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