Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Hillie Plantinga and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's notes:
The following typographical errors have been corrected:
Page v, "Romana" changed to "Romano" (by Giulio Romano, Francesco
Penni,)
Page 59, "Bulletino" changed to "Bullettino" (in footnote [38]: See
Henzen, _Bullettino dell' Instituto_, 1863,)
Page 91, "Réceuil" changed to "Récueil" (in footnote [51]: Léon Rénier:
_Récueil des diplomes militaires_)
Page 120, "Ardentina" changed to "Ardeatina" (S. Petronilla on the Via
Ardeatina)
Page 131, "Venedetto" changed to "Benedetto" (the master-mason Benedetto
Drei, whose drawing,)
Page 147, "Winckelman" two times changed to "Winckelmann" (Fea and
Winckelmann assert and Winckelmann attributes their rapid
decay)
Page 185, "in" changed to "is" (the urn of Agrippina is kept in the
courtyard)
Page 208, "Emmanuele" changed to "Emanuele" (southwest corner of the
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele)
Page 273, "astrinum" changed to "ustrinum" (it was an _astrinum_ where
corpses were cremated)
Page 314, "Bulletino" changed to "Bullettino" (in footnote [148]:
_Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_)
Page 327, "Nicolas" changed to "Nicholas" (from the time of Pope
Nicholas I.)
Page 369, "Cèrceo" changed to "Circeo" (defeats the Saracens off Cape
Circeo)
Page 373, "Guilio" changed to "Giulio" (di Papa Giulio, 254;)
[Illustration: BATTLE BETWEEN CONSTANTINE AND MAXENTIUS
(_From a painting by Giulio Romano, Francesco Penni and Raffaellino
del Colle_)]
PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN
ROME
BY
RODOLFO LANCIANI
AUTHOR OF "ANCIENT ROME IN THE LIGHT OF RECENT DISCOVERIES"
_PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED_
[Illustration: The Riverside Press]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
=The Riverside Press, Cambridge=
1893
Copyright, 1892,
BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
_All rights reserved._
_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._
Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton & Co.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF ROME FROM A PAGAN INTO A CHRISTIAN
CITY 1
CHAPTER II.
PAGAN SHRINES AND TEMPLES 51
CHAPTER III.
CHRISTIAN CHURCHES 107
CHAPTER IV.
IMPERIAL TOMBS 168
CHAPTER V.
PAPAL TOMBS 209
CHAPTER VI.
PAGAN CEMETERIES 253
CHAPTER VII.
CHRISTIAN CEMETERIES 306
LUDI SÆCULARES, INSCRIPTION EDITED BY MOMMSEN 362
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL-PAGE PLATES.
PAGE
BATTLE BETWEEN CONSTANTINE AND MAXENTIUS (from a painting
by Giulio Romano, Francesco Penni, and Raffaellino del Colle)
(_Heliotype_) _Frontispiece_
ARCH OF CONSTANTINE 20
THE TRANSLATION OF S. CYRIL'S REMAINS (fresco in S. Clemente,
done at the order of Maria Macellaria) 32
THE WESTERN SUMMIT OF THE CAPITOLINE HILL 86
PANEL FROM THE ARCH OF MARCUS AURELIUS (_Heliotype_) 90
PLAN OF SCHOLA ABOVE THE CATACOMBS OF CALLIXTUS (from
Nortet's _Les Catacombes Romaines_) 118
PLAN OF OLD S. PETER'S, SHOWING ITS RELATION TO THE
CIRCUS OF NERO 128
PLAN OF THE GRAVES SURROUNDING THAT OF S. PETER DISCOVERED
AT THE TIME OF PAUL V. (from a rare engraving
by Benedetto Drei, head master mason to the Pope. The site
of the tomb of S. Peter and the Fenestella are indicated by
the author) 132
S. PETER'S IN 1588 (from an engraving by Ciampini) 146
THE TWO BASILICAS OF S. PAUL (the original structure of
Constantine in black; that of Theodosius and Honorius shaded) 150
MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF PHAON'S VILLA 188
SARCOPHAGUS OF HELENA, MOTHER OF CONSTANTINE (_Heliotype_) 198
ROTUNDA AND OBELISK SOUTH OF OLD S. PETER'S (after Bonanni) 202
CRYPT OF POPE CORNELIUS 218
THE CLOISTERS OF THE LATERAN, AS NOW RESTORED (_Heliotype_) 238
TOMB OF INNOCENT VIII. (_Heliotype_) 242
TOMB OF PAUL III. (_Heliotype_) 246
FIGURE FROM THE TOMB OF CLEMENT XIII. (_Heliotype_) 250
INTERIOR OF A COLUMBARIUM IN THE VIGNA CODINI 260
DETAIL FROM THE CEILING OF THE HOUSE DISCOVERED IN
THE FARNESINA GARDENS 264
WORKS OF ART DISCOVERED IN THE TOMB OF SULPICIUS PLATORINUS
(_Heliotype_) 268
TOMB OF THE BOY Q. SULPICIUS MAXIMUS (_Heliotype_) 282
THE APPIAN WAY AND THE CAMPAGNA 286
OBJECTS FOUND IN THE GRAVE OF CREPEREIA TRYPHÆNA 302
CHRISTIAN MILITARY CEMETERY OF CONCORDIA SAGITTARIA 324
THE IDEAL ROMAN FIGURE OF CHRIST (_Heliotype_) 348
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
TABLET OF ACILIUS GLABRIO 4
MAP OF THE VIA SALARIA 7
PORTRAIT BUST OF PHILIP THE YOUNGER 13
INSCRIPTION FOUND NEAR THE PORTA DEL POPOLO, 1877 15
INSCRIPTION IN A TOMB OF THE VIA SEVERIANA AT OSTIA 16
LAMP OF ANNIUS SER..., WITH FIGURE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD 18
PICTURE OF ORPHEUS FOUND IN THE CATACOMBS OF PRISCILLA 23
THE FOUR SEASONS (from the Imperial Palace, Ostia) 24
ANCIENT CANDELABRUM IN THE CHURCH OF SS. NEREO ED
ACHILLEO 26
THE TEMPLUM SACRÆ URBIS (SS. COSMA E DAMIANO) 28
MOSAIC FROM THE CHURCH OF S. ANDREA 29
THE SHRINE AND ALTAR OF MERCURIUS SOBRIUS 34
KANTHAROS IN THE COURT OF S. CÆCILIA 39
SAMPLE OF A DRINKING-CUP 43
A GRANARY OF OSTIA 47
ENTABLATURE OF THE TEMPLE OF CONCORD 53
FAC-SIMILE FROM THE CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM LATINARUM 57
NEMI AND THE SITE OF THE TEMPLE OF DIANA 60
PORTRAIT BUST OF PERSON CURED AT NEMI 60
THE STERN OF THE SHIP OF THE ISLAND OF THE TIBER 61
FRAGMENT OF A LAMP INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME OF MINERVA 63
VOTIVE HEAD 63
THE CLIFFS UNDER THE CITADEL OF VEII (NOW CALLED PIAZZA
D'ARMI) 65
A PELASGIC HIERON, OR PLATFORM OF ALTAR, AT SEGNI 68
ROUND TEMPLE OF HERCULES IN THE FORUM BOARIUM 69
ARA OF AIUS LOCUTIUS ON THE PALATINE 72
PILLAR COMMEMORATING THE LUDI SÆCULARES 73
PLAN AND SECTION OF THE ALTAR OF DIS AND PROSERPINA 76
THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS (relief from the Ara Pacis, in the Gallery
of the Uffizi, Florence) 83
VIEW OF THE PLATFORM OF THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER 88
THE SPHINX OF AMASIS 94
OBELISK OF RAMESES THE GREAT 95
ONE OF THE PROVINCES FROM THE TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE 100
PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF AUGUSTUS 103
REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE OF AUGUSTUS (from a sketch by Ligorio) 103
STATUE OF SEMO SANCUS 105
REMAINS OF THE HOUSE OF PUDENS, DISCOVERED IN 1870 114
PLAN OF POMPEIAN HOUSE 114
REMAINS OF THE HOUSE OF PUDENS: FRONT WALL, PIERCED BY
MODERN WINDOWS 115
THE COLONNA SANTA 133
VIEW OF A SECTION OF THE NAVE OF OLD S. PETER'S (SOUTH SIDE) 134
NAVE OF SAN LORENZO FUORI LE MURA 135
THE FOUNTAIN OF SYMMACHUS 136
THE CHAIR OF S. PETER (after photograph from original) 140
BRONZE STATUE OF S. PETER 142
STATUE OF S. HIPPOLYTUS 143
THE BURNING OF S. PAUL'S, JULY 15, 1823 (from an old print) 152
TOMBSTONE OF S. PAUL 157
STATUE OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT 164
MILITARY FUNERAL EVOLUTIONS (from the base of the column
of Antoninus) 170
THE APOTHEOSIS OF AN EMPEROR (from the base of the column
of Antoninus) 171
THE CIPPUS OF AGRIPPINA THE ELDER, MADE INTO A MEASURE
FOR GRAIN 184
HEAD OF NERO, IN THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUM 186
THE PONTE NOMENTANO 187
PLAN OF THE ALTA SEMITA 191
REMAINS OF GETA'S MAUSOLEUM 196
THE TORRE PIGNATTARA 197
THE MAUSOLEUM OF S. CONSTANTIA 199
PLAN OF THE IMPERIAL MAUSOLEUM 200
PORTRAIT HEADS OF S. PETER AND S. PAUL 212
TOMBSTONE OF CORNELIUS 215
PORTRAIT OF POPE CORNELIUS (from a fresco near his grave) 219
THE ATRIUM OF OLD S. PETER'S 222
STATUE OF S. GREGORY THE GREAT 225
THE ANGEL ON THE MAUSOLEUM OF HADRIAN 228
MODERN FAÇADE OF THE MONASTERY OF S. GREGORY ON THE
CÆLIAN 230
INSCRIPTION OF VASSALECTUS 238
CANDELABRUM IN THE CHURCH OF S. PAOLO FUORI LE MURA 239
THE ANTINOUS OF THE BANCA NAZIONALE 241
ANCIENT HOUSE IN THE FARNESINA GARDENS 263
SPECIMEN OF OUTLINE DESIGNS IN THE ANCIENT HOUSE IN THE
FARNESINA GARDENS 265
THE JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON 271
PANEL FROM THE BRONZE DOOR OF S. PETER, BY FILARETE 272
TOMB OF HELIUS, THE SHOEMAKER 274
SARCOPHAGUS OF THE LEUKIPPIDES 280
TOMB OF ANNIA REGILLA (FRAGMENT) 291
THE SACRED GROVE AND THE TEMPLE OF CERES; NOW S. URBANO
ALLA CAFFARELLA 294
THE BODY OF A GIRL, FOUND IN 1485 298
ENTRANCE TO THE CRYPT OF THE FLAVIANS 316
CUBICULUM OF JANUARIUS 322
SANCTA VIATRIX 334
BASILICA OF NEREUS, ACHILLEUS, AND PETRONILLA 338
THE EXECUTION OF ACILLEUS 339
PETRONILLA AND VENERANDA 341
THE PORTRAIT HEAD OF JESUS IN THE SANCTA SANCTORUM 348
LANDSLIP IN THE CEMETERY OF CYRIACA 351
INSCRIPTION FROM THE TOMBSTONE OF A DENTIST 353
INSCRIPTION FROM THE GRAVE OF ALEXANDER, A DENTIST 353
SURGEON'S INSTRUMENTS (from a relief on a tombstone) 353
THE SYMBOLIC SUPPER 357
* * * * *
The drawings in this volume, with a few exceptions, are by Harold B.
