Chapter XIV: In the Campus Martius (1)

S. Antonio dei Portoguesi--Torre della Scimia--S. Agostino--S.
Apollinare--Palazzo Altemps--Sta. Maria dell' Anima--Sta. Maria
della Pace--Palazzo del Governo Vecchio--Monte Giordano and Palazzo
Gabrielli--Sta. Maria Nuova--Sta. Maria di Monserrato--S. Girolamo
della Carità--Sta. Brigitta--S. Tommaso degl' Inglese--Palazzo
Farnese--Sta. Maria della Morte--Palazzo Falconieri--Campo di
Fiore--Palazzo Cancelleria--SS. Lorenzo e Damaso--Palazzo
Linote--Palazzo Spada--Trinità dei Pellegrini--Sta. Maria in
Monticelli--Palazzo Santa Croce--S. Carlo a Catinari--Theatre of
Pompey--S. Andrea della Valle--Palazzo Vidoni--Palazzo Massimo alle
Colonne--S. Pantaleone--Palazzo Braschi--Statue of Pasquin--Sant'
Agnese--Piazza Navona--Palazzo Pamfili--S. Giacomo degli
Spagnuoli--Palazzo Madama--S. Luigi dei Francesi--The Sapienza--S.
Eustachio--Pantheon--Sta. Maria sopra Minerva--Il Piè die Marmo.

The Campus Martius, now an intricate labyrinth of streets, occupying the wide space between the Corso and the Tiber, was not included within the walls of ancient Rome, but even to late imperial times continued to be covered with gardens and pleasure-grounds, interspersed with open spaces, which were used for the public exercises and amusements of the Roman youth.

"Tunc ego me memini ludos in gramine Campi
Aspicere, et didici, lubrice Tibri, tuos."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 237.

"Tot jam abiere dies, cum me, nec cura theatri,
Nec tetigit Campi, nec mea musa juvat."

_Propert._ ii. _El._ 13.

The vicinity of the Tiber afforded opportunities for practice in swimming.

"Quamvis non alius flectere equum sciens
Æque conspicitur gramine Martio."

_Hor._ iii. _Od._ 7.

"Altera gramineo spectabis Equiria campo,
Quem Tiberis curvis in latus urget aquis."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ iii. 519.

"Once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,
And bade him follow,--so, indeed, he did:
The torrent roared; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy."

_Shakspeare_, _Julius Cæsar_.

It was only near the foot of the Capitol that any buildings were erected under the republic, and these only public offices; under the empire a few magnificent edifices were scattered here and there over the plain. In the time of Cicero, the Campus was quite uninhabited; it is supposed that the population were first attracted here when the aqueducts were cut during the Lombard invasion, which drove the inhabitants from the hills, and obliged them to seek a site where they could avail themselves of the Tiber.

The hills, which were crowded by a dense population in ancient Rome, are now for the most part deserted; the plain, which was deserted in ancient Rome, is now thickly covered with inhabitants.

The plain was bounded on two sides by the Quirinal and Capitoline hills, which were both in the hands of the Sabines, but it had no connection with the Latin hill of the Palatine. Thus it was dedicated to the Sabine god, Mamers or Mars, either before the time of Servius Tullius, as is implied by Dionysius, or after the time of the Tarquins, as stated by Livy.

Tarquinius Superbus had appropriated the Campus Martius to his own use, and planted it with corn. After he was expelled, and his crops cut down and thrown into the Tiber, the land was restored to the people. Here the tribunes used to hold the assemblies of the plebs in the Prata Flaminia at the foot of the Capitol, before any buildings were erected as their meeting-place.

The earliest building in the Campus Martius of which there is any record, is the Temple of Apollo, built by the consul C. Julius, in B.C. 430. Under the censor C. Flaminius, in B.C. 220, a group of important edifices arose on a site which is ascertained to be nearly that occupied by the Palazzo Caetani, Palazzo Mattei, and Sta. Caterina dei Funari. The most important was the Circus Flaminius, where the plebeian games were celebrated under the care of the plebeian ædiles, and which in later times was flooded by Augustus, when thirty-six crocodiles were killed there for the amusement of the people.[288]

Close to this Circus was the _Villa Publica_, erected B.C. 438, for taking the census, levying troops, and such other public business as could not be transacted within the city.

Here, also, foreign ambassadors were received before their entrance into the city, as afterwards at the Villa Papa Giulio, and here victorious generals awaited the decree which allowed them a triumph.[289] It was in the Villa Publica that Sylla cruelly massacred three thousand partisans of Marius, after he had promised them their lives.

"Tunc flos Hesperiæ, Latii jam sola juventus,
Concidit, et miseræ maculavit ovilia Romæ."

_Lucan_, ii. 196.

The cries of these dying men were heard by the senate who were assembled at the time in the _Temple of Bellona_ (restored by Appius Claudius Cæcus in the Samnite War), which stood hard by, and in front of which at the extremity of the Circus Flaminius, where the Piazza Paganica now is, stood the _Columna Bellica_, where the Ferialis, when war was declared, flung a lance into a piece of ground, supposed to represent the enemy's country, when it was not possible to do it at the hostile frontier itself. Julius Cæsar flung the spear here when war was declared against Cleopatra.[290]

"Prospicit a templo summum brevis area Circum.
Est ibi non parvæ parva columna notæ.
Hinc solet hasta manu, belli prænuncia, mitti;
In regem et gentes, cum placet arma capi."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 205.

Almost adjoining the Villa Publica was the Septa, where the Comitia Centuriata of the plebs assembled for the election of their tribunes. The other name of this place of assembly, Ovilia, or the sheepfolds, bears witness to its primitive construction, when it was surrounded by a wooden barrier. In later times the Ovilia was more richly adorned; Pliny describes it as containing two groups of sculpture--Pan and the young Olympus, and Chiron and the young Achilles--for which the keepers were responsible with their lives;[291] and under the empire it was enclosed in magnificent buildings.

