S. Antonio dei Portoguesi--Torre della Scimia--S. Agostino--S.

Apollinare--Palazzo Altemps--Sta. Maria dell' Anima--Sta. Maria

della Pace--Palazzo del Governo Vecchio--Monte Giordano and Palazzo

Gabrielli--Sta. Maria Nuova--Sta. Maria di Monserrato--S. Girolamo

della Carità--Sta. Brigitta--S. Tommaso degl' Inglese--Palazzo

Farnese--Sta. Maria della Morte--Palazzo Falconieri--Campo di

Fiore--Palazzo Cancelleria--SS. Lorenzo e Damaso--Palazzo

Linote--Palazzo Spada--Trinità dei Pellegrini--Sta. Maria in

Monticelli--Palazzo Santa Croce--S. Carlo a Catinari--Theatre of

Pompey--S. Andrea della Valle--Palazzo Vidoni--Palazzo Massimo alle

Colonne--S. Pantaleone--Palazzo Braschi--Statue of Pasquin--Sant'

Agnese--Piazza Navona--Palazzo Pamfili--S. Giacomo degli

Spagnuoli--Palazzo Madama--S. Luigi dei Francesi--The Sapienza--S.

Eustachio--Pantheon--Sta. Maria sopra Minerva--Il Piè die Marmo.

The Campus Martius, now an intricate labyrinth of streets, occupying the

wide space between the Corso and the Tiber, was not included within the

walls of ancient Rome, but even to late imperial times continued to be

covered with gardens and pleasure-grounds, interspersed with open

spaces, which were used for the public exercises and amusements of the

Roman youth.

"Tunc ego me memini ludos in gramine Campi

Aspicere, et didici, lubrice Tibri, tuos."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 237.

"Tot jam abiere dies, cum me, nec cura theatri,

Nec tetigit Campi, nec mea musa juvat."

_Propert._ ii. _El._ 13.

The vicinity of the Tiber afforded opportunities for practice in

swimming.

"Quamvis non alius flectere equum sciens

Æque conspicitur gramine Martio."

_Hor._ iii. _Od._ 7.

"Altera gramineo spectabis Equiria campo,

Quem Tiberis curvis in latus urget aquis."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ iii. 519.

"Once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,

Cæsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now

Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,

Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow,--so, indeed, he did:

The torrent roared; and we did buffet it

With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,

And stemming it with hearts of controversy."

_Shakspeare_, _Julius Cæsar_.

It was only near the foot of the Capitol that any buildings were erected

under the republic, and these only public offices; under the empire a

few magnificent edifices were scattered here and there over the plain.

In the time of Cicero, the Campus was quite uninhabited; it is supposed

that the population were first attracted here when the aqueducts were

cut during the Lombard invasion, which drove the inhabitants from the

hills, and obliged them to seek a site where they could avail themselves

of the Tiber.

The hills, which were crowded by a dense population in ancient Rome, are

now for the most part deserted; the plain, which was deserted in

ancient Rome, is now thickly covered with inhabitants.

The plain was bounded on two sides by the Quirinal and Capitoline hills,

which were both in the hands of the Sabines, but it had no connection

with the Latin hill of the Palatine. Thus it was dedicated to the Sabine

god, Mamers or Mars, either before the time of Servius Tullius, as is

implied by Dionysius, or after the time of the Tarquins, as stated by

Livy.

Tarquinius Superbus had appropriated the Campus Martius to his own use,

and planted it with corn. After he was expelled, and his crops cut down

and thrown into the Tiber, the land was restored to the people. Here the

tribunes used to hold the assemblies of the plebs in the Prata Flaminia

at the foot of the Capitol, before any buildings were erected as their

meeting-place.

The earliest building in the Campus Martius of which there is any

record, is the Temple of Apollo, built by the consul C. Julius, in B.C.

430. Under the censor C. Flaminius, in B.C. 220, a group of important

edifices arose on a site which is ascertained to be nearly that occupied

by the Palazzo Caetani, Palazzo Mattei, and Sta. Caterina dei Funari.

The most important was the Circus Flaminius, where the plebeian games

were celebrated under the care of the plebeian ædiles, and which in

later times was flooded by Augustus, when thirty-six crocodiles were

killed there for the amusement of the people.[288]

Close to this Circus was the _Villa Publica_, erected B.C. 438, for

taking the census, levying troops, and such other public business as

could not be transacted within the city.

Here, also, foreign ambassadors were received before their entrance into

the city, as afterwards at the Villa Papa Giulio, and here victorious

generals awaited the decree which allowed them a triumph.[289] It was in

the Villa Publica that Sylla cruelly massacred three thousand partisans

of Marius, after he had promised them their lives.

"Tunc flos Hesperiæ, Latii jam sola juventus,

Concidit, et miseræ maculavit ovilia Romæ."

_Lucan_, ii. 196.

The cries of these dying men were heard by the senate who were assembled

at the time in the _Temple of Bellona_ (restored by Appius Claudius

Cæcus in the Samnite War), which stood hard by, and in front of which at

the extremity of the Circus Flaminius, where the Piazza Paganica now is,

stood the _Columna Bellica_, where the Ferialis, when war was declared,

flung a lance into a piece of ground, supposed to represent the enemy's

country, when it was not possible to do it at the hostile frontier

itself. Julius Cæsar flung the spear here when war was declared against

Cleopatra.[290]

"Prospicit a templo summum brevis area Circum.

Est ibi non parvæ parva columna notæ.

Hinc solet hasta manu, belli prænuncia, mitti;

In regem et gentes, cum placet arma capi."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 205.

Almost adjoining the Villa Publica was the Septa, where the Comitia

Centuriata of the plebs assembled for the election of their tribunes.

The other name of this place of assembly, Ovilia, or the sheepfolds,

bears witness to its primitive construction, when it was surrounded by a

wooden barrier. In later times the Ovilia was more richly adorned;

Pliny describes it as containing two groups of sculpture--Pan and the

young Olympus, and Chiron and the young Achilles--for which the keepers

were responsible with their lives;[291] and under the empire it was

enclosed in magnificent buildings.

In B.C. 189 the _Temple of Hercules Musagetes_ was built by the censor

Fulvius Nobilior. It occupied a site on the north-west of the portico of

Octavia.[292] Sylla restored it:--

"Altera pars Circi custode sub Hercule tuta est;

Quod Deus Euboico carmine munus habet.

Muneris est tempus, qui Nonas Lucifer ante est:

Si titulos quæris; Sulla probavit opus."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 209.

This temple was rebuilt by L. Marcius Philippus, stepfather of Augustus,

and surrounded by a portico called after him Porticus Philippi.[293]

"Vites censeo porticum Philippi,

Si te viderit Hercules, peristi."

_Martial_, v. _Ep._ 50.[294]

The _Portico of Octavia_ itself was originally built by the prætor, Cn.

Octavius, in B.C. 167, and rebuilt by Augustus, who re-dedicated it in

memory of his sister. Close adjoining was the _Porticus Metelli_, built

B.C. 146, by Cæcilius Metellus.[295] It contained two _Temples of Juno

and Jupiter_.[296] Another _Temple of Juno_ stood between this and the

theatre of Pompey, having been erected by M. Æmilius Lepidus in B.C.

170, together with a _Temple of Diana_.[297] Near the same spot was a

_Temple of Fortuna Equestris_, erected in consequence of a vow of Q.

Fulvius Flaccus when fighting against the Celtiberians in B.C. 176; a

_Temple of Isis and Serapis_; and a _Temple of Mars_, erected by D.

Junius Brutus, for his victories over the Gallicians in B.C. 136;[298]

at this last-named temple the people, assembled in their centuries,

voted the war against Philip of Macedon. In the same neighbourhood was

the _Theatre of Balbus_, a general under Julius Cæsar, occupying the

site of the Piazza della Scuola.

The munificence of Pompey extended the public buildings much further

into the Campus. He built, after his triumph, a _Temple of Minerva_ on

the site now occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, on

which the beautiful statue called "the Giustiniani Minerva" was found,

and the _Theatre of Pompey_, surrounded by pillared porticoes and walks

shaded with plane-trees.

"Scilicet umbrosis sordet Pompeia columnis

Porticus aulæis nobilis Attalicis:

Et creber pariter platanis surgentibus ordo,

Flumina sopito quæque Marone cadunt."

_Propertius_, ii. _El._ 32.

"Tu modo Pompeia lentus spatiare sub umbra,

Cum Sol Herculei terga leonis adit."

_Ovid_, _de Art. Am._ i. 67.

"Inde petit centum pendentia tecta columnis,

Illinc Pompeii dona, nemusque duplex."

_Martial_, ii. _Ep._ 14.

Under the empire important buildings began to rise up further from the

city. The _Amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus_, whose ruins are supposed

to be the foundation of the Monte-Citorio, was built by a general under

Augustus; the magnificent _Pantheon_, the _Baths of Agrippa_, and the

_Diribitorium_--where the soldiers received their pay--whose huge and

unsupported roof was one of the wonders of the city,[299] were due to

his son-in-law. Agrippa also brought the _Aqua Virgo_ into the city to

supply his baths, conveying it on pillars across the Flaminian Way, the

future Corso.

"Qua vicina pluit Vipsanis porta columnis,

Et madet assiduo lubricus imbre lapis,

In jugulum pueri, qui roscida templa subibat,

Decidit hiberno prægravis unda gelu."

_Martial_, iv. _Ep._ 18.

Near this aqueduct was a temple of Juturna;

"Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, æde recepit;

Hic ubi Virginea campus obitur aqua."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ i. 463.

and another of Isis.

"A Meroë portabit aquas, ut spargat in æde

Isidis, antiquo quæ proxima surgit ovili."

_Juvenal_, _Sat._ vi. 528.

These were followed by the erection of the _Temple of Neptune_--by some

ascribed to Agrippa, who is said to have built it in honour of his naval

victories, by others to the time of the Antonines; by the great

_Imperial Mausoleum_, then far out in the country; and by the _Baths of

Nero_, on the site now occupied by S. Luigi and the neighbouring

buildings.

" ... Quid Nerone pejus?

Quid thermis melius Neronianis?"

_Martial_, vii. _Ep._ 33.

" ... Fas sit componere magnis

Parva, Neronea nec qui modo totus in unda

Hic iterum sudare negat."

_Statius_, _Silv._ i. 5.

Besides these were an _Arch of Tiberius_, erected by Claudius; a _Temple

of Hadrian_ and _Basilica of Matidia_, built by Antoninus Pius, in

honour of his predecessors; the _Temple and Arch of Marcus Aurelius_,

near the site of the present Palazzo Chigi; and an _Arch of Gratian,

Valentinian II., and Theodosius_.

Of all these various buildings nothing remains except the Pantheon, a

single arch of the Baths of Agrippa, some disfigured fragments of the

Mausoleum, a range of columns belonging to the temple of Neptune, and a

portion of the Portico of Octavia. The interest of the Campus Martius is

almost entirely mediæval or modern, and the objects worth visiting are

scattered amid such a maze of dirty and intricate streets, that they are

seldom sought out except by those who make a long stay in Rome, and care

for everything connected with its history and architecture.

* * * * *

Following the line of streets which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to

St. Peter's (Via Condotti, Via Fontanella Borghese), beyond the Borghese

Palace, let us turn to the left by the Via della Scrofa,[300] at the

entrance of which is the _Palazzo Galitzin_ on the right, and the

_Palazzo Cardelli_ on the left.

Passing, on the right, _St. Ivo of Brittany_, the national church of the

Bretons, the second turn on the right, Via S. Antonio dei Portoguesi,

shows a church dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, and the fine mediæval

tower called _Torre della Scimia_.

In this tower once lived a man who had a favourite ape. One day this

creature seized upon a baby, and rushing to the summit, was seen from

below, by the agonized parents, perched upon the battlements, and

balancing their child to and fro over the abyss. They made a vow in

their terror that if the baby were restored in safety, they would make

provision that a lamp should burn nightly for ever before an image of

the Virgin on the summit. The monkey, without relaxing its hold of the

infant, slid down the wall, and bounding and grimacing, laid the child

at its mother's feet. Thus a lamp always burns upon the battlements

before an image of the Madonna.

This building is better known, however, as "Hilda's Tower," a fictitious

name which it has received from Hawthorne's mysterious novel.

"Taking her way through some of the intricacies of the city, Miriam

entered what might be called either a widening of a street or a

small piazza. The neighbourhood comprised a baker's oven, emitting

the usual fragrance of sour bread; a shoe shop; a linendraper's

shop; a pipe and cigar shop; a lottery office; a station for French

soldiers, with a sentinel pacing in front; and a fruit stand, at

which a Roman matron was selling the dried kernels of chesnuts,

wretched little figs, and some bouquets of yesterday. A church, of

course, was near at hand, the façade of which ascended into lofty

pinnacles, whereon were perched two or three winged figures of

stone, either angelic or allegorical, blowing stone trumpets in

close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace.

This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the

architecture of Roman edifices; that is to say, a mediæval tower,

square, massive, lofty, and battlemented and machicolated at the

summit.

"At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the

Virgin, such as we see everywhere at the street-corners of Rome,

but seldom or never, except in this solitary instance, at a height

above the ordinary level of men's views and aspirations. Connected

with this old tower and its lofty shrine, there is a legend; and

for centuries a lamp has been burning before the Virgin's image at

noon, at midnight, at all hours of the twenty-four, and must be

kept burning for ever, as long as the tower shall stand; or else

the tower itself, the palace, and whatever estate belongs to it,

shall pass from its hereditary possessor, in accordance with an

ancient vow, and become the property of the Church.

"As Miriam approached, she looked upward, and saw--not, indeed, the

flame of the never-dying lamp, which was swallowed up in the broad

sunlight that brightened the shrine--but a flock of white doves,

shining, fluttering, and wheeling above the topmost height of the

tower, their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the

air. Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window, pushing

one another off by their eager struggle for this favourite station,

and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously

against the panes; some had alighted in the street, far below, but

flew hastily upward, at the sound of the window being thrust ajar,

and opening in the middle, on rusty hinges, as Roman windows

do."--_Transformation._

The next street, on the right, leads to the _Church of S. Agostino_,

built originally by Bacio Pintelli, in 1483, for Cardinal

d'Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen and Legate in France (the vindicator

of Joan of Arc), but altered in 1740 by Vanvitelli. The delicate work of

the front, built of travertine robbed from the Coliseum, is much admired

by those who do not seek for strength of light and shadow. This

church--dedicated to her son--contains the remains of Sta. Monica,

brought hither from Ostia, where she died. The chapel of St. Augustin,

in the right transept, contains a gloomy picture by _Guercino_ of St.

Augustin between St. John Baptist and St. Paul the Hermit. The high

altar, by Bernini, has an image of the Madonna brought from Sta. Sophia

at Constantinople, and attributed to St. Luke. The second chapel in the

left aisle has a group of the Virgin and Child with St. Anna, by

_Andrea Sansovino_, 1512.

On the third pilaster, to the left of the nave, is a fresco of Isaiah by

_Raphael_, painted in 1512, but retouched by Daniele de Volterra in the

reign of Paul IV. The prophet holds a scroll with words from Isaiah

xxvi. 2. Few will agree with the stricture of Kugler:--

"In a fresco, representing the prophet Isaiah and two angels, who

hold a tablet, the comparison is unfavourable to Raphael. An effort

to rival the powerful style of Michael-Angelo is very visible in

this picture; an effort which, notwithstanding the excellence of

the execution in parts, has produced only an exaggerated and

affected figure."--_Kugler_, ii. 371.

