62 (return) [ The first crown or regnum (Ducange, Gloss. Latin.

tom. v. p. 702) on the episcopal mitre of the popes, is ascribed

to the gift of Constantine, or Clovis. The second was added by

Boniface VIII., as the emblem not only of a spiritual, but of a

temporal, kingdom. The three states of the church are represented

by the triple crown which was introduced by John XXII. or

Benedict XII., (Mémoires sur Pétrarque, tom. i. p. 258, 259.)]

63 (return) [ Baluze (Not. ad Pap. Avenion. tom. i. p. 1194,

1195) produces the original evidence which attests the threats of

the Roman ambassadors, and the resignation of the abbot of Mount

Cassin, qui, ultro se offerens, respondit se civem Romanum esse,

et illud velle quod ipsi vellent.]

64 (return) [ The return of the popes from Avignon to Rome, and

their reception by the people, are related in the original lives

of Urban V. and Gregory XI., in Baluze (Vit. Paparum

Avenionensium, tom. i. p. 363—486) and Muratori, (Script. Rer.

Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i. p. 613—712.) In the disputes of the

schism, every circumstance was severely, though partially,

scrutinized; more especially in the great inquest, which decided

the obedience of Castile, and to which Baluze, in his notes, so

often and so largely appeals from a MS. volume in the Harley

library, (p. 1281, &c.)]

If superstition will interpret an untimely death, 65 if the merit

of counsels be judged from the event, the heavens may seem to

frown on a measure of such apparent season and propriety. Gregory

the Eleventh did not survive above fourteen months his return to

the Vatican; and his decease was followed by the great schism of

the West, which distracted the Latin church above forty years.

The sacred college was then composed of twenty-two cardinals: six

of these had remained at Avignon; eleven Frenchmen, one Spaniard,

and four Italians, entered the conclave in the usual form. Their

choice was not yet limited to the purple; and their unanimous

votes acquiesced in the archbishop of Bari, a subject of Naples,

conspicuous for his zeal and learning, who ascended the throne of

St. Peter under the name of Urban the Sixth. The epistle of the

sacred college affirms his free, and regular, election; which had

been inspired, as usual, by the Holy Ghost; he was adored,

invested, and crowned, with the customary rites; his temporal

authority was obeyed at Rome and Avignon, and his ecclesiastical

supremacy was acknowledged in the Latin world. During several

weeks, the cardinals attended their new master with the fairest

professions of attachment and loyalty; till the summer heats

permitted a decent escape from the city. But as soon as they were

united at Anagni and Fundi, in a place of security, they cast

aside the mask, accused their own falsehood and hypocrisy,

excommunicated the apostate and antichrist of Rome, and proceeded

to a new election of Robert of Geneva, Clement the Seventh, whom

they announced to the nations as the true and rightful vicar of

Christ. Their first choice, an involuntary and illegal act, was

annulled by fear of death and the menaces of the Romans; and

their complaint is justified by the strong evidence of

probability and fact. The twelve French cardinals, above two

thirds of the votes, were masters of the election; and whatever

might be their provincial jealousies, it cannot fairly be

presumed that they would have sacrificed their right and interest

to a foreign candidate, who would never restore them to their

native country. In the various, and often inconsistent,

narratives, 66 the shades of popular violence are more darkly or

faintly colored: but the licentiousness of the seditious Romans

was inflamed by a sense of their privileges, and the danger of a

second emigration. The conclave was intimidated by the shouts,

and encompassed by the arms, of thirty thousand rebels; the bells

of the Capitol and St. Peter’s rang an alarm: “Death, or an

Italian pope!” was the universal cry; the same threat was

repeated by the twelve bannerets or chiefs of the quarters, in

the form of charitable advice; some preparations were made for

burning the obstinate cardinals; and had they chosen a

Transalpine subject, it is probable that they would never have

departed alive from the Vatican. The same constraint imposed the

necessity of dissembling in the eyes of Rome and of the world;

the pride and cruelty of Urban presented a more inevitable

danger; and they soon discovered the features of the tyrant, who

could walk in his garden and recite his breviary, while he heard

from an adjacent chamber six cardinals groaning on the rack. His

inflexible zeal, which loudly censured their luxury and vice,

would have attached them to the stations and duties of their

parishes at Rome; and had he not fatally delayed a new promotion,

the French cardinals would have been reduced to a helpless

minority in the sacred college. For these reasons, and the hope

of repassing the Alps, they rashly violated the peace and unity

of the church; and the merits of their double choice are yet

agitated in the Catholic schools. 67 The vanity, rather than the

interest, of the nation determined the court and clergy of

France. 68 The states of Savoy, Sicily, Cyprus, Arragon,

Castille, Navarre, and Scotland were inclined by their example

and authority to the obedience of Clement the Seventh, and after

his decease, of Benedict the Thirteenth. Rome and the principal

states of Italy, Germany, Portugal, England, 69 the Low

Countries, and the kingdoms of the North, adhered to the prior

election of Urban the Sixth, who was succeeded by Boniface the

Ninth, Innocent the Seventh, and Gregory the Twelfth.

65 (return) [ Can the death of a good man be esteemed a

punishment by those who believe in the immortality of the soul?

They betray the instability of their faith. Yet as a mere

philosopher, I cannot agree with the Greeks, on oi Jeoi jilousin

apoqnhskei neoV, (Brunck, Poetæ Gnomici, p. 231.) See in

Herodotus (l. i. c. 31) the moral and pleasing tale of the Argive

youths.]

66 (return) [ In the first book of the Histoire du Concile de

Pise, M. Lenfant has abridged and compared the original

narratives of the adherents of Urban and Clement, of the Italians

and Germans, the French and Spaniards. The latter appear to be

the most active and loquacious, and every fact and word in the

original lives of Gregory XI. and Clement VII. are supported in

the notes of their editor Baluze.]

67 (return) [ The ordinal numbers of the popes seems to decide

the question against Clement VII. and Benedict XIII., who are

boldly stigmatized as antipopes by the Italians, while the French

are content with authorities and reasons to plead the cause of

doubt and toleration, (Baluz. in Præfat.) It is singular, or

rather it is not singular, that saints, visions and miracles

should be common to both parties.]

68 (return) [ Baluze strenuously labors (Not. p. 1271—1280) to

justify the pure and pious motives of Charles V. king of France:

he refused to hear the arguments of Urban; but were not the

Urbanists equally deaf to the reasons of Clement, &c.?]

69 (return) [ An epistle, or declamation, in the name of Edward

III., (Baluz. Vit. Pap. Avenion. tom. i. p. 553,) displays the

zeal of the English nation against the Clementines. Nor was their

zeal confined to words: the bishop of Norwich led a crusade of

60,000 bigots beyond sea, (Hume’s History, vol. iii. p. 57, 58.)]

From the banks of the Tyber and the Rhône, the hostile pontiffs

encountered each other with the pen and the sword: the civil and

ecclesiastical order of society was disturbed; and the Romans had

their full share of the mischiefs of which they may be arraigned

as the primary authors. 70 They had vainly flattered themselves

with the hope of restoring the seat of the ecclesiastical

monarchy, and of relieving their poverty with the tributes and

offerings of the nations; but the separation of France and Spain

diverted the stream of lucrative devotion; nor could the loss be

compensated by the two jubilees which were crowded into the space

of ten years. By the avocations of the schism, by foreign arms,

and popular tumults, Urban the Sixth and his three successors

were often compelled to interrupt their residence in the Vatican.

The Colonna and Ursini still exercised their deadly feuds: the

bannerets of Rome asserted and abused the privileges of a

republic: the vicars of Christ, who had levied a military force,

chastised their rebellion with the gibbet, the sword, and the

dagger; and, in a friendly conference, eleven deputies of the

people were perfidiously murdered and cast into the street. Since

the invasion of Robert the Norman, the Romans had pursued their

domestic quarrels without the dangerous interposition of a

stranger. But in the disorders of the schism, an aspiring

neighbor, Ladislaus king of Naples, alternately supported and

betrayed the pope and the people; by the former he was declared

_gonfalonier_, or general, of the church, while the latter

submitted to his choice the nomination of their magistrates.

Besieging Rome by land and water, he thrice entered the gates as

a Barbarian conqueror; profaned the altars, violated the virgins,

pillaged the merchants, performed his devotions at St. Peter’s,

and left a garrison in the castle of St. Angelo. His arms were

sometimes unfortunate, and to a delay of three days he was

indebted for his life and crown: but Ladislaus triumphed in his

turn; and it was only his premature death that could save the

metropolis and the ecclesiastical state from the ambitious

conqueror, who had assumed the title, or at least the powers, of

king of Rome. 71

70 (return) [ Besides the general historians, the Diaries of

Delphinus Gentilia Peter Antonius, and Stephen Infessura, in the

great collection of Muratori, represented the state and

misfortunes of Rome.]

71 (return) [ It is supposed by Giannone (tom. iii. p. 292) that

he styled himself Rex Romæ, a title unknown to the world since

the expulsion of Tarquin. But a nearer inspection has justified

the reading of Rex R_a_mæ, of Rama, an obscure kingdom annexed to

the crown of Hungary.]

I have not undertaken the ecclesiastical history of the schism;

but Rome, the object of these last chapters, is deeply interested

in the disputed succession of her sovereigns. The first counsels

for the peace and union of Christendom arose from the university

of Paris, from the faculty of the Sorbonne, whose doctors were

esteemed, at least in the Gallican church, as the most consummate

masters of theological science. 72 Prudently waiving all

invidious inquiry into the origin and merits of the dispute, they

proposed, as a healing measure, that the two pretenders of Rome

and Avignon should abdicate at the same time, after qualifying

the cardinals of the adverse factions to join in a legitimate

election; and that the nations should _subtract_ 73 their

obedience, if either of the competitor preferred his own interest

to that of the public. At each vacancy, these physicians of the

church deprecated the mischiefs of a hasty choice; but the policy

of the conclave and the ambition of its members were deaf to

reason and entreaties; and whatsoever promises were made, the

pope could never be bound by the oaths of the cardinal. During

fifteen years, the pacific designs of the university were eluded

by the arts of the rival pontiffs, the scruples or passions of

their adherents, and the vicissitudes of French factions, that

ruled the insanity of Charles the Sixth. At length a vigorous

resolution was embraced; and a solemn embassy, of the titular

patriarch of Alexandria, two archbishops, five bishops, five

abbots, three knights, and twenty doctors, was sent to the courts

of Avignon and Rome, to require, in the name of the church and

king, the abdication of the two pretenders, of Peter de Luna, who

styled himself Benedict the Thirteenth, and of Angelo Corrario,

who assumed the name of Gregory the Twelfth. For the ancient

honor of Rome, and the success of their commission, the

ambassadors solicited a conference with the magistrates of the

city, whom they gratified by a positive declaration, that the

most Christian king did not entertain a wish of transporting the

holy see from the Vatican, which he considered as the genuine and

proper seat of the successor of St. Peter. In the name of the

senate and people, an eloquent Roman asserted their desire to

cooperate in the union of the church, deplored the temporal and

spiritual calamities of the long schism, and requested the

protection of France against the arms of the king of Naples. The

answers of Benedict and Gregory were alike edifying and alike

deceitful; and, in evading the demand of their abdication, the

two rivals were animated by a common spirit. They agreed on the

necessity of a previous interview; but the time, the place, and

the manner, could never be ascertained by mutual consent. “If the

one advances,” says a servant of Gregory, “the other retreats;

the one appears an animal fearful of the land, the other a

creature apprehensive of the water. And thus, for a short remnant

of life and power, will these aged priests endanger the peace and

salvation of the Christian world.” 74

72 (return) [ The leading and decisive part which France assumed

in the schism is stated by Peter du Puis in a separate history,

extracted from authentic records, and inserted in the seventh

volume of the last and best edition of his friend Thuanus, (P.

xi. p. 110—184.)]

73 (return) [ Of this measure, John Gerson, a stout doctor, was

the author of the champion. The proceedings of the university of

Paris and the Gallican church were often prompted by his advice,

and are copiously displayed in his theological writings, of which

Le Clerc (Bibliothèque Choisie, tom. x. p. 1—78) has given a

valuable extract. John Gerson acted an important part in the

councils of Pisa and Constance.]

74 (return) [ Leonardus Brunus Aretinus, one of the revivers of

classic learning in Italy, who, after serving many years as

secretary in the Roman court, retired to the honorable office of

chancellor of the republic of Florence, (Fabric. Bibliot. Medii

Ævi, tom. i. p. 290.) Lenfant has given the version of this

curious epistle, (Concile de Pise, tom. i. p. 192—195.)]

The Christian world was at length provoked by their obstinacy and

fraud: they were deserted by their cardinals, who embraced each

other as friends and colleagues; and their revolt was supported

by a numerous assembly of prelates and ambassadors. With equal

justice, the council of Pisa deposed the popes of Rome and

Avignon; the conclave was unanimous in the choice of Alexander

the Fifth, and his vacant seat was soon filled by a similar

election of John the Twenty-third, the most profligate of

mankind. But instead of extinguishing the schism, the rashness of

the French and Italians had given a third pretender to the chair

of St. Peter. Such new claims of the synod and conclave were

disputed; three kings, of Germany, Hungary, and Naples, adhered

to the cause of Gregory the Twelfth; and Benedict the Thirteenth,

himself a Spaniard, was acknowledged by the devotion and

patriotism of that powerful nation. The rash proceedings of Pisa

were corrected by the council of Constance; the emperor Sigismond

acted a conspicuous part as the advocate or protector of the

Catholic church; and the number and weight of civil and

ecclesiastical members might seem to constitute the

states-general of Europe. Of the three popes, John the

Twenty-third was the first victim: he fled and was brought back a

prisoner: the most scandalous charges were suppressed; the vicar

of Christ was only accused of piracy, murder, rape, sodomy, and

incest; and after subscribing his own condemnation, he expiated

in prison the imprudence of trusting his person to a free city

beyond the Alps. Gregory the Twelfth, whose obedience was reduced

to the narrow precincts of Rimini, descended with more honor from

the throne; and his ambassador convened the session, in which he

renounced the title and authority of lawful pope. To vanquish the

obstinacy of Benedict the Thirteenth or his adherents, the

emperor in person undertook a journey from Constance to

Perpignan. The kings of Castile, Arragon, Navarre, and Scotland,

obtained an equal and honorable treaty; with the concurrence of

the Spaniards, Benedict was deposed by the council; but the

harmless old man was left in a solitary castle to excommunicate

twice each day the rebel kingdoms which had deserted his cause.

