Chapter XIX

THE VILLAS BORGHESE, MADAMA, AND MELLINI.

Protestant Churches--Villa Borghese--Raphael's Villa--Casino and
Villa of Papa Giulio--(Claude's
Villa--Arco-Oscuro--Acqua-Acetosa)--Chapel of St.
Andrew--Ponte-Molle (Castle of Crescenza--Prima Porta--The
Crimera--The Allia)--(The Via Cassia)--Villa Madama--Monte
Mario--Villa Mellini--Porta Angelica.

Immediately outside the Porta del Popolo, on the left, are the English and American churches.

"As to the position selected for these buildings, it is to be
observed that, although restricted by the regulations of the Roman
Catholic hierarchy to a locality outside the walls, the greatest
possible attention has been paid to the convenience of the English,
the great majority of whose dwelling-houses are in this immediate
quarter. The English church in Rome, therefore, though nominally
outside the walls, is really, as regards centrality, in the very
heart of the city. The greatest possible facilities are afforded by
the authorities to our countrymen in all matters relating to the
establishment; and though the general behaviour of the Roman
inhabitants is such as to render the precaution almost unnecessary,
the protection of the police and military is invariably afforded
during the hours of divine service.... Whatever be the
disagreements on points of religious faith between Protestant and
Catholic, there is at least one point of feeling in common between
both in this respect; for the streets are tranquil, the shops are
shut, the demeanour of the people is decent and orderly, and,
notwithstanding the distance from England, Sunday feels more like
a Sunday at Rome than in any other town in Europe."--_Sir G. Head's
"Tour in Rome."_

The papal government of Rome had more tolerance for a religion which was not its own than that of the early emperors. Augustus refused to allow the performance of Egyptian rites within a mile of the city walls.

On the right of the Gate is the handsome entrance of the beautiful _Villa Borghese_, most liberally thrown open to the public on every day except Monday, when the Villa Doria is open.

"The entrance to the Villa Borghese is just outside the Porta del
Popolo. Passing beneath that not very impressive specimen of
Michael Angelo's architecture, a minute's walk will transport the
visitor from the small uneasy lava stones of the Roman pavement,
into broad, gravelled carriage drives, whence a little further
stroll brings him to the soft turf of a beautiful seclusion. A
seclusion, but seldom a solitude; for priest, noble, and populace,
stranger and native, all who breathe the Roman air, find free
admission, and come hither to taste the languid enjoyment of the
day-dream which they call life.

"The scenery is such as arrays itself to the imagination when we
read the beautiful old myths, and fancy a brighter sky, a softer
turf, a more picturesque arrangement of venerable trees, than we
find in the rude and untrained landscapes of the western world. The
ilex-trees, so ancient and time-honoured are they, seem to have
lived for ages undisturbed, and to feel no dread of profanation by
the axe anymore than overthrow by the thunder-stroke. It has
already passed out of their dreamy old memories that only a few
years ago they were grievously imperilled by the Gauls' last
assault upon the walls of Rome. As if confident in the long peace
of their lifetime, they assume attitudes of evident repose. They
lean over the green turf in ponderous grace, throwing abroad their
great branches without danger of interfering with other trees,
though other majestic trees grow near enough for dignified society,
but too distant for constraint. Never was there a more venerable
quietude than that which sleeps among their sheltering boughs;
never a sweeter sunshine than that which gladdens the gentle bloom
which these leafy patriarchs strive to diffuse over the swelling
and subsiding lawns.

"In other portions of the grounds the stone pines lift their dense
clumps of branches upon a slender length of stem, so high that they
look like green islands in the air, flinging down a shadow upon the
turf so far off that you scarcely know which tree has made it.

"Again, there are avenues of cypress, resembling dark flames of
huge funeral candles, which spread dusk and twilight round about
them instead of cheerful radiance. The more open spots are all
a-bloom, early in the season, with anemones of wondrous size, both
white and rose-coloured, and violets that betray themselves by
their rich fragrance, even if their blue eyes fail to meet your
own. Daisies, too, are abundant, but larger than the modest little
English flower, and therefore of small account.

"These wooded and flowery lawns are more beautiful than the finest
English park scenery, more touching, more impressive, through the
neglect that leaves nature so much to her own ways and methods.
Since man seldom interferes with her, she sets to work in her quiet
way and makes herself at home. There is enough of human care, it is
true, bestowed long ago, and still bestowed, to prevent wildness
from growing into deformity; and the result is an ideal landscape,
a woodland scene that seems to have been projected out of the
poet's mind. If the ancient Faun were other than a mere creation of
old poetry, and could reappear anywhere, it must be in such a scene
as this.

"In the openings of the wood there are fountains plashing into
marble basons, the depths of which are shaggy with water-weeds; or
they tumble like natural cascades from rock to rock, sending their
murmur afar, to make the quiet and silence more appreciable.
Scattered here and there with careless artifice, stand old altars,
bearing Roman inscriptions. Statues, grey with the long corrosion
of even that soft atmosphere, half hide and half reveal themselves,
high on pedestals, or perhaps fallen and broken on the turf.
Terminal figures, columns of marble or granite porticoes and
arches, are seen in the vistas of the wood-paths, either veritable
relics of antiquity, or with so exquisite a touch of artful ruin on
them that they are better than if really antique. At all events,
grass grows on the tops of the shattered pillars, and weeds and
flowers root themselves in the chinks of the massive arches and
fronts of temples, as if this were the thousandth summer since
their winged seeds alighted there.