Warren, of Boston, who also made the drawings for "Ancient Rome in the
Light of Recent Discoveries."
PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN ROME.
CHAPTER I.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF ROME FROM A PAGAN INTO A CHRISTIAN CITY.[1]
The early adoption of Christianity not confined to the poorer
classes.--Instances of Roman nobles who were Christians.--The
family of the Acilii Glabriones.--Manius Acilius the consul.--Put
to death because of his religion.--Description of his tomb,
recently discovered.--Other Christian patricians.--How was it
possible for men in public office to serve both Christ and
Cæsar?--The usual liberality of the emperors towards the new
religion.--Nevertheless an open profession of faith hazardous and
frequently avoided.--Marriages between Christians and
pagans.--Apostasy resulting from these.--Curious discovery
illustrating the attitude of Seneca's family towards
Christianity.--Christians in the army.--The gradual nature of the
transformation of Rome.--The significance of the inscription on
the Arch of Constantine.--The readiness of the early Church to
adopt pagan customs and even myths.--The curious mixture of pagan
and Christian conceptions which grew out of this.--Churches
became repositories for classical works of art, for which new
interpretations were invented.--The desire of the early
Christians to make their churches as beautiful as possible.--The
substitution of Christian shrines for the old pagan altars at
street corners.--Examples of both.--The bathing accommodations of
the pagan temples adopted by the Church.--Also the custom of
providing public standards of weights and measures.--These set up
in the basilicas.--How their significance became perverted in the
Dark Ages.--The adoption of funerary banquets and their
degeneration.--The public store-houses of the emperors and those
of the popes.--Pagan rose-festivals and their conversion into a
Christian institution.
It has been contended, and many still believe, that in ancient Rome
the doctrines of Christ found no proselytes, except among the lower
and poorer classes of citizens. That is certainly a noble picture
which represents the new faith as searching among the haunts of
poverty and slavery, seeking to inspire faith, hope, and charity in
their occupants; to transform them from things into human beings; to
make them believe in the happiness of a future life; to alleviate
their present sufferings; to redeem their children from shame and
servitude; to proclaim them equal to their masters. But the gospel
found its way also to the mansions of the masters, nay, even to the
palace of the Cæsars. The discoveries lately made on this subject are
startling, and constitute a new chapter in the history of imperial
Rome. We have been used to consider early Christian history and
primitive Christian art as matters of secondary importance, and hardly
worthy the attention of the classical student. Thus, none of the four
or five hundred volumes on the topography of ancient Rome speaks of
the basilicas raised by Constantine; of the church of S. Maria
Antiqua, built side by side with the Temple of Vesta, the two worships
dwelling together as it were, for nearly a century; of the Christian
burial-grounds; of the imperial mausoleum near S. Peter's; of the
porticoes, several miles in length, which led from the centre of the
city to the churches of S. Peter, S. Paul, and S. Lorenzo; of the
palace of the Cæsars transformed into the residence of the Popes. Why
should these constructions of monumental and historical character be
expelled from the list of classical buildings? and why should we
overlook the fact that many great names in the annals of the empire
are those of members of the Church, especially when the knowledge of
their conversion enables us to explain events that had been, up to the
latest discoveries, shrouded in mystery?
It is a remarkable fact that the record of some of these events should
be found, not in church annals, calendars, or itineraries, but in
passages in the writings of pagan annalists and historians. Thus, in
ecclesiastical documents no mention is made of the conversion of the
two Domitillæ, or Flavius Clemens, or Petronilla, all of whom were
relatives of the Flavian emperors; and of the Acilii Glabriones, the
noblest among the noble, as Herodianus calls them (2, 3). Their
fortunes and death are described only by the Roman historians and
biographers of the time of Domitian. It seems that when the official
_feriale_, or calendar, was resumed, after the end of the
persecutions, preference was given to names of those confessors and
martyrs whose deeds were still fresh in the memory of the living, and
of necessity little attention was paid to those of the first and
second centuries, whose acts either had not been written down, or had
been lost during the persecutions.
As the crypt of the Acilii Glabriones on the Via Salaria has become
one of the chief places of attraction, since its re-discovery in 1888,
I cannot begin this volume under better auspices than by giving an
account of this important event.[2]
In exploring that portion of the Catacombs of Priscilla which lies
under the Monte delle Gioie, near the entrance from the Via Salaria,
de Rossi observed that the labyrinth of the galleries converged
towards an original crypt, shaped like a Greek [Greek: G] (Gamma), and
decorated with frescoes. The desire of finding the name and the
history of the first occupants of this noble tomb, whose memory seems
to have been so dear to the faithful, led the explorers to carefully
sift the earth which filled the place; and their pains were rewarded
by the discovery of a fragment of a marble coffin, inscribed with the
letters: ACILIO GLABRIONI FILIO.
[Illustration: Tablet of Acilius Glabrio.]
Did this fragment really belong to the [Greek: G] crypt, or had it
been thrown there by mere chance? And in case of its belonging to the
crypt, was it an isolated record, or did it belong to a group of
graves of the Acilii Glabriones? The queries were fully answered by
later discoveries; four inscriptions, naming Manius Acilius ... and
his wife Priscilla, Acilius Rufinus, Acilius Quintianus, and Claudius
Acilius Valerius were found among the débris, so that there is no
doubt as to the ownership of the crypt, and of the chapel which opens
at the end of the longer arm of the [Greek: G].
The Manii Acilii Glabriones attained celebrity in the sixth century of
Rome, when Acilius Glabrio, consul in 563 (B. C. 191), conquered the
Macedonians at the battle of Thermopylai. We have in Rome two records
of his career: the Temple of Piety, erected by him on the west side of
the Forum Olitorium, now transformed into the church of S. Nicola in
Carcere; and the pedestal of the equestrian statue, of gilt bronze,
offered to him by his son, the first of its kind ever seen in Italy,
which was discovered by Valadier in 1808, at the foot of the steps of
the temple, and buried again. Towards the end of the republic we find
them established on the Pincian Hill, where they had built a palace
and laid out gardens which extended at least from the convent of the
Trinità dei Monti to the Villa Borghese.[3] The family had grown so
rapidly to honor, splendor, and wealth, that Pertinax, in the
memorable sitting of the Senate in which he was elected emperor,
proclaimed them the noblest race in the world.
The Glabrio best known in the history of the first century is Manius
Acilius, who was consul with Trajan, A. D. 91. He was put to death by
Domitian in the year 95, as related by Suetonius (_Domit._ 10): "He
caused several senators and ex-consuls to be executed on the charge of
their conspiring against the empire,--_quasi molitores rerum
novarum_,--among them Civica Cerealis, governor of Asia, Salvidienus
Orfitus, and Acilius Glabrio, who had previously been banished from
Rome."
The expression _molitores rerum novarum_ has a political meaning in
the case of Cerealis and Orfitus, both staunch pagans, and a religious
and political one in the case of Glabrio, a convert to the Christian
faith, called _nova superstitio_ by Suetonius and Tacitus. Other
details of Glabrio's fate are given by Dion Cassius, Juvenal, and
Fronto. We are told by these authors that during his consulship, A. D.
91, and before his banishment, he was compelled by Domitian to fight
against a lion and two bears in the amphitheatre adjoining the
emperor's villa at Albanum. The event created such an impression in
Rome, and its memory lasted so long that, half a century later, we
find it given by Fronto as a subject for a rhetorical composition to
his pupil Marcus Aurelius. The amphitheatre is still in existence, and
was excavated in 1887. Like the one at Tusculum, it is partly hollowed
out of the rocky side of the mountain, partly built of stone and
rubble work. It well deserves a visit from the student and the
tourist, on account of its historical associations, and of the
admirable view which its ruins command of the vine-clad slopes of
Albano and Castel Savello, the wooded plains of Ardea and Lavinium,
the coast of the Tyrrhenian, and the islands of Pontia and Pandataria.
Xiphilinus states that, in the year 95, some members of the imperial
family were condemned by Domitian on the charge of atheism, together
with other leading personages who had embraced "the customs and
persuasion of the Jews," that is, the Christian faith. Manius Acilius
Glabrio, the ex-consul, was implicated in the same trial, and
condemned on the same indictment with the others. Among these the
historian mentions Clemens and Domitilla, who were manifestly
Christians. One particular of the case, related by Juvenal, confirms
the account of Xiphilinus. He says that in order to mitigate the wrath
of the emperor and avoid a catastrophe, Acilius Glabrio, after
fighting the wild beasts at Albanum, assumed an air of stupidity. In
this alleged stupidity it is easy to recognize the prejudice so common
among the pagans, to whom the Christians' retirement from the joys of
the world, their contempt of public honors, and their modest behavior
appeared as _contemptissima inertia_, most despicable laziness. This
is the very phrase used by Suetonius in speaking of Flavius Clemens,
who was murdered by Domitian _ex tenuissima suspicione_, on a very
slight suspicion of his faith.
[Illustration: Map of the Via Salaria.]
Glabrio was put to death in his place of exile, the name of which is
not known. His end helped, no doubt, the propagation of the gospel
among his relatives and descendants, as well as among the servants and
freedmen of the house, as shown by the noble sarcophagi and the
humbler loculi found in such numbers in the crypt of the Catacombs of
Priscilla. The small oratory at the southern end of the crypt seems to
have been consecrated exclusively to the memory of its first occupant,
the ex-consul. The date and the circumstances connected with the
translation of his relics from the place of banishment to Rome are
not known.
Both the chapel and the crypt were found in a state of devastation
hardly credible, as though the plunderers had taken pleasure in
satisfying their vandalic instincts to the utmost. Each of the
sarcophagi was broken into a hundred pieces; the mosaics of the walls
and ceiling had been wrenched from their sockets, cube by cube, the
marble incrustations torn off, the altar dismantled, the bones
dispersed.