After thus eradicating the remains of the schism, the synod of

Constance proceeded with slow and cautious steps to elect the

sovereign of Rome and the head of the church. On this momentous

occasion, the college of twenty-three cardinals was fortified

with thirty deputies; six of whom were chosen in each of the five

great nations of Christendom,—the Italian, the German, the

French, the Spanish, and the _English_: 75 the interference of

strangers was softened by their generous preference of an Italian

and a Roman; and the hereditary, as well as personal, merit of

Otho Colonna recommended him to the conclave. Rome accepted with

joy and obedience the noblest of her sons; the ecclesiastical

state was defended by his powerful family; and the elevation of

Martin the Fifth is the æra of the restoration and establishment

of the popes in the Vatican. 76

75 (return) [ I cannot overlook this great national cause, which

was vigorously maintained by the English ambassadors against

those of France. The latter contended, that Christendom was

essentially distributed into the four great nations and votes, of

Italy, Germany, France, and Spain, and that the lesser kingdoms

(such as England, Denmark, Portugal, &c.) were comprehended under

one or other of these great divisions. The English asserted, that

the British islands, of which they were the head, should be

considered as a fifth and coördinate nation, with an equal vote;

and every argument of truth or fable was introduced to exalt the

dignity of their country. Including England, Scotland, Wales, the

four kingdoms of Ireland, and the Orkneys, the British Islands

are decorated with eight royal crowns, and discriminated by four

or five languages, English, Welsh, Cornish, Scotch, Irish, &c.

The greater island from north to south measures 800 miles, or 40

days’ journey; and England alone contains 32 counties and 52,000

parish churches, (a bold account!) besides cathedrals, colleges,

priories, and hospitals. They celebrate the mission of St. Joseph

of Arimathea, the birth of Constantine, and the legatine powers

of the two primates, without forgetting the testimony of

Bartholomey de Glanville, (A.D. 1360,) who reckons only four

Christian kingdoms, 1. of Rome, 2. of Constantinople, 3. of

Ireland, which had been transferred to the English monarchs, and

4, of Spain. Our countrymen prevailed in the council, but the

victories of Henry V. added much weight to their arguments. The

adverse pleadings were found at Constance by Sir Robert

Wingfield, ambassador of Henry VIII. to the emperor Maximilian

I., and by him printed in 1517 at Louvain. From a Leipsic MS.

they are more correctly published in the collection of Von der

Hardt, tom. v.; but I have only seen Lenfant’s abstract of these

acts, (Concile de Constance, tom. ii. p. 447, 453, &c.)]

76 (return) [ The histories of the three successive councils,

Pisa, Constance, and Basil, have been written with a tolerable

degree of candor, industry, and elegance, by a Protestant

minister, M. Lenfant, who retired from France to Berlin. They

form six volumes in quarto; and as Basil is the worst, so

Constance is the best, part of the Collection.]

Chapter LXX: Final Settlement Of The Ecclesiastical State.—Part

IV.

The royal prerogative of coining money, which had been exercised

near three hundred years by the senate, was _first_ resumed by

Martin the Fifth, 77 and his image and superscription introduce

the series of the papal medals. Of his two immediate successors,

Eugenius the Fourth was the _last_ pope expelled by the tumults

of the Roman people, 78 and Nicholas the Fifth, the _last_ who

was importuned by the presence of a Roman emperor. 79 I. The

conflict of Eugenius with the fathers of Basil, and the weight or

apprehension of a new excise, emboldened and provoked the Romans

to usurp the temporal government of the city. They rose in arms,

elected seven governors of the republic, and a constable of the

Capitol; imprisoned the pope’s nephew; besieged his person in the

palace; and shot volleys of arrows into his bark as he escaped

down the Tyber in the habit of a monk. But he still possessed in

the castle of St. Angelo a faithful garrison and a train of

artillery: their batteries incessantly thundered on the city, and

a bullet more dexterously pointed broke down the barricade of the

bridge, and scattered with a single shot the heroes of the

republic. Their constancy was exhausted by a rebellion of five

months. Under the tyranny of the Ghibeline nobles, the wisest

patriots regretted the dominion of the church; and their

repentance was unanimous and effectual. The troops of St. Peter

again occupied the Capitol; the magistrates departed to their

homes; the most guilty were executed or exiled; and the legate,

at the head of two thousand foot and four thousand horse, was

saluted as the father of the city. The synods of Ferrara and

Florence, the fear or resentment of Eugenius, prolonged his

absence: he was received by a submissive people; but the pontiff

understood from the acclamations of his triumphal entry, that to

secure their loyalty and his own repose, he must grant without

delay the abolition of the odious excise. II. Rome was restored,

adorned, and enlightened, by the peaceful reign of Nicholas the

Fifth. In the midst of these laudable occupations, the pope was

alarmed by the approach of Frederic the Third of Austria; though

his fears could not be justified by the character or the power of

the Imperial candidate. After drawing his military force to the

metropolis, and imposing the best security of oaths 80 and

treaties, Nicholas received with a smiling countenance the

faithful advocate and vassal of the church. So tame were the

times, so feeble was the Austrian, that the pomp of his

coronation was accomplished with order and harmony: but the

superfluous honor was so disgraceful to an independent nation,

that his successors have excused themselves from the toilsome

pilgrimage to the Vatican; and rest their Imperial title on the

choice of the electors of Germany.

77 (return) [ See the xxviith Dissertation of the Antiquities of

Muratori, and the 1st Instruction of the Science des Medailles of

the Père Joubert and the Baron de la Bastie. The Metallic History

of Martin V. and his successors has been composed by two monks,

Moulinet, a Frenchman, and Bonanni, an Italian: but I understand,

that the first part of the series is restored from more recent

coins.]

78 (return) [ Besides the Lives of Eugenius IV., (Rerum Italic.

tom. iii. P. i. p. 869, and tom. xxv. p. 256,) the Diaries of

Paul Petroni and Stephen Infessura are the best original evidence

for the revolt of the Romans against Eugenius IV. The former, who

lived at the time and on the spot, speaks the language of a

citizen, equally afraid of priestly and popular tyranny.]

79 (return) [ The coronation of Frederic III. is described by

Lenfant, (Concile de Basle, tom. ii. p. 276—288,) from Æneas

Sylvius, a spectator and actor in that splendid scene.]

80 (return) [ The oath of fidelity imposed on the emperor by the

pope is recorded and sanctified in the Clementines, (l. ii. tit.

ix.;) and Æneas Sylvius, who objects to this new demand, could

not foresee, that in a few years he should ascend the throne, and

imbibe the maxims, of Boniface VIII.]

A citizen has remarked, with pride and pleasure, that the king of

the Romans, after passing with a slight salute the cardinals and

prelates who met him at the gate, distinguished the dress and

person of the senator of Rome; and in this last farewell, the

pageants of the empire and the republic were clasped in a

friendly embrace. 81 According to the laws of Rome, 82 her first

magistrate was required to be a doctor of laws, an alien, of a

place at least forty miles from the city; with whose inhabitants

he must not be connected in the third canonical degree of blood

or alliance. The election was annual: a severe scrutiny was

instituted into the conduct of the departing senator; nor could

he be recalled to the same office till after the expiration of

two years. A liberal salary of three thousand florins was

assigned for his expense and reward; and his public appearance

represented the majesty of the republic. His robes were of gold

brocade or crimson velvet, or in the summer season of a lighter

silk: he bore in his hand an ivory sceptre; the sound of trumpets

announced his approach; and his solemn steps were preceded at

least by four lictors or attendants, whose red wands were

enveloped with bands or streamers of the golden color or livery

of the city. His oath in the Capitol proclaims his right and duty

to observe and assert the laws, to control the proud, to protect

the poor, and to exercise justice and mercy within the extent of

his jurisdiction. In these useful functions he was assisted by

three learned strangers; the two _collaterals_, and the judge of

criminal appeals: their frequent trials of robberies, rapes, and

murders, are attested by the laws; and the weakness of these laws

connives at the licentiousness of private feuds and armed

associations for mutual defence. But the senator was confined to

the administration of justice: the Capitol, the treasury, and the

government of the city and its territory, were intrusted to the

three _conservators_, who were changed four times in each year:

the militia of the thirteen regions assembled under the banners

of their respective chiefs, or _caporioni_; and the first of

these was distinguished by the name and dignity of the _prior_.

The popular legislature consisted of the secret and the common

councils of the Romans. The former was composed of the

magistrates and their immediate predecessors, with some fiscal

and legal officers, and three classes of thirteen, twenty-six,

and forty, counsellors: amounting in the whole to about one

hundred and twenty persons. In the common council all male

citizens had a right to vote; and the value of their privilege

was enhanced by the care with which any foreigners were prevented

from usurping the title and character of Romans. The tumult of a

democracy was checked by wise and jealous precautions: except the

magistrates, none could propose a question; none were permitted

to speak, except from an open pulpit or tribunal; all disorderly

acclamations were suppressed; the sense of the majority was

decided by a secret ballot; and their decrees were promulgated in

the venerable name of the Roman senate and people. It would not

be easy to assign a period in which this theory of government has

been reduced to accurate and constant practice, since the

establishment of order has been gradually connected with the

decay of liberty. But in the year one thousand five hundred and

eighty the ancient statutes were collected, methodized in three

books, and adapted to present use, under the pontificate, and

with the approbation, of Gregory the Thirteenth: 83 this civil

and criminal code is the modern law of the city; and, if the

popular assemblies have been abolished, a foreign senator, with

the three conservators, still resides in the palace of the

Capitol. 84 The policy of the Cæsars has been repeated by the

popes; and the bishop of Rome affected to maintain the form of a

republic, while he reigned with the absolute powers of a

temporal, as well as a spiritual, monarch.

81 (return) [ Lo senatore di Roma, vestito di brocarto con quella

beretta, e con quelle maniche, et ornamenti di pelle, co’ quali

va alle feste di Testaccio e Nagone, might escape the eye of

Æneas Sylvius, but he is viewed with admiration and complacency

by the Roman citizen, (Diario di Stephano Infessura, p. 1133.)]

82 (return) [ See, in the statutes of Rome, the _senator and

three judges_, (l. i. c. 3—14,) the _conservators_, (l. i. c. 15,

16, 17, l. iii. c. 4,) the _caporioni_ (l. i. c. 18, l. iii. c.

8,) the _secret council_, (l. iii. c. 2,) the _common council_,

(l. iii. c. 3.) The title of _feuds_, _defiances_, _acts of

violence_, &c., is spread through many a chapter (c. 14—40) of

the second book.]

83 (return) [ _Statuta alm Urbis Rom Auctoritate S. D. N.

Gregorii XIII Pont. Max. a Senatu Populoque Rom. reformata et

edita. Rom, 1580, in folio_. The obsolete, repugnant statutes of

antiquity were confounded in five books, and Lucas Pætus, a

lawyer and antiquarian, was appointed to act as the modern

Tribonian. Yet I regret the old code, with the rugged crust of

freedom and barbarism.]

84 (return) [ In my time (1765) and in M. Grosley’s,

(Observations sur l’Italie torn. ii. p. 361,) the senator of Rome

was M. Bielke, a noble Swede and a proselyte to the Catholic

faith. The pope’s right to appoint the senator and the

conservator is implied, rather than affirmed, in the statutes.]

It is an obvious truth, that the times must be suited to

extraordinary characters, and that the genius of Cromwell or Retz

might now expire in obscurity. The political enthusiasm of Rienzi

had exalted him to a throne; the same enthusiasm, in the next

century, conducted his imitator to the gallows. The birth of

Stephen Porcaro was noble, his reputation spotless: his tongue

was armed with eloquence, his mind was enlightened with learning;

and he aspired, beyond the aim of vulgar ambition, to free his

country and immortalize his name. The dominion of priests is most

odious to a liberal spirit: every scruple was removed by the

recent knowledge of the fable and forgery of Constantine’s

donation; Petrarch was now the oracle of the Italians; and as

often as Porcaro revolved the ode which describes the patriot and

hero of Rome, he applied to himself the visions of the prophetic

bard. His first trial of the popular feelings was at the funeral

of Eugenius the Fourth: in an elaborate speech he called the

Romans to liberty and arms; and they listened with apparent

pleasure, till Porcaro was interrupted and answered by a grave

advocate, who pleaded for the church and state. By every law the

seditious orator was guilty of treason; but the benevolence of

the new pontiff, who viewed his character with pity and esteem,

attempted by an honorable office to convert the patriot into a

friend. The inflexible Roman returned from Anagni with an

increase of reputation and zeal; and, on the first opportunity,

the games of the place Navona, he tried to inflame the casual

dispute of some boys and mechanics into a general rising of the

people. Yet the humane Nicholas was still averse to accept the

forfeit of his life; and the traitor was removed from the scene

of temptation to Bologna, with a liberal allowance for his

support, and the easy obligation of presenting himself each day

before the governor of the city. But Porcaro had learned from the

younger Brutus, that with tyrants no faith or gratitude should be

observed: the exile declaimed against the arbitrary sentence; a

party and a conspiracy were gradually formed: his nephew, a

daring youth, assembled a band of volunteers; and on the

appointed evening a feast was prepared at his house for the

friends of the republic. Their leader, who had escaped from

Bologna, appeared among them in a robe of purple and gold: his

voice, his countenance, his gestures, bespoke the man who had

devoted his life or death to the glorious cause. In a studied

oration, he expiated on the motives and the means of their

enterprise; the name and liberties of Rome; the sloth and pride

of their ecclesiastical tyrants; the active or passive consent of

their fellow-citizens; three hundred soldiers, and four hundred

exiles, long exercised in arms or in wrongs; the license of

revenge to edge their swords, and a million of ducats to reward

their victory. It would be easy, (he said,) on the next day, the

festival of the Epiphany, to seize the pope and his cardinals,

before the doors, or at the altar, of St. Peter’s; to lead them

in chains under the walls of St. Angelo; to extort by the threat

of their instant death a surrender of the castle; to ascend the

vacant Capitol; to ring the alarm bell; and to restore in a

popular assembly the ancient republic of Rome. While he

triumphed, he was already betrayed. The senator, with a strong

guard, invested the house: the nephew of Porcaro cut his way

through the crowd; but the unfortunate Stephen was drawn from a

chest, lamenting that his enemies had anticipated by three hours

the execution of his design. After such manifest and repeated

guilt, even the mercy of Nicholas was silent. Porcaro, and nine

of his accomplices, were hanged without the benefit of the

sacraments; and, amidst the fears and invectives of the papal

court, the Romans pitied, and almost applauded, these martyrs of

their country. 85 But their applause was mute, their pity

ineffectual, their liberty forever extinct; and, if they have

since risen in a vacancy of the throne or a scarcity of bread,

such accidental tumults may be found in the bosom of the most

abject servitude.