"What a strange idea--what a needless labour--to construct
artificial ruins in Rome, the native soil of ruin! But even these
sportive imitations, wrought by man in emulation of what time has
done to temples and palaces, are perhaps centuries old, and,
beginning as illusions, have grown to be venerable in sober
earnest. The result of all is a scene, such as is to be found
nowhere save in these princely villa-residences in the
neighbourhood of Rome; a scene that must have required generations
and ages, during which growth, decay, and man's intelligence
wrought kindly together, to render it so gently wild as we behold
it now.

"The final charm is bestowed by the malaria. There is a piercing,
thrilling, delicious kind of regret in the idea of so much beauty
being thrown away, or only enjoyable at its half-development, in
winter and early spring, and never to be dwelt amongst, as the home
scenery of any human being. For if you come hither in summer, and
stray through these glades in the golden sunset, fever walks
arm-in-arm with you, and death awaits you at the end of the dim
vista. Thus the scene is like Eden in its loveliness; like Eden,
too, in the fatal spell that removes it beyond the scope of man's
actual possessions."--_Transformation_.

"Oswald et Corinne terminèrent leur voyage de Rome par la
Villa-Borghèse, celui de tous les jardins et de tous les palais
romains où les splendeurs de la nature et des arts sont rassemblées
avec le plus de goût et d'éclat. On y voit des arbres de toutes les
espèces et des eaux magnifiques. Une réunion incroyable de statues,
de vases, de sarcophages antiques, se mêlent avec la fraîcheur de
la jeune nature du sud. La mythologie des anciens y semble ranimée.
Les naïades sont placées sur le bord des ondes, les nymphes dans
les bois dignes d'elles, les tombeaux sous les ombrages élyséens;
la statue d'Esculape est au milieu d'une île; celle de Vénus semble
sortir des ondes; Ovide et Virgile pourraient se promener dans ce
beau lieu; et se croire encore au siècle d'Auguste. Les
chefs-d'œuvre de sculpture que renferme le palais, lui donnent
une magnificence à jamais nouvelle. On aperçoit de loin à travers
les arbres, la ville de Rome et Saint-Pierre, et la campagne, et
les longues arcades, débris des aqueducs qui transportaient les
sources des montagnes dans l'ancienne Rome. Tout est là pour la
pensée, pour l'imagination, pour la rêverie.

"Les sensations les plus pures se confondent avec les plaisirs de
l'âme, et donnent l'idée d'un bonheur parfait; mais quand on
demande, pourquoi ce séjour ravissant n'est-il pas habité? l'on
vous répond que le mauvais air (_la cattiva aria_) ne permet pas
d'y vivre pendant l'été."--_Madame de Staël._

The _Casino_, at the further end of the villa, built by Cardinal Scipio Borghese, the favourite nephew of Paul V., contains a collection of sculpture. The first room entered is a great hall, with a ceiling painted by _Mario Rossi_, and a floor paved with an ancient mosaic discovered at the Torre Nuova (one of the principal Borghese farms) in 1835.

"Cette mosaïque fort curieuse nous offre et les combats des
gladiateurs entre eux et leurs luttes avec les animaux féroces.
Cette mosaïque est d'un dessin aussi barbare que les scènes
représentées; tout est en harmonie, le sujet et le tableau. Le
sentiment de répulsion qu'inspire la cruauté romaine n'en est que
plus complet; celle-ci n'est point adoucie par l'art et paraît dans
toute sa laideur.

"On voit les gladiateurs poursuivre, s'attaquer, se massacrer,
couverts d'armures qui ressemblent à celle des chevaliers: vous
diriez une odieuse parodie du moyen âge. Dans le corps de l'un des
combattants un glaive est enfoncé. Des cadavres sont gisant parmi
les flaques de sang; à côté d'eux est le Θ fatal, initiale du mot
grec Θἁνατος--à laquelle leur juge impitoyable, le peuple, les a
condamnés; du grec partout. Le maître excite ses élèves on leur
montrant le fouet et la palme; les vainqueurs élèvent leurs épées,
et sans doute la foule applaudit. Ils ont un air de triomphe. Ce
sont des acteurs renommés. Auprès de chacun son nom est écrit; ces
noms barbares ou étranges: l'un s'appelle Buccibus, un autre
Cupidor, un autre Licentiosus, avis effronté aux dames
romaines."--_Ampère_, iv. 31.

The collection in this villa contains no exceedingly important statues. In the vestibule are some reliefs from the arch of Claudius in the Corso, destroyed in 1527. Leaving the great hall to the left we may notice:

_1st Room._--

IN THE CENTRE:

Juno Pronuba, from Monte Calvi.

