THE AVENTINE AND CÆLIAN HILLS.
[Sidenote: The Servian walls.]
Before the end of the regal period there was an enlargement of the limits
of the city in which the Aventine and Cælian were comprehended. Dionysius,
Livy, and Aurelius Victor all relate that Tarquinius Priscus undertook the
building of a new stone wall for the defence of the whole of the new
quarters of the city, but that he did not live to finish it. The design
was carried out by Servius Tullius, who also constructed the enormous
agger called by his name, and still partly remaining at the back of the
Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinal Hills. Before this great work was
accomplished we must suppose that each suburb, as it grew out of the
original settlement, was defended by a new piece of fortification, but
these fortifications were, as Dionysius describes them, only temporary and
hastily erected for the nonce. The expressions of Livy and Aurelius would
lead us also to the conclusion that they were not of stone, but probably
were entrenchments of earth. Rome then became the capital of Latium; she
had lately united all her citizens, the Montani, the Collini, and the
other freeholders living within the districts of Servius by a complete
military organisation, and her powers were directed by a form of
government which has always proved best calculated for the production of
great public works. A new stone wall was accordingly planned on a vast
scale, and the drainage of the low-lying parts of the city was effected
about the same time by colossal sewers. The king having the whole control
of the finances of the state could appropriate large sums of money for
works of public utility, and could also doubtless command the labour of
immense gangs of workmen. The Servian walls and the Cloacæ of Rome are to
be looked upon as the parallels in the History of Rome to the pyramids of
Egypt, the walls of Babylon, and of Mycenæ and Tiryns. They point to a
time of concentrated power and unresisting obedience, when the will of one
man could direct the whole resources of the community to the
accomplishment of a comprehensive design.
With the exception of a small portion which has been discovered in the
depression between the north-western and south-eastern parts of the
Aventine, another portion upon the Servian Agger, and a few remnants on
the Quirinal in the Barberini and Colonna Gardens,[113] no remnants of the
Servian walls are now to be seen, and we have to infer their probable
extent from the nature of the ground, the rough estimate given by
Dionysius of the space which they enclose, and the positions of the gates
as described by various ancient authors. It may be safely concluded that,
wherever it was possible, advantage would be taken of the sides of the
hills, and the wall would be made to run along their edges. Thus the
course of the wall on the outer side of the Capitoline, Quirinal,
Esquiline and north-eastern part of the Aventine can be ascertained with
tolerable certainty, and the agger serves as a guide along the back of the
Viminal and Quirinal. The principal difficulty lies in the portions
between the Capitoline and Aventine along the river bank, in the space to
the south of the Cælian, and at the Hill of S. Saba and S. Balbina, where
there is but little indication in the nature of the ground to guide us.
In the time of Dionysius, who died about B.C. 10, the Servian Wall was
already so much covered with buildings of various kinds, that he speaks of
it as difficult to trace, and therefore, naturally enough, we find at the
present day that nearly the whole has disappeared under heaps of rubbish.
The portion brought to light in 1855 under the south-eastern slope of the
Aventine was accidentally discovered by digging in the vineyards not far
from the Porta S. Paolo, for the purpose of clearing the ground from
masses of brickwork. This portion, some of which has since been covered
with earth again, was 104 feet in length, 50 feet high, and 12 broad. The
breadth shows the great solidity and strength of the construction. The
original height was probably greater, as Mr. Braun remarks, and a parapet
was placed upon the top. Some parts of this ruin are covered with
reticulated work, and on others great masses of masonry have been placed
which belonged to dwelling-houses. Mr. J. H. Parker has since been able to
clear this fragment of wall, thus doing a very great service to Roman
Archæology. No monumental antiquities have been found in these excavations
earlier than the imperial times. A stamp bearing an inscription was
discovered near one of the more modern arches, and dates from the reign of
Trajan.
At the time when these walls were built, the stone generally used for such
purposes was the hard tufa. The greater part of the Cloaca Maxima, and the
remnants of these Servian walls, are composed of this material. It is hewn
into long rectangular blocks, which are placed (in builders’ phrase
alternately headers and stretchers) sometimes across and sometimes along
the line of the wall, in order to gain greater strength. No cement is
used, but the stones are carefully fitted together and regularly shaped.
It must here be observed that the rectangular shape and horizontal
position of the blocks in this stonework by no means disprove its high
antiquity. It is true that the so-called Pelasgian walls are built in a
totally different style, for the stones in them are polygonal. But this
difference of shape in the stones arises from a difference in the
material. All the so-called Pelasgian walls in Italy are built of a stone
which naturally breaks into polygonal masses; but tufa stone is found in
the quarry in horizontal layers, and is most easily cut into a rectangular
shape. The inference sometimes drawn from horizontally laid masonry that
it indicates a more advanced state of art than polygonal cannot be relied
upon as certain. The arch in this ruin is of a later date and may have
been an embrasure for a catapult.[114]
[Sidenote: Porta Capena.]
The situation of no gate in the Servian Avails can be determined so
completely as that of the Porta Capena. We know that part of the Aqua
Marcia passed over it, whence it was called the dripping gate (Madida
Capena) by Martial and Juvenal. It was therefore in the valley below the
Cælian Hill, and we should, judging from the form of the ground, naturally
place it where the hill, on which S. Balbina stands, approaches the Cælian
most nearly. A striking confirmation of this conjecture has been
discovered. The first milestone on the Appian Road was found in 1584 in
the first vineyard beyond the present Porta S. Sebastiano--the Vigna
Naro--and, measuring back one mile from it, we come exactly to this spot.
This milestone is now placed on the steps leading up to the Capitoline
Museum. Milestones and horse-blocks were erected on all the great roads by
Caius Gracchus before the milliarium aureum was put up in the Forum by
Augustus, and it is probable that the distances were always measured from
the gates. Mr. Parker carried on excavations for some time to find the
exact position of the Porta Capena, and he discovered some of the piers of
the aqueduct which passed over the gate in the garden of the Convent of S.
Gregorio. These excavations have unfortunately been more or less filled up
again.
[Sidenote: Monte Testaccio.]
Near the Porta S. Paolo, between the Aventine and the river, stands the
hill called Monte Testaccio from its being composed almost entirely of
potsherds mixed with rubbish. The hill is 150 feet high, and one-third of
a mile in circumference. Many conjectures have been hazarded about its
origin, which still, however, remains a mystery.
The hypothesis which has gained most credit rests upon a passage in
Tacitus, in which that historian, after giving an account of the Neronian
fire, proceeds to say that Nero intended to have the rubbish carried to
the Ostian marshes, and, therefore, gave orders that the corn-ships, after
discharging their freight at the Emporium, should take a load of rubbish
on their return to Ostia. This explanation appears satisfactory until the
peculiar composition of the hill is examined. Nearly the whole mass
consists of pieces of broken earthenware, and is not such as we should
expect the rubbish left after a fire to be. The absence of bricks may
perhaps be explained by the supposition that they were saved in order to
be used a second time; but the immense quantity of potsherds still
remains to be accounted for. Further, it is said that a coin of Gallienus
has been found in such a position on the smaller portion of the hill as to
leave no doubt that the accumulation of that part could not have been
anterior to Gallienus. A medal of Constantine has also been found in the
interior of the larger portion. Bunsen’s explanation that the hill is
composed of the rubbish cleared away by Honorius when he restored the
walls of Aurelian, and other ingenious hypotheses of the same kind, do not
sufficiently account for the peculiar composition of the hill.
