"Servius-Tullius, après avoir pris le chemin raccourci qui partait du pied de la Velia et allait du côté des Carines, atteignit le Vicus-Cyprius (Via Urbana).
"Parvenu à l'extrémité du Vicus-Cyprius, le roi fut atteint et assassiné par les gens de Tarquin auprès d'un temple de Diane.
"C'est arrivés en cet endroit, au moment de tourner à droite et de gagner, en remontant le Vicus-Virbius, le Cispius, où habitait son père, que les chevaux s'arrêtèrent; que Tullie, poussée par l'impatience fièvreuse de l'ambition, et n'ayant plus que quelques pas à faire pour arriver au terme, avertie par le cocher que le cadavre de son père était là gisant, s'écria: 'Eh bien, pousse le char en avant.'
"Le meurtre s'est accompli au pied du Viminal, à l'extrémité du Vicus-Cyprius, là où fut depuis le Vicus-Sceleratus, la rue Funeste.
"Le lieu où la tradition plaçait cette tragique aventure ne peut être sur l'Esquilin: mais nécessairement au pied de cette colline et du Viminal, puisque, parvenu à l'extrémité du Vicus-Cyprius, le cocher allait tourner à droite et remonter pour gravir l'Esquilin. Il ne faut donc pas chercher, comme Nibby, la rue Scélérate sur une des pentes, ou, comme Canina et M. Dyer, sur le sommet de l'Esquilin, d'où l'on ne pouvait monter sur l'Esquilin.
"Tullie n'allait pas sur l'Oppius (San-Pietro in Vincoli), dans la demeure de son mari, mais sur le Cispius, dans la demeure de son père. C'était de la demeure royale qu'elle allait prendre possession pour le nouveau roi.
* * * * * * *
"Je n'oublierai jamais le soir où, après avoir longtemps cherché le lieu qui vit la mort de Servius et le crime de Tullie, tout-à-coup je découvris clairement que j'y étais arrivé, et m'arrêtant plein d'horreur, comme le cocher de la parricide, plongeant dans l'ombre un regard qui, malgré moi, y cherchait le cadavre du vieux roi, je me dis: 'C'était là!'"
Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 153.
Turning to the left, at the foot of the Esquiline, we find the interesting Church of Sta. Pudenziana, supposed to be the most ancient of all the Roman churches ("omnium ecclesiaram urbis vetustissima"). Cardinal Wiseman, who took his title from this church, considers it was the principal place of worship in Rome after apostolic times, being founded on the site of the house where St. Paul lodged, A.D. 41 to 50, with the senator Pudens, whose family were his first converts, and who is said to have himself suffered martyrdom under Nero. On this ancient place of worship an oratory was engrafted by Pius I. (c. A.D. 145), in memory of the younger daughter of Pudens, Pudenziana, perhaps at the request of her sister Prassede, who is believed to have survived till that time. In very early times two small churches existed here, known as "Titulus Pudentis" and "Titulus Pastoris," the latter in memory of a brother of Pius I.
The church, which has been successively altered by Adrian I. in the eighth century, by Gregory VII., and by Innocent II., was finally modernised by Cardinal Caetani in 1597. Little remains of ancient external work except the graceful brick campanile (c. 1130) with triple arcades of open arches on every side separated by bands of terra-cotta moulding,—and the door adorned with low reliefs of the Lamb bearing a cross, and of Sta. Prassede and Sta. Pudenziana with the vases in which they collected the blood of the martyrs, and two other figures, probably St. Pudens and St. Pastor.
The chapel on the left of the tribune, which is regarded as the "Titulus Pudentis," has an old mosaic pavement, said to have belonged to the house of Pudens. Here is a bas-relief by Giacomo della Porta, representing our Saviour delivering the keys to St. Peter; and here is preserved part of the altar at which St. Peter is said to have celebrated mass (the rest is at the Lateran), and which was used by all the early popes till the time of Sylvester. Among early Christian inscriptions let into the walls, is one to a Cornelia, of the family of the Pudenziani, with a rude portrait.
Opening from the left aisle is the chapel of the Caetani family, with tombs of the seventeenth century. Over the altar is a bas-relief of the Adoration of the Magi, by Paolo Olivieri. On each side are fine columns of Lunachella marble. Over the entrance from the nave are ancient mosaics,—of the Evangelists and of Sta. Pudenziana collecting the blood of the martyrs. Beneath, is a gloomy and neglected vault, in which all the sarcophagi and coffins of the dead Caetani are shown by torchlight.
In the tribune are magnificent mosaics, ascribed by some to the eighth, by others to the fourth century, and considered by De Rossi,[238] as the best of all ancient Christian mosaics.
