THE AVENTINE.
Jewish Burial-ground--Sta. Sabina--S. Alessio--The Priorato--Sta.
Prisca--The Vigna dei Gesuiti--S. Sabba--Sta. Balbina.
The Aventine, which is perhaps the highest, and now--from its coronet of
convents--the most picturesque of all the Roman hills, is of irregular
form, and is divided into two parts by a valley; one side, the higher,
is crowned by the churches of Sta. Sabina, S. Alessio, and the Priorato,
which together form "the Capitol of the Aventine;" the other, known as
the Pseudo-Aventine, is marked by the churches of S. Sabba and Sta.
Balbina.
Virgil and Ovid allude repeatedly to the thick woods which once clothed
the Aventine.[169] Dionysius speaks of the laurels or bays, an
indigenous tree of ancient Rome, which grew there in abundance. Only one
side of the hill, that towards the Tiber, now shows any of the natural
cliff, but it was once remarkable for its rocks, and the Pseudo-Aventine
obtained the name of Saxum from a huge solitary mass of stone which
surmounted it.
"Est moles nativa; loco res nomina fecit
Appellant Saxum: pars bona mentis ea est."[170]
The upper portion of the hill is of volcanic formation, and it is
supposed that the legend of Cacus vomiting forth flames from his cave on
the side of the Aventine had its origin in noxious sulphuric vapours
emitted by the soil, as is still the case at the Solfatara on the way to
Tivoli. The demi-god Faunus, who had an oracle at the Solfatara, had
also an oracle on this hill.[171]
Some derive the name of Aventine from Aventinus-Silvius, king of Alba,
who was buried here;[172] others from Avens, a Sabine river; while
others say that the name simply means "the hill of birds," and connect
it with the story of the foundation of the city. For when it became
necessary to decide whether Romulus or Remus was to rule over the
newly-built Rome, Romulus seated himself upon the Palatine to watch the
auspices, but Remus upon the rock of the Pseudo-Aventine. Here Remus saw
only six vultures, while Romulus saw twelve, but each interpreted the
augury in his own favour, and Remus leapt across the boundary of the
Palatine, whether in derision or war, and was slain by his brother, or
by Celer, one of his followers. He was brought back and buried upon the
Aventine, and the stone whence he had watched the vultures was
thenceforth called the Sacred Rock. Ancient tradition places the tomb of
Remus on the Pseudo-Aventine, but in the middle ages the tomb of Caius
Cestus was believed--even by Petrarch--to be the monument of Remus.
Some authorities consider that when Remus was watching the vultures on
the Pseudo-Aventine, that part of the hill was already occupied by a
Pelasgic fortress called Romoria, but at this time and for long
afterwards, the higher part of the Aventine was held by the Sabines.
Here the Sabine king Numa dedicated an altar to Jupiter Elicius,[173]
and the Sabine god Consus had also an altar here. Hither Numa came to
visit the forest-gods Faunus and Picus at their sacred fountain:
Lucus Aventino suberat niger ilicis umbra,
Quo posses viso dicere, numen inest.
In medio gramen, muscoque adoperta virenti
Manabat saxo vena perennis aquæ.
Inde fere soli Faunus Picusque bibebant.[174]
By mingling wine and honey with the waters of their spring, Numa snared
the gods, and compelled them to tell him how he might learn from Jupiter
the knowledge of his will, and to reveal to him a charm against thunder
and lightning.[175]
The Sabine king Tatius, the rival of Romulus, was buried on the Aventine
"in a great grove of laurels," and, at his tomb, then called
Armilustrum, it was the custom, every year, in the month of October, to
hold a feast for the purification of arms, accompanied by martial
dances. A horse was at the same time sacrificed to Janus, the Sabine
war-god.[176]
Ancus Martius surrounded the Aventine by a wall,[177] and settled there
many thousands of the inhabitants of Latin towns which he had subdued.
This was the origin of the plebs, who were soon to become such
formidable opponents of the first colonists of the Palatine, who took
rank as patricians, and who at first found in them an important
counterpoise to the power of the original Sabine inhabitants, against
whom the little Latin colony of Romulus had hitherto been standing
alone. The Aventine continued always to be the especial property and
sanctuary of the plebs, the patricians avoiding it--in the first
instance, it is supposed, from an impression that the hill was of evil
omen, owing to the story of Remus. In B.C. 416, the tribune Icilius
proposed and carried a law by which all the public lands of the Aventine
were officially conferred upon the plebs, who forthwith began to cover
its heights with houses, in which each family of the people had a right
in one floor,--a custom which still prevails at Rome. At this time,
also, the Aventine was included for the first time within the
pomœrium or religious boundary of the city. Owing to its being the
"hill of the people," the commons henceforth held their comitia and
elected their tribunes here; and here, after the murder of Virginia, to
whom the tribune Icilius had been betrothed, the army assembled against
Appius Claudius.