M. Reifferscheid, in a paper communicated to the Roman Archæological
Institute, has propounded the most natural and proper solution of the
problem.[115] He observes that it is not necessary to go farther than the
magazines of the neighbouring Emporium for an explanation of this immense
mass of potsherds. Every kind of provisions brought to Rome in ancient
times was stored in earthenware jars, not only wine, but corn, oil, and
other articles of commerce. A fire, therefore, which consumed any part of
the Emporium would leave rubbish composed in great part of fragments of
earthen jars (dolia); and, since many such fires must have taken place in
the course of ages, and immense quantities of earthen jars must have been
broken in the process of unloading, it does not seem at all impossible
that so large an accumulation of matter should have taken place. At
Alexandria and at Cairo similar heaps of potsherds are to be seen outside
the walls, and their extent, though less, as might be expected, than that
at Rome, is such as to create astonishment in the traveller’s mind when he
sees them for the first time. An attempt has been made by M. Reifferscheid
to determine the earliest date at which we can suppose this gradual
deposition of potsherds to have taken place, but the data upon which he
builds his conclusion, that the accumulation forming the Monte Testaccio
first began to be deposited in the time of the decay of the Empire, about
the third century, are not by any means such as to produce conviction.
[Sidenote: Tomb of Cestius.]
Near the Monte Testaccio, and close to the Porta S. Paolo, stands a
pyramidal monument, measuring about 97 feet on each side, and 120 feet in
height. It is placed upon a square basement of travertine, and the rest of
the building is of rubble, with a casing of white marble. It is built into
the Aurelian Wall, no pains having been taken to avoid the injury which
this might cause to the building. It has, however, suffered but little
from this except in appearance. The ancient entrance, which was probably
on the north-east side, has been walled up. No trace is now to be seen of
it, and the present entrance on the north-west was made in 1663. The
interior consists of a small plastered chamber 16 feet long by 13, and 12
feet high, the corners of which are ornamented with paintings of winged
genii. No coffin or sarcophagus was found when the tomb was opened, but
the inscription on the outside gives the name of C. Cestius, the son of L.
Cestius, of the Publilian tribe, as the person who was buried in it. It
further appears that this C. Cestius had been Prætor and Tribune of the
commons, and one of the seven epulones who superintended the sacrificial
banquets to the gods. The date of his burial has been discovered by means
of two marble pedestals containing inscriptions which were found near the
pyramid. On one of these the foot of a colossal bronze statue is still
fixed. They show that C. Cestius’s death took place in the time of M.
Agrippa, and, therefore, of the Emperor Augustus, and that the statues
were erected from the proceeds of the sale of some costly robes of cloth
of gold (attalica), which Cestius had by his will ordered to be buried
with him. Such burial being forbidden by law, the robes were sold and the
statues erected from the proceeds by order of his heirs. They probably
stood at the corners of the pyramid. Two fluted Doric pillars, the
fragments of which were found near the spot, have now been placed at these
corners. Cestius may possibly have been the same person who is mentioned
by Cicero as a Roman knight.
[Sidenote: Baths of Caracalla.]
To the south-east of the hills of S. Saba and S. Balbina, between the
Aurelian walls and the Via Appia, lie the most colossal ruins in Rome,
covering a space each side of which measures more than a thousand feet. It
is certain, from the arrangement of these buildings, that they were
destined for public baths; and as tradition and the catalogue of the
twelfth region both assign the name of the Thermæ Antoninianæ to them, and
the style of the masonry is that of the Antonine era, we may feel
satisfied that they belonged to the baths mentioned by Cassiodorus and
Hieronymus as already partially built by Caracalla in the year A.D. 216,
and finished by Heliogabalus and Alexander Severus.[116]
[Illustration: THE BATHS OF CARACALLA]
This enormous mass of building consisted of a central oblong block,
containing all the halls and chambers appropriated more immediately to the
baths, and a surrounding court, the sides of which were formed by gymnasia
and other places of amusement, and the area of which was laid out in
gardens, with shrubberies, ornamental colonnades, and fountains. A similar
arrangement is found in the Thermæ of Titus and Diocletian.
The central block of buildings contained four immense halls and a rotunda,
around which numerous smaller rooms were grouped. The first of these large
halls (a) was entered from the north-eastern side by two wide doorways.
Rows of niches for sculpture broke the broad inner surfaces of its walls,
and it communicated with the chambers on each side by open passages filled
with columns of splendid marble and granite. The floor formed an immense
basin shaped hollow, showing that the purpose for which it was used was
that of a cold swimming-bath. The steps by which the bathers descended
into it have been found at the two shorter sides, and on both sides are
chambers for dressing and undressing.
In the centre of the group of buildings is another hall (b) of nearly the
same dimensions as the cold bath, with large recesses at both ends. The
floor of this was paved with the richest marbles. The four lateral
circular recesses formed hot baths, and were fitted with steps and seats
of various kinds for bathers. In the recesses at the ends stood two
enormous porphyry basins, one of which is now preserved in the Museum at
Naples. This hall was probably the tepidarium and had a very lofty roof
supported by eight granite pillars of colossal size, and by a network of
brazen or copper rods. One of the pillars was given to Duke Cosmo I. by
Pius IV., and stands in the Piazza di Trinità in Florence. The smaller
chambers (c) (d) (e), at the western and southern angles of the
tepidarium, contained the apparatus for heating water.
These chambers, the purpose of which is unknown, separate the tepidarium
from the rotunda (f). The position of this latter and its shape would seem
to indicate that it was a laconicum or hot-air room, but the state of the
ruins is at present such as to preclude any positive assertion as to its
purpose.
On each side of the above-mentioned three chambers is a similar range of
halls. The south-eastern wing (g), being the most perfect, serves as the
better guide to the arrangement of this part of the building. We pass
through two chambers (h) (i) containing fine mosaic pavement, and then
reach a large long hall (g), which apparently consisted of three aisles
and two semicircular tribunes, divided from each other by rows of columns,
somewhat in the manner of a basilica. A considerable portion of the
mosaics on the floor of this hall have been laid bare and may be seen
amongst the ruins of the roof and upper part. In the larger tribune was
discovered the great mosaic pavement of the Athletes, now preserved in the
Lateran Museum, whence it has been inferred that this side hall as well as
the corresponding one on the north-west side were used as gymnasia or ball
courts (sphæristeria), with galleries for spectators. The purpose of the
rooms situated on each side of the rotunda is not known, but it has been
conjectured that they were additional tepidaria, since even the
magnificent central tepidarium is hardly large enough to furnish the
accommodation spoken of by Olympiodorus, who stated that there were 1600
marble seats for bathers in the Antonine Baths.[117]
There were numerous chambers in the upper stories in and about these large
halls, to which the staircases led, one of which has been restored. These
were perhaps used as libraries, picture galleries, and museums of
curiosities.
