Part 16

In the piazza are two fountains, the granite basins of which were found in the baths of Caracalla. The palace is not now to be visited, as it is occupied by the French Embassy. Its architecture is more admired than that of any other palace in Rome; it was built by Pope Paul III. with materials taken from the Colosseum. Its rooms are adorned with frescoes of Annibale Caracci, his finest works, consisting of mythological subjects. The centre piece represents the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne.

Opening out of the square is the PIAZZA CAMPO DI FIORE. Here every Wednesday is held a fair of curiosities, &c. _At the left corner is_

THE CANCELLERIA PALACE,

(_Palazzo della Cancelleria_,)

one of the finest palaces in Rome, built out of the travertine taken from the Colosseum: the forty-four red granite columns which support the portico came from Pompey's Theatre. At the foot of the staircase Count Rossi was assassinated in November 1848.

[Illustration: THE FARNESE PALACE.]

Adjoining the palace is the CHURCH OF SS. LORENZO E DAMASO, lately restored. _A short lane, Vicolo Regis, leads to the Braschi Palace, at the side of which is_

THE STATUE OF PASQUINO,

a mutilated torso found here in the sixteenth century. It took its name from Pasquino, a tailor, who lived opposite, and whose shop was the rendezvous of the wits of the city, who wrote their jokes and stuck them on the statue: these were replied to by the statue of Marforio, now in the Capitol Museum.

Some of Pasquino's sayings were very witty, and have been published. Now, under a free government, he seldom speaks.

PASQUINO'S REPLIES IN REFERENCE TO THE

What the barbarians did Barberini family having not, the Barberini have done. destroyed the antiquities.

Public, thou liest; they Inscription put up over were not public vows, but the door of the Sacristy were vows of thy vain of S. Peter's. despotism.

Canova has this time made Statue of Italy by Canova a mistake: he has clothed exhibited during the French Italy, and she is stripped. invasion.

The Most High above sends Some decrees of Napoleon's, us the tempest; the most and a severe storm which high below takes from us visited the city. that which remains; and between the two most highs we are very badly off.

The French are all rogues; French occupation of Rome. not all--but a good part of them (Buona parte).

_Pasquino._ Beware, Cæsar, Marriage of a man named lest thy Rome become a Cæsar to a girl named Roma. republic.

_Cæsar._ Cæsar governs.

_Pasquino._ Therefore he will be crowned.

A heretic had the Appointment of the preference; after him, a librarians of the Vatican. schismatic; but now there is a Turk. Good-bye, Peter's Library!

_The Via del Governo Vecchio leads to the_

CHURCH OF S. MARIA IN VALLICELLA,

(_La Chiesa Nuova_,)

containing three paintings by Rubens; they are at the high altar.

_From the Statue of Pasquino, by the side of the Braschi Palace, we enter the_

CIRCO AGONALE,

one of the finest squares in Rome, sometimes called Piazza Navona. It takes its name from being the site of the Circus Agonalis. _Fêtes_ are held here during Carnival, and a fair at the Epiphany.

Notice the three fountains--the centre one by Bernini: four figures, representing four rivers, recline on a craggy rock; on its top stands an Egyptian obelisk, at its base a lion and a sea-horse.

THE OBELISK.

This, from the inscription, was either made for, or the inscription was added to and imitated by, Domitian:--"Sun god. Son of the Sun god. Supporter of the world. Giver of life to the world. The man-god Horus. The son of the woman Isis, who is come to avenge the death of his ancestor Osiris. The king living for ever, Domitianus." From his Alban Villa, where it originally stood, it was transported, in A.D. 311, to the spina of the Circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, thence to its present site.

_On the left is_

THE CHURCH OF S. AGNESE,

said to have been built on the site where S. Agnes was exposed after her torture; the high altar in the subterranean chapel is said to stand on the very spot. In another part is shown her prison, and where she was beheaded and burned, the church occupying the side vaults of the circus. The upper church contains eight columns of red Cortanella marble; it is ornamented with stuccoes, statues, alto-reliefs, and pictures. Behind the high altar is the sepulchral chapel of Princess Mary Talbot, wife of Prince Doria, who died in 1857.

_A street on the left leads to the_

CHURCH OF S. MARIA DELLA PACE,

containing Raphael's Sibyls--the Cumæan, Persian, Phrygian, Tiburtine--on the face of the arch in the first chapel on the right.

Some statues in the Cesi Chapel were worked from pilasters found behind the Palace dei Conservatori, on the Capitol, from the Temple of Juno.

