Chapter D: O. M

SEDENTE BENEDICTO XIII
PONT. MAX.
LUDOVICO XV
IN GALLIIS REGNANTE
EIVSQ. APVD SANCTAM SEDEM
NEGOTIIS PRÆPOSITO
MELCHIORE S. R. ECCLESIÆ
CARDINALI DE POLIGNAC
ARCHIEPISCOPO AVSCITANO
AD SACRÆ ÆDIS ALMÆQVE VRBIS
ORNAMENTVM
AC CIVIVM COMMODVM
MARMOREA SCALA
DIGNO TANTIS AVSPICIIS OPERE
ABSOLVTA
ANNO DOMINI MDCCXXV

TRANSLATION OF ABOVE

I

O spectator, this magnificent stairway which you gaze at in wonder, that it might afford convenience and no small ornament to the city, the noble Frenchman Etienne Guéffier conceived in his mind, and, money having been left in his will whence to defray expenses, ordered it to be built. He conducted himself with distinction in the service of the King at the courts of several pontiffs and other sublime princes, and died in Rome the thirtieth of June, 1661.

The work, however, was interrupted by a variety of things, and first in the reign of Clement XI there were placed before a council many plans and designs. It was decided upon under Clement XI, and, being intrusted to the faithful care of the Reverend Father Bertrand Monsinat of Toulouse, corrector generalis of the lesser order of St. Francis de Paul, was begun, and finally, Benedict XIII blessedly seated upon the papal chair, was brought to an end in the year of jubilee, 1725.

II

Benedict XIII sitting in the papal chair as Pontifex Maximus; Louis XV reigning in France; Melchior de Polignac, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, and Archbishop of Aquitaine, being his minister at the sacred see; these marble steps, in a manner worthy of such auspices, for the ornamentation of the sacred temple (the church above) and the beloved city, and for the convenience of the citizens, were completed in the year of our Lord, 1725.

FOOTNOTES

[A] The Queen’s palace was in the rear of Raphael’s house and faced the Borgo Vecchio. Opposite to it was the palace of Cesare Borgia.

[B] Sixtus V was severely criticised for substituting his own arms for those of his predecessor, Gregory XIII, in the Quirinal Palace, and after Sixtus’s death the Boncompagni arms were restored to their original place.

[C] “Ounce” was a mediæval measurement of running water, of which there were once as many varieties in Italy as there were provinces. Some of these are still in use. The Roman _oncia d’acqua_, or ounce of water, was practically equivalent to four times the quantity of water known as the California “miner’s inch.” This “miner’s inch” amounts to something like sixteen thousand gallons in twenty-four hours, and therefore the grant of two Roman “ounces” gave the Colonna the right to draw from the Fountain of Trevi eight times that amount, or one hundred and twenty-eight thousand gallons every twenty-four hours.

[D] One of Vignola’s early plans for the Villa Giulia has lately come to light. It shows the main structure much as it is, but with a large wing to left and right, and a long garden running down either side of the central court behind each wing. There are also other differentiations, and it is evident the plan must have entailed a larger and more expensive building than that which was finally erected. The plan measures four by five feet and is beautifully prepared. It is now in the possession of Mr. Lawrence Grant White, of New York.

[E] This cardinal became Pope Marcellus, for whom Palestrina is said to have written the Mass of Pope Marcellus.

[F] A curious story related by Wraxall (“Memoirs,” vol. I, p. 183) shows that the Villa Giulia in its eighteenth century period of isolation and decay proved a convenient shelter for secret crimes committed by persons of exalted rank.

[G] The ornamental detail of the “Sixtine lion” looks as if this fountain, like the Tartarughe, had been finished in the pontificate following Gregory XIII’s--that is, in the pontificate of Sixtus V.