Very little remains of the numerous temples which once adorned the hill,
but their sites are tolerably well ascertained. We still ascend the
Aventine by the ancient Clivus Publicius, originally paved by two
brothers Publicii, who were ædiles at the same time, and had embezzled a
public sum of money, which they were compelled to expend thus--
Parte locant clivum, qui tune erat ardua rupes:
Utile nunc iter est, Publiciumque vocant.[178]
At the foot of this road was the temple of Luna, or Jana, in which
Tatius had also erected an altar to Janus or the Sun.
Luna regit menses; hujus quoque tempora mensis
Finit Aventino Luna colenda jugo.[179]
It was up this road that Caius Gracchus, a few hours before his death,
fled to take refuge in a small Temple of Diana, which stood somewhere
near the present site of S. Alessio, where, kneeling before the statue
of the goddess, he implored that the people who had betrayed him might
never be free. Close by, singularly enough, rose the Temple of Liberty,
which his grandfather Sempronius Gracchus had built. Adjoining this
temple was a hall where the archives of the censors were kept, and where
they transacted business; this was rebuilt by Asinius Pollio, who added
to it the first public library established in Rome.
Nec me, quæ doctis patuerunt prima libellis
Atria, Libertas tangere passa sua est.[180]
In the same group stood the famous sanctuary of Juno Regina, vowed by
Camillus during the siege of Veii, and to which the Juno of the captured
city was removed after she had given a verbal consent when asked whether
she wished to go to Rome and inhabit a new temple, much as the modern
queen of heaven is apt to do in modern times at Rome.[181] The Temples
of Liberty and Juno were both rebuilt under Augustus; some imagine that
they were under a common roof. If they were distinct buildings, nothing
of the former remains; some beautiful columns built into the church of
Sta. Sabina are all that remain of the temple of Juno, though Livy
thought that her reign here would be eternal--
... in Aventinum, æternam sedem suam.[182]
Also belonging to this group was a Temple of Minerva.
Sol abit a Geminis, et Cancri signa rubescunt:
Cœpit Aventina Pallas in arce coli.[183]
Here the dramatist Livius Andronicus, who lived upon the Aventine, was
honoured after his death by a company of scribes and actors. Another
poet who lived upon the Aventine was Ennius, who is described as
inhabiting a humble dwelling, and being attended by a single female
slave. The poet Gallus also lived here.
Totis, Galle, jubes tibi me servire diebus,
Et per Aventinum ter quater ire tuum![184]
On the other side of the Aventine (above the Circus Maximus), which was
originally covered with myrtle--a shrub now almost extinct at Rome--on
the site now occupied by Sta. Prisca, was a more important Temple of
Diana, sometimes called by the Sabine name of Murcia,--built in
imitation of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. Propertius writes--
Phyllis Aventinæ quædam est vicina Dianæ;[185]
and Martial--
Quique videt propius magna certamina Circi
Laudat Aventinæ vicinus Sura Dianæ.[186]
Here till the time of Dionysius was preserved the pillar of brass on
which was engraved the law of Icilius.
Near this were the groves of Simila, the retreat of the infamous
association discovered and terribly punished at the time of the Greek
wars; and--in the time of the empire--the gardens of Servilia, where she
received the devotion of Julius Cæsar, and in which her son Brutus is
said to have conspired his murder, and to have been interrogated by his
wife Portia as to the mystery, which he refused to reveal to her,
fearing her weakness under torture, until, by the concealment of a
terrible wound which she had given to herself, she had proved to him
that the daughter of Cato could suffer and be silent.
The Aventine continued to be inhabited, and even populous, until the
sixth century, from which period its prosperity began to decline. In the
eleventh century it was occupied by the camp of Henry IV. of Germany,
when he came in war against Gregory VII. In the thirteenth century
Honorius III. made a final effort to re-establish its popularity; but
with each succeeding generation it has become--partly owing to the
ravages of malaria--more and more deserted, till now its sole
inhabitants are monks, and the few ague-stricken contadini who look
after the monastic vineyards. In wandering along its desolate lanes,
hemmed in by hedges of elder, or by walls covered with parasitical
plants, it is difficult to realize the time when it was so thickly
populated; and except in the quantities of coloured marbles with which
its fields and vineyards are strewn, there is nothing to remind one of
the 16 ædiculæ, 64 baths, 25 granaries, 88 fountains, 130 of the larger
houses called _domus_, and 2487 of the poorer houses called _insulæ_,
which occupied this site.