In B.C. 189 the _Temple of Hercules Musagetes_ was built by the censor Fulvius Nobilior. It occupied a site on the north-west of the portico of Octavia.[292] Sylla restored it:--

"Altera pars Circi custode sub Hercule tuta est;
Quod Deus Euboico carmine munus habet.
Muneris est tempus, qui Nonas Lucifer ante est:
Si titulos quæris; Sulla probavit opus."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 209.

This temple was rebuilt by L. Marcius Philippus, stepfather of Augustus, and surrounded by a portico called after him Porticus Philippi.[293]

"Vites censeo porticum Philippi,
Si te viderit Hercules, peristi."

_Martial_, v. _Ep._ 50.[294]

The _Portico of Octavia_ itself was originally built by the prætor, Cn. Octavius, in B.C. 167, and rebuilt by Augustus, who re-dedicated it in memory of his sister. Close adjoining was the _Porticus Metelli_, built B.C. 146, by Cæcilius Metellus.[295] It contained two _Temples of Juno and Jupiter_.[296] Another _Temple of Juno_ stood between this and the theatre of Pompey, having been erected by M. Æmilius Lepidus in B.C. 170, together with a _Temple of Diana_.[297] Near the same spot was a _Temple of Fortuna Equestris_, erected in consequence of a vow of Q. Fulvius Flaccus when fighting against the Celtiberians in B.C. 176; a _Temple of Isis and Serapis_; and a _Temple of Mars_, erected by D. Junius Brutus, for his victories over the Gallicians in B.C. 136;[298] at this last-named temple the people, assembled in their centuries, voted the war against Philip of Macedon. In the same neighbourhood was the _Theatre of Balbus_, a general under Julius Cæsar, occupying the site of the Piazza della Scuola.

The munificence of Pompey extended the public buildings much further into the Campus. He built, after his triumph, a _Temple of Minerva_ on the site now occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, on which the beautiful statue called "the Giustiniani Minerva" was found, and the _Theatre of Pompey_, surrounded by pillared porticoes and walks shaded with plane-trees.

"Scilicet umbrosis sordet Pompeia columnis
Porticus aulæis nobilis Attalicis:
Et creber pariter platanis surgentibus ordo,
Flumina sopito quæque Marone cadunt."

_Propertius_, ii. _El._ 32.

"Tu modo Pompeia lentus spatiare sub umbra,
Cum Sol Herculei terga leonis adit."

_Ovid_, _de Art. Am._ i. 67.

"Inde petit centum pendentia tecta columnis,
Illinc Pompeii dona, nemusque duplex."

_Martial_, ii. _Ep._ 14.

Under the empire important buildings began to rise up further from the city. The _Amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus_, whose ruins are supposed to be the foundation of the Monte-Citorio, was built by a general under Augustus; the magnificent _Pantheon_, the _Baths of Agrippa_, and the _Diribitorium_--where the soldiers received their pay--whose huge and unsupported roof was one of the wonders of the city,[299] were due to his son-in-law. Agrippa also brought the _Aqua Virgo_ into the city to supply his baths, conveying it on pillars across the Flaminian Way, the future Corso.

"Qua vicina pluit Vipsanis porta columnis,
Et madet assiduo lubricus imbre lapis,
In jugulum pueri, qui roscida templa subibat,
Decidit hiberno prægravis unda gelu."

_Martial_, iv. _Ep._ 18.

Near this aqueduct was a temple of Juturna;

"Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, æde recepit;
Hic ubi Virginea campus obitur aqua."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ i. 463.

and another of Isis.

"A Meroë portabit aquas, ut spargat in æde
Isidis, antiquo quæ proxima surgit ovili."

_Juvenal_, _Sat._ vi. 528.

These were followed by the erection of the _Temple of Neptune_--by some ascribed to Agrippa, who is said to have built it in honour of his naval victories, by others to the time of the Antonines; by the great _Imperial Mausoleum_, then far out in the country; and by the _Baths of Nero_, on the site now occupied by S. Luigi and the neighbouring buildings.

" ... Quid Nerone pejus?
Quid thermis melius Neronianis?"

_Martial_, vii. _Ep._ 33.

" ... Fas sit componere magnis
Parva, Neronea nec qui modo totus in unda
Hic iterum sudare negat."

_Statius_, _Silv._ i. 5.

Besides these were an _Arch of Tiberius_, erected by Claudius; a _Temple of Hadrian_ and _Basilica of Matidia_, built by Antoninus Pius, in honour of his predecessors; the _Temple and Arch of Marcus Aurelius_, near the site of the present Palazzo Chigi; and an _Arch of Gratian, Valentinian II., and Theodosius_.

Of all these various buildings nothing remains except the Pantheon, a single arch of the Baths of Agrippa, some disfigured fragments of the Mausoleum, a range of columns belonging to the temple of Neptune, and a portion of the Portico of Octavia. The interest of the Campus Martius is almost entirely mediæval or modern, and the objects worth visiting are scattered amid such a maze of dirty and intricate streets, that they are seldom sought out except by those who make a long stay in Rome, and care for everything connected with its history and architecture.

* * * * *

Following the line of streets which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to St. Peter's (Via Condotti, Via Fontanella Borghese), beyond the Borghese Palace, let us turn to the left by the Via della Scrofa,[300] at the entrance of which is the _Palazzo Galitzin_ on the right, and the _Palazzo Cardelli_ on the left.

Passing, on the right, _St. Ivo of Brittany_, the national church of the Bretons, the second turn on the right, Via S. Antonio dei Portoguesi, shows a church dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, and the fine mediæval tower called _Torre della Scimia_.

In this tower once lived a man who had a favourite ape. One day this creature seized upon a baby, and rushing to the summit, was seen from below, by the agonized parents, perched upon the battlements, and balancing their child to and fro over the abyss. They made a vow in their terror that if the baby were restored in safety, they would make provision that a lamp should burn nightly for ever before an image of the Virgin on the summit. The monkey, without relaxing its hold of the infant, slid down the wall, and bounding and grimacing, laid the child at its mother's feet. Thus a lamp always burns upon the battlements before an image of the Madonna.

This building is better known, however, as "Hilda's Tower," a fictitious name which it has received from Hawthorne's mysterious novel.

