Chapter V: The Velabrum and the Ghetto (1)

S. Teodoro--Sta. Anastasia--Circus Maximus--S. Giorgio in
Velabro--Arch of Septimius Severus--Arch of
Janus--Cloaca-Maxima--Sta. Maria in Cosmedin--Temple of
Vesta--Temple of Fortuna Virilis--House of
Rienzi--Ponte-Rotto--Ponte Sublicio--S. Nicolo in Carcere--Theatre
of Marcellus--Portico of Octavia--Pescheria--Jewish
Synagogue--Palazzo Cenci--Fontana Tartarughe--Palazzo
Mattei--Palazzo Caetani--Sta. Caterina dei Funari--Sta. Maria
Campitelli--Palazzo Margana--Convent of the Tor de' Specchi.

The second turn on the right of the Roman Forum is the Via dei Fienili, formerly the _Vicus Tuscus_, so called from the Etruscan colony established there after the drying up of the marsh which occupied that site in the earliest periods of Roman history. During the empire, this street, leading from the Forum to the Circus Maximus, was one of the most important. Martial speaks of its silk-mercers; from an inscription on a tomb we know that the fashionable tailors were to be found there; and the perfumers' shops were of such abundance as to give to part of the street the name of Vicus Thurarius. At its entrance was the statue of the Etruscan god, Vertumnus, the patron of the quarter.[74] This was the street by which the processions of the Circensian games passed from the Forum to the Circus Maximus. In one of the Verrine Orations, an accusation brought by Cicero against the patrician Verres, was that from avaricious motives he had paved even this street--used for processions of the Circus--in such a manner that he would not venture to use it himself.[75]

All this valley was once a stagnant marsh, left by inundations of the Tiber, for in early times the river often overflowed the whole valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline hills, and even reached as far as the foot of the Quirinal, where the Goat's Pool, at which Romulus disappeared, is supposed to have formed part of the same swamp. Ovid, in describing the processions of the games, speaks of the willows and rushes which once covered this ground, and the marshy places which one could not pass over except with bare feet:

"Qua Velabra solent in Circum ducere pompas,
Nil præter salices crassaque canna fuit,
Sæpe suburbanas rediens conviva per undas
Cantat, et ad nautas ebria verba jacit.
Nondum conveniens diversis iste figuris
Nomen ab averso ceperat amne deus.
Hic quoque lucus erat juncis et arundine densus,
Et pede velato non adeunda palus.
Stagna recesserunt, et aquas sua ripa coërcet:
Siccaque nunc tellus. Mos tamen ille manet."

_Fast._ vi. 405.

We even know the price which was paid for being ferried across the Velabrum: "it was a _quadrans_, three times as much as one pays now for the boat at the Ripetta."[76] The creation of the Cloaca Maxima had probably done much towards draining, but some fragments of the marsh remained to a late period.

According to Varro the name of the Velabrum was derived from _vehere_, because of the boats which were employed to convey passengers from one hill to the other.[77] Others derive the name from _vela_, also in reference to the mode of transit, or, according to another idea, in reference to the awnings which were stretched across the street to shelter the processions,--though the name was in existence long before any processions were thought of.

It was the waters of the Velabrum which bore the cradle of Romulus and Remus from the Tiber, and deposited it under the famous fig-tree of the Palatine.

* * * * *

On the left of the Via dei Fienili (shut in by a railing, generally closed, but which will be opened on appealing to the sacristan next door) is the round _Church of S. Teodoro_. The origin of this building is unknown. It used to be called the temple of Romulus, on the very slight foundation that the famous bronze wolf, mentioned by Dionysius as existing in the temple of Romulus, was found near this spot. Dyer supposes that it may have been the Temple of Cybele; this, however, was upon, and not under, the Palatine. Be they what they may, the remains were dedicated as a Christian church by Adrian I., in the eighth century, and some well preserved mosaics in the tribune are of that time.

"It is curious to note in Rome how many a modern superstition has
its root in an ancient one, and how tenaciously customs still cling
to the old localities. On the Capitoline hill the bronze she-wolf
was once worshipped as the wooden Bambino is now. It stood in the
Temple of Romulus, and there the ancient Romans used to carry
children to be cured of their diseases by touching it. On the
supposed site of the temple now stands the church dedicated to S.
Teodoro, or Santo Toto, as he is called in Rome. Though names must
have changed and the temple has vanished, and church after church
has here decayed and been rebuilt, the old superstition remains,
and the common people at certain periods still bring their sick
children to Santo Toto, that he may heal them with his
touch."--_Story's Roba di Roma._[78]

Further on the left, still under the shadow of the Palatine Hill, is the large _Church of Sta. Anastasia_, containing, beneath the altar, a beautiful statue of the martyred saint reclining on a faggot.

"Notwithstanding her beautiful Greek name, and her fame as one of
the great saints of the Greek Calendar, Sta. Anastasia is
represented as a noble Roman lady, who perished during the
persecution of Diocletian. She was persecuted by her husband and
family for openly professing the Christian faith, but being
sustained by the eloquent exhortations of St. Chrysogonus, she
passed triumphantly, receiving in due time the crown of martyrdom,
being condemned to the flames. Chrysogonus was put to death with
the sword and his body thrown into the sea.

"According to the best authorities, these two saints did not suffer
in Rome, but in Illyria; yet in Rome we are assured that Anastasia,
after her martyrdom, was buried by her friend Apollina in the
garden of her house under the Palatine hill and close to the Circus
Maximus. There stood the church, dedicated in the fourth century,
and there it now stands. It was one of the principal churches in
Rome in the time of St. Jerome, who, according to ancient
tradition, celebrated mass at one of the altars, which is still
regarded with peculiar veneration."--_Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and
Legendary Art._

It was the custom for the mediæval popes to celebrate their second mass of Christmas night in this church, for which reason Sta. Anastasia is still especially commemorated in that mass.