The present interest of the hill is almost wholly ecclesiastical, and
centres around the story of St. Dominic, and the legends of the saints
and martyrs connected with its different churches.
* * * * *
The best approach to the Aventine is behind the Church of Sta. Maria in
Cosmedin, where the _Via Sta. Sabina_, once the Clivus Publicius
(available for carriages), turns up the hill.
A lane on the left leads to the Jewish burial-ground, used as a place of
sepulture for the Ghetto for many centuries. A curious instance of the
cupidity attributed to the Jewish race may be seen in the fact, that
they have, for a remuneration of four baiocchi, habitually given leave
to their neighbours to discharge the contents of a rubbish cart into
their cemetery, a permission of which the Romans have so abundantly
availed themselves, that the level of the soil has been raised by many
yards, and whole sets of older monuments have been completely swallowed
up, and new ones erected over their heads.
After we turn the corner at the hill top, with its fine view over the
Palatine, and cross the trench of fortification formed during the fear
of a Garibaldian invasion in 1867, we skirt what appears to be part of a
city wall. This is in fact the wall of the Honorian city, built by Pope
Honorius III., of the great family of Savelli, whose idea was to render
the Aventine once more the populous and favourite portion of the city,
and who began great works for this purpose. Before his arrangements were
completed St. Dominic arrived in Rome, and was appointed master of the
papal household, and abbot of the convent of Sta. Sabina, where his
ministrations and popularity soon formed such an attraction, that the
pope wisely abandoned his design of founding a new city which should
commemorate himself, and left the field to St. Dominic,--to whom he made
over the land on this side of the hill. Henceforward the convent of
Sta. Sabina and its surroundings have become, more than any other spot,
connected with the history of the Dominican Order,--there, all the great
saints of the Order have received their first inspiration,--have
resided,--or are buried; there St. Dominic himself received in a
beatific vision the institution of the rosary; there he was ordered to
plant the famous orange-tree, which, being then unknown in Rome, he
brought from his native Spain as the only present which it was suitable
for the gratitude of a poor monk to offer to his patron Honorius, who
was himself one of the great botanists of his time,--an orange-tree
which still lives, and which is firmly believed by the monks to flourish
or fail with the fortunes of the Order, so that it has lately been
greatly the worse for the suppression of the convents in Northern Italy,
though the residence of Père Lacordaire within the convent proved
exceedingly beneficial to it, and his visit even caused a new sucker to
sprout.
The _Church of Sta. Sabina_ was built on the site of the house of the
saint--in which she suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian,[187]
in A.D. 423--by Peter, a priest of Illyria, "rich for the poor, and poor
for himself" _(pauperibus locuples, sibi pauper)_, as we read by the
mosaic inscription inside the principal entrance. St. Gregory the Great
read two of his homilies here. The church was rebuilt in 824, and
restored and reconsecrated by Gregory IX. in 1238. Much of its
interest,--ancient pavements, mosaics, &c.,--was destroyed in 1587 by
Sixtus V., who took the credit of discovering the relics of the martyrs
who are buried beneath the altar.
On the west is a covered corridor containing several ancient
inscriptions. It is supported on one side by ancient spiral columns of
pavonazzetto, on the other these have been plundered and replaced by
granite. Hence, through a window, ladies are allowed to gaze upon the
celebrated orange-tree, 665 years old, which they cannot approach; a
rude figure of St. Dominic is sculptured upon the low wall which
surrounds it. The west door, of the twelfth century, in a richly
sculptured frame, is cited by Kugler as an instance of the extinction of
the Byzantine influence upon art. Its panels are covered with carvings
from the Old and New Testament, referred by Mamachi to the seventh, by
Agincourt to the thirteenth century. Some of the subjects have been
destroyed; among those which remain are the Annunciation, the Angels
appearing to the Shepherds, the Angel and Zachariah in the Temple, the
Magi, Moses turning the rods into serpents, the ascent of Elijah, Christ
before Pilate, the denial of Peter, and the Ascension. Within the
entrance are the only remains of the magnificent mosaic, erected in 431,
under Celestine I., which entirely covered the west wall till the time
of Sixtus V., consisting of an inscription in large letters, with a
female figure on either side, that on the left bearing the name
"Ecclesia cum circumcisione," that on the right, "Ecclesia ex gentibus."