"Taking her way through some of the intricacies of the city, Miriam
entered what might be called either a widening of a street or a
small piazza. The neighbourhood comprised a baker's oven, emitting
the usual fragrance of sour bread; a shoe shop; a linendraper's
shop; a pipe and cigar shop; a lottery office; a station for French
soldiers, with a sentinel pacing in front; and a fruit stand, at
which a Roman matron was selling the dried kernels of chesnuts,
wretched little figs, and some bouquets of yesterday. A church, of
course, was near at hand, the façade of which ascended into lofty
pinnacles, whereon were perched two or three winged figures of
stone, either angelic or allegorical, blowing stone trumpets in
close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace.
This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the
architecture of Roman edifices; that is to say, a mediæval tower,
square, massive, lofty, and battlemented and machicolated at the
summit.

"At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the
Virgin, such as we see everywhere at the street-corners of Rome,
but seldom or never, except in this solitary instance, at a height
above the ordinary level of men's views and aspirations. Connected
with this old tower and its lofty shrine, there is a legend; and
for centuries a lamp has been burning before the Virgin's image at
noon, at midnight, at all hours of the twenty-four, and must be
kept burning for ever, as long as the tower shall stand; or else
the tower itself, the palace, and whatever estate belongs to it,
shall pass from its hereditary possessor, in accordance with an
ancient vow, and become the property of the Church.

"As Miriam approached, she looked upward, and saw--not, indeed, the
flame of the never-dying lamp, which was swallowed up in the broad
sunlight that brightened the shrine--but a flock of white doves,
shining, fluttering, and wheeling above the topmost height of the
tower, their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the
air. Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window, pushing
one another off by their eager struggle for this favourite station,
and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously
against the panes; some had alighted in the street, far below, but
flew hastily upward, at the sound of the window being thrust ajar,
and opening in the middle, on rusty hinges, as Roman windows
do."--_Transformation._

The next street, on the right, leads to the _Church of S. Agostino_, built originally by Bacio Pintelli, in 1483, for Cardinal d'Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen and Legate in France (the vindicator of Joan of Arc), but altered in 1740 by Vanvitelli. The delicate work of the front, built of travertine robbed from the Coliseum, is much admired by those who do not seek for strength of light and shadow. This church--dedicated to her son--contains the remains of Sta. Monica, brought hither from Ostia, where she died. The chapel of St. Augustin, in the right transept, contains a gloomy picture by _Guercino_ of St. Augustin between St. John Baptist and St. Paul the Hermit. The high altar, by Bernini, has an image of the Madonna brought from Sta. Sophia at Constantinople, and attributed to St. Luke. The second chapel in the left aisle has a group of the Virgin and Child with St. Anna, by _Andrea Sansovino_, 1512.

On the third pilaster, to the left of the nave, is a fresco of Isaiah by _Raphael_, painted in 1512, but retouched by Daniele de Volterra in the reign of Paul IV. The prophet holds a scroll with words from Isaiah xxvi. 2. Few will agree with the stricture of Kugler:--

"In a fresco, representing the prophet Isaiah and two angels, who
hold a tablet, the comparison is unfavourable to Raphael. An effort
to rival the powerful style of Michael-Angelo is very visible in
this picture; an effort which, notwithstanding the excellence of
the execution in parts, has produced only an exaggerated and
affected figure."--_Kugler_, ii. 371.

The church overflows with silver hearts and other votive offerings, which are all addressed to the Madonna and Child of _Andrea Sansovino_, close to the west entrance, which is really a fine piece of sculpture--for an object of Roman Catholic idolatry.

"On the pedestal of the image is inscribed--'N. S. Pio VII. concede
in perpetuo 100 giorni d'indulgenza da lucrarsi una volta al giorno
da tutte quelle che divotamente toccheranno il piede di questa S.
Immagine recitando un Ave Maria per il bisogno di S. Chiesa. 7
Giug. MD.CCCXXII."

Around this statue are, or were a short time ago, a whole array of assassins' daggers hung up, strange instances of trespass-offering.

"The Church of S. Agostino is the Methodist meeting-house, so to
speak, of Rome, where the extravagance of the enthusiasm of the
lower orders is allowed the freest scope. Its Virgin and Child are
covered, smothered, with jewels, votive offerings of those whose
prayers the image had heard and answered. All round the image the
walls are covered with votive offerings likewise; some of a similar
kind--jewels, watches, valuables of different descriptions. Some
offerings again consist of pictures, representing, generally in
the rudest way, some sickness or accident, cured or averted by the
appearance in the clouds of the Madonna, as seen in the image.
Almost the whole side of the church is covered, from pavement to
roof, with these curious productions."--_Alford's Letters from
Abroad._

"It is not long since the report was spread, that one day when a
poor woman called upon this image of the Madonna for help, it began
to speak, and replied, 'If I had only something, then I could help
thee, but I myself am so poor!'

"This story was circulated, and very soon throngs of credulous
people hastened hither to kiss the foot of the Madonna, and to
present her with all kinds of gifts. The image of the Virgin, a
beautiful figure in brown marble, now sits shining with ornaments
of gold and precious stones. Candles and lamps burn around, and
people pour in, rich and poor, great and small, to kiss, some of
them two or three times--the Madonna's foot, a gilt foot, to which
the forehead also is devotionally pressed. The marble foot is
already worn away with kissing, the Madonna is now rich.... Below
the altar it is inscribed in golden letters that Pius VII. promised
two hundred days' absolution to all such as should kiss the
Madonna's foot, and pray with the whole heart _Ave
Maria_."--_Frederika Bremer._

Passing the arch, just beyond this, is the _Church of S. Apollinare_, built originally by Adrian I. (772--795), but modernized under Benedict XIV. by Fuga. It contains a number of relics of saints brought from the East by Basilian monks. Over the altar, on the left, in the inner vestibule, is a Madonna by _Perugino_. The church now belongs to the German college.

S. Apollinare is said to have accompanied St. Peter from Antioch to
Rome, and to have remained here as his companion and assistant
(whence the church dedicated to him here). He was afterwards sent
to preach the faith in Ravenna, where he became the first Christian
bishop, and suffered martyrdom outside the Rimini gate, July 23,
A.D. 79.