To the left of the high altar is the tomb of the learned Cardinal Mai, by the sculptor Benzoni, who owed everything to the kind interest with which this cardinal regarded him from childhood. The epitaph is remarkable. It is thus translated by Cardinal Wiseman:

"I, who my life in wakeful studies wore,
Bergamo's son, named Angelo, here lie.
The empyreal robe and crimson hat I bore,
Rome gave. Thou giv'st me, Christ, th' empyreal sky.
Awaiting Thee, long toil I could endure:
So with Thee be my rest now, sweet, secure."

Through this church, also, we may enter some of the subterraneous chambers of the Palace of the Cæsars.

The valley near this, between the Palatine and the Aventine, was the site of the _Circus Maximus_, of which the last vestiges were destroyed in the time of Paul V. Its ground plan can, however, be identified, with the assistance of the small circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, which still partially exists. It was intended for chariot-races and horse-races, and is said to have been first instituted by Tarquinius Priscus after his conquest of the Latin town of Apiolæ. It was a vast oblong, ending in a semicircle, and surrounded by three rows of seats, termed collectively _cavea_. In the centre of the area was the low wall called the _spina_, at each end of which were the _metæ_, or goals. Between the metæ were columns supporting the _ova_, egg-shaped balls, and _Delphinæ_, or dolphins, each seven in number, one of which was put up for each circuit made in the race. At the extremity of the Circus were the stalls for the horses and chariots called _Carceres_. This, the square end of the Circus, was termed _oppidum_, from its external resemblance to a town, with walls and towers. In the Circus Maximus, which was used for hunting wild beasts, Julius Cæsar made a canal, called _Euripus_,[79] ten feet wide, between the seats and the racecourse, to protect the spectators. The _Ludi Circenses_ were first established by Romulus, to attract his Sabine neighbours, in order that he might supply his city with wives. The games were generally at the expense of the ædiles, and their cost was so great, that Cæsar was obliged to sell his Tiburtine villa, to defray those given during his ædileship. Perhaps the most magnificent games known were those in the reign of Carinus (Imp. A.D. 283), when the Circus was transformed into an artificial forest, in which hundreds of wild beasts and birds were slaughtered. At one time this Circus was capable of containing 385,000 persons.

At the western extremity of the Circus Maximus stood the Temple of Ceres, Liber, and Libera (said to have been vowed by the Dictator Albus Postumius, at the battle of the Lake Regillus), dedicated by the Consul Sp. Cassius, B.C. 492.

"Quand le père de Cassius l'eut immolé de ses propres mains à
l'avidité patricienne, il fit don du pécule de son fils--un fils
n'avait que son pécule comme un esclave--à ce même temple de Cérès
que Spurius Cassius avait consacré, et par une féroce ironie, mit
au bas de la statue faite avec cet argent, et qu'il dédiait à la
déesse: 'Don de la famille Cassia.'

"L'ironie était d'autant plus amère, que l'on vendait auprès du
temple de Cérès ceux qui avaient offensé au tribun.

"Ce temple, mis particulièrement sous la surveillance des édiles et
où ils avaient leurs archives, était le temple de la démocratie
romaine. Le farouche patricien le choisit pour lui faire adresser
par son fils mort au service de la démocratie un dérisoire
hommage."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._ ii. 416.

We must now retrace our steps for a short distance, and descend into a hollow on the left, which we have passed, between the churches of S. Teodoro and Sta. Anastasia.

Here an interesting group of buildings still stands to mark the site of the famous ox-market, _Forum Boarium_. In its centre a brazen bull, brought from Egina,[80] once commemorated the story of the oxen of Geryon, which Hercules left to pasture on this marshy site, and which were stolen hence by Cacus,--and is said by Ovid to have given a name to the locality:

"Pontibus et magno juncta est celeberrima Circo
Area, quæ posito de bove nomen habet."

_Fast._ vi. 478.

The fact of this place being used as a market for oxen is mentioned by Livy.[81]

The Forum Boarium is associated with several deeds of cruelty. After the battle of Cannæ, a male and female Greek and a male and female Gaul were buried alive here;[82] and here the first fight of gladiators took place, being introduced by M. and D. Brutus, at the funeral of their father in B.C. 264.[83] Here the Vestal virgins buried the sacred utensils of their worship, at the spot called Doliola, when they fled from Rome after the battle of the Allia.[84]

Amongst the buildings which once existed in the Forum Boarium, but of which no trace remains, were the Temple of the Sabine deity Matuta, and the Temple of Fortune, both ascribed to Servius Tullius.

"Hac ibi luce ferunt Matutæ sacra parenti,
Sceptiferas Servi templa dedisse manus."

_Ovid, Fast._ vi. 479.

"Lux eadem, Fortuna, tua est, auctorque, locusque,
Sed superinjectis quis latet æde togis?
Servius est: hoc constat enim----"

_Fast._ vi. 569.

The Temple of Fortune was rebuilt by Lucullus, and Dion Cassius mentions that the axle of Julius Cæsar's car broke down in front of it on occasion of one of his triumphs.[85] Another temple in this neighbourhood was that of Pudicitia Patricia, into which the noble ladies refused to admit Virginia, because she had espoused a plebeian consul[86] (see Chap. X.). Here, also, was the Temple of Hercules Victor, erected by Pompey.[87] The two earliest triumphal arches were built in this forum, being in honour of L. Stertinius, erected B.C. 196, after his victories in Spain.

The building which first attracts attention, among those now standing, is the _Arch of Janus_, the Sabine god. It has four equal sides and arches, turned to the four points of the compass, and forty-eight niches, probably intended for the reception of small statues. Bas-reliefs on the inverted blocks employed in the lower part of this edifice, show that they must have been removed from earlier buildings. This was probably used as a portico for shelter or business for those who trafficked in the Forum; there were many similar porticoes in ancient Rome.

On the left of the arch of Janus is a narrow alley, spanned by low brick arches, which leads first to the beautiful clear spring of the Aqua Argentina, which, according to some authorities, is the place where Castor and Pollux watered their horses after the battle of the Lake Regillus.

"Then on rode those strange horsemen,
With slow and lordly pace;
And none who saw their bearing
Durst ask their name or race.
On rode they to the Forum,
While laurel boughs and flowers
From house-tops and from windows,
Fell on their crests in showers.

