ROME, _April, 1841_.
I wrote you last from Catania, Sicily. On leaving that city for Messina
we passed through a fine country bordering on the Mediterranean, and
stopped at Gardina, a small fishing town, prettily situated, with a
fine view of the Straits of Messina and the shores of Calabria. The
following morning we took donkeys, which were simply provided with
rope halters and sheepskins for saddles, and proceeded to Taormina,
an ancient Roman city, celebrated for its antiquities. It is situated
on the top of a high rock, crowned with an ancient Saracenic castle.
Pre-eminent among the antiquities is the theatre, a colossal edifice
located in a singular hollow in the upper part of the rock. The ascent
to the top is about two miles, and is very steep.
We next arrived at Messina, passing through a luxuriant country
abounding in all the tropical fruits, and from Messina came by
steamboat to Naples. On the route from Naples to Rome the first object
of particular interest was in diverging from the present town of Capua
to the ruins of the ancient city, where are the remains of one of
the largest amphitheatres I have yet seen, and a part of it is quite
perfect. It is said to have contained four hundred gladiators, and
the school of gladiators amounted to four thousand in number. Cicero
described it as holding one hundred thousand spectators. It was one
thousand seven hundred and eighty feet in circuit, one hundred and
forty feet high; length of arena two hundred and ninety-four feet,
width one hundred and seventy-six. On the road we saw the cenotaph of
Cicero, placed on the spot where he was murdered while endeavoring to
escape from his enemies.
On entering the Pope’s dominions we had our baggage rigorously
examined. We halted at the town of Albano, fourteen miles from Rome.
Here are several subjects worthy of attention. A large monument
supposed to have been erected by Pompey, to inclose the ashes of his
wife Julia, daughter of Cæsar; the lake of Albano, an extinct volcano,
six miles in circumference, and four hundred and eighty feet in depth;
castle Gandolfo, a village built in the lava, stands on the top of
the hill, and here the Pope has a summer residence. It is a beautiful
location, and the walks through the avenues of shady trees are
delightful. From this point I first caught sight of St. Peter’s, the
first view of Rome. On arriving in the truly wonderful city my first
desire was to see the great Basilica, St. Peter’s, far surpassing any
other in the world, in size, splendor, and magnificence. The length of
the church in the interior is six hundred and fourteen feet; the front
is three hundred and seventy feet, and one hundred and forty-nine feet
high, ornamented with columns of the Corinthian order, each column
eight feet in diameter and eighty-eight feet in height. The front
terminates with a balustrade surmounted by thirteen colossal statues,
seventeen feet high, representing our Saviour and his Apostles. The
width of the nave is two hundred and seven feet; diameter of cupola
one hundred and thirty-nine; height from the pavement to first gallery
one hundred and seventy-four; to second gallery two hundred and forty;
to the representation of the Deity in the Lantern three hundred and
ninety-three; and to the summit of the eastern cross four hundred and
thirty-eight feet.
The interior is adorned with rare marble, columns, statuary, gilding,
and solid bronze, gold and silver, the sacred Confessional with one
hundred superb and elegant lamps, always burning. In the year 1694 this
edifice was supposed to have cost forty-seven millions dollars, since
which time immense amounts have been expended in mosaics, statuary, &c.
Under St. Peter’s is a subterranean church built by Constantine. Here
are many tombs of the Popes, and that of Charlotte, Queen of Jerusalem.
The height of this subterranean church is twelve feet, and the pavement
the same as in the days of Constantine. The ascent to the top of St.
Peter’s is not difficult, and there may be had a magnificent view of
the city and country.
The Vatican, which is a city of itself, contiguous to St. Peter’s,
contains some thousands of rooms, variously estimated. It is seventy
thousand feet in circumstances. Some writers suppose it was erected
by Nero, others are of opinion that it was built by Constantine; but
every sovereign extended it. It is the residence of the Popes, in
which are the Latin Chapel, the Pauline Chapel, also occupied with the
most extensive collection of statuary, paintings, bronzes, &c., in the
world; and here we saw the master-pieces of the world, as Rome may
justly be called the mistress of the globe in the arts. Here are rooms
twelve hundred feet long used as libraries, and for the collections of
the museums.
Rome contains such a vast variety of antiquities that one is compelled
to be very industrious to accomplish much in seeing the objects of
interest unless two or three months are spent in the work. It is
impossible to give an adequate description of the manifold objects of
curiosity in this wonderful city.
