THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT ROME.
[Sidenote: Early inhabitants of Italy.]
The great capital of the ancient world had a very humble beginning, and
that is involved in myth and mystery. Even the Latin stock, inhabiting
the country from the Tiber to the Volscian mountains, which furnished
the first inhabitants of the city, cannot be clearly traced, since we
have no traditions of the first migration of the human race into Italy.
It is supposed by Mommsen that the peoples which inhabited Latium belong
to the Indo-Germanic family. Among these were probably the independent
cantons of the Ramnians, Tities, and Luceres, which united to form a
single commonwealth, and occupied the hills which arose about fourteen
miles from the mouth of the Tiber. Around these hills was a rural
population which tilled the fields. From these settlements a fortified
fort arose on the Palatine Hill, fitted to be a place of trade from its
situation on the Tiber, and also a fortress to protect the urban
villages. Though unhealthy in its site, it was admirably adapted for
these purposes, and thus early became an important place.
[Sidenote: Foundation of Rome.]
[Sidenote: Settlement under Romulus.]
[Sidenote: Extent of the city at the death of Romulus.]
The legends attribute a different foundation of the "Eternal City." But
these also assign the Palatine as the nucleus of ancient Rome. It was on
this hill that Romulus and Remus grew up to manhood, and it was this
hill which Romulus selected as the site of the city he was so desirous
to build. But modern critics suppose that he did not occupy the whole
hill, but only the western part of it. Varro, whose authority is
generally received, assigns the year 753 before Christ as the date for
the foundation of the city. The first memorable incident in the history
of this little city of robbers was the care of Romulus to increase its
population by opening an asylum for fugitive slaves on the Capitoline
Hill. But this supplied only males who had no wives. And when the
proposal of the founder to solicit intermarriage with the neighboring
nations was rejected, he resorted to stratagem and force. He invites the
Sabines and the people of other Latin towns to witness games. A crowd of
men and women are assembled, and while all are intent on the games, the
unmarried women are seized by the Roman youth. Then ensues, of course, a
war with the Sabines, the result of which is that the Sabines are united
with the Romans and settle on the Quirinal. The Saturnian Hill is left
in possession of the Sabines, while Romulus assumes the Sabine name of
Quirinus, from which we infer that the Sabines had the best of the
conflict. Callius, who, it is said, assisted Romulus, receives as a
compensation the hill known as the Caelian. At the death of Romulus, who
reigned thirty-seven years, Rome comprised the Palatine, the Quirinal,
the Caelian, and the Capitoline hills. [Footnote: M. Ampere, _Hist.
Rom._, tom. i. ch. xii.] The Sabines thus occupy two of the seven
hills, and furnish not only people for the infant city, but laws,
customs, and manners, especially religious observances.
[Sidenote: The public works of Numa.]
The reign of Numa was devoted to the consolidation of the power which
Romulus had acquired, to the civilization of his subjects, and the
improvement of the city. He fixed his residence between the Roman and
the Sabine city, and erected adjoining to the Regia a temple to Vesta,
which was probably only an _oedes sacra_. It was probably along with
these buildings that the Sacra Via came into existence. The Regia became
in after times the residence of the Pontifex Maximus. Numa established
on the Palatine the Curia Saliorum, and built on the Quirinal a temple
of Romulus, afterwards rebuilt by Augustus. He also erected on the
Quirinal a citadel connected with a temple of Jupiter, with cells of
Juno and Minerva. He converted the gate which formed the entrance of the
Sabine city into a temple of Janus, and laid the foundation upon the
Capitoline of a large temple to Fides Publica, the public faith.
[Sidenote: The reign of Tullus Hostilius.]
[Sidenote: Improvement of the city made by Tullus.]
Under the reign of Tullus Hostilius was the capture of Alba Longa, the
old capital of Latium, where Numa had reigned, and the transfer of its
inhabitants to Rome, which thus became the chief city of the Latin
league. They were located on the Caelian, which also became the residence
of the king. He built the Curia Hostilia, a senate chamber, to
accommodate the noble Alban families, in which the Roman Senate
assembled, at the northwest corner of the Forum, to the latest times of
the republic. It was a templum, but not dedicated for divine services,
adjoining the eastern side of the Vulcanal. Out of the spoils of Alba
Longa, Tullus improved the Comitium, a space at the northwest end of the
Forum, fronting the Curia, the common meeting place of the Romans and
Sabines. On the Quirinal Hill he erected a Curia Saliorum in imitation
of that of Numa on the Palatine, devoted to the worship of Quirinus.
[Sidenote: Growth of Rome during the reign of Ancus Martius.]
Ancus Martius, a grandson of Numa, succeeded Tullus after a reign of
thirty-two years. Under him the city was greatly augmented by the
inhabitants of various Latin cities which he subdued. These settled on
the Aventine, and in the valley which separated it from the Palatine,
supposed by Niebuhr to be the origin of the Roman Plebs, though it is
maintained by Lewis that the Plebeian order was coaeval with the
foundation of the city. Ancus fortified Mons Janiculus, the hill on the
western bank of the Tiber, for the protection of the city. He connected
it with Rome by the Pons Sublicius, the earliest of the Roman bridges,
built on piles. The Janiculum was not much occupied by residences until
the time of Augustus. Ancus founded Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber,
which became the port of Rome. It was this king who built the famous
Mamertine Prison, near the Forum, below the northern height of the
Capitoline.
[Sidenote: Tarquinius Priscus.]
[Sidenote: The Cloaca Maxima.]
[Sidenote: Temple of the Capitoline Jupiter.]
A new dynasty succeeded this king, who reigned twenty-four years; that
of the Tarquins, an Etrurian family of Greek extraction, which came from
Corinth, the cradle of Grecian art, celebrated as the birth-place of
painting and for its works of pottery and bronze. Tarquinius Priscus
constructed the Cloaca Maxima, that vast sewer which drained the Forum
and Velabrum, and which is regarded by Niebuhr as one of the most
stupendous monuments of antiquity. It was composed of three semicircular
arches inclosing one another, the innermost of which had a diameter of
twelve feet, large enough to be traversed by a Roman hay-cart.
[Footnote: Arnold, _Hist. of Rom._, vol. i. p. 52.] It was built
without cement, and still remains a magnificent specimen of the
perfection of the old Tuscan masonry. Along the southern side of the
Forum this enlightened monarch constructed a row of shops occupied by
butchers and other tradesmen. At the head of the Forum and under the
Capitoline he founded the Temple of Saturn, the ruins of which attest
considerable splendor. But his greatest work was the foundation of the
Capitoline Temple of Jupiter, completed by Tarquinius Superbus, the
consecrated citadel in which was deposited whatever was most valued by
the Romans.
[Sidenote: Accession of Servius Tullius.]
During the reign of Servius Tullius, who succeeded Tarquin B.C. 578, the
various elements of the population were amalgamated, and the seven
hills, namely, the Palatine, the Capitoline, the Quirinal, the Caelian,
the Viminal, the Esquiline, and the Aventine, were covered with houses,
and inclosed by a wall about six miles in circuit. A temple of Diana was
erected on the Aventine, besides two temples to Fortune, one to Juno,
and one to Luna. Servius also dedicated the Campus Martius, and enlarged
the Mamertine Prison by adding a subterranean dungeon of impenetrable
strength.
[Sidenote: Tarquinius Superbus.]
On the assassination of Servius Tullius, B.C. 535, his son-in-law,
Tarquinius Superbus, usurped the power, and did much for the adornment
of the city. The Capitoline Temple was completed on an artificial
platform, having a triple row of columns in front, and a double row at
the sides. It was two hundred feet wide, having three cells adjoining
one another, the centre appropriated to Jupiter, with Juno and Minerva
on either hand. The temple had a single roof, and lasted nearly five
hundred years before it was burned down, and rebuilt with greater
splendor.
[Sidenote: Rome under the early consuls.]
[Sidenote: Roman roads.]
Such were the chief improvements of the city during the kingly rule.