"When they drew nigh to Vesta,
They vaulted down amain,
And washed their horses in the well
That springs by Vesta's fane.
And straight again they mounted
And rode to Vesta's door;
Then, like a blast, away they passed,
And no man saw them more."

_Macaulay's Lays._

The alley is closed by an arch of the celebrated _Cloaca Maxima_, the famous drain formed by Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome, to dry the marshy land of the Velabrum.

"Infima urbis loca circa Forum, aliasque interjectas collibus
convalles, quia ex planis locis haud facile evehebant aquas,
cloacis a fastigio in Tiberim ductis siccat."--_Livy_, lib. i. c.
38.

The Cloaca extended from the Forum to the Tiber, and is still, after 2,400 years, used, during the latter part of its course, for the purpose for which it was originally intended, though Pliny was filled with wonder that, in his time, it had already withstood the earthquakes, inundations, and accidents of seven hundred years. Strabo tells that the tunnel of the Cloaca was of sufficient height to admit a waggon laden with hay, but this probably supposes the water at its lowest. Agrippa, who cleaned out the Cloaca, navigated its whole length in a boat. The mouth of the Cloaca, composed of three concentric courses of blocks of peperino, without cement, is visible on the river a little to the right of the temple of Vesta.

"Ces lieux ont encore un air et comme une odeur de marécage--quand
on rôde aux approches de la nuit dans ce coin désert de Rome où fut
placée la scène des premiers moments de son premier roi, on y
retrouve, à présent mieux qu'au temps de Tite-Live, quelque chose
de l'impression que ce lieu devait produire il y a vingt-cinq
siècles, à l'époque où, selon la vieille tradition, le berceau de
Romulus s'arrêta dans les boues du Vélabre, au pied du Palatin,
près de l'antre Lupercal. Il faut s'écarter un peu de cet endroit,
qui était au pied du versant occidental du Palatin, et faire
quelques pas à droite pour aller chercher les traces du Vélabre là
où les rues et les habitations modernes ne les ont pas entièrement
effacées. En s'avançant vers la Cloaca Maxima, on rencontre un
enfoncement où une vieille église, elle-même au dedans humide et
moisie, rappelle par son nom, San Giorgio in Velabro, que le
Vélabre a été là. On voit sourdre encore les eaux qui
l'alimentaient sous une voûte sombre et froide, tapissée de
mousses, de scolopendres et de grandes herbes frissonnant dans la
nuit. Alentour, tout a un aspect triste et abandonné, abandonné
comme le furent au bord du marais, suivant l'antique récit, les
enfants dont on croit presque ouïr dans le crépuscule les
vagissements. L'imagination n'a pas de peine à se représenter les
arbres et les plantes aquatiques qui croissaient sur le bord de cet
enfoncement que voilà, et à travers lesquelles la louve de la
légende se glissait à cette heure pour venir boire à cette eau. Ces
lieux sont assez peu fréquentés et assez silencieux pour qu'on se
les figure comme ils étaient alors, alors qu'il n'y avait ici,
comme dit Tite-Live, vrai cette fois, que des solitudes désertes:
_Vastæ tunc solitudines erant_."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._ i. 271.

The church with the picturesque campanile near the arch of Janus, is _S. Giorgio in Velabro_, founded in the fourth century, as the Basilica Sempronia, but repeatedly rebuilt. The architrave above its portico was that where Rienzi affixed his famous inscription, announcing the return to the Good Estate: "_In breve tempo gli Romani torneranno al loro antico buono stato_." The church is seldom open, except on its festival (Jan. 20), and during its station in Lent. The interior is in the basilica form, the long nave being lined by sixteen columns, of various sizes, and with strangely different capitals, showing that they have been plundered from ancient temples. The carving on some of the capitals is sharp and delicate. There is a rather handsome ancient baldacchino, with an old Greek picture let into its front, over the high altar. Beneath is preserved a fragment of the banner of St George. Some injured frescoes in the tribune replace mosaics which once existed here, and which were attributed to Giotto. In the centre is the Saviour, between the Virgin and St. Peter; on one side, St. George with the martyr's palm and the warrior's banner,--on the other, St. Sebastian, with an arrow. Several fragments of carving and inscriptions are built into the side walls. The pictures are poor and ugly which relate to the saint of the church, St. George (the patron of England and Germany), the knight of Cappadocia, who delivered the Princess Cleodolinda from the dragon.

"Among good specimens of thirteenth century architecture is the
portico of S. Giorgio, with Ionic columns and horizontal
architrave, on which is a gothic inscription, in quaint Leonine
verse, informing us that the Cardinal (or Prior) Stephen, added
this detail (probably the campanile also), to the ancient
church--about the middle of the thirteenth century, as is supposed,
though no date is given here; and in the midst of an age so alien
to classic influences, a work in which classic feeling thus
predominates, is remarkable."--_Heman's Sacred Art._

Partly hidden by the portico of this church, is the beautiful miniature _Arch of Septimius Severus_, erected to the emperor, his wife Julia Pia, and his sons Caracalla and Geta, by the silversmiths (argentarii) who had their shops in the Forum Boarium on this very spot ("cujus loci qui invehent"). The part of the dedication relating to Geta (as in the larger arch of Septimius) was obliterated after his murder, and the words FORTISSIMO FELICISSIMOQUE PRINCIPI engraved in its place. The architecture and sculpture, part of which represents a sacrifice by the imperial family, prove the decadence of art at this period.

Proceeding in a direct line from the Arch of Janus, we reach the _Church of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin_, on the site of a Temple of Ceres, dedicated by the consul Spurius Cassius, B.C. 493, and afterwards re-dedicated to Ceres and Proserpine, probably by Augustus, who had been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries in Greece. The church was built in the basilica form, in 782, by Adrian I., when the name Cosmedin, from the Greek κοσμος, is supposed to have been given, from the ornaments with which he adorned it It was intended for the use of the Greek exiles expelled from the East by the iconoclasts under Constantine Copronimus, and derived the epithet of Sta. Maria in Scuola Greca, from a "Schola" attached to it for their benefit. Another relic of the Greek colony which existed here is to be found in the name of the adjoining street, Via della Greca. In the middle ages the whole bank of the river near this was called Ripa Greca.