_2nd Room._--

IN THE CENTRE:

A Fighting Amazon, on horseback.

_3rd Room._--

4. Daphne changed into a Laurel.

13. Anacreon, seated.

"La statue d'Anacréon est très-remarquable, elle ressemble à la
figure du poëte sur une médaille de Téos. Le style est simple et
grandiose, l'expression énergique plutôt que gracieuse, la draperie
est rude, la statue respire l'enthousiasme; ce n'est pas le faux
Anacréon que nous connaissons et dont les poésies sont postérieures
au moins en grande partie à la date du véritable; c'est le vieil et
primitif Anacréon; cet Anacréon-là ne vit plus que dans cet
énergique portrait, seule image de son inspiration véritable, dont
les produits authentiques ont presque entièrement
disparu."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._ iii. 567.

_4th Room._--

A handsome gallery with paintings by _Marchetti_ and _De Angelis_,
adorned with porphyry busts of the twelve Cæsars.

32. Bronze statue of a boy.

_6th Room._--

IN THE CENTRE:

A Greek poet, probably Alcæus.

7. The Hermaphrodite; found near Sta. Maria Vittoria.

_7th Room._--

IN THE CENTRE:

Boy on a Dolphin.

"D'autres statues peuvent dériver de la grande composition maritime
de Scopas. Tel est la Palémon, assis sur un dauphin, de la villa
Borghese, d'après lequel a été évidemment conçu le Jonas de
l'église de Sainte-Marie du Peuple, qu'on attribue à
Raphaël."--_Ampère, Hist. Rom._ iii. 284.

_8th Room._--

1. Dancing Satyr.

The _Upper Story_, reached by a winding staircase from the Galleria, contains:

_1st Room._--Three fine works by _Bernini_.

David with the sling: executed in his 18th year.

Apollo and Daphne.

Æneas carrying off Anchises: executed when the sculptor was only 15
years old.

_2nd Room._--

Filled with a collection of portraits, for the most part unknown.

Worthy of attention are the portraits of Paul V. by _Caravaggio_,
and of his father Marc-Antonio Borghese, attributed to _Guido_;
also the busts of Paul V. and of Cardinal Scipio Borghese, who
built the villa, by _Bernini_.

_5th Room._--

Statue of Princess Pauline Borghese, sister of Napoleon I., by
_Canova_, as Venus Victrix.

"Canova esteemed his statue of the Princess Borghese as one of his
best works. No one else could have an opportunity of judging of it,
for the prince, who certainly was not jealous of his wife's person,
was so jealous of her statue, that he kept it locked up in a room
in the Borghese Palace, of which he kept the key, and not a human
being, not even Canova himself, could get access to it."--_Eaton's
Rome._

Canova took Chantrey to see this statue by night, wishing, as was
his wont, to show it by the light of a single taper. Chantrey,
wishing to do honour to the artist, insisted upon holding the taper
for the best light himself, which gave rise to Moore's lines:

"When he, thy peer in art and fame,
Hung o'er the marble with delight;
And while his ling'ring hand would steal
O'er every grace the taper's rays,
Gave thee, with all the generous zeal
Such master-spirits only feel,
The best of fame--a rival's praise!"

In the upper part of the grounds, not far from the walls of Rome, stood the Villa Olgiati, once the _Villa of Raphael_. It contained three rooms ornamented with frescoes from the hand of the great master. The best of these are now preserved in a room at the end of the gallery in the Borghese Palace. The villa was destroyed during the siege of Rome in 1849, when many of the fine old trees were cut down on this side of the grounds.

"The Casino of Raphael was unfurnished, except with casks of wine,
and uninhabited, except by a _contadina_. The chamber which was the
bedroom of Raphael was entirely adorned with the work of his own
hands. It was a small pleasant apartment, looking out on a little
green lawn, fenced in with trees irregularly planted. The walls
were covered with arabesques, in various whimsical and beautiful
designs--such as the sports of children; Loves balancing themselves
on poles, or mounted on horseback, full of glee and mirth; Fauns
and Satyrs; Mercury and Minerva; flowers and curling tendrils, and
every beautiful composition that could suggest itself to a classic
imagination in its most sportive mood. The cornice was supported by
painted Caryatides. The coved roof was adorned with four
medallions, containing portraits of his mistress, the Fornarina--it
seemed as if he took pleasure in multiplying that beloved object,
so that wherever his eyes turned her image might meet them. There
were three other paintings, one representing a Terminus with a
target before it, and a troop of men shooting at it with bows and
arrows which they had stolen from unsuspecting Cupid, lying asleep
on the ground. The second represented a figure, apparently a god,
seated at the foot of a couch, with an altar before him, in a
temple or rotunda, and from the gardens which appeared in
perspective through its open intercolumniations, were seen
advancing a troop of gay young nymphs, bearing vases full of roses
upon their heads.[369] ... The last and best of these paintings
represented the nuptials of Alexander the Great and
Roxana."--_Eaton's Rome._

Just outside the Porta del Popolo, a small gate on the left of the Villa Borghese leads to the _Villa Esmeade_,--the property of an Englishman,--of considerable extent, and possessing beautiful views of Rome and the Sabine mountains from its heights, which are adorned with a few ancient statues and vases.