Under the consuls the growth was constant, but was not marked by grand
edifices. Portunus, the conqueror of the Tarquins at Lake Regillus,
erected a temple to Ceres, Liber, and Libera, at the western extremity
of the Circus Maximus. Camillus founded a celebrated temple to Juno on
the Aventine. But these, and a few other temples, were destroyed when
the Gauls held possession of the city. The city was rebuilt hastily and
without much regard to regularity. There was nothing memorable in its
architectural monuments till the time of Appius Claudius, who
constructed the Via Appia, the first Roman aqueduct. In fact the
constant wars of the Romans prevented much improvement in the city till
the fall of Tarentum, although the ambassadors of Pyrrhus were struck
with its grandeur. M. Curius Dentatus commenced the aqueduct called Anio
Vetus B.C. 278, the greater part of which was under ground. Its total
length was forty-three miles. Q. Flaminius, B.C. 220, between the first
and second Punic wars, constructed the great highway, called after him
the Via Flaminia--the great northern road of Italy, as the Via Appia was
the southern. These roads were very elaborately built. In constructing
them, the earth was excavated till a solid foundation was obtained; over
this a layer of loose stones was laid, then another layer nine inches
thick of rubble-work of broken stones cemented with lime, then another
layer of broken pottery cemented in like manner, over which was a
pavement of large polygonal blocks of hard stone nicely fitted together.
Roads thus constructed were exceedingly durable, so that portions of
them, constructed two thousand years ago, are still in a high state of
preservation.
[Sidenote: Ancient basilicas.]
[Sidenote: Temple of Hercules.]
[Sidenote: Asiatic luxuries.] The improvements of Rome were rapid after
the conquest of Greece, although destructive fires frequently laid large
parts of the city in ruins. The deities of the conquered nations were
introduced into the Roman worship, and temples erected to them. In the
beginning of the second century before Christ we notice the erection of
basilicas, used as courts of law and a sort of exchange, the first of
which was built by M. Portius Cato, B.C. 184, on the north side of the
Forum. It was of an oblong form, open to the air, surrounded with
columns, at one end of which was the tribunal of the judge. The Basilica
Portia was soon followed by the Basilica Fulvia behind the Argentariae
Novae, which had replaced the butchers' shops. Fulvius Nobilia further
adorned the city with a temple of Hercules on the Campus Martius, and
brought from Ambrasia, once the residence of Pyrrhus, two hundred and
thirty marble and two hundred and eighty-five bronze statues, beside
pictures. L. Aemilius Paulus founded an emporium on the banks of the
Tiber as a place of landing and sale for goods transported by sea, and
built a bridge over the Tiber. Sempronius Gracchus, the father of the
two demagogue patriots, erected a third Basilica B.C. 169, on the south
side of the Forum on the site of the house of Scipio Africanus. The
triumph of Aemilius Paulus introduced into the city pictures and statues
enough to load two hundred and fifty chariots, and a vast quantity of
gold and silver. Cornelius Octavius, B.C. 167, built a grand palace on
the Palatine, one of the first examples of elegant domestic
architecture, and erected a magnificent double portico with capitals of
Corinthian bronze. With the growing taste for architectural display,
various Asiatic luxuries were introduced--bronze beds, massive
sideboards, tables of costly woods, cooks, pantomimists, female dancers,
and luxurious banquets. Metellus erected the first marble temple seen in
Rome, before which he placed the twenty-five bronze statues which
Lysippus had executed for Alexander the Great.
[Sidenote: Sack of Corinth.]
[Sidenote: Adornment of the Forum.]
The same year that witnessed the triumph of Metellus, B.C. 146, also saw
the fall of Carthage and the sack of Corinth by Mummius, so that many of
the choicest specimens of Grecian art were brought to the banks of the
Tiber. Among these was the celebrated picture of Bacchus by Aristides,
which was placed in the Temple of Bacchus, Ceres, and Proserpine. The
Forum now contained many gems of Grecian art, among which were the
statues of Alcibiades and Pythagoras which stood near the comitium, the
Three Sibyls placed before the rostra, and a picture by Serapion, which
covered the balconies of the tabernae on the south side of the Forum.
[Sidenote: Aqua Marcia.]
In the year 144 B.C., Q. Marcius Rex constructed the Aqua Marcia, one of
the noblest of the Roman monuments, sixty-two miles in length, seven of
which were on arches, sufficiently lofty to supply the Capitoline with
pure and cold water. Seventeen years after, the Aqua Tepula was added to
the aqueducts of Rome.
[Sidenote: Triumphal Arches.]
The first triumphal arch erected to commemorate victories was in the
year B.C. 196, by L. Sertinius. Scipio Africanus erected another on the
Capitoline, and Q. Fabius, B.C. 121, raised another in honor of his
victories over the Allobroges. This spanned the Via Sacra where it
entered the Forum, and at that time was a conspicuous monument, though
vastly inferior to the arches of the imperial regime.
[Sidenote: Temple of Concord.]
[Sidenote: Basilica Opimia.]
When tranquillity was restored to Rome after the riots connected with
the murder of the Gracchi, the Senate ordered a Temple of Concord to be
built, B.C. 121, in commemoration of the event. This temple was on the
elevated part of the Vulcanal, and was of considerable magnitude. It was
used for the occasional meetings of the Senate, and contained many
valuable works of art. Adjoining this temple, Opimius, the consul,
erected the Basilica Opimia, which was used by the silversmiths, who
were the bankers and pawnbrokers of Rome. The whole quarter on the north
side of the Forum, where this basilica stood, was the Roman exchange--
the focus for all monetary transactions.
[Sidenote: Private palaces.]
[Sidenote: Houses of the nobles.]
The increasing wealth and luxury of Rome, especially caused by the
conquest of Asia, led to the erection on the Palatine of those
magnificent private residences, which became one of the most striking
features the capital. The first of these historical houses was built by
M. Livius Drusus, and overlooked the city. It afterwards passed into the
hands of Crassus, Cicero, and Censorinus. Pompey had a house on the
Palatine, but afterwards transferred his residence to the Casinae,
another aristocratic quarter. M. Aemilius Lepidus also lived in a
magnificent palace; the house of Crassus was still more splendid,
adorned with columns of marble from Mount Hymettus. The house of
Catullus excelled even that of Crassus. This again was excelled by that
of Aquillius on the Viminal, which for some time was the most splendid
in Rome, until Lucullus occupied nearly the whole of the Pincian Hill
with his gardens and galleries of art, which contained some of the
_chefs d'oeuvre_ of antiquity. The gardens of Servilius, which lay
on the declivity of the Houses of Aventine, were adorned with Greek
statues, exceeded in beauty by those of Sallust between the Pincian and
the Quirinal hills, built with the spoils of Numidia, and ultimately the
property of the emperors. The house of Clodius on the Palatine, near to
that of Cicero, was one of the finest in Rome, occupied before him by
Scaurus, who gave for it nearly fifteen million sesterces, about
$650,000. It was adorned with Greek paintings and sculptures. The house
of Cicero, which he bought of Crassus, cost him $150,000. Its atrium was
adorned with Greek marble columns thirty-eight feet high. Hortensius
lived in a house on the Palatine, afterwards occupied by Augustus. The
residence of his friend Atticus, on the Quirinal, was more modest, whose
chief ornament was a grove. Pompey surrounded his house with gardens and
porticos.
[Sidenote: Destruction and rebuilding of the Capitol.]
The year 83 B.C. was marked by the destruction by fire of the old
Capitoline Temple, which had withstood the ravages of the Gauls. Sulla
aspired to rebuild it, and caused to be transported to Rome for that
purpose the column of the Olympian Zeus at Athens. It was completed by
Caesar, and its roof was gilded at an expense of $15,000,000. The
pediment was adorned with statuary, and near it was a colossal statue of
Jupiter.
[Sidenote: Theatre of Pompey.]
In the early ages of the republic there were no theatres at Rome,
theatrical representations being regarded as demoralizing. The regular
drama was the last development even of Grecian genius. The Roman
aristocracy set their faces against dramatic entertainments till after
the conquest of Greece. These plays were introduced and performed on
temporary stages in the open air, or in wooden buildings. There was no
grand theatre till Pompey erected one of stone, B.C. 55, in the Campus
Martius, which was capable of holding eighty thousand spectators, and it
had between its numerous pillars three thousand bronze statues.
[Footnote: _Plin. H. N._, xxxvi. 24.] He also erected, behind his
theatre, a grand portico of one hundred pillars, which became one of the
most fashionable lounging-places of Rome, and which was adorned with
statues and images. Pompey also built various temples.
[Sidenote: Forum Julian.]
[Sidenote: Basilica Julia.]
His great rival however surpassed him in labors to ornament the capital.
Caesar enlarged the Forum, or rather added a new one, the ground of which
cost $2,500,000. It was called the Forum Julian, and was three hundred
and forty feet long by two hundred wide, containing a temple of Venus.
He did not live, however, to carry out his magnificent plans. He
contemplated building an edifice, for the assembly of the Comitia
Tributa, of marble, with a portico inclosing a space of a mile square,
and also the erection of a temple to Mars of unparalleled size and
magnificence. He commenced the Basilica Julia and the Curia Julia--vast
buildings, which were completed under the emperors.