85 (return) [ Besides the curious, though concise, narrative of

Machiavel, (Istoria Florentina, l. vi. Opere, tom. i. p. 210,

211, edit. Londra, 1747, in 4to.) the Porcarian conspiracy is

related in the Diary of Stephen Infessura, (Rer. Ital. tom. iii.

P. ii. p. 1134, 1135,) and in a separate tract by Leo Baptista

Alberti, (Rer. Ital. tom. xxv. p. 609—614.) It is amusing to

compare the style and sentiments of the courtier and citizen.

Facinus profecto quo.... neque periculo horribilius, neque

audaciâ detestabilius, neque crudelitate tetrius, a quoquam

perditissimo uspiam excogitatum sit.... Perdette la vita quell’

huomo da bene, e amatore dello bene e libertà di Roma.]

But the independence of the nobles, which was fomented by

discord, survived the freedom of the commons, which must be

founded in union. A privilege of rapine and oppression was long

maintained by the barons of Rome; their houses were a fortress

and a sanctuary: and the ferocious train of banditti and

criminals whom they protected from the law repaid the hospitality

with the service of their swords and daggers. The private

interest of the pontiffs, or their nephews, sometimes involved

them in these domestic feuds. Under the reign of Sixtus the

Fourth, Rome was distracted by the battles and sieges of the

rival houses: after the conflagration of his palace, the

prothonotary Colonna was tortured and beheaded; and Savelli, his

captive friend, was murdered on the spot, for refusing to join in

the acclamations of the victorious Ursini. 86 But the popes no

longer trembled in the Vatican: they had strength to command, if

they had resolution to claim, the obedience of their subjects;

and the strangers, who observed these partial disorders, admired

the easy taxes and wise administration of the ecclesiastical

state. 87

86 (return) [ The disorders of Rome, which were much inflamed by

the partiality of Sixtus IV. are exposed in the Diaries of two

spectators, Stephen Infessura, and an anonymous citizen. See the

troubles of the year 1484, and the death of the prothonotary

Colonna, in tom. iii. P. ii. p. 1083, 1158.]

87 (return) [ Est toute la terre de l’église troublée pour cette

partialité (des Colonnes et des Ursins) come nous dirions Luce et

Grammont, ou en Hollande Houc et Caballan; et quand ce ne seroit

ce différend la terre de l’église seroit la plus heureuse

habitation pour les sujets qui soit dans toute le monde (car ils

ne payent ni tailles ni guères autres choses,) et seroient

toujours bien conduits, (car toujours les papes sont sages et

bien consellies;) mais très souvent en advient de grands et

cruels meurtres et pilleries.]

The spiritual thunders of the Vatican depend on the force of

opinion; and if that opinion be supplanted by reason or passion,

the sound may idly waste itself in the air; and the helpless

priest is exposed to the brutal violence of a noble or a plebeian

adversary. But after their return from Avignon, the keys of St.

Peter were guarded by the sword of St. Paul. Rome was commanded

by an impregnable citadel: the use of cannon is a powerful engine

against popular seditions: a regular force of cavalry and

infantry was enlisted under the banners of the pope: his ample

revenues supplied the resources of war: and, from the extent of

his domain, he could bring down on a rebellious city an army of

hostile neighbors and loyal subjects. 88 Since the union of the

duchies of Ferrara and Urbino, the ecclesiastical state extends

from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic, and from the confines of

Naples to the banks of the Po; and as early as the sixteenth

century, the greater part of that spacious and fruitful country

acknowledged the lawful claims and temporal sovereignty of the

Roman pontiffs. Their claims were readily deduced from the

genuine, or fabulous, donations of the darker ages: the

successive steps of their final settlement would engage us too

far in the transactions of Italy, and even of Europe; the crimes

of Alexander the Sixth, the martial operations of Julius the

Second, and the liberal policy of Leo the Tenth, a theme which

has been adorned by the pens of the noblest historians of the

times. 89 In the first period of their conquests, till the

expedition of Charles the Eighth, the popes might successfully

wrestle with the adjacent princes and states, whose military

force was equal, or inferior, to their own. But as soon as the

monarchs of France, Germany and Spain, contended with gigantic

arms for the dominion of Italy, they supplied with art the

deficiency of strength; and concealed, in a labyrinth of wars and

treaties, their aspiring views, and the immortal hope of chasing

the Barbarians beyond the Alps. The nice balance of the Vatican

was often subverted by the soldiers of the North and West, who

were united under the standard of Charles the Fifth: the feeble

and fluctuating policy of Clement the Seventh exposed his person

and dominions to the conqueror; and Rome was abandoned seven

months to a lawless army, more cruel and rapacious than the Goths

and Vandals. 90 After this severe lesson, the popes contracted

their ambition, which was almost satisfied, resumed the character

of a common parent, and abstained from all offensive hostilities,

except in a hasty quarrel, when the vicar of Christ and the

Turkish sultan were armed at the same time against the kingdom of

Naples. 91 The French and Germans at length withdrew from the

field of battle: Milan, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and the

sea-coast of Tuscany, were firmly possessed by the Spaniards; and

it became their interest to maintain the peace and dependence of

Italy, which continued almost without disturbance from the middle

of the sixteenth to the opening of the eighteenth century. The

Vatican was swayed and protected by the religious policy of the

Catholic king: his prejudice and interest disposed him in every

dispute to support the prince against the people; and instead of

the encouragement, the aid, and the asylum, which they obtained

from the adjacent states, the friends of liberty, or the enemies

of law, were enclosed on all sides within the iron circle of

despotism. The long habits of obedience and education subdued the

turbulent spirit of the nobles and commons of Rome. The barons

forgot the arms and factions of their ancestors, and insensibly

became the servants of luxury and government. Instead of

maintaining a crowd of tenants and followers, the produce of

their estates was consumed in the private expenses which multiply

the pleasures, and diminish the power, of the lord. 92 The

Colonna and Ursini vied with each other in the decoration of

their palaces and chapels; and their antique splendor was

rivalled or surpassed by the sudden opulence of the papal

families. In Rome the voice of freedom and discord is no longer

heard; and, instead of the foaming torrent, a smooth and stagnant

lake reflects the image of idleness and servitude.

88 (return) [ By the conomy of Sixtus V. the revenue of the

ecclesiastical state was raised to two millions and a half of

Roman crowns, (Vita, tom. ii. p. 291—296;) and so regular was the

military establishment, that in one month Clement VIII. could

invade the duchy of Ferrara with three thousand horse and twenty

thousand foot, (tom. iii. p. 64) Since that time (A.D. 1597) the

papal arms are happily rusted: but the revenue must have gained

some nominal increase. * Note: On the financial measures of

Sixtus V. see Ranke, Dio Römischen Päpste, i. p. 459.—M.]

89 (return) [ More especially by Guicciardini and Machiavel; in

the general history of the former, in the Florentine history, the

Prince, and the political discourses of the latter. These, with

their worthy successors, Fra Paolo and Davila, were justly

esteemed the first historians of modern languages, till, in the

present age, Scotland arose, to dispute the prize with Italy

herself.]

90 (return) [ In the history of the Gothic siege, I have compared

the Barbarians with the subjects of Charles V., (vol. iii. p.

289, 290;) an anticipation, which, like that of the Tartar

conquests, I indulged with the less scruple, as I could scarcely

hope to reach the conclusion of my work.]

91 (return) [ The ambitious and feeble hostilities of the Caraffa

pope, Paul IV. may be seen in Thuanus (l. xvi.—xviii.) and

Giannone, (tom. iv p. 149—163.) Those Catholic bigots, Philip II.

and the duke of Alva, presumed to separate the Roman prince from

the vicar of Christ, yet the holy character, which would have

sanctified his victory was decently applied to protect his

defeat. * Note: But compare Ranke, Die Römischen Päpste, i. p.

289.—M.]

92 (return) [ This gradual change of manners and expense is

admirably explained by Dr. Adam Smith, (Wealth of Nations, vol.

i. p. 495—504,) who proves, perhaps too severely, that the most

salutary effects have flowed from the meanest and most selfish

causes.]

A Christian, a philosopher, 93 and a patriot, will be equally

scandalized by the temporal kingdom of the clergy; and the local

majesty of Rome, the remembrance of her consuls and triumphs, may

seem to imbitter the sense, and aggravate the shame, of her

slavery. If we calmly weigh the merits and defects of the

ecclesiastical government, it may be praised in its present

state, as a mild, decent, and tranquil system, exempt from the

dangers of a minority, the sallies of youth, the expenses of

luxury, and the calamities of war. But these advantages are

overbalanced by a frequent, perhaps a septennial, election of a

sovereign, who is seldom a native of the country; the reign of a

_young_ statesman of threescore, in the decline of his life and

abilities, without hope to accomplish, and without children to

inherit, the labors of his transitory reign. The successful

candidate is drawn from the church, and even the convent; from

the mode of education and life the most adverse to reason,

humanity, and freedom. In the trammels of servile faith, he has

learned to believe because it is absurd, to revere all that is

contemptible, and to despise whatever might deserve the esteem of

a rational being; to punish error as a crime, to reward

mortification and celibacy as the first of virtues; to place the

saints of the calendar 94 above the heroes of Rome and the sages

of Athens; and to consider the missal, or the crucifix, as more

useful instruments than the plough or the loom. In the office of

nuncio, or the rank of cardinal, he may acquire some knowledge of

the world, but the primitive stain will adhere to his mind and

manners: from study and experience he may suspect the mystery of

his profession; but the sacerdotal artist will imbibe some

portion of the bigotry which he inculcates. The genius of Sixtus

the Fifth 95 burst from the gloom of a Franciscan cloister. In a

reign of five years, he exterminated the outlaws and banditti,

abolished the _profane_ sanctuaries of Rome, 96 formed a naval

and military force, restored and emulated the monuments of

antiquity, and after a liberal use and large increase of the

revenue, left five millions of crowns in the castle of St.

Angelo. But his justice was sullied with cruelty, his activity

was prompted by the ambition of conquest: after his decease the

abuses revived; the treasure was dissipated; he entailed on

posterity thirty-five new taxes and the venality of offices; and,

after his death, his statue was demolished by an ungrateful, or

an injured, people. 97 The wild and original character of Sixtus

the Fifth stands alone in the series of the pontiffs; the maxims

and effects of their temporal government may be collected from

the positive and comparative view of the arts and philosophy, the

agriculture and trade, the wealth and population, of the

ecclesiastical state. For myself, it is my wish to depart in

charity with all mankind, nor am I willing, in these last

moments, to offend even the pope and clergy of Rome. 98

93 (return) [ Mr. Hume (Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 389) too

hastily conclude that if the civil and ecclesiastical powers be

united in the same person, it is of little moment whether he be

styled prince or prelate since the temporal character will always

predominate.]

94 (return) [ A Protestant may disdain the unworthy preference of

St. Francis or St. Dominic, but he will not rashly condemn the

zeal or judgment of Sixtus V., who placed the statues of the

apostles St. Peter and St. Paul on the vacant columns of Trajan

and Antonine.]

95 (return) [ A wandering Italian, Gregorio Leti, has given the

Vita di Sisto-Quinto, (Amstel. 1721, 3 vols. in 12mo.,) a copious

and amusing work, but which does not command our absolute

confidence. Yet the character of the man, and the principal

facts, are supported by the annals of Spondanus and Muratori,

(A.D. 1585—1590,) and the contemporary history of the great

Thuanus, (l. lxxxii. c. 1, 2, l. lxxxiv. c. 10, l. c. c. 8.) *

Note: The industry of M. Ranke has discovered the document, a

kind of scandalous chronicle of the time, from which Leti wrought

up his amusing romances. See also M. Ranke’s observations on the

Life of Sixtus. by Tempesti, b. iii. p. 317, 324.— M.]

96 (return) [ These privileged places, the _quartieri_ or

_franchises_, were adopted from the Roman nobles by the foreign

ministers. Julius II. had once abolished the abominandum et

detestandum franchitiarum hujusmodi nomen: and after Sixtus V.

they again revived. I cannot discern either the justice or

magnanimity of Louis XIV., who, in 1687, sent his ambassador, the

marquis de Lavardin, to Rome, with an armed force of a thousand

officers, guards, and domestics, to maintain this iniquitous

claim, and insult Pope Innocent XI. in the heart of his capital,

(Vita di Sisto V. tom. iii. p. 260—278. Muratori, Annali

d’Italia, tom. xv. p. 494—496, and Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV.

tom. i. c. 14, p. 58, 59.)]