[H] The fate of the Roman obelisks presents one of the most baffling and fascinating problems of archæology. As no satisfactory explanation of their overthrow and mutilation has ever been given, possibly the theory that they were destroyed by the Romans of the Dark Ages, in search of bronze, is as good a working hypothesis as any other. The idea that they were wrecked by barbarians, and the assumption that they were thrown down by earthquakes are equally untenable. Much curious evidence goes to show that some of the principal obelisks were standing in the sixth and seventh centuries. One stood erect on its pedestal in Charlemagne’s time, while the fall of another can be placed as late as the tenth or eleventh century. Three of the principal obelisks show holes drilled in the shaft for the insertion of levers or crowbars, and have unmistakable marks of fire about the pedestal. Now, the Romans generally re-erected the obelisk, not directly upon its pedestal, but upon bronze crabs (as in the obelisk of the Vatican) or upon brass “dice” (as in the larger of the two obelisks in Constantinople). The Egyptians sheathed the pyramidion of the obelisk with “bright metal” to reflect the rays of the sun, and the Romans crowned the apex, sometimes if not always, with metal ornaments, like the ball upon the Vatican obelisk, which, until it was removed by Sixtus V, was supposed to contain the ashes of Julius Cæsar. The obelisk now in Central Park had been re-erected by the Romans at Alexandria, in this fashion, and one of the bronze crabs was brought to New York with the obelisk, and is now in the Metropolitan Museum. These bronze supports were firmly attached to the obelisk by heavy bronze dowels, one dowel running upward into each corner of the shaft, the other going down into each corner of the pedestal. Between the shaft and the pedestal there was therefore a space, perhaps some four inches in height, through which light was visible. This was seen in the Vatican obelisk, which was still _in situ_ when Fontana drew his plans for changing its location, and in the Central Park obelisk, as described by an eye-witness of its removal. Three historians of Rome’s destruction--Fea, Dyer, and Gibbon--describe the almost incredible ingenuity, labor, and patience exerted by the Romans of the Dark Ages in their search for bronze and other metals. Wherever bronze could be obtained, it was stolen, stripped, or melted, on account of its value and the ease with which it could be transported. During the same historic period, all pagan monuments were deprived of whatever protection they had had as objects of religious veneration. The obelisks standing in spacious and lonely surroundings would have proved an easy prey to bands of clandestine or open marauders. The Roman method of blasting consisted in building a fire against the rock and pouring vinegar, or even water, upon the red-hot stone which then disintegrated. It would have been an easy matter to kindle great fires at every corner of the pedestal which, by the time this kind of destruction became popular, had already lost much of their original height through the gradual rise of the ground level. This method of blasting by fire would account for the all but universal gnawing away, or rough rounding off of the lower corners of the shaft, in which the bronze dowels were so firmly embedded. After the disintegration of the granite the partially melted bronze could be extracted from both shaft and pedestal, but not before the shaft had been thrown over, and this was evidently helped along by the use of levers. When the shaft was prone, it became possible to remove any bronze which had been attached to its summit. With perhaps only one exception, the fallen shafts were always found broken in three pieces, but there seems to be no record of any bronze found in Rome, near the original sites of the obelisks. What bronze there is was on the one Roman obelisk that had not been thrown down (the Vatican obelisk). The original site of this obelisk, in the centre of the old circus of Caligula and Nero, was close to the old Church of St. Peter, and it was furthermore protected, according to Lanciani, by the chapel at its base, called the Chapel of the Crucifixion. When, in 1586, Fontana removed this obelisk to its present position in the centre of the modern Piazza of modern St. Peter’s, he re-erected it upon its original classic Roman crabs, hiding them by the purely decorative Sixtine lions of Prospero Bresciano, as they had been hidden in earlier times by the bronze lions mentioned by Plutarch, and gone since the sack of Rome in 1527. The obelisk in Constantinople, referred to above, is still standing on its four brass “dice.”

[I] This story is told in another form. In it Cardinal Farnese employs the same ruse to save the life of the young Duke of Parma.

[J] Suetonius, Bk. I. “And he (Cæsar) mounted the Capitol by torchlight with forty elephants bearing lamps on his right and on his left.”

[K] The “Memoirs of Madame d’Arblay” relate a touching incident in the life of this exiled Stuart.

Daddy Crump, Fanny Burney’s old gossip, while sojourning in Rome attended a carnival ball at a certain palace, where he saw many notables, among them King James III, as he was always called in Rome, and his two young sons--Prince Charles Edward and Henry, Duke of York. There were numbers of English among the guests, and, characteristically, they did not mingle with the other nationalities, but grouped themselves together in a solid mass at one end of the ballroom. Suddenly, while all were watching the dancers, King James, taking advantage of his mask and official incognito, crossed the room and placed himself in the front rank of his fellow countrymen. The moment was psychic, but the “loyal subjects of the House of Hanover” “took not the slightest notice of him” while he stood as his forebears had stood--an English king among his own people. Daddy Crump relates with smug satisfaction that the “English never moved an eyelid” during those few minutes when their hereditary sovereign assuaged the passionate homesickness of his exile heart with a brief and tragic make-believe.