When did this wholesale destruction take place? In times much nearer
ours than the reader may imagine. I have been able to ascertain the
date, with the help of an anecdote related by Pietro Sante Bartoli in
§ 144 of his archæological memoirs: "Excavations were made under
Innocent X. (1634-1655), and Clement IX. (1667-1670), in the Monte
delle Gioie, on the Via Salaria, with the hope of discovering a
certain hidden treasure. The hope was frustrated; but, deep in the
bowels of the mound, some crypts were found, encrusted with white
stucco, and remarkable for their neatness and preservation. I have
heard from trustworthy men that the place is haunted by spirits, as is
proved by what happened to them not many months ago. While assembled
on the Monte delle Gioie for a picnic, the conversation turned upon
the ghosts who haunted the crypt below, when suddenly the carriage
which had brought them there, pushed by invisible hands, began to roll
down the slope of the hill, and was ultimately precipitated into the
river Anio at its base. Several oxen had to be used to haul the
vehicle out of the stream. This happened to Tabarrino, butcher at S.
Eustachio, and to his brothers living in the Via Due Macelli, whose
faces still bear marks of the great terror experienced that day."
There is no doubt that the anecdote refers to the tomb of the Acilii
Glabriones, which is cut under the Monte delle Gioie, and is the only
one in the Catacombs of Priscilla remarkable for a coating of white
stucco. Its destruction, therefore, took place under Clement IX., and
was the work of treasure-hunters. And the very nature of clandestine
excavations, which are the work of malicious, ignorant, and suspicious
persons, explains the reason why no mention of the discovery was made
to contemporary archæologists, and the pleasure of re-discovering the
secret of the Acilii Glabriones was reserved for us.
These are by no means the only patricians of high standing whose names
have come to light from the depths of the catacombs. Tacitus (_Annal._
xiii. 32) tells how Pomponia Græcina, wife of Plautius, the conqueror
of Britain, was accused of "foreign superstition," tried by her
husband, and acquitted. These words long since gave rise to a
conjecture that Pomponia Græcina was a Christian, and recent
discoveries put it beyond doubt. An inscription bearing the name of
[Greek: POMPONIOS GRÊKEINOS] has been found in the Cemetery of
Callixtus, together with other records of the Pomponii Attici and
Bassi. Some scholars think that Græcina, the wife of the conqueror of
Britain, is no other than Lucina, the Christian matron who interred
her brethren in Christ in her own property, at the second milestone of
the Appian Way.
Other evidence of the conquests made by the gospel among the
patricians is given by an inscription discovered in March, 1866, in
the Catacombs of Prætextatus, near the monument of Quirinus the
martyr. It is a memorial raised to the memory of his departed wife by
Postumius Quietus, consul A. D. 272. Here also was found the name of
Urania, daughter of Herodes Atticus, by his second wife, Vibullia
Alcia,[4] while on the other side of the road, near S. Sebastiano, a
mausoleum has been found, on the architrave of which the name
URANIOR[UM] is engraved.
In chapter vii. I shall have occasion to refer to many Christian
relatives of the emperors Vespasian and Domitian. Eusebius, in
speaking of these Flavians, and particularly of Domitilla the younger,
niece of Domitian, quotes the authority of the historian Bruttius. He
evidently means Bruttius Præsens, the illustrious friend of Pliny the
younger, and the grandfather of Crispina, the empress of Commodus. In
1854, near the entrance to the crypt of the Flavians, at Torre
Marancia (Via Ardeatina), a fragment of a sarcophagus was found, with
the name of Bruttius Crispinus. If, therefore, the history of
Domitilla's martyrdom was written by the grandfather of Bruttia
Crispina, the empress, it seems probable that the two families were
united not only by the close proximity of their villas and tombs, and
by friendship, but especially by community of religion.
I may also cite the names of several Cornelii, Cæcilii, and Æmilii,
the flower of Roman nobility, grouped near the graves of S. Cæcilia
and Pope Cornelius; of Liberalis, a _consul suffectus_,[5] and a
martyr, whose remains were buried in the Via Salaria; of Jallia
Clementina, a relative of Jallius Bassus, consul before A. D. 161; of
Catia Clementina, daughter or relative of Catius, consul A. D. 230, not
to speak of personages of equestrian rank, whose names have been
collected in hundreds.
A difficulty may arise in the mind of the reader: how was it possible
for these magistrates, generals, consuls, officers, senators, and
governors of provinces, to attend to their duties without performing
acts of idolatry? In chapter xxxvii. of the Apology, Tertullian says:
"We are but of yesterday, yet we fill every place that belongs to you,
cities, islands, outposts; we fill your assemblies, camps, tribes and
decuries; the imperial palace, the Senate, the forum; we only leave to
you your temples." But here lies the difficulty; how could they fill
these places, and leave the temples?
First of all, the Roman emperors gave plenty of liberty to the new
religion from time to time; and some of them, moved by a sort of
religious syncretism, even tried to ally it with the official worship
of the empire, and to place Christ and Jupiter on the steps of the
same _lararium_. The first attempt of the kind is attributed to
Tiberius; he is alleged to have sent a message to the Senate
requesting that Christ should be included among the gods, on the
strength of the official report written by Pontius Pilatus of the
passion and death of our Lord. Malala says that Nero made honest
inquiries about the new religion, and that, at first, he showed
himself rather favorable towards it; a fact not altogether improbable,
if we take into consideration the circumstances of Paul's appeal, his
absolution, and his relations with Seneca, and with the converts _de
domo Cæsaris_, "of the house of Cæsar." Lampridius, speaking of the
religious sentiments of Alexander Severus, says: "He was determined to
raise a temple to Christ, and enlisted him among the gods; a project
attributed also to Hadrian. There is no doubt that Hadrian ordered
temples to be erected in every city to an unknown god; and because
they have no statue we still call them temples of Hadrian. He is said
to have prepared them for Christ; but to have been deterred from
carrying his plan into execution by the consideration that the temples
of the old gods would become deserted, and the whole population turn
Christian, _omnes christianos futuros_."[6]
The freedom enjoyed by the Church under Caracalla is proved by the
_graffiti_ of the Domus Gelotiana, described in my "Ancient Rome."[7]
The one caricaturing the crucifixion, which is reproduced on p. 122 of
that volume, stands by no means alone in certifying to the spreading
of the faith in the imperial palace. The name of Alexamenos, "the
faithful," is repeated thrice. There is also a name, LIBANUS, under
which another hand has written EPISCOPUS, and, lower down, LIBANUS
EPI[SCOPUS]. It is very likely a joke on Libanus, a Christian page
like Alexamenos, whom his fellow-disciples had nicknamed "the bishop."
It is true that the title is not necessarily Christian, having been
used sometimes to denote a municipal officer;[8] but this can hardly
be the case in an assembly of youths, like the one of the Domus
Gelotiana; and the connection between the _graffiti_ of Libanus and
those of Alexamenos seems evident. In reading these _graffiti_, now
very much injured by dampness, exposure, and the unscrupulous hands of
tourists, we are really witnessing household quarrels between pagan
and Christian dwellers in the imperial palace, in one of which
Caracalla, when still young, saw one of his playmates struck and
punished on account of his Christian origin and persuasion.
Septimius Severus and Caracalla issued a constitution,[9] which
opened to the Jews the way to the highest honors, making the
performance of such ceremonies as were in opposition to the principles
of their faith optional with them. What was granted to the Jews by the
law of the empire may have been permitted also to the Christians by
the personal benevolence of the emperors.
When Elagabalus collected, or tried to collect, in his own private
chapel the gods and the holiest relics of the universe, he did not
forget Christ and his doctrine.[10] Alexander Severus, the best of
Roman rulers, gave full freedom to the Church; and once, the
Christians having taken possession of a public place on which the
_popinarii_, or tavern-keepers, claimed rights, Alexander gave
judgment in favor of the former, saying it was preferable that the
_place_ should serve for divine worship, rather than for the sale of
drinks.[11]
[Illustration: Portrait Bust of Philip the Younger.]
There can scarcely be any doubt that the emperor Philip the Arab
(Marcus Julius Philippus, A. D. 244), his wife Otacilia Severa, and
his son Philip the younger were Christians, and friends of S.
Hippolytus. Still, in spite of these periods of peace and freedom of
the Church, we cannot be blind to the fact that for a Christian
nobleman wishing to make a career, the position was extremely
hazardous. Hence we frequently see baptism deferred until mature or
old age, and strange situations and even acts of decided apostasy
created by mixed marriages.
The wavering between public honors and Christian retirement is
illustrated by some incidents in the life of Licentius, a disciple of
S. Augustine. Licentius was the son of Romanianus, a friend and
countryman of Augustine; and when the latter retired to the villa of
Verecundus, after his conversion, in the year 386, Licentius, who had
attended his lectures on eloquence at Milan, followed him to his
retreat. He appears as one of the speakers in the academic disputes
which took place in the villa.[12] In 396, Licentius, who had followed
his master to Africa, seduced by the hopes of a brilliant career,
determined to settle in Rome. Augustine, deeply grieved at losing his
beloved pupil, wrote to call him back, and entreated him to turn his
face from the failing promises of the world. The appeal had no effect,
and no more had the epistles, in prose and verse, addressed to him for
the same purpose by Paulinus of Nola. Licentius, after finishing the
course of philosophy, being scarcely a catechumen, and a very unsteady
one at that, entered a career for public honors. Paulinus of Nola
describes him as aiming not only at a consulship, but also at a pagan
pontificate, and reproaches and pities him for his behavior. After
this, we lose sight of Licentius in history, but a discovery made at
S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura in December, 1862, tells us the end of the
tale. A marble sarcophagus was found, containing his body, and his
epitaph. This shows that Licentius died in Rome in 406, after having
reached the end of his desires, a place in the Senate; and that he
died a Christian, and was buried near the tomb of S. Lorenzo. This
sarcophagus, hardly noticed by visitors in spite of its great
historical associations, is preserved in the vestibule of the
Capitoline Museum.
[Illustration: Inscription found near the Porta del Popolo, 1877.]
As regards mixed marriages, a discovery made in 1877, near the Porta
del Popolo, has revealed a curious state of things. In demolishing one
of the towers by which Sixtus IV. had flanked that gate, we found a
fragment of an inscription of the second century, containing these
strange and enigmatic words: "If any one dare to do injury to this
structure, or to otherwise disturb the peace of her who is buried
inside, because she, my daughter, has been [or has appeared to be] a
pagan among the pagans, and a Christian among the Christians" ... Here
followed the specification of the penalties which the violator of the
tomb would incur. It was thought at first that the phrase _quod inter
fedeles fidelis fuit, inter alienos pagana fuit_ had been dictated by
the father as a jocose hint of the religious inconsistency of the
girl; but such an explanation can hardly be accepted. A passage of
Tertullian in connection with mixed marriages leads us to the true
understanding of the epitaph. In the second book Ad Uxorem, Tertullian
describes the state of habitual apostasy to which Christian girls
marrying gentiles willingly exposed or submitted themselves,
especially when the husband was kept in ignorance of the religion of
the bride. He mentions the risks they would incur of betraying their
conscience by accompanying their husbands to state or civil
ceremonies, thus sanctioning acts of idolatry by the mere fact of
their presence. In the book De Corona, he concludes his argument with
the words: "These are the reasons why we do not marry infidels,
because such marriages lead us back to idolatry and superstition." The
girl buried on the Via Flaminia, by the modern Porta del Popolo, must
have been born of a Christian mother and a good-natured pagan father;
still, it seems hardly consistent with the respect which the ancients
had for tombs that he should be allowed to write such extraordinary
words on that of his own daughter.