[Sidenote: Rome under the Emperors.]
Such were the principal edifices of Rome until the imperial sway.
Augustus boasted that he found the city of brick and left it of marble.
It was not until the emperors embellished the city with amphitheatres,
theatres, baths, and vast architectural monuments that it was really
worthy to be regarded as the metropolis of the world. The great
improvements of Rome in the republican period were of a private nature,
such as the palaces of senatorial families. There were no temples equal
to those in the Grecian cities either for size, ornament, or beauty.
Indeed, Rome was never famous for temples, but for edifices of material
utility rather than for the worship of the gods; yet the Romans, under
the rule of the aristocracy, were more religious than the Corinthians or
Athenians.
[Sidenote: Works of Augustus.]
[Sidenote: The Subura.]
[Sidenote: Forum Romanum.]
[Sidenote: Its magnificence.]
[Sidenote: Surrounding buildings.]
[Sidenote: Temple of Castor and Pollux.]
[Sidenote: Basilica Julia.]
[Sidenote: Arch of Septimius Severus, and columns of Trajan.]
[Sidenote: Forum Julium.]
[Sidenote: Forum Augusti.]
[Sidenote: Forum of Trajan.]
[Sidenote: Basilica Ulpia.]
On the destruction of the senatorial or constitutional party that had
ruled since the expulsion of the kings, and probably before, and the
peaceful accession of Augustus, B.C. 31, a great impulse was given to
the embellishments of the city. His long reign, his severe taste, and
his immense resources,--undisputed master of one hundred and fifty
millions of subjects,--enabled him to carry out the designs of Julius,
and to restore an immense number of monuments falling to decay. But Rome
was even then deficient in those things which most attract attention in
our modern capitals--the streets and squares. The longest street of Rome
was scarcely three fourths of a mile in length; but the houses upon it
were of great altitude. Moreover the streets were narrow and dark--
scarcely more than fifteen feet in width. But they were not encumbered
with carriages. Private equipages, which form one of the most imposing
features of a modern city, were unknown. There was nothing attractive in
a Roman street, dark, narrow, and dirty, with but few vehicles, and with
dingy shops, like those of Paris in the Middle Ages. The sun scarcely
ever penetrated to them. They were damp and cold. The greater part of
the city belonged to wealthy and selfish capitalists, like Crassus, who
thought more of their gains than the health or beauty of the city. The
Subura, the Sub Velia, and the Velabrum, built in the valleys, were
choked up with tall houses, frequently more, and seldom less, than
seventy feet in height. The hills alone were covered with aristocratic
residences, temples, and public monuments. The only open space, where
the poor people could get fresh air and extensive prospect, was Circus
Maximus and the Forum Romanum. The former was three fourths of a mile in
length and one eighth in breadth, surrounded with a double row of
benches, the lower of stone and the upper of wood, and would seat two
hundred and eighty-five thousand spectators. The Forum was the centre of
architectural splendor, as well as of life and business. Its original
site extended from the eastern part of the Capitoline to the spot where
the Velia begins to ascend, and was bounded on the south by the Via
Sacra, which extended to the arx or citadel. It was that consecrated
street by which the augurs descended when they inaugurated the great
festivals of the republic, and in which lived the Pontifex Maximus.
Although the Forum Romanum was only seven hundred feet by four hundred
and seventy, yet it was surrounded by and connected with basilicas,
halls, porticoes, temples, and shops. It was a place of great public
resort for all classes of people--a scene of life and splendor rarely if
ever equaled, and having some resemblance to the crowded square of
Venice on which St. Mark's stands. Originally it was a marketplace, busy
and lively, a great resort where might be seen "good men walking quietly
by themselves," [Footnote: _Plautus Cuve_, iv. 1. ] "flash men
strutting about without a denarius in their purses," "gourmands clubbing
for a dinner," "scandal-mongers living in glass houses," "perjured
witnesses, liars, braggarts, rich and erring husbands, worn-out
harlots," and all the various classes which now appear in the crowded
places of London or Paris. In this open space the people were assembled
on great public occasions, and here they were addressed by orators and
tribunes. Immediately surrounding the Forum Romanum, or in close
proximity to it, were the most important public buildings of the city in
which business was transacted--the courts of law, the administrative
bureaus, the senate chamber and the principal temples, as well as
monuments and shops. On the north side was the Comitium, an open space
for holding the Comitia Curiata and heavy lawsuits, and making speeches
to the assembled people. During the kingly government the temples of
Janus and Vesta and Saturn were erected, also the Curia Hostilia, a
senate-house, the Senaculum, the Mamertine Prison, and the Tabernae or
porticoes and shops inclosing the Forum. During the republic the temple
of Castor and Pollux, which served for the assembly of the Senate and
judicial business, was erected, not of the largest size, but very rich
and beautiful. The Basilica Portia, where the tribunes of the people
held their assemblies, was founded by Cato the Censor, and this was
followed by the Basilica Fulvia, with columns of Phrygian marble,
admired by Pliny for its magnificence, the Basilica Sempronia, the
Temple of Concord, and the Triumphal Arch of Fabius, to commemorate his
victories over the Allobroges. Under the empire, the magnificent
Basilica Julia was erected for the sittings of the law courts, and its
immense size may be inferred from the fact that one hundred and eighty
judges, divided into four courts, with four separate tribunals, with
seats for advocates and spectators, were accustomed to assemble.
Tiberius erected a triumphal arch near the Temple of Saturn. Domitian
built the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, and erected to himself a
colossal equestrian statue. Near it rose the temples of Divus-Julius and
of Antoninus and Faustina. Beside these were the Triumphal Arch of
Septimius Severus, still standing; the Columns of Phocas and Trajan, the
latter of which is the finest monument of its kind in the world, one
hundred and twenty-seven feet high, with a spiral band of admirable
reliefs containing two thousand five hundred human figures. Beside
these, new fora of immense size were constructed by various emperors,
not for political business so much as courts of justice. The Forum
Julium, which connected with the old Forum Romanum, was virtually a
temple of great magnificence. In front of it was the celebrated bronze
horse of Lysippus, and the temple was enriched with precious offerings
and adorned with pictures from the best Greek artists. It was devoted to
legal business. The Forum Augusti was still larger, and also inclosed a
temple, in which the Senate assembled to consult about wars and
triumphs, and was surrounded with porticoes in which the statues of the
most eminent Roman generals were placed, while on each side were the
triumphal arches of Germanicus and Drusus. More extensive and
magnificent than either of the old fora was the one which Trajan
erected, in the centre of which was the celebrated column of the
emperor, so universally admired, while the sides were ornamented with a
double colonnade of gray Egyptian marble, the columns of which were
fifty-five feet in height. This was one of the most gigantic structures
in Rome, covering more ground than the Flavian Amphitheatre, and built
by the celebrated Apollodorus of Damascus. It filled the whole space
between the Capitoline and Quirinal. The Basilica Ulpia was only one
division of this vast edifice, divided internally by four rows of
columns of gray granite, and paved with slabs of marble.
[Sidenote: Beauty of the Roman Forum.]
Nothing in Rome, or perhaps any modern city, exceeded the glory and
beauty of the Forum, with the adjoining basilica, and other public
buildings, filled with statues and pictures, and crowded with people.
The more aristocratic loungers sought the retired promenade afforded by
the porticoes near the Circus Flaminius, where the noise and clamor of
the crowded streets, the cries of venders, the sports of boys, and the
curses of wagoners, could not reach them. The Forum was the peculiar
glory of the republican period, where the Gracchi enlightened the people
on their political rights, where Cato calmed the passions of the mob,
where Cicero and Hortensius delivered their magnificent harangues.
[Sidenote: Works of Augustus.]
[Sidenote: Temple of Apollo.]
[Sidenote: Theatre of Marcellus.]
The glory of the Augustan age was more seen in the magnificent buildings
which arose upon the hills, although he gave attention to the completion
of many works of utility or beauty in other parts of the city. He
restored the Capitoline temple and the theatre of Pompey; repaired
aqueducts; finished the Forum and Basilica Julia; and entirely built the
Curia Julia. He founded, on the Palatine, the Imperial Palace,
afterwards enlarged by his successors until it entirely covered the
original city of Romulus. Among the most beautiful of his works was the
Temple of Apollo, the columns of which were of African marble, between
which were the statues of the fifty Danaids. In the temple was a
magnificent statue of Apollo, and around the altar were the images of
four oxen--the work of Miron, so beautifully sculptured that they seemed
alive. The temple was of the finest marble; its gates were of ivory,
finely sculptured. Attached to this temple was a library, where the
poets, orators, and philosophers assembled, and recited their
productions. The Forum Augusti was another of the noblest monuments of
this emperor, in order to provide accommodation for the crowds which
overflowed the Forum Romanum. He also built the theatre of Marcellus,
capable of holding twenty thousand spectators.