[L] See Appendix.

[M] Compare the sensations produced by this fountain and those given by the “Rhapsodie Hongroise.”

CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX OF AQUEDUCTS MENTIONED, ANCIENT AND MODERN

ANCIENT

DATE OF
AQUEDUCT CONSTRUCTION PAGE
Appia 312 B. C. 38, 270.
Anio Vetus 272–269 B. C. 38.
Marcia 144–140 B. C. 38, 125, 266.
Alsietina (Under the 270, 273.
Emperor Augustus)
Virgo 19 B. C. 38, 86, 109, 148, 216, 229–232,
235, 237, 270, 271.
Claudia 38–52 A. D. x, 231.
Anio Novus 38–52 A. D. x.
Traiana 109 A. D. 14, 22, 231, 270, 271.
Alexandrina 226 A. D. 149, 216.

MODERN

Acqua Damasiana (Under Pope
Damasus) 8.
Acqua Vergine di
Trevi 1570 A. D. 14, 38, 90, 97, 98, 107, 109,
128, 141, 199, 200, 216, 219,
230, 232, 236, 242, 276.
Acqua Felice 1587 A. D. 22, 38, 39, 44, 124, 125, 128,
147, 149, 152, 158, 169, 172,
178, 259, 271, 272, 289, 290.
Acqua Paola 1611 A. D. 5, 6, 21, 22, 36, 37, 38, 78, 141,
271, 272, 276.
Acqua Marcia Pia 1870 A. D. 38–40, 200, 266.

CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX OF POPES MENTIONED

POPE DATE PAGE
Damasus 366–384 7, 8.
Symmachus 498–514 11–14.
Hadrian I 772–795 39, 57.
Celestine II 1143–1144 13.
Honorius III 1216–1227 13.
Eugenius IV 1431–1447 198.
Nicholas V 1447–1455 231, 232.
Sixtus IV 1471–1484 14, 23, 24, 28, 31, 57, 84, 232,
252.
Innocent VIII 1484–1492 14, 15, 271.
Alexander VI 1492–1503 14, 16, 24, 27, 29–32, 53, 77,
173, 253.
Julius II 1503–1513 23, 29, 32, 69, 253, 263.
Leo X 1513–1522 24, 32, 69, 139, 151.
Adrian VI 1522–1523 69.
Clement VII 1523–1534 69, 70, 75, 110.
Paul III 1534–1550 32, 45, 46, 52, 58, 63–79,
109–112, 188, 198, 211, 271.
Julius III 1550–1555 83–104, 109, 145, 148, 278.
Marcellus II 1555 102.
Paul IV 1555–1559 112.
Pius IV 1559–1566 86, 88, 89, 102, 109, 111, 112,
120, 124, 146, 216.
Pius V 1566–1572 86, 102, 109, 120, 126, 132, 232.
Gregory XIII 1572–1585 14, 52, 86, 89, 102, 108, 109,
112–114, 126, 129, 131, 139,
216, 288.
Sixtus V 1585–1590 17, 22, 23, 28, 37, 39, 44, 52,
89, 102, 103, 108, 109, 113,
119–132, 139, 146–152, 155–165,
174, 224, 232, 242, 251, 271,
272, 274, 275, 281, 288–296.
Urban VII 1590 156.
Gregory XIV 1590–1591 156.
Innocent IX 1591–1592 156.
Clement VIII 1592–1605 103, 156, 163, 278, 281, 282,
290.
Leo XI 1605 103, 172, 278, 281.
Paul V 1605–1621 3–18, 22–32, 66, 103, 145, 146,
148, 157, 187–189, 211, 222,
232, 270–284.
Urban VIII 1623–1644 24, 66, 172, 176, 199–201, 211,
222, 224, 235, 262, 283.
Innocent X 1644–1655 52, 219–222, 224.
Alexander VII 1655–1667 202.
Clement X 1670–1676 4.
Alexander VIII 1689–1691 273–275.
Clement XII 1730–1740 52, 55, 235, 237.
Benedict XIV 1740–1758 90, 235.
Clement XIII 1758–1769 225, 235.
Clement XIV 1769–1775 103, 104.
Pius VI 1775–1800 103, 104, 241, 262, 264, 289,
293, 297, 298.
Pius VII 1800–1823 241, 262, 264, 265, 289, 290,
293, 298–300.
Leo XII 1823–1829 109, 115.
Gregory XVI 1831–1846 147, 297.
Pius IX 1846–1878 35–40, 225, 299, 300.

ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ARCHITECTS, SCULPTORS, PAINTERS, AND ENGRAVERS MENTIONED

NAME DATE PAGE
Alberti, Leon Battista 1404–1472 232.
Amannati, Bartolommeo 1511–1586 84, 87, 88, 94, 95,
97, 100, 101, 127,
145–148.
Amici, Luigi 1813–1897 36, 219.
Antinori fl. ca. 1800 289.
Bandinelli, Baccio 1487–1559 54.
Baronino fl. ca. 1550 100.
Barozzi, Giacomo, da Vignola 1507–1573 84, 87, 94, 100,
101, 112, 252.
Berettina, Pietro da Cortona 1596–1669 120.
Bernini, Giovanni Lorenzo 1598–1680 5, 27, 77, 108, 135,
171, 181, 185,
186, 194, 199,
207, 208, 211,
219–225, 235, 250,
252.
Bernini, Pietro 1562–1629 199, 200.
Betti, Bernardino di Pinturicchio 1454–1513 77.
Bitta, della Zappalà 1807– 36, 220.
Bonanni fl. ca. 1570 17.
Brazza, Count (the elder) fl. ca. 1830 259.
Bresciano, Prospero fl. ca. 1585 147, 162.
Buonarroti, Michelangelo 1474–1564 23, 44–46, 49, 52,
54, 57–59, 69, 73,
77, 84, 94, 101,
109, 157, 236,
252, 271.
Canova, Antonio 1757–1822 194.
Cavalieri, Tommaso de fl. ca. 1500 52.
Cellini, Benvenuto 1500–1570 100, 110.
Cruyl 1640 (?) 165.
Falda, Giovanni Battista 1648–1691 108, 114, 165, 199,
200, 274.
Fontana, Carlo 1634–1714 4, 252.
Fontana, Domenico 1543–1607 22, 23, 28, 37, 38,
54, 87, 119, 120,
125–128, 131, 135,
145–150, 155–165,
171, 242, 249,
251, 272, 275,
288, 289, 293.
Fontana, Giovanni 1540–1641 22, 135, 272, 275,
277.
Gelée, Claude Lorraine 1600–1682 176.
Landini, Taddeo –1594 131, 136.
Lazzari Donato, Bramante da
Urbino 1444–1514 16, 23, 27, 28, 30,
263.
Letarouilly 1795–1865 96, 186.
Ligorio, Pirro 1493–1573 45, 88.
Lippi, Annibale fl. ca. 1550 171.
Maderno, Carlo 1556–1629 4, 6, 15, 21, 23,
32, 37, 135, 198,
199, 252, 272, 275.
Maggi 1566–1620(?) 155, 165, 274.
Millotti 165.
Mari, Gianantonio fl. ca. 1648 219.
Picconi, Antonio da Sangallo 1482–1546 69.
Pintelli, Baccio 1420–1480 252.
Piranesi, Giovanni Battista 1707–1778 49, 93, 124, 146,
158, 220, 242, 274.
Porta, Giacomo della 1541–1604 69, 107, 109, 112,
138, 216, 219, 220.
Porta, Giovanni Battista della 1539–1594 146.
Porta, Guglielmo della –1577 77, 135.
Poussin, Nicholas 1574–1665 176.
Rainaldi, Carlo 1611–1691 52, 65, 219, 252.
Rainaldi, Girolamo 1570–1655 52, 65.
Salvi, Niccolo 1699–1751 235.
Sanctis, Francesco de fl. ca. 1725 202.
Sanzio, Raphael da Urbino 1483–1520 23, 24, 27, 28, 139,
140.
Specchi, Alessandro 1665–1706 202.
Stern, Raphael 1790–1821 96, 103, 290.
Stocchi fl. ca. 1825 109.
Tenerani, Pietro 1789–1869 36.
Vacca, Flaminio 1530–1596 146.
Valadier, Giuseppe 1762–1839 215, 241–255, 262,
264, 265.
Vansantio, Antonio –1710(?) 66, 186.
Vasari, Giorgio 1493–1573 44, 54, 58, 94, 101,
164, 232.
Vespignani, Virginio 1808–1882 37.
Watteau, Antoine 1684–1721 186.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations.

Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of the pages that referenced them, have been collected, sequentially renumbered, and placed near the end of the book, just before the index.

The indices were not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.

The Errata listed at the beginning of the book have been corrected in this eBook.