Among the parts destroyed were the four beasts typical of the
Evangelists, and St. Peter and St. Paul. The church was thus gorgeously
decorated, because in the time of the Savelli popes, it was what the
Sistine is now, the Chiesa Apostolica.
The nave is lined by twenty-four Corinthian columns of white marble,
relics of the temple of Juno Regina, which once stood here. Above, is
an inlaid frieze of pietradura, of A.D. 431, which once extended up to
the windows, but was destroyed by Sixtus V., who at the same time built
up the windows which till then existed over each pier. In the middle of
the pavement near the altar, is a very curious mosaic figure over the
grave of Munoz de Zamora, a General of the Dominican Order, who died in
1300. Nearer the west door are interesting incised slabs representing a
German bishop and a lady, benefactors of this church, and (on the left)
a slab with arms in mosaic, to a lady of the Savelli family. In the left
aisle is another monument of 1312, commemorating a warrior of the
imperial house of Germany. The high altar covers the remains of Sabina
and Seraphia, Alexander the Pope, Eventius and Theodulus, all martyrs.
In the chapel beneath St. Dominic is said to have flagellated himself
three times nightly, "perché uno colpo solo non abbastava per
mortificare la carne."
At the end of the right aisle is the Chapel of the Rosary, where a
beautiful picture of Sassoferrato, called "La Madonna del Rosario,"
commemorates the vision of St. Dominic on that spot, in which he
received the rosary from the hands of the Virgin.
"St. Catherine of Siena kneels with St. Dominic before the throne
of the Madonna; the lily at her feet. The Infant Saviour is turned
towards her, and with one hand he crowns her with thorns, with the
other he presents the rosary. This is the master-piece of the
painter, with all his usual elegance, without his usual
insipidity."--_Jameson's Monastic Orders._
Few Roman Catholic practices have excited more animadversion than the
"vain repetition" of the worship of the Rosary. The Père Lacordaire (a
Dominican) defended it, saying--
"Le rationaliste sourit en voyant passer de longues files de gens
qui redisent une même parole. Celui qui est éclairé d'une meilleure
lumière comprend que l'amour n'a qu'un mot, et qu'en le disant
toujours, il ne le répète jamais."
Grouped around this chapel are three beautiful tombs,--a cardinal, a
bishop, and a priest of the end of the fifteenth century. That of the
cardinal (which is of the well-known Roman type of the time), is
inscribed "Ut moriens viveret, vixit est moriturus;" the others are
incised slabs. At the other end of this aisle is a marble slab, on which
St. Dominic is said to have been wont to lie prostrate in prayer. One
day while he was lying thus, the Devil in his rage is said to have
hurled a huge stone (a round black marble, _pietra di paragone_,) at
him, which missed the saint, who left the attack entirely unnoticed. The
devil was frantic with disappointment, and the stone, remaining as a
relic, is preserved on a low pillar in the nave. A small gothic
ciborium, richly inlaid with mosaic, remains on the left of the tribune.
Opening from the left aisle is a chapel built by Elic of Tuscany--very
rich in precious marbles. The frame of the panel on the left is said to
be unique.
It was in this church, in 1218, that St. Hyacinth, struck by the
preaching of St. Dominic, and by the recollection of the barbarism,
heathenism, and ignorance which prevailed in many parts of his native
land of Silesia, offered himself as its missionary, and took the vows of
the Dominican Order, together with his cousin St. Ceslas. Hither fled to
the monastic life St. Thomas Aquinas, pursued to the very door of the
convent by the tears and outcries of his mother, who vainly implored him
to return to her. One evening, a pilgrim, worn out with travel and
fatigue, arrived at the door of this convent mounted upon a wretched
mule, and implored admittance. The prior in mockery asked, "What are you
come for, my father? are you come to see if the college of cardinals is
disposed to elect you as pope?" "I come to Rome," replied the pilgrim
Michele Ghislieri, "because the interests of the Church require it, and
I shall leave as soon as my task is accomplished; meanwhile I implore
you to give me a brief hospitality and a little hay for my mule."
Sixteen years afterwards Ghislieri mounted the papal throne as Pius V.,
and proved, during a troubled reign, the most rigid follower and eager
defender of the institutions of St. Dominic. One day as Ghislieri was
about to kiss his crucifix in the eagerness of prayer, "the image of
Christ," says the legend, retired of its own accord from his touch, for
it had been poisoned by an enemy, and a kiss would have been death. This
crucifix is now preserved as a precious relic in the convent, where the
cells both of St. Dominic and of St. Pius V. are preserved, though, like
most historical chambers of Roman saints, their interest is lessened by
their having been beautified and changed into chapels. In the cell of
St. Dominic is a portrait by _Bazzani_, founded on the records of his
personal appearance; the lily lies by his side,--the glory hovers over
his head,--he is, as the chronicler describes him, "of amazing beauty."