Adjoining this church is the _Seminario Romano_, founded by Pius IV., on a system drawn up by his nephew, S. Carlo Borromeo. Eight hundred young boys are annually educated here. In order to gain admittance, it is necessary to be of Roman birth, to be acquainted with grammar, and to wish to take orders. Pupils are held to their first intention of entering the priesthood, by being compelled to refund all the expenses of their education, if they renounce it.

Nearly opposite the church is the _Palazzo Altemps_, built 1580, by Martino Lunghi. Its courtyard, due, like all the best palace work in Rome, to Baldassare Peruzzi, is exceedingly graceful and picturesque. Ancient statues and flowering shrubs occupy the spaces between the arches of the ground-floor, and on the first-floor is a loggia, richly decorated with delicate arabesques in the style of Giovanni da Udine. Near this loggia is a chapel of exceedingly beautiful proportions, and delicately worked detail. It has several good frescoes, especially the Flight into Egypt, and Sta. Cecilia singing to the Virgin and the Child. At the west end is a small gracefully proportioned music-gallery, in various coloured marbles; in an inner chapel is a fine bronze crucifix. The palace, of which the most interesting parts are shown on request, is now the property of the Duke of Gallese, to whom it came by the marriage of Jules Hardouin, Duke of Gallese, with Donna Lucrezia d'Altemps.

Following the Via S. Agostino by the mediæval _Torre Sanguinea_, whose name bears witness to the mediæval frays of popes and anti-popes, we reach the German national church of _Sta. Maria dell' Anima_, which derives its name from a marble group of the Madonna invoked by two souls in purgatory, found among the foundations, and now inserted in the tympanum of the portal. It was originally built _c._ 1440, with funds bequeathed by "un certo Giovanni Pietro," but enlarged in 1514; the façade is by Giuliano da Sangallo. The door-frames, of delicate workmanship, are by Antonio Giamberti.

The front entrance is generally closed, but one can always gain admittance from behind, through the courtyard of the German hospital.

The interior is peculiar, from its great height and width in comparison with its length. It is divided into three almost equal aisles. Over the high altar is a damaged picture of the Holy Family with saints, by _Giulio Romano_. On the right is the fine tomb of Pope Adrian VI., Adrian Florent (1522--23), designed by Baldassare Peruzzi, and carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Niccolo Tribolo. This pope, the son of a ship-builder at Utrecht, was professor at the university of Louvain, and tutor of Charles V. After the witty, brilliant age of Julius II. and Leo X., he ushered in a period of penitence and devotion. He drove from the papal court the throng of artists and philosophers who had hitherto surrounded it, and he put a stop to the various great buildings which were in progress, saying, "I do not wish to adorn priests with churches, but churches with priests." Still he found the times so much too frivolous for him, that he only survived a year. In his epitaph we read:--

"Hadrianus hic situs est, qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita quam
quod imperaret, duxit."[301]

and--

"Proh dolor! quantum refert in quæ tempora vel optimi.
.... Cujusque virtus incidat!"

The tomb was erected at the expense of Cardinal William of Enkenfort, the only prelate to whom he had time to give a hat.

"It is an irony, that Adrian, who despised all the arts on
principle, and looked upon Greek statues as idolatrous, had a more
artistic monument than Leo X. of the house of Medici. Baldassare
Peruzzi made the design, its sculptures were carried out by
Michelangelo Sanese and Tribolo, and they merit the highest
acknowledgment. Here, as is so often the case, the architecture is,
as it were, a frontispiece; but the way in which the pope is
represented, resembles, in conformity with his character, the type
of the middle ages. He is stretched upon a simple marble
sarcophagus, and slumbers with his head supported by his hand. His
countenance (Adrian was very handsome) is deeply marked and
sorrowful. In the lunette above, following the ancient type,
appears Mary with the Child between St. Peter and St. Paul. Below,
in the niches, stand the figures of the four cardinal virtues:
Temperance holds a chain; Courage a branch of a tree, while a lion
stands by her side; Justice has an ostrich by her side; Wisdom
carries a mirror and a serpent. These figures are executed with
great care. Lastly, under the sarcophagus is a large bas-relief
representing the entry of the pope to Rome. He sits on horseback in
the dress of a cardinal; behind him follow cardinals and monks; the
senator of Rome renders homage on his knees, while from the gate
the eternal Rome comes forth to meet him. This Cypria, so well
adorned by his predecessors, seems ill-pleased to do homage to this
cross old man. With secret pleasure one sees a pagan idea carried
out in the corner: the Tiber is represented as a river god with his
horn of abundance; and thus the devout pope could not defend
himself against the heathen spirit of the time, which has at least
attached itself to his tomb."--_Gregorovius, Grabmäler der Päpste._

Opposite the pope, on the left of the choir, is the fine tomb of a Duke of Cleves, who died 1575, by Egidius of Riviere and Nicolaus of Arras.

The body of the church has several good pictures. In the 1st chapel of the right aisle is St. Bruno receiving the keys of the cathedral of Miessen in Saxony from a fisherman, who had found them in the inside of a fish, by _Carlo Saraceni_; in the 2nd chapel, the monument of Cardinal Slusius; in the 3rd chapel, an indifferent copy of the Pietà of Michael Angelo, by _Nanni di Bacio Bigio_. In the 1st chapel of the left aisle is the martyrdom of St. Lambert, _C. Saraceni_.

The two pictures in this church are cited by Lanzi as the best
works of this comparatively rare artist, sometimes called Carlo
Veneziano, 1585--1625. He sought to follow in the steps of
Caravaggio; many will think that he surpassed him, when they look
upon the richness of colour and grand effect of light and shadow
which is displayed here.

In the 3rd chapel (del Christo Morto), frescoes from the life of Sta. Barbara, _Mich. Coxcie_, altar-piece (the entombment) and frescoes by _Salviati_.

On the left of the west door is the tomb of Cardinal Andrea of Austria, nephew of Ferdinand II., who died 1650; on the right that of Cardinal Enckenovirt, died 1500. In the passage towards the sacristy is a fine bas-relief, representing Gregory XIII. giving a sword to the Duke of Cleves.

