Chapter IX: The Via Appia (3)

Beyond this a number of tombs can be identified, but none of any importance. Such are the tombs of Plinius Eutychius, erected by Plinius Zosimus, a freedman of Pliny the younger; of Caius Licinius; the Doric tomb of the tax-gatherer Claudius Philippanus, inscribed "Tito. Claudio. Secundo. Philippiano. Coactori. Flavia. Irene. Vxori Indulgentissimo;" of Rabinius, with three busts in relief; of Hermodorus; of Elsia Prima, priestess of Isis; of Marcus C. Cerdonus, with the bas-relief of an elephant bearing a burning altar.

Beyond the fifth milestone, two circular mounds with basements of peperino, were considered by Canina to be the tombs of the Horatii and Curiatii.

On the opposite side of the road is the exceedingly picturesque mediæval fortress, known as _Torre Mezza Strada_, into which are incorporated the remains of the Church of Sta. Maria Nuova, or della Gloria. Behind this extend a vast assemblage of ruins, which form a splendid foreground to the distant mountain view, and whose size has led to their receiving the popular epithet of _Roma Vecchia_. Here was the favourite villa of the Emperor Commodus, where he was residing, when the people, excited by a sudden impulse during the games of the Circus, rose and poured out of Rome against him--as the inhabitants of Paris to Versailles--and refused to depart, till, terrified into action by the entreaties of his concubine Marcia, he tossed the head of the unpopular Cleander to them out of the window, and had the brains of that minister's child dashed out against the stones. This villa is proved by the discovery of a number of pipes bearing their names to have been that of the brothers Condianus and Maximus, of the great family of the Quintilii, which was confiscated by Commodus.

"L'histoire des deux frères est intéressante et romanesque.
Condianus et Maximus Quintilius étaient distingués par la science,
les talents militaires, la richesse, et surtout par une tendresse
mutuelle qui ne s'était jamais démentie. Servant toujours ensemble,
l'un se faisait le lieutenant de l'autre. Bien qu'étrangers à toute
conspiration, leur vertu les fit soupçonner d'être peu favorables à
Commode; ils furent proscrits et moururent ensemble comme ils
avaient vécu. L'un d'eux avait un fils nommé Sextus. Au moment de
la mort de son père et de son oncle, ce fils se trouvait en Syrie.
Pensant bien que le même sort l'attendait, il feignit de mourir
pour sauver sa vie. Sextus, après avoir bu sang du lièvre, monta à
cheval, se laissa tomber, vomit le sang qu'il avait pris et qui
parut être son propre sang. On mit dans sa bière le corps d'un
bélier qui passa pour son cadavre, et il disparut. Depuis ce temps,
il erra sons divers déguisements; mais on sut qu'il avait échappé,
et on se mit à sa recherche. Beaucoup furent tués parce-qu'ils lui
ressemblaient ou parce-qu'ils étaient soupçonnés de lui avoir donné
asile. Il n'est pas bien sûr qu'il ait été atteint, que sa tête se
trouvât parmi celles qu'on apporta à Rome et qu'on dit être la
sienne. Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'après la mort de Commode, un
aventurier, tenté par la belle villa et par les grandes richesses
des Quintilii, se donna pour Sextus et réclama son héritage. Il
paraît ne pas avoir manqué d'adresse et avoir connu celui pour
lequel il voulut qu'on le prît, car par ses réponses il se tira
très-bien de toutes les enquêtes. Peut-être s'était-il lié avec
Sextus et l'avait-il assassiné ensuite. Cependant l'empereur
Pertinax, successeur de Commode, l'ayant fait venir, eut l'idée de
lui parler grec. Le vrai Sextus connaissait parfaitement cette
langue. Le faux Sextus, qui ne savait pas le grec, répondit tout de
travers, et sa fraude fut ainsi découverte."--_Ampère, Emp._ ii.
253.

On the left of the Via Appia, appears a huge monument, on a narrow base, called the Tomb of the Metelli. Beyond this, after the fifth milestone, are the tombs of Sergius Demetrius, a wine merchant; of Lucius Arrius; of Septimia Gallia; and of one of the Cæcilii, in whose sepulchre, according to Eutropius, was buried Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Cicero, whose daughter Vipsania was the first wife of Agrippa, and whose granddaughter Vipsania Agrippina was the first wife of Tiberius.