The interior of this church is of great interest. The nave is divided from the aisles by twelve ancient marble columns, of which two have especially curious antique capitals, and are evidently remains of the temple which once existed here. The choir is raised, as at S. Clemente. The pavement is of splendid Opus Alexandrinum (1120); the ambones are perfect; there is a curious crypt; the altar covers an ancient bason of red granite, and is shaded by a gothic canopy, supported by four Egyptian granite pillars; behind it is a fine episcopal throne, with lions, said to have been used by St. Augustine, an ancient Greek picture of the Virgin, and a graceful tabernacle of marble inlaid with mosaic, by _Deodato Cosmati_. In the sacristy is a very curious mosaic, one of the few relics preserved from the old St Peter's, A.D. 705. (There is another in S. Marco at Florence.) Crescimbeni, the founder and historian of the Arcadian Academy (d. 1728), is buried in this church, of which he was a canon. On St. Valentine's Day the skull of St. Valentine, crowned with roses, is exhibited here.

In the portico is the strange and huge mask of stone, which gives the name of _Bocca della Verita_ to the neighbouring piazza. It was believed that if a witness, whose truthfulness was doubtful, were desired to place his hand in the mouth of this mask, he would be unable to withdraw it, if he were guilty of perjury.

"Cette Bouche-de-Vérité est une curieuse relique du moyen âge. Elle
servait aux jugements de Dieu. Figurez-vous une meule de moulin qui
ressemble, non pas à un visage humain, mais au visage de la lune:
on y distingue des yeux, un nez et une bouche ouverte où l'accusé
mettait la main pour prêter serment. Cette bouche mordait les
menteurs; au moins la tradition l'assure. J'y ai introduit ma
dextre en disant que le Ghetto était un lieu de délices, et je n'ai
pas été mordu."--_About, Rome Contemporaine._

On the other side of the portico is the tomb of Cardinal Alfanus, ob. 1150.

"The church was rebuilt under Calixtus II.; about A.D. 1128, by
Alfanus, Roman Chancellor, whose marble sepulchre stands in the
atrium, with his epitaph, along a cornice, giving him that most
comprehensive title, 'an honest man,' _vir probus_. Some more than
half-faded paintings, a Madonna and Child, angels, and two mitred
heads, on the wall behind the canopy, give importance to this
Chancellor's tomb. Though now disfigured exteriorly by a modern
façade in the worst style, interiorly by a waggon-vault roof and
heavy pilasters, this church is still one of the mediæval gems of
Rome, and retains many olden details: the classic colonnades,
probably left in their original place since the time of Adrian I.;
and the fine campanile, one of the loftiest in Rome; also the
sculptured doorway, the rich intarsio pavement, the high altar, the
marble and mosaic-inlaid ambones, the marble episcopal throne, with
supporting lions and a mosaic decoration above, &c.,--all of the
twelfth century. But we have to regret the destruction of the
ancient choir-screens, and (still more inexcusable) the
white-washing of wall surfaces so as entirely to conceal the
mediæval paintings which adorned them, conformably to that once
almost universal practice of polychrome decoration in churches,
prescribed even by law under Charlemagne. Ciampini (see his
valuable history of this basilica) mentions the iron rods for
curtains between the columns of the atrium, and those, still in
their place, in the porch, with rings for suspending; also a small
chapel with paintings, at one end of the atrium, designed for those
penitents who were not allowed to worship within the sacred
building--as such, an evidence of disciplinary observance, retained
till the twelfth century. Over the portal are some tiny
bas-reliefs, so placed along the inner side of the lintel that many
might pass underneath without seeing them: in the centre, a hand
blessing, with the Greek action, between two sheep, laterally; the
four evangelistic emblems, and two doves, each pecking out of a
vase, and one perched upon a dragon (more like a lizard), to
signify the victory of the purified soul over mundane
temptations."--_Hemans' Christian Art._

Close to this church stood the Palace of Pope Gelasius II. (1118).

Opposite the church is a beautiful fountain, erected by one of the Medici, and beyond it the graceful round temple now called the _Temple of Vesta_, supposed by Canina to have been that of Mater Matuta, and by others to have been that of Hercules founded by Pompey. It is known to have existed in the time of Vespasian. It is very small, the circumference of the peristyle being only 156 feet, and that of the cella 26 feet,--the height of the surrounding Corinthian columns (originally twenty in number) 32 feet This temple was first dedicated as a church under the name of S. Stefano delle Carrozze; it is now called _Sta. Maria del Sole_.

This is not the Temple of Vesta (which was situated near the Church of Sta. Maria Liberatrice in the Forum) of which Horace wrote:--

"Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis
Littore Etrusco violenter undis,
Ire dejectum monumenta regum
Templaque Vestæ."

_Carm._ i. 2.

The modern overhanging roof of the temple has been much objected to, as it replaces an entablature like that on the temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli; but artists admire the exquisite play of light and shade caused by its rugged tiles, and, finding it a perfect "subject," wish for no change.

"C'est auprès de la Bouche-de-Vérité, devant le petit temple de
Vesta, que la justice romaine exécute un meurtrier sur cent. Quand
j'arrivai sur la place, on n'y guillotinait personne; mais six
cuisinières, dont une aussi belle que Junon, dansaient la
tarantelle au son d'un tambour de basque. Malheureusement elles
divinèrent ma qualité d'étranger, et elles se mirent à polker
contre la mesure."--_About._

Close to this--overhanging a little hollow way--is the _Temple of Fortuna Virilis_, built originally by Servius Tullius, but rebuilt during the republic, and, if the existing building is really republican, the most ancient temple remaining in Rome. It is surrounded by Ionic columns (one side being enclosed in other buildings), 28 feet high, clothed with hard stucco, and supporting an entablature adorned with figures of children, oxen, candelabra, &c. The Roman matrons had a great regard for this goddess, who was supposed to have the power of concealing their personal imperfections from the eyes of men. At the close of the tenth century this temple was consecrated to the Virgin, but has since been bestowed upon _St. Mary of Egypt_.

