Part 18

the finest piece of bronze work of ancient times. It now stands upon the Square of the Capitol, where it was erected by Michael Angelo in 1538. Before that, it stood at the Lateran, where it had been placed in 1187, having been taken from near the Column of Phocas in the Forum. It belongs to the canons of the Lateran, who receive yearly, in the shape of a bouquet of flowers, a peppercorn rent for it from the mayor of Rome. It is said that Michael Angelo on passing by used to say, "Gee up, _cammina_;" and that the horse had only to plant the raised hoof upon the ground to complete the illusion that it was a living creature.

In front of us is the mayor's residence; on the left the Museum of the Capitol; and on the right the halls of the town council. These buildings were erected by Michael Angelo in 1544-1550. The residence for the senator was first erected on the top of the ruins of the Tabularium in 1389-1394 by Pope Boniface IX., but this gave place to the present edifice.

The ascent from the Arch of Severus to the Square of the Capitol was anciently the Pass of the Two Groves. At the top of the pass was the Gate of Janus, the gate of the citadel, betrayed by Tarpeia. The ascent from the Forum, on our right, was the Clivus Capitolinus, a continuation of the Via Sacra. It is only at its termination that the present road is on the site of the ancient slope, where some of the pavement may still be seen. The gate which here gave access to the arx was called the Gate of Saturn.

_On the right_ of the old museum some steps lead up to

THE CHURCH OF ARA CŒLI.

The nave is formed by twenty-two columns, the spoils of ancient buildings. The third one on the left has engraved upon it--

A CVBICVLO AVGVSTORVM,

showing that it came from the Palatine Hill. At the end of the nave are two Gothic ambones with mosaic work. The altar urn of red porphyry formerly, it is said, contained the body of Constantine's mother. This church is rendered famous as being the place where, on the 15th of October 1764, Gibbon "sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, and conceived the idea of writing the 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'"

[Illustration: VIEW OF THE CAPITOL.]

The church is the residence of the celebrated Santissimo Bambino, carved out of a tree from the Mount of Olives, and painted by S. Luke. This image is highly decorated with jewellery, and has a two-horse carriage at its disposal, with coachmen and footmen, when it pays a visit to the sick. "As thy faith, so be it unto thee." Apply at the sacristy to see it. The floor of the church is of the kind called _opus-Alexandrinum_, tesselated mosaic, and slab tombs of medieval period. A grand ceremony is held here on Christmas day, and at the Epiphany children recite the story of Christ.

In the left transept an isolated octagonal chapel, dedicated to S. Helena, is said by the church authorities to stand on the site of an altar erected by Augustus--_Ara primogeniti Dei_--to commemorate the Cumæan sibyl's prophecy of the coming of the Saviour. Its present name is traceable to this altar. Some traces of Gothic can be seen in the walls and windows of this church, which stands on the site of

THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS.

"It stood upon a high rock, and was 800 feet in circuit, each side containing near 200; the length does not exceed the width by quite 15 feet. For the temple that was built in the time of our fathers, upon the same foundations with the first, which was consumed by fire, is found to differ from the ancient temple in nothing but in magnificence and the richness of the materials, having three rows of columns in the south front, and two on each side. The body is divided into three temples, parallel to one another, the partition walls forming their common sides. The middle temple is dedicated to Jupiter; and on one side stands that of Juno, and on the other that of Minerva. And all three have but one pediment and one roof." (Dionysius, iv. 61. See also Tacitus, "Hist." iii. 72; Livy, i. 55; Plutarch, in "Publicola;" Tacitus, "Hist." iv. 53.)

Four different temples have been erected on this site, and now it is occupied by a Christian church. The first, built by Tarquinius Superbus, and consecrated by Horatius the consul, was burned in the civil war. The second, erected by Sylla, and consecrated by Catulus, was destroyed under Vitellius. The third, erected by Vespasian, was burned before it was consecrated. The fourth was built by Domitian.