The whole north-eastern side of the court which surrounded these central
halls consists of ranges of rooms built of brick and opening outwards.
Many of these are still standing, and the traces of an upper story are to
be seen over some of them (j, j). Different opinions have been held as to
their use. Some writers think that they were offices and rooms for the
slaves belonging to the establishment, others that they were separate
baths for women. The principal entrance to the enclosure was in the centre
of this side of the court.
On the north-western side of the court the remains can be traced of a
large shallow tribune in the shape of a segment of a circle and surrounded
by a vaulted corridor or cloister (k). Within this were three large
apartments, probably used as lecture and conversation rooms. The rest of
this side has entirely disappeared, as has also the opposite south-eastern
side with the exception of one of the large apartments. These two sides of
the court probably correspond in the same way as the wings of the central
building.
The fourth side of the court was occupied by an immense reservoir of water
divided into numerous compartments (l), in front of which was the cavea of
a stadium (m), and on each side two large halls, possibly used as
dressing-rooms and gymnasia (n, n).
The reservoir was supplied with water by a branch aqueduct from the Aqua
Marcia.
The numerous magnificent works of art, sculptures, bronzes, lamps, cameos,
and coins, which have from time to time been discovered in these ruins,
are now dispersed through the museums of Italy. Some of the larger
sculptures, including the Hercules of Glykon and the group called the Toro
Farnese are in the Naples Museum, and two large porphyry fountain-basins
are in the Piazza Farnese at Rome.
Some excavations have been lately made in the Vigna Guidi, a vineyard on
the south-east side of the Court of these Thermæ. The ruins of a large
house have been found which had been demolished and covered with earth, to
make room for the Thermæ. Nothing is known of the history of this house,
but various conjectures have been hazarded, taken from the catalogues of
the Regionaries.
The vast Necropolis of Rome stretched along both sides of the Appian Road
from the Porta Capena nearly as far as the Alban Hills.
[Sidenote: Tomb of the Cornelian Scipios.]
Conspicuous among these burial-places is the tomb which remained in
possession of the great family of the Cornelian Scipios for nearly four
centuries.[118] The entrance to this is near the gate of one of the
vineyards, on the north-east side of the Appian Road, about two hundred
and fifty yards from the Porta S. Sebastiano. The tomb itself consists of
a number of passages roughly hewn in the tufa stone, as the catacombs are,
without any apparent plan of arrangement. Unfortunately, the original
state of the catacomb has been so altered by the substructions which have
been found necessary to support the roof that it can hardly be recognised
at the present day, and the sarcophagi and inscriptions have been removed,
and placed for greater security in the Vatican Museum. Those now seen in
situ are modern copies. Anciently there were two entrances, one from the
Via Appia, and the other from the road which here unites the Via Appia and
Via Latina. The present entrance has been cut for the convenience of
access from the Appian Road.
[Sidenote: Columbaria.]
The catacomb of the Scipios differs from most of the other burial places
which surround it, on account of the retention by the gens Cornelia of the
old Latin custom of burying in coffins, instead of burning the corpse of
the deceased. Most of the burying places on the Monte d’Oro are arranged
in the manner called a columbarium by the Romans, from the resemblance of
the niches in it to the holes in a pigeon-house.[119] Four of these
columbaria have been excavated in the Vigna Codini, near the Porta S.
Sebastiano, and are now to be seen in almost perfect preservation. They
consist of a square pit roofed over, and entered by a staircase. The roof
is supported by a massive square central column, and the whole of the
sides of the pit and of the central column are pierced with semicircular
niches, containing earthenware jars filled with ashes. In one of the
columbaria in the Vigna Codini there is room for 900 jars. Most of the
names which are inscribed above each niche upon a marble tablet are those
of imperial freedmen, or servants of great families or public officers,
and other persons of the middle class of life, and are therefore of
little historical interest. The ashes of some few of a somewhat higher
grade, are placed in small marble sarcophagi or urns, but no persons of
distinguished rank appear to have been buried in this way. There are,
however, few places in Rome where the ordinary manners and customs of the
ancient Romans are more vividly placed before the eye than here, and the
very insignificance of some of the details exhibited is somewhat striking.
In one corner we find the ashes of a lady’s maid attached to one of the
imperial princesses; in another, those of the royal barber; and in
another, a favourite lapdog has been admitted to take his place among his
mistress’s other faithful servants.
[Sidenote: Arch of Drusus.]
Not far from these columbaria, and close to the Porta S. Sebastiano, the
Via Appia is spanned by a half ruinous archway, of which little but the
core remains, the marble casing having long been torn off. It was probably
originally ornamented with eight columns, two only of which now remain
standing on the side next the modern gateway. These have shafts of
Numidian marble (giallo antico), and composite capitals with Corinthian
bases.
Upon the top of this arch is a brick ruin apparently belonging to the
Middle Ages, as the style of building is similar to that called opera
saracenica by the Italians. It was probably a part of a fortified tower,
placed upon the arch, resembling that which formerly surmounted the Arch
of Titus.
On each side of the arch are some remains of the branch aqueduct, which
brought water from the Aqua Marcia to the Baths of Caracalla, and it is
natural to conclude that this arch carried the aqueduct over the Via
Appia, and was built by Caracalla for that purpose. The costly nature of
the materials used has, however, induced most topographers to reject this
explanation, and to assume that the arch is one of the three mentioned by
the Notitia in the first region, as built in honour respectively of
Drusus, Trajan, and Verus. The composite capitals seem to point to the
earliest date of these three, and as the building bears a resemblance to a
representation of the Arch of Drusus, which has been discovered upon a
coin,[120] the arch has been thought identical with that erected to
Drusus, the father of Claudius, mentioned by Suetonius.
[Sidenote: Sessorium and Amphitheatrum Castrense.]
Two ruins standing near the Basilica of S. Croce in Gerusalemme may be
reckoned as belonging to the district of the Cælian Hill They are called
by the topographers the Sessorium and the Amphitheatrum Castrense. The
first of these consists of a ruin built of brick, containing a large
semicircular apse with round-headed windows, from which two walls project.
No excavations having been made in order to ascertain the further extent
of the buildings, any opinion formed as to their purpose must necessarily
be highly uncertain. The most probable conjecture which has been made is
that they are the ruins of a tribunal called the Sessorium. Such a court
of justice is mentioned by the Scholiast on Horace as situated on the
Esquiline near the place where criminals and paupers were buried. Further
notices of the same name as applied to an edifice in the neighbourhood of
the Basilica of S. Croce are to be found in Anastasius’s Life of S.
Silvester, and in a fragmentary history of certain passages in the Life of
Theodoric, printed at the end of the work of Ammianus Marcellinus.
Theodoric is there said to have ordered a criminal to be beheaded in
palatio quod appellatur Sessorium, using the same phrase which Anastasius
also employs.
The authors of the Beschreibung Roms supposed that this ruin was the
Nymphæum Alexandri of the Notitia, but this has been disproved by Becker,
who shows that the Nymphæum was near the Villa Altieri.