"In conception and treatment this work is indeed classic: seated on a rich throne in the centre, is the Saviour with one arm extended, and in the other hand holding a book open at the words, Conservator Ecclesiæ Pudentianæ; laterally stand SS. Praxedis and Pudentiana with leafy crowns in their hands; and at a lower level, but more in front, SS. Peter and Paul with eight other male figures, all in the amply-flowing costume of ancient Romans; while in the background are seen, beyond a portico with arcades, various stately buildings, one a rotunda, another a parallelogram with a gable-headed front, recognizable as a baptistery and basilica, here, we may believe, in authentic copy from the earliest types of the period of the first Christian emperors. Above the group, and hovering in the air, a large cross, studded with gems, surmounts the head of our Saviour, between the four symbols of the Evangelists, of which one has been entirely, and another in the greater part, sacrificed to some wretched accessories in woodwork actually allowed to conceal portions of this most interesting mosaic! As to expression, a severe solemnity is that prevailing, especially in the principal head, which alone is crowned with the nimbus—one among other proofs, if but negative, of its high antiquity."—Heman's Ancient Christian Art.
Besides Sta. Pudenziana and St. Pudens,—St. Novatus and St. Siricius are said to be buried here. Those who visit this sanctuary every day obtain an indulgence of 3000 years, with remission of a third part of their sins! Excavations made by Mr. J. H. Parker, in 1865, have laid bare some interesting constructions beneath the church,—supposed to be those of the house of Pudens—a part of the public baths of Novatus, the son of Pudens, which were in use for some centuries after his time, and a chamber in which is supposed to have been the oratory dedicated by Pius I. in a.d. 145.
"Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren."—2 Timothy iv. 21.
The following account of the family of Pudens is received as the legacy of Pastor to the Christian Church.
"Pudens went to his Saviour, leaving his daughters strengthened with chastity, and learned in all the divine law. These sold their goods, and distributed the produce to the poor, and persevered strictly in the love of Christ, guarding intact the flower of their virginity, and only seeking for glory in vigils, fastings, and prayer. They desired to have a baptistery in their house, to which the blessed Pius not only consented, but with his own hand drew the plan of the fountain. Then calling in their slaves, both from town and country, the two virgins gave liberty to those who were Christians, and urged belief in the faith upon those who had not yet received it. By the advice of the blessed Pius, the affranchisement was declared, with all the ancient usages, in the oratory founded by Pudens; then, at the festival of Easter, ninety-six neophytes were baptized; so that thenceforth assemblies were constantly held in the said oratory, which night and day resounded with hymns of praise. Many pagans gladly came thither to find the faith and receive baptism.
"Meanwhile the Emperor Antonine, being informed of what was taking place, issued an edict commanding all Christians to dwell apart in their own houses, without mixing with the rest of the people, and that they should neither go to the public shops, nor to the baths. Praxedis and Pudentiana then assembled those whom they had led to the faith, and housed them. They nourished them for many days, watching and praying. The blessed bishop Pius himself frequently visited us with joy, and offered the sacrifice for us to the Saviour.
"Then Pudentiana went to God. Her sister and I wrapped her in perfumes and kept her concealed in the oratory. Then, at the end of twenty-eight days, we carried her to the cemetery of Priscilla, and laid her near her father Pudens.
"Eleven months after, Novatus died in his turn. He bequeathed his goods to Praxedis, and she then begged of St. Pius to erect a titular (a church) in the baths of Novatus, which were no longer used, and where there was a large and spacious hall. The bishop made the dedication in the name of the blessed virgin Praxedis. In the same place he consecrated a baptistery.
"But, at the end of two years, a great persecution was declared against the Christians, and many of them received the crown of martyrdom. Praxedis concealed a great number of them in her oratory, and nourished them at once with the food of this world and with the word of God. But the Emperor Antonine, having learnt that these meetings took place in the oratory of Priscilla, caused it to be searched, and many Christians were taken, especially the priest Simetrius and twenty-two others. And the blessed Praxedis collected their bodies by night, and buried them in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the seventh day of the calends of June. Then the virgin of the Saviour, worn out with sorrow, only asked for death. Her tears and her prayers reached to heaven, and fifty-four days after her brethren had suffered, she passed to God. And I, Pastor, the priest, have buried her body near that of her father Pudens."—From the Narration of Pastor.