We must not believe, however, that gentiles and Christians lived
always at swords' points. Italians in general, and Romans in
particular, are noted for their great tolerance in matters of
religion, which sometimes degenerates into apathy and indifference.
Whether it be a sign of feebleness of character, or of common sense,
the fact is, that religious feuds have never been allowed to prevail
among us. In no part of the world have the Jews enjoyed more freedom
and tolerance than in the Roman Ghetto. The same feelings prevailed in
imperial Rome, except for occasional outbursts of passion, fomented by
the official persecutors.
[Illustration: Inscription in a tomb of the Via Severiana at Ostia.]
An inscription was discovered at Ostia, in January, 1867, in a tomb of
the Via Severiana, of which I append an accurate copy.
The tomb and the inscription are purely pagan, as shown by the
invocation to the infernal gods, Diis Manibus. This being the case,
how can we account for the names of Paul and Peter, which, taken
separately, give great probability, and taken together give almost
absolute certainty, of having been adopted in remembrance of the two
apostles? One circumstance may help us to explain the case: the
preference shown for the name of Paul over that of Peter; the former
was borne by both father and son, the latter appears only as a surname
given to the son. This fact is not without importance, if we recollect
that the two men who show such partiality for the name of Paul belong
to the family of Anneus Seneca, the philosopher, whose friendship with
the apostle has been made famous by a tradition dating at least from
the beginning of the fourth century. The tradition rests on a
foundation of truth. The apostle was tried and judged in Corinth by
the proconsul Marcus Anneus Gallio, brother of Seneca; in Rome he was
handed over to Afranius Burro, prefect of the prætorium, and an
intimate friend of Seneca. We know, also, that the presence of the
prisoner, and his wonderful eloquence in preaching the new faith,
created a profound sensation among the members of the prætorium and of
the imperial household. His case must have been inquired into by the
philosopher himself, who happened to be _consul suffectus_ at the
time. The modest tombstone, discovered by accident among the ruins of
Ostia, gives us the evidence of the bond of sympathy and esteem
established, in consequence of these events, between the Annei and the
founders of the Church in Rome.
Its resemblance to the name of the Annei reminds me of another
remarkable discovery connected with the same city, and with the same
question. There lived at Ostia, towards the middle of the second
century, a manufacturer of pottery and terracottas, named Annius
Ser......, whose lamps were exported to many provinces of the empire.
These lamps are generally ornamented with the image of the Good
Shepherd; but they show also types which are decidedly pagan, such as
the labors of Hercules, Diana the huntress, etc. It has been surmised
that Annius Ser...... was converted to the gospel, and that the
adoption of the symbolic figure of the Redeemer on his lamps was a
result of his change of religion; but to explain the case it is not
necessary to accept this theory. I believe he was a pagan, and that
the lamps with the Good Shepherd were produced by him to order, and
from a design supplied to him by a member of the local congregation.
[Illustration: Lamp of Annius Ser......, with figure of the Good
Shepherd.]
Another question concerning the behavior of early Christians has
reference to their military service under the imperial eagles, and to
the cases of conscience which may have arisen from it. On this I may
refer the reader to the works of Mamachi, Lami, Baumgarten, Le Blant,
and de Rossi,[13] who have discussed the subject thoroughly. Speaking
from the point of view of material evidence, I have to record several
discoveries which prove that officers and men of the _cohortes
prætoriæ_ and _urbanæ_ could serve with equal loyalty their God and
their sovereign.
In November, 1885, I was present at the discovery of a marble
sarcophagus in the military burial-grounds of the Via Salaria,
opposite the gate of the Villa Albani. It bore two inscriptions,
one on the lid, the other on the body. The first defies
interpretation;[14] the second mentions the name of a little girl,
Publia Ælia Proba, who was the daughter of a captain of the ninth
battalion of the prætorians, and a lady named Clodia Plautia. They
were all Christians; but for a reason unknown to us, they avoided
making a show of their persuasion, and were buried among the gentiles.
Another stray Christian military tomb, erected by a captain of the
sixth battalion, named Claudius Ingenuus, was found, in 1868, in the
Vigna Grandi, near S. Sebastiano. Here also we find the intention of
avoiding an open profession of faith. A regular cemetery of Christian
prætorians was found in the spring of the same year by Marchese
Francesco Patrizi, in his villa adjoining the prætorian camp. It is
neither large nor interesting, and it seems to prove that the gospel
must have made but few proselytes in the imperial barracks.
* * * * *
We must not believe that the transformation of Rome from a pagan into
a Christian city was a sudden and unexpected event, which took the
world by surprise. It was the natural result of the work of three
centuries, brought to maturity under Constantine by an inevitable
reaction against the violence of Diocletian's rule. It was not a
revolution or a conversion in the true sense of these words; it was
the official recognition of a state of things which had long ceased to
be a secret. The moral superiority of the new doctrines over the old
religions was so evident, so overpowering, that the result of the
struggle had been a foregone conclusion since the age of the first
apologists. The revolution was an exceedingly mild one, the
transformation almost imperceptible. No violence was resorted to, and
the tolerance and mutual benevolence so characteristic of the Italian
race was adopted as the fundamental policy of State and Church.
The transformation may be followed stage by stage in both its moral
and material aspect. There is not a ruin of ancient Rome that does not
bear evidence of the great change. Many institutions and customs still
flourishing in our days are of classical origin, and were adopted, or
tolerated, because they were not in opposition to Christian
principles. Beginning with the material side of the question, the
first monument to which I have to refer is the Arch of Constantine,
raised in 315 at the foot of the Palatine, where the Via Triumphalis
diverges from the Sacra Via.
The importance of this arch, from the point of view of the question
treated in this chapter, rests not on its sculptured panels and
medallions,--spoils taken at random from older structures, from which
the arch has received the nickname of Æsop's crow (_la cornacchia di
Esopo_),--but on the inscription engraved on each side of the attic.
"The S. P. Q. R. have dedicated this triumphal arch to Constantine,
because _instinctu divinitatis_ (by the will of God), and by his own
virtue, etc., he has liberated the country from the tyrant [Maxentius]
and his faction." The opinion long prevailed among archæologists that
the words _instinctu divinitatis_ were not original, but added after
Constantine's conversion. Cardinal Mai thought that the original
formula was _diis faventibus_, "by the help of the gods," while Henzen
suggested _nutu Iovis optimi maximi_, "by the will of Jupiter."
Cavedoni was the first to declare that the inscription had never been
altered, and that the two memorable words--the first proclaiming
officially the name of the true God in the face of imperial
Rome--belonged to the original text, sanctioned by the Senate. The
controversy was settled in 1863, when Napoleon III. obtained from the
Pope the permission to make a plaster cast of the arch. With the help
of the scaffolding, the scholars of the time examined the inscription,
the shape of each letter, the holes of the bolts by which the
gilt-bronze letters were fastened, the joints of the marble blocks,
the color and quality of the marble, and decided unanimously that the
inscription had never been tampered with, and that none of its letters
had been changed.
[Illustration: ARCH OF CONSTANTINE]
The arch was raised in 315. Was Constantine openly professing his
faith at that time? Opinions are divided. Some think he must have
waited until the defeat of Licinius in 323; others suggest the year
311 as a more probable date of his profession. The supporters of the
first theory quote in its favor the fact that the pagan symbols and
images of gods appear on coins struck by Constantine and his sons; but
this fact is easily explained, when we consider that the coinage of
bronze was a privilege of the Senate, and that the Senate was pagan by
a large majority. Many of Constantine's constitutions and official
letters speak in favor of an early declaration of faith. When the
Donatists appealed to him from the verdict of the councils of Arles
and Rome, he wrote to the bishops: _Meum judicium postulant, qui ipse
judicium Christi expecto_: "They appeal to me, when I myself must be
judged by Christ." The verdict of the council of Rome against the
sectarians was rendered on October 2, 313, in the "palace of Fausta in
the Lateran;" the imperial palace of the Lateran, therefore, had
already been handed over to the bishop of Rome, and a portion of it
turned into a place of worship. The basilica of the Lateran still
retains its title of "Mother and head of all churches of Rome, and of
the world," ranking above those of S. Peter and S. Paul in respect to
age.
Such being the state of affairs when the triumphal arch was erected,
nothing prevents us from believing those two words to be original, and
to express the relations then existing between the first Christian
emperor and the old pagan Senate. At all events, nothing is more
uncompromising than these two words, because the titles of _Deus
summus, Deus altissimus, magnus, æternus_, are constantly found on
monuments pertaining to the worship of Atys and Mithras. "These
words," concludes de Rossi, "far from being a profession of
Christianity engraved on the arch at a later period, are simply a
'moyen terme,' a compromise, between the feelings of the Senate and
those of the emperor."[15]
Many facts related by contemporary documents prove that the change of
religion was, at the beginning, a personal affair with the emperor,
and not a question of state; the emperor was a Christian, but the old
rules of the empire were not interfered with. In dealing with his
pagan subjects Constantine showed so much tact and impartiality as to
cast doubts upon the sincerity of his conversion. He has been accused
of having accepted from the people of Hispellum (Spello, in Umbria),
the honor of a temple, and from the inhabitants of Roman Africa that
of a priesthood for the worship of his own family (_sacerdotium Flaviæ
gentis_). The exculpation is given by Constantine himself in his
address of thanks to the Hispellates: "We are pleased and grateful for
your determination to raise a temple in honor of our family and of
ourselves; and we accept it, provided you do not contaminate it with
superstitious practices." The honor of a temple and of a priesthood,
therefore, was offered and accepted as a political demonstration, as
an act of loyalty, and as an occasion for public festivities, both
inaugural and anniversary.
[Illustration: Picture of Orpheus found in the Catacombs of
Priscilla.]
In accepting rites and customs which were not offensive to her
principles and morality, the Church showed equal tact and foresight,
and contributed to the peaceful accomplishment of the transformation.
These rites and customs, borrowed from classical times, are nowhere so
conspicuous as in Rome. Giovanni Marangoni, a scholar of the last
century, wrote a book on this subject which is full of valuable
information.[16] The subject is so comprehensive, and in a certain
sense so well known, that I must satisfy myself by mentioning only a
few particulars connected with recent discoveries. First, as to
symbolic images allowed in churches and cemeteries. Of Orpheus playing
on the lyre, while watching his flock, as a substitute for the Good
Shepherd, there have been found in the catacombs four paintings, two
reliefs on sarcophagi, one engraving on a gem. Here is the latest
representation discovered, from the Catacombs of Priscilla (1888).