[Sidenote: Pantheon.]
[Sidenote: Thermae Agrippae.]
[Sidenote: Campus Martius.]
[Sidenote: Works of the Nobles.]
Nor was Augustus alone the patron of the arts. His son-in-law, and prime
minister, Agrippa, adorned the city with many noble structures, of which
the Pantheon remains to attest his munificence. This temple, the best
preserved of all the monuments of ancient splendor, stood in the centre
of the Campus Martius, and contained only the images of the deities
immediately connected with the Julian race and the early history of
Rome. Agrippa was the first to establish those famous baths, which
became the most splendid monuments of imperial munificence. The Thermae
Agrippae stood at the back of the Pantheon. It was fed by the Aqua Virgo,
an aqueduct which Agrippa purposely constructed to furnish water for his
baths. Many other architectural monuments marked the public spirit of
this enlightened and liberal minister, especially in the quarter of the
Circus Flaminius and the Campus Martius. This quarter was like a
separate town, more magnificent than any part of the ancient city. It
was adorned with temples, porticoes, and theatres, and other buildings
devoted to amusement and recreation. It had not many private houses, but
these were of remarkable splendor. Other courtiers of Augustus followed
his example for the embellishment of the city. Statilius Taurus built
the first permanent amphitheatre of stone in the Campus Martius. L.
Cornelius Balbur built at his own expense a stone theatre. L. Marcius
Philippus rebuilt the temple of Hercules Musarum, and surrounded it with
a portico. L. Cornificius built a temple of Diana. Asininius Pollio an
Atrium Libertatis; and Munatius Plaucus a temple of Saturn. Maecenas, who
lived upon the Esquiline, converted the Campus Esquilinus, near the
Subura, a pauper burial-ground offensive to both sight and health, into
beautiful gardens, called the Horti Maecenatis.
Nunc licet esquiliis habitare salubribus atque,
Aggere in Aprico Spatiari, quo modo tristes.
Albis informem spectabant ossibtis agrum.
[Footnote: Horace _Sat._ i. 8.]
Near these gardens Virgil lived, also Propertius, and probably Horace.
The Esquiline, once a plebeian quarter, seems to have been selected by
the literary men, who sought the favor of Maecenas, for their abode. Ovid
lived near the capitol, at the southern extremity of the Quirinal.
[Sidenote: Mausoleum of Augustus.]
Among the other buildings which Augustus erected, should not be omitted
the magnificent Mausoleum, or the tomb of the imperial family at the
northern part of the Campus Martius, near which lay the remains of Sulla
and of Caesar, and which remained the burial-place of his family down to
the time of Hadrian. [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnote relocated to
chapter end.] He also brought from Egypt the obelisk which now stands on
Mount Citorio, and which was placed in that receptacle for
monuments--the Campus Martius.
[Sidenote: Imperial palace.]
Tiberius did but little for the improvement of his capital beyond
erecting a triumphal arch, in commemoration of the exploits of
Germanicus, on the Via Sacra, and establishing the Praetorian Camp near
the Servian Agger. Caligula extended the imperial palace, and began the
Circus Neronis in the gardens of Agrippa, near where St. Peter's now
stands.
[Sidenote: Claudian aqueduct.]
Claudius constructed the two noble aqueducts, the Aqua Claudia and Arno
Novis,--the longest of all these magnificent Roman monuments,--the
latter of which was fifty-nine miles in length, and some of its arches
were one hundred and nine feet in height.
Nero still further extended the precincts of the imperial palace, and
included the Esquiline. The great fire which occurred in his reign, A.D.
65, and which lasted six days and seven nights, destroyed some of the
most ancient of the Roman structures surrounding the Palatine, and very
much damaged the Forum, to say nothing of the statues and treasures
which perished. But the city soon arose from her ashes more beautiful
than before. The streets were laid out on a more regular plan and made
wider, the houses were built lower, and brick was substituted for wood.
[Sidenote: The Imperial Palace.]
The great work of Nero was the construction of the Imperial Palace on
the site of the buildings which had been destroyed by the fire. He gave
it the name of Aurea Domus, and, if we may credit Suetonius, [Footnote:
Suet. _Ner_., 31.] its richness and splendor surpassed any other
similar edifice in ancient times. It fronted the Forum and Capitol, and
in its vestibule stood a colossal statue of the emperor, one hundred and
twenty feet high. The palace was surrounded by three porticoes, each one
thousand feet in length. The back front of the palace looked upon the
artificial lake, afterwards occupied by the Flavian Amphitheatre. Within
the area were gardens and vineyards. It was entirely overlaid with gold,
and adorned with jewels and mother-of-pearl. The supper rooms were
vaulted, and the compartments of the ceiling, inlaid with ivory, were
made to revolve and scatter flowers upon the banqueters below. The chief
banqueting-room was circular, and perpetually revolved in imitation of
the motion of the celestial bodies. There are scarcely no remains of
this extensive palace, which engrossed so large a part of the city, and
which covered the site of so many famous temples and palaces, and which
exhausted even the imperial revenues, great as they were, even as
Versailles taxed the magnificent resources of Louis XIV., and St.
Peter's obliged the Popes to appeal to the contributions of Christendom.
[Sidenote: Temple of Peace.]
The next great edifice which added to the architectural wonders of the
city, was the temple built by Vespasian after the destruction of
Jerusalem, which he called the Temple of Peace. It was adorned with the
richest sculptures and paintings of Greece, taken from Nero's palace,
which Vespasian demolished as a monument of insane extravagance. In this
temple were deposited also the Jewish spoils, except the laws and veil
of the temple.
[Sidenote: Falvian Amphitheatre.]
[Sidenote: The Colosseum.]
But the great work of this emperor, and the greatest architectural
wonder of the world, was the amphitheatre, which he built on the ground
covered by Nero's lake, in the middle of the city, between the Velia and
the Esquiline. For magnitude it can only be compared with the pyramids
of Egypt, and its remains are the most striking monument we have of the
material greatness of the Romans. Though not the first of the
amphitheatres which were erected, its enormous size rendered the
erection of subsequent ones unnecessary. It was here that emperors,
senators, generals, knights, and people, met together to witness the
most exciting and sanguinary amusements ever seen in the world. It was
built in the middle of the city, with a perfect recklessness of expense,
and could accommodate eighty-seven thousand spectators, round an arena
large enough for the combats of several hundred animals at a time. It
was a building of an elliptical form, founded on eighty arches, and
rising to the height of one hundred and forty feet, with four successive
orders of architecture, six hundred and twenty feet by five hundred and
thirteen, inclosing six acres. It was built of travertine, faced with
marble, and decorated with statues. The eighty arches of the lower story
formed entrances for the spectators. The seats were of marble covered
with cushions. The spectators were protected from the sun and rain by
ample canopies, while the air was refreshed by scented fountains. The
nets designed as a protection from the wild beasts were made of golden
wire. The porticoes were gilded; the circle which divided the several
ranks of spectators was studded with a precious mosaic of beautiful
stones. The arena was strewed with the finest sand, and assumed, at
different times, the most different forms. Subterranean pipes conveyed
water into the arena. The furniture of the amphitheatre consisted of
gold, silver, and amber. The passages of ingress and egress were so
numerous that the spectators could go in and out without confusion. Only
a third part of this wonderful structure remains, and whole palaces have
been built of its spoils. [Footnote: Dyer, _Hist. of the City of
Rome_, p. 245. Gibbon, chap. 12. Montaigne, _Essays_, in. 6.
Lipsius, _de Amphitheatro_.]
[Sidenote: Rebuilding of the Capitol.]
[Sidenote: Arch of Titus.]
Another great fire which took place A.D. 80,--the same in which Titus
dedicated the Colosseum,--and which raged three days and nights,
destroyed the region of the Circus Flaminius, including some of the
finest temples of the city, and especially on the Capitoline, and
created the necessity for new improvements. These were made by Domitian,
who rebuilt the Capitol itself with greater splendor on its old site,
and erected several new edifices. Martial speaks with peculiar
admiration of the Temple of the Gens Flavia. [Footnote: Martial,
_L_., ix. Ep. 4, 35. ] He also erected that beautiful arch to his
brother Titus which still remains one of the finest monuments of the
imperial city. The Odeum, a roofed theatre, was erected by him, capable
of holding twelve thousand people. He also made many additions to his
palace on the Palatine--so lofty, that Martial, his flatterer,
described it as towering above the clouds, and Statius compared the
ceiling to the cope of heaven.