_From the right of the Circo Agonale a street leads to the_

CHURCH OF S. AGOSTINO.

It contains a fresco by Raphael, on the third pilaster to the left in entering,--Isaiah and two angels holding a tablet; also a favourite statue of the Virgin and Child, by Andrea Sansavino.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] "And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day" (Deut. xxxiv. 6). "Yet Michael the archangel, _when_ contending with the devil he _disputed about_ the body of Moses" (Jude 9).

[8] The hills of Rome. She ruled the world.

[9] Five miles on the Salarian Way.

[10] Sax Ruba, eight miles on the Flaminian Way.

[11] On the Ides of May a popular carousal was held to this goddess, on the fields of Aqua Acetosa, by the banks of the Tiber, whereat many were espoused. (See Ovid, "F." iii. 523.)

[12] Northern roads, one on either side of the Tiber.

[13] Now Ponte Molle.

RAMBLE III.

VIA RIPETTA -- MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS -- THE CAMPUS MARTIUS -- THE BORGHESE GALLERY -- HILDA'S TOWER -- THE PANTHEON -- BATHS OF AGRIPPA -- S. MARIA SOPRA MINERVA -- COLLEGIO ROMANO -- KIRCHERIAN AND PRE-HISTORIC MUSEUMS -- "THE GESU" -- TEMPLE OF HERCULES -- THE CAPITOLINE HILL -- ARA CŒLI CHURCH -- TEMPLES OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS AND JUPITER FERETRIUS -- THE TARPEIAN ROCK -- TEMPLES OF CONCORD AND JUNO -- THE TABULARIUM -- ROME FROM THE TOWER -- THE SEVEN HILLS -- MUSEUMS AND PICTURE GALLERY OF THE CAPITOL -- THEATRE OF MARCELLUS -- DECEMVIRAL PRISONS -- PORTICO OF OCTAVIA -- THE GHETTO -- CENCI PALACE -- THEATRE OF BALBUS -- POMPEY'S THEATRE -- CÆSAR'S DEATH -- STATUE OF POMPEY -- SPADA PALACE -- S. PAUL'S HIRED HOUSE -- FABRICIAN BRIDGE -- ISLAND OF THE TIBER -- PONS CESTIUS -- TEMPLES OF JUNO, PIETY, AND HOPE -- HOUSE OF RIENZI -- PONTE ROTTO -- HORATIUS'S BRIDGE -- TEMPLE OF PATRICIAN CHASTITY -- ROUND TEMPLE OF HERCULES -- S. MARIA IN COSMEDIN -- EMPORIUM -- MONS TESTACCIO -- PROTESTANT CEMETERY -- THE AVENTINE HILL -- CHURCHES OF IL PRIORATO, SS. ALEXIUS, SABINA, PRISCA, SABA -- THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS -- S. ANASTASIA -- ARCH OF JANUS (?) -- ARCH OF THE SILVERSMITHS AND CATTLE-DEALERS -- S. GIORGIO IN VELABRO -- CLOACA MAXIMA -- S. TEODORO.

BY THE TIBER.

THE VIA RIPETTA.

From the Piazza del Popolo the line of the Ripetta runs between the Corso and the Tiber. In the house at the corner lived Ciceruacchio. A short way down is the Quay of the Ripetta, built in 1707 by Clement XI., and partly destroyed by the modern iron bridge, over which is a direct walk to S. Peter's, the site of the fields which formerly belonged to Cincinnatus (Livy, iii. 26).

THE MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS.

_Turning out of the Ripetta on the left into the Via de' Pontefici, through a gateway on the right_, are the remains of this once handsome tomb; only the double reticulated wall, on which the tumulus with its trees formerly stood, remains. This ruin has been converted into a modern theatre, and thus the original finely-proportioned arrangements can no longer be traced. A part of the enclosure wall may be best seen from the court of the Palazzo Valdambrini, _102 Via Ripetta_. The mausoleum was built by Augustus, B.C. 27. Marcellus, Agrippa, Drusus, and Germanicus were buried there. Strabo describes it as standing upon a lofty substruction of white stone, and shaded up to the top with trees. The summit was crowned with the statue of Augustus in bronze, and there were two Egyptian obelisks at the entrance, brought over by Claudius. They are mentioned likewise by Marcellinus.