Unpleasantly situated near the gate of the Villa Borghese is the Pig-market. Fortunately the manner of pig-killing at Rome is not so noisy as that in northern countries. The throats of the animals are not cut, but they are pierced under the left shoulder with a long pointed bodkin, which kills them almost instantly--no blood flowing. In a very few minutes a whole pen-full of pigs can be stilettoed in this manner--indeed, for any one interested in farming matters, the slaughter of the Roman pigs is a sight worth seeing.

We now enter upon the ugly dusty road which leads in a straight line to the Milvian Bridge. By this road the last triumphal procession entered Rome--that of the Emperor Honorius and Stilicho (described by the poet Claudian) in A.D. 403--a whole century having then elapsed since the Romans had beheld their last triumph--that of Diocletian.

Under the line of hills (Monte Parioli) on the right of the road are the _Catacombs of St. Valentine_. On the other side, the same hills are undermined by the _Catacombs of SS. Gianutus and Basilla_.

Half a mile from the gate, rises conspicuously on the right of the road the _Casino of Papa Giulio_, with picturesque overhanging cornices and sculptured fountain. The courtyard has a quaint cloister. This is the "Villino," and, far behind, but formerly connected with it by a long corridor, is the _Villa of Papa Giulio_, containing several rooms with very richly decorated ceilings, painted by _Taddeo Zucchero_. Michael Angelo was consulted by the pope as to the building of this villa, and Vasari made drawings for it, but "the actual architect was Vignola, a modest genius, who had to suffer severely, together with all his fellow-workmen, from the tracasseries of the pope's favourite, the bishop Aliotti, whom the less-enduring Michael Angelo was wont to nickname Monsignor Tante Cose."

"The villa of Papa Giulio is still visited by the stranger.
Restored to the presence of those times, he ascends the spacious
steps to the gallery, whence he overlooks the whole extent of Rome,
from Monte Mario, with all the windings of the Tiber. The building
of this palace, the laying out of its gardens, were the daily
occupation of Pope Julius III. The place was designed by himself,
but was never completed: every day brought with it some new
suggestion or caprice, which the architects must at once set
themselves to realize. This pontiff desired to forward the
interests of his family; but he was not inclined to involve himself
in dangerous perplexities on their account. The pleasant blameless
life of his villa was that which was best suited to him. He gave
entertainments, which he enlivened with proverbial and other modes
of expression, that sometimes mingled blushes with the smiles of
his guests. In the important affairs of the Church and State, he
took no other share than was absolutely inevitable. This Pope
Julius died March 23, 1555."--_Ranke's Hist. of the Popes._

"C'est uniquement comme protecteur des arts et comme prince
magnifique que nous pouvons envisager Jules III. Sa mauvaise santé
lui faisait rechercher le repos et les douceurs d'une vie grande et
libre. Aussi avait-il fait édifier avec une sorte de tendresse
paternelle cette belle _villa_, qui est célèbre, dans l'histoire de
l'art, sous le nom de Vigne de pape Jules. Michel-Ange, Vasari,
Vignole en avaient dessiné les profils; les nymphées et les
fontaines étaient d'Ammanati; les peintures de Taddeo Zuccari. Du
haut d'une galerie élégante on découvrait les sept collines, et
d'ombreuses allées, tracées par Jules III., égaraient les pas du
vieillard dans ce dédale de tertres et de vallées qui sépare le
pont où périt Maxence de la ville éternelle."--_Gournerie, Rome
Chrétienne_, ii. 172.

Pope Julius used to come hither, with all his court, from the Vatican by water. The richly-decorated barge, filled with venerable ecclesiastics, gliding between the osier-fringed banks of the yellow Tiber, with its distant line of churches and palaces, would make a fine subject for a picture.

Nearly opposite the Casino Papa Giulio, on the further bank of the Tiber, is the picturesque classic _Villa of Claude Lorraine_, whither he was wont to retire during the summer months, residing in the winter in the Tempietto at the head of the Trinità steps. This villa is best seen from the walk by the river-side, which is reached by turning at once to the left on coming out of the Porta del Popolo. Hence it makes a good foreground to the view of the city and distant heights of the Janiculan.

"This road is called 'Poussin's Walk,' because the great painter
used to go along it from Rome to his villa near Ponte Molle. One
sees here an horizon such as one often finds in Poussin's
pictures."--_Frederika Bremer._

Close to the Villa Papa Giulio is the tunnel called _Arco Oscuro_, passing which, a steep lane with a beautiful view towards St. Peter's, ascends between the hillsides of the Monte Parione, and descends on the other side (following the turn to the right) to the Tiber bank, about two miles from Rome, where is situated the _Acqua Acetosa_, a refreshing mineral spring like seltzer water, enclosed in a fountain erected by Bernini for Alexander VII. There is a lovely view from hence across the Campagna in the direction of Fidenæ (Castel Giubeleo) and the Tor di Quinto.

