of the Holy Ghost by _Luca Giordano_; in

the first chapel on the left is the tomb of Prince Altieri, inscribed

"Umbra," and that of his wife, Donna Laura di Carpegna, inscribed

"Nihil;" they rest on lions of rosso-antico. In the right transept is

the tomb, by _Pettrich_, of Cardinal Pacca, who lived in the Palazzo

Pacca, on the opposite side of the square, and was the faithful friend

of Pius VII. in his exile. The bas-relief on the tomb, of St. Peter

delivered by the angel, is in allusion to the deliverance from the

French captivity.

The name Campitelli is probably derived from Campusteli, because in this

neighbourhood (see Ch. XIV.) was the Columna Bellica, from which when

war was declared a dart was thrown into a plot of ground, representing

the hostile territory,--perhaps the very site of this church.

In the street behind this, leading into the Via di Ara Cœli, are the

remains of the ancient _Palazzo Margana_, with a very richly-sculptured

gateway of _c._ 1350.

Opening from hence upon the left is the _Via Tor de' Specchi_, whose

name commemorates the legend of Virgil as a necromancer, and of his

magic tower lined with mirrors, in which all the secrets of the city

were reflected and brought to light.

Here is the famous _Convent of the Tor de' Specchi_, founded by Sta.

Francesca Romana, and open to the public during the octave of the

anniversary of her death (following the 9th of March). At this time the

pavements are strewn with box, the halls and galleries are bright with

fresh flowers, and Swiss guards are posted at the different turnings, to

facilitate the circulation of visitors. It is a beautiful specimen of a

Roman convent. The first hall is painted with ancient frescoes,

representing scenes in the life of the saint. Here, on a table, is the

large bowl in which Sta. Francesca prepared ointment for the poor. Other

relics are her veil, shoes, &c. Passing a number of open cloisters,

cheerful with flowers and orange-trees, we reach the chapel, where

sermons or rather lectures are delivered at the anniversary upon the

story of Sta. Francesca's life, and where her embalmed body may be seen

beneath the altar. A staircase seldom seen, but especially used by

Francesca, is only ascended by the nuns upon their knees. It leads to

her cell and a small chapel, black with age, and preserved as when she

used them. The picturesque dress of the Oblate sisters who are

everywhere visible, adds to the interest of the scene.

"It is no gloomy abode, the Convent of the Tor di Specchi, even in

the eyes of those who cannot understand the happiness of a nun. It

is such a place as one loves to see children in; where religion is

combined with everything that pleases the eye and recreates the

mind. The beautiful chapel; the garden with its magnificent

orange-trees; the open galleries, with their fanciful decorations

and scenic recesses, where a holy picture or figure takes you by

surprise, and meets you at every turn; the light airy rooms, where

religious prints and ornaments, with flowers, birds, and ingenious

toys, testify that innocent enjoyments are encouraged and smiled

upon; while from every window may be caught a glimpse of the

Eternal City, a spire, a ruined wall,--something that speaks of

Rome and its thousand charms.

"It was on the 21st of March, the festival of St. Benedict, that

Francesca herself entered the convent, not as the foundress, but as

a humble suppliant for admission. At the foot of the stairs, having

taken off her customary black gown, her veil, and her shoes, and

placed a cord around her neck, she knelt down, kissed the ground,

and, shedding an abundance of tears, made her general confession

aloud in the presence of all the Oblates; she described herself as

a miserable sinner, a grievous offender against God, and asked

permission to dwell amongst them as the meanest of their servants;

and to learn from them to amend her life, and enter upon a holier

course. The spiritual daughters of Francesca hastened to raise and

embrace her; and clothing her with their habit, they led the way to

the chapel, where they all returned thanks to God. While she

remained there in prayer, Agnese de Lellis, the superioress,

assembled the sisters in the chapter-room, and declared to them,

that now their true mother and foundress had come amongst them, it

would be absurd for her to remain in her present office; that

Francesca was their guide, their head, and that into her hands she

should instantly resign her authority. They all applauded her

decision, and gathering around the Saint, announced to her their

wishes. As was to be expected, Francesca strenuously refused to

accede to this proposal, and pleaded her inability for the duties

of a superioress. The Oblates had recourse to Don Giovanni, the

confessor of Francesca, who began by entreating, and finally

commanded her acceptance of the charge. His order she never

resisted; and accordingly, on the 25th of March, she was duly

elected to that office."--_Lady Georgina Fullerton's Life of Sta.

Francesca Romana._

"Sta. Francesca Romana is represented in the dress of a Benedictine

nun, a black robe and a white hood or veil; and her proper

attribute is an angel, who holds in his hand the book of the Office

of the Virgin, open at the words, '_Tenuisti manum dexteram meam,

et in voluntate tua deduxisti me, et cum gloria suscepisti me_'

(Ps. lxxiii. 23, 24); which attribute is derived from an incident

thus narrated in the acts of her canonisation. Though unwearied in

her devotions, yet if, during her prayers, she was called away by

her husband on any domestic duty, she would close her book, saying

that 'a wife and a mother, when called upon, must quit her God at

the altar, and find him in her household affairs.' Now it happened

once, that, in reciting the Office of Our Lady, she was called away

four times just as she was beginning the same verse, and, returning

the fifth time, she found that verse written upon the page in

letters of golden light by the hand of her guardian

angel."--_Jameson's Sacred Art_, p. 151.

Almost opposite the convent is the Via del Monte Tarpeio, a narrow

alley, leading up to the foot of the Tarpeian rock, beneath the Palazzo

Caffarelli, and one of the points at which the rock is best seen. This

spot is believed to have been the site of the house of Spurius Mælius,

who tried to ingratiate himself with the people, by buying up corn and

distributing it in a year of scarcity (B.C. 440), but who was in

consequence put to death by the patricians. His house was razed to the

ground, and its site, being always kept vacant, went by the name of

Æquimælium.[98]