97 (return) [ This outrage produced a decree, which was inscribed

on marble, and placed in the Capitol. It is expressed in a style

of manly simplicity and freedom: Si quis, sive privatus, sive

magistratum gerens de collocandâ _vivo_ pontifici statuâ

mentionem facere ausit, legitimo S. P. Q. R. decreto in perpetuum

infamis et publicorum munerum expers esto. MDXC. mense Augusto,

(Vita di Sisto V. tom. iii. p. 469.) I believe that this decree

is still observed, and I know that every monarch who deserves a

statue should himself impose the prohibition.]

98 (return) [ The histories of the church, Italy, and

Christendom, have contributed to the chapter which I now

conclude. In the original Lives of the Popes, we often discover

the city and republic of Rome: and the events of the xivth and

xvth centuries are preserved in the rude and domestic chronicles

which I have carefully inspected, and shall recapitulate in the

order of time.

1. Monaldeschi (Ludovici Boncomitis) Fragmenta Annalium Roman.

A.D. 1328, in the Scriptores Rerum Italicarum of Muratori, tom.

xii. p. 525. N. B. The credit of this fragment is somewhat hurt

by a singular interpolation, in which the author relates his own

death at the age of 115 years.

2. Fragmenta Historiæ Romanæ (vulgo Thomas Fortifioccæ) in Romana

Dialecto vulgari, (A.D. 1327—1354, in Muratori, Antiquitat. Medii

Ævi Italiæ, tom. iii. p. 247—548;) the authentic groundwork of

the history of Rienzi.

3. Delphini (Gentilis) Diarium Romanum, (A.D. 1370—1410,) in the

Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. ii. p. 846.

4. Antonii (Petri) Diarium Rom., (A.D. 1404—1417,) tom. xxiv. p.

699.

5. Petroni (Pauli) Miscellanea Historica Romana, (A.D.

1433—1446,) tom. xxiv. p. 1101.

6. Volaterrani (Jacob.) Diarium Rom., (A.D. 1472—1484,) tom.

xxiii p. 81.

7. Anonymi Diarium Urbis Romæ, (A.D. 1481—1492,) tom. iii. P. ii.

p. 1069.

8. Infessuræ (Stephani) Diarium Romanum, (A.D. 1294, or

1378—1494,) tom. iii. P. ii. p. 1109.

9. Historia Arcana Alexandri VI. sive Excerpta ex Diario Joh.

Burcardi, (A.D. 1492—1503,) edita a Godefr. Gulielm. Leibnizio,

Hanover, 697, in 14to. The large and valuable Journal of Burcard

might be completed from the MSS. in different libraries of Italy

and France, (M. de Foncemagne, in the Mémoires de l’Acad. des

Inscrip. tom. xvii. p. 597—606.)

Except the last, all these fragments and diaries are inserted in

the Collections of Muratori, my guide and master in the history

of Italy. His country, and the public, are indebted to him for

the following works on that subject: 1. _Rerum Italicarum

Scriptores_, (A.D. 500—1500,) _quorum potissima pars nunc primum

in lucem prodit_, &c., xxviii. vols. in folio, Milan, 1723—1738,

1751. A volume of chronological and alphabetical tables is still

wanting as a key to this great work, which is yet in a disorderly

and defective state. 2. _Antiquitates Italiæ Medii Ævi_, vi.

vols. in folio, Milan, 1738—1743, in lxxv. curious dissertations,

on the manners, government, religion, &c., of the Italians of the

darker ages, with a large supplement of charters, chronicles, &c.

3. _Dissertazioni sopra le Antiquita Italiane_, iii. vols. in

4to., Milano, 1751, a free version by the author, which may be

quoted with the same confidence as the Latin text of the

Antiquities. _Annali d’ Italia_, xviii. vols. in octavo, Milan,

1753—1756, a dry, though accurate and useful, abridgment of the

history of Italy, from the birth of Christ to the middle of the

xviiith century. 5. _Dell’ Antichita Estense ed Italiane_, ii.

vols. in folio, Modena, 1717, 1740. In the history of this

illustrious race, the parent of our Brunswick kings, the critic

is not seduced by the loyalty or gratitude of the subject. In all

his works, Muratori approves himself a diligent and laborious

writer, who aspires above the prejudices of a Catholic priest. He

was born in the year 1672, and died in the year 1750, after

passing near 60 years in the libraries of Milan and Modena, (Vita

del Proposto Ludovico Antonio Muratori, by his nephew and

successor Gian. Francesco Soli Muratori Venezia, 1756 m 4to.)]

Chapter LXXI: Prospect Of The Ruins Of Rome In The Fifteenth

Century.—Part I.

Prospect Of The Ruins Of Rome In The Fifteenth Century.— Four

Causes Of Decay And Destruction.—Example Of The

Coliseum.—Renovation Of The City.—Conclusion Of The Whole Work.

In the last days of Pope Eugenius the Fourth, 101 two of his

servants, the learned Poggius 1 and a friend, ascended the

Capitoline hill; reposed themselves among the ruins of columns

and temples; and viewed from that commanding spot the wide and

various prospect of desolation. 2 The place and the object gave

ample scope for moralizing on the vicissitudes of fortune, which

spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries

empires and cities in a common grave; and it was agreed, that in

proportion to her former greatness, the fall of Rome was the more

awful and deplorable. “Her primeval state, such as she might

appear in a remote age, when Evander entertained the stranger of

Troy, 3 has been delineated by the fancy of Virgil. This Tarpeian

rock was then a savage and solitary thicket: in the time of the

poet, it was crowned with the golden roofs of a temple; the

temple is overthrown, the gold has been pillaged, the wheel of

fortune has accomplished her revolution, and the sacred ground is

again disfigured with thorns and brambles. The hill of the

Capitol, on which we sit, was formerly the head of the Roman

empire, the citadel of the earth, the terror of kings;

illustrated by the footsteps of so many triumphs, enriched with

the spoils and tributes of so many nations. This spectacle of the

world, how is it fallen! how changed! how defaced! The path of

victory is obliterated by vines, and the benches of the senators

are concealed by a dunghill. Cast your eyes on the Palatine hill,

and seek among the shapeless and enormous fragments the marble

theatre, the obelisks, the colossal statues, the porticos of

Nero’s palace: survey the other hills of the city, the vacant

space is interrupted only by ruins and gardens. The forum of the

Roman people, where they assembled to enact their laws and elect

their magistrates, is now enclosed for the cultivation of

pot-herbs, or thrown open for the reception of swine and

buffaloes. The public and private edifices, that were founded for

eternity, lie prostrate, naked, and broken, like the limbs of a

mighty giant; and the ruin is the more visible, from the

stupendous relics that have survived the injuries of time and

fortune.” 4

101 (return) [ It should be Pope Martin the Fifth. See Gibbon’s

own note, ch. lxv, note 51 and Hobhouse, Illustrations of Childe

Harold, p. 155.—M.]

1 (return) [ I have already (notes 50, 51, on chap. lxv.)

mentioned the age, character, and writings of Poggius; and

particularly noticed the date of this elegant moral lecture on

the varieties of fortune.]

2 (return) [ Consedimus in ipsis Tarpeiæ arcis ruinis, pone

ingens portæ cujusdam, ut puto, templi, marmoreum limen,

plurimasque passim confractas columnas, unde magnâ ex parte

prospectus urbis patet, (p. 5.)]

3 (return) [ Æneid viii. 97—369. This ancient picture, so

artfully introduced, and so exquisitely finished, must have been

highly interesting to an inhabitant of Rome; and our early

studies allow us to sympathize in the feelings of a Roman.]

4 (return) [ Capitolium adeo.... immutatum ut vineæ in senatorum

subsellia successerint, stercorum ac purgamentorum receptaculum

factum. Respice ad Palatinum montem..... vasta rudera.... cæteros

colles perlustra omnia vacua ædificiis, ruinis vineisque oppleta

conspicies, (Poggius, de Varietat. Fortunæ p. 21.)]

These relics are minutely described by Poggius, one of the first

who raised his eyes from the monuments of legendary, to those of

classic, superstition. 5 _1._Besides a bridge, an arch, a

sepulchre, and the pyramid of Cestius, he could discern, of the

age of the republic, a double row of vaults, in the salt-office

of the Capitol, which were inscribed with the name and

munificence of Catulus. _2._ Eleven temples were visible in some

degree, from the perfect form of the Pantheon, to the three

arches and a marble column of the temple of Peace, which

Vespasian erected after the civil wars and the Jewish triumph.

_3._ Of the number, which he rashly defines, of seven _thermæ_,

or public baths, none were sufficiently entire to represent the

use and distribution of the several parts: but those of

Diocletian and Antoninus Caracalla still retained the titles of

the founders, and astonished the curious spectator, who, in

observing their solidity and extent, the variety of marbles, the

size and multitude of the columns, compared the labor and expense

with the use and importance. Of the baths of Constantine, of

Alexander, of Domitian, or rather of Titus, some vestige might

yet be found. _4._ The triumphal arches of Titus, Severus, and

Constantine, were entire, both the structure and the

inscriptions; a falling fragment was honored with the name of

Trajan; and two arches, then extant, in the Flaminian way, have

been ascribed to the baser memory of Faustina and Gallienus. 501

_5._ After the wonder of the Coliseum, Poggius might have

overlooked small amphitheatre of brick, most probably for the use

of the prætorian camp: the theatres of Marcellus and Pompey were

occupied in a great measure by public and private buildings; and

in the Circus, Agonalis and Maximus, little more than the

situation and the form could be investigated. _6._ The columns of

Trajan and Antonine were still erect; but the Egyptian obelisks

were broken or buried. A people of gods and heroes, the

workmanship of art, was reduced to one equestrian figure of gilt

brass, and to five marble statues, of which the most conspicuous

were the two horses of Phidias and Praxiteles. _7._ The two

mausoleums or sepulchres of Augustus and Hadrian could not

totally be lost: but the former was only visible as a mound of

earth; and the latter, the castle of St. Angelo, had acquired the

name and appearance of a modern fortress. With the addition of

some separate and nameless columns, such were the remains of the

ancient city; for the marks of a more recent structure might be

detected in the walls, which formed a circumference of ten miles,

included three hundred and seventy-nine turrets, and opened into

the country by thirteen gates.

5 (return) [ See Poggius, p. 8—22.]

501 (return) [ One was in the Via Nomentana; est alter præterea

Gallieno principi dicatus, ut superscriptio indicat, _Viâ

Nomentana_. Hobhouse, p. 154. Poggio likewise mentions the

building which Gibbon ambiguously says be “might have

overlooked.”—M.]

This melancholy picture was drawn above nine hundred years after

the fall of the Western empire, and even of the Gothic kingdom of

Italy. A long period of distress and anarchy, in which empire,

and arts, and riches had migrated from the banks of the Tyber,

was incapable of restoring or adorning the city; and, as all that

is human must retrograde if it do not advance, every successive

age must have hastened the ruin of the works of antiquity. To

measure the progress of decay, and to ascertain, at each æra, the

state of each edifice, would be an endless and a useless labor;

and I shall content myself with two observations, which will

introduce a short inquiry into the general causes and effects.

_1._ Two hundred years before the eloquent complaint of Poggius,

an anonymous writer composed a description of Rome. 6 His

ignorance may repeat the same objects under strange and fabulous

names. Yet this barbarous topographer had eyes and ears; he could

observe the visible remains; he could listen to the tradition of

the people; and he distinctly enumerates seven theatres, eleven

baths, twelve arches, and eighteen palaces, of which many had

disappeared before the time of Poggius. It is apparent, that many

stately monuments of antiquity survived till a late period, 7 and

that the principles of destruction acted with vigorous and

increasing energy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

_2._ The same reflection must be applied to the three last ages;

and we should vainly seek the Septizonium of Severus; 8 which is

celebrated by Petrarch and the antiquarians of the sixteenth

century. While the Roman edifices were still entire, the first

blows, however weighty and impetuous, were resisted by the

solidity of the mass and the harmony of the parts; but the

slightest touch would precipitate the fragments of arches and

columns, that already nodded to their fall.

6 (return) [ Liber de Mirabilibus Romæ ex Registro Nicolai

Cardinalis de Arragoniâ in Bibliothecâ St. Isidori Armario IV.,

No. 69. This treatise, with some short but pertinent notes, has

been published by Montfaucon, (Diarium Italicum, p. 283—301,) who

thus delivers his own critical opinion: Scriptor xiiimi. circiter

sæculi, ut ibidem notatur; antiquariæ rei imperitus et, ut ab

illo ævo, nugis et anilibus fabellis refertus: sed, quia

monumenta, quæ iis temporibus Romæ supererant pro modulo

recenset, non parum inde lucis mutuabitur qui Romanis

antiquitatibus indagandis operam navabit, (p. 283.)]

7 (return) [ The Père Mabillon (Analecta, tom. iv. p. 502) has

published an anonymous pilgrim of the ixth century, who, in his

visit round the churches and holy places at Rome, touches on

several buildings, especially porticos, which had disappeared

before the xiiith century.]

8 (return) [ On the Septizonium, see the Mémoires sur Pétrarque,

(tom. i. p. 325,) Donatus, (p. 338,) and Nardini, (p. 117, 414.)]

After a diligent inquiry, I can discern four principal causes of

the ruin of Rome, which continued to operate in a period of more

than a thousand years. I. The injuries of time and nature. II.

The hostile attacks of the Barbarians and Christians. III. The

use and abuse of the materials. And, IV. The domestic quarrels of

the Romans.