[Sidenote: Forum Trajanum.]
[Sidenote: Basilica Ulpia.]
No great improvements were made in the city until Trajan commenced his
beneficent and splendid reign. His greatest work was the Forum which
bears his name, to which allusion has been made, eleven hundred feet
long, in the centre of which was that beautiful pillar, one hundred and
twenty-eight feet high, which is still standing. The Forum, the Basilica
Ulpia, and the temple dedicated by Hadrian to Trajan, were all parts of
this magnificent structure, one of the most imposing ever built, filled
with colossal statues and surrounded with colonnades.
[Sidenote: Temple of Venus and Rome.]
[Sidenote: Mausoleum of Hadrian.]
[Sidenote: Hadrians Villa.]
None of the Roman emperors had so great a passion for building as
Hadrian, who succeeded Trajan A.D. 117. He erected a vast number of
edifices, and in his reign Rome attained its greatest height of
architectural splendor. The most remarkable among the edifices which he
built was the Temple of Venus and Rome, facing on one side the
Colosseum, and the other the Forum, on the site of the Atrium, or the
golden house of Nero. This seems to have been one of the largest of the
Roman temples, erected on an artificial terrace five hundred feet long
and three hundred broad. It was surrounded with a portico four hundred
feet by two hundred, and another portico of four hundred columns
inclosed the terrace on which the temple was built, the columns of which
were forty feet in height. The roof was covered with bronze tiles.
Ammianus Marcellinus classes this magnificent temple with the Capitoline
Temple, the Flavian Amphitheatre, and the Pantheon. The next greatest
work of Hadrian was the Mausoleum, which is now converted into the
Castle of St. Angelo, built on a platform of which each side was two
hundred and fifty-three feet in length. From the magnificent colonnade
which supported the platform on which it was built, and the successive
stories supported by arches and pillars, between which were celebrated
statues, this circular edifice, one hundred and eighty-eight feet in
diameter, must have been one of the most imposing edifices in the city.
After eighteen centuries, it still remains a monument of architectural
strength, and it served for one of the strongest fortresses in Italy
during the Middle Ages. I pass by, without notice, the villa this
emperor erected at Tivoli, the ruins of which are among the most
interesting which remain of that great age.
[Sidenote: Column of Marcus Aurelius.]
[Sidenote: Arch of Septimius Severus.]
[Sidenote: Baths of Caracalla.]
Under Hadrian Rome attained its greatest splendor, and after him, there
was a progressive decline in the arts, since the public taste was
corrupted. Still successive emperors continued to adorn the city. Marcus
Aurelius, the wisest and best of all the emperors, erected a column
similar to that of Trajan, to represent his wars with the Germanic
tribes, and this still remains; he also built a triumphal arch.
Septimius Severus erected the most beautiful of the triumphal arches, of
which the Arc de Triumph in Paris is an imitation; and Caracalla built
one of the greatest of the Roman baths, which, with the porticoes which
surrounded it, formed a square of eleven hundred feet on each side--so
enormous were these structures of luxury and utility, designed not only
for the people as a sanitary measure, but for places of gymnastic
exercises, popular lectures, and the disputations of philosophers. The
Pantheon was merely an entrance to the baths of Agrippa. The baths of
Trajan covered an area nearly as great. But those of Caracalla surpassed
them all in magnificence. Nothing was more striking to a traveler than
the painted corridors, the arched ceilings, the variegated columns, the
elaborate mosaic pavements, the immortal statues, and the exquisite
paintings which ornamented these places of luxury and pleasure. From
amid their ruins have been dug out the most priceless of the statues
which ornament the museums of Italy--the Farnese Hercules, the colossal
Florae, the Torso Farnese, the Torso Belvidere, the Atreus and Thyestes,
the Laocoon, beside granite and basaltic vases beautifully polished,
cameos, bronzes, medals, and other valuable relics of ancient art. To
supply these baths new aqueducts were built, and the treasures of the
empire expended. Those subsequently erected by Diocletian contained
three thousand two hundred marble seats, and the main hall now forms one
of the most splendid of the Roman churches.
[Sidenote: Temples and Palaces.]
[Sidenote: General aspect of the city.]
[Sidenote: What a traveler would see in a walk.]
[Sidenote: The Via Sacra.]
[Sidenote: The Velabrum.]
[Sidenote: The Fora.]
[Sidenote: View from the summit of the Capitoline Hill.]
[Sidenote: Gardens of Lucullus.]
[Sidenote: The Subura.]
[Sidenote: Circus Maximus.]
[Sidenote: View of Rome from the Capitol.]
Such is a brief view of the progress of those architectural wonders
which made Rome the most magnificent city of antiquity, and perhaps the
grandest, in its public monuments, of any city in ancient or modern
times. What a concentration of works of art on the hills, and around the
Forum, and in the Campus Martins, and other celebrated quarters! There
were temples rivaling those of Athens and Ephesus; baths covering more
ground than the Pyramids, surrounded with Corinthian columns and filled
with the choicest treasures, ransacked from the cities of Greece and
Asia; palaces in comparison with which the Tuileries and Versailles are
small; theatres which seated more people than any present public
buildings in Europe; amphitheatres more extensive and costly than
Cologne, Milan, and York Minster cathedrals combined, and seating eight
times as many people as could be crowded into St. Peter's Church;
circuses where, it is said, three hundred and eighty-five thousand
spectators could witness the games and chariot-races at a time; bridges,
still standing, which have furnished models for the most beautiful at
Paris and London; aqueducts carried over arches one hundred feet in
height, through which flowed the surplus water of distant lakes; drains
of solid masonry in which large boats could float; pillars more than one
hundred feet in height, coated with precious marbles or plates of brass,
and covered with bass-reliefs; obelisks brought from Egypt; fora and
basilicae connected together, and extending more than three thousand
feet, in length, every part of which was filled with "animated busts" of
conquerors, kings, and statesmen, poets, publicists, and philosophers;
mausoleums greater and more splendid than that Artemisia erected to the
memory of her husband; triumphal arches under which marched in stately
procession the victorious armies of the Eternal City, preceded by the
spoils and trophies of conquered empires,--such was the proud capital--
a city of palaces, a residence or nobles who were virtually kings,
enriched with the accumulated treasures of ancient civilization. Great
were the capitals of Greece and Asia, but how preeminent was Rome, since
all were subordinate to her. How bewildering and bewitching to a
traveler must have been the varied wonders of the city! Go where he
would, his eye rested on something which was both a study and a marvel.