The church overflows with silver hearts and other votive offerings,

which are all addressed to the Madonna and Child of _Andrea Sansovino_,

close to the west entrance, which is really a fine piece of

sculpture--for an object of Roman Catholic idolatry.

"On the pedestal of the image is inscribed--'N. S. Pio VII. concede

in perpetuo 100 giorni d'indulgenza da lucrarsi una volta al giorno

da tutte quelle che divotamente toccheranno il piede di questa S.

Immagine recitando un Ave Maria per il bisogno di S. Chiesa. 7

Giug. MD.CCCXXII."

Around this statue are, or were a short time ago, a whole array of

assassins' daggers hung up, strange instances of trespass-offering.

"The Church of S. Agostino is the Methodist meeting-house, so to

speak, of Rome, where the extravagance of the enthusiasm of the

lower orders is allowed the freest scope. Its Virgin and Child are

covered, smothered, with jewels, votive offerings of those whose

prayers the image had heard and answered. All round the image the

walls are covered with votive offerings likewise; some of a similar

kind--jewels, watches, valuables of different descriptions. Some

offerings again consist of pictures, representing, generally in

the rudest way, some sickness or accident, cured or averted by the

appearance in the clouds of the Madonna, as seen in the image.

Almost the whole side of the church is covered, from pavement to

roof, with these curious productions."--_Alford's Letters from

Abroad._

"It is not long since the report was spread, that one day when a

poor woman called upon this image of the Madonna for help, it began

to speak, and replied, 'If I had only something, then I could help

thee, but I myself am so poor!'

"This story was circulated, and very soon throngs of credulous

people hastened hither to kiss the foot of the Madonna, and to

present her with all kinds of gifts. The image of the Virgin, a

beautiful figure in brown marble, now sits shining with ornaments

of gold and precious stones. Candles and lamps burn around, and

people pour in, rich and poor, great and small, to kiss, some of

them two or three times--the Madonna's foot, a gilt foot, to which

the forehead also is devotionally pressed. The marble foot is

already worn away with kissing, the Madonna is now rich.... Below

the altar it is inscribed in golden letters that Pius VII. promised

two hundred days' absolution to all such as should kiss the

Madonna's foot, and pray with the whole heart _Ave

Maria_."--_Frederika Bremer._

Passing the arch, just beyond this, is the _Church of S. Apollinare_,

built originally by Adrian I. (772--795), but modernized under Benedict

XIV. by Fuga. It contains a number of relics of saints brought from the

East by Basilian monks. Over the altar, on the left, in the inner

vestibule, is a Madonna by _Perugino_. The church now belongs to the

German college.

S. Apollinare is said to have accompanied St. Peter from Antioch to

Rome, and to have remained here as his companion and assistant

(whence the church dedicated to him here). He was afterwards sent

to preach the faith in Ravenna, where he became the first Christian

bishop, and suffered martyrdom outside the Rimini gate, July 23,

A.D. 79.

Adjoining this church is the _Seminario Romano_, founded by Pius IV., on

a system drawn up by his nephew, S. Carlo Borromeo. Eight hundred young

boys are annually educated here. In order to gain admittance, it is

necessary to be of Roman birth, to be acquainted with grammar, and to

wish to take orders. Pupils are held to their first intention of

entering the priesthood, by being compelled to refund all the expenses

of their education, if they renounce it.

Nearly opposite the church is the _Palazzo Altemps_, built 1580, by

Martino Lunghi. Its courtyard, due, like all the best palace work in

Rome, to Baldassare Peruzzi, is exceedingly graceful and picturesque.

Ancient statues and flowering shrubs occupy the spaces between the

arches of the ground-floor, and on the first-floor is a loggia, richly

decorated with delicate arabesques in the style of Giovanni da Udine.

Near this loggia is a chapel of exceedingly beautiful proportions, and

delicately worked detail. It has several good frescoes, especially the

Flight into Egypt, and Sta. Cecilia singing to the Virgin and the Child.

At the west end is a small gracefully proportioned music-gallery, in

various coloured marbles; in an inner chapel is a fine bronze crucifix.

The palace, of which the most interesting parts are shown on request, is

now the property of the Duke of Gallese, to whom it came by the marriage

of Jules Hardouin, Duke of Gallese, with Donna Lucrezia d'Altemps.

Following the Via S. Agostino by the mediæval _Torre Sanguinea_, whose

name bears witness to the mediæval frays of popes and anti-popes, we

reach the German national church of _Sta. Maria dell' Anima_, which

derives its name from a marble group of the Madonna invoked by two souls

in purgatory, found among the foundations, and now inserted in the

tympanum of the portal. It was originally built _c._ 1440, with funds

bequeathed by "un certo Giovanni Pietro," but enlarged in 1514; the

façade is by Giuliano da Sangallo. The door-frames, of delicate

workmanship, are by Antonio Giamberti.

The front entrance is generally closed, but one can always gain

admittance from behind, through the courtyard of the German hospital.

The interior is peculiar, from its great height and width in comparison

with its length. It is divided into three almost equal aisles. Over the

high altar is a damaged picture of the Holy Family with saints, by

_Giulio Romano_. On the right is the fine tomb of Pope Adrian VI.,

Adrian Florent (1522--23), designed by Baldassare Peruzzi, and carried

out by Michelangelo Sanese and Niccolo Tribolo. This pope, the son of a

ship-builder at Utrecht, was professor at the university of Louvain, and

tutor of Charles V. After the witty, brilliant age of Julius II. and Leo

X., he ushered in a period of penitence and devotion. He drove from the

papal court the throng of artists and philosophers who had hitherto

surrounded it, and he put a stop to the various great buildings which

were in progress, saying, "I do not wish to adorn priests with churches,

but churches with priests." Still he found the times so much too

frivolous for him, that he only survived a year. In his epitaph we

read:--

"Hadrianus hic situs est, qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita quam

quod imperaret, duxit."[301]

and--

"Proh dolor! quantum refert in quæ tempora vel optimi.

.... Cujusque virtus incidat!"

The tomb was erected at the expense of Cardinal William of Enkenfort,

the only prelate to whom he had time to give a hat.

"It is an irony, that Adrian, who despised all the arts on

principle, and looked upon Greek statues as idolatrous, had a more

artistic monument than Leo X. of the house of Medici. Baldassare

Peruzzi made the design, its sculptures were carried out by

Michelangelo Sanese and Tribolo, and they merit the highest

acknowledgment. Here, as is so often the case, the architecture is,

as it were, a frontispiece; but the way in which the pope is

represented, resembles, in conformity with his character, the type

of the middle ages. He is stretched upon a simple marble

sarcophagus, and slumbers with his head supported by his hand. His

countenance (Adrian was very handsome) is deeply marked and

sorrowful. In the lunette above, following the ancient type,

appears Mary with the Child between St. Peter and St. Paul. Below,

in the niches, stand the figures of the four cardinal virtues:

Temperance holds a chain; Courage a branch of a tree, while a lion

stands by her side; Justice has an ostrich by her side; Wisdom

carries a mirror and a serpent. These figures are executed with

great care. Lastly, under the sarcophagus is a large bas-relief

representing the entry of the pope to Rome. He sits on horseback in

the dress of a cardinal; behind him follow cardinals and monks; the

senator of Rome renders homage on his knees, while from the gate

the eternal Rome comes forth to meet him. This Cypria, so well

adorned by his predecessors, seems ill-pleased to do homage to this

cross old man. With secret pleasure one sees a pagan idea carried

out in the corner: the Tiber is represented as a river god with his

horn of abundance; and thus the devout pope could not defend

himself against the heathen spirit of the time, which has at least

attached itself to his tomb."--_Gregorovius, Grabmäler der Päpste._

Opposite the pope, on the left of the choir, is the fine tomb of a Duke

of Cleves, who died 1575, by Egidius of Riviere and Nicolaus of Arras.

The body of the church has several good pictures. In the 1st chapel of

the right aisle is St. Bruno receiving the keys of the cathedral of

Miessen in Saxony from a fisherman, who had found them in the inside of

a fish, by _Carlo Saraceni_; in the 2nd chapel, the monument of

Cardinal Slusius; in the 3rd chapel, an indifferent copy of the Pietà of

Michael Angelo, by _Nanni di Bacio Bigio_. In the 1st chapel of the left

aisle is the martyrdom of St. Lambert, _C. Saraceni_.

The two pictures in this church are cited by Lanzi as the best

works of this comparatively rare artist, sometimes called Carlo

Veneziano, 1585--1625. He sought to follow in the steps of

Caravaggio; many will think that he surpassed him, when they look

upon the richness of colour and grand effect of light and shadow

which is displayed here.

In the 3rd chapel (del Christo Morto), frescoes from the life of Sta.

Barbara, _Mich. Coxcie_, altar-piece (the entombment) and frescoes by

_Salviati_.

On the left of the west door is the tomb of Cardinal Andrea of Austria,

nephew of Ferdinand II., who died 1650; on the right that of Cardinal

Enckenovirt, died 1500. In the passage towards the sacristy is a fine

bas-relief, representing Gregory XIII. giving a sword to the Duke of

Cleves.

Close to this church is that of _Sta. Maria della Pace_, built in 1487,

by Baccio Pintelli, to fulfil a curious _ex-voto_ made by Sixtus IV.

Formerly there stood here a little chapel dedicated to St. Andrew, in

whose portico was an image of the Virgin. One day a drunken soldier

pierced the bosom of this Madonna with his sword, when blood

miraculously spirted forth. Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere,

1471--84) visited the spot with his cardinals, and vowed to compensate

the Virgin by building her a church, if she would grant peace to Europe

and the Church, then afflicted by a cruel war with the Turks. Peace was

restored, and the Church of "St. Mary of Peace" was erected by the

grateful pope. Pietro da Cortona added the peculiar semicircular

portico under Alexander VII. The interior has only a short nave ending

under an octagonal cupola.

Above the 1st chapel on the right (that of the Chigi family) are the

_Four Sibyls of Raphael_.

"This is one of Raphael's most perfect works: great mastery is

shown in the mode of filling and taking advantage of the apparently

unfavourable space. The angels who hold the tablets to be written

on, or read by the Sibyls, create a spirited variety in the severe

symmetrical arrangement of the whole. Grace in the attitudes and

movements, with a peculiar harmony of form and colour, pervade the

whole picture; but important restorations have unfortunately become

necessary in several parts. An interesting comparison may be

instituted between this work and the Sibyls of Michael Angelo. In

each we find the peculiar excellence of the great masters; for

while Michael Angelo's figures are grand, sublime, profound, the

fresco of the Pace bears the impress of Raphael's severe and

ingenious grace. The four Prophets, on the wall over the Sibyls,

were executed by Timoteo della Vite, after drawings by

Raphael."--_Kugler._

"The Sibyls have suffered much from time, and more, it is said,

from restoration; yet the forms of Raphael, in all their

loveliness, all their sweetness, are still before us; they breathe

all the soul, the sentiment, the chaste expression, and purity of

design that characterize his works. The dictating angels hover over

the heads of the gifted maids, one of whom writes with rapid pen

the irreversible decrees of Fate. The countenances and musing

attitudes of her sister Sibyls express those feelings of habitual

thoughtfulness and pensive sadness natural to those who are cursed

with the knowledge of futurity, and all its coming

evils."--_Eaton's Rome._

"The Sibyls are simply beautiful women of antique form, to whom,

with the aid of books, scrolls, and inscriptions, the Sibyllic idea

has been given, but who would equally pass for the abstract

personifications of virtues or cities. They are four in

number,--the Cumana, Phrygia, Persica, and Tiburtina; all, with the

exception of the last, in the fulness of youth and beauty, and

occupied, apparently, with no higher aim than that of displaying

both. Indeed, the Tiburtina matches ill with the rest, either in

character or action. She is aged, has an open book on her lap, but

turns with a strange and rigid action as if suddenly called. The

very comparison with her tends to divest the others of the

Sibylline character. In this, the angels who float above, and

obviously inspire them, also help, for while adding to the charm of

the composition, which is one of the most exquisite as to mere

art, they interfere with that inwardly inspired expression which

all other art has given to these women.

"The inscription on the scroll of the Cumæan Sibyl gives in Greek

the words, 'The Resurrection of the Dead.' The Persica is writing

on the scroll held by the angel, 'He will have the lot of Death.'

The beautiful Phrygia is presented with a scroll, 'The heavens

surround the sphere of the earth;' and the Tiburtina has under her

the inscription, 'I will open and arise.' The fourth angel floats

above, holding the seventh line of Virgil's Eclogue, 'Jam nova

progenies.'"--_Lady Eastlake's 'History of Our Lord.'_

The 1st chapel on the left has monuments of the Ponzetti family. The 2nd

chapel on the left has an altar-piece of the Virgin between St. Bridget

and St. Catherine, by _Baldassare Peruzzi_; in the front of the picture

kneels the donor, Cardinal Ponzetti. The 1st altar on the right has the

Adoration of the Shepherds by _Sermoneta_. The 2nd chapel, the

burial-place of the Santa Croce family, has rich carved work of the

sixteenth century. The high altar, designed by Carlo Maderno, has an

ancient (miracle-working) Madonna. Of the four paintings of the cupola,

the Nativity of the Virgin is by _Francesco Vanni_; the Visitation,

_Carlo Maratta_; the Presentation in the Temple, _Baldassare Peruzzi_;

the Death of the Virgin, _Morandi_.

Newly-married couples have the touching custom of attending their first

mass here, and invoking "St. Mary of Peace" to rule the course of their

new life.

The _Cloister of the Convent_, entered on the left under the dome, was

designed by _Bramante_ for Cardinal Caraffa in 1504.

From the portico of the church the Via in Parione leads to the _Via del

Governo Vecchio_. Here, on the right, is the _Palazzo del Governo

Vecchio_, with a richly-sculptured door-*way, and ancient cloistered

court.

Proceeding as far as the Piazza del Orologio, we see on the right an

eminence known as _Monte Giordano_, supposed to be artificial, and to

have arisen from the ruins of ancient buildings.

Its name is derived from Giordano Orsini, a noble of one of the

oldest Roman families, who built the palace there, which is now

known as the _Palazzo Gabrielli_, and which has rather a handsome

fountain. It was probably in consequence of the name Jordan, that

this hillock was chosen in mediæval times as the place where the

Jews in Rome received the newly-elected pope on his way to the

Lateran, and where their elders, covered with veils, presented him,

on their knees, with a copy of the Pentateuch bound in gold. Then

the Jews spoke in Hebrew, saying, "Most holy Father, we Hebrew men

beseech your Holiness, in the name of our synagogue, to vouchsafe

to us that the Mosaic Law, given on Mount Sinai by the Almighty God

to Moses our priest, may be confirmed and approved, as also other

eminent popes, the predecessors of your Holiness, have approved and

confirmed it". And the pope replied, "We confirm the Law, but we

condemn your faith and interpretation thereof, because He who you

say is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, is come already, as our

Church teaches and preaches."