[Illustration: The Four Seasons, from the Imperial Palace, Ostia.]
The belief that the sibyls had prophesied the advent of Christ made
their images popular. The church of the Aracoeli is particularly
associated with them, because tradition refers the origin of its name
to an altar--ARA PRIMOGENITI DEI--raised to the son of God by the
emperor Augustus, who had been warned of his advent by the sibylline
books. For this reason the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine
sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar.
They have actually been given the place of honor in this church; and
formerly, when at Christmas time the _Presepio_ was exhibited in the
second chapel on the left, they occupied the front row, the sibyl
pointing out to Augustus the Virgin and the Bambino who appeared in
the sky in a halo of light. The two figures, carved in wood, have now
disappeared; they were given away or sold thirty years ago, when a new
set of images was offered to the _Presepio_ by prince Alexander
Torlonia. Prophets and sibyls appear also in Renaissance monuments;
they were modelled by della Porta in the Santa Casa at Loretto,
painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine chapel, by Raphael in S. Maria
della Pace, by Pinturicchio in the Borgia apartments, engraved by
Baccio Baldini, a contemporary of Sandro Botticelli, and "graffite" by
Matteo di Giovanni in the pavement of the Duomo at Siena.
The images of the Four Seasons are not uncommon on Christian
sarcophagi. The latest addition to this class of subjects is to be
found in the church of S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane. Four medallions of
polychrome mosaic, representing the _Hiems_, _Ver_, _Æstas_, and
_Autumnus_, discovered in the so-called imperial palace at Ostia, were
inserted in the pavement of this church by order of Pius IX. Galenus
and Hippokrates, manipulating medicines and cordials, were painted in
the lower basilica at Anagni, Hermes Trismegistos was represented in
mosaic in the Duomo of Siena, the labors of Hercules were carved in
ivory in the cathedra of S. Peter's. Montfaucon describes the tomb of
the poet Sannazzaro in the church of the Olivetans, Naples, as
ornamented with the statues of Apollo and Minerva, and with groups of
satyrs. In the eighteenth century the ecclesiastical authorities tried
to give a less profane aspect to the composition, by engraving the
name of David under the Apollo, and of Judith under the Minerva.
Another mixture of sacred and profane conceptions is to be found in
the names of some of our Roman churches,--as S. Maria in Minerva, S.
Stefano del Cacco (Kynokephalos), S. Lorenzo in Matuta, S. Salvatore
in Tellure, all conspicuous landmarks in the history of the
transformation of Rome.
I shall mention one more instance. The portrait bust of S. Paul, of
silver gilt, from the chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum, was loaded with
gems and intaglios of Greek or Græco-Roman workmanship, among which
was a magnificent cameo with the portrait-head of Nero, which had been
worn, most probably, by the very murderer of the apostle.[17]
[Illustration: Ancient Candelabrum in the church of SS. Nereo ed
Achilleo.]
In the next chapter I shall speak of ancient temples as museums of
statuary, galleries of pictures, and cabinets of precious objects. I
need not describe the acceptance and development of this tradition by
the Church. To it we are indebted for the inexhaustible wealth in
works of art of every kind, of which Italy is so proud. But in the
period which elapsed between the fall of the empire and the foundation
of the Cosmati school, the Christians were compelled, by the want of
contemporary productions, to borrow works of art and decorative
fragments from temples, palaces, and tombs. The gallery of the
Candelabra, in the Vatican museum, has been formed mostly of
specimens formerly set up in churches. The accompanying cut represents
the candelabrum still existing in the church of SS. Nereo ed Achilleo,
one of the most exquisite and delicate works of the kind. The Biga, or
two-horse chariot, in the Vatican, was used for centuries as an
episcopal throne in the choir of S. Mark's. In the church of the
Aracoeli there was an altar dedicated to Isis by some one who had
returned safely from a perilous journey. This bore the conventional
emblem of two footprints, which were believed by the Christians to be
the footprints of the angel seen by Gregory the Great on the summit of
Hadrian's tomb. Philip de Winghe describes them as those of a _puer
quinquennis_, a boy five years old.[18] This curious relic has been
removed to the Capitoline Museum.
The indifference with which these profane and sometimes offensive
works were admitted within sacred edifices is astonishing. The high
altar in the church of S. Teodoro was supported, until 1703, by a
round _ara_, on the rim of which the following words are now engraved:
"On this marble of the gentiles incense was offered to the gods."
Another altar, in the church of S. Michele in Borgo, was covered with
bas-reliefs and legends belonging to the superstition of Cybele and
Atys; a third, in the church of the Aracoeli, had been dedicated to
the goddess Annona by an importer of wheat. The pavement of the
basilica of S. Paul was patched with nine hundred and thirty-one
miscellaneous inscriptions; and so were those of S. Martino ai Monti,
S. Maria in Trastevere, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, etc. We have one
specimen left of these inscribed pavements in the church of SS.
Quattro Coronati on the Cælian, which may be called an epigraphic
museum.
[Illustration: The Templum Sacræ Urbis (SS. Cosma e Damiano).]
In the third chapter I shall have occasion to describe the
transformation of nearly all the great public buildings of imperial
Rome into places of Christian worship, but it falls within the scope
of this chapter to remark that, in many instances, the pagan
decorations of those buildings were not affected by the change. When
Felix IV. took possession of the _templum sacræ urbis_, and dedicated
it to SS. Cosma and Damianus, the walls of the building were covered
with incrustations of the time of Septimius Severus representing the
wolf and other profane emblems. Pope Felix not only accepted them as
an ornament to his church, but tried to copy them in the apse which he
rebuilt. The same process was followed by Pope Simplicius (A. D.
468-483), in transforming the basilica of Junius Bassus on the
Esquiline into the church of S. Andrea.[19] The faithful, raising
their eyes towards the tribune, could see the figures of Christ and
his apostles in mosaic; turning to the side walls, they could see
Nero, Galba, and six other Roman emperors, Diana hunting the stag,
Hylas stolen by the nymphs, Cybele on the chariot drawn by lions, a
lion attacking a centaur, the chariot of Apollo, figures performing
mysterious Egyptian rites, and other such profanities, represented in
_opus sectile marmoreum_, a sort of Florentine mosaic. This unique set
of intarsios was destroyed in the sixteenth century by the French
Antonian monks for a reason worth relating. They believed that the
glutinous substance by which the layer of marble or mother-of-pearl
was kept fast was an excellent remedy against the ague; hence every
time one of them was attacked by fever, a portion of those marvellous
works was sacrificed. Fever must have raged quite fiercely among the
French monks, because when this wanton practice was stopped, only
four pictures were left. Two are now preserved in the church of S.
Antonio, in the chapel of the saint; two in the Palazzo Albani del
Drago alle Quattro Fontane, on the landing of the stairs.[20]
[Illustration: Mosaic from the church of S. Andrea.]
Intarsios of the same kind have been seen and described in the
basilica of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, in the church of S. Stefano
Rotondo, in that of S. Adriano, etc. When the offices adjoining the
Senate Hall were transformed into the church of S. Martina, the side
walls were adorned with the bas-reliefs of the triumphal arch of M.
Aurelius, now in the Palazzo dei Conservatori (first landing, nos. 42,
43, 44). One of them, representing the emperor sacrificing before the
Temple of Jupiter, is given opposite page 90.
The decoration of the churches, like that of the temples, was mostly
done by private contributions and gifts of works of art. The laying
out of the pavement, for instance, or the painting of the walls was
apportioned to voluntary subscribers, each of whom was entitled to
inscribe his name on his section of the work. The pavement of the
lower basilica of Parenzo, in Dalmatia, is divided into mosaic panels
of various sizes, representing vases, wreaths, fish, and animals; and
to each panel is appended the name of the contributor:--
"Lupicinus and Pascasia made one hundred [square] feet.
"Clamosus and Successa, one hundred feet.
"Felicissimus and his relatives, one hundred feet.
"Fausta, the patrician, and her relatives, sixty feet.
"Claudia, devout woman, and her niece Honoria, made one hundred and
ten feet, in fulfilment of a vow."[21]
Theseus killing the Minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete, and labyrinths
in general, were favorite subjects for church pavements, especially
among the Gauls. The custom is very ancient, a labyrinth having been
represented in the church of S. Vitale at Ravenna as early as the
sixth century. Those of the cathedral at Lucca, of S. Michele Maggiore
at Pavia, of S. Savino at Piacenza, of S. Maria in Trastevere at Rome
(destroyed in the restoration of 1867), are of a later date. The image
of Theseus is accompanied by a legend in the "leonine" rhythm:--
_Theseus intravit, monstrumque biforme necavit._
The symbolism of the subject is explained thus: The labyrinth, so easy
of access, but from which no one can escape, is symbolical of human
life. At the time of the Crusades, church labyrinths began to be used
for a practical purpose. The faithful were wont to go over the
meandering paths on their knees, murmuring prayers in memory of the
passion of the Lord. Under the influence of this practice the classic
and Carolingian name--labyrinth--was forgotten; and the new one of
_rues de Jerusalem_, or _leagues_, adopted. The _rues de Jerusalem_ in
the cathedral at Chartres, designed in blue marble, were 666 feet
long; and it took an hour to finish the pilgrimage. Later the
labyrinths lost their religious meaning, and became a pastime for
idlers and children. The one in the church at Saint-Omer has been
destroyed, because the celebration of the office was often disturbed
by irreverent visitors trying the sport.[22]
In Rome we have several instances of these private artistic
contributions in the service of churches. The pavement of S. Maria in
Cosmedin is the joint offering of many parishioners; and so were those
of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura and S. Maria Maggiore before their modern
restoration. The names of Beno de Rapiza, his wife Maria Macellaria,
and his children Clement and Attilia are attached to the frescoes of
the lower church of S. Clemente; and that of Beno alone to the
paintings of S. Urbano alla Caffarella. In the apse of S. Sebastiano
in Pallara, on the Palatine, and in that of S. Saba on the Aventine,
we read the names of a Benedictus and of a Saba, at whose expense the
apses were decorated.
We cannot help following with emotion the development of this artistic
feeling even among the lowest classes of mediæval Rome.[23] We read of
an Ægidius, son of Hippolytus, a shoemaker of the Via Arenula, leaving
his substance to the church of S. Maria de Porticù, with the request
that it should be devoted to the building of a chapel, "handsome and
handsomely painted, so that everybody should take delight in looking
at it." Such feelings, exceptional in many Italian provinces, were
common throughout Tuscany. When the triptych of Duccio Buoninsegna,
now in the "Casa dell' opera" at Siena, was carried from his studio to
the Duomo, June 9, 1310, the whole population followed in a triumphant
procession. Renzo di Maitano, another Sienese artist of fame, had the
soul of a poet. He was the first to advocate the erection of a church,
"grand, beautiful, magnificent, whose just proportions in height,
breadth, and length should so harmonize with the details of the
decoration as to make it decorous and solemn, and worthy of the
worship of Christ in hymns and canticles, for the protection and glory
of the city of Siena." So spoke the artists of that age, and their
language was understood and felt by the multitudes. Their lives were
made bright and cheerful in spite of the troubles and misfortunes
which weighed upon their countries. Think of such sentiments in our
age!