"A green hill, one of those bare table-lands so common in the
Campagna, rises on the right. Ascend it to where a broad furrow in
the slope seems to mark the site of an ancient road. You are on a
plateau, almost quadrangular in form, rising steeply to the height
of nearly two hundred feet above the Tiber, and isolated, save at
one angle, where it is united to other high ground by a narrow
isthmus. Not a tree--not a shrub on its turf-grown surface--not a
house--not a ruin--not one stone upon another, to tell you that the
site had been inhabited. Yet here once stood Antemnæ, the city of
many towers,[370] one of the most ancient of Italy![371] Not a
trace remains above ground. Even the broken pottery, that
infallible indicator of bygone civilisation, which marks the site
and determines the limits of habitation on many a now desolate spot
of classic ground, is here so overgrown with herbage that the eye
of an antiquary would alone detect it. It is a site strong by
nature, and well adapted for a city, as cities then were; for it is
scarcely larger than the Palatine Hill, which, though at first it
embraced the whole of Rome, was afterwards too small for a single
palace. It has a peculiar interest as one of the three cities of
Sabina,[372] whose daughters, ravished by the followers of Romulus,
became the mothers of the Roman race. Antemnæ was the nearest city
to Rome--only three miles distant--and therefore must have suffered
most from the inhospitable violence of the Romans."--_Dennis'
Cities of Etruria_, ch. iii.

There is a walk--rather dangerous for carriages--by the river, from hence, to the Ponte Molle. Here Miss Bathurst was drowned by being thrown from her horse into the Tiber.

The river bank presents a series of picturesque views, though the yellow Tiber in no way reminds us of Virgil's description:

"Cæruleus Tybris cœlo gratissimus amnis."

_Æn._ viii. 64.

Continuing to follow the main road, on the left is the round _Church of St. Andrew_, with a Doric portico, built by Vignola, in 1527, to commemorate the deliverance of Clement VII. from the Germans.

Further, on the right, is another _Chapel in honour of St. Andrew's Head_.

"One of the most curious instances of relique worship occurred here
in the reign of Æneas Sylvius, Pope Pius II. The head of St. Andrew
was brought in stately procession from the fortress of Narni,
whither, as the Turks invaded the Morea, it had been brought for
safety from Patras. It was intended that the most glorious heads of
St. Peter and St. Paul should go forth to meet that of their
brother apostle. But the mass of gold which enshrined, the cumbrous
iron which protected these reliques, was too heavy to be moved; so,
without them, the pope, the cardinals, the whole population of
Rome, thronged forth to the meadows near the Milvian Bridge. The
pope made an eloquent address to the head, a hymn was sung
entreating the saint's aid in the discomfiture of the Turks. It
rested that day on the altar of Santa Maria del Popolo, and was
then conveyed through the city, decorated with all splendour, to
St. Peter's. Cardinal Bessarion preached a sermon, and the head was
deposited with those of his brother apostles under the
high-altar_."--Milman's Latin Christianity._

A mile and a half from the gate, the Tiber is crossed by the _Ponte Molle_, built by Pius VII. in 1815, on the site and foundations of the Pons Milvius, which was erected B.C. 109 by the Censor M. Æmilius Scaurus. It was here that, on the night of December 3, B.C. 63, Cicero captured the emissaries of the Allobrogi, who were engaged in the conspiracy of Catiline. Hence, on October 27, A.D. 312, Maxentius was thrown into the river and drowned after his defeat by Constantine at the Saxa Rubra. It was on this occasion that the seven-branched candlestick of Jerusalem was dropped into the river, where it has probably ever since been embedded. The statues of Our Saviour and John the Baptist, at the further entrance of the bridge, are by _Mochi_.

Here are a number of taverns and _Trattorie_, much frequented by the lower ranks of the Roman people, and for which especial open omnibuses run from the Porta del Popolo. Similar places of public amusement seem to have existed here from imperial times. Ovid describes the people coming out hither in troops by the Via Flaminia to celebrate the fête of Anna Perenna, an old woman who supplied the plebs with cakes during the retreat to the Mons Sacer, but who afterwards, from a similitude of names, was confounded with Anna, sister of Dido.

"Idibus est Annæ festum geniale Perennæ,
Haud procul a ripis, advena Tibri, tuis.
Plebs venit, ac virides passim disjecta per herbas
Potat; et accumbit cum pare quisque sua.
Sub Jove pars durat; pauci tentoria ponunt;
Sunt, quibus e ramo frondea facta casa est:
Pars, ubi pro rigidis calamos statuere columnis,
Desuper extentas imposuere togas.
Sole tamen vinoque calent; annosque precantur,
Quot sumant cyathos, ad numerumque bibunt.
Inventes illic, qui Nestoris ebibat annos:
Quæ sit per calices facta Sibylla suos.
Illic et cantant, quidquid didicere theatris,
Et jactant faciles ad sua verba manus:
Et ducunt posito duras cratere choreas,
Multaque diffusis saltat amica comis.
Quum redeunt, titubant, et sunt spectacula vulgo,
Et fortunatos obvia turba vocat.
Occurri nuper. Visa est mihi digna relatu
Pompa: senem potum pota trahebat anus."