Turning to the left, we enter a piazza, one side of which is occupied by

the convent of the Oratorians, and the vast _Church of Santa Maria in

Valicella, or the Chiesa Nuova_, built by Martino Lunghi for Gregory

XIII. and S. Filippo Neri. The façade is by Rughesi. The decorations of

the magnificently-ugly interior are partly due to Pietro da Cortona, who

painted the roof and cupola.

On the left of the tribune is the gorgeous _Chapel of S. Filippo Neri_,

containing the shrine of the saint, rich in lapis-lazuli and gold,

surmounted by a mosaic copy of the picture by _Guido_ in the adjoining

convent.

On the right, in the 1st chapel, is the Crucifixion, by _Scipione

Gaetani_; in the 3rd chapel, the Ascension, _Maziano_. On the left, in

the 2nd chapel, is the Adoration of the Magi, _Cesare Nebbia_; in the

3rd chapel, the Nativity, _Durante Alberti_; in the 4th chapel, the

Visitation, _Baroccio_. In the left transept are statues of SS. Peter

and Paul, by _Valsoldo_, and the Presentation in the Temple, by

_Baroccio_. When S. Filippo Neri saw this picture, he said to the

painter "Ma come avete ben fatto!--Che vera somiglianza!--E così che mi

ha apparato tante volte la Santa Vergine."

The high altar has four columns of porta-santa. Its pictures are by

_Rubens_ in his youth;--that in the centre represents the Virgin in a

glory of angels; on the right are St. Gregory, S. Mauro, and St. Papias;

on the left St. Domitilla, St. Nereus, and St. Achilleus.

_The Sacristy_, entered from the left transept, is by Marucelli. It has

a grand statue of S. Filippo Neri, by _Algardi_. The ceiling is painted

by _Pietro da Cortona_--the subject is an angel bearing the instruments

of the passion to heaven.

The _Monastery_, built by Borromini, contains the magnificent library

founded by S. Filippo. The cell of the saint is accessible, even to

ladies. It retains his confessional, chair, shoes, rope-girdle,--and

also a cast taken from his face after death, and some pictures which

belonged to him, including one of Sta. Francesca Romana, and the

portrait of an archbishop of Florence. In the private chapel adjoining,

is the altar at which he daily said mass, over which is a picture of his

time. Here also are the crucifix which was in his hands when he died,

his candlesticks, and some sacred pictures on tablets which he carried

to the sick. The door of the cell is the same, and the little bell by

which he summoned his attendant. In a room below is the carved coffin in

which he lay in state, a picture of him lying dead, and the portrait by

_Guercino_ from which the mosaic in the church is taken. A curious

picture in this chamber represents an earthquake at Beneventum, in which

Pope Gregory XIV. believed that his life was saved by an image of S.

Filippo. When S. Filippo Nero died,--as in the case of S. Antonio,--the

Catholic world exclaimed intuitively, "Il Santo è morto!"

"Let the world flaunt her glories! each glittering prize,

Though tempting to others, is naught in my eyes.

A child of St. Philip, my master and guide,

I would live as he lived, and would die as he died.

"If scanty my fare, yet how was he fed?

On olives and herbs and a small roll of bread.

Are my joints and bones sore with aches and with pains?

Philip scourged his young flesh with fine iron chains.

"A closet his home, where he, year after year,

Bore heat or cold greater than heat or cold here;

A rope stretch'd across it, and o'er it he spread

His small stock of clothes; and the floor was his bed.

"One lodging besides; God's temple he chose,

And he slept in its porch his few hours of repose;

Or studied by light which the altar-lamp gave,

Or knelt at the martyr's victorious grave."

_J. H. Newman_, 1857.

The church of the Chiesa Nuova belongs exclusively to the Oratorian

Fathers. Pope Leo XII. wished to turn it into a parish church.

"It was said that the superior of the house took, and showed, to

the Holy Father, an autograph memorial of the founder St. Philip

Neri to the pope of his day, petitioning that his church should

never be a parish. And below it was written that pope's promise,

also in his own hand, that it never should. This pope was St. Pius

V. Leo bowed to such authorities, said that he could not contend

against two saints, and altered his plans."--_Wiseman's Life of Leo

XII._

"S. Filippo Neri was good-humoured, witty, strict in essentials,

indulgent in trifles. He never commanded; he advised, or perhaps

requested: he did not discourse, he conversed: and he possessed, in

a remarkable degree, the acuteness necessary to distinguish the

peculiar merit of every character."--_Ranke._

"S. Filippo Neri laid the foundation of the Congregation of

Oratorians in 1551. Several priests and young ecclesiastics

associating themselves with him, began to assist him in his

conferences, and in reading prayers and meditations to the people

in the Church of the Holy Trinity. They were called Oratorians,

because at certain hours every morning and afternoon, by ringing a

bell, they called the people to the church to prayers and

meditations. In 1564, when the saint had formed his congregation

into a regular community, he preferred several of his young

ecclesiastics to holy orders; one of whom was the eminent Cæsar

Baronius, whom, for his sanctity, Benedict XIV., by a decree dated

on the 12th of January, 1745, honoured with the title of 'Venerable

Servant of God.' At the same time he formed his disciples into a

community, using one common purse and table, and he gave them rules

and statutes. He forbade any of them to bind themselves to this

state by vow or oath, that all might live together joined only by

the bands of fervour and holy charity; labouring with all their

strength to establish the kingdom of Christ in themselves by the

most perfect sanctification of their own souls, and to propagate

the same in the souls of others, by preaching, instructing the

ignorant, and teaching the Christian doctrine."--_Alban Butler._

"S. Filippo Neri exacted from his scholars and associates various

undignified outward acts. He required from a young Roman prince,

who wished to enjoy the distinction of being a member of his Order,

that he should walk through Rome with a fox's tail fastened on

behind: and when the prince declined to submit to this, he was

declined admission to the Order. Another was made to go through the

city without a coat; and another, with torn and tattered sleeves. A

nobleman took compassion on the last, and offered him a new pair of

sleeves: the youth declined, but afterwards, by command of the

master, was obliged gratefully to fetch and wear them. During the

building of the new church, he compelled his disciples to bring up

the materials like day labourers, and to lay their hands to the

work."--_Goethe, Romische Briefe._

It was in the piazza in front of this church that (during the reign of

Clement XIV.) a beautiful boy was wont to improvise wonderful verses to

the admiration of the crowds who surrounded him. This boy was named

Trapassi, and was the son of a grocer in the neighbourhood. The

Arcadian Academy changed his name into Greek, and called him

"Metastasio."

From the corner of the piazza in front of the Chiesa Nuova, the Via

Calabraga leads into the Via Monserrato, which it enters between Sta.

Lucia del Gonfalone on the right, and S. Stefano in Piscinula on the

left;--then, passing on the right S. Giacomo in Aino--behind which, and

the Palazzo Ricci, is Santo Spirito dei Napolitani, a much frequented

and popular little church--we reach _Sta. Maria di Monserrato_, built by

Sangallo, in 1495, where St. Ignatius Loyola was wont to preach and

catechise.

Here, behind the altar, under a stone unmarked by any epitaph, repose at

last the remains of Pope Alexander VI., Rodrigo Borgia

(1492--1503),--the infamous father of the beautiful and wicked Cæsar and

Lucretia Borgia, who is believed to have died from accidentally drinking

in a vineyard-banquet the poison which he had prepared for one of his

own cardinals. When exhumed and turned out of the pontifical vaults of

St Peter's by Julius II., he found a refuge here in his national church.

The bones of his uncle Calixtus III., Alfonso Borgia (1455--58), rest in

the same grave.

A little further, on the left, is the _Church of S. Tommaso degli

Inglesi_, rebuilt 1870, on the site of a church founded by Offa, king of

the East Saxons in 775, but destroyed by fire in 817. It was rebuilt,

and was dedicated by Alexander III. (1159) to St. Thomas à Becket, who

had lodged in the adjoining hospital when he was in Rome. Gregory XIII.,

in 1575, united the hospital which existed here with one for English

sailors on the Ripa Grande, dedicated to St. Edmund the Martyr, and

converted them into a college for English missionaries.

"Nothing like a hospice for English pilgrims existed till the first

great Jubilee, when John Shepherd and his wife Alice, seeing this

want, settled in Rome, and devoted their substance to the support

of poor palmers from their own country. This small beginning grew

into sufficient importance for it to become a royal charity; the

King of England became its patron, and named its rector, often a

person of high consideration. Among the fragments of old monuments

scattered about the house by the revolution, and now collected and

arranged in a corridor of the college, is a shield surmounted by a

crown, and carved with the ancient arms of England, lions or

lionceaux, and fleur-de-lis, quarterly. This used formerly to be

outside the house, and under it was inscribed:

'Hæc conjuncta duo,

Successus debita legi,

Anglia dant, regi

Francia signa suo.

Laurentius Chance me fecit M.CCC.XII.'"

_Cardinal Wiseman._

In the hall of the college are preserved portraits of Roman Catholics

who suffered for their faith in England under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth.

The small cloister has a beautiful tomb of Christopher Bainbrigg,

archbishop of York, British envoy to Julius II., who died at Rome 1514,

and a monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, ob. 1739. Against the wall is the

monument of Martha Swinburne, a prodigy of nine years old, inscribed:

"Memoriæ Marthæ, Henrici et Marthæ Swinburne. Nat. Angliæ. ex.

Antiqua. et. Nobili. Familia. Caphæton. Northumbriæ. Parentes.

Mœstiss. Filiæ. Carissimæ. Pr. Quæ. Ingenio. Excellenti. Forma.

Eximia. Incredibili. Doctrina. Moribus. Suavissimis. Vix. Ann.

viii. Men. xi. Tantum. Prærepta. Romæ. v. ID. SEPT. AN. MDCCLXVIII.

"Martha Swinburne, born Oct. X. MDCCLVIII. Died Sept. VIII.

MDCCLXVII. Her years were few, but her life was long and full. She

spoke English, French, and Italian, and had made some progress in

the Latin tongue; knew the English and Roman histories, arithmetic,

and geography; sang the most difficult music at sight with one of

the finest voices in the world, was a great proficient on the

harpsichord, wrote well, and danced many sorts of dances with

strength and elegance. Her face was beautiful and majestic, her

body a perfect model, and all her motions graceful. Her docility in

doing everything to make her parents happy, could only be equalled

by her sense and aptitude. With so many perfections, amidst the

praises of all persons, from the sovereign down to the beggar in

the street, her heart was incapable of vanity; affectation and

arrogance were unknown to her. Her beauty and accomplishments made

her the admiration of all beholders, the love of all that enjoyed

her company. Think, then, what the pangs of her wretched parents

must be on so cruel a separation. Their only comfort is in the

certitude of her being completely happy beyond the reach of pain,

and for ever freed from the miseries of this life. She can never

feel the torments they endure for the loss of a beloved child.

Blame them not for indulging an innocent pride in transmitting her

memory to posterity as an honour to her family and to her native

country England. Let this plain character, penned by her

disconsolate father, draw a tear of pity from every eye that

peruses it."

The arm of St. Thomas à Becket is the chief "relic" preserved here.

At the end of the street are two exceedingly ugly little churches--very

interesting from their associations. On the right is _St. Girolamo della

Carità_, founded on the site of the house of Sta. Paula, where she

received St Jerome upon his being called to Rome from the Thebaid by

Pope Damasus in 392. Here he remained for three years, till, embittered

by the scandal excited by his residence in the house of the widow, he

returned to his solitude.

In 1519 S. Filippo Neri founded here a _Confraternity_ for the

distribution of dowries to poor girls, for the assistance of debtors,

and for the maintenance of fourteen priests for the visitation and

confession of the sick.

"Lorsque St. Philippe de Neri fut prêtre, il alla se loger à

Saint-Jerôme _della Carità_, où il demeura trente-cinq ans, dans la

société des pieux ecclésiastiques qui administraient les

sacrements dans cette paroisse. Chaque soir, Philippe ouvrait, dans

sa chambre qui existe encore, des conférences sur tous les points

du dogme catholique; les jeunes gens affluaient à ces saintes

réunions: on y voyait Baronius; Bordini, qui fut archevêque;

Salviati, frère du cardinal; Tarugia, neveu du pape Jules III. Un

désir ardent d'exercer ensemble le ministère de la prédication et

les devoirs de la charité porta ces pieux jeunes gens à vivre en

commun, sous la discipline du vertueux prêtre, dont le parole était

si puissante sur leurs cœurs."--_Gournerie._

The masterpiece of Domenichino, the Last Communion of St. Jerome, in

which Sta. Paula is introduced kissing the hand of the dying saint, hung

in this church till carried off to Paris by the French.

Opposite this is the _Church of Sta. Brigitta_, on the site of the

dwelling of the saint, a daughter of the house of Brahé, and wife of

Walfon, duke of Nericia, who came hither in her widowhood, to pass her

declining years near the Tomb of the Apostles. With her, lived her

daughter St. Catherine of Sweden, who was so excessively beautiful, and

met with so many importunities in that wild time (1350), that she made a

vow never to leave her own roof except to visit the churches. The

crucifix, prayer-book, and black mantle of St. Bridget are preserved

here.[302]

"St. Bridget exercised a reformatory influence as well upon the

higher class of the priesthood in Rome as in Naples. For she did

not alone satisfy herself with praying at the graves of the

martyrs, she earnestly exhorted bishops and cardinals, nay, even

the pope himself, to a life of the true worship of God and of good

works, from which they had almost universally fallen, to devote

themselves to worldly ambition. She awoke the consciences of many,

as well by her prayers and remonstrances, as by her example. For

she herself, of a rich and noble race, that of a Brahé, one of the

nobles in Sweden, yet lived here in Rome, and laboured like a truly

humble servant of Christ. 'We must walk barefoot over pride, if we

would overcome it,' said she, and Brigitta Brahé did so; and, in so

doing, overcame those proud hearts, and won them to

God."--_Frederika Bremer._

We now reach the _Palazzo Farnese_,--the most magnificent of all the

Roman palaces,--begun by Paul III., Alessandro Farnese (1534--50), and

finished by his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Its architects were

Antonio di Sangallo, Michael Angelo, and Giacomo della Porta, who

finished the façade towards the Tiber. The materials were plundered

partly from the Coliseum and partly from the theatre of Marcellus; the

granite basons of the fountains in front are from the baths of

Caracalla. The immense size of the blocks of travertine used in the

building give it a solid grandeur.

This palace was inherited by the Bourbon kings of Naples by descent from

Elizabetta Farnese, who was the last of her line, and it has for the

last few years been the residence of the Neapolitan Court, who have

lived here in the utmost seclusion since their exile. For this reason

the palace is now very seldom shown. Its vast halls are painted with the

masterpieces of Annibale Caracci--huge mythological subjects,--and a few

frescoes by Guido, Domenichino, Daniele da Volterra, Taddeo Zucchero,

and others; but there has not been much to see since the dispersion of

the Farnese gallery of sculpture, of which the best pieces (the Bull,

Hercules, Flora, &c.) are in the museum at Naples. In the courtyard is

the sarcophagus which is said once to have held the remains of Cecilia

Metella.