In this cell he is said frequently to have passed the night in prayer
with his rival St. Francis of Assisi. The refectory is connected with
another story of St. Dominic:--
"It happened that when he was residing with forty of his friars in
the convent of Sta. Sabina at Rome, the brothers who had been sent
to beg for provisions had returned with a very small quantity of
bread, and they knew not what they should do, for night was at
hand, and they had not eaten all day. Then St. Dominic ordered that
they should seat themselves in the refectory, and, taking his place
at the head of the table, he pronounced the usual blessing: and
behold! two beautiful youths clad in white and shining garments
appeared amongst them; one carried a basket of bread, and the other
a pitcher of wine, which they distributed to the brethren: then
they disappeared, and no one knew how they had come in, nor how
they had gone out. And the brethren sat in amazement; but St.
Dominic stretched forth his hand, and said calmly, 'My children,
eat what God hath sent you:' and it was truly celestial food, such
as they had never tasted before nor since."--_Jameson's Monastic
Orders_, p. 369.
Other saints who sojourned for a time in this convent were St. Norbert,
founder of the Premonstratensians (ob. 1134), and St. Raymond de
Penaforte (ob. 1275), who left his labours in Barcelona for a time in
1230 to act as chaplain to Gregory IX.
In 1287 a conclave was held at Sta. Sabina for the election of a
successor to Pope Martin IV., but was broken up by the malaria, six
cardinals dying at once within the convent, and all the rest taking
flight except Cardinal Savelli, who would not desert his paternal home,
and survived by keeping large fires constantly burning in his chamber.
Ten months afterwards his perseverance was rewarded by his own election
to the throne as Honorius IV.
In the garden of the convent are some small remains of the palace of the
Savelli pope, Honorius III. Here, on the declivity of the Aventine, many
important excavations were made in 1856--57, by the French Prior Besson,
a person of great intelligence, and he was rewarded by the discovery of
an ancient Roman house--its chambers paved with black and white mosaic,
and some fine fragments of the wall of Servius Tullius, formed of
gigantic blocks of peperino. In the chambers which were found decorated
in stucco with remnants of painting in figures and arabesque ornaments,
"one little group represented a sacrifice before the statue of a god, in
an ædicula. Some rudely scratched Latin lines on this surface led to the
inference that this chamber, after becoming subterranean and otherwise
uninhabitable, had served for a prison; one unfortunate inmate having
inscribed curses against those who caused his loss of liberty; and
another, more devout, left record of his vows to sacrifice to Bacchus in
case of recovering that blessing."[188]
Since the death of Prior Besson[189] the works have been abandoned, and
the remains already discovered have been for the most part earthed up
again. A nympheum, a well, and several subterranean passages, are still
visible on the hillside.
Just beyond Sta. Sabina is the Hieronymite _Church and Convent of S.
Alessio_, the only monastery of Hieronymites in Italy where meat was
allowed to be eaten,--in consideration of the malaria. The first church
erected here was built in A.D. 305 in honour of St. Boniface, martyr, by
Aglae, a noble Roman lady, whose servant (and lover) he had been. It was
reconsecrated in A.D. 401 by Innocent I., in honour of St. Alexis, whose
paternal mansion was on this site. This saint, young and beautiful, took
a vow of virginity, and being forced by his parents into marriage, fled
on the same evening from his home, and was given up as lost. Worn out
and utterly changed he returned many years afterwards to be near those
who were dear to him, and remained, unrecognised, as a poor beggar,
under the stairs which led to his father's house. Seventeen years
passed away, when a mysterious voice suddenly echoed through the Roman
churches, crying, "Seek ye out the man of God, that he may pray for
Rome." The crowd was stricken with amazement,--when the same voice
continued, "Seek in the house of Euphemian." Then, pope, emperor, and
senators rushed together to the Aventine, where they found the despised
beggar dying beneath the doorstep, with his countenance beaming with
celestial light, a crucifix in one hand, and a sealed paper in the
other. Vainly the people strove to draw the paper from the fingers which
were closing in the gripe of death, but when Innocent I. bade the dying
man in God's name to give it up, they opened, and the pope read aloud to
the astonished multitude the secret of Alexis; and his father Euphemian
and his widowed bride, regained in death the son and the husband they
had lost.