Hard by, is a picturesque end of building, laden with rich but incongruous sculpture, at one time called "The House of Pilate," but now known as the _House of Rienzi_. It derives its present name from a long inscription over a doorway, which tallies with the bombastic epithets assumed by "The Last of the Tribunes" in his pompous letter of Aug. 1, 1347, when, in his semi-madness, he summoned kings and emperors to appear before his judgment-seat. The inscription closes:--

"Primus de primis magnus Nicolaus ab imis,
Erexit patrum decus ob renovare suorum.
Stat patris Crescens matrisque Theodora nomen.
Hoc culmen clarum caro de pignore gessit,
Davidi tribuit qui pater exhibuit."

It is believed, from the inscription, that the house was fortified by Nicholas, son of Crescentius and Theodora, who gave it to David, his son; that the Crescentius alluded to was son of the famous patrician who headed the populace against Otho III.; and that, three centuries later, the house may have belonged to Cola di Rienzi, a name which is, in fact, only popular language for Niccola Crescenzo. It is, however, known that Rienzi was not born in this house, but in a narrow street behind S. Tommaso, in the Rione alla Regola, where his father Lorenzo kept an inn, and his mother, Maddalena, gained her daily bread as a washerwoman and water-carrier--so were the Crescenzi fallen!

Here is the entrance to a suspension-bridge, which joins the remaining arches of the _Ponte Rotto_, and leads to the Trastevere. On this site was the Pons Æmilius, begun, B.C. 180, by M. Æmilius Lepidus and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, and finished by P. Scipio Africanus and L. Mummius, the censors, in B.C. 142. Hence the body of the Emperor Heliogabalus was thrown into the Tiber. The bridge has been three times rebuilt by different popes, but two of its arches were finally carried away in an inundation of 1598, and have never since been replaced. The existing remains, which only date from the time of Julius III., are highly picturesque.

"Quand on a établi un pont en fil de fer, on lui a donné pour base
les piles du Ponte-Rotto, élevé au moyen âge sur les fondements du
Pons Palatinus, qui fut achevé sous la censure de Scipion
l'Africain. Scipion l'Africain et un pont en fil de fer, voilà de
ces contrastes qu'on ne trouve qu'à Rome."--_Ampère, Emp._ ii. 209.

From this bridge is the best view of the Isola Tiberina and its bridges, and hence, also, the Temple of Vesta is seen to great advantage. Just below is the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima.

"Quand du Ponte-Rotto on considère le triple cintre de l'ouverture
par laquelle la Cloaca Maxima se déchargeait dans le Tibre, on a
devant les yeux un monument qui rappelle beaucoup de grandeur et
beaucoup d'oppression. Ce monument extraordinaire est une page
importante de l'histoire romaine. Il est à la fois la suprême
expression de la puissance des rois étrusques et le signe
avant-coureur de leur chute. L'on croit voir l'arc triomphal de la
royauté par où devait entrer la république."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._
ii. 233.

In the bed of the river a little lower down may be seen, at low water, some massive fragments of masonry. Here stood the _Pons Sublicius_, the oldest bridge in Rome, built by Ancus Martius (B.C. 639), on which Horatius Cocles and his two companions "kept the bridge" against the Etruscan army of Lars Porsenna, till--

"Back darted Spurius Lartius;
Herminius darted back:
And, as they passed, beneath their feet
They felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces,
And on the farther shore
Saw brave Horatius stand alone,
They would have crossed once more.

"But with a crash like thunder
Fell every loosened beam,
And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
Lay right athwart the stream:
And a long shout of triumph
Rose from the walls of Rome,
As to the highest turret-tops
Was splashed the yellow foam."

_Macaulay's Lays._

The name "Sublicius" came from the wooden beams of its construction, which enabled the Romans to cut it away. The bridge was rebuilt by Tiberius and again by Antoninus Pius, each time of beams, but upon stone piers, of which the present remains are fragments, the rest having been destroyed by an inundation in the time of Adrian I.

On the Trastevere bank, between these two bridges, half hidden in shrubs and ivy (but worth examination in a boat), are two gigantic _Heads of Lions_, to which in ancient times chains were fastened, and drawn across the river to prevent hostile vessels from passing.

Near this we enter the _Via S. Giovanni Decollato_, decorated with numerous heads of John the Baptist in the dish, let into the walls over the doors of the houses. The "Confraternità della Misericordia di S. Giovanni Decollato," founded in 1488, devote themselves to criminals condemned to death. They visit them in prison, accompany them to execution, receive their bodies, and offer masses for their souls in their little chapel. Vasari gives the highest praise to two pictures of Francesco Salviati in the Church of S. Giov. Decollato, "before which all Rome stood still in admiration,"--representing the appearance of the angel to Zacharias, and the meeting of the Virgin and Elizabeth.

On the left is the _Hospital of Sta. Galla_, commemorating the pious foundation of a Roman matron in the time of John I. (523--526), who attained such celebrity, that she is still commemorated in the Roman mass by the prayer--

"Almighty and merciful God, who didst adorn the blessed Galla with
the virtue of a wonderful love towards thy poor; grant us, through
her merits and prayers, to practise works of love, and to obtain
Thy mercy, through the Lord, &c. Amen."

On, or very near this site, stood the _Porta Carmentalis_, which, with the temple beside it, commemorated Carmenta, the supposed mother of Evander, a Sabine prophetess, who is made by Ovid to predict the future grandeur of Rome.[88] Carmenta was especially invoked by women in childbirth. The Porta Carmentalis was reached from the Forum by the Vicus Jugarius. It was by this route that the Fabii went forth to meet their doom in the valley of the Crimera. The Porta had two gates--one for those who entered, the other for those who left it, so that in each case the passenger passed through the "Janus," as it was called, upon his right. After the massacre of the Fabii, the road by which they left the city was avoided, and the Janus Carmentalis on the right was closed, and called the Porta Scelerata.

"Carmentis portæ dextro via proxima Jano est
Ire per hanc noli, quisquis es; omen habet."