Close to this church is that of _Sta. Maria della Pace_, built in 1487, by Baccio Pintelli, to fulfil a curious _ex-voto_ made by Sixtus IV. Formerly there stood here a little chapel dedicated to St. Andrew, in whose portico was an image of the Virgin. One day a drunken soldier pierced the bosom of this Madonna with his sword, when blood miraculously spirted forth. Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere, 1471--84) visited the spot with his cardinals, and vowed to compensate the Virgin by building her a church, if she would grant peace to Europe and the Church, then afflicted by a cruel war with the Turks. Peace was restored, and the Church of "St. Mary of Peace" was erected by the grateful pope. Pietro da Cortona added the peculiar semicircular portico under Alexander VII. The interior has only a short nave ending under an octagonal cupola.

Above the 1st chapel on the right (that of the Chigi family) are the _Four Sibyls of Raphael_.

"This is one of Raphael's most perfect works: great mastery is
shown in the mode of filling and taking advantage of the apparently
unfavourable space. The angels who hold the tablets to be written
on, or read by the Sibyls, create a spirited variety in the severe
symmetrical arrangement of the whole. Grace in the attitudes and
movements, with a peculiar harmony of form and colour, pervade the
whole picture; but important restorations have unfortunately become
necessary in several parts. An interesting comparison may be
instituted between this work and the Sibyls of Michael Angelo. In
each we find the peculiar excellence of the great masters; for
while Michael Angelo's figures are grand, sublime, profound, the
fresco of the Pace bears the impress of Raphael's severe and
ingenious grace. The four Prophets, on the wall over the Sibyls,
were executed by Timoteo della Vite, after drawings by
Raphael."--_Kugler._

"The Sibyls have suffered much from time, and more, it is said,
from restoration; yet the forms of Raphael, in all their
loveliness, all their sweetness, are still before us; they breathe
all the soul, the sentiment, the chaste expression, and purity of
design that characterize his works. The dictating angels hover over
the heads of the gifted maids, one of whom writes with rapid pen
the irreversible decrees of Fate. The countenances and musing
attitudes of her sister Sibyls express those feelings of habitual
thoughtfulness and pensive sadness natural to those who are cursed
with the knowledge of futurity, and all its coming
evils."--_Eaton's Rome._

"The Sibyls are simply beautiful women of antique form, to whom,
with the aid of books, scrolls, and inscriptions, the Sibyllic idea
has been given, but who would equally pass for the abstract
personifications of virtues or cities. They are four in
number,--the Cumana, Phrygia, Persica, and Tiburtina; all, with the
exception of the last, in the fulness of youth and beauty, and
occupied, apparently, with no higher aim than that of displaying
both. Indeed, the Tiburtina matches ill with the rest, either in
character or action. She is aged, has an open book on her lap, but
turns with a strange and rigid action as if suddenly called. The
very comparison with her tends to divest the others of the
Sibylline character. In this, the angels who float above, and
obviously inspire them, also help, for while adding to the charm of
the composition, which is one of the most exquisite as to mere
art, they interfere with that inwardly inspired expression which
all other art has given to these women.

"The inscription on the scroll of the Cumæan Sibyl gives in Greek
the words, 'The Resurrection of the Dead.' The Persica is writing
on the scroll held by the angel, 'He will have the lot of Death.'
The beautiful Phrygia is presented with a scroll, 'The heavens
surround the sphere of the earth;' and the Tiburtina has under her
the inscription, 'I will open and arise.' The fourth angel floats
above, holding the seventh line of Virgil's Eclogue, 'Jam nova
progenies.'"--_Lady Eastlake's 'History of Our Lord.'_

The 1st chapel on the left has monuments of the Ponzetti family. The 2nd chapel on the left has an altar-piece of the Virgin between St. Bridget and St. Catherine, by _Baldassare Peruzzi_; in the front of the picture kneels the donor, Cardinal Ponzetti. The 1st altar on the right has the Adoration of the Shepherds by _Sermoneta_. The 2nd chapel, the burial-place of the Santa Croce family, has rich carved work of the sixteenth century. The high altar, designed by Carlo Maderno, has an ancient (miracle-working) Madonna. Of the four paintings of the cupola, the Nativity of the Virgin is by _Francesco Vanni_; the Visitation, _Carlo Maratta_; the Presentation in the Temple, _Baldassare Peruzzi_; the Death of the Virgin, _Morandi_.

Newly-married couples have the touching custom of attending their first mass here, and invoking "St. Mary of Peace" to rule the course of their new life.

The _Cloister of the Convent_, entered on the left under the dome, was designed by _Bramante_ for Cardinal Caraffa in 1504.

From the portico of the church the Via in Parione leads to the _Via del Governo Vecchio_. Here, on the right, is the _Palazzo del Governo Vecchio_, with a richly-sculptured door-*way, and ancient cloistered court.

Proceeding as far as the Piazza del Orologio, we see on the right an eminence known as _Monte Giordano_, supposed to be artificial, and to have arisen from the ruins of ancient buildings.

Its name is derived from Giordano Orsini, a noble of one of the
oldest Roman families, who built the palace there, which is now
known as the _Palazzo Gabrielli_, and which has rather a handsome
fountain. It was probably in consequence of the name Jordan, that
this hillock was chosen in mediæval times as the place where the
Jews in Rome received the newly-elected pope on his way to the
Lateran, and where their elders, covered with veils, presented him,
on their knees, with a copy of the Pentateuch bound in gold. Then
the Jews spoke in Hebrew, saying, "Most holy Father, we Hebrew men
beseech your Holiness, in the name of our synagogue, to vouchsafe
to us that the Mosaic Law, given on Mount Sinai by the Almighty God
to Moses our priest, may be confirmed and approved, as also other
eminent popes, the predecessors of your Holiness, have approved and
confirmed it". And the pope replied, "We confirm the Law, but we
condemn your faith and interpretation thereof, because He who you
say is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, is come already, as our
Church teaches and preaches."