"The painting the gallery at the Farnese Palace is supposed to have

partly caused the death of Caracci. Without fixing any price he set

about it, and employed both himself and all his best pupils nearly

seven years in perfecting the work, never doubting that the Farnese

family, who had employed him, would settle a pension upon him, or

keep him in their service. When his work was finished they paid him

as you would pay a house-painter, and this ill-usage so deeply

affected him, that he took to drinking, and never painted anything

great afterwards."--_Miss Berry's Journals._

Behind the Palazzo Farnese runs the _Via Giulia_, which contains the

ugly fountain of the Mascherone. Close to the arch which leads to the

Farnese gardens is the church of _Sta. Maria della Morte_, or _Dell'

Orazione_, built by Fuga. It is in the hands of a pious confraternity

who devote themselves to the burial of the dead.

"L'église de la _Bonne-Mort_ a son caveau, décoré dans le style

funèbre comme le couvent des Capucins. On y conserve aussi

élégamment que possible les os des noyés, asphyxiés et autres

victimes des accidents. La confrérie de la _Bonne-Mort_ va chercher

les cadavres; un sacristain assez adroit les dessèche et les

dispose en ornements. J'ai causé quelque temps avec cet artiste:

'Monsieur,' me disait-il, 'je ne suis heureux qu'ici, au milieu de

mon œuvre. Ce n'est pas pour les quelques écus que je gagne tous

les jours en montrant la chapelle aux étrangers; non; mais ce

monument que j'entretiens, que j'embellie, que j'égaye par mon

talent, est devenu l'orgueil et la joie de ma vie.' Il me montra

ses matériaux, c'est-à-dire quelques poignées d'ossements jetés en

tas dans un coin, fit l'éloge de la pouzzolane, et témoigna de son

mépris pour la chaux. 'La chaux brûle les os,' me dit-il, 'elle les

fait tomber en poussière. On ne peut faire rien de bon avec les os

qui ont été dans la chaux. C'est de la drogue

(_robbaccia_).'"--_About._

Beyond the arch is the _Palazzo Falconieri_ (with falcons at the

corners), built by Borromini about 1650. There is something rather

handsome in its tall three-arched loggia, as seen from the back of the

courtyard, which overhangs the Tiber opposite the Farnesina. Cardinal

Fesch (uncle of Napoleon I.) lived here, and here formed his fine

gallery of pictures.

"The whole of Cardinal Fesch's collection was dispersed at his

death, having been vainly offered by him, during the last years of

his life, for sale to the English government, for an annuity of

4000_l._ per annum."--_Eaton's Rome._

Further on are the _Carceri Nuove_, prisons established by Innocent X.

(appropriately reached by the Via del Malpasso), and then the _Palazzo

Sacchetti_, built by Antonio da Sangallo for his own residence, and

adorned by him with the arms of his patron, Paul III., and the grateful

inscription, "Tu mihi quodcumque hoc rerum est." The collection of

statues which was formed here by Cardinal Ricci, was removed to the

Capitol by Benedict XIV., and became the foundation of the present

Capitoline collection.

In front of the Palazzo Farnese, beyond its own piazza, is that known as

the _Campo di Fiore_, a centre of commerce among the working classes.

Here the most terrible of the Autos da Fé were held by the Dominicans,

in which many Jews and other heretics were burnt alive.

One of the most remarkable sufferers here was Giordano Bruno, who

was born at Nola, A.D. 1550. His chief heresy was ardent advocacy

of the Copernican system,--the author of which had died ten years

before his birth. He was also strongly opposed to the philosophy of

Aristotle, and gave great offence by setting forth views of his

own, which strongly tended to pantheism. He visited Paris, England,

and Germany, and everywhere excited hostility by the uncompromising

expression of his opinions. It was at Venice that he first came

into the power of his ecclesiastical enemies. After six years of

imprisonment in that city, he was brought to Rome to be put to

death. His execution took place in the Campo di Fiore on the 17th

of February, 1600, in the presence of an immense concourse. It was

noted that when the monks offered him the crucifix as he was led to

the stake, he turned away and refused to kiss it. This put the

finishing touch to his career, in the estimation of all beholders.

Scioppus, the Latinist, who was present at the execution, with a

sarcastic allusion to one of Bruno's heresies, the infinity of

worlds, wrote, "The flames carried him to those worlds which he had

imagined."[303]

On the left of this piazza is the gigantic _Palace of the Cancelleria_,

begun by Cardinal Mezzarota, and finished in 1494 by Cardinal Riario,

from designs of Bramante. The huge blocks of travertine of which it is

built were taken from the Coliseum. The colonnades have forty-four

granite pillars, said to have belonged to the theatre of Pompey. The

roses with which their (added) capitals are adorned are in reference to

the arms of Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV.

This palace was the seat of the Tribunal of the Cancelleria Apostolica.

In June, 1848, the Roman Parliament, summoned by Pius IX., was held

here. In July, while the deputies were seated here, the mob burst into

the council-chamber, and demanded the instant declaration of war against

Austria. On the 16th of November, its staircase was the scene of the

murder of Count Rossi.

"C'était le 16 Novembre, 1848, le ministre de Pie IX., voué dès

longtemps à la mort, dont la presse séditieuse disait: 'Si la

victime condamnée parvient à s'échapper, elle sera poursuivie sans

relâche, en tout lieu, le coupable sera frappé par une main

invisible, se fût-il réfugié sur le sein de sa mère ou dans le

tabernacle du Christ.'

"Dans la nuit du 14 au 15 Novembre, de jeunes étudiants, réunis

dans cette pensée, s'exercent sans frémir sur un cadavre apporté à

prix d'or au théâtre Capranica, et quand leurs mains infâmes furent

devenues assez sûres pour le crime, quand ils sont certains

d'atteindre au premier coup la veine jugulaire, chacun se rend à

son poste--'Gardez-vous d'aller au Palais Législatif, la mort vous

y attend,' fait dire au ministre une Française alors à Rome, Madame

la Comtesse de Menon: 'Ne sortez pas, ou vous serez assassiné!' lui

écrit de son côté la Duchesse de Rignano. Mais l'intrépide Rossi,

n'écoutant que sa conscience, arrive au Quirinal. A son tour le

pape le conjure d'être prudent, de ne point s'exposer, afin, lui

dit-il, 'd'éviter à nos ennemis un grand crime, et à moi une

immense douleur.'--'Ils sont trop lâches, ils n'oseront pas.' Pie

IX. le bénit et il continue de se diriger vers la chancellerie....

" ... Sa voiture s'arrête, il descend au milieu d'hommes sinistres,

leur lance un regard de dédain, et continuant sans crainte ni

peur, il commence à mouter; la foule le presse en sifflant, l'un le

frappe sur l'épaule gauche, d'un mouvement instinctif, il retourne

la tête, découvrant la veine fatale, il tombe, se relève, monte

quelques marches, et retombe inondé de sang."--_M. de Bellevue._

Entered from the courtyard of the palace is the _Church of SS. Lorenzo e

Damaso_, removed by Cardinal Riario in 1495, from another site, where it

had been founded in 560 by the sainted pope Damasus. It consists of a

short nave and aisles, and is almost square, with an apse and chapels.

The doors are by Vignola. At the end of the left aisle is a curious

black virgin, much revered. Opening from the right aisle is the chapel

of the Massimi, with several tombs; a good modern monument of Princess

Gabrielli, &c. Against the last pilaster is a seated statue of S.

Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto, taken from that at the Lateran. His relics

are preserved here, with those of S. Giovanni Calabita, and many other

saints. The tomb of Count Rossi is also here, inscribed "Optimam mihi

causam tuendam assumpsi, miserebitur Deus." The story of his death is

told in the words: "Impiorum consilio meditata cæde occubuit." He was

embalmed and buried on the very night of his murder, for fear of further

outrage. St Francis Xavier used to preach in this church in the

sixteenth century.

Standing a little back from the street, in the Via de' Baullari, is a

pretty little palace, carefully finished in all its details, and

attributed to Baldassare Peruzzi. It is sometimes called _Palazzetto

Farnese_, sometimes _Palazzo Linote_, and is now almost in a state of

ruin.

Turning to the left, in front of the Palazzo Farnese, we reach the

Piazza Capo di Ferro, one side of which is occupied by the _Palazzo

Spada alla Regola_, built in 1564, by Cardinal Capodifero, but

afterwards altered and adorned by Borromini. The courtyard is very rich

in sculptured ornament The palace is always visible, but has a rude and

extortionate porter.

In a picturesque and dimly-lighted hall on the first-floor, partially

hung with faded tapestries, is the famous statue believed to be that of

Pompey, at the foot of which Julius Cæsar fell. Suetonius narrates that

it was removed by Augustus from the Curia, and placed upon a marble

Janus in front of the basilica. Exactly on that spot was the existing

statue found, lying under the partition-wall of two houses, whose

proprietors intended to evade disputes by dividing it, when Cardinal

Capodifero interfered, and in return received it as a gift from Pope

Julius III., who bought it for 500 gold crowns.

"And them, dread statue! yet existent in

The austerest form of naked majesty,--

Thou who beheldest 'mid the assassins' din,

At thy bathed base the bloody Cæsar lie,

Folding his robe in dying dignity,

An offering to thine altar from the queen

Of gods and men, great Nemesis! did he die,

And thou, too, perish, Pompey? have ye been

Victors of countless kings, or puppets of a scene?"

_Byron, Childe Harold._

"I saw in the Palazzo Spada, the statue of Pompey: the statue at

whose base Cæsar fell. A stem, tremendous figure! I imagined one of

greater finish: of the last refinement: full of delicate touches:

losing its distinctness in the giddy eyes of one whose blood was

ebbing before it, and settling into some such rigid majesty as

this, as Death came creeping over the upturned face."--_Dickens._

"Cæsar was persuaded at first by the entreaties of his wife

Calpurnia, who had received secret warning of the plot, to send an

excuse to the senate; but afterwards, being ridiculed by Brutus for

not going, was carried thither in a litter.... At the moment when

Cæsar descended from his litter at the door of the hall, Popilius

Læna approached him, and was observed to enter into earnest

conversation with him. The conspirators regarded one another, and

mutually revealed their despair with a glance. Cassius and others

were grasping their daggers beneath their robes; the last resource

was to despatch themselves. But Brutus, observing that the manner

of Popilius was that of one supplicating rather than warning,

restored his companions' confidence with a smile. Caesar entered;

his enemies closed in a dense mass around him, and while they led

him to his chair kept off all intruders. Trebonius was specially

charged to detain Antonius in conversation at the door. Scarcely

was the victim seated, when Tillius Cimber approached with a

petition for his brother's pardon. The others, as was concerted,

joined in the supplication, grasping his hands, and embracing his

neck. Cæsar at first put them gently aside, but, as they became

more importunate, repelled them with main force. Tillius seized his

toga with both hands, and pulled it violently over his arms. Then

P. Casca, who was behind, drew a weapon, and grazed his shoulder

with an ill-directed stroke. Cæsar disengaged one hand, and

snatched at the hilt, shouting, 'Cursed Casca, what means

this?'--'Help,' cried Casca to his brother Lucius, and at the same

moment the others aimed each his dagger at the devoted object.

Cæsar for an instant defended himself, and even wounded one of his

assailants with his stylus; but when he distinguished Brutus in the

press, and saw the steel flashing in his hand also, 'What, thou

too, Brutus!' he exclaimed, let go his hold of Casca, and drawing

his robe over his face, made no further resistance. The assassins

stabbed him through and through, for they had pledged themselves,

one and all, to bathe their daggers in his blood. Brutus himself

received a wound in their eagerness and trepidation. The victim

reeled a few paces, propped by the blows he received on every side,

till he fell dead at the foot of Pompeius' statue."--_Merivale_,

ch. xxi.

The collection of pictures in this palace is little worth seeing. Among

its other sculptures are eight grand reliefs, which, till 1620, were

turned upside down, and used as a pavement in Sant' Agnese fuori Mura;

and a fine statue of Aristotle.

"Aristote est à Rome, vous pouvons l'aller voir au palais Spada,

tel que le peignent ses biographes et des vers de Christodore sur

une statue qui était à Constantinople, les jambes grêles, les joues

maigres, le bras hors du manteau, _exserto brachio_, comme dit

Sidoine Apollinaire d'une autre statue qui était à Rome. Le

philosophe est ici sans barbe aussi bien que sur plusieurs pierres

gravées; on attribuait à Aristote l'habitude de se raser, rare

parmi les philosophes et convenable à un sage qui vivait à la cour.

Du reste, c'est bien là _le maître de ceux qui savent_, selon

l'expression de Dante, corps usé par l'étude, tête petite mais qui

enferme et comprend tout."--_Ampère_, _Hist. Rom._ iii. 547.

A little further, on the right, is the _Church of the Trinità dei

Pellegrini_, built in 1614; the façade designed by Francesco de'

Sanctis. It contains a picture of the Trinity by _Guido_.

The hospital attached to this church was founded by S. Filippo Neri for

receiving and nourishing pilgrims of pious intention, who had come from

more than sixty miles' distance, for a space of from three to seven

days. It is divided into two parts, for males and females. Here, during

the Holy Week, the feet of the pilgrims are publicly washed, those of

the men by princes, cardinals, &c., those of the women by queens,

princesses, and other ladies of rank. In this case the washing is a

reality, the feet not having been "prepared beforehand," as for the

Lavanda at St Peter's.

An authentic portrait of S. Filippo Neri is preserved here, said to have

been painted surreptitiously by an artist who happened to be one of the

inmates of the hospital. When S. Filippo saw it, he said, "You should

not have stolen me unawares."

The building in front of this church is the _Monte di Pietà_, founded by

the Padre Calvo, in the fifteenth century, to preserve the people from

suffering under the usury of the Jews. It is a government establishment,

where money is lent at the rate of five per cent. to every class of

person. Poor people, especially "Donne di facenda," who have no work in

the summer, thankfully avail themselves of this and pawn their

necklaces and earrings, which they are able to redeem when the means of

subsistence come back with the return of the forestieri. Many Roman

servants go through this process annually, and though the Monte di Pietà

is often a scene of great suffering when unredeemed goods are sold for

the benefit of the establishment, it probably in the main serves to

avert much evil from the poorer classes.

A short distance further, following the Via dei Specchi, surrounded by

miserable houses (in one of which is a beautiful double gothic window,

divided by a twisted column), is the small _Church of Sta. Maria in

Monticelli_, which has a fine low campanile of 1110. Admission may

always be obtained through the sacristy to visit the famous

"miracle-working" picture called "Gesù Nazareno," a modern half-length

of Our Saviour, with the eyelids drooping and half-closed. By an

illusion of the painting, the eyes, if watched steadily, appear to open

and then slowly to close again as if falling asleep,--in the same way

that many English family portraits appear to follow the living

bystanders with their eyes; but the effect is very curious. In the case

of this picture, the pope turned Protestant, and disapproving of the

attention it excited, caused its secret removal. Remonstrance was made,

that the picture had been a "regalo" to the church, and ought not to be

taken away, and when it was believed to be sufficiently forgotten, it

was sent back by night. The mosaics in the apse of this obscure church

are for the most part quite modern, but enclose a very grand and

expressive head of the Saviour of the World, which dates from 1099, when

it was ordered by Pope Paschal II.

A little to the left of this church is the _Palazzo Santa Croce_. This

palace will bring to mind the murder of the Marchesa Costanza Santa

Croce, by her two sons (because she would not name them her heirs), on

the day when the fate of Beatrice Cenci was trembling in the balance,

which brought about her condemnation--the then pope, Clement VIII.,

determining to make her terrible punishment "an example to all

parricides."