S. Alessio is entered through a courtyard.
"The courtyards in front of S. Alessio, Sta. Cecilia, S. Gregorio,
and other churches, are like the vestibula of the ancient Roman
houses, on the site of which they were probably built. This style
of building, says Tacitus, was generally introduced by Nero. Beyond
opened the _prothyra_, or inner entrance, with the _cellæ_ for the
porter and dog, _both_ chained, on either side."
In the portico of the church is a statue of Benedict XIII. (Pietro
Orsini, 1724). The west door has a rich border of mosaic. The church has
been so much modernised as to retain no appearance of antiquity. The
fine Opus-Alexandrinum pavement is preserved. In the floor is the
incised gothic monument of Lupi di Olmeto, General of the Hieronymites
(ob. 1433). Left of the entrance is a shrine of S. Alessio, with his
figure sleeping under the staircase--part of the actual wooden stairs
being enclosed in a glass case over his head. Not far from this is the
ancient well of his father's house. In a chapel which opens out of a
passage leading to the sacristy is the fine tomb of Cardinal Guido di
Balneo, of the time of Leo X. He is represented sitting, with one hand
resting on the ground--the delicate execution of his lace in marble is
much admired. The mosaic roof of this chapel was burst open by a
cannon-ball during the French bombardment of 1849, but the figure was
uninjured. The baldacchino (well known from Macpherson's photographs) is
remarkable for its perfect proportions. Behind, in the tribune, are the
inlaid mosaic pillars of a gothic tabernacle. No one should omit to
descend into the _Crypt of S. Alessio_, which is an early church,
supported on stunted pillars, and containing a marble episcopal chair,
green with age. Here the pope used to meet the early conclaves of the
Church in times of persecution. The pillar under the altar is shown as
that to which St. Sebastian was bound when he was shot with the arrows.
The cloister of the convent, from which ladies are excluded, blooms with
orange and lemon trees. There are only six Hieronymite brethren here
now. The convent was at one time purchased by the ex-king Ferdinand of
Spain, who intended turning it into a villa for himself.
A short distance beyond S. Alessio is a sort of little square, adorned
with trophied memorials of the knights of Malta, and occupying the site
of the laurel grove (Armilustrum) which contained the tomb of Tatius.
Here is the entrance of the Priorato garden, where is the famous _View
of St. Peter's through the Keyhole_, admired by crowds of people on
Ash-Wednesday, when the "stazione" is held at the neighbouring churches.
Entering the garden (which can always be visited) we find ourselves in a
beautiful avenue of old bay-trees framing the distant St. Peter's. A
terrace overhanging the Tiber has an enchanting view over the river and
town. In the garden is an old pepper-tree, and in a little court a
picturesque palm-tree and well. From hence we can enter the church,
sometimes called _S. Basilio_, sometimes _Sta. Maria Aventina_, an
ancient building modernized by Cardinal Rezzonico in 1765, from the very
indifferent designs of Piranesi. It contains an interesting collection
of tombs, most of them belonging to the Knights of Malta; that of Bishop
Spinelli is an ancient marble sarcophagus, with a relief of Minerva and
the Muses. A richly sculptured ancient altar contains relics of saints
found beneath the pavement of the church.
The Priorato garden, so beautiful and attractive in itself, has an
additional interest as that in which the famous Hildebrand (Gregory
VII., 1073--80) was brought up as a boy, under the care of his uncle,
who was abbot of the adjoining monastery. A massive cornice in these
grounds is one of the few architectural fragments of ancient Rome
existing on the Aventine. It may perhaps have belonged to the smaller
temple of Diana in which Caius Gracchus took refuge, and in escaping
from which, down the steep hillside, he sprained his ankle, and so was
taken by his pursuers. Some buried houses were discovered and some
precious vases brought to light, when Urban VIII. built the stately
buttress walls which now support the hillside beyond the Priorato.
The cliff below these convents is the supposed site of the cave of the
giant Cacus, described by Virgil.
"At specus et Caci detecta apparuit ingens
Regia, et umbrosæ penitus patuere cavernæ;
Non secus, ac si quâ penitus vi terra dehiscens
Infernas reseret sedes, et regna recludat
Pallida, dîs invisa; superque immane barathrum
Cernatur, trepidentque immisso lumine manes."
_Æneid_, lib. viii.