[Illustration: THE TRANSLATION OF S. CYRIL'S REMAINS (Fresco in S.
Clemente, done at the order of Maria Macellaria)]
But I am digressing from my subject. Another step of the religious and
material transformation of the city is marked by the substitution of
chapels and shrines for the old _aræ compitales_, at the crossings of
the main thoroughfares. The institution of altars in honor of the
_Lares_, or guardian genii of each ward or quarter, is ancient, and
can be traced to prehistoric times. When Servius Tullius enclosed the
city with his walls, there were twenty-four such altars, called
_sacraria Argeorum_. Two facts speak in favor of their remote
antiquity. The priestess of Jupiter was not allowed to sacrifice on
them, unless in a savage attire, with hair unkempt and untrimmed. On
the 17th of May, the Vestals used to throw into the Tiber, from the
Sublician bridge, manikins of wickerwork, in commemoration of the
human sacrifices once performed on the same altars.
When Augustus reorganized the capital and its wards, in the year 7
B. C., the number of street-shrines had grown to more than two hundred.
Two hundred and sixty-five were registered, A. D. 73, in the census
of Vespasian; three hundred and twenty-four at the time of
Constantine. A man of much leisure, and evidently of no occupation,
the cavaliere Alessandro Rufini, numbered and described the shrines
and images which lined the streets of Rome in the year 1853. As
modern civilization and indifference will soon obliterate this
historical feature of the city, I quote some results of Rufini's
investigations.[24] There were 1,421 images of the Madonna, 1,318
images of saints, ornamented with 1,928 precious objects, and 110
ex-votos; 1,067 lamps were kept burning day and night before them,--a
most useful institution in a city whose streets have not been
regularly lighted until recent years.
[Illustration: The Shrine and Altar of Mercurius Sobrius.]
As prototypes of a classical and Christian street-shrine,
respectively, we may take the _ædicula compitalis_ of Mercurius
Sobrius, discovered in April, 1888, near S. Martino ai Monti, and the
_immagine di Ponte_, at the corner of the Via dei Coronari and the
Vicolo del Micio. The shrine of Mercury near S. Martino was dedicated
by Augustus, in the year 10 B. C. The inscription engraved on the
front of the altar says: "The emperor Augustus dedicated this shrine
to Mercury in the year of the City, 744, from money received as a
new-year's gift, during his absence from Rome."
Suetonius (Chapter 57) says that every year, on January 1, all classes
of citizens climbed the Capitol and offered _strenæ calendariæ_ to
Augustus, when he was absent; and that the emperor, with his usual
generosity, appropriated the money to the purchase of _pretiosissima
deorum simulacra_, "the most valuable statues of gods," to be set up
at the crossings of thoroughfares. Four pedestals of these statues
have already been found: one near the Arch of Titus, at the beginning
of the sixteenth century; one, in 1548, near the Senate House; one, in
the same year, by the Arch of Septimius Severus. The fourth pedestal,
that recently discovered near S. Martino ai Monti, was raised at the
crossing of two important streets, the _clivus suburanus_ (Via di S.
Lucia in Selci), and the _vicus sobrius_ (Via dei Quattro Cantoni),
from which the statue was nicknamed _Mercurius Sobrius_, "Mercury the
teetotaller."
The _immagine di Ponte_, in the Via dei Coronari, the prototype of
modern shrines, contains an image of the Virgin in a graceful niche
built, or re-built, in 1523, by Alberto Serra of Monferrato, from
designs by Antonio da Sangallo. Its name is derived from that of the
lane leading to the Ponte S. Angelo (Canale di Ponte). The house to
which it belongs is No. 113 Via dei Coronari, and No. 5 Vicolo del
Micio.
Monumental crosses were sometimes erected instead of shrines. Count
Giovanni Gozzadini has called the attention of archæologists to this
subject in a memoir "Sulle croci monumentali che erano nelle vie di
Bologna del secolo XIII." He proves from the texts of historians,
Fathers, and councils that the practice of erecting crosses at the
junction of the main streets is very ancient, and belongs to the first
century of the freedom of the Church, when the faithful withdrew the
emblem of Christ from the catacombs, and raised it in opposition to
the street shrines of the gentiles. Bologna has the privilege of
possessing the oldest of these crosses. One bears the legend "In the
name of God; this cross, erected long since by Barbatus, was renewed
under the bishopric of Vitalis (789-814)." This class of monuments
abounds in Rome, although it belongs to a comparatively recent age.
Such are the crosses before the churches of SS. Sebastiano, Cesareo,
Nereo ed Achilleo, Pancrazio, Lorenzo, Francesco a Ripa, and others.
The most curious and interesting is perhaps the column of Henry IV. of
France, which was erected under Clement VIII. in front of S. Antonio
all' Esquilino, and which the modern generation has concealed in a
recess on the east side of S. Maria Maggiore. It is in the form of a
culverin--a long slender cannon of the period--standing upright. From
the muzzle rises a marble cross supporting the figure of Christ on one
side, and that of the Virgin on the other. It was erected by Charles
d'Anisson, prior of the French Antonians, to commemorate the
absolution given by Clement VIII. to Henry IV. of France and Navarre,
on September 17 of the year 1595. The monument has a remarkable
history. Although apparently erected by private enterprise, the kings
of France regarded it as an insult of the Curia, an official boast of
their submission to the Pope; and they lost no opportunity of showing
their dissatisfaction in consequence. Louis XIV. found an occasion for
revenge. The gendarmes who had escorted his ambassador, the duc de
Crequi, to Rome, had a street brawl with the Pope's Corsican
body-guards; and although it was doubtful which side was to blame,
Louis obliged Pope Alexander VII. to raise a pyramid on the spot where
the affray had taken place, with the following humiliating
inscription:--
"In denunciation of the murderous attack committed by the Corsican
soldiers against his Excellency the duc de Crequi, Pope Alexander VII.
declares their nation deprived forever of the privilege of serving
under the flag of the Church. This monument was erected May 21, 1664,
according to the agreement made at Pisa."
The revenge could not have been more complete; so bitter was it that
Alexander VII. drew a violent protest against it, to be read and
published only after his death. His successor, Clement IX., a favorite
with Louis XIV., obtained leave that the pyramid should be demolished,
which was done in June, 1668, with the consent of the French
ambassador, the duc de Chaulnes. Whether by stipulation or by the good
will of the Pope, the inscription of the column of Henry IV. was made
to disappear at the same time. We have found it concealed in a remote
corner of the convent of S. Antonio.[25] The column itself, and the
canopy which sheltered it, fell to the ground on Thursday, February
15, 1744; and when Benedict XIV. restored the monument in the
following year, he severed forever its connection with these
remarkable historical events, by dedicating it DEIPARÆ VIRGINI. Having
been dismantled in 1875, during the construction of the Esquiline
quarter, it was reërected in 1880, not far from its original place, on
the east side of S. Maria Maggiore,--not without opposition, because
there are always men who think they can obliterate history by
suppressing monuments which bear testimony to it.
One of the characteristics of ancient sanctuaries, by which the weary
pilgrim was provided with bathing accommodations, is also to be found
in the old churches of Rome. We are told in the "Liber Pontificalis"
that Pope Symmachus (498-514), while building the basilica of S.
Pancrazio, on the Via Aurelia, _fecit in eadem balneum_, "provided it
with a bath." Another was erected by the same Pope near the apse of
S. Paolo fuori le Mura, the supply of water of which was originally
derived from a spring; later from wheels, or noriahs, established on
the banks of the Tiber. Notices were written on the walls of these
bathing apartments, warning laymen and priests to observe the
strictest rules of modesty. One of these inscriptions, from the baths
annexed to the churches of SS. Sylvester and Martin, is preserved in
section II. of the Christian epigraphic museum of the Lateran. It ends
with the distich:--
NON NOSTRIS NOCET OFFICIIS NEC CULPA LABACRI
QUOD SIBIMET GENERAT LUBRICA VITA MALUM EST,--
"There is no harm in seeking strength and purity of body in baths; it
is not water but our own bad actions that make us sin." These verses
are not so good as their moral; but inscriptions like this prove that
the abandonment of such useful institutions must be attributed not to
the undue severity of Christian morality, but to the ruin of the
aqueducts by which fountains and baths were fed. However, even in the
darkest period of the Middle Ages we find the traditional "kantharos,"
or basin, in the centre of the quadri-porticoes or courts by which the
basilicas were entered. Such is the vase in the court of S. Cæcilia,
represented on the next page, and that in front of S. Cosimato in
Trastevere; and such is the famous _calix marmoreus_, which formerly
stood near the church of SS. Apostoli, mentioned in the Bull of John
III. (A. D. 570), by which the boundary line of that parish was
determined. This historical monument, a prominent landmark in the
topography of mediæval Rome, was removed to the Baths of Diocletian at
the beginning of last year.
In many of our churches visitors may have noticed one or more round
black stones, weighing from ten to a hundred pounds, which, according
to tradition, were tied to the necks of martyrs when they were thrown
into wells, lakes, or rivers. To the student these stones tell a
different tale. They prove that the classic institution of the
_ponderaria_ (sets of weights and measures) migrated from temples to
churches, after the closing of the former, A. D. 393.
[Illustration: Kantharos in the Court of St. Cæcilia.]
As the _amphora_ was the standard measure of capacity for wine, the
_metreta_ for oil, the _modius_ for grain, so the _libra_ was the
standard measure of weight.[26] To insure honesty in trade they were
examined periodically by order of the ædiles; those found _iniquæ_
(short) were broken, and their owners sentenced to banishment in
remote islands. In A. D. 167, Junius Rusticus, prefect of the city,
ordered a general inspection to be made in Rome and in the provinces;
weights and measures found to be legal were marked or stamped with the
legend "[Verified] by the authority of Q. Junius Rusticus, prefect of
the city." These weights of Rusticus are discovered in hundreds in
Roman excavations.[27]
The original standards were kept in the Temple of Jupiter on the
Capitol, and used only on extraordinary occasions. Official duplicates
were deposited in other temples, like those of Castor and Pollux, Mars
Ultor, Ops, and others, and kept at the disposal of the public, whence
their name of _pondera publica_. Barracks and market-places were also
furnished with them. The most important discovery connected with this
branch of Roman administration was made at Tivoli in 1883, when three
_mensæ ponderariæ_, almost perfect, were found in the portico or
peribolos of the Temple of Hercules, adjoining the cathedral of S.