Access is now to be had to some curious vaults below the convent, which were formerly closed by the monks. Supporting these vaults are some remains of massive tufa walls--one piece in particular being about 36 feet long and 8 feet high--consisting of single blocks of stone, of which the other fragments seem to be continuations. These appear to have been built originally as substructions, and run parallel with the Via Marforio, and could not have been part of the city wall, for that is within the city of the two hills. Nibby records that tufa walls remain under the stairs leading up to the Ara Cœli Church. We think them to be part of the foundations of the celebrated Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

We may mention that among the rubbish contained in the vaults of the convent are two slender columns of Pentelic marble. May not these have belonged to the temple?

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS.]

The strongest evidence of the position of the Temple of Jupiter "supremely good and great" is pictorial. We have it represented on the relief in the Palazzo dei Conservatori which formed part of the Arch of Marcus Aurelius. That emperor is there, after a victory, offering sacrifice upon the Capitoline Hill; and in the background is a representation of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus: it has three doors, and the figures of Minerva, Jupiter, and Juno. This is to the spectator's left, and faces south, as we are told the temple faced. This relief is further corroborated by another in the Louvre, in the background of which is likewise a representation of a temple of the Corinthian order, facing the same way and to the left of the spectator, and having over the door the words IOVI CAPITOLINUS. Upon a relief in the Capitol Museum, another building appears upon a lower level, ornamented with pilasters, having Doric capitals. This building corresponds with the front of the Tabularium towards the Capitol.

To the right of the Palazzo dei Conservatori (New Museum) a road, through a gate, leads to the German Embassy. In the garden Bunsen found the remains of the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius, which have lately been covered in; but a fine piece of the wall of the Temple of Juno may yet be seen. _By applying at the Embassy, permission will be given to enter the garden._

TEMPLE OF JUPITER FERETRIUS (The Trophy-Bearer).

The first temple built in Rome by Romulus, to receive the spoils captured from Acron, King of Cænina.

"After the procession and sacrifice, Romulus built a small temple, on the top of the Capitoline Hill, to Jupiter, whom the Romans call Feretrius. For the ancient traces of it still remain, of which the longest sides are less than fifteen feet" (Dionysius, ii. 34. See Livy, i. 10).

It was enlarged A.U.C. 121 (Livy, i. 33); and was repaired by Augustus on the advice of Atticus (Nepos. See Livy, iv. 20).

_Opposite the gate leading into the garden_ we can look over the parapet, down the scarped rock, to the base beneath, which is reached from below by _taking the Via Tor dei Specchi on the right, looking towards the Capitol, and the Vicolo Rupe Tarpeia on the left_. It was here that the terrible scene described in Hawthorne's "Transformation" took place.

The road leads to the New German Archæological Institute. It was about here that the messenger from Veii got into the citadel, and where the Gauls tried to do the same, when the sacred geese in Juno's temple awoke the garrison. The two bronze "geese" shown in the Hall of the Conservators are ducks.

_Passing on under the archway, turn to the left; at a little distance the Via Monte Tarpeia turns off to the right--follow this; at the end, the house facing us is built up_ against the point of the hill used for the public executions.

THE TARPEIAN ROCK.

[Illustration: TARPEIAN ROCK.]

After the name of the hill was changed for the last time, one part, we are told, retained the name of the Tarpeian Rock, from being the burial-place of Tarpeia, and the spot from which the traitors were hurled off in sight of the people assembled in the Forum. The house in front of us is built upon a ledge of the rock below, and has upon it the following inscription:--

"Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem, et Capitolia ducit, Aurea nunc, olim, silvestribus horrida dumis." VIRGIL, _Æn._ viii. 347.

GREGORIUS XIII. PONT. MAX. VIAM TARPEIAM APERINT HIER. ALTERIUS AEDILIS SECUNDO } CURABANT PAULUS BUBALUS AEDILIS SEXTO } ANNO DOMINI MDLXXXI.

"The quæstors led the man [Spurius Cassius] to the top of the precipice that commands the Forum, and in the presence of all the citizens threw him down from the rock. For this was the established punishment at that time among the Romans for those who were condemned to die"--A.U.C. 269--(Dionysius, viii. 78).