Hercules brought the oxen of Geryon to pasture in the valley between the
Aventine and Palatine. Cacus issuing from his cave while their owner was
asleep, carried off four of the bulls, dragging them up the steep side
of the hill by their tails, that Hercules might be deceived by their
foot-prints being reversed. Then he concealed them in his cavern, and
barred the entrance with a rock. Hercules sought the stolen oxen
everywhere, and when he could not find them, he was going away with the
remainder. But as he drove them along the valley near the Tiber one of
his oxen lowed, and when the stolen oxen in the cave heard that, they
answered; and Hercules, after rushing three times round the Aventine
boiling with fury, shattered the stone which guarded the entrance of the
cave with a mass of rock, and, though the giant vomited forth smoke and
flames against him, he strangled him in his arms. Thus runs the legend,
which is explained by Ampère.
"Cacus habite une caverne de l'Aventin, montagne en tout temps mal
famée, montagne anciennement hérissée de rochers et couverte de
forêts, dont la forêt Nœvia, longtemps elle-même un repaire de
bandits, était une dépendance et fut un reste qui subsista dans
les temps historiques. Ce Cacus était sans doute un brigand
célèbre, dangereux pour les pâtres du voisinage dont il volait les
troupeaux quand ils allaient paître dans les prés situés au bord du
Tibre et boire l'eau du fleuve. Les hauts faits de Cacus lui
avaient donné cette célébrité qui, parmi les paysans romains,
s'attache encore à ses pareils, et surtout le stratagème employé
par lui probablement plus d'une fois pour dérouter les bouviers des
environs, en emmenant les animaux qu'il dérobait, à manière de
cacher la direction de leurs pas. La caverne du bandit avait été
découverte et forcée par quelque pâtre courageux, qui y avait
pénétré vaillamment, malgré la terreur que ce lieu souterrain et
formidable inspirait, y avait surpris le voleur et l'avait
étranglé.
"Tel était, je crois, le récit primitif où il n'était pas plus
question d'Hercule que de Vulcain, et dans lequel Cacus n'était pas
mis à mort par un demi-dieu, mais par un certain Recaranus, pâtre
vigoureux et de grande taille. A ces récits de bergers, qui
allaient toujours exagérant les horreurs de l'antre de Cacus et la
résistance désespérée de celui-ci, vinrent se mêler peu à peu des
circonstances merveilleuses."--_Hist. Rom._ i. 170.
We must retrace our steps, as far as the summit of the hill towards the
Palatine, and then turn to the right in order to reach the ugly
obscure-looking _Church of Sta. Prisca_, founded by Pope Eutychianus in
A.D. 280, but entirely modernised by Cardinal Giustiniani from designs
of Carlo Lombardi, who encased its fine granite columns in miserable
stucco pilasters. Over the high altar is a picture by _Passignano_ of
the baptism of the saint, which is said to have taken place in the
ancient crypt beneath the church, where an inverted Corinthian
capital,--a relic of the temple of Diana which once occupied this
site,--is shown as the font in which Sta. Prisca was baptized by St.
Peter.
Opening from the right aisle is a kind of terraced loggia with a
peculiar and beautiful view. In the adjoining vineyard are three arches
of an aqueduct.
"According to the old tradition, this church stands on the site of
the house of Aquila and Priscilla, where St. Peter lodged when at
Rome, and who are the same mentioned by St. Paul as tent-makers;
and here is shown the font, from which, according to the same
tradition, St. Peter baptized the first Roman converts to
Christianity. The altar-piece represents the baptism of Sta.
Prisca, whose remains being afterwards placed in the church, it has
since borne her name. According to the legend, she was a Roman
virgin of illustrious birth, who, at the age of thirteen, was
exposed in the amphitheatre. A fierce lion was let loose upon her,
but her youth and innocence disarmed the fury of the savage beast,
which, instead of tearing her to pieces, humbly licked her
feet;--to the great consolation of Christians, and the confusion of
idolaters. Being led back to prison, she was there beheaded.
Sometimes she is represented with a lion, sometimes with an eagle,
because it is related that an eagle watched by her body till it was
laid in the grave; for thus, says the story, was virgin innocence
honoured by kingly bird as well as by kingly beast."--_Mrs.
Jameson._
Opposite the door of this church is the entrance of the _Vigna dei
Gesuiti_, a wild and beautiful vineyard occupying the greater part of
this deserted hill, and extending as far as the Porta S. Paolo and the
pyramid of Caius Cestius. Several farm-houses are scattered amongst the
vines and fruit trees. There are beautiful views towards the Alban
mountains, and to the Pseudo-Aventine with its fortress-like convents.