Turning to the left, we enter a piazza, one side of which is occupied by the convent of the Oratorians, and the vast _Church of Santa Maria in Valicella, or the Chiesa Nuova_, built by Martino Lunghi for Gregory XIII. and S. Filippo Neri. The façade is by Rughesi. The decorations of the magnificently-ugly interior are partly due to Pietro da Cortona, who painted the roof and cupola.

On the left of the tribune is the gorgeous _Chapel of S. Filippo Neri_, containing the shrine of the saint, rich in lapis-lazuli and gold, surmounted by a mosaic copy of the picture by _Guido_ in the adjoining convent.

On the right, in the 1st chapel, is the Crucifixion, by _Scipione Gaetani_; in the 3rd chapel, the Ascension, _Maziano_. On the left, in the 2nd chapel, is the Adoration of the Magi, _Cesare Nebbia_; in the 3rd chapel, the Nativity, _Durante Alberti_; in the 4th chapel, the Visitation, _Baroccio_. In the left transept are statues of SS. Peter and Paul, by _Valsoldo_, and the Presentation in the Temple, by _Baroccio_. When S. Filippo Neri saw this picture, he said to the painter "Ma come avete ben fatto!--Che vera somiglianza!--E così che mi ha apparato tante volte la Santa Vergine."

The high altar has four columns of porta-santa. Its pictures are by _Rubens_ in his youth;--that in the centre represents the Virgin in a glory of angels; on the right are St. Gregory, S. Mauro, and St. Papias; on the left St. Domitilla, St. Nereus, and St. Achilleus.

_The Sacristy_, entered from the left transept, is by Marucelli. It has a grand statue of S. Filippo Neri, by _Algardi_. The ceiling is painted by _Pietro da Cortona_--the subject is an angel bearing the instruments of the passion to heaven.

The _Monastery_, built by Borromini, contains the magnificent library founded by S. Filippo. The cell of the saint is accessible, even to ladies. It retains his confessional, chair, shoes, rope-girdle,--and also a cast taken from his face after death, and some pictures which belonged to him, including one of Sta. Francesca Romana, and the portrait of an archbishop of Florence. In the private chapel adjoining, is the altar at which he daily said mass, over which is a picture of his time. Here also are the crucifix which was in his hands when he died, his candlesticks, and some sacred pictures on tablets which he carried to the sick. The door of the cell is the same, and the little bell by which he summoned his attendant. In a room below is the carved coffin in which he lay in state, a picture of him lying dead, and the portrait by _Guercino_ from which the mosaic in the church is taken. A curious picture in this chamber represents an earthquake at Beneventum, in which Pope Gregory XIV. believed that his life was saved by an image of S. Filippo. When S. Filippo Nero died,--as in the case of S. Antonio,--the Catholic world exclaimed intuitively, "Il Santo è morto!"

"Let the world flaunt her glories! each glittering prize,
Though tempting to others, is naught in my eyes.
A child of St. Philip, my master and guide,
I would live as he lived, and would die as he died.

"If scanty my fare, yet how was he fed?
On olives and herbs and a small roll of bread.
Are my joints and bones sore with aches and with pains?
Philip scourged his young flesh with fine iron chains.

"A closet his home, where he, year after year,
Bore heat or cold greater than heat or cold here;
A rope stretch'd across it, and o'er it he spread
His small stock of clothes; and the floor was his bed.

"One lodging besides; God's temple he chose,
And he slept in its porch his few hours of repose;
Or studied by light which the altar-lamp gave,
Or knelt at the martyr's victorious grave."

_J. H. Newman_, 1857.

The church of the Chiesa Nuova belongs exclusively to the Oratorian Fathers. Pope Leo XII. wished to turn it into a parish church.

"It was said that the superior of the house took, and showed, to
the Holy Father, an autograph memorial of the founder St. Philip
Neri to the pope of his day, petitioning that his church should
never be a parish. And below it was written that pope's promise,
also in his own hand, that it never should. This pope was St. Pius
V. Leo bowed to such authorities, said that he could not contend
against two saints, and altered his plans."--_Wiseman's Life of Leo
XII._

"S. Filippo Neri was good-humoured, witty, strict in essentials,
indulgent in trifles. He never commanded; he advised, or perhaps
requested: he did not discourse, he conversed: and he possessed, in
a remarkable degree, the acuteness necessary to distinguish the
peculiar merit of every character."--_Ranke._

"S. Filippo Neri laid the foundation of the Congregation of
Oratorians in 1551. Several priests and young ecclesiastics
associating themselves with him, began to assist him in his
conferences, and in reading prayers and meditations to the people
in the Church of the Holy Trinity. They were called Oratorians,
because at certain hours every morning and afternoon, by ringing a
bell, they called the people to the church to prayers and
meditations. In 1564, when the saint had formed his congregation
into a regular community, he preferred several of his young
ecclesiastics to holy orders; one of whom was the eminent Cæsar
Baronius, whom, for his sanctity, Benedict XIV., by a decree dated
on the 12th of January, 1745, honoured with the title of 'Venerable
Servant of God.' At the same time he formed his disciples into a
community, using one common purse and table, and he gave them rules
and statutes. He forbade any of them to bind themselves to this
state by vow or oath, that all might live together joined only by
the bands of fervour and holy charity; labouring with all their
strength to establish the kingdom of Christ in themselves by the
most perfect sanctification of their own souls, and to propagate
the same in the souls of others, by preaching, instructing the
ignorant, and teaching the Christian doctrine."--_Alban Butler._

"S. Filippo Neri exacted from his scholars and associates various
undignified outward acts. He required from a young Roman prince,
who wished to enjoy the distinction of being a member of his Order,
that he should walk through Rome with a fox's tail fastened on
behind: and when the prince declined to submit to this, he was
declined admission to the Order. Another was made to go through the
city without a coat; and another, with torn and tattered sleeves. A
nobleman took compassion on the last, and offered him a new pair of
sleeves: the youth declined, but afterwards, by command of the
master, was obliged gratefully to fetch and wear them. During the
building of the new church, he compelled his disciples to bring up
the materials like day labourers, and to lay their hands to the
work."--_Goethe, Romische Briefe._

It was in the piazza in front of this church that (during the reign of Clement XIV.) a beautiful boy was wont to improvise wonderful verses to the admiration of the crowds who surrounded him. This boy was named Trapassi, and was the son of a grocer in the neighbourhood. The Arcadian Academy changed his name into Greek, and called him "Metastasio."