The opinion that it was the Temple of Spes Vetus, which Frontinus places
near the commencement of the branch aqueduct of Nero, is more likely to be
correct, but the shape of the building, so far as it is at present known,
does not agree with such a supposition. The ruins are commonly known by
the name of the Temple of Venus and Cupid, a name which was given to them
from the discovery of a statue near them representing a female figure. But
it is a fatal objection to this that the name of the Roman matron
(Sallustia) whose statue was supposed to be that of Venus, has been
discovered to be engraved upon the pedestal. The statue may be seen in
the Museo Pio Clementino.
[Sidenote: Amphitheatrum Castrense.]
On the other side of the Basilica, and forming a part of the Aurelian
wall, is a portion of an amphitheatre. The interior, now used as a garden,
may be seen by entering the door on the right hand of the basilica. The
larger axis of the amphitheatre was apparently about one hundred and ten
yards, and the shorter eighty-five or thereabouts. It is entirely
constructed of brick, even to the Corinthian capitals which ornament the
exterior, and the workmanship shows it to belong to the best age of Roman
architectural art. The second tier of arches has almost entirely
disappeared, and of the lowest tier only those are left which are built
into the city wall. But to suppose, as Becker does, that it was not an
amphitheatre, but the vivarium, where the wild beasts used in the games
were kept, seems out of the question. The only difficulty is to determine
what the special history and purpose of the building, manifestly an
amphitheatre, placed so far from the populous parts of the city, was. The
Notitia here comes to our aid, for it records the existence of an
amphitheatrum castrense in the fifth region; and there can be little doubt
that we have here the remains of the amphitheatre built for the
entertainment of the prætorian troops quartered in a fortified camp beyond
the Porta S. Lorenzo. Aurelian made use of the outer side of the building
as a part of his walls, and it is most probable that when Constantine
pulled down the inner portion of the prætorian camp, he also destroyed the
greater part of this amphitheatre.
[Sidenote: House of the Laterani.]
In consequence of the sinking of part of the wall which supports the apse
of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, excavations became necessary in the
year 1876 which disclosed the foundations of some ancient buildings
between the baptistery and the Via della Ferratella, and of some others
under the apse itself. These were carefully examined, and it became
evident that they belonged to the extended ruins of a large villa,
probably that called the House of the Laterani, which was occupied and
enlarged by the emperors of the second and third centuries, and finally
given by Constantine to the Bishop of Rome. The House of Verus, also
mentioned by Julius Capitolinus, was probably on this site.
[Sidenote: Claudian Aqueduct.]
Not far from the Sessorium, and springing out of the angle of the wall
close to the Porta Maggiore, a series of lofty arches begins which extends
throughout the whole length of the Cælian Hill. This is a branch aqueduct
of the Aqua Claudia, built by Nero to supply the Cælian and Aventine Hills
at a higher level than the Aqua Marcia and Aqua Julia, on which they had
previously depended for their supply. It passed over the road leading from
the Porta Maggiore to the Basilica of S. Croce, and thence ran along the
higher ground through the vineyards of the Scala Santa, whence it skirted
the Via di S. Stefano, and, at the Arch of Dolabella, was divided into
three branches, one of which crossed the valley to the Palatine, the
second ran towards the edge of the hill over the Coliseum, and a third
towards the Porta Capena.
[Sidenote: Arch of Dolabella.]
The arch of Dolabella stands a little to the north-west of the Piazza
della Navicella, and spans the road leading down from thence into the
valley between the Cælian and Palatine, formerly called the Clivus Scauri.
The archway consists of a single arch of travertine, without any
ornamentation, but carrying an inscription to the effect that Publius
Cornelius Dolabella, when consul, and Caius Julius Silanus, when Flamen
Martialis, erected the arch by order of the Senate. The consulship of this
Dolabella falls in the reign of Augustus A.D. 10, and therefore the arch
can originally have had no connection with the Neronian aqueduct. It is
possible, however, as Becker and Reber suggest, that the arch may have
been originally built to carry the Aqua Marcia and Julia, which, as we
know from Frontinus, supplied the Cælian before the building of the
Neronian branch of the Aqua Claudia.[121] On one side the Arch of
Dolabella is still completely hidden by the brickwork of the Neronian
arches, and the other side was probably covered in a similar manner until
after 1670, as we find no mention of this arch in Donatus, who could not
have omitted to notice it in his description of the Neronian aqueduct had
it been visible in his time.
[Sidenote: Navicella.]
The marble representation of a ship, which stands now in the Piazza
della Navicella and gives its name to the place, was probably a votive
offering to Jupiter Redux, and there may be some connection between these
and the Castra Peregrinorum, as having perhaps been the place where the
troops employed on foreign service were quartered. An inscription seems to
allude to this connection between the Temple of Jupiter Redux and the
camp.
[Illustration: Arch of Dolabella.]
[Sidenote: Houses on the Cælian.]
In the time of the empire many palaces of the richer classes stood upon
the Cælian. Among them we have distinct mention of the houses of Claudius
Centumalus, which was visible from the Arx, of Mamurra, and of Annius
Verus, in which Marcus Aurelius was born. Tetricus also, the unsuccessful
rival of Aurelian, built a magnificent residence on the Cælian, in which,
on his readmission to the emperor’s favour, he entertained Aurelian.
[Sidenote: Palace of Commodus.]
It seems probable, as Bunsen has conjectured, that the Vectilian Palace in
which Commodus lived, occupied the part of the Cælian next to the
Coliseum. The ruins there consist of arches of travertine, forming a
rectangular space upon the northern end of the hill. They are massively
constructed, so as to bear a great superincumbent weight, and would be in
every way suitable for the terraces of a large imperial villa such as
Commodus may have built, when, as Lampridius tells us, he removed from the
Palatine, where he found himself unable to sleep, to the house of
Vectilius on the Cælian. He was afterwards murdered there. The position
may have pleased him from its immediate vicinity to the Coliseum, where he
was so fond of superintending the exhibitions, and displaying his own
skill in killing wild animals. The story that he had an underground
passage made from his villa to the Coliseum is also a strong confirmation
of the conjecture of Bunsen, and some additional probability is given to
it by the course of the branch aqueduct which leads from the Arch of
Dolabella in the direction of this garden, and would certainly be required
to supply the luxuries of a large Roman palace.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII.
MONUMENTAL ANTIQUITIES IN THE MUSEUMS, PIAZZAS AND OTHER PLACES.
Besides the ruins which are still standing in Rome and the Campagna, many
historical monuments may be seen in the Roman museums, and in some of the
gardens and piazzas. The principal among these are as follows:
[Sidenote: Egyptian antiquities.]
1. Numerous Egyptian antiquities were found near the Churches of S. Maria
sopra Minerva and that of S. Stefano in Cacco, on the site of the ancient
Temples of Isis and Serapis. Of these the most remarkable are the two
obelisks, one of which now stands in front of the Pantheon, and the other
in the Piazza della Minerva. The statue of Isis, now in the Hall of the
Dying Gladiator at the Capitoline Museum, the Egyptian lions on the steps
of the Capitol, and the famous statue of the Nile now in the Braccio Nuovo
of the Vatican, were also found here.