_If we look back up_ the street we came down, the height will be seen in the garden above us. It must be remembered that the top of the hill has been levelled, and the valley below filled in thirty feet; allowing for this there would have been a fall of upwards of 160 feet. The steps on our left formed the third ancient approach to the arx, the _Centum Gradus_, up which the Vitellians climbed when they took the citadel. On the site of the garden above stood

CAMILLUS'S TEMPLES TO CONCORD AND JUNO.

The first Temple of Concord of which we have any notice was that dedicated by Camillus, A.U.C. 388.

"When the dictator was one day sitting on the tribunal in the Forum, the people called out to drag him from his seat; but he led off the patricians to the senate house. Previous to his entering it he turned towards the Capitol [this shows that the senate house was not on the Capitol, as some would have us believe; for if so, he would not have turned towards the Capitol before entering the senate house--he would have already faced it], and besought the gods to put a happy end to the present disturbances, vowing to build a temple to Concord when the tumult should be appeased.... Next day they assembled and voted that the temple which Camillus had vowed to Concord should, on account of this great event, be built upon a spot viewing from a height the Forum and place of assembly" (Plutarch, in "Camillus"). Ovid, speaking of the same temple ("Fasti," i. 640), says: "Fair Concord, the succeeding day places thee in a snow-white shrine, near where elevated Moneta raises her steps on high: now with ease wilt thou look down upon the Latin crowd. Now have the august hands of Cæsar restored thee,"--referring to its rebuilding by Tiberius, A.D. 11. From both these authors we learn that it had a commanding prospect, and Ovid adds that it was near the Temple of Moneta, which was likewise founded by Camillus, A.U.C. 411, as we learn from Livy (vii. 28, and vi. 20. See Plutarch). "The site chosen was that spot in the Citadel where the house of Manlius had stood." The site of the Temple of Concord was on the Tarpeian Rock, at the top of the Centum Gradus, and Camillus's Temple of Moneta was near it.

Livy (xxvi. 23) says: "In A.U.C. 542, at the Temple of Concord, a statue of Victory, which stood on the summit of the roof, being struck by lightning, and shaken at its base, fell and stuck among the ensigns of the goddess which were on the pediment." This temple, with a statue of Victory upon the summit, is represented on a coin of Tiberius, who restored it.

_Under the_ wall, on our left, which supports the garden, some blocks of tufa, _in situ_, are the remains of the Temple of Concord, and the wall in the garden of the German Embassy is part of the Temple of Juno.

_Passing down the street on our right, a left half-turn will bring us to the old entrance of_

THE TABULARIUM.

(_Public Record Office._)

_Open every day from 10 till 3; fee, half lira._

We have now to speak of a building, the vast remains of which impress us with the grandeur of the later republic. In the year of the city 675 (B.C. 78) a building was erected against the Capitoline Hill, and facing the Forum, to contain the public records, which were engraved on bronze plates. Before that time they had been kept in various temples.

"A decree was made by the senate that the records should be kept in the Temple of Ceres with the public ædiles"--A.U.C. 306--(Livy, iii. 55).

"Treaties (such as between Pyrrhus and Rome) were then usual, and the ædiles had them in their keeping in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, engraved on plates of copper" (Polybius, iii.).

That this was the usual way of keeping the records we learn from the same author, who saw and copied those which "Hannibal left at Lacinium--engraved tablets or records on copper of the events of his stay in Italy."

"The censors went up immediately to the Temple of Liberty, where they sealed the books of the public records, shut up the office, and dismissed the clerks, affirming that they should do no kind of public business until the judgment of the people was passed on them"--A.U.C. 686--(Livy, xliii. 16).

We have no mention in classic history as to when this building was erected, but fortunately an inscription has been handed down to us, in which Quintus Lutatius Catulus (who dedicated the temple to Jupiter Capitolinus) is expressly named, not only as the founder of the Tabularium, but also of the substructions, the most difficult portion of the whole, and which claim our fullest admiration.