Lorenzo. This wing of the portico is divided into compartments by
means of projecting pilasters, and each recess is occupied by a marble
table resting on "trapezophoroi" richly ornamented with symbols of
Hercules and Bacchus, like the club and the thyrsus. Along the edge of
two of the tables runs the inscription, "Made at the expense of Marcus
Varenus Diphilus, president of the college of Hercules," while the
third was erected at the expense of his wife Varena. The tables are
perforated by holes of conical shape, varying in diameter from 200 to
380 millimetres. Brass measures of capacity were fastened into each
hole, for use by buyers and sellers. They were used in a very
ingenious way, both as dry and liquid measures. The person who had
bought, for instance, half a modius of beans, or twenty-four
_sextarii_ of wine, and wanted to ascertain whether he had been
cheated in his bargain, would fill the receptacle to the proper line,
then open the valve or spicket below, and transfer the tested contents
again to his sack or flask.
The institution was accepted by the Church, and _ponderaria_ were set
up in the principal basilicas. The best set which has come down to us
is that of S. Maria in Trastevere, but there is hardly a church
without a "stone" weighing from five or ten to a hundred pounds. The
popular superstition by which these practical objects were transformed
into relics of martyrdoms is very old. Topographers and pilgrims of
the seventh century speak of a stone exhibited in the chapel of SS.
Abundius and Irenæus, under the portico of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura,
"which, in their ignorance, pilgrims touch and lift." They mention
also another weight, exhibited in the church of S. Stephen, near S.
Paul's, which they believed to be one of the stones with which the
martyr was killed.
In 1864 a _schola_ (a memorial and banqueting hall) was discovered in
the burial grounds adjoining the prætorian camp, which had been used
by members of a corporation called the _sodalium serrensium_, that is,
of the citizens of Serræ, a city of Samothrake, I believe. Among the
objects pertaining to the hall and its customers were two measures for
wine, a _sextarium_, and a _hemina_, marked with the monogram of
Christ and the name of the donor.[28] They are now exhibited in the
_sala dei bronzi_ of the Capitoline museum.
The hall of the citizens of Serræ, discovered in 1864, belongs to a
class of monuments very common in the suburbs of Rome. They were
called _cellæ, memoriæ, exedræ_, and _scholæ_, and were used by
relatives and friends of the persons buried under or near them, in the
performance of expiatory ceremonies or for commemorative banquets, for
which purpose all the necessaries, from the table-service to the
festal garments, were kept on the spot, in cabinets entrusted to the
care of a watchman. This practice--save the expiatory offerings--was
adopted by the Christians. The _agapai_, or love-feasts, before
degenerating into those excesses and superstitions so strongly
denounced by the Fathers of the Church, were celebrated over or near
the tombs of martyrs and confessors, the treasury of the local
congregation supplying food and drink, as well as the banqueting
robes. In the inventory of the property confiscated during the
persecution of Diocletian, in a house at Cirta (Constantine, Algeria),
which was used by the faithful as a church, we find registered,
chalices of gold and silver, lamps and candelabras, eighty-two female
tunics, sixteen male tunics, thirteen pairs of men's boots,
forty-seven pairs of women's shoes, and so on.[29] A remarkable
discovery, illustrating the subject, has been lately made in the
Catacombs of Priscilla; that of a _graffito_ containing this sentence:
"February 5, 375, we, Florentinus, Fortunatus, and Felix, came here AD
CALICE[M] (for the cup)." To understand the meaning of this sentence,
we must compare it with others engraved on pagan tombs. In one, No.
25,861 of the "Corpus," the deceased says to the passer-by: "Come on,
bring with you a flask of wine, a glass, and all that is needed for a
libation!" In another, No. 19,007, the same invitation is worded: "Oh,
friends (_convivæ_), drink now to my memory, and wish that the earth
may be light on me." We are told by S. Augustine[30] that when his
mother, Monica, visited Milan in 384, the practice of eating and
drinking in honor of the martyrs had been stopped by S. Ambrose,
although it was still flourishing in other regions, where crowds of
pilgrims were still going from tomb to tomb with baskets of provisions
and flasks of wine, drinking heavily at each station. Paulinus of Nola
and Augustine himself strongly stigmatized the abuse. The faithful
were advised either to distribute their provisions to the poor, who
crowded the entrances to the crypts, or to leave them on the tombs,
that the local clergy might give them to the needy. There is no doubt
that the record _ad calicem venimus_, scratched by Florentinus,
Fortunatus, and Felix on the walls of the Cemetery of Priscilla,
refers to these deplorable libations.
[Illustration: Sample of a Drinking-cup.]
Many drinking-cups used on these occasions have been found in Rome, in
my time. They are generally works of the fourth century of our era,
cut in glass by unskillful hands, and they show the portrait-heads of
SS. Peter and Paul, in preference to other subjects of the kind. This
fact is due not only to the special veneration which the Romans
professed for the founders of their church, but also to the habit of
celebrating their anniversary, June 29, with public or domestic
_agapai_. S. Peter's day was to the Romans of the fourth century what
Christmas is to us, as regards joviality and sumptuous banquets. On
one of these occasions S. Jerome received from his friend Eustochio
fruit and sweets in the shape of doves. In acknowledging the kind
remembrance, S. Jerome recommends sobriety on that day more than on
any other: "We must celebrate the birthday of Peter rather with
exaltation of spirit, than with abundance of food. It is absurd to
glorify with the satisfaction of our appetites the memory of men who
pleased God by mortifying theirs." The poorer classes of citizens were
fed under the porticoes of the Vatican basilica. The gatherings
degenerated into the display of such excesses of drunkenness that
Augustine could not resist writing to the Romans: "First you
persecuted the martyrs with stones and other instruments of torture
and death; and now you persecute their memory with your intoxicating
cups."
The institution of public granaries (_horrea publica_) for the
maintenance of the lower classes was also accepted and favored by
Christian Rome. On page 250 of my "Ancient Rome," I have spoken of the
warehouses for the storage of wheat, built by Sulpicius Galba on the
plains of Testaccio, near the Porta S. Paolo, named for him _horrea
galbana_, even after their purchase by the state. These public
granaries originated at the time of Caius Gracchus and his grain laws.
Their scheme was developed, in course of time, by Clodius, Pompey,
Seianus, and the emperors, to such an extent that, in 312 A. D., there
were registered in Rome alone two hundred and ninety granaries. They
may be divided into three classes: In the first, and by far the most
important, a plentiful supply of breadstuffs was kept at the expense
of the state, to meet emergencies of scarcity or famine, and the wants
of a population one third of which was fed gratuitously by the
sovereign. The second was intended especially for the storage of paper
(_horrea chartaria_), candles (_horrea candelaria_), spices (_horrea
piperataria_), and other such commodities. The third class consisted
of buildings in which the citizens might deposit their goods, money,
plate, securities, and other valuables for which they had no place of
safety in their own houses. There were also private _horrea_, built on
speculation, to be let as strong-rooms like our modern vaults,
storage-warehouses, and "pantechnicons."
The building of the new quarter of the Testaccio, the region of
_horrea_ par excellence, has given us the chance of studying the
institution in its minutest details. I shall mention only one
discovery. We found, in 1885, the official advertisement for leasing a
_horrea_, under the empire of Hadrian. It is thus worded:--
"To be let from to-day, and hereafter annually (beginning on December
13): These warehouses, belonging to the Emperor Hadrian, together with
their granaries, wine-cellars, strong-boxes, and repositories.
"The care and protection of the official watchmen is included in the
lease.
"Regulations: I. Any one who rents rooms, vaults, or strong-boxes in
this establishment is expected to pay the rent and vacate the place
before December 13.
"II. Whoever disobeys regulation No. I., and omits to arrange with the
_horrearius_ (or keeper-in-chief) for the renewal of his lease, shall
be considered as liable for another year, the rent to be determined by
the average price paid by others for the same room, vault, or
strong-box. This regulation to be enforced in case the _horrearius_
has not had an opportunity to rent the said room, vault, or strong-box
to other people.
"III. Sub-letting is not allowed. The administration will withdraw the
watch and the guarantee from rooms, vaults, or strong-boxes which
have been sub-let in violation of the existing rules.
"IV. Merchandise or valuables stored in these warehouses are held by
the administration as security for payment of rental.
"V. The tenant will not be reimbursed by the administration for
improvements, additions, and other such work which he has undertaken
on his own account.
"VI. The tenant must give an assignment of his goods to the
keeper-in-chief, who shall not be held responsible for the
safe-keeping of merchandise or valuables which have not been duly
declared. The tenant must claim a receipt for the said assignment and
for the payment of his rental."[31]
The granaries of the Church were intended only for the storage of
corn. The landed estates which the Church owned in Africa and Sicily
were administered by deputies, whose special duty it was to ship the
produce of the harvest to Rome. During the first siege of Totila, in
546, Pope Vigilius, then on his way to Constantinople, despatched from
the coast of Sicily a fleet of grain-laden vessels, under the care of
Valentine, bishop of Silva Candida. The attempt to relieve the city of
the famine proved useless, and the vessels were seized by the
besiegers on their landing at Porto. In 589 an inundation of the
Tiber, described by Gregoire de Tours, carried away several thousand
bushels of grain, which had been stored in the _horrea ecclesiæ_, and
the granaries themselves were totally destroyed.
The "Liber Pontificalis," vol. i. p. 315, describes the calamities
which befell the city of Rome in the year 605; King Agilulf trying to
enter the city by violence; heavy frosts killing the vines; rats
destroying the harvest, etc. However, as soon as the barbarians were
induced to retire by an offer of twelve thousand _solidi_, Pope
Sabinianus, who was then the head of the Church, _iussit aperiri
horrea ecclesiæ_ (threw open the granaries), and offered their
contents at auction, at a valuation of one _solidus_ for thirty
_modii_.
[Illustration: A Granary of Ostia.]
The grain was not intended to be sold, but to be distributed among the
needy; the act of Sabinianus was, therefore, strongly censured, as
being in strong contrast to the generosity of Gregory the Great. A
legend on this subject is related by Paulus Diaconus in chapter xxix.
of the Life of Gregory. He says that Gregory appeared thrice to
Sabinianus, in a vision, entreating him to be more generous; and
having failed to move him by friendly advice, he struck him dead. The
price of one _solidus_ for thirty _modii_ is almost exorbitant; grain
cost exactly one half this at the time of Theodoric.
The institution has outlived all the vicissitudes of the Middle Ages.
Gregory XIII., in 1566, Paul V., in 1609, Clement XI., in 1705,
re-opened the _horrea ecclesiæ_ in the ruined halls of the Baths of
Diocletian; and Clement XIII. added a wing to them, for the storage of
oil. These buildings are still in existence around the Piazza di
Termini, although devoted to other purposes.
It would be impossible to follow in all its manifestations the
material and moral transformation of Rome from the third to the sixth
centuries, without going beyond the limits of a single chapter.