_Fast._ iii. 523.

Here three roads meet. That on the right is the old Via Flaminia, begun B.C. 220 by C. Flaminius the censor. This was the great northern road of Italy, which, issuing from the city by the Porta Ratumena, which was close to the tomb of Bibulus, followed a line a little east of the modern Corso, and passed the Aurelian wall by the Porta Flaminia, near the present Porta del Popolo. It extended to Ariminum (Rimini), a distance of 210 miles.[373]

(Following this road for about 1½ mile, on the left are the ruins called _Tor di Quinto_. A little further on the right of the road are some tufa-rocks, with an injured tomb of the Nasones. Following the valley under these rocks to the left we reach (1½ mile) the fine _Castle of Crescenza_, now a farm-*house, picturesquely situated on a rocky knoll,--once inhabited by Poussin, and reproduced in the background of many of his pictures. In the interior are some remains of ancient frescoes.

On this road, seven miles from Rome, is Prima Porta, where are the ruins of the _Villa of Livia_, wife of Augustus, and mother of Tiberius. When first opened, several small rooms in the villa, supposed to be baths, were covered with frescoes and arabesques in a state of the most marvellous beauty and preservation, but they are now greatly injured by damp and exposure. From the character of the paintings, a trellis-*work of fruit and flowers, amid which birds and insects are sporting, it is supposed that they are the work of Ludius, described in Pliny, who "divi Augusti ætate primus instituit amœnissimam parietum picturam, villas et porticus ac topiaria opera, lucos, nemora ... blandissimo aspectu minimoque impendio." It was here that the magnificent statue of Augustus, now in the Braccio Nuovo of the Vatican, was discovered in 1863.

"What Augustus's affection for Livia was, is well known. 'Preserve
the remembrance of a husband who has loved you very tenderly,' were
the last words of the emperor, as he lay on his death-bed. And when
asked how she contrived to retain his affection, Dion Cassius tells
us that she replied, 'My secret is very simple: I have made it the
study of my life to please him, and I have never manifested any
indiscreet curiosity with regard to his public or private
affairs.'"--_Weld._

Just beyond this, the Tiber receives the little river _Valca_, considered to be identical with the Crimera. Hither the devoted clan of the Fabii, 4000 in number, retired from Rome, having offered to sustain, at their own cost and risk, the war which Rome was then carrying on against Veii. Here, because they felt a position within the city untenable on account of the animosity of their fellow-patricians, which had been excited by their advocacy of the agrarian law, and their popularity with the plebeians, they established themselves on a hillock overhanging the river, which they fortified, and where they dwelt for three years. At the end of that time the Veiientines, by letting loose herds of cattle like the _Vaccine_, which one still sees wandering in that part of the Campagna, drew them into an ambuscade, and they were all cut off to a man. According to Dionysius, a portion of the little army remained to guard the fort, and the rest fled to another hill, perhaps that now known as Vaccareccia. These were the last to be exterminated.

"They fought from dawn to sunset. The enemy slain by their hand
formed heaps of corpses which barred their passage."--They were
summoned to surrender, but they preferred to die.--"The people of
Veii showered arrows and stones upon them from a distance, not
daring to approach them again. The arrows fell like thick snow. The
Fabii, with swords blunted by force of striking, with bucklers
broken, continued to fight, snatching fresh swords from the hands
of the enemy, and rushing upon them with the ferocity of wild
beasts."--_Dionysius_, ix. 21.

A little beyond this, ten miles from Rome, is the stream _Scannabecchi_, which descends from the Crustuminian Hills, and is identical with the Allia, "infaustum Allia nomen," where the Romans were (B.C. 390) entirely defeated with great slaughter by the Gauls, before the capture of the city, in which the aged senators were massacred at the doors of their houses.

It was in the lands lying between the villa of Livia and the Tiber that _Saxa Rubra_[374] was situated, where Constantine (A.D. 312) gained his decisive victory over Maxentius, who, while attempting to escape over the Milvian Bridge, was pushed by the throng of fugitives into the Tiber, and perished, engulfed in the mud. The scene is depicted in the famous fresco of Giulio Romano, in the stanze of the Vatican.

On the opposite side of the river, Castel Giubeleo, on the site of the Etruscan Fidenæ, is a conspicuous object.)

(The direct road from the Ponte Molle is the ancient _Via Cassia_, which must be followed for some distance by those who make the interesting excursions to Veii, Galera, and Bracciano, each easily within the compass of a day's expedition. On the left of this road, three miles from Rome, is the fine sarcophagus of Publius Vibius Maximus and his wife Regina Maxima, popularly known as "Nero's Tomb.")

Following the road to the left of the Ponte Molle, we turn up a steep incline to the deserted _Villa Madama_, built by Giulio Romano, from designs of Raphael for Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, afterwards Clement VII. It derives its name from Margaret of Austria, daughter of Charles V., and wife, first of Alessandro de' Medici, and then of Ottavio Farnese, duke of Parma; from this second marriage, it descended through Elisabetta Farnese, to the Bourbon kings of Naples. The neglected halls contain some fresco decorations by _Giulio Romano_ and _Giovanni da Udine_.