_It stood in_

THE CAMPUS MARTIUS,

which Strabo thus describes: "The plain, adorned by nature and art, is of wonderful extent, and affords an ample and a clear space for the running of chariots, and other equestrian and gymnastic exercises. It is in verdant bloom throughout the year, and is crowned by hills which rise above the Tiber and slope down to its very banks. The whole affords a picturesque and beautiful landscape, which you would linger to behold. Near to this plain is another of less magnitude; and all around it are innumerable porticoes and shady groves, besides three theatres, an amphitheatre, and various temples contiguous to each other, so that the rest of the city appears only an appendage to it." This lesser plain occupied the space between the Mausoleum of Augustus and the Theatre of Marcellus--the plain from the tomb to the modern Ponte Molle. "Sylla's monument stood in the Campus Martius" (Plutarch).

_Just past the bridge, a street on the left, by the side of the Borghese Palace, leads to the entrance of_

THE BORGHESE GALLERY,

_situated in the Piazza Borghese, which is connected with the Corso by the Via Fontanella Borghese. Catalogues for the use of visitors in each room. Open on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 10 till 3._ The following are the principal objects of interest:--

FIRST ROOM: SCHOOLS OF MILAN AND PERUGIA.--3. Holy Family, by Perugino; 5. Vanity; 27, 28. Petrarch and Laura; 35. Raphael as a Boy, by himself; 43. Madonna, by Francia; 49, 57. History of Joseph, by Pinturicchio; 61. S. Antonio, by Francia; 68. Doubting Thomas, by Mazzolini.

SECOND ROOM: SCHOOL OF GAROFALO.--6. Madonna; 9. Mourners over Christ, both by Garofalo; 22. Portrait of a Cardinal, by Bronzino; 23. "Madonna col divin' amore," school of Raphael; 26. Cæsar Borgia (?), by Bronzino; 38. Entombment, by Raphael; 51. S. Stephen, by Francia.

THIRD ROOM.--5. "Noli me tangere," by Bronzino; 24, 28. Madonna, by Andrea del Sarto; 40. Danae, by Correggio (notice the cupids sharpening an arrow); 48. The Flagellation, by Sebastiano del Piombo; 46. Reading Magdalene, by Correggio.

FOURTH ROOM: BOLOGNESE SCHOOL.--2. Cumæan Sibyl, by Domenichino; 20. S. Joseph, by Guido; 36. Madonna, by Carlo Dolci; 42. Head of Christ, by Carlo Dolci; 43. Madonna, by Sassoferrato.

FIFTH ROOM.--11-14. The Four Seasons, by Albani; 15. The Hunt of Diana, by Domenichino; 25. The Deposition, by Zuccari.

SIXTH ROOM.--10. S. Stanislaus, by Ribera; 13. The Three Ages of Man, copied by Sassoferrato from Titian.

SEVENTH ROOM.--Mirrors painted with Cupids and flowers; marble tables.

EIGHTH ROOM.--Mosaic portrait of Pope Paul V.

NINTH ROOM.--1. Fresco, Nuptials of Alexander and Roxana; 2. Fresco, Nuptials of Vertumnus and Pomona; 3. Fresco, Archers Shooting at a Target,--all by Raphael or his school.

TENTH ROOM.--13. David with the Head of Goliath, by Giorgione; 21. Sacred and Profane Love, by Titian.

ELEVENTH ROOM.--11. Venus and Cupid on Dolphins, by Cambiaso; 15. Christ and the Mother of Zebedee's Children, by Bonifazio; 16. Return of the Prodigal, by Bonifazio; 17. Samson, by Titian.

TWELFTH ROOM: DUTCH SCHOOL.--1. Crucifixion, by Vandyck; 7. Entombment, by Vandyck; 8. Tavern Scene, Teniers; 22. Cattle-Piece, by Paul Potter.

_On leaving the gallery, turn to the right, and take the continuation of the Via Ripetta on the left. Keeping straight on down the Via della Scrofa, in the third turning on the right, at Via Portoghesi, is the Torre della Scimmia_, better known to Hawthorne's readers as

HILDA'S TOWER.

It is one of those medieval watch-towers that come upon one so unexpectedly in all sorts of out-of-the-way places in Rome. The Romans call it the Tower of the Monkey, from a legend that years ago the proprietor kept a monkey. This monkey one day seized upon a baby in the street below, and carried it to the top of the tower, to the agony of the parents, who vowed a shrine to the Virgin if the child were safely restored. No sooner was the vow uttered than the monkey brought down the baby by means of the water-pipe. The shrine was forthwith erected, and every evening the lamp is lighted at _Ave Maria_, and shines like a bright star till dawn.