The customs and practices of the classical age were so deeply rooted
among the citizens that even now, after a lapse of sixteen centuries,
they are noticeable to a great extent. When we read, for instance, of
Popes elected by the people assembled at the Rostra,[32] such as
Stephen III., in 768, we must regard the circumstance as caused by a
remembrance of past ages. Under the pontificate of Innocent II.
(1130), of Eugenius III. (1145-1150), and of Lucius III. (1181-1185)
the senators, or municipal magistrates, used to sit and administer
justice in S. Martina and S. Adriano, that is, in the classic Roman
Curia. Many other details will be incidentally described in the
following chapters. I close the present one by referring to a graceful
custom, borrowed likewise from the classic world,--the use of roses in
church or funeral ceremonies and in social life.
The ancients celebrated, in the month of May, a feast called
_rosaria_, in which sepulchres were profusely decorated with the
favorite flower of the season. Roses were also used on occasions of
public rejoicing. A Greek inscription, discovered by Fränkel at
Pergamon, mentions, among the honors shown to the emperor Hadrian, the
_Rhodismos_, which is interpreted as a scattering of roses. Traces of
the custom are found in more recent times. In the Illyrian peninsula,
and on the banks of the Danube, the country people, still feeling the
influence of Roman civilization, celebrated feasts of flowers in
spring and summer, under the name of _rousalia_. In the sixth century,
when the Slavs were vacillating between the influence of the past and
the present, the celebration of the Pentecost was mixed up with that
of the half-pagan, half-barbarous _rousalia_. Southern Russians
believe in supernatural female beings, called _Rusalky_, who bring
prosperity to the fields and forests, which they have inhabited as
flowers.
The early Christians decorated the sepulchres of martyrs and
confessors, on the anniversary of their interment, with roses,
violets, amaranths, and evergreens; and they celebrated the
_rosationes_ on the name-days of churches and sanctuaries. Wreaths and
crowns of roses are often engraved on tombstones, hanging from the
bills of mystic doves. The symbol refers more to the joys of the just
in the future life than to the fleeting pleasures of the earth. The
Acts of Perpetua relate a legend on this subject; that Saturus had a
vision in the dungeon in which he was awaiting his martyrdom, in which
he saw himself transported with Perpetua to a heavenly garden,
fragrant with roses, and turning to his fair companion, he exclaimed:
"Here we are in possession of that which our Lord promised!"
Roses and other flowers are painted on the walls of historical
cubiculi. In a fresco of the crypts of Lucina, in the Catacombs of
Callixtus, are painted birds, symbolizing souls who have been
separated from their bodies, and are playing in fields of roses around
the Tree of Life. As the word _Paradeisos_ signifies a garden, so its
mystic representation always takes the form of a delightful field of
flowers and fruit. Dante gives to the seat of the blessed the shape of
a fair rose, inside of which a crowd of angels with golden wings
descend and return to the Lord:--
"Nel gran fior discendeva, che s'adorna
Di tante foglie: e quindi risaliva,
Là dove lo suo amor sempre soggiorna."[33]
_Paradiso_, xxxi. 10-12.
Possibly it is from this allegory of paradise that the rite of the
"golden rose" which the Pope blesses on Quadragesima Sunday is
derived. The ceremony is very ancient, although the first mention of
it appears only in the life of Leo IX. (1049-1055); and I may mention,
as a curious coincidence, that the kings and queens of Navarre, their
sons, and the dukes and peers of the realm, were bound to offer roses
to the Parliament at the return of spring.
Roses played such an important part in church ceremonies that we find
a _fundus rosarius_ given as a present by Constantine to Pope Mark.
The _rosaria_ outlived the suppression of pagan superstitions, and by
and by assumed its Christian form in the feast of Pentecost, which
falls in the month of May. In that day roses were thrown from the
roofs of churches on the worshipers below. The Pentecost is still
called by the Italians _Pasqua rosa_.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The relations between the Empire, the Christians, and the Jews
have been discussed by really numberless writers, beginning with the
Fathers of the Church. I have consulted, among the moderns: Mangold:
_De ecclesia primæva pro cæsaribus et magistratibus romanis preces
fundente._ Bonn, 1881.--Bittner: _De Græcorum et Romanorum deque
Judæorum et christianorum sacris jejuniis._ Posen, 1846.--Weiss: _Die
römischen Kaiser in ihrem Verhältnisse zu Juden und Christen._ Wien,
1882.--Mourant Brock: _Rome, Pagan and Papal._ London, Hodder & Co.
1883.--Backhouse and Taylor: _History of the primitive Church._
(Italian edition.) Rome, Loescher, 1890.--Greppo: _Trois mémoires
relatifs à l'histoire ecclésiastique._--Döllinger: _Christenthum und
Kirche._--Champagny (Comte de): _Les Antonins_, vol. i.--Gaston
Boissier: _La fin du paganisme_, etc., 2 vols. Paris, Hachette,
1891.--Giovanni Marangoni: _Delle cose gentilesche trasportate ad uso
delle chiese._ Roma, Pagliarini, 1744.--Mosheim: _De rebus Christianis
ante Constantinum._--Carlo Fea: _Dissertazione sulle rovine di Roma_,
in Winckelmann's _Storia delle arti._ Roma, Pagliarini, 1783, vol.
iii.--Louis Duchesne: _Le liber pontificalis._ Paris, Thorin,
1886-1892.--G. B. de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana._
Roma, Salviucci, 1863-1891.
[2] See de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1888-1889, p.
15; 1890, p. 97.--Edmond Le Blant: _Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des
Inscript._, 1888, p. 113.--Arthur Frothingham: _American Journal of
Archæology_, June, 1888, p. 214.--R. Lanciani: _Gli horti Aciliorum
sul Pincio_, in the _Bullettino della commissione archeologica_, 1891,
p. 132; _Underground Christian Rome_, in the _Atlantic Monthly_, July,
1891.
[3] See Ersilia Lovatelli: _Il Monte Pincio_, in the _Miscellanea
archeologica_, p. 211.--Rodolfo Lanciani: _Su gli orti degli Acili sul
Pincio_, in the _Bullettino di corrispondenza archeologica_, 1868, p.
132.
[4] A description of the beautiful villa of Herodes, adjoining the
Catacombs of Prætextatus, will be found in chapter vi. pp. 287 sqq.
[5] A _consul suffectus_ was one elected as a substitute in case of
the death or retirement of one of the regular consuls.
[6] Lampridius, in _Sev. Alex._, c. 43.
[7] In chapter v., p. 122, of _Ancient Rome_, I have attributed these
_graffiti_ to the second half of the first century; but after a
careful examination of the structure of the wall, on the plaster of
which they are scratched, I am convinced that they must have been
written towards the end of the second century.
[8] Orelli, 4024, _Digest L._, iv. 18, 7.
[9] See Ulpian: _De officio Procons._, i. 3.
[10] Lampridius, _Heliog._, 3.
[11] See Greppo: _Mémoire sur les laraires de l'empereur Alexandre
Sevère_.
[12] The name of the villa was _Cassiacum_; its memory has lasted to
the present age. See the memoir of Luigi Biraghi, _S. Agostino a
Cassago di Brianza._ Milano, 1854.
[13] See _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1865, p. 50.
[14] It contains the words PETRO LILLVTI PAVLO. They are surely
genuine and ancient. I examined them in company with Mommsen, Jordan,
and de Rossi, and they attributed them to the beginning of the third
century of our era. The best suggestion regarding their origin is that
they belong to a person, probably Christian, who used the name Petrus
as _gentilitium_, and Paulus as _cognomen_, and who was the son of
Lillutus, however barbaric this last name may sound.
[15] See de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1863, p.
49.--Rohault de Fleury: _L'arc de triomphe de Constantin_, in the
_Révue archéologique_, Sept. 1863, p. 250.--W. Henzen: _Bullettino
dell' Instituto_, 1863, p. 183.
[16] See Bibliography, p. 1. The title of the book may be translated
thus: _On the pagan and profane objects transferred to churches for
their use and adornment_.
[17] The two busts of S. Peter and S. Paul, described in Cancellieri's
book, _Memorie storiche delle sacre teste dei santi apostoli Pietro e
Paolo_, Roma, Ferretti, 1852 (second edition), were stolen by the
French revolutionists in 1799.
[18] See _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, part VI., No. 351.
[19] In the Byzantine period this church and the adjoining monastery
were called _casa Barbara patricia_. They are now comprised within the
cloisters of S. Antonio all' Esquilino, on the left side of S. Maria
Maggiore.
[20] These incrustations, and the basilica to which they belong, have
been illustrated by Ciampini: _Vetera monumenta_, vol. i. plates
xxii.-xxiv.--D'Agincourt: _Histoire de l'art, Peinture_, pl. xiii.
3.--Minutoli: _Ueber die Anfertigung und die Nutzanwendung der
färbigen Gläser bei den Alten_, pl. iv.--De Rossi: _La basilica di
Giunio Basso_, in the _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1871, p.
46.
[21] See Andrea Amoroso: _Le basiliche cristiane di Parenzo._ Parenzo,
Coana, 1891.--Mommsen: _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, vol. v. part
i. nos. 365-367.
[22] See Lovatelli: _I labirinti e il loro simbolismo nell' età di
mezzo_, in the _Nuova Antologia_, 16 Agosto, 1890.--Arné: _Carrelages
émaillés du moyen âge_.--Eugène Müntz: _Etudes iconographiques et
archéologiques sur le moyen âge_.
[23] See Pietro Pericoli: _Lo spedale di S. Maria della Consolazione_.
Imola Galeati, p. 64.
[24] Published in two volumes with the title: _Indicazione delle
immagini di Maria, collocate sulle mura esterne di Roma._ Ferretti,
1853.
[25] The inscription, after all, was very mild in comparison with the
violent formula imposed upon Alexander VII. It read: "In memory of the
absolution given by Clement VIII. to Henry IV. of France and Navarre,
September 17, 1595."
[26] The amphora corresponds to 26.26 litres; the metreta to 39.39
litres; the modius to 8.75 litres. The pound, divided into twelve
ounces, corresponds to 327.45 grammes, a little more than 11½
English ounces.
[27] See _Antichi pesi inscritti del museo capitolino_, in the
_Bullettino della commissione archeologica comunale di Roma_, 1884, p.
61, pls. vi., vii.
[28] See de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1864, p. 57.
[29] See _Acta purgationis Cæciliani_, post Optati opp. ed Dupin, p.
168.
[30] _Confess._ vi. 2.
[31] See Gaetano Marini: _Iscrizioni doliari_, p. 114, n.
279.--Giuseppe Gatti: _La lex horreorum_, in the _Bullettino della
commissione archeologica comunale di Roma_, 1885, p. 110.
[32] The place was called _in tribus fatis_, from the three statues of
sibyls described by Pliny, _H.N._ xxxiv. See _Goth._ i. 25.
[33]
"Sank into the great flower, that is adorned
With leaves so many, and thence reascended
To where its love abideth evermore."
_Longfellow's Translation._