Let him drive or walk about the suburbs, there were villas, tombs,
aqueducts looking like railroads on arches, sculptured monuments, and
gardens of surpassing beauty and luxury. Let him approach the walls--
they were great fortifications extending twenty-one miles in circuit,
according to the measurement of Ammon as adopted by Gibbon, and forty-
five miles according to other authorities. Let him enter any of the
various gates which opened into the city from the roads which radiated
to all parts of Italy--they were of monumental brass covered with bass-
reliefs, on which the victories of generals for a thousand years were
commemorated. Let him pass up the Via Appia, or the Via Flaminia, or the
Via Cabra--they were lined with temples and shops and palaces. Let him
pass through any of the crowded thoroughfares, he saw houses towering
scarcely ever less than seventy feet--as tall as those of Edinburgh in
its oldest sections. Let him pass through the varied quarters of the
city, or wards as we should now call them, he finds some fourteen
regions, as constituted by Augustus, all marked by architectural
monuments, and containing, according to Lipsius, a population larger
than London or Paris, guarded and watched by a police of ten thousand
armed men. Most of the houses in which this vast population lived,
according to Strabo, possessed pipes which gave a never-failing supply
of water from the rivers which flowed into the city through the
aqueducts and out again through the sewers into the Tiber. Let him walk
up the Via Sacra--that short street, scarcely half a mile in length--and
he passes the Flavian Amphitheatre, the Temple of Venus, and Rome, the
Arch of Titus, the temples of Peace, of Vesta, and of Castor, the Forum
Romanum, the Basilica Julia, the Arch of Severus, and the Temple of
Saturn, and stands before the majestic ascent to the Capitoline Jupiter,
with its magnificent portico and ornamented pediment, surpassing the
facade of any modern church. On his left, as he emerges from beneath the
sculptured Arch of Titus, is the Palatine Mount, nearly covered by the
palace of the Caesars, the magnificent residences of the higher nobility,
and various temples, of which that of Apollo was the most magnificent,
built by Augustus of solid white marble from Luna. Here were the palaces
of Vaccus, of Flaccus, of Cicero, of Catiline, of Scaurus, of Antonius,
of Clodius, of Agrippa, and of Hortensius. Still on his left, in the
valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline, though he cannot see it,
concealed from view by the great temples of Vesta and of Castor, and the
still greater edifice known as the Basilica Julia, is the quarter called
the Velabrum, extending to the river, where the Pons Aemilius crosses it--
a low quarter of narrow streets and tall houses where the rabble lived
and died. On his right, concealed from view by the Aedes Divi Julii and
the Forum Romanum, is that magnificent series of edifices extending from
the Temple of Peace to the Temple of Trajan, including the Basilica
Pauli, the Forum Julii, the Forum Augusti, the Forum Trajani, the
Basilica Ulpia, more than three thousand feet in length and six hundred
in breadth, almost entirely surrounded by porticoes and colonnades, and
filled with statues and pictures--on the whole the grandest series of
public buildings clustered together probably ever erected, especially if
we take in the Forum Romanum and the various temples and basilicas which
connected the whole together--a forest of marble pillars and statues. He
ascends the steps which lead from the Temple of Concord to the Temple of
Juno Moneta upon the Arx or Tarpeian Rock, on the southwestern summit of
the hill, itself one of the most beautiful temples in Rome, erected by
Camillus on the spot where the house of M. Manlius Capitolinus had
stood. Here is established the Roman mint. Near this is the temple
erected by Augustus to Jupiter Tonans and that built by Domitian to
Jupiter Gustos. But all the sacred edifices which crown the Capitoline
are subordinate to the Templum Jovis Capitolini, standing on a platform
of eight thousand square feet, and built of the richest materials. The
portico which faces the Via Sacra consists of three rows of Doric
columns, the pediment is profusely ornamented with the choicest
sculptures, the apex of the roof is surmounted by the bronze horses of
Lysippus, and the roof itself is covered with gilded tiles. The temple
has three separate cells, though covered with one roof; in front of each
stand colossal statues of the three deities to whom it is consecrated.
Here are preserved what was most sacred in the eyes of Romans, and it is
itself the richest of all the temples of the city. What a beautiful
panorama is presented to the view from the summit of this consecrated
hill, only mounted by a steep ascent of one hundred steps. To the south
is the Via Sacra extending to the Colosseum, and beyond it is the Appia
Via, lined with monuments as far as the eye can reach. Little beyond the
fora to the east is the Carinae, a fashionable quarter of beautiful shops
and houses, and still further off are the Baths of Titus, extending from
the Carinae to the Esquiline Mount. This hill, once a burial-ground, is
now covered with the house and gardens of Maecenas, and of the poets whom
he patronized. It is not rich in temples, but its gardens and groves are
beautiful. To the northeast are the Viminal and Quirinal hills, after
the Palatine the most ancient part of the city--the seat of the Sabine
population. Abounding in fanes and temples, the most splendid of which
is the Temple of Quirinus, erected originally to Romulus by Numa, but
rebuilt by Augustus, with a double row of columns on each of its sides,
seventy-six in number. Near by was the house of Atticus, and the gardens
of Sallust in the valley between the Quirinal and Pincian, afterwards
the property of the emperor. Far back on the Quirinal, near the wall of
Servius, were the Baths of Diocletian, and still further to the east the
Pretorian Camp established by Tiberius, and included within the wall of
Aurelian. To the northeast the eye lights on the Pincian Hill covered by
the gardens of Lucullus, to possess which Messalina caused the death of
Valerius Asiaticus, into whose possession they had fallen. In the valley
which lay between the fora and the Quirinal was the celebrated Subura,--
the quarter of shops, markets, and artificers,--a busy, noisy, vulgar
section, not beautiful, but full of life and enterprise and wickedness.
The eye now turns to the north, and the whole length of the Via Flaminia
is exposed to view, extending from the Capitoline to the Flaminian gate,
perfectly straight, the finest street in Rome, and parallel to the
modern Corso. It is the great highway to the north of Italy. Monuments
and temples and palaces line this celebrated street. It is spanned by
the triumphal arches of Claudius and Marcus Aurelius. To the west of it
is the Campus Martius, with its innumerable objects of interest,--the
Baths of Agrippa, the Pantheon, the Thermae Alexandrinae, the Column of
Marcus Aurelius, and the Mausoleum of Augustus. Beneath the Capitoline
on the west, toward the river, is the Circus Flaminius, the Portico of
Octavius, the Theatre of Balbus, and the Theatre of Pompey, where forty
thousand spectators were accommodated. Stretching beyond the Thermae
Alexandrinae, near the Pantheon, is the magnificent bridge which crosses
the Tiber, built by Hadrian when he founded his Mausoleum, to which it
leads, still standing under the name of the Ponte S. Angelo. The eye
takes in eight or nine bridges over the Tiber, some of wood, but
generally of stone, of beautiful masonry, and crowned with statues. At
the foot of the Capitoline, toward the southwest, are the Portico of
Octavius and the Theatre of Marcellus, near the Pons Cestius. Still
further southwest, between the Capitoline and the Aventine, in a low
valley, are the Velabrum and the Forum Boarium, once a marsh, but now
rich in temples and monuments, among which are those of Hercules Fortuna
and Mater Matuta. There are no less than four temples consecrated to
Hercules in the Forum Boarium, one of the most celebrated places in
Rome, devoted to trade and commerce. Beyond still, in the valley between
the Palatine and the Aventine, is the great Circus Maximus, founded by
the early Tarquin. It is the largest open space inclosed by walls and
porticoes in the city. It seats three hundred and eighty-five thousand
people. How vast a city, which can spare nearly four hundred thousand of
its population to see the chariot-races! Beyond is the Aventine itself.
This also is rich in legendary monuments and in the palaces of the
great, though originally a plebeian quarter. Here dwelt Trajan, before
he was emperor, and Ennius the poet, and Paula, the friend of St.
Jerome. Beneath the Aventine, and a little south of the Circus Maximus,
west of the Appian Way, are the great baths of Caracalla, the ruins of
which, next to those of the Colosseum, made on my mind the strongest
impression of any thing that pertains to antiquity, though these were
not so large as those of Diocletian. The view south takes in the Caelian
Hill, the ancient residence of Tullus Hostilius. The beautiful Temple of
Divus Claudius, the Arch of Dolabella, the Macellum Magnum,--a market
founded by Nero,--the Castra Peregrina, the Temple of Isis, the Campus
Martialis, are among the most conspicuous objects of interest. This hill
is the residence of many distinguished Romans. It is covered with
palaces. Among them is the house of Claudius Centumalus--so high, that
the augurs command him to lower it. It towers ten or twelve stories into
the air. Scarcely inferior in size is the house of Mamura, whose
splendor is described by Pliny. Here also is the house of Annius Verus,
the father of Marcus Aurelius, surrounded with gardens. But grander than
any of these palaces is that of Plautius Lateranus, the _egregioe
Lateranorum oedes_, which became imperial property in the time of
Nero, and on whose site stands the basilica of St. John Lateran,--the
gift of Constantine to the bishop of Rome,--one of the most ancient of
the Christian churches, in which, for fifteen hundred years, daily
services have been performed.
[Sidenote: Population.]
[Sidenote: Number of houses.]