_Ovid, Fast._ ii. 201.

Just beyond the Porta Carmentalis was the district called _Tarentum_, where there was a subterranean "Ara Ditis Patris et Proserpinæ."

We now reach (left) the _Church of S. Nicolo in Carcere_. It has a mean front, with an inscription in honour of one of the Aldobrandini family, and is only interesting as occupying the site of the three _Temples of Juno Matuta, Piety(?), and Hope_, which are believed to mark the site of the Forum Olitorium. The vaults beneath the church contain the massive substructions of these temples, and fragments of their columns.

The central temple is believed to be that of Piety, built by M. Acilius Glabrio, the duumvir, in B.C. 165 (though Pliny says that this temple was on the site afterwards occupied by the theatre of Marcellus), in fulfilment of a vow made by his father, a consul of the same name, on the day of his defeating the forces of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, at Thermopylæ. Others endeavour to identify it with the temple built on the site of the Decemviral prisons, to keep up the recollection of the famous story, called the "Caritas Romana,"--of a woman condemned to die of hunger in prison being nourished by the milk of her own daughter. Pliny and Valerius Maximus tell the story as of a mother; Festus only speaks of a father;[89]--yet art and poetry have always followed the latter legend. A cell is shown, by torchlight, as the scene of this touching incident.

"There is a dungeon, in whose dim drear light
What do I gaze on? Nothing. Look again!
Two forms are slowly shadowed on my sight--
Two insulated phantoms of the brain:
It is not so; I see them full and plain--
An old man, and a female young and fair,
Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein
The blood is nectar:--but what doth she there,
With her unmantled neck, and bosom white and bare?

"But here youth offers to old age the food,
The milk of his own gift:--it is her sire,
To whom she renders back the debt of blood
Born with her birth. No, he shall not expire
While in those warm and lovely veins the fire
Of health and holy feeling can provide
Great Nature's Nile, whose deep stream rises higher
Than Egypt's river;--from that gentle side
Drink, drink, and live, old man! Heaven's realm holds no such tide.

"The starry fable of the milky-way
Has not thy story's purity; it is
A constellation of a sweeter ray,
And sacred Nature triumphs more in this
Reverse of her decree, than in the abyss
Where sparkle distant worlds:--Oh, holiest nurse!
No drop of that clear stream its way shall miss
To thy sire's heart, replenishing its source
With life, as our freed souls rejoin the universe."

_Childe Harold._

A memorial of this story of a prison is preserved in the name of the church--S. Nicolo _in Carcere_. It was probably owing to this legend that, in front of the Temple of Piety, was placed the _Columna Lactaria_, where infants were exposed, in the hope that some one would take pity upon and nurse them out of charity.

A wide opening out of the street near this, with a pretty fountain, is called the _Piazza Montanara_, and is one of the places where the country people collect and wait for hire.

"Le dimanche est le jour où les paysans arrivent à Rome. Ceux qui
cherchent l'emploi de leurs bras viennent se louer aux marchands de
campagne, c'est-à-dire aux fermiers. Ceux qui sont loués et qui
travaillent hors des murs viennent faire leurs affaires et
renouveler leurs provisions. Ils entrent en ville au petit jour
après avoir marché une bonne partie de la nuit. Chaque famille
amène un âne, qui porte le bagage. Hommes, femmes, et enfants,
poussant leur âne devant eux, s'établissent dans un coin de la
place Farnèse, ou de la place Montanara. Les boutiques voisines
restent ouvertes jusqu'à midi, par un privilège spécial. On va, on
vient, on achète, on s'accroupit dans les coins pour compter les
pièces de cuivre. Cependant les ânes se reposent sur leurs quatre
pieds au bord des fontaines. Les femmes, vêtues d'un corset en
cuirasse, d'un tablier rouge, et d'une veste rayée, encadrent leur
figure hâlée dans une draperie de linge très-blanc. Elles sont
toutes à peindre sans exception: quand ce n'est pas pour la beauté
de leurs traits, c'est pour l'élégance naïve de leurs attitudes.
Les hommes ont le long manteau bleu de ciel et le chapeau pointu;
là-dessous leurs habits de travail font merveille, quoique roussis
par le temps et couleur de perdrix. Le costume n'est pas uniforme;
on voit plus d'un manteau amadou rapiécé de bleu vif ou de rouge
garance. Le chapeau de paille abonde en été. La chaussure est
très-capricieuse; soulier, botte et sandale foulent successivement
le pavé. Les déchaussés trouvent ici près de grandes et profondes
boutiques où l'on vend des marchandises d'occasion. Il y a des
souliers de tout cuir et de tout âge dans ces trésors de la
chaussure; on y trouverait des cothurnes de l'an 500 de la
république, en cherchant bien. Je viens de voir un pauvre diable
qui essayait une paire de bottes à revers. Elles vont à ses jambes
comme une plume à l'oreille d'un porc, et c'est plaisir de voir la
grimace qu'il fait chaque fois qu'il pose le pied à terre. Mais le
marchand le fortifie par de bonnes paroles: 'Ne crains rien,' lui
dit-il, 'tu souffriras pendant cinq ou six jours, et puis tu n'y
penseras plus.' Un autre marchand débite des clous à la livre: le
chaland les enfonce lui-même dans ses semelles; il y a des bancs
_ad hoc_. Le long des murs, cinq ou six chaises de paille servent
de boutique à autant de barbiers en plein vent. Il en coute un sou
pour abattre une barbe de huit jours. Le patient, barbouillé de
savon, regarde le ciel d'un œil résigné; le barbier lui tire le
nez, lui met les doigts dans la bouche, s'interrompt pour aiguiser
le rasoir sur un cuir attaché au dossier de la chaise, ou pour
écorner une galette noire qui pend au mur. Cependant l'opération
est faite en un tour de main; le rasé se lève et sa place est
prise. Il pourrait aller se laver à la fontaine, mais il trouve
plus simple de s'essuyer du revers de sa manche.