[Sidenote: Bas-reliefs from Arch of M. Aurelius.]
2. At the corner where the Strada della Vite crosses the Corso is a tablet
recording the improvements made by Alexander VII. in the Corso at that
point, whence he removed the ruins of an ancient triumphal arch which
impeded the thoroughfare. A view of this is given by Donati, who calls it
the Arcus Domitiani. But Nardini and all topographers since his time are
agreed that the arch which stood here till 1662, must have been erected at
a later time in honour of M. Aurelius. When it was pulled down, for public
convenience as the inscription tells us, there were still four columns of
verde antico standing, two of which are now used to adorn the principal
altar in the Church of S. Agnese in Piazza Navona, and two are in the
Corsini Chapel of the Lateran Basilica. The keystone of the arch is
preserved in the Collegio della Sapienza; on each side of the arch there
were two reliefs, now placed in the Capitoline Palace of the Conservators
on the landing places at the top of the stairs. One of these represents M.
Aurelius standing on a suggestus to deliver an harangue, and the other the
apotheosis of the younger Faustina, his wife, who is being carried up to
heaven by a genius, while the emperor is seated below, and at his feet the
genius of Halala, a town at the foot of Mount Taurus where Faustina died.
These two reliefs were removed into the Palace of the Conservators in
order that they might be placed near four other reliefs, which had been
found in the sixteenth century in the Church of S. Martina on the Capitol.
A fifth, also found in the same church, is now in the Palazzo Torlonia in
the Piazza di Venezia. The earlier history of the removal of these last
five reliefs is not known, but it seems certain, from their style and
subjects, that they belonged to the Arch of M. Aurelius. The four which
are now in the Conservators’ Palace represent Marcus Aurelius on horseback
with his army, a group of barbarians kneeling before him, the goddess
Roma, receiving the emperor who comes on foot to the gates, and presenting
him with the globe, the symbol of empire, the triumphal procession of M.
Aurelius in a quadriga crowned by Victory, and his thanksgiving sacrifice
on the Capitol. The fifth relief, which is now in the Palazzo Torlonia,
represents either M. Aurelius, or his brother Lucius Verus in conference
with some barbarians who kneel as suppliants before him. Even supposing
that the last mentioned five reliefs do not belong to this arch, yet the
two first which are known to have stood upon it are quite sufficient to
prove that it was the arch of M. Aurelius. The similarity between the
representation of the apotheosis of the younger Faustina and that of
Antoninus Pius and the elder Faustina is too evident to be overlooked and
the whole style of sculpture and architecture points to the Antonine Age.
3. With the bas-reliefs from the Arch of M. Aurelius must be compared that
on the pedestal of the column of Antoninus Pius now placed in the Giardino
della Pigna at the Vatican. On one side of this is an inscription
recording its dedication to Antoninus Pius, and on the other sides are
reliefs, the principal of which represents the apotheosis of Antoninus and
Faustina, while the others represent groups of cavalry and infantry.[122]
One fragment of the column now placed upon the pedestal has a Greek
inscription upon it showing that the stone of which the column was formed
was originally cut in the ninth year of Trajan, and after lying for a long
time in the imperial stoneyard was subsequently used for this column. In
the same place, the Giardino della Pigna, is to be seen the gigantic
bronze fir-cone which may have formed the summit of Hadrian’s Mausoleum,
now the Castle of S. Angelo, and also the bronze peacocks which ornamented
the same building.[123] The colossal head of Hadrian from his mausoleum is
now in the Museo Pio Clementino.
4. The inscription cut upon the pedestal of the urn of Agrippina, the
mother of Caligula, may still be seen in the courtyard of the Palazzo dei
Conservatori on the Capitol, and also the cippi recording the burials of
some of the imperial family. The pedestal was hollowed out and used as a
measure for corn in the Middle Ages, and hence it was called Rugitella di
grano.
Other colossal fragments are also kept in this courtyard, and on the
staircase are the fragments of the inscription on the Duilian column found
near the arch of Septimius Severus, and a bas-relief of Curtius leaping
into the gulf, found in the Forum Romanum near the Church of S. Maria
Liberatrice. The bas-reliefs mentioned above, No. 2, are also there.
[Illustration: Pedestal of Antonine Column.]
5. The fragments of the ancient register of Consuls from A.U.C. 272 to the
end of Augustus’ reign, which were found in the Forum Romanum, near the
Temple of Castor, are arranged on the wall of the fourth room in the Halls
of the Conservators on the Capitol. These are printed and discussed in the
Berlin ‘Corpus Inscriptionum,’ Vol. I.
[Illustration: Cone from the top of Hadrian’s Mausoleum.]
6. The famous bronze figure of the wolf and twins is placed in the gallery
of bronzes on the Capitol. It was found, according to Flaminius Vacca, who
wrote in 1594, near the Arch of Janus Quadrifrons. Urlichs, who has
discussed the probable history of this figure in the Rheinisches Museum,
thinks that it is the figure dedicated by the Ogulnii, Ædiles in B.C. 297,
and mentioned in the tenth book of Livy.
7. A stupendous sarcophagus brought from Vico Varo, with a bas-relief
representing the Calydonian boar hunt, stands in the Museum of the
Capitol, and in the next room is the sepulchral monument found at the
Porta Salaria in 1871, recording the young Greek scholar who won the prize
at the Agon Capitolinus in A.D. 86. Another most interesting sarcophagus,
which was found at the Monte del Grano on the road to Frascati, and
contained the vase called the Portland Vase now in the British Museum,
stands in the Hall of the Urns in the Capitoline Museum.
8. On the wall of the staircase in the Capitoline Museum are the fragments
of the celebrated marble plan of Rome cut in the time of Septimius
Severus, which shows the sites and ground plans of the Portico of Octavia,
the Theatre of Pompeius, the Basilica of Trajan, the Basilica Julia, and
the Theatre of Marcellus.
9. The Dying Gladiator, or more properly the Dying Gaulish Herald, was
found in the gardens of Sallust, near the Porta Salaria. It now stands in
the room called the Hall of the Dying Gladiator at the Capitoline Museum.
10. In the Hall of the Faun at the Capitoline Museum may be seen one of
the most beautiful ancient bas-reliefs in Rome, representing the battle of
Theseus, and the Amazons. This is on a sarcophagus which was found near
Torre Salona on the Via Collatina.
11. In the Capitoline Museum, the Halls of Busts of the Emperors and of
Illustrious Men, the Venus of the Capitol, and the Doves of Pliny, are
monuments connected with several celebrated spots in Rome and the
Campagna.
12. The places, however, at which most of the important antiquities have
been found are the Villa of Hadrian, near Tibur, and the ruins of Veii and
Ostia. The following is a list of the chief monuments which were found
there and are now placed in the Vatican Museum.
A. From Hadrian’s Villa.
1. Faun. No. 84. }
2. A Vestal. No. 120. }
3. A Niobid. No. 176. } Museo Chiaromonti.
4. Clotho. No. 498. }
5. Bacchic bas-reliefs. No. 642. }
6. Hercules. No. 732. }
7. Baths of granite and masses of alabaster in the 4th portico of the
Cortile di Belvedere.