Q . LVTATIVS . Q. F. Q. N. CATVLVS . COS . SVBSTRVCTIONEM . ET . TABVLARIVM . EX . SEN . SENT . FACIENDVM . COERAVIT . EADEMQVE . PROBAVIT .

The remains form the substructions of the present Capitol, or senator's residence, consisting of a massive wall of Gabii stone 240 feet long and 37 feet high, supporting the portico on the side of the Forum, which consisted of a series of arches, 23 feet by 15 feet, ornamented with sixteen Doric columns. Below this portico or arcade are a series of small chambers, with windows looking into the Forum, opening out of one another, approached by a short flight of steps, and probably used to store the records. At the back of the arcade are a series of large vaulted rooms or offices. At one end a grand flight of steps (repaired) leads up into what has been a grand arcade on the side of the Area Capitolina: its piers now partly sustain the modern building. At the farther end of this arcade is a flight of steep travertine steps, sixty-seven in number, leading down into the Forum, the exit to which has been blocked up by the Temple of Vespasian being built against the entrance.

This building must have presented a grand front to the Forum in the olden time, though now it only sustains the buildings of Michael Angelo. In 1389-1394, Pope Boniface IX. first erected on the Capitoline Hill, on the ruins of the Tabularium, a residence for the senator and his assessors. The prospect was altered so that what was the front became the back, and it faced on to what was anciently the Area Capitolina, now the Piazza del Campidoglio, instead of the Forum.

The north side wall seems to have been cut down when the present edifice was erected, as outside the present wall are the remains of the ancient one; thus it was somewhat longer than we now see it. In the sort of vestibule which gives admittance to the chambers under the portico are remains of stairs, evidently leading up to some chambers above the portico. These were probably not very lofty, so that the view of the temples on the hill was not shut out from the Forum, or perhaps they only led up to the flat roof above the arcade.

These old remains have been used as a prison and as a salt store, which latter has eaten the stone away in a curious manner. It is now used as a museum of fragments. The arches of the portico were filled in when the great master utilized it. Although we know an arch is as strong as a wall, it is feared to open them, and one only has been so treated.

Suetonius tells us: "Vespasian undertook to restore the three thousand tablets of brass which had been destroyed in the fire which consumed the Capitol; searching in all quarters for copies of those curious and ancient records, in which were contained the decrees of the senate almost from the building of the city, as well as the acts of the people relative to alliances, treaties, and privileges granted to any person" (Vespasian, viii.).

Pliny (xxxiv. 21) says: "It is upon tablets of brass that our public enactments are engraved."

_From the Tabularium a new iron stair leads up to_

THE TOWER OF THE CAPITOL,

whence a fine view of Rome and its environs can be enjoyed, standing, as it were, between ancient and medieval Rome. It is the best position for study in the world.

From this height the huge mass of the Colosseum appears elegant and light. The famous Seven Hills may be made out, notwithstanding the alteration in the soil: on the left is the QUIRINAL, beyond that the VIMINAL, and beyond that the ESQUILINE; to the extreme right is the AVENTINE; before us is the PALATINE, with the CŒLIAN beyond it; whilst we occupy the CAPITOLINE. The contemplation of the city, however, produces the effect of a vast and solid reading of history. Each of the great representations of the city, always and differently mistress of the world, seems to have chosen its respective quarter--the Rome of the kings and emperors is spread out on the Palatine, Esquiline, and Quirinal; republican Rome occupies the Capitol and Aventine; whilst Christian Rome, isolated and solitary, reigns on the Cœlian and Vatican eminences.

THE SEVEN HILLS OF ROME.

The PALATINE, which has ever had the preference, whether so-called from the people Palantes, or Palatini, or from the bleating and strolling of cattle, in Latin, _balare_ and _palare_, or from Pales, the pastoral goddess, or from the burying-place of Pallas, is disputed amongst authors. It was on this hill that Romulus, according to popular tradition, laid the foundations of the city, in a quadrangular form. Here Romulus and Tullus Hostilius kept their courts, as did afterwards Augustus, and all the succeeding emperors, on which account the word Palatium came to signify a royal seat (Rosin, "Antiq." i. 4).