_A little beyond, on the left, is the_ NEW WESLEYAN CHURCH FOR ITALIANS; _beyond which the Via Giustiniani, on the left, leads to the Piazza Rotonda_.

THE OBELISK

surmounts a fountain. This obelisk and the one in the Piazza Minerva were erected as pairs in Rome. They stood before the Temple of Isis and Serapis in the Campus Martius. There is a small relief in the Villa Ludovisi, representing in its background a temple with four Ionic columns, and to the left an Egyptian obelisk. In the foreground, to the left, is the figure of Minerva, fronting a reclining female figure holding a vessel full of ears of corn (Isis?). By her side is Cupid, and at their back a figure holding something in a spread-out cloth. May not the temple in the background represent the Temple of Isis and Serapis?

THE PANTHEON.

This incomparable circular edifice, originally intended by Agrippa to form the conclusion of his thermæ,[14] with which it is intimately connected, is one of the noblest and most perfect productions of that style of architecture specifically denominated Roman. When the first wonderful creation of this species came into existence, the founder of this glorious dome appears to have himself shrunk back from it, and to have felt that it was not adapted to be the every-day residence of men, but to be a habitation for the gods.

The Church of S. Maria ad Martyres was originally the sudatorium, or sweating-room, of the baths of Agrippa, being similar in construction to all the sweating-rooms now existing, notably one in the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli. It exactly answers Vetruvius's description of this department of the baths. It seems afterwards to have been dedicated as a temple of the gods, or Pantheon of the Julian line, according to Dion Cassius (liii. 27), when the portico was added in the third consulship of Agrippa.

M. AGRIPPA . L. F. COS . TERTIUM . FECIT.

The straight vertical joint where the Greek portico has been built up to the Roman body can be distinctly seen, and the pediment and entablature can be observed behind the portico. It was burned in the fire under Titus; and was restored, as the inscription on the architrave tells us, by Septimius Severus and Caracalla--

PANTHEUM VETUSTATE CORRUPTUM CUM OMNI CULTU RESTITVERUNT.

Recent explorations have shown that in front of the Pantheon was a large enclosure surrounded by a covered arcade, somewhat after the manner of the colonnade at S. Peter's, and entered by an arch of triumph. Remains of this arch exist under the houses in front of the Pantheon, which are to be pulled down.

[Illustration]

When Agrippa dedicated the Pantheon as a temple, it was consecrated to Jupiter the Avenger. "Some of the finest works that the world has ever beheld ... the roofing of the Pantheon of Jupiter Ultor that was built by Agrippa" (Pliny, "N. H." xxxvi. 24). The repairs commenced by Septimius Severus and Caracalla were completed by Alexander Severus, who built his baths close by. We call attention to a coin of this emperor, which represents the temple and its enclosure on the reverse; on the obverse is the emperor's portrait, and the legend IMP . C . M . AVR . SEV . ALEXANDER . AUG. On the coin the columns are placed close on either flank, and two are omitted, to show the seated statue of Jupiter in the temple, which statue is now in the Hall of Busts in the Vatican Museum, and is a copy of the celebrated Jupiter of Phidias.

The fact that the Pantheon was originally built as a sudatorium has been proved to a certainty by the excavations made in the sudatorium of the Baths of Caracalla. There we have, as it were, the Pantheon in ruins. It is slightly smaller, the diameter being 125 feet--17 less than the Pantheon. Opposite to the entrance is an apse, and on each side there are three recesses, as at the Pantheon, which were used as caldaria, but are now, in the Pantheon, chapels of the saints.

[Illustration: THE PANTHEON. (_From a Coin._)]

The portico is 110 feet long, and 44 feet deep. Sixteen Corinthian columns, 46½ feet high and 5 feet in diameter, support the roof. The Pantheon was converted into a church by Boniface IV. in 609, by permission of the Emperor Phocas, and it was dedicated to the martyrs on November 1st (All Saints' Day), 830. The doors and grating above, of ancient bronze, with the rim round the circular opening in the vault of the interior, are all that is left of the ancient metal work. The interior is 142 feet in diameter, and 143 feet high, and is lighted by an open space of 28 feet in diameter. It is the burial-place of Raphael and of Victor Emanuel II.--_right of high altar_.