8. Mosaics on the wall in the Hall of the Animals and in the Cabinet of
the Masks.
9. The Candelabra on each side of the Ariadne in the Gallery of Statues.
10. Colossal bust of M. Aurelius in the Hall of the Busts. No. 288.
11. Corinthian columns in the Hall of the Muses.
12. Colossal Hermæ at the entrance of the Rotonda and bust of Faustina,
No. 541 in the Rotonda.
13. Granite statues at the doorway of the Hall of the Greek Cross.
14. Discobolus, No. 618 in the Hall of the Biga.
15. Ephesian Diana, No. 81, and Female Statue No. 222, in the Gallery of
Candelabra.
16. Egyptian figures in the Egyptian Museum.
B. From Veii and the North-Western Campagna.
1. Statue of Tiberius. No. 400. } Museo Chiaromonti.
2. Head of Augustus. No. 401. }
3. Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, in the Braccio Nuovo.
C. From Ostia.
1. Antoninus. No. 6. }
2. Winter. No. 13. }
3. Bust of young Augustus. No. 416. }
4. Bust of Julia. No. 418. }
5. Juno. No. 534. } Museo Chiaromonti.
6. Head of Neptune. No. 606a. }
7. Boy and Swan. No. 651. }
8. Sarcophagus of Nonius Asprenas. No. 685. }
9. Æsculapius. No. 684. }
10. Bust of Antoninus Pius. No. 700. }
11. Ganymede. No. 38. }
12. Ceres. No. 83. } Braccio Nuovo.
13. Bust of Commodus. No. 121. }
The other principal ancient monuments now in the Vatican Museum besides
those from the Villa of Hadrian, from Ostia, and Veii, above-mentioned,
are:--
1. The statue of Demosthenes from the neighbourhood of Cicero’s Tusculan
villa. No. 62. Braccio Nuovo.
2. The Torso Belvedere found near the ruins of the Theatre of Pompeius.
No. 3, Museo Pio Clementino.
3. The Laocoon found near the Baths of Titus. Cortile di Belvedere. No.
74.
4. The great porphyry basin found at the Baths of Diocletian. Rotonda.
5. Sarcophagi of S. Constantia and S. Helena, and cippus of Syphax found
on the road to Tibur. Hall of the Greek Cross.
6. Sarcophagus of L. Scipio Barbatus, from the Tomb of the Scipios, near
the Porta S. Sebastiano. Museo Pio Clementino.
In the Capitoline Museum are placed:--
A. From Hadrian’s Villa.
1. Colossal head of Cybele. No. 9 in the courtyard,
{ Psyche. No. 53. }
2. { Cupid of Praxiteles. No. 13. } In the Gallery.
{ Euterpe. No. 32. }
3. Roman Matron. No. 3. }
4. An Amazon. No. 5. } In the Hall of the Dying Gladiator.
5. Flora. No. 11. }
6. Antinous. No. 13. }
7. The Faun. No. 1 in the Hall of the Faun.
8. Centaurs in bigio antico. No. 2. }
9. A Gymnasiarch. No. 27. } In the Saloon.
10. Harpocrates. No. 34. }
Some other great ancient monuments are placed as follows:--
1. The first milestone on the Appian Road, found in 1584, is now placed in
the Piazza del Campidoglio at the top of the steps leading up from the
Piazza d’Ara Cœli on the right hand. The seventh milestone is placed
opposite to it.
On the stairs of the Capitol are also placed the marble sculptures called
the trophies of Marius which were brought from the ruin on the Campus
Esquilinus, not very far from the Arch of Gallienus. At the top of the
steps stand two equestrian figures of the Dioscuri, said to have come from
the neighbourhood of the Theatre of Balbus, and the statues of Constantine
and his son Constans from the Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal. At the
foot of the staircase are the two Egyptian lions found as above mentioned
near the Church of S. Stefano in Cacco. The history of the bronze
equestrian statue of M. Aurelius, now in the Piazza of the Capitol, cannot
be traced as Palladio states to the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, but
it was more probably found as Fea has recorded, near the Arch of Septimius
Severus.
2. A bronze cista mistica found at Præneste is in the Kircherian Museum.
3. The wooden beams from the Villa of Cæsar in the lake of Nemi, are kept
partly in the Kircherian Museum, and partly in the Gallery on the right
hand of the Vatican Library.
4. The caricature of Alexamenos from the Palatine is in the Kircherian
Museum.
5. The mosaics from the Baths of Caracalla are in the Hall of Mosaics at
the Lateran.
6. One of the white marble columns from the Basilica of Constantine is
placed in front of the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore.
7. The history of the great pair of figures on the Piazza del Quirinale
called the Dioscuri and their horses, cannot be traced further back than
the time of Constantine, in whose baths they stood, as we are told by
Bufalini. The style of sculpture is of the Imperial Age of Rome, and the
inscriptions ascribing them to Phidias and Praxiteles are erroneous.
8. Many good specimens of columns, ancient ornamental sculpture, and other
monuments may be seen in the following places. The Churches of S. Lorenzo
and S. Agnese fuori le Mura; S. Maria in Cosmedin, di Aracœli, degli
Angeli, and in Trastevere. The Villas Ludovisi, Borghese, Albani, and
Spada.
[Illustration: GEOLOGICAL MAP OF ROME]
INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER IX.
The geological strata found on the site of Rome and in its immediate
neighbourhood divide themselves into three principal groups. The oldest of
these is a marine formation, and exhibits itself upon the Vatican,
Janiculum, and Monte Mario. The second, of which all the hills on the
eastern bank and the district of the Campagna are composed, is of volcanic
origin, and consists chiefly of beds of tufaceous matter erupted from
submarine volcanoes and more or less solidified. The third, which appears
in the hollows of the Tiber valley, is a fresh-water formation, and is
found on the slope of the hills on both banks of the river.
[Sidenote: Marine formation.]
The oldest of these three groups belongs to the division of the tertiary
period, called by Lyell the older pleiocene, as having had a fauna and
flora in which the greater number of species were identical with those now
living on the earth. These strata are of marine formation, and are similar
to those which extend over a great breadth of Italy on both flanks of the
Apennine mountains, reaching as far south as the point of Reggio in
Calabria. Their lower bed consists of a bluish-grey clayey marl, which
will be found in the valley between the Janiculum and the Vatican. Its
marine origin is sufficiently proved by the fossils found in it, and the
remains of sea-weed. This bed of clay is of a plastic nature, and is still
used for making pottery, as it was in the time of Juvenal. Above it lies a
stratum of yellow calcareous sand, which sometimes takes the form of loose
sand with boulders, sometimes of a stratified arenaceous rock, and
sometimes of a rough conglomerate. This may be seen outside the Porta
Angelica, on the left, under the walls of the city, and in the Belvedere
Gardens on the Vatican Hill. The Church of S. Pietro in Montorio is said
to derive its name Montorio, monte aureo, from the yellow colour of this
sand.