Prince Santa Croce claims to be a direct descendant of Valerius

Publicola, the "friend of the people," who is commemorated in the name

of a neighbouring church, "Sancta Maria de Publicolis."

This is one of the few haunted houses in Rome: it is said that by night

two statues of Santa Croce cardinals descend from their pedestals, and

rattle their marble trains about its long galleries.

Hence a narrow street leads to the _Church of S. Carlo a Catinari_,

built in the seventeenth century, from designs of Rosati and Soria. It

is in the form of a Greek cross. The very lofty cupola is adorned with

frescoes of the cardinal virtues by _Domenichino_, and a fresco of S.

Carlo, by _Guido_, once on the façade of the church, is now preserved in

the choir. Over the high altar is a large picture by _Pietro da

Cortona_, of S. Carlo in a procession during the plague at Milan. In the

first chapel on the right, is the Annunciation, by _Lanfranco_; in the

second chapel, on the left, the Death of St. Anna, by _Andrea Sacchi_.

On the pilaster of the last chapel on the right is a good modern tomb,

with delicate detail. The cord which S. Carlo Borromeo wore round his

neck in the penitential procession during the plague at Milan, is

preserved as a relic here. The Catinari, from whom this church is named,

were makers of wooden dishes, who had stalls in the adjoining piazza,

or sold their wares on its steps. The street opening from hence (Via de

Giubbonari) contains on its right the Palazzo Pio; at the back of which

are the principal remains of _The Theatre of Pompey_, which was once of

great magnificence. In the portico (of a hundred columns) attached to

this theatre, Brutus sate as prætor, on the morning of the murder of

Julius Cæsar, and close by was the Curia, or senate-house, where:

----"In his mantle muffling up his face,

Even at the base of Pompey's statue,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell."[304]

Behind the remains of the theatre, perhaps on the very site of the

Curia, rises the fine modern _Church of S. Andrea della Valle_,[305]

begun in 1591, by Olivieri, and finished by Carlo Maderno. The façade is

by Carlo Rainaldi. The cupola is covered with frescoes by _Lanfranco_,

those of the four Evangelists at the angles being by _Domenichino_, who

also painted the flagellation and glorification of St. Andrew in the

tribune. Beneath the latter are frescoes of events in the life of St.

Andrew by _Calabrese_.

"In the fresco of the Flagellation, the apostle is bound by his

hands and feet to four short posts set firmly in the ground; one of

the executioners, in tightening a cord, breaks it, and falls back;

three men prepare to scourge him with thongs: in the foreground we

have the usual group of the mother and her frightened children.

This is a composition full of dramatic life and movement, but

unpleasing."--_Jameson's Sacred Art_, p. 229.

In the second chapel on the left is the tomb of Giovanni della Casa,

archbishop of Beneventum, 1556.

The last piers of the nave are occupied by the tombs of Pius II., Eneas

Sylvius Piccolomini (1458--64), and Pius III., Todeschini (1503),

removed from the old basilica of St. Peter's. The tombs are hideous

erections in four stages, by Niccolo della Guardia and Pietro da Todi.

The epitaph of the famous Eneas Sylvius is as good as a biography.

"Pius II., sovereign pontiff, a Tuscan by nation, by birth a native

of Siena, of the family of the Piccolomini, reigned for six years.

His pontificate was short, but his glory was great. He reunited a

Christian Council (Basle) in the interests of the faith. He

resisted the enemies of the holy Roman see, both in Italy and

abroad. He placed Catherine of Siena amongst the saints of Christ.

He abolished the Pragmatic Sanction in France. He re-established

Ferdinand of Arragon in the kingdom of Sicily. He increased the

power of the Church. He established the alum mines which were

discovered near Talpha. Zealous for religion and justice, he was

also remarkable for his eloquence. As he was setting out for the

war which he had declared against the Turks, he died at Ancona.

There he had already his fleet prepared, and the doge of Venice,

with his senate, as companions in arms for Christ. Brought to Rome

by a decree of the fathers, he was laid in this spot, where he had

ordered the head of St. Andrew, which had been brought him from the

Peloponnese, to be placed. He lived fifty-eight years, nine months,

and twenty-seven days. Francis, cardinal of Siena, raised this to

the memory of his revered uncle. MCDLXIV."

Pius III., who was the son of a sister of Eneas Sylvius, only reigned

for twenty-six days. His tomb was the last to be placed in the old St.

Peter's, which was pulled down by his successor.

To the right, from S. Andrea della Valle runs the Via della Valle, on

the right of which is the _Palazzo Vidoni_ (formerly called Caffarelli,

and Stoppani), the lower portion of which was designed by Raphael, in

1513, the upper floor being a later addition. There are a few

antiquities preserved here, among them the "Calendarium Prænestinum" of

Verrius Flaccus, being five months of a Roman calendar found by Cardinal

Stoppani at Palestrina. At the foot of the stairs is a statue of Marcus

Aurelius. At one corner of the palace on the exterior is the mutilated

statue familiarly known as the _Abbate Luigi_, which was made to carry

on witty conversation with the Madama Lucrezia near S. Marco, as Pasquin

did with Marforio.

To the left from St. Andrea della Valle runs the _Via S. Pantaleone_, on

the right of which, cleverly fitting into an angle of the street, is the

gloomy but handsome _Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne_, built _c._ 1526 by

Baldassare Peruzzi. The semi-*circular portico has six Doric columns.

The staircase and fountain are peculiar and picturesque. In the loggia

is a fine antique lion.

The palace is not often shown, but is a good specimen of one of the

smaller Roman princely houses. In the drawing-*room, well placed, is the

famous _Statue of the Discobolus_, a copy of the bronze statue of Myron,

found in 1761, upon the Esquiline, near the ruined nymphæum known as the

Trophies of Marius. This is more beautiful and better preserved than the

Discobolus of the Vatican, of which the head is modern.

"Le tête du discobole Massimi se retourne vers le bras qui lance le

disque, απεστραμμἱνον εἱς τἡν δισκοφὁρον. Cette tête est admirable, ce

qui est encore une resemblance avec Myron, qui excellait dans les

têtes comme Polyclète dans les poitrines et Praxitèle dans les

bras."--_Ampère_, iii. 271.

The entrance-hall has its distinctive dais and canopy adorned with the

motto of the family "Cunctando Restituit," in allusion to the descent

which they claim from the great dictator Fabius Maximus, who is

described by Ennius as having "saved the republic by delaying."

"Napoléon interpella un Massimo avec cette brusquerie qui

intimidait tant de gens: 'Est il vrai,' lui dit-il, 'que vous

descendiez de Fabius-Maximus?'

"'--Je ne saurais le prouver,' répondit le noble romain, 'mais

c'est un bruit qui court depuis plus de mille ans dans notre

famille.'"--_About._

On the second floor is a chapel in memory of the temporary resuscitation

to life by S. Filippo Neri of Paul Massimo, a youth of fourteen, who had

died of a fever, March 16th, 1584.

"S. Filippo Neri was the spiritual director of the Massimo family;

it is in his honour that the Palazzo Massimo is dressed up in

festal guise every 16th of March. The annals of the family narrate,

that the son and heir of Prince Fabrizio Massimo died of a fever at

the age of fourteen, and that St. Philip, coming into the room amid

the lamentations of the father, mother, and sisters, laid his hand

upon the brow of the youth, and called him by his name, on which he

revived, opened his eyes, and sate up--'Art thou unwilling to die?'

asked the saint. 'No,' sighed the youth. 'Art thou resigned to

yield thy soul to God?' 'I am.' 'Then go,' said Philip. 'Va, che

sii benedetto, e prega Dio per noi.'--The boy sank back on his

pillow with a heavenly smile on his face and expired."--_Jameson's

Monastic Orders._

The back of the palace towards the Piazza Navona is covered with curious

frescoes in distemper by _Daniele di Volterra._

In buildings belonging to this palace, Pannartz and Schweinheim

established the first printing-office in Rome in 1455. The rare editions

of this time bear in addition to the name of the printers, the

inscription, "In ædibus Petri de Maximis."

"Conrad Sweynheim et Arnold Pannartz s'établirent près de Subiaco,

au monastère de Sainte-Scholastique, qui était occupé par les

Bénédictins de leur nation, et publièrent successivement, avec le

concours des moines, les _Œuvres de Lactance_, la _Cité de Dieu_

de saint Augustin, et le traité _de Oratore_ de Cicéron. En 1467,

ils se transportèrent à Rome, au palais Massimi, où ils

s'associèrent Jean André de Bussi, évêque d'Aleria, qui avait

étudié sous Victorin de Feltre, et dont la science leur fut d'une

haute utilité pour la correction de leurs textes. Le savant évêque

leur donnait son temps, ses veilles:--'Malheureux métier,'

disait-il, 'qui consiste non pas à chercher des perles dans le

fumier, mais du fumier parmi les perles!'--Et cependant il s'y

adonnait avec passion, sans même y trouver l'aisance. Les livres,

en effet, se vendirent d'abord si mal que Jean-André de Bussi

n'avait pas toujours de quoi se faire faire la barbe. Les premiers

livres qu'il publia chez Conrad et Arnold furent la _Grammaire de

Donatus_, à trois cents exemplaires, et les _Épitres familières de

Cicéron_, à cinq cent cinquante."--_Gournerie_, _Rome Chrétienne_,

ii. 79, 1.

Further, on the right, is the modernized _Church of S. Pantaleone_,

built originally in 1216 by Honorius III., and given by Gregory XV., in

1641, to S. Giuseppe Calasanza, founder of the Order of the Scolopians,

and of the institution of the Scuola Pia. He died in 1648, and is buried

here in a porphyry sarcophagus.

Adjoining this, is the very handsome _Palazzo Braschi_, the last result

of papal nepotism in Rome,--built at the end of the last century by

Morelli, for the Duke Braschi, nephew of Pius VI. The staircase, which

is, perhaps, the finest in Rome, is adorned with sixteen columns of red

oriental granite. Annual subscription balls for charities are held in

this palace.

At the further corner of the Braschi palace stands the mutilated but

famous statue called Pasquino, from a witty tailor, who once kept a shop

opposite, and who used to entertain his customers with all the clever

scandal of the day. After the tailor's death his name was transferred to

the statue, on whose pedestal were appended witty criticisms on passing

events, sometimes in the form of dialogues which Pasquino was supposed

to hold with his friend Marforio, another statue at the foot of the

Capitol. From the repartees appended to this statue the term Pasquinade

is derived.

Pasquin has naturally been regarded as a mortal enemy by the popes, who,

on several occasions, have made vain attempts to silence him. The

bigoted Adrian VI. wished to have the statue burnt and then thrown into

the Tiber, but it was saved by the suggestion of Ludovico Suessano, that

his ashes would turn into frogs, who would croak louder than he had

done. When Marforio, in the hope of stopping the dialogues, was shut up

in the Capitoline museum, the pope attempted to incarcerate Pasquino

also, but he was defended by his proprietor, Duke Braschi. Among

offensive Pasquinades which have been placed here are:

"Venditur hic Christus, venduntur dogmata Petri,

Descendam infernum ne quoque vendar ego."

Among the earliest Pasquinades were those against the venality and evil

life of Alexander VI. (Rodrigo Borgia, 1492--1503):

"Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum:

Emerat ille prius, vendere jure potest."

and,

"Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero--Sextus et iste;

Semper sub Sextis perdita Roma fuit."

and, upon the body of his son Giovanni, murdered by his brother Cæsar

Borgia, being fished up on the following day from the Tiber:

"Piscatorem hominum re te non, Sexte, putemus,

Piscaris natum retibus ecce tuum."

In the reign of the warlike Julius II. (1503--13), of whom it is said

that he threw the keys of Peter into the Tiber, while marching his army

out of Rome, declaring that the sword of Paul was more useful to him:

"Cum Petri nihil efficiant ad prælia claves,

Auxilio Pauli forsitan ensis erit."

and, in allusion to his warlike beard:

"Huc barbam Pauli, gladium Pauli, omnia Pauli:

Claviger ille nihil ad mea vota Petrus."

At a moment of great unpopularity:

"Julius est Romæ, quid abest? Date, numina, Brutum.

Nam quoties Romæ est Julius, ilia perit."

In reference to the sale of indulgences and benefices by Leo X.:

"Dona date, astantes; versus ne reddite; sola

Imperat æthereis alma Moneta deis."

and to his love of buffoons:

"Cur non te fingi scurram, Pasquille, rogasti?

Cum Romæ scurris omnia jam licent."

and with reference to the death of Leo, suddenly, under suspicion of

poison, and without the sacrament:

"Sacra sub extrema, si forte requiritis, horâ

Cur Leo non potuit sumere: vendiderat."

On the death of Clement VII. (1534), attributed to the mismanagement of

his physician, Matteo Curzio:

"Curtius occidit Clementem--Curtius auro

Donandus, per quem publica parta salus."

To Paul III. (1534--50) who attempted to silence him, Pasquin replied:

"Ut canerent data multa olim sunt vatibus æra;

Ut taceam, quantum tu mihi, Paule, dabis."

Upon the spoliation of ancient Rome by Urban VIII.:

"Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini."

Upon the passion of Innocent X. (1644--55) for his sister-in-law,

Olympia Maldacchini:

"Magis amat Olympiam quam Olympum."

Upon Christina of Sweden, who died at Rome, in 1689:

"Regina senza Regno,

Christiana senza Fede,

E Donna senza Vergogna."

In reference to the severities of the Inquisition during the reign of

Innocent XI. (1676--89):

"Se parliamo, in galera; se scriviamo, impiccati; se stiamo in

quiete, al santo uffizio. Eh!--che bisogna fare?"

To Francis of Austria, on his visit to Rome:

"Gaudium urbis,--fletus provinciarum,--risus mundi."

After an awful storm, and the plunder of the works of art by Napoleon

occurring together:

"L'Altissimo in sù, ci manda la tempesta,

L'Altissimo qua giù, ci toglia quel che resta,

E fra le Due Altissimi,

Stiamo noi malissimi."

During the stay of the French in Rome:

"I Francesi son tutti ladri."

* * * * *

"Non tutti--ma Buona parte."

Against the vain-glorious follies of Pius VI., Pasquin was especially

bitter. Pius finished the sacristry of St. Peter's, and inscribed over

its entrance, "Quod ad Templi Vaticani ornamentum publico vota

flagitabant, Pius VI. fecit." The next day Pasquin retorted:

"Publica! mentiris! Non publica vota fuere,

Sed tumidi ingenii vota fuere tui."

Upon his nepotism, when building the Braschi palace:

"Tres habuit fauces, et terno Cerberus ore

Latratus intra Tartara nigra dabat.

Et tibi plena fame tria sunt vel quatuor ora

Quæ nulli latrant, quemque sed illa vocant."

And in allusion to the self-laudatory inscriptions of this pope upon all

his buildings, at a time when the two-baiocchi loaf of the common people

was greatly reduced in size; one of these tiny loaves was exhibited

here, with the satirical notice, "Munificentia Pii Sexti."

But perhaps the most remarkable of all Pasquin's productions is his

famous Antithesis Christi:

"Christus regna fugit--Sed vi Papa subjugat urbem.

Spinosam Christus--Triplicem gerit ille coronam.

Abluit ille pedes--Reges his oscula præbent.

Vectigal solvit--Sed clerum hic eximit omnem.