I. The art of man is able to construct monuments far more

permanent than the narrow span of his own existence; yet these

monuments, like himself, are perishable and frail; and in the

boundless annals of time, his life and his labors must equally be

measured as a fleeting moment. Of a simple and solid edifice, it

is not easy, however, to circumscribe the duration. As the

wonders of ancient days, the pyramids 9 attracted the curiosity

of the ancients: a hundred generations, the leaves of autumn,

have dropped 10 into the grave; and after the fall of the

Pharaohs and Ptolemies, the Cæsars and caliphs, the same pyramids

stand erect and unshaken above the floods of the Nile. A complex

figure of various and minute parts to more accessible to injury

and decay; and the silent lapse of time is often accelerated by

hurricanes and earthquakes, by fires and inundations. The air and

earth have doubtless been shaken; and the lofty turrets of Rome

have tottered from their foundations; but the seven hills do not

appear to be placed on the great cavities of the globe; nor has

the city, in any age, been exposed to the convulsions of nature,

which, in the climate of Antioch, Lisbon, or Lima, have crumbled

in a few moments the works of ages into dust. Fire is the most

powerful agent of life and death: the rapid mischief may be

kindled and propagated by the industry or negligence of mankind;

and every period of the Roman annals is marked by the repetition

of similar calamities. A memorable conflagration, the guilt or

misfortune of Nero’s reign, continued, though with unequal fury,

either six or nine days. 11 Innumerable buildings, crowded in

close and crooked streets, supplied perpetual fuel for the

flames; and when they ceased, four only of the fourteen regions

were left entire; three were totally destroyed, and seven were

deformed by the relics of smoking and lacerated edifices. 12 In

the full meridian of empire, the metropolis arose with fresh

beauty from her ashes; yet the memory of the old deplored their

irreparable losses, the arts of Greece, the trophies of victory,

the monuments of primitive or fabulous antiquity. In the days of

distress and anarchy, every wound is mortal, every fall

irretrievable; nor can the damage be restored either by the

public care of government, or the activity of private interest.

Yet two causes may be alleged, which render the calamity of fire

more destructive to a flourishing than a decayed city. _1._ The

more combustible materials of brick, timber, and metals, are

first melted or consumed; but the flames may play without injury

or effect on the naked walls, and massy arches, that have been

despoiled of their ornaments. _2._ It is among the common and

plebeian habitations, that a mischievous spark is most easily

blown to a conflagration; but as soon as they are devoured, the

greater edifices, which have resisted or escaped, are left as so

many islands in a state of solitude and safety. From her

situation, Rome is exposed to the danger of frequent inundations.

Without excepting the Tyber, the rivers that descend from either

side of the Apennine have a short and irregular course; a shallow

stream in the summer heats; an impetuous torrent, when it is

swelled in the spring or winter, by the fall of rain, and the

melting of the snows. When the current is repelled from the sea

by adverse winds, when the ordinary bed is inadequate to the

weight of waters, they rise above the banks, and overspread,

without limits or control, the plains and cities of the adjacent

country. Soon after the triumph of the first Punic war, the Tyber

was increased by unusual rains; and the inundation, surpassing

all former measure of time and place, destroyed all the buildings

that were situated below the hills of Rome. According to the

variety of ground, the same mischief was produced by different

means; and the edifices were either swept away by the sudden

impulse, or dissolved and undermined by the long continuance, of

the flood. 13 Under the reign of Augustus, the same calamity was

renewed: the lawless river overturned the palaces and temples on

its banks; 14 and, after the labors of the emperor in cleansing

and widening the bed that was encumbered with ruins, 15 the

vigilance of his successors was exercised by similar dangers and

designs. The project of diverting into new channels the Tyber

itself, or some of the dependent streams, was long opposed by

superstition and local interests; 16 nor did the use compensate

the toil and cost of the tardy and imperfect execution. The

servitude of rivers is the noblest and most important victory

which man has obtained over the licentiousness of nature; 17 and

if such were the ravages of the Tyber under a firm and active

government, what could oppose, or who can enumerate, the injuries

of the city, after the fall of the Western empire? A remedy was

at length produced by the evil itself: the accumulation of

rubbish and the earth, that has been washed down from the hills,

is supposed to have elevated the plain of Rome, fourteen or

fifteen feet, perhaps, above the ancient level; 18 and the modern

city is less accessible to the attacks of the river. 19

9 (return) [ The age of the pyramids is remote and unknown, since

Diodorus Siculus (tom. i l. i. c. 44, p. 72) is unable to decide

whether they were constructed 1000, or 3400, years before the

clxxxth Olympiad. Sir John Marsham’s contracted scale of the

Egyptian dynasties would fix them about 2000 years before Christ,

(Canon. Chronicus, p. 47.)]

10 (return) [ See the speech of Glaucus in the Iliad, (Z. 146.)

This natural but melancholy image is peculiar to Homer.]

11 (return) [ The learning and criticism of M. des Vignoles

(Histoire Critique de la République des Lettres, tom. viii. p.

47—118, ix. p. 172—187) dates the fire of Rome from A.D. 64, July

19, and the subsequent persecution of the Christians from

November 15 of the same year.]

12 (return) [ Quippe in regiones quatuordecim Roma dividitur,

quarum quatuor integræ manebant, tres solo tenus dejectæ: septem

reliquis pauca testorum vestigia supererant, lacera et semiusta.

Among the old relics that were irreparably lost, Tacitus

enumerates the temple of the moon of Servius Tullius; the fane

and altar consecrated by Evander præsenti Herculi; the temple of

Jupiter Stator, a vow of Romulus; the palace of Numa; the temple

of Vesta cum Penatibus populi Romani. He then deplores the opes

tot victoriis quæsitæ et Græcarum artium decora.... multa quæ

seniores meminerant, quæ reparari nequibant, (Annal. xv. 40,

41.)]

13 (return) [ A. U. C. 507, repentina subversio ipsius Romæ

prævenit triumphum Romanorum.... diversæ ignium aquarumque clades

pene absumsere urbem Nam Tiberis insolitis auctus imbribus et

ultra opinionem, vel diuturnitate vel maguitudine redundans,

_omnia_ Romæ ædificia in plano posita delevit. Diversæ qualitates

locorum ad unam convenere perniciem: quoniam et quæ segnior

inundatio tenuit madefacta dissolvit, et quæ cursus torrentis

invenit impulsa dejecit, (Orosius, Hist. l. iv. c. 11, p. 244,

edit. Havercamp.) Yet we may observe, that it is the plan and

study of the Christian apologist to magnify the calamities of the

Pagan world.]

14 (return) [

Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis Littore Etrusco violenter undis,

Ire dejectum monumenta Regis Templaque Vestæ. (Horat. Carm. I.

2.)

If the palace of Numa and temple of Vesta were thrown down in

Horace’s time, what was consumed of those buildings by Nero’s

fire could hardly deserve the epithets of vetustissima or

incorrupta.]

15 (return) [ Ad coercendas inundationes alveum Tiberis laxavit,

ac repurgavit, completum olim ruderibus, et ædificiorum

prolapsionibus coarctatum, (Suetonius in Augusto, c. 30.)]

16 (return) [ Tacitus (Annal. i. 79) reports the petitions of the

different towns of Italy to the senate against the measure; and

we may applaud the progress of reason. On a similar occasion,

local interests would undoubtedly be consulted: but an English

House of Commons would reject with contempt the arguments of

superstition, “that nature had assigned to the rivers their

proper course,” &c.]

17 (return) [ See the Epoques de la Nature of the eloquent and

philosophic Buffon. His picture of Guyana, in South America, is

that of a new and savage land, in which the waters are abandoned

to themselves without being regulated by human industry, (p. 212,

561, quarto edition.)]

18 (return) [ In his travels in Italy, Mr. Addison (his works,

vol. ii. p. 98, Baskerville’s edition) has observed this curious

and unquestionable fact.]

19 (return) [ Yet in modern times, the Tyber has sometimes

damaged the city, and in the years 1530, 1557, 1598, the annals

of Muratori record three mischievous and memorable inundations,

(tom. xiv. p. 268, 429, tom. xv. p. 99, &c.) * Note: The level of

the Tyber was at one time supposed to be considerably raised:

recent investigations seem to be conclusive against this

supposition. See a brief, but satisfactory statement of the

question in Bunsen and Platner, Roms Beschreibung. vol. i. p.

29.—M.]

II. The crowd of writers of every nation, who impute the

destruction of the Roman monuments to the Goths and the

Christians, have neglected to inquire how far they were animated

by a hostile principle, and how far they possessed the means and

the leisure to satiate their enmity. In the preceding volumes of

this History, I have described the triumph of barbarism and

religion; and I can only resume, in a few words, their real or

imaginary connection with the ruin of ancient Rome. Our fancy may

create, or adopt, a pleasing romance, that the Goths and Vandals

sallied from Scandinavia, ardent to avenge the flight of Odin; 20

to break the chains, and to chastise the oppressors, of mankind;

that they wished to burn the records of classic literature, and

to found their national architecture on the broken members of the

Tuscan and Corinthian orders. But in simple truth, the northern

conquerors were neither sufficiently savage, nor sufficiently

refined, to entertain such aspiring ideas of destruction and

revenge. The shepherds of Scythia and Germany had been educated

in the armies of the empire, whose discipline they acquired, and

whose weakness they invaded: with the familiar use of the Latin

tongue, they had learned to reverence the name and titles of

Rome; and, though incapable of emulating, they were more inclined

to admire, than to abolish, the arts and studies of a brighter

period. In the transient possession of a rich and unresisting

capital, the soldiers of Alaric and Genseric were stimulated by

the passions of a victorious army; amidst the wanton indulgence

of lust or cruelty, portable wealth was the object of their

search; nor could they derive either pride or pleasure from the

unprofitable reflection, that they had battered to the ground the

works of the consuls and Cæsars. Their moments were indeed

precious; the Goths evacuated Rome on the sixth, 21 the Vandals

on the fifteenth, day: 22 and, though it be far more difficult to

build than to destroy, their hasty assault would have made a

slight impression on the solid piles of antiquity. We may

remember, that both Alaric and Genseric affected to spare the

buildings of the city; that they subsisted in strength and beauty

under the auspicious government of Theodoric; 23 and that the

momentary resentment of Totila 24 was disarmed by his own temper

and the advice of his friends and enemies. From these innocent

Barbarians, the reproach may be transferred to the Catholics of

Rome. The statues, altars, and houses, of the dæmons, were an

abomination in their eyes; and in the absolute command of the

city, they might labor with zeal and perseverance to erase the

idolatry of their ancestors. The demolition of the temples in the

East 25 affords to _them_ an example of conduct, and to _us_ an

argument of belief; and it is probable that a portion of guilt or

merit may be imputed with justice to the Roman proselytes. Yet

their abhorrence was confined to the monuments of heathen

superstition; and the civil structures that were dedicated to the

business or pleasure of society might be preserved without injury

or scandal. The change of religion was accomplished, not by a

popular tumult, but by the decrees of the emperors, of the

senate, and of time. Of the Christian hierarchy, the bishops of

Rome were commonly the most prudent and least fanatic; nor can

any positive charge be opposed to the meritorious act of saving

or converting the majestic structure of the Pantheon. 26 261

20 (return) [ I take this opportunity of declaring, that in the

course of twelve years, I have forgotten, or renounced, the

flight of Odin from Azoph to Sweden, which I never very seriously

believed, (vol. i. p. 283.) The Goths are apparently Germans: but

all beyond Cæsar and Tacitus is darkness or fable, in the

antiquities of Germany.]

21 (return) [ History of the Decline, &c., vol. iii. p. 291.]

22 (return) [———————————vol. iii. p. 464.]

23 (return) [———————————vol. iv. p. 23—25.]

24 (return) [———————————vol. iv. p. 258.]

25 (return) [———————————vol. iii. c. xxviii. p. 139—148.]

26 (return) [ Eodem tempore petiit a Phocate principe templum,

quod appellatur _Pantheon_, in quo fecit ecclesiam Sanctæ Mariæ

semper Virginis, et omnium martyrum; in quâ ecclesiæ princeps

multa bona obtulit, (Anastasius vel potius Liber Pontificalis in

Bonifacio IV., in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii.

P. i. p. 135.) According to the anonymous writer in Montfaucon,

the Pantheon had been vowed by Agrippa to Cybele and Neptune, and

was dedicated by Boniface IV., on the calends of November, to the

Virgin, quæ est mater omnium sanctorum, (p. 297, 298.)]

261 (return) [ The popes, under the dominion of the emperor and

of the exarchs, according to Feas’s just observation, did not

possess the power of disposing of the buildings and monuments of

the city according to their own will. Bunsen and Platner, vol. i.

p. 241.—M.]