Pliny says ("Nat. Hist." xxxvi. 4): "The Pantheon of Agrippa has been decorated by Diogenes of Athens, and the caryatides by him, which form the columns of that temple, are looked upon as masterpieces of excellence. The same, too, with the statues that are placed upon the roof, though, in consequence of the height, they have not had an opportunity of being so well appreciated." "The capitals, too, of the pillars which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, were made of Syracusan metal" (_ibid._, xxxiv. 7). Marcellinus (xvi. x. 14) says: "The Pantheon, with its vast extent, its imposing height, and the solid magnificence of its arches, and the lofty niches rising one above the other like stairs, is adorned with the images of former emperors."

"It is as difficult to reconcile the statements of different authors respecting the original idea of Agrippa, as it is hazardous to attempt to prove the successive metamorphoses which the plan sketched by the artist has undergone. This much, however, is certain, that with respect to the modern transformation of the whole, the consequences have been most melancholy and injurious. The combination of the circular edifice with the rectilinear masses of the vestibule, notwithstanding all the pains bestowed, and the endless expenditure of the most costly materials, has been unsuccessful; and the original design of the Roman architect has lost much of its significance, or, at all events, of its phrenological expression, by being united with ordinary Grecian forms of architecture, which in this place lose great part of their value. No one previously unacquainted with the edifice could form an idea, from the aspect of the portico, of that wondrous structure behind, which must ever be considered as one of the noblest triumphs of the human mind over matter in connection with the law of gravity.

"Conflagrations, earthquakes, sacrilegious human hands, and all the injuries of time, have striven together in vain for the destruction of this unique structure. It has come off victorious in every trial; and even now, when it has not only been stripped of its noblest decorations, but, what is still worse, been decked out with idle and unsuitable ornaments, it still stands in all its pristine glory and beauty.

"In order to obtain a notion of the size and solid excellence of the work, it will be well first to make the circuit of the entire edifice. We shall thus have an opportunity of admiring the fine distribution of the different masses. After the first circular wall or belt, which rests upon a base of travertine, has attained a height of nearly forty feet, it is finished off with a simple cornice, serving as a solid foundation for the second belt. As a preservative against sinking, this is, moreover, provided with a series of larger and smaller construction arches, alternating symmetrically with one another. After rising some thirty feet, further solidity is given to the wall by a girdle suitably decorated with consoles, and on this the third belt (which is but a few feet lower) is supported. A similar number of the arches already mentioned, introduced as frequently as possible, enables this wall to support the weight pressing upon it, and to raise the harmoniously rounded cupola boldly aloft.

"In ancient times the whole building, which is composed of brick, was covered and embellished with a coating of stucco. On the upper cornice, at the back, between the consoles, portions of terra-cotta decorations still remain, seeming to have formed part of this ornamental facing.

"In our examination of the interior, we are, unfortunately, much hindered in our attempt to investigate the constructive connection of the whole by the unmeaning ornamental additions, and the thoughtless transformation of the different organic masses.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE PANTHEON.]

"So much, however, may be discovered even on a superficial survey--namely, that the architect has everywhere endeavoured, not merely to diminish the pressure on the walls of the lower belt (which is nearly twenty feet thick) by inserting hollow chambers, but has given them additional strength by means of the vaulted constructions thus introduced. A hall, supported on pillars, lies between each of the eight modern altars, and behind each of them, on the outside, are niches, reached through the different doors, recurring at regular distances throughout.

"The slabs of coloured marble belonging to the attica were carried off some hundred years ago, under Benedict XIV., and their place supplied by the present coulisse paintings. This polychrome system would have greatly facilitated our researches into the coloured architecture of the ancients, and its loss is therefore much to be regretted.

"For, although this portion of the edifice was thus transformed at a comparatively late period, still the effect of those finely harmonized masses must have been a remarkable one.

"To judge from the combination of coloured stones still remaining in this edifice, the effect must have been very rich and beautiful. The elaborate capitals and bases of white marble must have formed a fine contrast to the yellow shafts of the pillars and the stripe of porphyry inserted in the architrave. The largest specimen of this coloured mode of decoration has been preserved in the pavement; although here also we must take it for granted that the original arrangement has been disturbed, the sunken bases of the columns sufficing to prove that the pavement has been raised in course of time. This circumstance is not without optical reaction on the proportions of the different masses. The horse-shoe arch over the entrance-door is remarkable. It forms a striking contrast to that of the tribune, where the projecting cornice rests upon two pillars, whereas the architrave, broken through by the doorway, is supported only by pilasters.

"The ædiculæ, now converted into altars, are covered in, partly with gables, partly with arches, the former resting upon fluted pillars of yellow marble, the latter upon porphyry pillars. The walls behind are likewise faced with slabs of coloured marble, which, in their original splendour, must have reflected the magnificence of the pillars.