"Les écrivains publics alternent avec les barbiers. On leur apporte
les lettres qu'on a reçues; ils les lisent et font la réponse:
total, trois sous. Dès qu'un paysan s'approche de la table pour
dicter quelque-chose, cinq ou six curieux se réunissent
officieusement autour de lui pour mieux entendre. Il y a une
certaine bonhomie dans cette indiscrétion. Chacun place son mot,
chacun donne un conseil: 'Tu devrais dire ceci.'--'Non; dis plutôt
cela.'--'Laissez-le parler,' crie un troisième, 'il sait mieux que
vous ce qu'il veut faire écrire.'

"Quelques voitures chargées de galettes d'orge et de maïs circulent
au milieu de la foule. Un marchand de limonade, armé d'une pince de
bois, écrase les citrons dans les verres. L'homme sobre boit à la
fontaine en faisant un aqueduc des bords de son chapeau. Le gourmet
achète des viandes d'occasion devant un petit étalage, où les
rebuts de cuisine se vendent à la poignée. Pour un sou, le débitant
remplit de bœuf haché et d'os de côtelettes un morceau de vieux
journal; une pincée de sel ajoutée sur le tout pare agréablement la
denrée. L'acheteur marchande, non sur le prix, qui est invariable,
mais sur la quantité; il prend au tas quelques bribes de viande, et
on le laisse faire; car rien ne se conclut à Rome sans marchander.

"Les ermites et les moines passent de groupe en groupe en quêtant
pour les âmes du purgatoire. M'est avis que ces pauvres ouvriers
font leur purgatoire en ce monde; et qu'il vaudrait mieux leur
donner de l'argent que de leur en demander; ils donnent pourtant,
et sans se faire tirer l'oreille.

"Quelquefois un beau parleur s'amuse à raconter une histoire; on
fait cercle autour de lui, et à mesure que l'auditoire augmente il
élève la voix. J'ai vu de ces conteurs qui avaient la physionomie
bien fine et bien heureuse; mais je ne sais rien de charmant comme
l'attention de leur public. Les peintres du quinzième siècle ont dû
prendre à la place Montanara les disciples qu'ils groupaient autour
du Christ."--_About, Rome Contemporaine._

An opening on the left discloses the vast substructions of the _Theatre of Marcellus_. This huge edifice seems to have been projected by Julius Caesar, but he probably made little progress in it. It was actually erected by Augustus, and dedicated (_c._ 13 B.C.) in memory of the young nephew whom he married to his daughter Julia, and intended as his successor, but who was cut off by an early death. The theatre was capable of containing 20,000 spectators, and consisted of three tiers of arches, but the upper range has disappeared, and the lower is very imperfect. Still it is a grand remnant, and rises magnificently above the paltry houses which surround it. The perfect proportions of its Doric and Ionic columns served as models to Palladio.

"Le mur extérieur du portique demi-circulaire qui enveloppait les
gradins offre encore à notre admiration deux étages d'arceaux et de
colonnes doriques et ioniques d'une beauté presque grecque. L'étage
supérieur, qui devait être corinthien, a disparu. Les _fornices_,
ou voûtes du rez-de chaussée, sont habitées encore aujourd'hui
comme elles l'étaient dans l'antiquité, mais plus honnêtement, par
de pauvres gens qui vendent des ferrailles. Au-dessous des belles
colonnes de l'enceinte extérieure, on a construit des maisons
modernes dans lesquelles sont pratiquées des fenêtres, et à ces
fenêtres du théâtre de Marcellus, on voit des pots à fleurs, ni
plus ni moins qu à une mansarde de la rue Saint Denis; des chemises
sèchent sur l'entablement; des cheminées surmontent la ruine
romaine, et un grand tube se dessine à l'extrémité.

"Dans les jeux célébrés à l'occasion de la dédicace du théâtre de
Marcellus, on vit pour la première fois un tigre apprivoisé,
_tigrim mansuefactum_. Dans ce tigre le peuple romain pouvait
contempler son image."--_Ampère, Emp._ i. 256.

In the middle ages this theatre was the fortress of the great family of Pierleoni, the rivals of the Frangipani, who occupied the Coliseum; their name is commemorated by the neighbouring street, Via Porta Leone. The constant warfare in which they were engaged with their neighbours did much to destroy the building, whose interior became reduced to a mass of ruins, forming a hill, upon which Baldassare Peruzzi (1526) built the _Palazzo Savelli_, of which the entrance, flanked by the two armorial bears of the family, may be seen in the street (Via Savelli) which leads to the Ponte Quattro Capi.

"Au dix-septième siècle, les Savelli exerçaient encore une
jurisdiction féodale. Leur tribunal, aussi régulièrement constitué
que pas un, s'appellait Corte Savella.[90] Ils avaient le droit
d'arracher tous les ans un criminel à la peine de mort: droit de
grâce, droit régalien reconnu par la monarchie absolue des papes.
Les femmes de cette illustre famille ne sortaient point de leurs
palais sinon dans un carosse bien fermé. Les Orsini et les Colonna
se vantaient que pendant les siècles, aucun traité de paix n'avait
été conclu entre les princes chrétiens, dans lequel ils n'eussent
été nominativement compris."--_About._

The palace has now passed to the family of Orsini-Gravina, who descended from a senator of A.D. 1200. The princes of Orsini and Colonna, in their quality as attendants on the throne (_principi assistenti al soglio_), take precedence of all other Roman nobles.