Close to the sixth milestone is the mass of masonry sometimes called "Casale Rotondo," or "Cotta's Tomb," from that name being found there inscribed on a stone, but generally attributed to Messala Corvinus, the poet, and friend of Horace, and believed to have been raised to him by his son Valerius Maximus Cotta, mentioned in Ovid.

"Te autem in turba non ausim, Cotta, silere,
Pieridum lumen, præsidiumque fori."

_Epist._ xvi.

This tomb was even larger than that of Cecilia Metella, and was turned into a fortress by the Orsini in the fifteenth century.

Beyond this are tombs identified as those of P. Quintius, tribune of the sixteenth legion; Marcus Julius, steward of Claudius; Publius Decumius Philomusus (with appropriate bas-reliefs of two mice nibbling a cake); and of Cedritius Flaccianius.

Passing on the left the _Tor di Selce_, erected upon a huge unknown tomb, are the tombs of Titia Eucharis, and of Atilius Evodus, jeweller (margaritarius) on the Via Sacra, with the inscription, "Hospes resiste--aspice ubi continentur ossa hominis boni misericordis amantis pauperis." Near the eighth milestone are ruins attributed to the temples of Silvanus and of Hercules,--of which the latter is mentioned in Martial's Epigrams, beyond which were the villas of Bassus and of Persius. The last tomb identified is that of Quintus Verranius. Near the ninth milestone is a tomb supposed to be that of Gallienus (Imp. 268), who lived close by in a villa, amid the ruins of which "the Discobolus" was discovered.

From the stream called Pontecello, near the tenth milestone, the road gradually ascends to Albano, passing several large but unnamed tombs. At the Osteria delle Frattocchie it joins the Via Appia Nuova. Close to the gate of Albano, it passes on the left the tall tomb attributed to Pompey the Great, in accordance with the statement of Plutarch, and in spite of the epigram of Varro Atacinus, which says:--

"Marmoreo Licinius tumulo jacet; at Cato parvo;
Pompeius nullo: quis putet esse Deus."

Among the many processions which have passed along this road, perhaps the most remarkable have been that bearing back to Rome the dead body of Sylla, who died at Pozzuoli, "in a gilt litter, with royal ornaments, trumpets before him, and horsemen behind;"[223] and the funeral of Augustus, who dying at Nola (A.D. 14), was brought to Bovillæ, and remained there a month in the sanctuary of the Julian family, after which the knights brought the body in solemn procession to his palace on the Palatine.

But throughout a walk along the Appian Way, the one great Christian interest of this world-famous road, will, to the Christian visitor, overpower all others.

"And so we went toward Rome.

"And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet
us as far as Appii-forum, and the Three Taverns: whom when Paul
saw, he thanked God, and took courage.

"And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to
the captain of the guard; but Paul was suffered to dwell by
himself, with a soldier that kept him."--_Acts_ xxviii. 14--16.

"It is not without its manifold uses to remember that, amidst the
dim and wavering traditions of later times, one figure at least
stands out clear and distinct and undoubted, and this figure is the
Apostle Paul. He, whatever we may think concerning any other
apostle or apostolic man in connection with Rome, he, beyond a
shadow of doubt, appears in the New Testament as her great teacher.
No criticism or scepticism of modern times has ever questioned the
perfect authenticity of that last chapter of the Acts, which gives
the account of his journey, stage by stage, till he set foot within
the walls of the city. However much we may be compelled to distrust
any particular traditions concerning special localities of his life
and death, we cannot doubt for a moment that his eye rested on the
same general view of sky and plain and mountain; that his feet trod
the pavement of the same Appian road; that his way lay through the
same long avenue of ancient tombs on which we now look and wonder;
that he entered (and there we have our last authentic glimpse of
his progress) through the arch of Drusus, and then is lost to our
view in the great Babylon of Rome."--_A. P. Stanley's Sermons._