Pavit oves Christus--Luxum hic sectatur inertem.

Pauper erat Christus--Regna hic petit omnia mundi.

Bajulat ille crucem--Hic servis portatur avaris.

Spernit opes Christus--Auri hic ardore tabescit.

Vendentes pepulit templo--Quos suscipit iste.

Pace venit Christus--Venit hic radiantibus armis.

Christus mansuetus venit--Venit ille superbus.

Quas leges dedit hic--Præsul dissolvit iniquus.

Ascendit Christus--Descendit ad infera Præsul."

The statue called Pasquin is said to represent Menelaus with the body of

Patroclus, and to be the same as two groups which still exist at

Florence, but so little remains of either of these heroes, that it could

only have been when overpowered by "L'esprit de contradiction," that

Bernini protested that this was "the finest piece of ancient sculpture

in Rome."

"A l'angle que forment deux rues de Rome se voit encore il

Pasquino, nom donné par le peuple à un des plus beaux restes de la

sculpture antique. Bernin, qui exagérait, disait le plus beau;

cette assertion fut sur le point d'attirer un duel à celui qui se

l'était permise. Tout homme qui s'avise d'avoir une opinion sur les

monuments de Rome s'applaudira pour son compte, en le regrettant

peut-être, qu'on ne prenne plus si à cœur les questions

archéologiques."--_Ampère, Hist. Rome_, iii. 440.

"Jan. 16, 1870: The public opinion of Rome has only one traditional

organ. It is that mutilated block of marble called Pasquin's statue

... on which are mysteriously affixed by unknown hands the frequent

squibs of Roman mother-wit on the events of the day. That organ has

now uttered its cutting joke on the Fathers in Council. Some

mornings ago there was found pasted in big letters on this defaced

and truncated stump of a once choice statue the inscription,

'Libero come il Concilio.' The sarcasm is admirably to the

point."--_Times._

Following the Via dell' Anima from hence, on the right, opposite the

mediæval _Torre Mellina_, is the _Church of Sant' Agnese_. It was built

in 1642 by Girolamo Rainaldi, in the form of a Greek cross, upon the

site of the scaffold where St. Agnes, in her fourteenth year, was

compelled to be burnt alive.[306] When

"The blessed Agnes, with her hands extended in the midst of the

flames, prayed thus: 'It is to thee that I appeal, to thee, the

all-powerful, adorable, perfect, terrible God. O my Father, it is

through thy most blessed Son that I have escaped from the menaces

of a sacrilegious tyrant, and have passed unblemished through

shameful abominations. And thus I come to thee, to thee whom I have

loved, to thee whom I have sought, and whom I have always

chosen."--_Roman Breviary._

Then the flames, miraculously changed into a heavenly shower, refreshed

instead of burning her, and dividing in two, and leaving her uninjured,

consumed her executioners, and the virgin saint cried:--

"I bless Thee, O Father of my God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who, by

the power of this thy well-beloved Son, commanded the fire to

respect me."

"At this age, a young girl trembles at an angry look from her

mother; the prick of a needle draws tears as easily as a wound. Yet

fearless under the bloody hands of her executioners, Agnes is

immoveable under the heavy chains which weigh her down; ignorant of

death, but ready to die, she presents her body to the point of the

sword of a savage soldier. Dragged against her will to the altar,

she holds forth her arms to Christ through the fires of the

sacrifice; and her hand forms even in those blasphemous flames the

sign which is the trophy of a victorious Saviour. She presents her

neck and her two hands to the fetters which they bring for her, but

it is impossible to find any small enough to encircle her delicate

limbs."--_St. Ambrose._

The statue of St. Sebastian in this church is an antique, altered by

_Maini_, that of St. Agnes is by _Ercole Ferrata_; the bas-relief of St.

Cecilia is by _Antonio Raggi_. Over the entrance is the half-length

figure and tomb of Innocent X. (Gio. Battista Pamfili, 1644--55), an

amiable but feeble pope, who was entirely governed by his strong-minded

and avaricious sister-in-law, Olympia Maldacchini, who deserted him on

his death-bed, making off with the accumulated spoils of his ten years'

papacy, which enabled her son, Don Camillo, to build the Palazzo Doria

Pamfili, in the Corso, and the beautiful Villa Doria Pamfili.[307]

"After the three days during which the body of Innocent remained

exposed at St. Peter's, say the memoirs of the time, no one could

be found who would undertake his burial. They sent to tell Donna

Olympia to prepare for him a coffin, and an escutcheon, but she

answered that she was a poor widow. Of all his other relations and

nephews, not one gave any sign of life; so that at length the body

was carried away into a chamber where the masons kept their tools.

Some one, out of pity, placed a lighted tallow-candle near the

head; and some one else having mentioned that the room was full of

rats, and that they might eat the corpse, a person was found who

was willing to pay for a watcher. And after another day had

elapsed, Monsignor Scotti, the majordomo, had pity upon him, and

prepared him a coffin of poplar-wood, and Monsignor Segni, Canon of

St. Peter's, who had been his majordomo, and whom he had dismissed,

returned him good for evil, and expended five crowns for his

burial."--_Gregorovius._

Beneath the church are vaulted chambers, said to be part of the house of

infamy where St. Agnes was publicly exposed[308] before her execution.

"As neither temptation nor the fear of death could prevail with

Agnes, Sempronius thought of other means to vanquish her

resistance; he ordered her to be carried by force to a place of

infamy, and exposed to the most degrading outrages. The soldiers,

who dragged her thither, stripped her of her garments; and when she

saw herself thus exposed, she bent down her head in meek shame and

prayed; and immediately her hair, which was already long and

abundant, became like a veil, covering her whole person from head

to foot; and those who looked upon her were seized with awe and

fear as of something sacred, and dared not lift their eyes. So they

shut her up in a chamber, and she prayed that the limbs which had

been consecrated to Jesus Christ should not be dishonoured, and

suddenly she saw before her a white and shining garment, with which

she clothed herself joyfully, praising God, and saying, 'I thank

thee, O Lord, that I am found worthy to put on the garment of thine

elect!' and the whole place was filled with miraculous light,

brighter than the sun at noon-day.

* * * * *

"The chamber, which, for her preservation, was filled with heavenly

light, has become, from the change of level all over Rome, as well

as from the position of the church, a subterranean cell, and is now

a chapel of peculiar sanctity, into which you descend by

torchlight. The floor retains the old mosaic, and over the altar is

a bas-relief, representing St. Agnes, with clasped hands, and

covered only by her long tresses, while two ferocious soldiers

drive her before them. The upper church, as a piece of

architecture, is beautiful, and rich in precious marbles and

antique columns. The works of art are all mediocre, and of the 17th

century, but the statue over her altar has considerable elegance.

Often have I seen the steps of this church, and the church itself,

so crowded with kneeling worshippers at matins and vespers, that I

could not make my way among them;--principally the women of the

lower orders, with their distaffs and market baskets, who had come

thither to pray, through the intercession of the patron saint, for

the gifts of meekness and chastity,--gifts not abounding in these

regions."--_Jameson's Sacred Art._

Yorkshire maidens, anxious to know who their future spouse is to be,

still consult St. Agnes on St Agnes' Eve, after 24 hours' abstinence

from everything but pure spring water, in the distich:

"St. Agnes, be a friend to me,

In the boon I ask of thee;

Let me this night my husband see."

Here, on the festival of St. Agnes, the papal choir sing the antiphons

of the virgin saint, and the hymn "Jesu Corona Virginum."

The front of Sant' Agnese opens upon the _Piazza Navona_, a vast oblong

square on the site of the ancient Circus Agonalis, decorated with three

fountains. That in the centre, by Bernini, supports an obelisk brought

from the Circus of Maxentius, where it was erected in honour of

Domitian. Around the mass of rock which supports the obelisk are figures

of the gods of the four largest rivers (Danube, Nile, Ganges, Rio de la

Plata). That of the Nile veiled his face, said Bernini, that he might

not be shocked by the façade which was added by Borromini to the Church

of St Agnes.

"Bernin s'ingéra de creuser un des fameux piliers de St. Pierre

pour y pratiquer un petit escalier montant à la tribune; aussitôt

le dôme prit coup et se fendit. On fut obligé de le relier tout

entier avec un cercle de fer. Ce n'est point raillerie, le cercle y

est encore; le mal n'a pas augmenté depuis. Par malheur pour le

pauvre cavalier, on trouva dans les Mémoires de Michel-Ange qu'il

avait recommandé, _sub pœnâ capitis_, de ne jamais toucher aux

quatre piliers massifs faits pour supporter le dôme, sachant de

quelle masse épouvantable il allait les charger; le pape voulait

faire pendre Bernin, qui, pour se rédimer, inventa la fontaine

Navone."--_De Brosses._

The lower fountain, also by Bernini, is adorned with tritons and the

figure of a Moor. The great palace to the right of the church is the

_Palazzo Pamfili_, built by Rainaldi for Innocent X. in 1650. It

possesses a ceiling painted by _Pietro di Cortona_ with the adventures

of Eneas. Its music-hall is still occasionally used for public

concerts.

It was in this palace that the notorious Olympia Maldacchini, foundress

of the Pamfili fortunes, besported herself during the reign of her

brother-in-law, Innocent X.

"The great object of Donna Olympia was to keep at a distance from

Innocent every person and every influence that could either lessen

her own, or go shares in the profits to be extracted from it. For

this, after all, was the great and ultimate scope of her exertions.

To secure the profits of the papacy in hard cash; this was the

problem. No appointment to office of any kind was made, except in

consideration of a proportionable sum paid down into her own

coffers. This often amounted to three or four years' revenue of the

place to be granted. Bishoprics and benefices were sold as fast as

they became vacant. One story is told of an unlucky disciple of

Simon, who on treating with the popess, for a very valuable see,

just fallen vacant, and hearing from her a price, at which it might

be his, far exceeding all he could command, persuaded the members

of his family to sell all they had for the purpose of making this

profitable investment. The price was paid, and the bishopric was

given to him, but with a fearful resemblance to the case of

Ananias, he died within the year; and his ruined family saw the see

a second time sold by the insatiable and incorrigible Olympia....

During the last year of Innocent's life, Olympia literally hardly

ever quitted him. Once a week, we read, she left the Vatican,

secretly by night, accompanied by several porters carrying sacks of

coin, the proceeds of the week's extortions and sales, to her own

palace. And, during these short absences, she used to lock the pope

into his chamber, and take the key with her!"--_Trollope's Life of

Olympia Pamfili._

On the opposite side of the piazza, some architectural fragments denote

the half-ruined _Church of S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli_ of the fifteenth

century. It possesses a gothic rose window, which is almost unique in

Rome. There is a handsome door on the other side towards the Via della

Sediola. The lower end of the square near this is occupied by the

_Palazzo Lancellotti_, built by Pirro Ligorio, behind which is the

frescoed front of Palazzo Massimo, mentioned above. The Piazza Navona

has been used as a market ever since 1447. In the hot months, the

singular custom prevails of occasionally stopping the escape of water

from the fountains, and so turning the square into a lake, through which

the rich splash about in carriages, and eat ices and drink coffee in the

water, while the poor look on from raised galleries. It is supposed that

this practice is a remnant of the pleasures of the Naumachia, once

annually exhibited almost on this very spot, formerly the Circus

Agonalis.

Vitale Mascardi gives an extraordinary account of the magnificent

tournament held here in 1634 in honour of the visit of Prince Alexander

of Poland, when the piazza was hung with draperies of gold and silver,

and Donna Anna Colonna and Donna Costanza Barberini awarded gorgeous

prizes of diamonds to noble and princely competitors.

Nearly opposite Sant' Agnese, a short street leads (passing on the left,

Arvotti's, the famous Roman-scarf shop) to the front of the _Palazzo

Madama_, which is sometimes said to derive its name from Margaret of

Parma, daughter of Charles V., who once occupied it, and sometimes from

Catherine de' Medici, who also lived here, and under whom it was altered

in its present form by Paolo Marucelli. The balcony towards the piazza

is the scene every Saturday at noon of the drawing of the Roman lottery.

"In the middle of the balcony, on the rail, is fixed a glass

barrel, with a handle to turn it round. Behind it stand three or

four officials, who have been just now ushered in with a blast from

two trumpeters, also stationed in the balcony. Immediately behind

the glass barrel itself stands a boy of some twelve or thirteen

years, dressed in the white uniform of one of the orphan

establishments, with a huge white shovel hat. Some time is occupied

by the folding, and putting into the barrel, pieces of paper,

inscribed with the numbers, from one onwards. Each of these is

proclaimed, as folded and put in, by one of the officials who acts

as spokesman or crier. At last, after eighty-seven, eighty-eight,

and eighty-nine have been given out, he raises his voice to a

chant, and sings forth, _Numero novanta_, 'number ninety,' this

completing the number put in.

"And now, or before this, appears on the balcony another

character--no less a person than a Monsignore, who appears, not in

his ordinary, but in his more solemn official costume; and this

connects the ceremonial directly with the spiritual authority of

the realm. And now commences the drawing. The barrel having been

for some time turned rapidly round to shuffle the numbers, the

orphan takes off his hat, makes the sign of the cross, and having

waved his open hand in the air to show that it is empty, inserts it

into the barrel, and draws out a number, giving it to the

Monsignore, who opens it and hands it to the crier. This latter

then proclaims it--'_Prima-estratta, numero venti cinque_.' Then

the trumpets blow their blast, and the same is repeated four times

more: the proclamation varying each time, _Seconda estratta_,

_Terza_, _Quatra_, _Quinta_, etc., five numbers being thus the

whole drawn, out of ninety put in. This done, with various

expressions of surprise, delight, or disappointment from the crowd

below, the officials disappear, the square empties itself, and all

is as usual till the next Saturday at the same time....

"In almost every street in Rome are shops devoted to the purchase

of lottery tickets. Two numbers purchased with the double chance of

these two numbers turning up are called an _ambo_, and three

purchased with the treble chance of those three turning up, are

called a _terno_, and, of course, the higher and more perilous the

stake, the richer the prize, if obtained."--_Alford's Letters from

Abroad._

"Les étrangers qui viennent à Rome commencent par blâmer sévèrement

la loterie. Au bout de quelque temps, l'esprit de tolérance qui est

dans l'air pénètre peu-à-peu jusqu'au fond de leur cerveau; ils

excusent un jeu philanthropique qui fournit au pauvre peuple six

jours d'espérances pour cinq sous. Bientôt, pour se rendre compte

du mécanisme de la loterie, ils entrent euxmêmes dans un bureau, en

évitant de se laisser voir. Trois mois après, ils poursuivent

ouvertement une combinaison savante; ils ont une théorie

mathématique qu'ils signeraient volontiers de leur nom; ils donnent

des leçons aux nouveaux arrivés; ils érigent le jeu en principe et

jurent qu'un homme est impardonnable s'il ne laisse pas une porte

ouverte à la Fortune."--_About, Rome Contemporaine._

The court at the back of the palazzo is now occupied by the General Post

Office.

Close by is the _Church of S. Luigi dei Francesi_, rebuilt 1589, with a

façade by Giacomo della Porta. It contains a number of tombs of eminent

Frenchmen who have died in Rome, and some good pictures.