"Nicolovius will remember the Theatre of Marcellus, in which the
Savelli family built a palace. My house is half of it. It has stood
empty for a considerable time, because the drive into the courtyard
(the interior of the ancient theatre) rises like the slope of a
mountain upon the heaps of rubbish; although the road has been cut
in a zig-zag, it is still a break-neck affair. There is another
entrance from the Piazza Montanara, whence a flight of
seventy-three steps leads up to the same story I have mentioned;
the entrance-hall of which is on a level with the top of the
carriage-way through the courtyard. The apartments in which we
shall live are those over the colonnade of Ionic pillars forming
the third story of the ancient theatre, and some, on a level with
them, which have been built out like wings on the rubbish of the
ruins. These enclose a little quadrangular garden, which is indeed
very small, only about eighty or ninety feet long, and scarcely so
broad, but so delightful! It contains three fountains--an abundance
of flowers: there are orange-trees on the wall between the windows,
and jessamine under them. We mean to plant a vine besides. From
this story, you ascend forty steps, or more, higher, where I mean
to have my own study, and there are most cheerful little rooms,
from which you have a prospect over the whole country beyond the
Tiber, Monte Mario, and St. Peter's, and can see over St. Pietro in
Montorio, indeed almost as far as the Aventine. It would, I think,
be possible besides to erect a loggia upon the roof (for which I
shall save money from other things), that we may have a view over
the Capitol, Forum, Palatine, Coliseum, and all the inhabited parts
of the city."--_Niebuhr's Letters._

Following the wall of the theatre, down a filthy street, we arrive at the picturesque group of ruins of the "Porticus Octaviæ," erected by Augustus, in honour of his sister (the unhappy wife of Antony), close to the theatre to which he had given the name of her son. The exact form of the building is known from the Pianta Capitolina,--that it was a parallelogram, surrounded by a double arcade of 270 columns, and enclosing the temples of Jupiter and Juno, built by the Greek architects, Batracus and Saurus.[91]

With regard to these temples, Pliny narrates a fact which reminds one of the story of the Madonna of Sta. Maria Nuova.[92] The porters having carelessly carried the statues of the gods to the wrong temples, it was imagined that they had done so from divine inspiration, and the people would not venture to remove them, so that the statues always remained where they had been placed, though their surroundings were utterly unsuitable.

The _Portico of Octavia_ built by Augustus, occupied the site of an earlier portico--the Porticus Metelli--built by A. Cæcilius Metellus, after his triumph over Andriscus in Macedonia, in B.C. 146. Temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno existed also in this portico, one of them being the earliest temple built of marble in Rome. Before these temples Metellus placed the famous group of twenty-five bronze statues, which he had brought from Greece, executed by Lysippus for Alexander the Great, and representing that conqueror himself and twenty-four horsemen of his troop who had fallen at the Granicus.[93]

The existing fragment of the portico is the original entrance to the whole. The building had suffered from fire in the reign of Titus, and was restored by Septimius Severus, and of this time is the large brick arch on one side of the ruin.

"It was in this hall of Octavia that Titus and Vespasian celebrated
their triumph over Israel with festive pomp and splendour. Among
the Jewish spectators stood the historian Flavius Josephus, who was
one of the followers and flatterers of Titus ... and to this base
Jewish courtier we owe a description of the
triumph."--_Gregorovius, Wanderjahre in Italien._

Within the portico is the _Church of S. Angelo in Pescheria_. Here it was that Cola Rienzi summoned, at midnight--May 20, 1347--all good citizens to hold a meeting for the re-establishment of "the good estate;" here he kept the vigil of the Holy Ghost; and hence he went forth, bareheaded, in complete armour, accompanied by the papal legate, and attended by a vast multitude, to the Capitol, where he called upon the populace to ratify the Good Estate.

It is said that one of the causes which most incited the indignation of Rienzi against the assumption and pride of the Roman families, was the fact of their painting their arms on the ancient Roman buildings, and thus in a manner appropriating them to their own glory. Remains of coats of arms thus painted may be seen on the front wall of the Portico of Octavia. It was also on this very wall that Rienzi painted his famous allegorical picture. In this painting kings and men of the people were seen burning in a furnace, with a woman half consumed, who personified Rome,--and on the right was a church, whence issued a white-robed angel, bearing in one hand a naked sword, while with the other he plucked the woman from the flames. On the church tower were SS. Peter and Paul, crying to the angel, "Aquilo, aquilo, succurri a l'albergatrice nostra,"--and beyond this were represented falcons (typical of the Roman barons) falling from heaven into the flames, and a white dove bearing a wreath of olive, which it gave to a little bird (Rienzi), which was chased by the falcons. Beneath was inscribed: "I see the time of great justice, do thou await that time."

"Then turn we to her latest tribune's name,
From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee,
Redeemer of dark centuries of shame--
The friend of Petrarch--hope of Italy--
Rienzi! last of Romans! While the tree
Of Freedom's wither'd trunk puts forth a leaf,
Even for thy tomb a garland let it be--
The forum's champion, and the people's chief--
Her newborn Numa thou--with reign, alas! too brief."

_Childe Harold._

Through the brick arch of the Portico we enter upon the ancient _Pescheria_, with the marble fish-slabs of imperial times still remaining in use. It is a striking scene--the dark, many-storied houses almost meeting overhead and framing a narrow strip of deep blue sky,--below, the bright groups of figures and rich colouring of hanging cloths and drapery.

"C'est une des ruines les plus remarquables de Rome, et une de
celles qui offrent ces contrastes piquants entre le passé et le
présent, amusement perpétuel de l'imagination dans la ville des
contrastes. Le portique d'Octavie est, aujourd'hui, le marché aux
poissons. Les colonnes et le fronton s'élèvent au milieu de
l'endroit le plus sale de Rome; leur effet n'en est pas moins
pittoresque, il l'est peut-être davantage. Le lieu est fait pour
une aquarelle, et quand un beau soleil éclaire les débris antiques,
les vieux murs sombres de la rue étroite où la poisson se vend sur
des tables de marbre blanc, et à travers laquelle des nattes sont
tendues, on a, à côté du monument romain, le spectacle d'un marché
du moyen âge, et un peu le souvenir d'un bazar d'Orient."--_Ampère,
Emp._ i. 179.

"Who that has ever been to Rome does not remember Roman streets of
an evening, when the day's work is done? They are all alive in a
serene and homelike fashion. The old town tells its story. Low
arches cluster with life--a life humble and stately, though rags
hang from the citizens and the windows. You realize it as you pass
them--their temples are in ruins, their rule is over--their
colonies have revolted long centuries ago. Their gates and their
columns have fallen like the trees of a forest, cut down by an
invading civilization."--_Miss Thackeray._

* * * * *

Here we are in the centre of the Jews' quarter--the famous _Ghetto_.