The AVENTINE derives its name from Aventinus, an Alban king (Varro, "De Ling. Lat." iv.), or from the river Avens (_ibid._), or from Avibus, from the birds which used to fly thither in great flocks from the Tiber (_ibid._). It was also called Murcius, from Murcia, the goddess of sleep, who had a temple here (Sextus Pompeius, Festus). Also Collis Dianæ, from the Temple of Diana (Martial). Likewise Remonius, from Remus, who wished the city to be commenced here, and who was buried here (Plutarch, in "Romulus"). This hill was added by Ancus Martius ("Eutropius," i.).

The CAPITOLINE, formerly Saturn, then Tarpeian, took its name from Tarpeia, a Roman virgin, who betrayed the city to the Sabines at this point (Plutarch, in "Romulus"). It was also called Mons Saturni and Saturnius, in honour of Saturn, who is reported to have lived here, and was the titular deity of this part of the city. It was afterwards called Capitoline, from the head of a man found here when digging the foundations of the famous Temple of Jupiter. It was added to the city when the Sabines were permitted by Romulus to incorporate themselves with the Romans (Dionysius).

The QUIRINAL was either so called from the Temple of Quirinus, another name of Romulus, or from the Curetes, a people that removed hither with Tatius from Cures, a Sabine city (Sextus Pompeius, Festus). It afterwards changed its name to Caballus, from two marble horses, each having a man holding it, which are still standing, and were the works of Phidias and Praxiteles ("Fabricii Roma," iii.), made to represent Alexander the Great and Bucephalus, and presented to Nero by Tiridates, king of Armenia. Numa added this hill to the city (Dionysius, ii.).

The ESQUILINE was anciently called Cispius and Oppius ("Fabricii Roma," 3). The name Esquilinus was varied for the easier pronunciation from Exquilinus, a corruption of Excubinus, ab Excubiis, from the watch that Romulus kept there ("Propert." ii. 8). It was taken in by Servius Tullius, who had his palace here (Livy, i. 44).

The VIMINAL derives its name from Vimina, signifying osiers, which grew here in large quantities. This hill was added by Servius Tullius (Dionysius, iv.).

The CŒLIAN owes its name to Cœlius or Cœles, a famous Tuscan general, who encamped here when he came to assist the Romans against the Sabines (Varro, "De Ling. Lat." iv.). The other names by which it was sometimes known were Querculanus or Querquetulanus, and Augustus: the first, on account of its growth of oaks; and the second, because the Emperor Tiberius built on it after a fire (Tacit. "Ann." iv.; Suet. in "Tib." xlviii.). One part was called Cœliolus, and Minor Cœliolus ("Fabricii Roma," 3). Livy (i. 30) and Dionysius (iii.) attribute the taking of it into the city to Tullus Hostilius, but Strabo ("Georg." v.) to Ancus Martius.

Whilst on the subject of the hills of Rome, three others are equally famous.

The JANICULUM, or Janicularis, so called either from an old town of the same name, said to have been built by Janus, or because Janus dwelt and was buried here (Ovid, "F." i. 246), or because it was a _janua_, a sort of gate to the Romans, whence they issued out upon the Tuscans (Festus). Its yellow sand gave it the name of Mons Aureus, corrupted into Montorius ("Fabricii Roma," i. 3). From an epigram of Martial, we may observe that it is the fittest place to take one's standing for a full prospect of the city (Martial, "Epig." iv. 64). It is famous for the sepulchres of Numa and Statius the poet ("Fabricii Roma," i. 3), and in more recent times as the grave of Tasso, and the spot where tradition holds that S. Peter was executed.

The VATICAN owes its name to the _vates_, or prophets, who used to give their answers here, or from the god Vaticanus or Vagitanus (Festus). Formerly celebrated for the Gardens and Circus of Nero, the scene of the Christian martyrdoms, and in our time for S. Peter's and the Vatican. It was enclosed in the time of Aurelian, but was considered as very unhealthy (Tacitus, "H." ii. 93).