Following the right aisle, the second chapel has frescoes from the life

of Sta. Cecilia, by _Domenichino_ (she gives clothes to the poor,--is

crowned by an angel with her husband Valerian,--refuses to sacrifice to

idols,--suffers martyrdom,--enters into heaven).

"Domenichino is often cold and studied in the principal subject,

while the subordinate persons have much grace, and a noble

character of beauty. Of this the two frescoes in S. Luigi at Rome,

from the life of Sta. Cecilia, are striking examples. It is not the

saint herself, bestowing her goods from a balcony, who contributes

the chief subject, but the masterly group of poor people struggling

for them below. The same may be said of the death of the saint,

where the admiration and grief of the bystanders are

inimitable."--_Kugler._

"Reclining on a couch, in the centre of the picture, her hand

pressed on her bosom, her dying eyes raised to heaven, the saint is

breathing her last; while female forms, of exquisite beauty and

innocence, are kneeling around, or bending over her. The noble

figure of an old man, whose clasped hands and bent brow seem to

bespeak a father's affection, appears on one side; and lovely

children, in all the playful graces of unconscious infancy, as

usual in Domenichino's paintings, by contrast heighten, yet

relieve, the deep pathos of the scene. From above, an angel--such

an angel as Domenichino alone knew how to paint, a cherub form of

light and loveliness--is descending on rapid wing, bearing to the

expiring saint the crown and palm of glory."--_Eaton's Rome._

The copy of Raphael's Sta. Cecilia over the altar is by _Guido_. The

fourth chapel has on the right frescoes by _Girolamo Sicciolante_, on

the left by _Pellegrino da Bologna_, the altar-piece is by _Giacomo del

Conte_. The fifth chapel has on the right the monument of Agincourt (ob.

1814), the famous archæologist, on the left that of Guerin the painter.

The high altar has an Assumption by _Bassano_.

The first chapel in the left aisle has a St. Sebastian by _Massei_. In

the fifth chapel, of St. Matthew, three pictures by _Caravaggio_

represent the vocation and martyrdom of that saint.

"The paintings of Caravaggio at S. Luigi belong to his most

comprehensive works. The Martyrdom of St Matthew, with the angel

with a palm branch squatting upon a cloud, and a boy running away,

screaming, though highly animated, is an offensive production. On

the other hand, the Calling of the Apostle may be considered as a

_genre_ picture of grand characteristic figures; for instance,

those of the money-changers and publican at the table; some of them

counting money, others looking up astonished at the entrance of the

Saviour."--_Kugler._

"Over the altar is St. Matthew writing his Gospel; he looks up at

the attendant angel, who is behind with outspread wings, and in the

act of dictating. On the left is the Calling of St. Matthew: the

saint, who has been counting money, rises with one hand on his

breast, and turns to follow the Saviour: an old man, with

spectacles on his nose, examines with curiosity the personage whose

summons has had such a miraculous effect: a boy is slyly

appropriating the money which the apostle has thrown down. The

third picture is the martyrdom of the saint, who, in the sacerdotal

habit, lies extended on a block; while a half-naked executioner

raises the sword, and several spectators shrink back with horror.

There is nothing dignified or poetical in these representations;

and though painted with all that power of effect which

characterized Caravaggio, then at the height of his reputation,

they have also his coarseness of feeling and execution: the priests

were (not without reason) dissatisfied; and it required all the

influence of his patron, Cardinal Giustiniani, to induce them to

retain the pictures in the church where we now see

them."--_Jameson's Sacred Art_, p. 146.

Amongst the monuments scattered over this church are those of Cardinal

d'Ossat, ambassador of Henry IV.; Cardinal de la Grange d'Arquien,

father-in-law of Sobieski, who died at the age of 105; Cardinal de la

Trémouille, ambassador of Louis XIV.; Madame de Montmorin, with an

epitaph by Chateaubriand; and Claude Lorraine, who is buried at the

Trinità di Monti.

The pillars which separate the nave and aisles are of splendid Sicilian

jasper. They were intended for S. Ignazio, but when the Order of the

Jesuits was dissolved by Clement XIV., he presented them to S. Luigi.

The site of this church, the Palazzo Madama, and their adjoining

buildings, was once occupied by the baths of Nero. They are commemorated

by the name of the small church "S. Salvatore in Thermis."

In front of S. Luigi are the _Palaces Patrizi and Giustiniani_, and,

following--to the right--the Via della Sediola, on the left is the

entrance to the _University of the Sapienza_, founded by Innocent IV. in

1244 as a law school. Its buildings were begun by Pius III. and Julius

II., and extended by Leo X. on plans of Michael Angelo. The portico was

built under Gregory XIII. by Giacomo della Porta. The northern façade

was erected by Borromini, with the ridiculous church (S. Ivo), built in

the form of a bee to flatter Urban VIII., that insect being his device.

The building is called the Sapienza, from the motto, "Initium Sapientiæ

timor Domini," engraved over the window above the principal entrance.

Forty professors teach here all the different branches of law, medicine,

theology, philosophy, and philology.

Behind the Sapienza is the small _Piazza di S. Eustachio_, containing on

three sides the Giustiniani, Lante, and Maccarini palaces, and

celebrated for the festival of the Befana,[309] which takes place here.

"The Piazza and all the adjacent streets are lined with booths

covered with every kind of plaything for children. These booths are

gaily illuminated with rows of candles and the three-wick'd brass

_lucerne_ of Rome; and at intervals, painted posts are set into the

pavement, crowned with pans of grease, with a wisp of tow for

wick, from which flames blaze and flare about. Besides these,

numbers of torches carried about by hand lend a wavering and

picturesque light to the scene. By eight o'clock in the evening

crowds begin to fill the piazza and the adjacent streets. Long

before one arrives the squeak of penny-trumpets is heard at

intervals; but in the piazza itself the mirth is wild and furious,

and the din that salutes one's ears on entering is almost

deafening. The object of every one is to make as much noise as

possible, and every kind of instrument for this purpose is sold at

the booths. There are drums beating, _tamburelli_ thumping and

jingling, pipes squeaking, watchman's rattles clacking,

penny-trumpets and tin-horns shrilling, the sharpest whistles

shrieking,--and mingling with these is heard the din of voices,

screams of laughter, and the confused burr and buzz of a great

crowd. On all sides you are saluted by the strangest noises.

Instead of being spoken to, you are whistled at. Companies of

people are marching together in platoons, or piercing through the

crowd in long files, and dancing and blowing like mad on their

instruments. It is a perfect witches' Sabbath. Here, huge dolls

dressed as Polichinello or Pantaloon are borne about for sale,--or

over the heads of the crowd great black-faced jumping-jacks, lifted

on a stick, twitch themselves in fantastic fits,--or, what is more

Roman than all, long poles are carried about strung with rings of

hundreds of _Giambelli_ (a light cake, called jumble in English),

which are screamed for sale at a _mezzo baiocco_ each. There is no

alternative but to get a drum, whistle, or trumpet, and join in the

racket,--and to fill one's pocket with toys for the children, and

absurd presents for one's older friends. The moment you are once in

for it, and making as much noise as you can, you begin to relish

the jest. The toys are very odd, particularly the Roman whistles;

some of these are made of pewter, with a little wheel that whirls

as you blow; others are of terra-cotta, very rudely modelled into

every shape of bird, beast, or human deformity, each with a whistle

in its head, breast, or tail, which it is no joke to hear, when

blown close to your ears by a stout pair of lungs. The scene is

extremely picturesque. Above, the dark vault of night, with its far

stars, the blazing and flaring of lights below, and the great, dark

walls of the Sapienza and church looking down grimly upon the

mirth."--_Story's Roba di Roma._

The _Church of S. Eustachio_ commemorates one, who, first a brave

soldier of the army of Titus in Palestine, became master of the horse

under Trajan, and general under Hadrian, and who suffered martyrdom for

refusing to sacrifice to idols, by being roasted alive in a brazen bull

before the Coliseum, with his wife Theophista, and his sons, Agapetus

and Theophistus. The relics of these saints repose in a porphyry

sarcophagus under the high altar. The stags' heads on the portico and on

the apex of the gable refer to the legend of the conversion of St.

Eustace.

"One day, while hunting in the forest, he saw before him a white

stag, of marvellous beauty, and he pursued it eagerly, and the stag

fled before him, and ascended a high rock. Then Placidus (Eustace

was called Placidus before his conversion), looking up, beheld,

between the horns of the stag, a cross of radiant light, and on it

the image of the crucified Redeemer; and being astonished and

dazzled by this vision, he fell on his knees, and a voice which

seemed to come from the crucifix cried to him, and said, 'Placidus!

why dost thou pursue me? I am Christ, whom thou hast hitherto

served without knowing me. Dost thou now believe?' And Placidus

fell with his face to the earth, and said, 'Lord, I believe!' And

the voice answered, saying, 'Thou shall suffer many tribulations

for my sake, and shalt be tried by many temptations; but be strong

and of good courage, and I will not forsake thee.' To which

Placidus replied, 'Lord, I am content. Do thou give me patience to

suffer!' And when he looked up again the glorious vision had

departed."--_Jameson's Sacred Art_, p. 792.

A similar story is told of St. Hubert, St. Julian, and St. Felix.

A fresco of St. Peter, by _Pierino del Vaga_, in this church, was much

admired by Vasari, who dilates upon the boldness of its design, the

simple folds of its drapery, its careful drawing and judicious

treatment.

Two streets lead from the Piazza S. Eustachio to--

_The Pantheon_, the most perfect pagan building in the city, built B.C.

27, by Marcus Agrippa, the bosom friend of Augustus Cæsar, and the

second husband of his daughter Julia. The inscription in huge letters,

perfectly legible from beneath, "M. AGRIPPA. L. F. COS. TERTIUM FECIT,"

records its construction. Another inscription on the architrave, now

almost illegible, records its restoration under Septimius Severus and

his son Caracalla, _c._ 202, who, "Pantheum vetustate corruptum cum omni

cultu restitverunt." Some authorities have maintained that the Pantheon

was originally only a vast hall in the baths of Agrippa, acknowledged

remains of which exist at no great distance; but the name "Pantheum" was

in use as early as A.D. 59.

In A.D. 399 the Pantheon was closed as a temple in obedience to a decree

of the Emperor Honorius, and in 608 was consecrated as a Christian

church by Pope Boniface IV., with the permission of the Emperor Phocas,

under the title of _Sta. Maria ad Martyres_. To this dedication we owe

the preservation of the main features of the building, though it had

been terribly maltreated. In 663 the Emperor Constans, who had come to

Rome with great pretence of devotion to its shrines and relics, and who

only staid there twelve days, did not scruple, in spite of its religious

dedication, to strip off the tiles of gilt bronze with which the roof

was covered, and carry them off with him to Syracuse, where, upon his

murder, a few years after, they fell into the hands of the Saracens. In

1087 it was used by the anti-pope Guibert as a fortress, whence he made

incursions upon the lawful pope, Victor III., and his protector, the

Countess Matilda. In 1101, another anti-pope, Sylvester IV., was elected

here. Pope Martin V., after the return from Avignon, attempted the

restoration of the Pantheon by clearing away the mass of miserable

buildings in which it was encrusted, and his efforts were continued by

Eugenius IV., but Urban VIII. (1623--44), though he spent 15,000 scudi

upon the Pantheon, and added the two ugly campaniles, called in

derision "the asses' ears," of their architect, Bernini, did not

hesitate to plunder the gilt bronze ceiling of the portico, 450,250 lbs.

in weight, to make the baldacchino of St. Peter's, and cannons for the

Castle of S. Angelo. Benedict XIV. (1740--58) further despoiled the

building by tearing away all the precious marbles which lined the attic,

to ornament other buildings.

The Pantheon was not originally, as now, below the level of the piazza,

but was approached by a flight of five steps. The portico, which is 110

feet long and 44 feet deep, is supported by sixteen grand Corinthian

columns of oriental granite, 36 feet in height. The ancient bronze doors

remain. On either side are niches, once occupied by colossal statues of

Augustus and Agrippa.

"Agrippa wished to dedicate the Pantheon to Augustus, but he

refused, and only allowed his statue to occupy a niche on the right

of the peristyle, while that of Agrippa occupied the niche on the

left."--_Merivale._

The _Interior_ is a rotunda, 143 feet in diameter, covered by a dome. It

is only lighted by an aperture in the centre, 28 feet in diameter. Seven

great niches around the walls once contained statues of different gods

and goddesses, that of Jupiter being the central figure. All the

surrounding columns are of giallo-antico, except four, which are of

pavonazzetto, painted yellow. It is a proof of the great value and

rarity of giallo-antico, that it was always impossible to obtain more to

complete the set.

"L'intérieur du Panthéon, comme l'extérieur, est parfaitement

conservé, et les édicules, placés dans le pourtour du temple

forment les chapelles de l'église. Jamais la simplicité ne fut

alliée à la grandeur dans une plus heureuse harmonie. Le jour,

tombant d'en haut et glissant le long des colonnes et des parois de

marbre, porte dans l'âme un sentiment de tranquillité sublime, et

donne à tous les objets, dit Serlio, un air de beauté. Vue du

dehors, la coupole de plomb qui a remplacé l'ancienne coupole de

bronze couverte de tuiles dorées, fait bien comprendre l'expression

de Virgile, lequel l'avait sous les yeux et peut-être en vue, quand

il écrivait:

... 'Media testudine templi.'

En effet, cette coupole surbaissée ressemble tout à fait à la

carapace d'une tortue."--_Ampère, Emp._ i. 342.

"Being deep in talk, it so happened that they found themselves near

the majestic, pillared portico and huge black rotundity of the

Pantheon. It stands almost at the central point of the labyrinthine

intricacies of the modern city, and often presents itself before

the bewildered stranger when he is in search of other objects.

Hilda, looking up, proposed that they should enter.

"They went in, accordingly, and stood in the free space of that

great circle, around which are ranged the arched recesses and

stately altars, formerly dedicated to heathen gods, but

Christianized through twelve centuries gone by. The world has

nothing else like the Pantheon. So grand it is, that the pasteboard

statues over the lofty cornice do not disturb the effect, any more

than the tin crowns and hearts, the dusty artificial flowers, and

all manner of trumpery gewgaws, hanging at the saintly shrines. The

rust and dinginess that have dimmed the precious marble on the

walls; the pavement, with its great squares and rounds of porphyry

and granite, cracked crosswise and in a hundred directions, showing

how roughly the troublesome ages have trampled here; the grey dome

above, with its opening to the sky, as if heaven were looking down

into the interior of this place of worship, left unimpeded for

prayers to ascend the more freely: all these things make an

impression of solemnity, which St. Peter's itself fails to produce.

"'I think,' said Kenyon, 'it is to the aperture in the dome--that

great eye, gazing heavenward--that the Pantheon owes the

peculiarity of its effect. It is so heathenish, as it were--so

unlike all the snugness of our modern civilization! Look, too, at

the pavement directly beneath the open space! So much rain has

fallen there, in the last two thousand years, that it is green with

small, fine moss, such as grows over tombstones in damp English

churchyards.'