"They consist of a series of beautiful little pictures,
representing the sports of Satyrs and Loves; Juno, attended by her
peacocks; Jupiter and Ganymede; and various subjects of mythology
and fable. The paintings in the portico have been of first-rate
excellence; and I cannot but regret, that designs so beautiful
should not be engraved before their last traces disappear for ever.
A deep fringe on one of the deserted chambers, representing angels,
flowers, Caryatides, &c., by Giulio Romano; and also a fine fresco
on a ceiling, by Giovanni da Udine, of Phœbus driving his
heavenly steeds, are in somewhat better preservation.

"It was in the groves that surrounded Villa Madama, that the Pastor
Fido of Guarini was represented for the first time before a
brilliant circle of princes and nobles, such as these scenes will
see no more, and Italy itself could not now produce."--_Eaton's
Rome._

The frescoes and arabesques executed here by Giovanni da Udine were considered at the time as among the most successful of his works. Vasari says that in these he "wished to be supreme, and to excel himself." Cardinal de' Medici was so delighted with them that he not only heaped benefits on all the relations of the painter, but rewarded him with a rich canonry, which he was allowed to transfer to his brother.

One can scarcely doubt from the description of Martial that this villa occupies the site of that in which the poet came to visit his friend and namesake.

"Juli jugera pauca Martialis,
Hortis Hesperidum beatiora,
Longo Janiculi jugo recumbunt.
Lati collibus imminent recessus;
Et planus modico tumore vertex
Cœlo perfruitur sereniore:
Et, curvas nebula tegente valles,
Solus luce nitet peculiari:
Puris leniter admoventur astris
Celsæ culmina delicata villæ.
Hinc septem dominos videre montes,
Et totam licet sestimare Romam."

The Villa Madama is situated on one of the slopes of _Monte Mario_, which is ascended by a winding carriage-road from near the Porta Angelica. This hill, in ancient times called Clivus Cinnæ, was in the middle ages Monte Malo, and is thus spoken of by Dante (Paradiso, xv. 109). Its name changed to Mario, through Mario Mellini, its possessor in the time of Sixtus V. Passing the two churches of Sta. Maria del Rosario and Sta. Croce di Monte Mario,[375] we reach a gate with an old pine-tree. This is the _Villa Mellini_ (for which an order is supposed to be necessary, though a franc will usually cause the gates to fly open), which possesses a magnificent view over Rome, from its terraces, lined with ilexes and cypresses.

"The Monte Mario, like Cooper's Hill, is the highest, boldest, and
most prominent part of the line; it is about the height and
steepness too of Cooper's Hill, and has the Tiber at the foot of
it, like the Thames at Anchorwick. To keep up the resemblance,
there is a sort of terrace at the top of the Monte Mario, planted
with cypresses, and a villa, though dilapidated, crowns the summit,
as well as at our old friend above Egham. Here we stood, on a most
delicious evening, the ilex and the gum-cistus in great profusion
about us, the slope below full of vines and olives, the cypresses
above our heads, and before our eyes all that one has read of in
Roman History--the course of the Tiber between the hills that bound
it, coming down from Fidenæ and receiving the Allia and the Anio;
beyond, the Apennines, the distant and higher summits still quite
white with snow; in front, the Alban Hills; on the right, the
Campagna to the sea; and just beneath us the whole length of Rome,
ancient and modern--St. Peter's and the Coliseum, rising as the
representatives of each--the Pantheon, the Aventine, the Quirinal,
all the well-known objects distinctly laid before us. One may
safely say that the world cannot contain many views of such mingled
beauty and interest as this."--_Dr. Arnold._

"Les maisons de campagne des grands seigneurs donnent l'idée de
cette solitude, de cette indifférence des possesseurs au milieu des
plus admirables séjours du monde. On se promène dans ces immenses
jardins, sans se douter qu'ils aient un maître. L'herbe croît au
milieu des allées; et, dans ces mêmes allées abandonnées, les
arbres sont taillés artistement, selon l'ancien goût qui régnait en
France; singulière bizarrerie que cette négligence du nécessaire,
et cette affectation de l'inutile!"--_Mad. de Staël._

(Behind the Monte Mario, about four miles from Rome, is the church of _S. Onofrio in Campagna_, with a curious ossuary.)

Just outside the Porta Angelica was the vineyard in which Alexander VI. died.

"This is the manner in which Pope Alexander VI. came to his death.