Returning by the main line of streets to the Quattro Fontane, we skirt on the right the wall of the Villa Negroni (see Ch. XI). Beyond this, on the left, is the Church of S. Paolo Primo Eremita. The strange-looking palm-tree over the door, with a raven perched upon it and two lions below, commemorates the story of the saint, who, retiring to the desert at the age of 22, lived there till he was 112, eating nothing but the dates of his tree for twenty-two years, after which bread was daily brought to him by a raven. In his last hours St. Anthony came to visit him and was present at his burial, when two lions his companions came to dig his grave. The sustaining palm-tree and the three animals who loved S. Paolo are again represented over the altar. Further on the left, we pass the Via S. Vitale, occupying the site of the Vicus Longus, considered by Dyer to have been the longest street in the ancient city. Here stood the temples of Sylvanus, and of Fever, with that of Pudicitia Plebeia, founded c. B.C. 297, by Virginia the patrician, wife of Volumnius, when excluded from the patrician temple of Pudicitia in the Forum Boarium, on account of her plebeian marriage. "At its altar none but plebeian matrons of unimpeachable chastity, and who had been married to only one husband, were allowed to sacrifice."[239]
The Church of S. Vitale on the Viminal, which now stands here, was founded by Innocent I. in A.D. 416. The interior is covered with frescoes of martyrdoms. It is seldom open except early on Sunday mornings. S. Vitale, father of S. Gervasius and S. Protasius, was the martyr and patron saint of Ravenna who was buried alive under Nero.
Beyond this, on the left of the Via delle Quattro Fontane, is the Church of S. Dionisio, belonging to the Basilian nuns, called Apostoline di S. Basilio. It contains an Ecce Homo of Luca Giordano, and the gaudy shrine of the virgin martyr Sta. Coraola.
END OF VOL. I.
WALKS IN ROME
TWO VOLS. —II.
BY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE
AUTHOR OF "MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE," "WANDERINGS IN SPAIN," ETC.
TWO VOLUMES.—II.
FIFTH EDITION
LONDON
DALDY, ISBISTER & CO.
56, LUDGATE HILL
1875
[All rights reserved]
JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| PAGE | |
| THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN | 7 |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| THE ESQUILINE | 46 |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| THE BASILICAS OF THE LATERAN, SANTA CROCE, AND S. LORENZO | 94 |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS | 148 |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| THE BORGO AND ST. PETER'S | 223 |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| THE VATICAN | 282 |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| THE ISLAND AND THE TRASTEVERE | 360 |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| THE TRE FONTANE AND S. PAOLO | 392 |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| THE VILLAS BORGHESE MADAMA, AND MELLINI | 410 |
| CHAPTER XX. | |
| THE JANICULAN | 432 |
The Cappuccini—S. Isidore—S. Niccolo in Tolentino—Via S. Basilio—Convent of the Pregatrici—Villa Massimo Rignano—Gardens of Sallust—Villa Ludovisi—Porta Salara—(Villa Albani—Catacombs of Sta. Felicitas and Sta. Priscilla—Ponte Salara)—Porta Pia—(Villa Torlonia—Sant' Agnese—Sta. Costanza—Ponte Nomentana—Mons Sacer—S. Alessandro)—Villa Torlonia within the walls—Via Macao—Pretorian Camp—Railway Station—Villa Negroni—Agger of Servius Tullius—Sta. Maria degli Angeli—Fountain of the Termini—Sta. Maria della Vittoria—Sta. Susanna—S. Bernardo—S. Caio.
OPENING from the left of the Piazza Barberini, is the small Piazza of the Cappuccini, named from a convent suppressed since the Sardinian occupation, but which was one of the largest and most populous in Rome.
The conventual church, dedicated to Sta. Maria della Concezione, contains several fine pictures. In the first chapel, on the right, is the magnificent Guido of the Archangel Michael trampling upon the Devil,—said to be a portrait of Pope Innocent X., against whom the painter had a peculiar spite.
"Here the angel, standing, yet scarcely touching the ground, poised on his outspread wings, sets his left foot on the head of his adversary; in one hand he brandishes a sword, in the other he holds the end of a chain, with which he is about to bind down the demon in the bottomless pit. The attitude has been criticised, and justly; the grace is somewhat mannered, verging on the theatrical; but Forsyth is too severe when he talks of 'the air of a dancing master': one thing, however, is certain, we do not think about the attitude when we look at Raphael's St. Michael (in the Louvre); in Guido's it is the first thing that strikes us; but when we look farther, the head redeems all; it is singularly beautiful, and in the blending of the masculine and feminine graces, in the serene purity of the brow, and the flow of the golden hair, there is something divine; a slight, very slight expression of scorn is in the air of the head. The fiend is the worst part of the picture; it is not a fiend, but a degraded prosaic human ruffian; we laugh with incredulous contempt at the idea of an angel called down from heaven to overcome such a wretch. In Raphael the fiend is human, but the head has the god-like ugliness and malignity of a satyr; Guido's fiend is only stupid and base. It appears to me that there is just the same difference—the same kind of difference—between the angel of Raphael and the angel of Guido, as between the description in Tasso and the description in Milton; let any one compare them. In Tasso we are struck by the picturesque elegance of the description as a piece of art, the melody of the verse, the admirable choice of the expressions, as in Guido by the finished but somewhat artificial and studied grace. In Raphael and Milton we see only the vision of a 'shape divine.'"—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 107.
