"Here is the only perfect specimen still extant of a primitive subterranean baptistery. A small stream of water runs through this cemetery, and at this one place the channel has been deepened so as to form a kind of reservoir, in which a certain quantity of water is retained. We descend into it by a flight of steps, and the depth of water it contains varies with the height of the Tiber. When that river is swollen so as to block up the exit by which this stream usually empties itself, the waters are sometimes so dammed back as to inundate the adjacent galleries of the catacomb; at other times there are not above three or four feet of water. At the back of the font, and springing out of the water, is painted a beautiful Latin cross, from whose sides leaves and flowers are budding forth, and on the two arms rest ten candlesticks, with the letters Alpha and Omega suspended by a little chain below them. On the front of the arch over the font is the Baptism of our Lord in the river Jordan by St. John, whilst St. Abdon, St. Sennen, St. Miles, and other saints of the Oriental Church occupy the sides. These paintings are all of late date, perhaps of the seventh or eighth century: but there is no reason to doubt but that the baptistery had been so used from the earliest times. We have distinct evidence in the Acts of the Martyrs that the sacrament was not unfrequently administered in the cemeteries."—The Roman Catacombs—Northcote.
In this catacomb is an early Portrait of Christ, much resembling that at SS. Nereo ed Achilleo.
"The figure is, however, draped, and the whole work has certain peculiarities which appear to mark a later period of art. Both these portraits agree, if not strictly, yet in general features, with the description in Lentulus's letter (to the Roman senate), and portraits and descriptions together serve to prove that the earliest Christian delineators of the person of the Saviour followed no arbitrary conception of their own, but were guided rather by a particular traditional type, differing materially from the Grecian ideal, and which they transmitted in a great measure to future ages."—Kugler, i. 16.
In this vicinity are the Catacombs of SS. Abdon and Sennen, of St. Julius, and of Sta. Generosa.
Opposite the Porta S. Pancrazio is the entrance of the beautiful Villa Pamfili Doria (open to pedestrians and to two-horse carriages after 12 o'clock on Mondays and Fridays), called by the Italians "Belrespiro." The Casino contains a few (not first-rate) ancient statues, and some views of Venice in the seventeenth century by Heintius. The garden, for which especial permission must be obtained, is full of beautiful azaleas and camellias.
From the ilex-fringed terrace in front of the casino is one of the best views of St. Peter's, which is here seen without the town,—backed by the Campagna, the Sabine Mountains, and the blue peak of Soracte. The road to the left leads through pine-shaded lawns and woods, and by some modern ruins, to the lake, above which is a graceful fountain. A small temple raised in 1851 commemorates the French who fell here during the siege of Rome in 1849. The word "Mary" in large letters of clipped box on the other side of the grounds is a memorial of the late beloved Princess Doria (Lady Mary Talbot). Not far from this is a columbarium.
The site of the Villa Doria was once occupied by the gardens of Galba, and here the murdered emperor is believed to have been buried.
"Un certain Argius, autrefois esclave de Galba, ramassa son corps, qui avait subi mille outrages, et alla lui creuser une humble sépulture dans les jardins de son ancien maître; mais il fallut retrouver la tête: elle avait été mutilée et promenée par les goujats de l'armée. Enfin Argius la trouva le lendemain, et la réunit au corps déjà brûlé. Les jardins de Galba étaient sur le Janicule, près de la voie Aurélienne, et on croit que le lieu qui vit le dernier dénouement de cette affreuse tragédie est celui qu'occupe aujourd'hui la plus charmante promenade de Rome, là où inclinent avec tant de grâce sur les pentes semées d'anémones et où dessinent si délicatement sur l'azur du ciel et des montagnes leurs parasols élégants les pins de la villa Pamphili."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 80.
The foundation of the Villa Pamfili Doria is due to the wealth extorted by Olympia Maldacchini during the reign of her brother-in-law, Innocent X.
"Innocent X. fut, pour ainsi dire, contraint de fonder la maison Pamphili. Les casuistes et les jurisconsultes levèrent ses scrupules, car il en avait. Ils lui prouvèrent que le pape était en droit d'économiser sur les revenus du saint-siége pour assurer l'avenir de sa famille. Ils fixèrent, avec une modération qui nous fait dresser les cheveux sur la tête, le chiffre des libéralités permises à chaque pape. Suivant eux, le souverain pontife pouvait, sans abuser, établir un majorat de quatre mille francs de rente nette, fonder une seconde géniture en faveur de quelque parent moins avantagé, et donner neuf cent mille francs de dot à chacune de ses nièces. Le général des jésuites, R. P. Vitelleschi, approuva cette décision. Là-dessus, Innocent X. se mit à fonder la maison Pamphili, à construire le palais Pamphili, à créer la villa Pamphili, et à pamphiliser, tant qu'il put, les finances de l'église et de l'état."—About, Rome Contemporaine.
There are two ways of returning to Rome from the Villa Doria—one, which descends straight into the valley to the Porta Cavalleggieri, passing on the left the Church of Sta. Maria delle Fornaci; the other, skirting the walls of the city beneath the Villa Lante, which passes a Chapel, where St. Andrew's head, lost one day by the canons of St. Peter's, was miraculously re-discovered!
"On ne voit pas que de nouveaux monuments religieux se rapportent aux deux apparitions de Pyrrhus en Italie; seulement les augures firent rétablir le temple du dieu des foudres nocturnes, le dieu étrusco-sabin Summanus, en expiation sans doute de ce que la tête de la statue de Summanus, placée sur le temple de Jupiter Capitolin, avait été détachée par la foudre, et, après qu'on l'eut cherchée en vain, retrouvée dans le Tibre.
"Je ne compare pas, mais j'ai vu le long des murs de Rome, entre la porte Cavalleggieri et la porte Saint Pancrace, une petite chapelle élevée au lieu où l'on a retrouvé la tête de Saint André apportée solennellement de Constantinople à Rome au quinzième siècle, et qui s'était perdue."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 55.
Therefore farewell, ye walls, palaces, pillars, and domes!
Therefore farewell, far seen, ye peaks of the mythic Albano,
Seen from Montorio's height, Tibur and Æsula's hills!
Ah, could we once ere we go, could we stand, while, to ocean descending,
Sinks o'er the yellow dark plain slowly the yellow broad sun,
Stand from the forest emerging at sunset, at once in the champaign,
Open, but studded with trees, chestnuts umbrageous and old,
E'en in those fair open fields that incurve to thy beautiful hollow,
Nemi imbedded in wood, Nemi inurn'd in the hill!—
Therefore farewell, ye plains, and ye hills, and the City Eternal!
Therefore farewell! we depart, but to behold you again!"
A. H. Clough, Amours de Voyage.
THE END.
Showing the more important streets and buildings. (right-side of map)]
INDEX.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Z