III. The value of any object that supplies the wants or pleasures

of mankind is compounded of its substance and its form, of the

materials and the manufacture. Its price must depend on the

number of persons by whom it may be acquired and used; on the

extent of the market; and consequently on the ease or difficulty

of remote exportation, according to the nature of the commodity,

its local situation, and the temporary circumstances of the

world. The Barbarian conquerors of Rome usurped in a moment the

toil and treasure of successive ages; but, except the luxuries of

immediate consumption, they must view without desire all that

could not be removed from the city in the Gothic wagons or the

fleet of the Vandals. 27 Gold and silver were the first objects

of their avarice; as in every country, and in the smallest

compass, they represent the most ample command of the industry

and possessions of mankind. A vase or a statue of those precious

metals might tempt the vanity of some Barbarian chief; but the

grosser multitude, regardless of the form, was tenacious only of

the substance; and the melted ingots might be readily divided and

stamped into the current coin of the empire. The less active or

less fortunate robbers were reduced to the baser plunder of

brass, lead, iron, and copper: whatever had escaped the Goths and

Vandals was pillaged by the Greek tyrants; and the emperor

Constans, in his rapacious visit, stripped the bronze tiles from

the roof of the Pantheon. 28 The edifices of Rome might be

considered as a vast and various mine; the first labor of

extracting the materials was already performed; the metals were

purified and cast; the marbles were hewn and polished; and after

foreign and domestic rapine had been satiated, the remains of the

city, could a purchaser have been found, were still venal. The

monuments of antiquity had been left naked of their precious

ornaments; but the Romans would demolish with their own hands the

arches and walls, if the hope of profit could surpass the cost of

the labor and exportation. If Charlemagne had fixed in Italy the

seat of the Western empire, his genius would have aspired to

restore, rather than to violate, the works of the Cæsars; but

policy confined the French monarch to the forests of Germany; his

taste could be gratified only by destruction; and the new palace

of Aix la Chapelle was decorated with the marbles of Ravenna 29

and Rome. 30 Five hundred years after Charlemagne, a king of

Sicily, Robert, the wisest and most liberal sovereign of the age,

was supplied with the same materials by the easy navigation of

the Tyber and the sea; and Petrarch sighs an indignant complaint,

that the ancient capital of the world should adorn from her own

bowels the slothful luxury of Naples. 31 But these examples of

plunder or purchase were rare in the darker ages; and the Romans,

alone and unenvied, might have applied to their private or public

use the remaining structures of antiquity, if in their present

form and situation they had not been useless in a great measure

to the city and its inhabitants. The walls still described the

old circumference, but the city had descended from the seven

hills into the Campus Martius; and some of the noblest monuments

which had braved the injuries of time were left in a desert, far

remote from the habitations of mankind. The palaces of the

senators were no longer adapted to the manners or fortunes of

their indigent successors: the use of baths 32 and porticos was

forgotten: in the sixth century, the games of the theatre,

amphitheatre, and circus, had been interrupted: some temples were

devoted to the prevailing worship; but the Christian churches

preferred the holy figure of the cross; and fashion, or reason,

had distributed after a peculiar model the cells and offices of

the cloister. Under the ecclesiastical reign, the number of these

pious foundations was enormously multiplied; and the city was

crowded with forty monasteries of men, twenty of women, and sixty

chapters and colleges of canons and priests, 33 who aggravated,

instead of relieving, the depopulation of the tenth century. But

if the forms of ancient architecture were disregarded by a people

insensible of their use and beauty, the plentiful materials were

applied to every call of necessity or superstition; till the

fairest columns of the Ionic and Corinthian orders, the richest

marbles of Paros and Numidia, were degraded, perhaps to the

support of a convent or a stable. The daily havoc which is

perpetrated by the Turks in the cities of Greece and Asia may

afford a melancholy example; and in the gradual destruction of

the monuments of Rome, Sixtus the Fifth may alone be excused for

employing the stones of the Septizonium in the glorious edifice

of St. Peter’s. 34 A fragment, a ruin, howsoever mangled or

profaned, may be viewed with pleasure and regret; but the greater

part of the marble was deprived of substance, as well as of place

and proportion; it was burnt to lime for the purpose of cement.

341 Since the arrival of Poggius, the temple of Concord, 35 and

many capital structures, had vanished from his eyes; and an

epigram of the same age expresses a just and pious fear, that the

continuance of this practice would finally annihilate all the

monuments of antiquity. 36 The smallness of their numbers was the

sole check on the demands and depredations of the Romans. The

imagination of Petrarch might create the presence of a mighty

people; 37 and I hesitate to believe, that, even in the

fourteenth century, they could be reduced to a contemptible list

of thirty-three thousand inhabitants. From that period to the

reign of Leo the Tenth, if they multiplied to the amount of

eighty-five thousand, 38 the increase of citizens was in some

degree pernicious to the ancient city.

27 (return) [ Flaminius Vacca (apud Montfaucon, p. 155, 156. His

memoir is likewise printed, p. 21, at the end of the Roman Antica

of Nardini) and several Romans, doctrinâ graves, were persuaded

that the Goths buried their treasures at Rome, and bequeathed the

secret marks filiis nepotibusque. He relates some anecdotes to

prove, that in his own time, these places were visited and rifled

by the Transalpine pilgrims, the heirs of the Gothic conquerors.]

28 (return) [ Omnia quæ erant in ære ad ornatum civitatis

deposuit, sed e ecclesiam B. Mariæ ad martyres quæ de tegulis

æreis cooperta discooperuit, (Anast. in Vitalian. p. 141.) The

base and sacrilegious Greek had not even the poor pretence of

plundering a heathen temple, the Pantheon was already a Catholic

church.]

29 (return) [ For the spoils of Ravenna (musiva atque marmora)

see the original grant of Pope Adrian I. to Charlemagne, (Codex

Carolin. epist. lxvii. in Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. iii. P.

ii. p. 223.)]

30 (return) [ I shall quote the authentic testimony of the Saxon

poet, (A.D. 887—899,) de Rebus gestis Caroli magni, l. v.

437—440, in the Historians of France, (tom. v. p. 180:)

Ad quæ marmoreas præstabat Roma columnas, Quasdam

præcipuas pulchra Ravenna dedit. De tam longinquâ

poterit regione vetustas Illius ornatum, Francia, ferre

tibi.

And I shall add from the Chronicle of Sigebert, (Historians of

France, tom. v. p. 378,) extruxit etiam Aquisgrani basilicam

plurimæ pulchritudinis, ad cujus structuram a Roma et Ravenna

columnas et marmora devehi fecit.]

31 (return) [ I cannot refuse to transcribe a long passage of

Petrarch (Opp. p. 536, 537) in Epistolâ hortatoriâ ad Nicolaum

Laurentium; it is so strong and full to the point: Nec pudor aut

pietas continuit quominus impii spoliata Dei templa, occupatas

arces, opes publicas, regiones urbis, atque honores magistratûum

inter se divisos; (_habeant?_) quam unâ in re, turbulenti ac

seditiosi homines et totius reliquæ vitæ consiliis et rationibus

discordes, inhumani fderis stupendà societate convenirent, in

pontes et mnia atque immeritos lapides desævirent. Denique post

vi vel senio collapsa palatia, quæ quondam ingentes tenuerunt

viri, post diruptos arcus triumphales, (unde majores horum

forsitan corruerunt,) de ipsius vetustatis ac propriæ impietatis

fragminibus vilem quæstum turpi mercimonio captare non puduit.

Itaque nunc, heu dolor! heu scelus indignum! de vestris marmoreis

columnis, de liminibus templorum, (ad quæ nuper ex orbe toto

concursus devotissimus fiebat,) de imaginibus sepulchrorum sub

quibus patrum vestrorum venerabilis civis (_cinis?_) erat, ut

reliquas sileam, desidiosa Neapolis adornatur. Sic paullatim

ruinæ ipsæ deficiunt. Yet King Robert was the friend of

Petrarch.]

32 (return) [ Yet Charlemagne washed and swam at Aix la Chapelle

with a hundred of his courtiers, (Eginhart, c. 22, p. 108, 109,)

and Muratori describes, as late as the year 814, the public baths

which were built at Spoleto in Italy, (Annali, tom. vi. p. 416.)]

33 (return) [ See the Annals of Italy, A.D. 988. For this and the

preceding fact, Muratori himself is indebted to the Benedictine

history of Père Mabillon.]

34 (return) [ Vita di Sisto Quinto, da Gregorio Leti, tom. iii.

p. 50.]

341 (return) [ From the quotations in Bunsen’s Dissertation, it

may be suspected that this slow but continual process of

destruction was the most fatal. Ancient Rome eas considered a

quarry from which the church, the castle of the baron, or even

the hovel of the peasant, might be repaired.—M.]

35 (return) [ Porticus ædis Concordiæ, quam cum primum ad urbem

accessi vidi fere integram opere marmoreo admodum specioso:

Romani postmodum ad calcem ædem totam et porticûs partem

disjectis columnis sunt demoliti, (p. 12.) The temple of Concord

was therefore _not_ destroyed by a sedition in the xiiith

century, as I have read in a MS. treatise del’ Governo civile di

Rome, lent me formerly at Rome, and ascribed (I believe falsely)

to the celebrated Gravina. Poggius likewise affirms that the

sepulchre of Cæcilia Metella was burnt for lime, (p. 19, 20.)]

36 (return) [ Composed by Æneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius

II., and published by Mabillon, from a MS. of the queen of

Sweden, (Musæum Italicum, tom. i. p. 97.)

Oblectat me, Roma, tuas spectare ruinas: Ex cujus lapsû

gloria prisca patet. Sed tuus hic populus muris defossa

vetustis Calcis in obsequium marmora dura coquit. Impia

tercentum si sic gens egerit annos Nullum hinc indicium

nobilitatis erit.]

37 (return) [ Vagabamur pariter in illâ urbe tam magnâ; quæ, cum

propter spatium vacua videretur, populum habet immensum, (Opp p.

605 Epist. Familiares, ii. 14.)]

38 (return) [ These states of the population of Rome at different

periods are derived from an ingenious treatise of the physician

Lancisi, de Romani Cli Qualitatibus, (p. 122.)]

IV. I have reserved for the last, the most potent and forcible

cause of destruction, the domestic hostilities of the Romans

themselves. Under the dominion of the Greek and French emperors,

the peace of the city was disturbed by accidental, though

frequent, seditions: it is from the decline of the latter, from

the beginning of the tenth century, that we may date the

licentiousness of private war, which violated with impunity the

laws of the Code and the Gospel, without respecting the majesty

of the absent sovereign, or the presence and person of the vicar

of Christ. In a dark period of five hundred years, Rome was

perpetually afflicted by the sanguinary quarrels of the nobles

and the people, the Guelphs and Ghibelines, the Colonna and

Ursini; and if much has escaped the knowledge, and much is

unworthy of the notice, of history, I have exposed in the two

preceding chapters the causes and effects of the public

disorders. At such a time, when every quarrel was decided by the

sword, and none could trust their lives or properties to the

impotence of law, the powerful citizens were armed for safety, or

offence, against the domestic enemies whom they feared or hated.

Except Venice alone, the same dangers and designs were common to

all the free republics of Italy; and the nobles usurped the

prerogative of fortifying their houses, and erecting strong

towers, 39 that were capable of resisting a sudden attack. The

cities were filled with these hostile edifices; and the example

of Lucca, which contained three hundred towers; her law, which

confined their height to the measure of fourscore feet, may be

extended with suitable latitude to the more opulent and populous

states. The first step of the senator Brancaleone in the

establishment of peace and justice, was to demolish (as we have

already seen) one hundred and forty of the towers of Rome; and,

in the last days of anarchy and discord, as late as the reign of

Martin the Fifth, forty-four still stood in one of the thirteen

or fourteen regions of the city. To this mischievous purpose the

remains of antiquity were most readily adapted: the temples and

arches afforded a broad and solid basis for the new structures of

brick and stone; and we can name the modern turrets that were

raised on the triumphal monuments of Julius Cæsar, Titus, and the

Antonines. 40 With some slight alterations, a theatre, an

amphitheatre, a mausoleum, was transformed into a strong and

spacious citadel. I need not repeat, that the mole of Adrian has

assumed the title and form of the castle of St. Angelo; 41 the

Septizonium of Severus was capable of standing against a royal

army; 42 the sepulchre of Metella has sunk under its outworks; 43

431 the theatres of Pompey and Marcellus were occupied by the

Savelli and Ursini families; 44 and the rough fortress has been

gradually softened to the splendor and elegance of an Italian

palace. Even the churches were encompassed with arms and

bulwarks, and the military engines on the roof of St. Peter’s

were the terror of the Vatican and the scandal of the Christian

world. Whatever is fortified will be attacked; and whatever is

attacked may be destroyed. Could the Romans have wrested from the

popes the castle of St. Angelo, they had resolved by a public

decree to annihilate that monument of servitude. Every building

of defence was exposed to a siege; and in every siege the arts

and engines of destruction were laboriously employed. After the

death of Nicholas the Fourth, Rome, without a sovereign or a

senate, was abandoned six months to the fury of civil war. “The

houses,” says a cardinal and poet of the times, 45 “were crushed

by the weight and velocity of enormous stones; 46 the walls were

perforated by the strokes of the battering-ram; the towers were

involved in fire and smoke; and the assailants were stimulated by

rapine and revenge.” The work was consummated by the tyranny of

the laws; and the factions of Italy alternately exercised a blind

and thoughtless vengeance on their adversaries, whose houses and

castles they razed to the ground. 47 In comparing the _days_ of

foreign, with the _ages_ of domestic, hostility, we must

pronounce, that the latter have been far more ruinous to the

city; and our opinion is confirmed by the evidence of Petrarch.

“Behold,” says the laureate, “the relics of Rome, the image of

her pristine greatness! neither time nor the Barbarian can boast

the merit of this stupendous destruction: it was perpetrated by

her own citizens, by the most illustrious of her sons; and your

ancestors (he writes to a noble Annabaldi) have done with the

battering-ram what the Punic hero could not accomplish with the

sword.” 48 The influence of the two last principles of decay must

in some degree be multiplied by each other; since the houses and

towers, which were subverted by civil war, required by a new and

perpetual supply from the monuments of antiquity. 481

39 (return) [ All the facts that relate to the towers at Rome,

and in other free cities of Italy, may be found in the laborious

and entertaining compilation of Muratori, Antiquitates Italiæ

Medii Ævi, dissertat. xxvi., (tom. ii. p. 493—496, of the Latin,

tom.. p. 446, of the Italian work.)]

40 (return) [ As for instance, templum Jani nunc dicitur, turris

Centii Frangipanis; et sane Jano impositæ turris lateritiæ

conspicua hodieque vestigia supersunt, (Montfaucon Diarium

Italicum, p. 186.) The anonymous writer (p. 285) enumerates,

arcus Titi, turris Cartularia; arcus Julii Cæsaris et Senatorum,

turres de Bratis; arcus Antonini, turris de Cosectis, &c.]