In the same chapel is a picture by Gherardo della Notte of Christ in the purple robe. The third chapel contains a fresco by Domenichino of the Death of St Francis, and a picture of the Ecstasy of St. Francis, which was a gift from the same painter to this church.
The first chapel on the left contains The Visit of Ananias to Saul, by Pietro da Cortona.
"Whoever would know to what length this painter carried his style in his altar-piece should examine the Conversion of St. Paul in the Cappuccini at Rome, which though placed opposite to the St. Michael of Guido, cannot fail to excite the admiration of such judges as are willing to admit various styles of beauty in art."—Lanzi.
On the left of the high-altar is the tomb of Prince Alexander Sobieski, son of John III., king of Poland, who died at Rome in 1714.
The church was founded in 1624, by Cardinal Barberini, the old monk-brother of Urban VIII., who, while his nephews were employed in building magnificent palaces, refused to take advantage of the family elevation otherwise than to endow this church and convent. He is buried in front of the altar, with the remarkable epitaph—very different to the pompous, self-glorifying inscriptions of his brother—
"Hic jacet pulvis, cinis, et nihil."
This Cardinal Barberini possesses some historical interest from the patronage he extended to Milton during his visit to Rome in 1638.
"During his sojourn in Rome Milton enjoyed the conversation of several learned and ingenious men, and particularly of Lucas Holsteinius, keeper of the Vatican library, who received him with the greatest humanity, and showed him all the Greek authors, whether in print or MS.—which had passed through his correction; and also presented him to Cardinal Barberini, who, at an entertainment of music, performed at his own expense, waited for him at the door, and taking him by the hand, brought him into the assembly. The next morning he waited upon the Cardinal to return him thanks for these civilities, and by the means of Holsteinius was again introduced to his Eminence, and spent some time in conversation with him."—Newton's Life of Milton.[240]
Over the entrance is a cartoon (with some differences) for the Navicella of Giotto.
From this church is entered the famous cemetery of the Cappuccini (not subterranean), consisting of four chambers, ornamented with human bones in patterns, and with mummified bodies. The earth was brought from Jerusalem. As the cemetery was too small for the convent, when any monk died, the one who had been buried longest was ejected to make room for him. The loss of a grave was supposed to be amply compensated by the short rest in the holy earth which the body had already enjoyed. It is pleasant to read on the spot the pretty sketch in the "Improvisatore."
"I was playing near the church of the Capuchins, with some other children who were all younger than myself. There was fastened on the church door a little cross of metal; it was fastened about the middle of the door, and I could just reach it with my hand. Always when our mothers had passed by with us they had lifted us up that we might kiss the holy sign. One day, when we children were playing, one of the youngest of them inquired, 'why the child Jesus did not come down and play with us?' I assumed an air of wisdom, and replied that he was really bound upon the cross. We went to the church door, and although we found no one, we wished, as our mothers had taught us, to kiss him, but we could not reach up to it; one therefore lifted up the other, but just as the lips were pointed for the kiss, that one who lifted the other lost his strength, and the kissing one fell down just when his lips were about to touch the invisible child Jesus. At that moment my mother came by, and when she saw our child's play, she folded her hands, and said, 'You are actually some of God's angels, and thou art mine own angel,' added she, and kissed me.
"The Capuchin monk, Fra Martino, was my mother's confessor. He made very much of me, and gave me a picture of the Virgin, weeping great tears, which fell, like rain-drops, down into the burning flames of hell, where the damned caught this draught of refreshment. He took me over with him into the convent, where the open colonnade, which enclosed in a square the little potato-garden, with the two cypress and orange-trees, made a very deep impression upon me. Side by side, in the open passages, hung old portraits of deceased monks, and on the door of each cell were pasted pictures from the history of the martyrs, which I contemplated with the same holy emotions as afterwards the masterpieces of Raphael and Andrea del Sarto.