"When St. Paul was approaching Rome, all the bases of the mountains
were (as indeed they are partially now) clustered round with the
villas and gardens of wealthy citizens. The Appian Way climbs and
then descends along its southern slope. After passing Lanuvium it
crossed a crater-like valley or immense substructions, which still
remain. Here is Aricia, an easy stage from Rome. The town was above
the road, and on the hillside swarms of beggars beset travellers as
they passed. On the summit of the next rise, Paul of Tarsus would
obtain his first view of Rome. There is no doubt that the prospect
was, in many respects, very different from the view which is now
obtained from the same spot. It is true that the natural features
of the scene are unaltered. The long wall of blue Sabine mountains,
with Soracte in the distance, closed in the Campagna, which
stretched far across to the sea and round the base of the Alban
hills. But ancient Rome was not, like modern Rome, impressive from
its solitude, standing alone, with its one conspicuous cupola, in
the midst of a desolate though beautiful waste. St. Paul would see
a vast city, covering the Campagna, and almost continuously
connected by its suburbs with the villas on the hill where he
stood, and with the bright towns which clustered on the sides of
the mountains opposite. Over all the intermediate space were the
houses and gardens, through which aqueducts and roads might be
traced in converging lines towards the confused mass of edifices
which formed the city of Rome. Here no conspicuous building,
elevated above the rest, attracted the eye or the imagination.
Ancient Rome had neither cupola nor campanile, still less had it
any of those spires which give life to all the capitals of northern
Christendom. It was a widespread aggregate of buildings, which,
though separated by narrow streets and open spaces, appeared, when
seen from near Aricia, blended into one indiscriminate mass: for
distance concealed the contrasts which divided the crowded
habitations of the poor and the dark haunts of filth and
misery--from the theatres and colonnades, the baths, the temples,
and palaces with gilded roofs, flashing back the sun.

"The road descended into the plain at Bovillæ, six miles from
Aricia: and thence it proceeded in a straight line, with the
sepulchres of illustrious families on either hand. One of these was
the burial-place of the Julian gens, with which the centurion who
had charge of the prisoners was in some way connected. As they
proceeded over the old pavement, among gardens and modern houses,
and approached nearer the busy metropolis--the 'conflux issuing
forth or entering in' in various costumes and on various
errands,--vehicles, horsemen, and foot-passengers, soldiers and
labourers, Romans and foreigners,--became more crowded and
confusing. The houses grew closer. They were already in Rome. It
was impossible to define the commencement of the city. Its populous
portions extended far beyond the limits marked out by Servius. The
ancient wall, with its once sacred pomœrium, was rather an
object for antiquarian interest, like the walls of York or Chester,
than any protection against the enemies, who were kept far aloof by
the legions on the frontier.

"Yet the Porta Capena is a spot which we can hardly leave without
lingering for a moment. Under this arch--which was perpetually
dripping with the water of the aqueduct that went over it--had
passed all those who, since a remote period of the republic, had
travelled by the Appian Way,--victorious generals with their
legions, returning from foreign service,--emperors and courtiers,
vagrant representatives of every form of heathenism, Greeks and
Asiatics, Jews and Christians. From this point entering within the
city, Julius and his prisoners moved on, with the Aventine on their
left, close round the base of the Cœlian, and through the hollow
ground which lay between this hill and the Palatine: thence over
the low ridge called Velia, where afterwards was built the arch of
Titus, to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem; and then
descending, by the _Via Sacra_, into that space which was the
centre of imperial power and imperial magnificence, and associated
also with the most glorious recollections of the republic. The
Forum was to Rome, what the Acropolis was to Athens, the heart of
all the characteristic interest of the place. Here was the
_Milliarium Aureum_, to which the roads of all the provinces
converged. All around were the stately buildings, which were raised
in the closing years of the republic, and by the earlier emperors.
In front was the Capitoline Hill, illustrious long before the
invasion of the Gauls. Close on the left, covering that hill, whose
name is associated in every modern European language with the
notion of imperial splendour, were the vast ranges of the
_palace_--the 'house of Cæsar' (Philipp. iv. 22). Here were the
household troops quartered in a _prætorium_ attached to the palace.
And here (unless, indeed, it was in the great Prætorian Camp
outside the city wall) Julius gave up his prisoner to Burrus, the
Prætorian Prefect, whose official duty it was to keep in custody
all accused persons who were to be tried before the
Emperor."--_Conybeare and Howson._