Chapter C: Vibius . C. F. Rufinus . M. Cocceius . Nerva . Cos . Ex . S. C (6)

THE MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS.

_Turning out of the Ripetta on the left into the Via de' Pontefici, through a gateway on the right_, are the remains of this once handsome tomb; only the double reticulated wall, on which the tumulus with its trees formerly stood, remains. This ruin has been converted into a modern theatre, and thus the original finely-proportioned arrangements can no longer be traced. A part of the enclosure wall may be best seen from the court of the Palazzo Valdambrini, _102 Via Ripetta_. The mausoleum was built by Augustus, B.C. 27. Marcellus, Agrippa, Drusus, and Germanicus were buried there. Strabo describes it as standing upon a lofty substruction of white stone, and shaded up to the top with trees. The summit was crowned with the statue of Augustus in bronze, and there were two Egyptian obelisks at the entrance, brought over by Claudius. They are mentioned likewise by Marcellinus.

_It stood in_

THE CAMPUS MARTIUS,

which Strabo thus describes: "The plain, adorned by nature and art, is of wonderful extent, and affords an ample and a clear space for the running of chariots, and other equestrian and gymnastic exercises. It is in verdant bloom throughout the year, and is crowned by hills which rise above the Tiber and slope down to its very banks. The whole affords a picturesque and beautiful landscape, which you would linger to behold. Near to this plain is another of less magnitude; and all around it are innumerable porticoes and shady groves, besides three theatres, an amphitheatre, and various temples contiguous to each other, so that the rest of the city appears only an appendage to it." This lesser plain occupied the space between the Mausoleum of Augustus and the Theatre of Marcellus--the plain from the tomb to the modern Ponte Molle. "Sylla's monument stood in the Campus Martius" (Plutarch).

_Just past the bridge, a street on the left, by the side of the Borghese Palace, leads to the entrance of_

THE BORGHESE GALLERY,

_situated in the Piazza Borghese, which is connected with the Corso by the Via Fontanella Borghese. Catalogues for the use of visitors in each room. Open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 10 till 3._ The following are the principal objects of interest:--

FIRST ROOM: SCHOOLS OF MILAN AND PERUGIA.--3. Holy Family, by Perugino; 5. Vanity; 27, 28. Petrarch and Laura; 35. Raphael as a Boy, by himself; 43. Madonna, by Francia; 49, 57. History of Joseph, by Pinturicchio; 61. S. Antonio, by Francia; 68. Doubting Thomas, by Mazzolini.

SECOND ROOM: SCHOOL OF GAROFALO.--6. Madonna; 9. Mourners over Christ, both by Garofalo; 22. Portrait of a Cardinal, by Bronzino; 23. "Madonna col divin' amore," school of Raphael; 26. Cæsar Borgia (?), by Bronzino; 38. Entombment, by Raphael; 51. S. Stephen, by Francia.

THIRD ROOM.--5. "Noli me tangere," by Bronzino; 24, 28. Madonna, by Andrea del Sarto; 40. Danae, by Correggio (notice the cupids sharpening an arrow); 48. The Flagellation, by Sebastiano del Piombo; 46. Reading Magdalene, by Correggio.

FOURTH ROOM: BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.--2. Cumæan Sibyl, by Domenichino; 20. S. Joseph, by Guido; 36. Madonna, by Carlo Dolci; 42. Head of Christ, by Carlo Dolci; 43. Madonna, by Sassoferrato.

FIFTH ROOM.--11-14. The Four Seasons, by Albani; 15. The Hunt of Diana, by Domenichino; 25. The Deposition, by Zuccari.

SIXTH ROOM.--10. S. Stanislaus, by Ribera; 13. The Three Ages of Man, copied by Sassoferrato from Titian.

SEVENTH ROOM.--Mirrors painted with Cupids and flowers; marble tables.

EIGHTH ROOM.--Mosaic portrait of Pope Paul V.

NINTH ROOM.--1. Fresco, Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana; 2. Fresco, Nuptials of Vertumnus and Pomona; 3. Fresco, Archers Shooting at a Target,--all by Raphael or his school.

TENTH ROOM.--13. David with the Head of Goliath, by Giorgione; 21. Sacred and Profane Love, by Titian.

ELEVENTH ROOM.--11. Venus and Cupid on Dolphins, by Cambiaso; 15. Christ and the Mother of Zebedee's Children, by Bonifazio; 16. Return of the Prodigal, by Bonifazio; 17. Samson, by Titian.

TWELFTH ROOM: DUTCH SCHOOL.--1. Crucifixion, by Vandyck; 7. Entombment, by Vandyck; 8. Tavern Scene, Teniers; 22. Cattle-Piece, by Paul Potter.

_On leaving the gallery, turn to the right, and take the continuation of the Via Ripetta on the left. Keeping straight on down the Via della Scrofa, in the third turning on the right, at Via Portoghesi, is the Torre della Scimmia_, better known to Hawthorne's readers as

HILDA'S TOWER.

It is one of those medieval watch-towers that come upon one so unexpectedly in all sorts of out-of-the-way places in Rome. The Romans call it the Tower of the Monkey, from a legend that years ago the proprietor kept a monkey. This monkey one day seized upon a baby in the street below, and carried it to the top of the tower, to the agony of the parents, who vowed a shrine to the Virgin if the child were safely restored. No sooner was the vow uttered than the monkey brought down the baby by means of the water-pipe. The shrine was forthwith erected, and every evening the lamp is lighted at _Ave Maria_, and shines like a bright star till dawn.

_A little beyond, on the left, is the_ NEW WESLEYAN CHURCH FOR ITALIANS; _beyond which the Via Giustiniani, on the left, leads to the Piazza Rotonda_.

THE OBELISK

surmounts a fountain. This obelisk and the one in the Piazza Minerva were erected as pairs in Rome. They stood before the Temple of Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius. There is a small relief in the Villa Ludovisi, representing in its background a temple with four Ionic columns, and to the left an Egyptian obelisk. In the foreground, to the left, is the figure of Minerva, fronting a reclining female figure holding a vessel full of ears of corn (Isis?). By her side is Cupid, and at their back a figure holding something in a spread-out cloth. May not the temple in the background represent the Temple of Isis and Serapis?

THE PANTHEON.

This incomparable circular edifice, originally intended by Agrippa to form the conclusion of his thermæ,[14] with which it is intimately connected, is one of the noblest and most perfect productions of that style of architecture specifically denominated Roman. When the first wonderful creation of this species came into existence, the founder of this glorious dome appears to have himself shrunk back from it, and to have felt that it was not adapted to be the every-day residence of men, but to be a habitation for the gods.

The Church of S. Maria ad Martyres was originally the sudatorium, or sweating-room, of the baths of Agrippa, being similar in construction to all the sweating-rooms now existing, notably one in the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli. It exactly answers Vetruvius's description of this department of the baths. It seems afterwards to have been dedicated as a temple of the gods, or Pantheon of the Julian line, according to Dion Cassius (liii. 27), when the portico was added in the third consulship of Agrippa.