"The cardinal datary, Arian de Corneto, having received a gracious
intimation that the pontiff, together with the Duke Valentinos,
designed to come and sup with him at his vineyard, and that his
Holiness would bring the supper with him, the cardinal suspected
that this determination had been taken for the purpose of
destroying his life by poison, to the end that the duke might have
his riches and appointments, the rather as he knew that the pope
had resolved to put him to death by some means, with a view to
seizing his property as I have said,--which was very great.
Considering of the means by which he might save himself, he could
see but one hope of safety--he sent in good time to the pope's
carver, with whom he had a certain intimacy, desiring that he would
come to speak with him; who, when he had come to the said cardinal,
was taken by him into a secret place, where, they two being
retired, the cardinal showed the carver a sum, prepared beforehand,
of 10,000 ducats, in gold, which the said cardinal persuaded the
carver to accept as a gift and to keep for love of him, and after
many words, they were at length accepted, the cardinal offering,
moreover, all the rest of his wealth at his command--for he was a
very rich cardinal, for he said that he could not keep the said
riches by any other means than through the said carver's aid, and
declared to him, 'You know of a certainty what the nature of the
pope is, and I know that he has resolved, with the Duke Valentinos,
to procure my life by poison, through your hand,'--wherefore he
besought the carver to take pity on him, and to give him his life.
And having said this, the carver declared to him the manner in
which it was ordered that the poison should be given to him at the
supper, but being moved to compassion he promised to preserve his
life. Now the orders were that the carver should present three
boxes of sweetmeats, in tablets or lozenges, after the supper, one
to the pope, one to the said cardinal, and another to the duke, and
in that for the cardinal there was poison: and thus being told, the
said cardinal gave directions to the aforesaid carver in what
manner he should serve them, so as to cause that the box of
poisoned confect which was to be for the cardinal, should be placed
before the pope, so that he might eat thereof, and so poison
himself, and die. And the pope being come accordingly with the duke
to supper on the day appointed, the cardinal threw himself at his
feet, kissing them and embracing them closely; then he entreated
his Holiness with most affectionate words, saying, he would never
rise from those feet until his Holiness had granted him a favour.
Being questioned by the pontiff what this favour was, and requested
to rise up, he would first have the grace he demanded, and the
promise of his Holiness to grant it. Now after much persuasion, the
pope remained sufficiently astonished, seeing the perseverance of
the cardinal, and that he would not rise, and promised to grant the
favour. Then the cardinal rose up and said, 'Holy Father, it is not
fitting that when the master comes to the house of his servant, the
servant should eat with his master like an equal (confrezer
parimente),' and therefore the grace he demanded was the just and
honest one, that he, the servant, should wait at the table of his
master; and this favour the pope granted him. Then having come to
supper, and the time for serving the confectionery having arrived,
the carver put the poisoned sweetmeats into the box, according to
the first order given to him by the pope, and the cardinal being
well informed as to which box had no poison, tasted of that one,
and put the poisoned confect before the pope. Then his Holiness,
trusting to his carver, and seeing the cardinal tasting, judged
that no poison was there, and ate of it heartily; while of the
other, which the pope thought was poisoned, but which was not, the
cardinal ate. Now at the hour accustomed, according to the quality
of that poison, his Holiness began to feel its effect, and so died
thereof; but the cardinal, who was yet much afraid, having
physicked himself and vomited, took no harm and escaped, though not
without difficulty."--_Sanuto_, iv., _Translation in Ranke's Hist.
of the Popes_.

The wine of the Vatican hill has had a bad reputation even from classical times. "If you like vinegar," wrote Martial, "drink the wine of the Vatican!"[376] and again, "To drink the wine of the Vatican is to drink poison."[377]

(Here, also, is the entrance of the _Val d' Inferno_, a pleasant winter walk, where, near the beginning of the Cork Woods, are some picturesque remains of an ancient nymphæum.)

The _Porta Angelica_, built by Pius IV. (1559--1566), leads into the Borgo, beneath the walls of the Vatican.

Those who return from hence to the English quarter in the evening, will realize the vividness of Miss Thackeray's description:--

"They passed groups standing round their doorways; a blacksmith
hammering with great straight blows at a copper pot, shouting to a
friend, a young baker, naked almost, except for a great sheet flung
over his shoulders, and leaning against the door of his shop. The
horses tramp on. Listen to the flow of fountains gleaming white
against the dark marbles,--to the murmur of voices. An old lady,
who has apparently hung all her wardrobe out of window, in
petticoats and silk hankerchiefs, is looking out from beneath these
banners at the passers in the streets. Little babies, tied up tight
in swaddling-clothes, are being poised against their mother's hips;
a child is trying to raise the great knocker of some feudal-looking
arch, hidden in the corner of the street. Then they cross the
bridge, and see the last sun's rays flaming from the angel's sacred
sword. Driving on through the tranquil streets, populous and
thronged with citizens, they see brown-faced, bronze-headed Torsos
in balconies and window-frames; citizens sitting tranquilly,
resting on the kerb-*stones, with their feet in the gutters;
grand-looking women resting against their doorways. Sibyls out of
the Sistine were sitting on the steps of the churches. In one stone
archway sat the Fates spinning their web. There was a holy family
by a lemonade-shop, and a whole heaven of little Coreggio angels
perching dark-eyed along the road. Then comes a fountain falling
into a marble basin, at either end of which two little girls are
clinging and climbing. Here is a little lighted May-altar to the
Virgin, which the children have put up under the shrine by the
street-corner. They don't beg clamorously, but stand leaning
against the wall, waiting for a chance miraculous
baioch?"--_Bluebeard's Keys._