I visited the Coliseum first by moonlight, which gives a very pretty
effect; the pale light throws a beautiful shadow, and leaves the
imagination to cover the defects. It is an immense edifice. Titus
at the consecration exhibited gladiatorial shows ten days, and five
thousand wild beasts with some thousands of gladiators are said to have
been sacrificed at the horrid festival. It was opened in the year 80.
It is of an oval form, one thousand six hundred and forty-one feet in
circumference, and one hundred and fifty-seven feet high; the arena is
four hundred and eighty-five feet long, and one hundred and eighty-two
wide. It was four years in building. The benches held eighty-seven
thousand, and the gallery twenty thousand spectators.
The Pantheon is a beautiful structure, and has so well resisted
the ravages of time that it is in quite a perfect state. The front
and sides of the portico contain sixteen Corinthian columns of red
ornamented granite, each fourteen feet in circumference and thirty-nine
feet high, with bases and capitals of white marble. The portico is
surmounted by an entablature and pediment finely proportioned. The
inside is circular, one hundred and thirty-four feet in diameter; the
walls are nineteen feet thick, with an opening in the top twenty-six
feet wide. Verde-antique, porphyry, and other valuable marbles are
everywhere prominent. The dome was originally lined with bronze, but it
was taken by Pope Urban Eighth to make the great canopy over the high
altar of St. Peter’s.
Among the many other objects of interest the most conspicuous are the
ancient Forum, the arch of Constantine, the arch of Titus, temples of
various heathen gods, the tombs of Scipio, the palaces of the Cæsars,
the baths of Titus and Caracalla, Trajan’s column, the Mausoleum of
Augustus, and the Mausoleum of Adrian. The latter was erected by the
Emperor Adrian to be a deposit for his remains; it is now converted
into the Castle of San Angelo, and occupied by the military on the
banks of the Tiber. The bridge that leads to it is surmounted by the
figures of many angels, bearing in their hands the instruments of
torture said to have been used at the crucifixion of our Savior. Near
the Campidolio, which contains a vast collection of antiquities, is the
Tarpeian Rock, celebrated as the place from which the ancient Romans
executed their criminals by throwing them headlong down the precipice.
Near the Temples of Concord, Jupiter, and Fortune, is situated the
prison in which St. Peter and St. Paul were confined with forty-seven
other prisoners. A light is kept burning continually in one of the
cells, in which are an altar, and figures of the saints on a side
screen. You descend by torchlight into a vault or prison, on one side
of which in passing down you see the grated iron window through which
the prisoners looked, and near it is the iron frame to which they were
bound. Here also, far below the surface of the ground, is the living
stream which gushed up for the baptism of the convicts after their
conversion, and which now in case of severe droughts never fails to
flow.
In visiting the immense ruins of the palace of Cæsar we descended by
torchlight to the baths of Livia, where are seen the remains of stucco
and fresco work in the wall, arabesques, medallions, &c. Near this
place on the hill, we had a view of the seven hills of Rome, and looked
down upon the Forum, Senate House, and on the other side the Circus
Maximus, which extended for miles, and held in the time of Constantine
three hundred and eighty thousand persons. It was used for horse and
chariot races, as well as feats of wrestling, boxing, combats with wild
beasts, and other exercises to improve the Roman youth.
Rome, according to the published statistics, contains six hundred and
thirty-five palaces, three hundred and twenty-eight churches, fifty
public fountains, one hundred small fountains, thirty-four bishops,
one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight priests, two thousand one
hundred and eighteen monks, one thousand four hundred and seventeen
young monks, one hundred and fourteen convents, thirteen obelisks,
and sixteen city gates. The ancient Romans had aqueducts to convey
to the city eight hundred tons of water daily. Three of them still
remain, one of which supplies the Vatican and the fountains in front
of St. Peter’s, and is thirty miles in length. Another is twenty-two
miles long. The ancient mistress of the world, reduced as she now is
in size, population, wealth, and power, still has her stately palaces,
noble churches, splendid fountains, stupendous obelisks of Egyptian
character, matchless amphitheatres, and almost innumerable antiquities,
with their classical associations, which can never fail to attract
strangers from all enlightened quarters of the globe, to say nothing of
the finest modern works of art, to be found almost everywhere, and in
which she is unrivalled.