On Monte Mario an abundance of fossil shells, of the Ostrea hippopus and
other varieties of sea shells, may be seen, plainly indicating the marine
origin of this formation.
The only places within the actual walls of Rome where these tertiary
marine strata are to be found, are the Vatican and the Janiculum. At the
base of the Capitoline, in the subterranean vaults of the Ospitale della
Consolazione, under the volcanic rock which forms the upper part of the
hill, Brocchi found a stratum of calcareous rock and clay, which he
affirms to be of marine origin, and to resemble the limestone of the
Apennines.
[Sidenote: Volcanic formation.]
The second group of strata found on the site of Rome is one which is not
confined to the neighbourhood of Rome, but is most extensively spread over
the whole of the Campagna, the district of Campania, and a considerable
part of southern Italy. The great mass of the Capitoline, Palatine,
Aventine, Esquiline, Cælian, Viminal, Quirinal, and Pincian Hills, is
composed of this formation. Geologists give it the general name of tufa,
and divide it into two kinds, the stony and the granular. It is
distinguished from lava by not having flowed in a liquid state from the
volcano, and is a mechanical conglomerate of scoriæ, ashes, and other
volcanic products which have been carried to some distance from the crater
of eruption, and then consolidated by some chemical re-arrangement of
their constituent elements. The harder kind of tufa, the tufa litoide, is
a reddish brown, or tawny stone, with orange-coloured spots. These spots
are embedded fragments of scoriaceous lava. It is hard enough to be used
as a building stone, and has been quarried largely under the Aventine Hill
near S. Saba, at Monte Verde, on the southern end of the Janiculum, and at
other places near Rome, as at Torre Pignatara on the Via Labicana, at the
bridge over the Anio, on the Via Nomentana, and at the Tarpeian rock.
This tufaceous stone presents itself in very thick banks, traversed by
long vertical and oblique fissures, probably produced by the contraction
of the mass on passing from a humid and soft to a dry and hard state. The
Arch of the Cloaca Maxima, near S. Giorgio in Velabro, is built of this
stone, and the inner part of the substruction of the so-called tabularium
on the Capitol. Portions of the Servian wall were also built of it, and
many stones which were taken from this wall are to be seen at the present
day in the walls of Aurelian, near the gate of S. Lorenzo; and others have
been laid bare by the railway excavations in the Servian Agger.
Brick-shaped masses of it are found in the ambulacra of the Theatre of
Marcellus, so that the use of it must not be restricted to the earliest
times of Roman architecture. In fact, several buildings of the Middle Ages
in or near Rome consist of this stone, as may be seen at the Fortress
Gaetani, near the Tomb of Cæcilia Metella, and in the large tower at the
side of the palace of the Senator.
[Sidenote: Freshwater formation.]
Fresh-water formations cover the bottoms of all the valleys in the
district of Rome and in the whole of the Campus Martius, and ascend to a
considerable height on the flanks of the hills and into the Campagna. They
consist chiefly of sand, clay, gravel, and the stone called travertine,
and of tufa beds which have been disturbed and then re-deposited. This
re-deposited tufa has been the subject of some controversy. It was at one
time thought to indicate that the lower tufa was also a fresh-water
deposit, since it is sometimes found overlying the fresh-water formations.
But no doubt now remains that it must have been formed by a re-arrangement
in fresh water of previously deposited marine tufa beds. The water of the
Tiber, at the time when these fluviatile formations took place, stood at
such a height as to leave deposits upon the intermontium of the Capitol,
and as high as the Church of S. Isidoro on the Pincian, and it must have
partially removed and shifted the previously existing light and porous
volcanic soil of the sea-bottom. Even the top of the Pincian was covered
by this fresh water; for modules of calcareous matter, such as are
deposited in fresh water alone, were found in digging the excavations for
the fountain on the public promenade.
The surface of the broad river which then existed, seems, in fact, to have
been at from 130 to 140 feet above the present surface level of the Tiber,
and its water must have been more surcharged with alluvium, derived from
sources with which the present river is no longer connected.
Among the fluviatile deposits, argillaceous marl beds now play an
important part. They intercept the water as it descends from the hills,
and impede its descent to the river, thus furnishing supplies to the wells
in Rome, but rendering the soil less dry and healthy. The greater portion
of these strata consist of a mixture of sand and clay. The ridge between
the Campo Vaccino and the Coliseum, on which the Arch of Titus stands, is
formed almost entirely of these mixed strata of clay and sand. To prove
the fresh-water origin of these deposits, we need only refer to the
modules of travertine and the shells of lacustrine animals which they
contain. Such species of fresh-water shell-fish could not live in turbid
and rapid water like that of the Tiber as it now is, and we must therefore
conclude from their presence that the waters of the Tiber valley where
such fossils are found were once in a semi-stagnant state. That there was
also a period of violent movement during the prevalence of this lacustrine
era is testified by the quantities of matter brought from a distance and
accumulated at considerable altitudes, and by the size of the pebbles and
boulders which have been rolled along by the stream. But before a more
accurate investigation of facts shall have been made, it will be
impossible to distinguish these two periods of stagnation and rapid
movement from each other.
[Sidenote: Tiber water.]
The river water has no longer the power which it once possessed of
depositing the travertine which we find lying in thick beds upon the
slopes of some of the hills of Rome, and from which the larger ruins are
all built. This travertine is formed from carbonate of lime which the
waters take up as they pass through the soil containing it. In order to
give the water the power of holding this carbonate of lime in solution, a
certain quantity of carbonic acid gas must be present in it. When by means
of the rapid movement of the water or from other causes this gas becomes
disengaged, it leaves the carbonate of lime behind in the shape of a hard
stony deposit. This natural process of petrifaction is familiar to all who
have seen the Falls of the Anio at Tivoli, and the way in which the
artificial canals of running water in that neighbourhood are choked by
limestone concretions, and it may be seen in all vessels made use of to
boil water which is impregnated with lime. The more violent the agitation
of the water the more rapid is the disengagement of the carbonic acid gas,
and the consequent settlement of the lime. This process is accompanied, in
most places where it can be seen, by the presence of sulphuretted
hydrogen, which produces a white colour in the water by depositing the
sediment called gesso by the Italians. Hence an explanation of the ancient
name of Albula given to the Tiber is easy. In the period when the Tiber
had the power of depositing travertine, its waters were much more strongly
impregnated not only with carbonate of lime, but also with gesso, which
gave a white tinge to the water as it now does to the sulphureous waters
near Tivoli. The same colour was characteristic of “the white Nar, with
its sulphureous stream,” Virgil’s description of the chief stream of the
central Apennines.
[Sidenote: Climate.]
The subject of the climate of Rome is naturally connected with that of the
nature of the soil and configuration of the hills and valleys.
It is not difficult to see why the peculiar geological formation of the
Campagna proves, without careful drainage, extremely deleterious to
health. We have there a district containing numerous closed valleys and
depressions in the soil without outlet for the waters which naturally
accumulate. The tufa which composes the surface seems commonly to take the
shape of isolated hills with irregular hollows between them, so as to
impede the formation of natural watercourses. Under this tufa is a
quantity of marl and stiff clay, which retains the water after it has
filtered through the tufa, and sends it oozing out into the lower parts of
the country, where it accumulates, and, mixed with putrescent vegetable
matter, taints the surrounding atmosphere. A want of movement in the air
caused by the mountainous barriers by which the Campagna is enclosed is
another source of malaria.