"'Thou art really a bright youth,' said he; 'thou shall now see the dead.' Upon this, he opened a little door of a gallery which lay a few steps below the colonnade. We descended, and now I saw round about me skulls upon skulls, so placed one upon another, that they formed walls, and therewith several chapels. In these were regular niches, in which were seated perfect skeletons of the most distinguished of the monks, enveloped in their brown cowls, their cords round their waists, and with a breviary or withered bunch of flowers in their hands. Altars, chandeliers, bas-reliefs, of human joints, horrible and tasteless as the whole idea. I clung fast to the monk, who whispered a prayer, and then said to me, 'Here also I shall some time sleep; wilt thou thus visit me?'
"I answered not a word, but looked horrified at him, and then round about me upon the strange grizzly assembly. It was foolish to take me, a child, into this place. I was singularly impressed with the whole thing, and did not feel myself easy again until I came into his little cell, where the beautiful yellow oranges almost hung in at the window, and I saw the brightly coloured picture of the Madonna, who was borne upwards by angels into the clear sunshine, while a thousand flowers filled the grave in which she had rested.....
"On the festival of All-Saints I was down in the chapel of the dead, where Fra Martino took me when I first visited the convent. All the monks sang masses for the dead, and I, with two other boys of my own age, swung the incense-breathing censer before the great altar of skulls. They had placed lights in the chandeliers made of bones, new garlands were placed around the brows of the skeleton monks, and fresh bouquets in their hands. Many people, as usual, thronged in; they all knelt and the singers intoned the solemn Miserere. I gazed for a long time on the pale yellow skulls, and the fumes of the incense which wavered in strange shapes between me and them, and everything began to swim round before my eyes; it was as if I saw everything through a large rainbow; as if a thousand prayer-bells rung in my ear; it seemed as if I was borne along a stream; it was unspeakably delicious—more, I know not; consciousness left me,—I was in a swoon."—Hans Ch. Andersen.
The street behind the Piazza Cappuccini leads to the Church of S. Isidoro,[241] built 1622, for Irish Franciscan monks. The altar-piece, representing S. Isidore, is by Andrea Sacchi. This church contains several tombs of distinguished Irishmen who have died in Rome.
Opposite are the recently founded convent and small chapel of the Pregatrici—nuns most picturesquely attired in blue and white, and devoted to the perpetual adoration of the Sacrament, who sing during the Benediction service, like the nuns of the Trinità di Monti.
The Via S. Niccolo in Tolentino leads by the handsome Church of that name, from the Piazza Barberini to the railway station. In this street are the hotels "Costanzi" and "Del Globo."
Parallel with, and behind this, the Via S. Basilio runs up the hill-side. At the top of this street is the entrance of the Villa Massimo Rignano, containing some fine palm-trees. This site, with the ridge of the opposite hill, and the valley between, was once occupied by the Gardens of Sallust (Horti Pretiosissimi), purchased for the emperors after the death of the historian, and a favourite residence of Vespasian, Nerva, and especially of Aurelian. Some vaulted halls under the cliff of the opposite hill, and a circular ruin surrounded by niches, are the only remains of the many fine buildings which once existed here, and which comprised a palace, baths, and the portico called Milliarensis, 1000 feet long. These edifices are known to have been ruined when Rome was taken by the Goths under Alaric (410), who entered at the neighbouring Porta Salara. The obelisk now in front of the Trinità di Monti, was removed from hence by Pius VI. The picturesque old casino of the Barberini, which occupied the most prominent position in the gardens, was pulled down in 1869, to make way for a house belonging to Spithover the librarian. The hill-side is supported by long picturesque buttresses, beneath which are remains of the huge masonry of Servius Tullius, whose Agger may be traced on the ridge of the hill running towards the present railway station. Part of these grounds are supposed to have formed the Campus Sceleratus, where the vestal virgins suffered who had broken their vows of chastity.
"When condemned by the college of pontifices, the vestal was stripped of her vittæ and other badges of office, was scourged, was attired like a corpse, placed in a close litter, and borne through the forum, attended by her weeping kindred with all the ceremonies of a real funeral, to the Campus Sceleratus, within the city walls, close to the Colline gate. There a small vault underground had been previously prepared, containing a couch, a lamp, and a table with a little food. The Pontifex Maximus, having lifted up his hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the litter, led forth the culprit, and placing her on the steps of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell, delivered her over to the common executioner and his assistants, who conducted her down, drew up the ladder, and having filled the pit with earth until the surface was level with the surrounding ground, left her to perish deprived of all the tributes of respect usually paid to the spirits of the departed. In every case the paramour was publicly scourged to death in the forum."—Smith's Dict. of Antiquities.