Such are the objects of interest and grandeur which strike the eye as it
is turned toward the various quarters of the city. But these are only
the more important. The seven hills, appearing considerably higher than
at the present day, as the valleys are raised fifteen or twenty feet
above their ancient level, are covered with temples, palaces, and
gardens; the valleys are densely crowded with shops, houses, baths, and
theatres. The houses rise frequently to the tenth platform or story. The
suburban population, beyond the walls, is probably greater than that
within. The city, virtually, contains between three and four millions or
people. Lipsius estimates four millions as the population, including
slaves, women, children, and strangers. Though this estimate is regarded
as too large by Merivale and others, yet how enormous must have been the
number of the people when there were nine thousand and twenty-five
baths, and when those of Diocletian could accommodate three thousand two
hundred people at a time. The wooden theatre of Scaurus contained eighty
thousand seats; that of Marcellus would seat twenty thousand; the
Colosseum would seat eighty-seven thousand, and give standing space for
twenty-two thousand more. The Circus Maximus would hold three hundred
and eighty-five thousand spectators. If only one person out of four of
the free population witnessed the games and spectacles at a time, we
thus must have four millions of people altogether in the city. The
Aurelian walls are now only thirteen miles in circumference, but Lipsius
estimates the circumference at forty-five miles, and Vopiscus nearly
fifty. The diameter of the city must have been eleven miles, since
Strabo tells us that the actual limit of Rome was at a place between the
fifth and sixth milestone from the column of Trajan in the Forum--the
central and most conspicuous object in the city except the
capitol. [Footnote: Strabo, lib. v. ch. 3.] Even in the sixth century,
after Rome had been sacked and plundered by Goths and Vandals, Zacharia,
a traveler, asserts that there were three hundred and eighty-four
spacious streets, eighty golden statues of the gods; sixty-six large
ivory statues of the gods; forty-six thousand six hundred and three
houses; seventeen thousand and ninety-seven palaces; thirteen thousand
and fifty-two fountains; three thousand seven hundred and eighty-five
bronze statues of emperors and generals; twenty-two great horses in
bronze; two colossi; two spiral columns; thirty-one theatres; eleven
amphitheatres; nine thousand and twenty-six baths; two thousand three
hundred shops of perfumers; two thousand and ninety-one
prisons. [Footnote: St. Ampere, _Hist. Romaine a Rome_.] This seems
to be incredible. "But," says Story, "Augustus divided the city into
eighteen regions: each region contained twenty-two vici; each vicus
contained about two hundred and thirty dwelling-houses, so that there
must have been seventy-five thousand houses; of these houses, seventeen
thousand were palaces, or domus. If each contained two hundred persons,
(and four hundred slaves were maintained in a single palace,) reckoning
family, freedmen, and slaves, we have three millions four hundred
thousand people, and supposing the remaining fifty-eight thousand houses
to have contained twenty-five persons each, we have in them one million
four hundred and fifty thousand, which would give an entire population
of four millions eight hundred and fifty thousand." If Mr. Merivale's
estimate of seven hundred thousand is correct, then the Colosseum would
hold nearly one in six of the whole population, which is incredible.
Indeed, it is probable that even four millions was under than above the
true estimate, which would make Rome the most populous city ever seen
upon our globe. Nor is it extravagant to suppose this. The city
numbered, according to the census, eighty thousand people in the year
197; and in 683 it had risen to four hundred and fifty thousand. Is it
strange it should have numbered four millions in the time of Augustus,
or even six millions in the time of Arelian, when we bear in mind that
it was the political and social centre of a vast empire, and that empire
the world? If London contains three millions at the present day, and
Paris two millions, why should not a capital which had no rival, and
which controlled at least one hundred and twenty millions of people? So
that Pliny was not probably wrong when he said, "_Si quis altitudinem
tectorum addat, dignam profecto oestimationem concipiat, fateatur qui
nullius urbis magnitudinem potuisse ei comparare._" "If any one
considers the height of the roofs, so as to form a just estimate, he
will confess that no city could be compared with it for magnitude."
[Sidenote: The monuments which survive.]
[Sidenote: Games of Titus.]
Modern writers, taking London and Paris for their measure of material
civilization, seem unwilling to admit that Rome could have reached such
a pitch of glory and wealth and power. To him who stands within the
narrow limits of the Forum, as it now appears, it seems incredible that
it could have been the centre of a much larger city than Europe can now
boast of. Grave historians are loth to compromise their dignity and
character for truth, by admitting statements which seem, to men of
limited views, to be fabulous, and which transcend modern experience.
But we should remember that most of the monuments of ancient Rome have
entirely disappeared. Nothing remains of the Palace of the Caesars, which
nearly covered the Palatine Hill; little of the fora which, connected
together, covered a space twice as large as that inclosed by the palaces
of the Louvre and Tuileries with all their galleries and courts; almost
nothing of the glories of the Capitoline Hill; and little comparatively
of those Thermae which were a mile in circuit. But what does remain
attests an unparalleled grandeur--the broken pillars of the Forum; the
lofty columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius; the Pantheon, lifting its
spacious dome two hundred feet into the air; the mere vestibule of the
Baths of Agrippa; the triumphal arches of Titus and Trajan and
Constantine; the bridges which span the Tiber; the aqueducts which cross
the Campagna; the Cloaca Maxima, which drained the marshes and lakes of
the infant city; but above all, the Colosseum. What glory and shame are
associated with that single edifice! That alone, if nothing else
remained of Pagan antiquity, would indicate a grandeur and a folly such
as cannot now be seen on earth. It reveals a wonderful skill in masonry,
and great architectural strength; it shows the wealth and resources of
rulers who must have had the treasures of the world at their command; it
indicates an enormous population, since it would seat all the male
adults of the city of New York; it shows the restless passions of the
people for excitement, and the necessity on the part of government of
yielding to this taste. What leisure and indolence marked a city which
could afford to give up so much time to the demoralizing sports! What
facilities for transportation were afforded, when so many wild beasts
could be brought to the capital from the central parts of Africa without
calling out unusual comment! How imperious a populace that compels the
government to provide such expensive pleasures! The games of Titus, on
its dedication, last one hundred days, and five thousand wild beasts are
slaughtered in the arena. The number of the gladiators who fought
surpasses belief. At the triumph of Trajan over the Dacians, ten
thousand gladiators were exhibited, and the emperor himself presides
under a gilded canopy, surrounded by thousands of his lords. Underneath
the arena, strewed with yellow sand and sawdust, is a solid pavement so
closely cemented that it can be turned into an artificial lake on which
naval battles are fought. But it is the conflict of gladiators which
most deeply stimulates the passions of the people. The benches are
crowded with eager spectators, and the voices of one hundred thousand
are raised in triumph or rage as the miserable victims sink exhausted in
the bloody sport.
[Sidenote: Roman triumphs.]
But it is not the gladiatorial sports of the amphitheatre which most
strikingly attest the greatness and splendor of the city; nor the
palaces, in which as many as four hundred slaves are sometimes
maintained as domestic servants, twelve hundred in number according to
the lowest estimate, but probably five times as numerous, since every
senator, every knight, and every rich man was proud to possess a
residence which would attract attention; nor the temples, which numbered
four hundred and twenty-four, most of which were of marble, filled with
statues, the contributions of ages, and surrounded with groves; nor the
fora and basilicae, with their porticoes, statues, and pictures, covering
more space than any cluster of public buildings in Europe, a mile and a
half in circuit; nor the baths, nearly as large, still more completely
filled with works of art; nor the Circus Maximus, where more people
witnessed the chariot races at a time than are nightly assembled in all
the places of public amusement in Paris, London, and New York combined--
more than could be seated in all the cathedrals of England and France;
it is not these which most impressively make us feel that Rome was the
mistress of the world and the centre of all civilization. The triumphal
processions of the conquering generals were still more exciting to
behold, for these appeal more directly to the imagination, and excite
those passions which urged the Romans to a career of conquest from
generation to generation. No military review of modern times equaled
those gorgeous triumphs, even as no scenic performance compares with the
gladiatorial shows. The. sun has never shone upon any human assemblage
so magnificent and so grand, so imposing and yet so guilty. And we
recall the picture of it with solemn awe as it moves along the Via Sacra
and ascends the Capitoline Hill, or passes through the theatres of
Pompey and Marcellus, that all the people might witness the brilliant
spectacle. Not only were displayed the spoils of conquered kingdoms, and
the triumphal cars of generals, but the whole military strength of the
capital. An army of one hundred thousand men, flushed with victory,
follows the gorgeous procession of nobles and princes. The triumph of
Aurelian, on his return from the East, gives us some idea of the
grandeur of that ovation to conquerors. "The pomp was opened by twenty
elephants, four royal tigers, and two hundred of the most curious
animals from every climate, north, south, east, and west. These were
followed by one thousand six hundred gladiators, devoted to the cruel
amusement of the amphitheatre. Then were displayed the arms and ensigns
of conquered nations, the plate and wardrobe of the Syrian queen. Then
ambassadors from all parts of the earth--all remarkable in their rich
dresses, with their crowns and offerings. Then the captives taken in the
various wars, Goths, Vandals, Samaritans, Alemanni, Franks, Gauls,
Syrians, and Egyptians, each marked by their national costume. Then the
Queen of the East, the beautiful Zenobia, confined by fetters of gold,
and fainting under the weight of jewels, preceding the beautiful chariot
in which she had hoped to enter the gates of Rome. Then the chariot of
the Persian king. Then the triumphal car of Aurelian himself, drawn by
elephants. Finally the most illustrious of the Senate, the people, and
the army closed the solemn procession, amid the acclamations of the
people, and the sound of musical instruments. It took from dawn of day
until the ninth hour for the procession to pass to the capital, and the
festival was protracted by theatrical representations, the games of the
circus, the hunting of wild beasts, combats of gladiators, and naval
engagements. Liberal donations were presented to the army, and a portion
of the spoils dedicated to the gods. All the temples glittered with the
offerings of ostentatious piety, and the Temple of the Sun received
fifteen thousand pounds of gold. The soldiers and the citizens were then
surfeited with meat and wine. The disbanded soldiery thronged the
amphitheatre, and yelled their fiendish applause at the infernal games,--
the gorged robbers of the world, drunk in a festival of hell,"
[Footnote: Henry Giles.]--a representation of war as terrible as war
itself, compensating to the Roman people the massacres which they could
not see.