41 (return) [ Hadriani molem.... magna ex parte Romanorum

injuria.... disturbavit; quod certe funditus evertissent, si

eorum manibus pervia, absumptis grandibus saxis, reliqua moles

exstisset, (Poggius de Varietate Fortunæ, p. 12.)]

42 (return) [ Against the emperor Henry IV., (Muratori, Annali d’

Italia, tom. ix. p. 147.)]

43 (return) [ I must copy an important passage of Montfaucon:

Turris ingens rotunda.... Cæciliæ Metellæ.... sepulchrum erat,

cujus muri tam solidi, ut spatium perquam minimum intus vacuum

supersit; et _Torre di Bove_ dicitur, a boum capitibus muro

inscriptis. Huic sequiori ævo, tempore intestinorum bellorum, ceu

urbecula adjuncta fuit, cujus mnia et turres etiamnum visuntur;

ita ut sepulchrum Metellæ quasi arx oppiduli fuerit. Ferventibus

in urbe partibus, cum Ursini atque Columnenses mutuis cladibus

perniciem inferrent civitati, in utriusve partis ditionem cederet

magni momenti erat, (p. 142.)]

431 (return) [ This is inaccurately expressed. The sepulchre is

still standing See Hobhouse, p. 204.—M.]

44 (return) [ See the testimonies of Donatus, Nardini, and

Montfaucon. In the Savelli palace, the remains of the theatre of

Marcellus are still great and conspicuous.]

45 (return) [ James, cardinal of St. George, ad velum aureum, in

his metrical life of Pope Celestin V., (Muratori, Script. Ital.

tom. i. P. iii. p. 621, l. i. c. l. ver. 132, &c.)

Hoc dixisse sat est, Romam caruisee Senatû Mensibus

exactis heu sex; belloque vocatum (_vocatos_) In scelus,

in socios fraternaque vulnera patres; Tormentis jecisse

viros immania saxa; Perfodisse domus trabibus, fecisse

ruinas Ignibus; incensas turres, obscuraque fumo Lumina

vicino, quo sit spoliata supellex.]

46 (return) [ Muratori (Dissertazione sopra le Antiquità

Italiane, tom. i. p. 427—431) finds that stone bullets of two or

three hundred pounds’ weight were not uncommon; and they are

sometimes computed at xii. or xviii _cantari_ of Genoa, each

_cantaro_ weighing 150 pounds.]

47 (return) [ The vith law of the Visconti prohibits this common

and mischievous practice; and strictly enjoins, that the houses

of banished citizens should be preserved pro communi utilitate,

(Gualvancus de la Flamma in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum,

tom. xii. p. 1041.)]

48 (return) [ Petrarch thus addresses his friend, who, with shame

and tears had shown him the mnia, laceræ specimen miserable Romæ,

and declared his own intention of restoring them, (Carmina

Latina, l. ii. epist. Paulo Annibalensi, xii. p. 97, 98.)

Nec te parva manet servatis fama ruinis Quanta quod

integræ fuit olim gloria Romæ Reliquiæ testantur adhuc;

quas longior ætas Frangere non valuit; non vis aut ira

cruenti Hostis, ab egregiis franguntur civibus, heu!

heu’ ————Quod _ille_ nequivit (_Hannibal_.) Perficit hic

aries.]

481 (return) [ Bunsen has shown that the hostile attacks of the

emperor Henry the Fourth, but more particularly that of Robert

Guiscard, who burned down whole districts, inflicted the worst

damage on the ancient city Vol. i. p. 247.—M.]

Chapter LXXI: Prospect Of The Ruins Of Rome In The Fifteenth

Century.—Part II

These general observations may be separately applied to the

amphitheatre of Titus, which has obtained the name of the

Coliseum, 49 either from its magnitude, or from Nero’s colossal

statue; an edifice, had it been left to time and nature, which

might perhaps have claimed an eternal duration. The curious

antiquaries, who have computed the numbers and seats, are

disposed to believe, that above the upper row of stone steps the

amphitheatre was encircled and elevated with several stages of

wooden galleries, which were repeatedly consumed by fire, and

restored by the emperors. Whatever was precious, or portable, or

profane, the statues of gods and heroes, and the costly ornaments

of sculpture which were cast in brass, or overspread with leaves

of silver and gold, became the first prey of conquest or

fanaticism, of the avarice of the Barbarians or the Christians.

In the massy stones of the Coliseum, many holes are discerned;

and the two most probable conjectures represent the various

accidents of its decay. These stones were connected by solid

links of brass or iron, nor had the eye of rapine overlooked the

value of the baser metals; 50 the vacant space was converted into

a fair or market; the artisans of the Coliseum are mentioned in

an ancient survey; and the chasms were perforated or enlarged to

receive the poles that supported the shops or tents of the

mechanic trades. 51 Reduced to its naked majesty, the Flavian

amphitheatre was contemplated with awe and admiration by the

pilgrims of the North; and their rude enthusiasm broke forth in a

sublime proverbial expression, which is recorded in the eighth

century, in the fragments of the venerable Bede: “As long as the

Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome

will fall; when Rome falls, the world will fall.” 52 In the

modern system of war, a situation commanded by three hills would

not be chosen for a fortress; but the strength of the walls and

arches could resist the engines of assault; a numerous garrison

might be lodged in the enclosure; and while one faction occupied

the Vatican and the Capitol, the other was intrenched in the

Lateran and the Coliseum. 53

49 (return) [ The fourth part of the Verona Illustrata of the

marquis Maffei professedly treats of amphitheatres, particularly

those of Rome and Verona, of their dimensions, wooden galleries,

&c. It is from magnitude that he derives the name of _Colosseum_,

or _Coliseum_; since the same appellation was applied to the

amphitheatre of Capua, without the aid of a colossal statue;

since that of Nero was erected in the court (_in atrio_) of his

palace, and not in the Coliseum, (P. iv. p. 15—19, l. i. c. 4.)]

50 (return) [ Joseph Maria Suarés, a learned bishop, and the

author of a history of Præneste, has composed a separate

dissertation on the seven or eight probable causes of these

holes, which has been since reprinted in the Roman Thesaurus of

Sallengre. Montfaucon (Diarium, p. 233) pronounces the rapine of

the Barbarians to be the unam germanamque causam foraminum. *

Note: The improbability of this theory is shown by Bunsen, vol.

i. p. 239.—M.]

51 (return) [ Donatus, Roma Vetus et Nova, p. 285. Note: Gibbon

has followed Donatus, who supposes that a silk manufactory was

established in the xiith century in the Coliseum. The Bandonarii,

or Bandererii, were the officers who carried the standards of

their _school_ before the pope. Hobhouse, p. 269.—M.]

52 (return) [ Quamdiu stabit Colyseus, stabit et Roma; quando

cadet Coly seus, cadet Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus,

(Beda in Excerptis seu Collectaneis apud Ducange Glossar. Med. et

Infimæ Latinitatis, tom. ii. p. 407, edit. Basil.) This saying

must be ascribed to the Anglo-Saxon pilgrims who visited Rome

before the year 735 the æra of Bede’s death; for I do not believe

that our venerable monk ever passed the sea.]

53 (return) [ I cannot recover, in Muratori’s original Lives of

the Popes, (Script Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i.,) the

passage that attests this hostile partition, which must be

applied to the end of the xiith or the beginning of the xiith

century. * Note: “The division is mentioned in Vit. Innocent.

Pap. II. ex Cardinale Aragonio, (Script. Rer. Ital. vol. iii. P.

i. p. 435,) and Gibbon might have found frequent other records of

it at other dates.” Hobhouse’s Illustrations of Childe Harold. p.

130.—M.]

The abolition at Rome of the ancient games must be understood

with some latitude; and the carnival sports, of the Testacean

mount and the Circus Agonalis, 54 were regulated by the law 55 or

custom of the city. The senator presided with dignity and pomp to

adjudge and distribute the prizes, the gold ring, or the

_pallium_, 56 as it was styled, of cloth or silk. A tribute on

the Jews supplied the annual expense; 57 and the races, on foot,

on horseback, or in chariots, were ennobled by a tilt and

tournament of seventy-two of the Roman youth. In the year one

thousand three hundred and thirty-two, a bull-feast, after the

fashion of the Moors and Spaniards, was celebrated in the

Coliseum itself; and the living manners are painted in a diary of

the times. 58 A convenient order of benches was restored; and a

general proclamation, as far as Rimini and Ravenna, invited the

nobles to exercise their skill and courage in this perilous

adventure. The Roman ladies were marshalled in three squadrons,

and seated in three balconies, which, on this day, the third of

September, were lined with scarlet cloth. The fair Jacova di

Rovere led the matrons from beyond the Tyber, a pure and native

race, who still represent the features and character of

antiquity. The remainder of the city was divided as usual between

the Colonna and Ursini: the two factions were proud of the number

and beauty of their female bands: the charms of Savella Ursini

are mentioned with praise; and the Colonna regretted the absence

of the youngest of their house, who had sprained her ankle in the

garden of Nero’s tower. The lots of the champions were drawn by

an old and respectable citizen; and they descended into the

arena, or pit, to encounter the wild bulls, on foot as it should

seem, with a single spear. Amidst the crowd, our annalist has

selected the names, colors, and devices, of twenty of the most

conspicuous knights. Several of the names are the most

illustrious of Rome and the ecclesiastical state: Malatesta,

Polenta, della Valle, Cafarello, Savelli, Capoccio, Conti,

Annibaldi, Altieri, Corsi: the colors were adapted to their taste

and situation; the devices are expressive of hope or despair, and

breathe the spirit of gallantry and arms. “I am alone, like the

youngest of the Horatii,” the confidence of an intrepid stranger:

“I live disconsolate,” a weeping widower: “I burn under the

ashes,” a discreet lover: “I adore Lavinia, or Lucretia,” the

ambiguous declaration of a modern passion: “My faith is as pure,”

the motto of a white livery: “Who is stronger than myself?” of a

lion’s hide: “If am drowned in blood, what a pleasant death!” the

wish of ferocious courage. The pride or prudence of the Ursini

restrained them from the field, which was occupied by three of

their hereditary rivals, whose inscriptions denoted the lofty

greatness of the Colonna name: “Though sad, I am strong:” “Strong

as I am great:” “If I fall,” addressing himself to the

spectators, “you fall with me;”—intimating (says the contemporary

writer) that while the other families were the subjects of the

Vatican, they alone were the supporters of the Capitol. The

combats of the amphitheatre were dangerous and bloody. Every

champion successively encountered a wild bull; and the victory

may be ascribed to the quadrupeds, since no more than eleven were

left on the field, with the loss of nine wounded and eighteen

killed on the side of their adversaries. Some of the noblest

families might mourn, but the pomp of the funerals, in the

churches of St. John Lateran and St. Maria Maggiore, afforded a

second holiday to the people. Doubtless it was not in such

conflicts that the blood of the Romans should have been shed;

yet, in blaming their rashness, we are compelled to applaud their

gallantry; and the noble volunteers, who display their

magnificence, and risk their lives, under the balconies of the

fair, excite a more generous sympathy than the thousands of

captives and malefactors who were reluctantly dragged to the

scene of slaughter. 59

54 (return) [ Although the structure of the circus Agonalis be

destroyed, it still retains its form and name, (Agona, Nagona,

Navona;) and the interior space affords a sufficient level for

the purpose of racing. But the Monte Testaceo, that strange pile

of broken pottery, seems only adapted for the annual practice of

hurling from top to bottom some wagon-loads of live hogs for the

diversion of the populace, (Statuta Urbis Romæ, p. 186.)]

55 (return) [ See the Statuta Urbis Romæ, l. iii. c. 87, 88, 89,

p. 185, 186. I have already given an idea of this municipal code.

The races of Nagona and Monte Testaceo are likewise mentioned in

the Diary of Peter Antonius from 1404 to 1417, (Muratori, Script.

Rerum Italicarum, tom. xxiv. p. 1124.)]

56 (return) [ The _Pallium_, which Menage so foolishly derives

from _Palmarius_, is an easy extension of the idea and the words,

from the robe or cloak, to the materials, and from thence to

their application as a prize, (Muratori, dissert. xxxiii.)]

57 (return) [ For these expenses, the Jews of Rome paid each year

1130 florins, of which the odd thirty represented the pieces of

silver for which Judas had betrayed his Master to their

ancestors. There was a foot-race of Jewish as well as of

Christian youths, (Statuta Urbis, ibidem.)]

58 (return) [ This extraordinary bull-feast in the Coliseum is

described, from tradition rather than memory, by Ludovico

Buonconte Monaldesco, on the most ancient fragments of Roman

annals, (Muratori, Script Rerum Italicarum, tom. xii. p. 535,

536;) and however fanciful they may seem, they are deeply marked

with the colors of truth and nature.]

59 (return) [ Muratori has given a separate dissertation (the

xxixth) to the games of the Italians in the Middle Ages.]

This use of the amphitheatre was a rare, perhaps a singular,

festival: the demand for the materials was a daily and continual

want which the citizens could gratify without restraint or

remorse. In the fourteenth century, a scandalous act of concord

secured to both factions the privilege of extracting stones from

the free and common quarry of the Coliseum; 60 and Poggius

laments, that the greater part of these stones had been burnt to

lime by the folly of the Romans. 61 To check this abuse, and to

prevent the nocturnal crimes that might be perpetrated in the

vast and gloomy recess, Eugenius the Fourth surrounded it with a

wall; and, by a charter long extant, granted both the ground and

edifice to the monks of an adjacent convent. 62 After his death,

the wall was overthrown in a tumult of the people; and had they

themselves respected the noblest monument of their fathers, they

might have justified the resolve that it should never be degraded

to private property. The inside was damaged: but in the middle of

the sixteenth century, an æra of taste and learning, the exterior

circumference of one thousand six hundred and twelve feet was

still entire and inviolate; a triple elevation of fourscore

arches, which rose to the height of one hundred and eight feet.