From the corner of the piazza in front of the Chiesa Nuova, the Via Calabraga leads into the Via Monserrato, which it enters between Sta. Lucia del Gonfalone on the right, and S. Stefano in Piscinula on the left;--then, passing on the right S. Giacomo in Aino--behind which, and the Palazzo Ricci, is Santo Spirito dei Napolitani, a much frequented and popular little church--we reach _Sta. Maria di Monserrato_, built by Sangallo, in 1495, where St. Ignatius Loyola was wont to preach and catechise.

Here, behind the altar, under a stone unmarked by any epitaph, repose at last the remains of Pope Alexander VI., Rodrigo Borgia (1492--1503),--the infamous father of the beautiful and wicked Cæsar and Lucretia Borgia, who is believed to have died from accidentally drinking in a vineyard-banquet the poison which he had prepared for one of his own cardinals. When exhumed and turned out of the pontifical vaults of St Peter's by Julius II., he found a refuge here in his national church. The bones of his uncle Calixtus III., Alfonso Borgia (1455--58), rest in the same grave.

A little further, on the left, is the _Church of S. Tommaso degli Inglesi_, rebuilt 1870, on the site of a church founded by Offa, king of the East Saxons in 775, but destroyed by fire in 817. It was rebuilt, and was dedicated by Alexander III. (1159) to St. Thomas à Becket, who had lodged in the adjoining hospital when he was in Rome. Gregory XIII., in 1575, united the hospital which existed here with one for English sailors on the Ripa Grande, dedicated to St. Edmund the Martyr, and converted them into a college for English missionaries.

"Nothing like a hospice for English pilgrims existed till the first
great Jubilee, when John Shepherd and his wife Alice, seeing this
want, settled in Rome, and devoted their substance to the support
of poor palmers from their own country. This small beginning grew
into sufficient importance for it to become a royal charity; the
King of England became its patron, and named its rector, often a
person of high consideration. Among the fragments of old monuments
scattered about the house by the revolution, and now collected and
arranged in a corridor of the college, is a shield surmounted by a
crown, and carved with the ancient arms of England, lions or
lionceaux, and fleur-de-lis, quarterly. This used formerly to be
outside the house, and under it was inscribed:

'Hæc conjuncta duo,
Successus debita legi,
Anglia dant, regi
Francia signa suo.
Laurentius Chance me fecit M.CCC.XII.'"

_Cardinal Wiseman._

In the hall of the college are preserved portraits of Roman Catholics who suffered for their faith in England under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth.

The small cloister has a beautiful tomb of Christopher Bainbrigg, archbishop of York, British envoy to Julius II., who died at Rome 1514, and a monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, ob. 1739. Against the wall is the monument of Martha Swinburne, a prodigy of nine years old, inscribed:

"Memoriæ Marthæ, Henrici et Marthæ Swinburne. Nat. Angliæ. ex.
Antiqua. et. Nobili. Familia. Caphæton. Northumbriæ. Parentes.
Mœstiss. Filiæ. Carissimæ. Pr. Quæ. Ingenio. Excellenti. Forma.
Eximia. Incredibili. Doctrina. Moribus. Suavissimis. Vix. Ann.
viii. Men. xi. Tantum. Prærepta. Romæ. v. ID. SEPT. AN. MDCCLXVIII.

"Martha Swinburne, born Oct. X. MDCCLVIII. Died Sept. VIII.
MDCCLXVII. Her years were few, but her life was long and full. She
spoke English, French, and Italian, and had made some progress in
the Latin tongue; knew the English and Roman histories, arithmetic,
and geography; sang the most difficult music at sight with one of
the finest voices in the world, was a great proficient on the
harpsichord, wrote well, and danced many sorts of dances with
strength and elegance. Her face was beautiful and majestic, her
body a perfect model, and all her motions graceful. Her docility in
doing everything to make her parents happy, could only be equalled
by her sense and aptitude. With so many perfections, amidst the
praises of all persons, from the sovereign down to the beggar in
the street, her heart was incapable of vanity; affectation and
arrogance were unknown to her. Her beauty and accomplishments made
her the admiration of all beholders, the love of all that enjoyed
her company. Think, then, what the pangs of her wretched parents
must be on so cruel a separation. Their only comfort is in the
certitude of her being completely happy beyond the reach of pain,
and for ever freed from the miseries of this life. She can never
feel the torments they endure for the loss of a beloved child.
Blame them not for indulging an innocent pride in transmitting her
memory to posterity as an honour to her family and to her native
country England. Let this plain character, penned by her
disconsolate father, draw a tear of pity from every eye that
peruses it."

The arm of St. Thomas à Becket is the chief "relic" preserved here.

At the end of the street are two exceedingly ugly little churches--very interesting from their associations. On the right is _St. Girolamo della Carità_, founded on the site of the house of Sta. Paula, where she received St Jerome upon his being called to Rome from the Thebaid by Pope Damasus in 392. Here he remained for three years, till, embittered by the scandal excited by his residence in the house of the widow, he returned to his solitude.

In 1519 S. Filippo Neri founded here a _Confraternity_ for the distribution of dowries to poor girls, for the assistance of debtors, and for the maintenance of fourteen priests for the visitation and confession of the sick.

"Lorsque St. Philippe de Neri fut prêtre, il alla se loger à
Saint-Jerôme _della Carità_, où il demeura trente-cinq ans, dans la
société des pieux ecclésiastiques qui administraient les
sacrements dans cette paroisse. Chaque soir, Philippe ouvrait, dans
sa chambre qui existe encore, des conférences sur tous les points
du dogme catholique; les jeunes gens affluaient à ces saintes
réunions: on y voyait Baronius; Bordini, qui fut archevêque;
Salviati, frère du cardinal; Tarugia, neveu du pape Jules III. Un
désir ardent d'exercer ensemble le ministère de la prédication et
les devoirs de la charité porta ces pieux jeunes gens à vivre en
commun, sous la discipline du vertueux prêtre, dont le parole était
si puissante sur leurs cœurs."--_Gournerie._

The masterpiece of Domenichino, the Last Communion of St. Jerome, in which Sta. Paula is introduced kissing the hand of the dying saint, hung in this church till carried off to Paris by the French.