The sites of Veii, Fidenæ and Gabii, once the rivals and equals of Rome
are now entirely deserted except by a few shepherds and cattle stalls.
Along the coast stood Ardea, Laurentum, Lavinium and Ostia, all of them
towns apparently with a considerable number of inhabitants. Of these Ostia
is now a miserable village, Ardea contains about sixty inhabitants, while
Laurentum and Lavinium are represented by single towers. During a part of
the year the ancient Roman nobility lived in great numbers on these very
shores now found so deadly. Pliny the younger describes the appearance of
their villas near Laurentum as that of a number of towns placed at
intervals along the beach, and he writes an enthusiastic letter in praise
of the salubrity and convenience of his own house there.[124] Lælius and
Scipio used to make the seaside at Laurentum their resort, and to amuse
themselves there with collecting shells.[125] Nor was it only on the
seacoast that the country villas were placed. Six miles from Rome on the
Flaminian Road, at the spot now called Prima Porta, there stood a
well-known country house belonging to the Empress Livia, part of which has
lately been excavated.[126] This was a highly decorated and commodious
house, as the rooms which have been discovered, in which was found a
splendid statue of Augustus, and the busts of several members of the
imperial family, amply testify. The views from this spot over the Campagna
and the Sabine Hills are most lovely, but the contrast between the beauty
of nature and the haggard and fever-stricken appearance of the modern
inhabitants is melancholy enough. A few squalid houses occupied by
agricultural labourers stand by the roadside. Among their tenants not a
single healthy face is to be seen, and even the children are gaunt,
hollow-cheeked, and sallow in complexion. No wealthy Roman would now
consent to live on the site of Hadrian’s stately villa in the Campagna
near Tivoli. Tivoli itself, which Horace wished might be the retreat of
his old age, and which was celebrated as a healthy place in Martial’s
time, has now lost its reputation for salubrity, and is known as--
Tivoli di mal conforto,
O piove, o tira vento, o suona amorto.
Strabo speaks of the now desolate district between Tusculum and Rome as
having been convenient to live in. But there is no need to multiply proofs
which might be gathered from all sides of what is an acknowledged fact,
that the malarian fevers of the present day were not nearly so deadly in
the classic times of Rome, or even in the Middle Ages. The troops of
labourers who, fearing to pass the night in the country, are met returning
to Rome every evening, the forsaken towers and buildings which stand
rotting everywhere about the Campagna, all tell the same tale of a
pestilence-stricken district.
The peculiar physical features of the district have had no little
influence in determining the mode in which the population was grouped in
ancient times. Everywhere we find the hills of Rome reproduced on a
reduced scale. Small isolated flat-topped hills, irregularly divided by
deeply cut watercourses, and edged with steep low cliffs, afford numerous
sites for the settlement of limited independent communities. Such are the
hills on which Laurentum, Lavinium, Fidenæ Antemnæ, Ficulea, Crustumerium
and Gabii stood, and similar places abound in many parts of the district.
Such hills afforded suitable sites for the small fortified towns with
which ancient Latini was thickly studded. Their sides can be easily
scarped so as to afford a natural line of defence, and they are in general
fairly supplied with water from numerous land springs.
Thus, although the general aspect of the Campagna is that of a plain
country, yet the main level of its surface is broken by numerous deep
gullies and groups of hillocks.
The tertiary marine strata, already described as forming the Janiculum and
other hills upon the right bank of the Tiber, do not rise to the surface
in the Campagna, except on the flanks of the Æquian and Sabine hills.
These hills themselves consist of great masses of Apennine limestone
jutting out here and there into the spurs upon which some of the more
considerable cities of the Latin confederacy stood, as Tibur, Præneste,
Bola and Cameria.
The Alban Hills form a totally distinct group, consisting of two principal
extinct volcanic craters somewhat resembling, in their relations to each
other, the great Neapolitan craters of Vesuvius and Somma. One of them
lies within the embrace of the other, just as Vesuvius lies half enclosed
by Monte Somma. The walls of the outer Alban crater are of peperino, while
those of the inner are basaltic. Both are broken away on the northern side
towards Grotta Ferrata and Marino, but on the southern side they are
tolerably perfect.
From the legendary times, when Latinus, Evander, Æneas, and the rest of
Virgil’s heroes are supposed to have occupied the great plain of Latium,
down to the final settlement of the district by its subjection to Rome in
B.C. 338, the Roman Campagna was peopled by communities chiefly living in
towns. Etruria on one side and Latium on the other, contained
confederacies of independent cities, with one or other of which the Romans
were constantly at war. Etruria gave way first, and after the fall of Veii
in B.C. 395, the Roman dominions extended northwards as far as the Lago
Bracciano and Civita Castellana.
At that time the great confederacy of Latium, though Alba was destroyed,
still existed under the Hegemony of Rome as the successor of Alba, and
numbered Tibur, Præneste, Tusculum, Aricia, Antium, Lanuvium, Velitræ,
Pedum, and Nomentum among its members. But after the victories gained by
the consuls of the year B.C. 338, the absorption of the Latin cities made
rapid progress, and the character of the population of the Campagna began
to be completely changed.[127] In this, the second period of the history
of the Campagna, the towns were gradually reduced to mere villages, the
small farmers disappeared, and the land was occupied by the immense
estates (latifundia) of rich proprietors cultivated by hordes of slaves.
Such is the condition in which we find the Campagna in the time of
Cicero.[128] The great villas which strew the ground everywhere in the
neighbourhood of Rome with their ruins were then constructed, and the
colossal aqueducts which served not only to supply Rome with water but
also to irrigate the farms and country seats of the Campagna.
There seems to have been a constant tendency during the later republic and
early empire to reduce the amount of arable land, and to increase the
extent of pasturage in the Campagna. Thus the country was rendered less
and less healthy, and Rome became gradually more dependent than ever on
foreign countries for her supply of corn.
The last phase of the history of the Roman Campagna is the most
melancholy. The aqueducts were nearly all destroyed by the Gothic army at
the siege of Rome under Vitiges in A.D. 536, and the great country seats
of the Roman nobles and princes must have been ruined by the successive
devastations of Roman territory during the fifth and sixth centuries in
which the Lombards were the principal actors. Agriculture ceased, and the
few villages and country houses which remained soon became uninhabitable
during a great part of the year, in consequence of the increase of
malarious exhalations arising from the uncultivated state of the soil, or
were rendered unsafe by the lawless bands of ruffian marauders who
infested the open country. Such is in the main the condition of the Roman
Campagna at the present day, for the most part a waste of ragged pastures
without human habitations, and wild jungles tenanted only by foxes, bears,
and other wild animals.
The above remarks will serve to show that after B.C. 338 the Campagna
became deprived of all historical interest except as the summer residence
of the great Roman proprietors. Its history belongs almost entirely to the
early times of the Roman Republic.