Of the present ruin, the nephews of Paul the Third are the guilty

agents; and every traveller who views the Farnese palace may

curse the sacrilege and luxury of these upstart princes. 63 A

similar reproach is applied to the Barberini; and the repetition

of injury might be dreaded from every reign, till the Coliseum

was placed under the safeguard of religion by the most liberal of

the pontiffs, Benedict the Fourteenth, who consecrated a spot

which persecution and fable had stained with the blood of so many

Christian martyrs. 64

60 (return) [ In a concise but instructive memoir, the abbé

Barthelemy (Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii.

p. 585) has mentioned this agreement of the factions of the xivth

century de Tiburtino faciendo in the Coliseum, from an original

act in the archives of Rome.]

61 (return) [ Coliseum.... ob stultitiam Romanorum _majori ex

parte_ ad calcem deletum, says the indignant Poggius, (p. 17:)

but his expression too strong for the present age, must be very

tenderly applied to the xvth century.]

62 (return) [ Of the Olivetan monks. Montfaucon (p. 142) affirms

this fact from the memorials of Flaminius Vacca, (No. 72.) They

still hoped on some future occasion, to revive and vindicate

their grant.]

63 (return) [ After measuring the priscus amphitheatri gyrus,

Montfaucon (p. 142) only adds that it was entire under Paul III.;

tacendo clamat. Muratori (Annali d’Italia, tom. xiv. p. 371) more

freely reports the guilt of the Farnese pope, and the indignation

of the Roman people. Against the nephews of Urban VIII. I have no

other evidence than the vulgar saying, “Quod non fecerunt

Barbari, fecere Barberini,” which was perhaps suggested by the

resemblance of the words.]

64 (return) [ As an antiquarian and a priest, Montfaucon thus

deprecates the ruin of the Coliseum: Quòd si non suopte merito

atque pulchritudine dignum fuisset quod improbas arceret manus,

indigna res utique in locum tot martyrum cruore sacrum tantopere

sævitum esse.]

When Petrarch first gratified his eyes with a view of those

monuments, whose scattered fragments so far surpass the most

eloquent descriptions, he was astonished at the supine

indifference 65 of the Romans themselves; 66 he was humbled

rather than elated by the discovery, that, except his friend

Rienzi, and one of the Colonna, a stranger of the Rhône was more

conversant with these antiquities than the nobles and natives of

the metropolis. 67 The ignorance and credulity of the Romans are

elaborately displayed in the old survey of the city which was

composed about the beginning of the thirteenth century; and,

without dwelling on the manifold errors of name and place, the

legend of the Capitol 68 may provoke a smile of contempt and

indignation. “The Capitol,” says the anonymous writer, “is so

named as being the head of the world; where the consuls and

senators formerly resided for the government of the city and the

globe. The strong and lofty walls were covered with glass and

gold, and crowned with a roof of the richest and most curious

carving. Below the citadel stood a palace, of gold for the

greatest part, decorated with precious stones, and whose value

might be esteemed at one third of the world itself. The statues

of all the provinces were arranged in order, each with a small

bell suspended from its neck; and such was the contrivance of art

magic, 69 that if the province rebelled against Rome, the statue

turned round to that quarter of the heavens, the bell rang, the

prophet of the Capitol repeated the prodigy, and the senate was

admonished of the impending danger.” A second example, of less

importance, though of equal absurdity, may be drawn from the two

marble horses, led by two naked youths, who have since been

transported from the baths of Constantine to the Quirinal hill.

The groundless application of the names of Phidias and Praxiteles

may perhaps be excused; but these Grecian sculptors should not

have been removed above four hundred years from the age of

Pericles to that of Tiberius; they should not have been

transferred into two philosophers or magicians, whose nakedness

was the symbol of truth or knowledge, who revealed to the emperor

his most secret actions; and, after refusing all pecuniary

recompense, solicited the honor of leaving this eternal monument

of themselves. 70 Thus awake to the power of magic, the Romans

were insensible to the beauties of art: no more than five statues

were visible to the eyes of Poggius; and of the multitudes which

chance or design had buried under the ruins, the resurrection was

fortunately delayed till a safer and more enlightened age. 71 The

Nile which now adorns the Vatican, had been explored by some

laborers in digging a vineyard near the temple, or convent, of

the Minerva; but the impatient proprietor, who was tormented by

some visits of curiosity, restored the unprofitable marble to its

former grave. 72 The discovery of a statue of Pompey, ten feet in

length, was the occasion of a lawsuit. It had been found under a

partition wall: the equitable judge had pronounced, that the head

should be separated from the body to satisfy the claims of the

contiguous owners; and the sentence would have been executed, if

the intercession of a cardinal, and the liberality of a pope, had

not rescued the Roman hero from the hands of his barbarous

countrymen. 73

65 (return) [ Yet the statutes of Rome (l. iii. c. 81, p. 182)

impose a fine of 500 _aurei_ on whosoever shall demolish any

ancient edifice, ne ruinis civitas deformetur, et ut antiqua

ædificia decorem urbis perpetuo representent.]

66 (return) [ In his first visit to Rome (A.D. 1337. See Mémoires

sur Pétrarque, tom. i. p. 322, &c.) Petrarch is struck mute

miraculo rerum tantarum, et stuporis mole obrutus.... Præsentia

vero, mirum dictû nihil imminuit: vere major fuit Roma majoresque

sunt reliquiæ quam rebar. Jam non orbem ab hâc urbe domitum, sed

tam sero domitum, miror, (Opp. p. 605, Familiares, ii. 14, Joanni

Columnæ.)]

67 (return) [ He excepts and praises the _rare_ knowledge of John

Colonna. Qui enim hodie magis ignari rerum Romanarum, quam Romani

cives! Invitus dico, nusquam minus Roma cognoscitur quam Romæ.]

68 (return) [ After the description of the Capitol, he adds,

statuæ erant quot sunt mundi provinciæ; et habebat quælibet

tintinnabulum ad collum. Et erant ita per magicam artem

dispositæ, ut quando aliqua regio Romano Imperio rebellis erat,

statim imago illius provinciæ vertebat se contra illam; unde

tintinnabulum resonabat quod pendebat ad collum; tuncque vates

Capitolii qui erant custodes senatui, &c. He mentions an example

of the Saxons and Suevi, who, after they had been subdued by

Agrippa, again rebelled: tintinnabulum sonuit; sacerdos qui erat

in speculo in hebdomada senatoribus nuntiavit: Agrippa marched

back and reduced the—Persians, (Anonym. in Montfaucon, p. 297,

298.)]

69 (return) [ The same writer affirms, that Virgil captus a

Romanis invisibiliter exiit, ivitque Neapolim. A Roman magician,

in the xith century, is introduced by William of Malmsbury, (de

Gestis Regum Anglorum, l. ii. p. 86;) and in the time of

Flaminius Vacca (No. 81, 103) it was the vulgar belief that the

strangers (the _Goths_) invoked the dæmons for the discovery of

hidden treasures.]

70 (return) [ Anonym. p. 289. Montfaucon (p. 191) justly

observes, that if Alexander be represented, these statues cannot

be the work of Phidias (Olympiad lxxxiii.) or Praxiteles,

(Olympiad civ.,) who lived before that conqueror (Plin. Hist.

Natur. xxxiv. 19.)]

71 (return) [ William of Malmsbury (l. ii. p. 86, 87) relates a

marvellous discovery (A.D. 1046) of Pallas the son of Evander,

who had been slain by Turnus; the perpetual light in his

sepulchre, a Latin epitaph, the corpse, yet entire, of a young

giant, the enormous wound in his breast, (pectus perforat

ingens,) &c. If this fable rests on the slightest foundation, we

may pity the bodies, as well as the statues, that were exposed to

the air in a barbarous age.]

72 (return) [ Prope porticum Minervæ, statua est recubantis,

cujus caput integrâ effigie tantæ magnitudinis, ut signa omnia

excedat. Quidam ad plantandas arbores scrobes faciens detexit. Ad

hoc visendum cum plures in dies magis concurrerent, strepitum

adeuentium fastidiumque pertæsus, horti patronus congestâ humo

texit, (Poggius de Varietate Fortunæ, p. 12.)]

73 (return) [ See the Memorials of Flaminius Vacca, No. 57, p.

11, 12, at the end of the Roma Antica of Nardini, (1704, in

4to.)]

But the clouds of barbarism were gradually dispelled; and the

peaceful authority of Martin the Fifth and his successors

restored the ornaments of the city as well as the order of the

ecclesiastical state. The improvements of Rome, since the

fifteenth century, have not been the spontaneous produce of

freedom and industry. The first and most natural root of a great

city is the labor and populousness of the adjacent country, which

supplies the materials of subsistence, of manufactures, and of

foreign trade. But the greater part of the Campagna of Rome is

reduced to a dreary and desolate wilderness: the overgrown

estates of the princes and the clergy are cultivated by the lazy

hands of indigent and hopeless vassals; and the scanty harvests

are confined or exported for the benefit of a monopoly. A second

and more artificial cause of the growth of a metropolis is the

residence of a monarch, the expense of a luxurious court, and the

tributes of dependent provinces. Those provinces and tributes had

been lost in the fall of the empire; and if some streams of the

silver of Peru and the gold of Brazil have been attracted by the

Vatican, the revenues of the cardinals, the fees of office, the

oblations of pilgrims and clients, and the remnant of

ecclesiastical taxes, afford a poor and precarious supply, which

maintains, however, the idleness of the court and city. The

population of Rome, far below the measure of the great capitals

of Europe, does not exceed one hundred and seventy thousand

inhabitants; 74 and within the spacious enclosure of the walls,

the largest portion of the seven hills is overspread with

vineyards and ruins. The beauty and splendor of the modern city

may be ascribed to the abuses of the government, to the influence

of superstition. Each reign (the exceptions are rare) has been

marked by the rapid elevation of a new family, enriched by the

childish pontiff at the expense of the church and country. The

palaces of these fortunate nephews are the most costly monuments

of elegance and servitude: the perfect arts of architecture,

sculpture, and painting, have been prostituted in their service;

and their galleries and gardens are decorated with the most

precious works of antiquity, which taste or vanity has prompted

them to collect. The ecclesiastical revenues were more decently

employed by the popes themselves in the pomp of the Catholic

worship; but it is superfluous to enumerate their pious

foundations of altars, chapels, and churches, since these lesser

stars are eclipsed by the sun of the Vatican, by the dome of St.

Peter, the most glorious structure that ever has been applied to

the use of religion. The fame of Julius the Second, Leo the

Tenth, and Sixtus the Fifth, is accompanied by the superior merit

of Bramante and Fontana, of Raphael and Michael Angelo; and the

same munificence which had been displayed in palaces and temples

was directed with equal zeal to revive and emulate the labors of

antiquity. Prostrate obelisks were raised from the ground, and

erected in the most conspicuous places; of the eleven aqueducts

of the Cæsars and consuls, three were restored; the artificial

rivers were conducted over a long series of old, or of new

arches, to discharge into marble basins a flood of salubrious and

refreshing waters: and the spectator, impatient to ascend the

steps of St. Peter’s, is detained by a column of Egyptian

granite, which rises between two lofty and perpetual fountains,

to the height of one hundred and twenty feet. The map, the

description, the monuments of ancient Rome, have been elucidated

by the diligence of the antiquarian and the student: 75 and the

footsteps of heroes, the relics, not of superstition, but of

empire, are devoutly visited by a new race of pilgrims from the

remote, and once savage countries of the North.

74 (return) [ In the year 1709, the inhabitants of Rome (without

including eight or ten thousand Jews,) amounted to 138,568 souls,

(Labat Voyages en Espagne et en Italie, tom. iii. p. 217, 218.)

In 1740, they had increased to 146,080; and in 1765, I left them,

without the Jews 161,899. I am ignorant whether they have since

continued in a progressive state.]

75 (return) [ The Père Montfaucon distributes his own

observations into twenty days; he should have styled them weeks,

or months, of his visits to the different parts of the city,

(Diarium Italicum, c. 8—20, p. 104—301.) That learned Benedictine

reviews the topographers of ancient Rome; the first efforts of

Blondus, Fulvius, Martianus, and Faunus, the superior labors of

Pyrrhus Ligorius, had his learning been equal to his labors; the

writings of Onuphrius Panvinius, qui omnes obscuravit, and the

recent but imperfect books of Donatus and Nardini. Yet Montfaucon

still sighs for a more complete plan and description of the old

city, which must be attained by the three following methods: 1.

The measurement of the space and intervals of the ruins. 2. The

study of inscriptions, and the places where they were found. 3.

The investigation of all the acts, charters, diaries of the

middle ages, which name any spot or building of Rome. The

laborious work, such as Montfaucon desired, must be promoted by

princely or public munificence: but the great modern plan of

Nolli (A.D. 1748) would furnish a solid and accurate basis for

the ancient topography of Rome.]

Of these pilgrims, and of every reader, the attention will be

excited by a History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire;

the greatest, perhaps, and most awful scene in the history of

mankind. The various causes and progressive effects are connected

with many of the events most interesting in human annals: the

artful policy of the Cæsars, who long maintained the name and

image of a free republic; the disorders of military despotism;

the rise, establishment, and sects of Christianity; the

foundation of Constantinople; the division of the monarchy; the

invasion and settlements of the Barbarians of Germany and

Scythia; the institutions of the civil law; the character and

religion of Mahomet; the temporal sovereignty of the popes; the

restoration and decay of the Western empire of Charlemagne; the

crusades of the Latins in the East: the conquests of the Saracens

and Turks; the ruin of the Greek empire; the state and

revolutions of Rome in the middle age. The historian may applaud

the importance and variety of his subject; but while he is

conscious of his own imperfections, he must often accuse the

deficiency of his materials. It was among the ruins of the

Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has

amused and exercised near twenty years of my life, and which,

however inadequate to my own wishes, I finally delivere to the

curiosity and candor of the public.

Lausanne, June 27 1787