"A Vignaiuolo showed us in the Gardens of Sallust a hole, through which he said those vestal virgins were put who had violated their vows of chastity. While we were listening to their story, some pretty Contadini came up to us attended by their rustic swains, and after looking into the hole, pitied the vestal virgins—'Poverine,' shrugged their shoulders, and laughing, thanked their stars and the Madonna, that poor Fanciulle were not buried alive for such things now-a-days."—Eaton's Rome.
A turn in the road now leads to the gate of the beautiful Villa Ludovisi, to which it has been very difficult to obtain admittance since the Sardinian occupation. The excellent proprietors, the Duke and Duchess Sora, have lived at Foligno in complete seclusion, since the change of government.
The villa was built early in the last century by Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of Gregory XV., from whom it descended to the Prince of Piombino, father of Duke Sora. The grounds, which are of an extent extraordinary when considered as being within the walls of a capital, were laid out by Le Nôtre, and are in the stiff French style of high clipped hedges, and avenues adorned with vases and sarcophagi. Near the entrance is a pretty fountain shaded by a huge plane-tree; the Quirinal is seen in the distance.
To the right of the entrance is the principal casino of sculptures, a very beautiful collection (catalogues on the spot). Especially remarkable are,—the grand colossal head, known as the "Ludovisi Juno" (41);
"A Rome, une Junon surpasse toutes les autres par son aspect et rappelle la Junon de Polyclète par sa majesté: c'est la célèbre Junon Ludovisi que Goethe admirait tant, et devant laquelle dans un accès de dévotion païenne,—seul genre de dévotion qu'il ait connu à Rome,—il faisait, nous dit-il, sa prière du matin.
"Cette tête colossale de Junon offre bien les caractères de la sculpture de Polyclète; la gravité, la grandeur, la dignité; mais ainsi que dans d'autres Junons qu'on peut supposer avoir été sculptées à Rome, l'imitateur de Polyclète, on doit le croire, adoucit la sévérité, je dirai presque la dureté de l'original, telle qu'elle se montre sur les médailles d'Argos, et celles d'Elis."—Ampère, Hist. Romaine, iii. 264.
"No words can give a true impression of the colossal head of Juno in the Villa Ludovisi: it is like a song of Homer."—Goethe.
—the Statue of Mars seated (I), with a Cupid at his feet, found in the portico of Octavia, and restored by Bernini;
"II y avait bien un Mars assis de Scopas, et ce Mars était à Rome; mais un dieu dans son temple devait être assis sur un trône et non sur un rocher, comme le prétendu Mars Ludovisi. On a donc eu raison, selon moi, de reconnaître dans cette belle statue un Achille, à l'expression pensive de son visage, et surtout à l'attitude caractéristique que le sculpteur lui a donnée, lui faisant embrasser son genou avec ses deux mains, attitude qui, dans le langage de la sculpture antique, était le signe d'une méditation douloureuse. On citait comme très-beau un Achille de Silanion, sculpteur grec habile à rendre les sentiments violents. D'après cela, son Achille pouvait être un Achille indigné; c'est de lui que viendrait l'Achille de la villa Ludovisi. L'expression de dépit, plus énergique dans l'original, eût été adoucie dans une admirable copie.'—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 437.
—and No. 28;
"Le beau groupe auquel on avait donné le nom d'Arria et Pætus; il fallait fermer les yeux à l'évidence pour voir un Romain du temps de Claude dans ce chef barbare qui, après avoir tué sa femme, se frappe lui-même d'un coup mortel. Le type du visage, la chevelure, le caractère de l'action, tout est gaulois; la manière même dont s'accomplit l'immolation volontaire montre que ce n'est pas un Romain que nous avons devant les yeux; un Romain se tuait plus simplement, avec moins de fracas. Le principal personnage du groupe Ludovisi conserve en ce moment suprême quelque chose de triomphant et de théâtral; soulevant d'une main sa femme affaissée sous le coup qu'il lui a porté, de l'autre il enfonce son épée dans sa poitrine. La tête haute, l'œil tourné vers le ciel, il semble répéter le mot de sa race: 'Je ne crains qu'une chose, c'est que le ciel tombe sur ma tête.'"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 207.
At the end of the gardens, to the left, is another casino, from whose roof a most beautiful view may be obtained. Here are the most famous frescoes of Guercino. On the ceiling of the ground-floor, Aurora driving away Night and scattering flowers in her course, with Evening and Daybreak in the lunettes; and, on the first floor, "Fame" attended by Force and Virtue. Smaller rooms on the ground floor have landscapes by Guercino and Domenichino, and some groups of Cupids by T. Zucchero; on the staircase is a fine bas-relief of two Cupids dragging a quiver.