"'I like better,' replied Hilda, 'to look at the bright, blue sky,

roofing the edifice where the builders left it open. It is very

delightful, in a breezy day, to see the masses of white cloud float

over the opening, and then the sunshine fall through it again,

fitfully, as it does now. Would it be any wonder if we were to see

angels hovering there, partly in and partly out, with genial,

heavenly faces, not intercepting the light, but transmuting it into

beautiful colours? Look at that broad, golden beam--a sloping

cataract of sunlight--which comes down from the aperture, and rests

upon the shrine, at the right hand of the entrance.'"--_Hawthorne._

... "'Entrons dans le temple,' dit Corinne: 'vous le voyez, il

reste découvert presque comme il l'était autrefois. On dit que

cette lumière qui venait d'en haut était l'emblème de la divinité

supérieure à toutes les divinités. Les païens ont toujours aimé les

images symboliques. Il semble en effet que ce langage convient

mieux à la religion que la parole. La pluie tombe souvent sur ces

parvis de marbre; mais aussi les rayons du soleil viennent éclairer

les prières. Quelle sérénité; quel air de fête on remarque dans cet

édifice! Les païens ont divinisé la vie, et les chrétiens ont

divinisé la mort: tel est l'esprit des deux cultes.'"--_Mad. de

Staël._

"In the ancient Pantheon, when the music of Christian chaunts rises

among the shadowy forms of the old vanished gods painted on the

walls, and the light streams down, not from painted windows in the

walls, but from the glowing heavens above, every note of the

service echoes like a peal of triumph, and fills my heart with

thankfulness."--_Mrs. Charles._

"'Where,' asked Redschid Pasha, on his visit to the Pantheon, 'are

the statues of the heathen gods?' 'Of course they were removed when

the temple was Christianized,' was the natural answer. 'No,' he

replied, 'I would have left them standing to show how the true God

had triumphed over them in their own house."--_Cardinal Wiseman._

"No, great Dome of Agrippa, thou art not Christian! canst not,

Strip and replaster and daub and do what they will with thee, be so!

Here underneath the great porch of colossal Corinthian columns,

Here as I walk, do I dream of the Christian belfries above them;

Or, on a bench as I sit and abide for long hours, till thy whole vast

Round grows dim as in dreams to my eyes, I repeople thy niches,

Not with the martyrs, and saints, and confessors, and virgins,

and children,

But with the mightier forms of an older, austerer worship;

And I recite to myself, how

'eager for battle here

Stood Vulcan, here matronal Juno,

And, with the bow to his shoulder faithful,

He who with pure dew laveth of Castaly

His flowing locks, who holdeth of Lycia

The oak forest and the wood that bore him,

Delos' and Patara's own Apollo.'"

_A. H. Clough._

Some antiquarians have supposed that the aperture at the top of the

Pantheon was originally closed by a huge "Pigna," or pine-cone of

bronze, like that which crowned the summit of the mausoleum of Hadrian,

and this belief has been encouraged by the name of a neighbouring church

being S. Giovanni della Pigna.

The Pantheon has become the burial-place of painters. Raphael, Annibale

Caracci, Taddeo Zucchero, Baldassare Peruzzi, Pierino del Vaga, and

Giovanni da Udine, are all buried here.

The third chapel on the left contains the _tomb of Raphael_ (born April

6, 1483; died April 6, 1520). From the pen of Cardinal Bembo is the

epigram:

"Ille hic est Raphael, timuit quo sospite vinci

Rerum magna parens, et moriente mori"[310]

"Raphael mourut à l'âge de 37 ans. Son corps resta exposé pendant

trois jours. Au moment où l'on s'apprêtait à le descendre dans sa

dernière demeure, on vit arriver le pape (Leon X.) qui se

prosterna, pria quelques instants, bénit Raphael, et lui prit pour

la dernière fois la main, qu'il arrosa de ses larmes (si prostrò

innanzi l'estinto Rafaello et baciogli quella mano, tra le

lagrime). On lui fit de magnifiques funérailles, auxquelles

assistèrent les cardinaux, les artistes, &c."--_A. Du Pays._

"When Raphael went,

His heavenly face the mirror of his mind,

His mind a temple for all lovely things

To flock to and inhabit--when He went,

Wrapt in his sable cloak, the cloak he wore,

To sleep beneath the venerable Dome,

By those attended, who in life had loved,

Had worshipped, following in his steps to Fame,

('Twas on an April-day, when Nature smiles,)

All Rome was there. But, ere the march began,

Ere to receive their charge the bearers came,

Who had not sought him? And when all beheld

Him, where he lay, how changed from yesterday,

Him in that hour cut off, and at his head

His last great work;[311] when, entering in, they looked

Now on the dead, then on that masterpiece,

Now on his face, lifeless and colourless,

Then on those forms divine that lived and breathed,

And would live on for ages--all were moved;

And sighs burst forth, and loudest lamentations."

_Rogers._

Taddeo Zucchero and Annibale Caracci are buried on either side of

Raphael. Near the high altar is a monument to Cardinal Gonsalvi

(1757--1824), the faithful secretary and minister of Pius VII., by

_Thorwaldsen_. This, however, is only a cenotaph, marking the spot where

his heart is preserved. His body rests with that of his beloved brother

Andrew in the church of S. Marcello.

During the middle ages the pope always officiated here on the day of

Pentecost, when, in honour of the descent of the Holy Spirit, showers of

white rose-leaves were continually sent down through the aperture during

service.

"Though plundered of all its brass, except the ring which was

necessary to preserve the aperture above; though exposed to

repeated fire; though sometimes flooded by the river, and always

open to the rain, no monument of equal antiquity is so well

preserved as this rotunda. It passed with little alteration from

the pagan into the present worship; and so convenient were its

niches for the Christian altar, that Michael Angelo, ever studious

of ancient beauty, introduced their design as a model in the

Catholic church."--_Forsyth._

"Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime--

Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods,

From Jove to Jesus--spared and bless'd by time,

Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods

Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods

His way through thorns to ashes--glorious dome!

Shalt thou not last? Time's scythe and tyrant's rods

Shiver upon thee--sanctuary and home

Of art and piety--Pantheon! pride of Rome!"

_Byron, Childe Harold._

In the Piazza della Rotonda is a small _Obelisk_ found in the Campus

Martius.

"At a few paces from the streets where meat is sold, you will find

gathered round the fountain in the Piazza della Rotonda, a number

of bird-fanciers, surrounded by cages in which are multitudes of

living birds for sale. Here are Java sparrows, parrots and

parroquets, grey thrushes and nightingales, red-breasts (_petti

rossi_), yellow canary-birds, beautiful sweet-singing little

_cardellini_, and gentle ringdoves, all chattering, singing, and

cooing together, to the constant splashing of the fountain. Among

them, perched on stands, and glaring wisely out of their great

yellow eyes, may be seen all sorts of owls, from the great solemn

_barbigiani_, and white-tufted owl, to the curious little

_civetta_, which gives its name to all sharp-witted heartless

flirts, and the _aziola_, which Shelley has celebrated in one of

his minor poems."--_Story's Roba di Roma._

(Following the Via della Rotonda from hence, in the third street on the

left is the small semicircular ruin called, from a fancied resemblance

to the favourite cake of the people, _Arco di Ciambella_. This is the

only remaining fragment of the baths of Agrippa, unless the Pantheon

itself was connected with them.)

Behind the Pantheon, is the _Piazza della Minerva_, where a small

_Obelisk_ was erected 1667 by Bernini, on the back of an elephant. It is

exactly similar to the obelisk in front of the Pantheon, and they were

both found near this site, where they formed part of the decorations of

the Campus Martius. The hieroglyphics show that it dates from Hophres,

a king of the 25th dynasty. On the pedestal is the inscription:

"Sapientis Ægypti insculptas obelisco figuras

Ab elephanto belluarum fortissimo gestari

Quisquis hic vides, documentum intellige

Robustæ mentis esse solidam sapientiam sustinere."

One side of the piazza is occupied by the mean ugly front of the _Church

of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva_, built in 1370 upon the ruins of a temple

of Minerva founded by Pompey. It is the only gothic church in Rome of

importance. In 1848--55 it was redecorated with tawdry imitation

marbles, which have only a good effect when there is not sufficient

light to see them. In spite of this, the interior is very interesting,

and its chapels are a perfect museum of relics of art or history. The

services, too, in this church were, under the papal government,

exceedingly imposing, especially the procession on the night before

Christmas, the mass of St. Thomas Aquinas, and that of "the white mule

day." Some celebrated divine generally preaches here at 11 A.M. every

morning in Lent.

Hither, on the feast of the Annunciation, comes the famous "Procession

of the White Mule," when the host is borne by the grand almoner riding

on the papal mule, followed by the pope in his glass coach, and a long

train of cardinals and other dignitaries. Up to the time of Pius VI., it

was the pope himself who rode upon the white mule, but Pius VII. was too

infirm, and since his time they have given it up. But this procession

has continued to be one of the finest _spectacles_ of the kind, and has

been an opportunity for a loyal demonstration, balconies being hung with

scarlet draperies, and flowers showered down upon the papal coach,

while the pope, on arriving and departing, has usually been received

with tumultuous "evivas."

On the right of the entrance is the tomb of Diotisalvi, a Florentine

knight, ob. 1482. Beginning the circuit of the church by the right

aisle, the first chapel has a picture of S. Ludovico Bertrando, by

_Baciccio_, the paintings on the pilasters being by _Muziano_. In the

second, the Colonna Chapel, is the tomb of the late Princess Colonna

(Donna Isabella Alvaria of Toledo) and her child, who both died at

Albano in the cholera of 1867. The third chapel is that of the Gabrielli

family. The fourth is that of the Annunciation. Over its altar is a most

interesting picture, shown as a work of Fra Angelico, but more probably

that of _Benozzo Gozzoli_. It represents Monsignore Torquemada attended

by an angel, presenting three young girls to the Virgin, who gives them

dowries: the Almighty is seen in the clouds. Torquemada was a Dominican

Cardinal, who founded the association of the Santissima-Annunziata,

which holds its meetings in this chapel, and which annually gives

dowries to a number of poor girls, who receive them from the pope when

he comes here in state on the 25th of March. On this occasion, the girls

who are to receive the dowries are drawn up in two lines in front of the

church. Some are distinguished by white wreaths. They are those who are

going to "enter into religion," and who consequently receive double the

dowry of the others, on the plea that "money placed in the hands of

religion bears interest for the poor."

Torquemada is himself buried in this chapel, opposite the tomb, by

Ambrogio Buonvicino, of his friend Urban VII., Giov. Battista Castagna,

1590,--who was pope only for eleven days.

The fifth chapel is the burial-place of the Aldobrandini family. It

contains a faded Last Supper, by _Baroccio_.

"The Cenacolo of Baroccio, painted by order of Clement VIII.

(1594), is remarkable for an anecdote relating to it. Baroccio, who

was not eminent for a correct taste, had in his first sketch

reverted to the ancient fashion of placing Satan close behind

Judas, whispering in his ear, and tempting him to betray his

master. The pope expressed his dissatisfaction,--'che non gli

piaceva il demonio se dimesticasse tanto con Gesù Christo,'--and

ordered him to remove the offensive figure."--_Jameson's Sacred

Art_, p. 277.

Here are the fine tombs erected by Clement VIII. (Ippolito Aldobrandini)

as soon as he obtained the papacy, to his father and mother. Their

architecture is by _Giacomo della Porta_, but the figures are by

_Cordieri_, the sculptor of Sta. Silvia's statue. At the sides of the

mother's tomb are figures emblematical of Charity, by that of the

father, figures of Humility and Vanity. Beyond his mother's tomb is a

fine statue of Clement VIII. himself (who is buried at Sta. Maria

Maggiore), by _Ippolito Buzi_.

"Hippolyte Aldobrandini, qui prit le nom de Clément VIII., était le

cinquième fils du célèbre jurisconsulte Silvestro Aldobrandini,

qui, après avoir professé à Pise et joui d'une haute autorité à

Florence, avait été condamné à l'exil par le retour au pouvoir des

Médicis ses ennemis. La vie de Silvestre devint alors pénible et

calamiteuse. Dépouillé de ses biens, il fut, du moins, toujours

ennoblir son malheur par la dignité de son caractère. Sa famille

présentait un rare assemblage de douces vertus et de jeunes talents

qu'une forte éducation développait chaque jour avec puissance.

Appelé à Rome par Paul III., qui le nomma avocat consistorial,

Silvester s'y transporta avec son épouse, la pieuse Leta Deti, qui,

pendant trente-sept ans, fut pour lui comme son bon ange, et avec

tous ses enfants, Jean, qui devait être un jour cardinal; Bernard,

qui devint un vaillant guerrier; Thomas, qui préparait déjà

peut-être sa traduction de Diogène-Laërce; Pierre, qui voulut être

jurisconsulte comme son père; et le jeune Hippolyte, un enfant

alors, dont les saillies inquiétaient le vieillard, car il ne

savait comment pourvoir à son éducation et utiliser cette vivacité

de génie qui déjà brillait dans son regard. Hippolyte fut élevé

aux frais du cardinal Farnèse; puis, tous les emplois, toutes les

dignités vinrent successivement au-devant de lui, sans qu'il les

cherchât autrement qu'en s'en rendant digne."--_Gournerie, Rome

Chrétienne_, ii. 238.

The sixth chapel contains two fine cinque-cento tombs; on the left,

Benedetto Superanzio, bishop of Nicosa, ob. 1495; on the right, a

Spanish bishop, Giovanni da Coca, with frescoes. Close to the former

tomb, on the floor, is the grave of (archdeacon) Robert Wilberforce, who

died at Albano in 1857.

Here we enter the right transept. On the right is a small dark chapel

containing a fine Crucifix, attributed to Giotto. The central, or

Caraffa Chapel, is dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas, and is covered with

well-preserved frescoes. On the right, St. Thomas Aquinas is represented

surrounded by allegorical figures, by _Filippino Lippi_. Over the altar

is a beautiful Annunciation, in which a portrait of the donor, Cardinal

Olivieri Caraffa, is introduced. Above is the Assumption of the Virgin.

On the ceiling are the four Sibyls, by _Raffaelino del Garbo_.

Against the left wall is the tomb of Paul IV., Gio. Pietro Caraffa

(1555--59), the great supporter of the Inquisition, the patron of the

Jesuits, the persecutor of the Jews (whom he shut up with walls in the

Ghetto),--a pope so terrible to look upon, that even Alva, who feared no

man, trembled at his awful aspect Such he is represented upon his tomb,

with deeply-sunken eyes and strongly-marked features, with one hand

raised in blessing--or cursing, and the keys of St. Peter in the other.

The tomb was designed by Pirro Ligorio; the statue is the work of

Giacomo and Tommaso Casignuola, and being made in marble of different

pieces and colours, is cited by Vasari as an instance of a sculptor's

ingenuity in imitating painting with his materials. The epitaph runs:

"To Jesus Christ, the hope and the life of the faithful; to Paul

IV. Caraffa, sovereign pontiff, distinguished amongst all by his

eloquence, his learning, and his wisdom; illustrious by his

innocence, by his liberality, and by his greatness of soul; to the

most ardent champion of the catholic faith, Pius V., sovereign

pontiff, has raised this monument of his gratitude and of his

piety. He lived eighty-three years, one month, and twenty days, and

died the 14th August, 1559, the fifth year of his

pontificate."[312]

On the transept wall, just outside this chapel, is the beautiful gothic

tomb of Guillaume Durandus, bishop of Mende,[313] with a recumbent

figure guarded by two angels, the background being occupied by a mosaic

of the Virgin and Child, by _Giovanni Cosmati_.