Opposite this is the _Church of Sta. Brigitta_, on the site of the dwelling of the saint, a daughter of the house of Brahé, and wife of Walfon, duke of Nericia, who came hither in her widowhood, to pass her declining years near the Tomb of the Apostles. With her, lived her daughter St. Catherine of Sweden, who was so excessively beautiful, and met with so many importunities in that wild time (1350), that she made a vow never to leave her own roof except to visit the churches. The crucifix, prayer-book, and black mantle of St. Bridget are preserved here.[302]

"St. Bridget exercised a reformatory influence as well upon the
higher class of the priesthood in Rome as in Naples. For she did
not alone satisfy herself with praying at the graves of the
martyrs, she earnestly exhorted bishops and cardinals, nay, even
the pope himself, to a life of the true worship of God and of good
works, from which they had almost universally fallen, to devote
themselves to worldly ambition. She awoke the consciences of many,
as well by her prayers and remonstrances, as by her example. For
she herself, of a rich and noble race, that of a Brahé, one of the
nobles in Sweden, yet lived here in Rome, and laboured like a truly
humble servant of Christ. 'We must walk barefoot over pride, if we
would overcome it,' said she, and Brigitta Brahé did so; and, in so
doing, overcame those proud hearts, and won them to
God."--_Frederika Bremer._

We now reach the _Palazzo Farnese_,--the most magnificent of all the Roman palaces,--begun by Paul III., Alessandro Farnese (1534--50), and finished by his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Its architects were Antonio di Sangallo, Michael Angelo, and Giacomo della Porta, who finished the façade towards the Tiber. The materials were plundered partly from the Coliseum and partly from the theatre of Marcellus; the granite basons of the fountains in front are from the baths of Caracalla. The immense size of the blocks of travertine used in the building give it a solid grandeur.

This palace was inherited by the Bourbon kings of Naples by descent from Elizabetta Farnese, who was the last of her line, and it has for the last few years been the residence of the Neapolitan Court, who have lived here in the utmost seclusion since their exile. For this reason the palace is now very seldom shown. Its vast halls are painted with the masterpieces of Annibale Caracci--huge mythological subjects,--and a few frescoes by Guido, Domenichino, Daniele da Volterra, Taddeo Zucchero, and others; but there has not been much to see since the dispersion of the Farnese gallery of sculpture, of which the best pieces (the Bull, Hercules, Flora, &c.) are in the museum at Naples. In the courtyard is the sarcophagus which is said once to have held the remains of Cecilia Metella.

"The painting the gallery at the Farnese Palace is supposed to have
partly caused the death of Caracci. Without fixing any price he set
about it, and employed both himself and all his best pupils nearly
seven years in perfecting the work, never doubting that the Farnese
family, who had employed him, would settle a pension upon him, or
keep him in their service. When his work was finished they paid him
as you would pay a house-painter, and this ill-usage so deeply
affected him, that he took to drinking, and never painted anything
great afterwards."--_Miss Berry's Journals._

Behind the Palazzo Farnese runs the _Via Giulia_, which contains the ugly fountain of the Mascherone. Close to the arch which leads to the Farnese gardens is the church of _Sta. Maria della Morte_, or _Dell' Orazione_, built by Fuga. It is in the hands of a pious confraternity who devote themselves to the burial of the dead.

"L'église de la _Bonne-Mort_ a son caveau, décoré dans le style
funèbre comme le couvent des Capucins. On y conserve aussi
élégamment que possible les os des noyés, asphyxiés et autres
victimes des accidents. La confrérie de la _Bonne-Mort_ va chercher
les cadavres; un sacristain assez adroit les dessèche et les
dispose en ornements. J'ai causé quelque temps avec cet artiste:
'Monsieur,' me disait-il, 'je ne suis heureux qu'ici, au milieu de
mon œuvre. Ce n'est pas pour les quelques écus que je gagne tous
les jours en montrant la chapelle aux étrangers; non; mais ce
monument que j'entretiens, que j'embellie, que j'égaye par mon
talent, est devenu l'orgueil et la joie de ma vie.' Il me montra
ses matériaux, c'est-à-dire quelques poignées d'ossements jetés en
tas dans un coin, fit l'éloge de la pouzzolane, et témoigna de son
mépris pour la chaux. 'La chaux brûle les os,' me dit-il, 'elle les
fait tomber en poussière. On ne peut faire rien de bon avec les os
qui ont été dans la chaux. C'est de la drogue
(_robbaccia_).'"--_About._

Beyond the arch is the _Palazzo Falconieri_ (with falcons at the corners), built by Borromini about 1650. There is something rather handsome in its tall three-arched loggia, as seen from the back of the courtyard, which overhangs the Tiber opposite the Farnesina. Cardinal Fesch (uncle of Napoleon I.) lived here, and here formed his fine gallery of pictures.

"The whole of Cardinal Fesch's collection was dispersed at his
death, having been vainly offered by him, during the last years of
his life, for sale to the English government, for an annuity of
4000_l._ per annum."--_Eaton's Rome._

Further on are the _Carceri Nuove_, prisons established by Innocent X. (appropriately reached by the Via del Malpasso), and then the _Palazzo Sacchetti_, built by Antonio da Sangallo for his own residence, and adorned by him with the arms of his patron, Paul III., and the grateful inscription, "Tu mihi quodcumque hoc rerum est." The collection of statues which was formed here by Cardinal Ricci, was removed to the Capitol by Benedict XIV., and became the foundation of the present Capitoline collection.

In front of the Palazzo Farnese, beyond its own piazza, is that known as the _Campo di Fiore_, a centre of commerce among the working classes. Here the most terrible of the Autos da Fé were held by the Dominicans, in which many Jews and other heretics were burnt alive.