The ground is littered with fragments of marbles and alabaster, which
lie unheeded among the vegetables, relics of unknown edifices which once
existed here. Just where the path in the vineyard descends a slight
declivity towards S. Paolo, are the finest existing remains of the
_Walls of Servius Tullius_,[190] formed of large quadrilateral blocks of
tufa, laid alternately long and cross-ways, as in the Etruscan
buildings. The spot is beautiful, and overgrown by a luxuriance of wild
mignonette and other flowers in the late spring.
Descending to the valley beneath Sta. Prisca, and crossing the lane
which leads from the Via Appia to the Porta S. Paolo, we reach, on the
side of the Pseudo-Aventine, the _Church of S. Sabba_, which is supposed
to mark the site of the Porta Randusculana of the walls of Servius
Tullius. Its position is very striking, and its portico, built in A.D.
1200, is picturesque and curious.
This church is of unknown origin, but is known to have existed in the
time of St. Gregory the Great, and to have been one of the fourteen
privileged abbacies of Rome. Its patron saint was St. Sabbas, an abbot
of Cappadocia, who died at Jerusalem in A.D. 532.
"The record of the artist Jacobus dei Cosmati, dated the third year
of Innocent III. (1205), on the lintel of the mosaic-inlaid
doorway, justifies us in classing this church among monuments of
the thirteenth century. From its origin a Greek monastery, it was
assigned by Lucius II., in 1141, to the Benedictines of the Cluny
rule. An epigraph near the sacristy mentions a rebuilding either of
the cloisters or church, in 1325, by an abbot Joannes; and in 1465
the roof was renewed in woodwork by a cardinal, the nephew of Pius
II.
"In 1512 the Cistercians of Clairvaux were located here by Julius
II.; and some years later these buildings were given to the
Germanic-Hungarian College. Amidst gardens and vineyards,
approached by a solitary lane between hedgerows, this now deserted
sanctuary has a certain affecting character in its forlornness.
Save on Thursdays, when the German students are brought hither by
their Jesuit professors to enliven the solitude by their sports and
converse, we might never succeed in finding entrance to this quiet
retreat of the monks of old.
"Within the arched porch, through which we pass into an outer
court, we read an inscription telling that here stood the house and
oratory (called _cella nova_) of Sta. Sylvia, mother of St. Gregory
the Great, whence the pious matron used daily to send a porridge of
legumes to her son, while he inhabited his monastery on the Clivus
Scauri, or northern ascent of the Cœlian. Within that court
formerly stood the cloistral buildings, of which little now
remains. The façade is remarkable for its atrium in two stories:
the upper with a pillared arcade, probably of the fifteenth
century; the lower formerly supported by six porphyry columns,
removed by Pius VI. to adorn the Vatican library, where they still
stand. The porphyry statuettes of two emperors embracing, supposed
either an emblem of the concord between the East and West, or the
intended portraits of the co-reigning Constantine II. and
Constans--a curious example of sculpture in its deep decline, and
probably imported by Greek monks from Constantinople--project from
two of those ancient columns."--_Hemans' Mediæval Art._
The interior of St. Sabba is in the basilica form. It retains some
fragments of inlaid pavements, some handsome inlaid marble panels on
either side of the high altar, and an ancient sarcophagus. The tribune
has rude paintings of the fourteenth century--the Saviour between St.
Andrew and St. Sabbas the Abbot; and below the Crucifixion, the Madonna
and the twelve Apostles. Beneath the tribune is a crypt,--and over its
altar a beautifully ornamented disk with a Greek cross in the centre.
Behind St. Sabbas is another delightful vineyard, but it is difficult to
gain admittance. Here Flaminius Vacca describes the discovery of a
mysterious chamber without door or window, whose pavement was of agate
and cornelian, and whose walls were plated with gilt copper; but of this
nothing remains.[191]
To reach the remaining church of the Aventine, we have to turn to the
Via Appia, and then follow the lane which leads up the hillside from the
Baths of Caracalla to the _Church of Sta. Balbina_, whose picturesque
red brick tower forms so conspicuous a feature, as seen against the long
soft lines of the flat Campagna, in so many Roman views. It was erected
in memory of Sta. Balbina, a virgin martyr (buried in Sta. Maria in
Domenica), who suffered under Hadrian, A.D. 132. It contains the remains
of an altar erected by Cardinal Barbo, in the old basilica of St.
Peter's, a splendid ancient throne of marble inlaid with mosaics, and a
fine tomb of Stefano Sordi, supporting a recumbent figure, and adorned
with mosaics by one of the Cosmati.
Adjoining this church Monsignor de Mérode established a house of
correction for youthful offenders, to avert the moral result of exposing
them to communication with other prisoners.