"The prophets and sibyls of Guercino da Cento (1590—1666), and his Aurora, in a garden pavilion of the Villa Ludovisi, at Rome, almost attain to the effect of oil paintings in their glowing colouring combined with the broad and dark masses of shadow."—Kugler.
"In allegorising nature, Guercino imitates the deep shades of night, the twilight grey, and the irradiations of morning, with all the magic of chiaroscuro; but his figures are too mortal for the region where they move."—Forsyth.
In B.C. 82, the district near the Porta Collina, now occupied by the Villa Ludovisi, was the scene of a great battle for the very existence of Rome, between Sylla, and the Samnites and Lucanians under the Samnite general Pontius Telesinus, who declared he would raze the city to the ground if he were victorious. The left wing under Sylla was put to flight; but the right wing, commanded by Crassus, enabled him to restore the battle, and to gain a complete victory; fifty thousand men fell on each side.
The road now runs along the ridge of the hill to the Porta Salara, by which Alaric entered Rome through the treachery of the Isaurian guard, on the 24th of August, 410.
Passing through the gate and turning to the right along the outside of the wall, we may see, against the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi, the two round towers of the now closed Porta Pinciana, restored by Belisarius. This is the place where tradition declares that in his declining years the great general sat begging, with the cry, "Date obolum Belisario."
"A côté de la Porta Pinciana, on lit sur une pierre les paroles célèbres: 'Donnez une obole à Bélisaire'; mais cette inscription est moderne, comme la légende à laquelle elle fait allusion, et qu'on ne trouve dans nul historien contemporain de Bélisaire. Bélisaire ne demanda jamais l'aumône, et si le cicerone montre encore aux voyageurs l'endroit où, vieux et aveugle, il implorait une obole de la charité des passants, c'est que près de ce lieu il avait, sur la colline du Pincio, son palais, situé entre les jardins de Lucullus et les jardins de Salluste, et digne probablement de ce double voisinage par sa magnificence. Ce qui est vrai, c'est que le vainqueur des Goths et des Vandales fut disgracié par Justinien, grâce aux intrigues de Théodora. La légende, comme presque toujours, a exprimé par une fable une vérité, l'ingratitude si fréquente des souverains envers ceux qui leur ont rendu lus plus grands services."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 396.
A short distance from the gate, along the Via Salara, is, on the right, the Villa Albani (shown on Tuesdays by an order), built in 1760 by Cardinal Alessandro Albani,—sold in 1834 to the Count of Castelbarco, and in 1868 to Prince Torlonia, its present possessor. The scene from its garden terrace is among the loveliest of Roman pictures, the view of the delicate Sabine mountains—Monte Gennaro, with the Montecelli beneath it—and in the middle distance, the churches of Sant' Agnese and Sta. Costanza, relieved by dark cypresses and a graceful fountain.
The Casino, which is, in fact, a magnificent palace, is remarkable as having been built from Cardinal Albani's own designs, Carlo Marchionni having been only employed to see that they were carried out.
"Here is a villa of exquisite design, planned by a profound antiquary. Here Cardinal Albani, having spent his life in collecting ancient sculpture, formed such porticoes and such saloons to receive it as an old Roman would have done: porticoes where the statues stood free upon the pavement between columns proportioned to their stature; saloons which were not stocked but embellished with families of allied statues, and seemed full without a crowd. Here Winckelmann grew into an antiquary under the cardinal's patronage and instruction; and here he projected his history of art, which brings this collection continually into view."—Forsyth's Italy.
The collection of sculptures is much reduced since the French invasion, when 294 of the finest specimens were carried off by Napoleon to Paris, where they were sold by Prince Albani upon their restoration in 1815, as he was unwilling to bear the expense of transport. The greater proportion of the remaining statues are of no great importance. Those of the imperial family in the vestibule are interesting—those of Julius and Augustus Cæsar, of Agrippina wife of Germanicus, and of Faustina, are seated; most of the heads have been restored.
Conspicuous among the treasures of this villa, are the sarcophagus with reliefs of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, pronounced by Winckelmann to be one of the finest in existence; a head of Æsop, supposed to be after Lysippus; and the bronze "Apollo Sauroctonos," considered by Winckelmann to be the original statue by Praxiteles described by Pliny, and the most beautiful bronze statue in the world,—it was found on the Aventine. But most important of all is the famous relievo of Antinous crowned with lotus, from the Villa Adriana (over the chimney-piece of the first room to the right of the saloon), supposed to have formed part of an apotheosis of Antinous:
"As fresh, and as highly finished, as if it had just left the studio of the sculptor, this work, after the Apollo and the Laocoon, is perhaps the most beautiful monument of antiquity which time has transmitted to us."—Winckelmann, Hist. de l'Art, vi. ch. 7.