If any thing more were wanted to give us an idea of Roman magnificence,
we would turn our eyes from public monuments, demoralizing games, and
grand processions; we would forget the statues in brass and marble,
which outnumbered the living inhabitants, so numerous that one hundred
thousand have been recovered and still embellish Italy, and would
descend into the lower sphere of material life--to those things which
attest luxury and taste--to ornaments, dresses, sumptuous living, and
rich furniture. The art of working metals and cutting precious stones
surpassed any thing known at the present day. In the decoration of
houses, in social entertainments, in cookery, the Romans were
remarkable. The mosaics, signet rings, cameos, bracelets, bronzes,
chains, vases, couches, banqueting tables, lamps, chariots, colored
glass, gildings, mirrors, mattresses, cosmetics, perfumes, hair dyes,
silk robes, potteries, all attest great elegance and beauty. The tables
of thuga root and Delian bronze were as expensive as the sideboards of
Spanish walnut, so much admired in the great exhibition at London. Wood
and ivory were carved as exquisitely as in Japan and China. Mirrors were
made of polished silver. Glass-cutters could imitate the colors of
precious stones so well, that the Portland vase, from the tomb of
Alexander Severus, was long considered as a genuine sardonix. Brass
could be hardened so as to cut stone. The palace of Nero glittered with
gold and jewels. Perfumes and flowers were showered from ivory ceilings.
The halls of Heliogabulus were hung with cloth of gold, enriched with
jewels. His beds were silver, and his tables of gold. Tiberius gave a
million of sesterces for a picture for his bed-room. A banquet dish of
Drusillus weighed five hundred pounds of silver. The cups of Drusus were
of gold. Tunics were embroidered with the figures of various animals.
Sandals were garnished with precious stones. Paulina wore jewels, when
she paid visits, valued at $800,000. Drinking-cups were engraved with
scenes from the poets. Libraries were adorned with busts, and presses of
rare woods. Sofas were inlaid with tortoise-shell, and covered with
gorgeous purple. The Roman grandees rode in gilded chariots, bathed in
marble baths, dined from golden plate, drank from crystal cups, slept on
beds of down, reclined on luxurious couches, wore embroidered robes, and
were adorned with precious stones. They ransacked the earth and the seas
for rare dishes for their banquets, and ornamented their houses with
carpets from Babylon, onyx cups from Bythinia, marbles from Numidia,
bronzes from Corinth, statues from Athens--whatever, in short, was
precious or rare or curious in the most distant countries. The luxuries
of the bath almost exceed belief, and on the walls were magnificent
frescoes and paintings, exhibiting an inexhaustible productiveness in
landscape and mythological scenes, executed in lively colors. From the
praises of Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny, and other great critics, we have a
right to infer that painting was as much prized as statuary, and equaled
it in artistic excellence, although so little remains of antiquity from
which we can form an enlightened judgment. We certainly infer from
designs on vases great skill in drawing, and from the excavations of
Pompeii, the most beautiful colors. The walls of the great hall of the
baths of Titus represent flowers, birds, and animals, drawn with
wonderful accuracy. In the long corridor of these baths the ceiling is
painted with colors which are still fresh, and Raphael is said to have
studied the frescoes with admiration, even as Michael Angelo found in
the Pantheon a model for the dome of St. Peter's, and in the statues
which were dug up from the ruins of the baths, studies for his own
immortal masterpieces.
Thus every thing which gilds the material wonders of our day with glory
and splendor, also marked the old capitol of the world. That which is
most prized by us, distinguished to an eminent degree the Roman
grandees. In an architectural point of view no modern city approaches
Rome. It contained more statues than all the Museums of Europe. It had
every thing which we have except machinery. It surpassed every modern
capitol in population. It was richer than any modern city, since the
people were not obliged to toil for their daily bread. The poor were fed
by the government, and had time and leisure for the luxuries of the bath
and the excitements of the amphitheatre. The citizen nobles owned whole
provinces. Even Paula could call a whole city her own. Rich senators, in
some cases, were the proprietors of twenty thousand slaves. Their
incomes were known to be 1000 pounds sterling a day, when gold and
silver were worth four times as much as at the present day. Rome was
made up of these citizen kings and their dependants, for most of the
senators had been, at some time, governors of provinces, which they
rifled and robbed. In Rome were accumulated the choicest treasures of
the world. Her hills were covered with the palaces of the proudest
nobles that ever walked the earth, Rome was the centre, and the glory,
and the pride of all the nations of antiquity. It seemed impossible that
such a city could ever be taken by enemies, or fall into decay.
"_Quando cadet Roma cadet et mundus_," said the admiring Saxons
three hundred years after the injuries inflicted by Goths and Vandals.
Nor has Rome died. Never has she entirely passed into the hands of her
enemies. A hundred times on the verge of annihilation, she was never
annihilated. She never accepted the stranger's yoke--she never was
permanently subjected to the barbarian. She continued to be Roman after
the imperial presence had departed. She was Roman when fires, and
inundations, and pestilence, and famine, and barbaric soldiers desolated
the city. She was Roman when the Pope held Christendom in a base
subserviency. She was Roman when Rienzi attempted to revive the virtues
of the heroic ages, and when Michael Angelo restored the wonders of
Apollodorus. And Roman that city will remain, whether as the home of
princes, or the future capitol of the kings of Italy, or the resort of
travelers, or the school of artists, or the seat of a spiritual
despotism which gains strength as political and temporal power passes
away before the ideas of the new races and the new civilization.
* * * * *
The most valuable book of reference for this chapter is the late work of
Dr. Dyer, author of the article "Roma" in Smith's Dictionary. In fact
this chapter is a mere compilation of that elaborate work, ("History of
the City of Rome,") which may be said to be exhaustive. Mabillon and
Montfaucon--two French Benedictines--rendered great service in the
seventeenth century to Roman topography. Edward Burton and Richard
Burgess wrote descriptions of Roman antiquities, now superseded by the
writings of those great German scholars, who made a new epoch of Roman
topography--Niebuhr, Bunsen, Platner, Gerhard, and Rostell, who,
however, have succeeded in throwing doubt on many things supposed to be
established. One of the most learned treatises on ancient Rome is the
celebrated _Handbuch_ of Becker. Stephano Piale and Luigi Canina
are the most approved of the modern Italian antiquarians.
[Relocated Footnote:
[Sidenote: Mausoleum of Augustus.]
[Sidenote: Those who were buried in it.]
"This enduring structure, which survived the conflagrations, the wars,
and the anarchies of fifteen hundred years, consisted of a large tumulus
of earth, raised on a lofty basement of white marble, and covered on the
summit with evergreens in the manner of a hanging garden. On the summit
was a bronze statue of Augustus himself, and beneath the tumulus was a
large central hall, round which ran a range of fourteen sepulchral
chambers, opening into this common vestibule. At the entrance were two
Egyptian obelisks, fifty feet in height, and all around was an extensive
grove divided into walks and terraces. The young Marcellus, whose fate
was bewailed by Virgil, was its first occupant. Here was placed Octavia,
the neglected wife of Antony, and Agrippa, the builder of the Parthenon,
and Livia, the beloved wife of Augustus, and beside them the first
imperator himself. Here were the poisoned ashes of the noble Germanicus,
borne from Syria; here the young Drusus, the pride of the Ciaudian
family, and at his side the second Drusus, the son of Tiberius. Here
reposed the dust of Agrippina, after years of exile, by the side of her
husband, Germanicus; here Nero and his mother, Agrippina, and his
victim, Britannicus; here Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and all the
other Caesars to Nerva. Then the marble door was closed, for the
sepulchral cells were full."--Story's _Roba di Roma_.]