Inferior only to this, is another bas-relief, also over a chimney-piece,—the parting of Orpheus and Eurydice.
"Les deux époux vont se quitter. Eurydice attache sur Orphée un profond regard d'adieu. Sa main est posée sur l'épaule de son époux, geste ordinaire dans les groupes qui expriment la séparation de ceux qui s'aiment. La main d'Orphée dégage doucement celle d'Eurydice, tandis que Mercure fait de la sienne un léger mouvement pour l'entraîner. Dans ce léger mouvement est tout leur sort; l'effet le plus pathétique est produit par la composition la plus simple; l'émotion la plus pénétrante s'exhale de la sculpture la plus tranquille."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 256.
The villa also contains a collection of pictures, of which the most interesting are the sketches of Giulio Romano for the frescoes of the story of Psyche in the Palazzo del Te at Mantua, and two fine pictures by Luca Signorelli and Perugino, in compartments, in the first room on the left of the saloon. All the works of art have lately been rearranged. The Caffè and the Bigliardo—(reached by an avenue of oaks, which, being filled with ancient tombstones, has the effect of a cemetery)—contain more statues, but of less importance.
Beyond the villa, the Via Salara (said by Pliny to derive its name from the salt of Ostia exported to the north by this route) passes on the left the site of Antemnæ, and crosses the Anio two miles from the city, by the Ponte Salara, destroyed by the Roman government in the terror of Garibaldi's approach from Monte Rotondo, in 1867. This bridge was a restoration by Narses, in the sixth century, but stood on the foundations of that famous Ponte Salara, upon which Titus Manlius fought the Gaulish giant, and cutting off his head, carried off the golden collar which earned him the name of Torquatus.
"Manlius prend un bouclier léger de fantassin, une épée espagnole commode pour combattre de très-près, et s'avance à la rencontre du Barbare. Les deux champions, isolés sur le pont, comme sur un théâtre, se joignent au milieu. Le Barbare portait un vêtement bariolé et une armure ornée de dessins et d'incrustations dorées, conforme au caractère de sa race, aussi vaine que vaillante. Les armes du Romain étaient bonnes, mais sans éclat. Point chez lui, comme chez son adversaire, de chant, de transports, d'armes agitées avec fureur, mais un cœur plein de courage et d'une colère muette qu'il réservait tout entière pour le combat.
"Le Gaulois, qui dépassait son adversaire de toute la tête, met en avant son bouclier et fait tomber pesamment son glaive sur l'armure de son adversaire. Celui-ci le heurte deux fois de son bouclier, le force à reculer, le trouble, et se glissant alors entre le bouclier et le corps du Gaulois, de deux coups rapidement portés lui ouvre le ventre. Quand le grand corps est tombé, Manlius lui coupe la tête, et, ramassant le collier de son ennemi décapité, jette tout sanglant sur son cou ce collier, le torques, propre aux Gaulois, et qu'on peut voir au Capitole porté par celui qu'on appelle à tort le gladiateur mourant. Un soldat donne, en plaisantant, à Manlius le sobriquet de Torquatus, que sa famille a toujours été fière de porter."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 10.
Beyond the ruins of the bridge, is a huge tomb with a tower, now used as an Osteria. Hence, the road leads by the Villa of Phaon (Villa Spada) where Nero died, and the site of Fidenæ, now known as Castel Giubeleo, to Monte Rotondo.
The district beyond the Porta Salara, and that extending between the Via Salara and the Monte Parioli, are completely undermined by catacombs (see Ch. IX.). The most important are—1. Nearest the gate, the Catacomb of St. Felicitas, which had three tiers of galleries, adorned by Pope Boniface I., who took refuge there from persecution,—now much dilapidated. Over this cemetery was a church, now destroyed, which is mentioned by William of Malmesbury. 2. The Catacomb of SS. Thraso and Saturninus, much decorated with the usual paintings. 3. The Catacomb of Sta. Priscilla, near the descent to the Anio. This cemetery is of great interest, from the number of martyrs' graves it contains, and from its peculiar construction in an ancient arenarium, pillars and walls of masonry being added throughout the central part, in order to sustain the tufa walls. Here were buried—probably because the entrance to the Chapel of the Popes at St. Calixtus was blocked up to preserve it in the persecution under Diocletian—Pope St. Marcellinus (ob. 308), and Pope St. Marcellus (ob. 310), who was sent into exile by Maxentius. On the tomb of the latter was placed, in finely cut type, the following epitaph by Pope Damasus:—