Page images
PDF
EPUB

It is believed that the building of the Coliseum remained entire until the eighth century, and that its ruin dates from the invasion of Robert Guiscard, who destroyed it to prevent its being used as a stronghold by the Romans. During the Middle Ages it served as a fortress, and became the castle of the great family of Frangipani, who here gave refuge to Pope Innocent II. (Papareschi) and his family against the anti-pope Anacletus II., and afterwards in the same way protected Innocent III. (Conti) and his brothers against the anti-pope Paschal II. Constantly at war with the Frangipani were the Annibaldi, who possessed a neighbouring fortress, and obtained from Gregory IX. a grant of half the Coliseum, which was rescinded by Innocent IV. During the absence of the popes at Avignon the Annibaldi got possession of the whole of the Coliseum, but it was taken away again in 1312, and placed in the hands of the municipality, after which it was used for bull-fights, in which (as described by Monaldeschi) nobles of high rank took part and lost their lives. In 1381 the senate made over part of the ruins to the Canons of the Lateran, to be used as a hospital, and their occupation is still commemorated by the arms of the Chapter (our Saviour's head between two candelabra) sculptured in various parts of the building. Necromancers used to practise their arts in the enclosure, and Benvenuto Cellini, in his Memoirs, describes how he caused a magician to people the arena with devils. From the fourteenth century the Coliseum began to be looked upon as a stone quarry, and the palaces Farnese, Barberini, Venezia, with the Cancelleria, were built of materials plundered from its walls. It is said that the first of its destroyers, Cardinal Farnese, only extorted permission from his reluctant uncle, Paul III., to quarry as much stone as he could remove in twelve hours, and that he availed himself of this permission to let loose four thousand workmen upon the building. An official document testifies that in 1452 Giovanni Foglia of Como was permitted to carry off 2522 cart-loads of travertine. Sixtus V. endeavoured to utilise the building by turning the arcades into shops, and establishing a woollen manufactory, and Clement XI. (1700-21) by a manufactory of saltpetre, but both happily failed. In the last century the tide of restoration began to set in. A Carmelite monk, Angelo Paoli, represented the iniquity of allowing a spot consecrated by such holy memories to be desecrated, and Clement XI. consecrated the arena to the memory of the martyrs who had suffered there, and erected in one of the archways the chapel of S. Maria della Pietà. The hermit appointed to take care of this chapel was stabbed in 1742, which caused Benedict XIV. to shut in the Coliseum with bars and gates. Under the six last popes destruction was made sacrilege, and they all contributed to strengthen and preserve the walls which remain; but since the fall of the Papacy, the ruins have been cruelly injured by the tearing out, under Rosa, of all the shrubs and plants which adorned them, in the eradication of which more of the stones have given way than would have fallen in five hundred years of time. As late as fifty years ago, the interior of the Coliseum was (like that of an

English abbey) an uneven grassy space littered with masses of ruin, amid which large trees grew and flourished.1

In the gaunt, bare, ugly interior of the Coliseum as it now is, it is difficult even to conjure up a recollection of the ruin so gloriously beautiful under the popes, where every turn was a picture.

Among the ecclesiastical legends connected with the Coliseum, it is said that Gregory the Great presented some foreign ambassadors with a handful of earth from the arena as a relic for their sovereigns, and upon their receiving the gift with disrespect, he pressed it, when blood flowed from the soil. Pius V. urged those who wished for relics to gather up the dust of the Coliseum, wet with the blood of the martyrs.

In 1744, 'the Blessed Leonardo di Porto Maurizio,' who is buried in S. Buonaventura, drew immense crowds to the Coliseum by his preaching, and obtained permission from Benedict XIV. to found the confraternity of 'Amanti di Gesù e Maria,' for whom the Via Crucis was established here, which was only destroyed in 1872. In later times the ruins have been associated with the holy beggar, Benoît Joseph Labré (beatified by Pius IX. in 1860 and since canonised), who died at Rome in 1783, after a life spent in devotion. He was accustomed to beg in the Coliseum, to sleep at night under its arcades, and to pray for hours at its various shrines. Nothing remains of the seven churches of the Coliseum-S. Salvatore in Tellure, de Trasi, de Insula, de rota Colisei, S. James, S. Agatha, and that of SS. Abdon and Sennen, at the foot of the Colossus of the Sun, where the bodies of those saints were exposed after martyrdom.

The name Coliseum is first found in the writings of the venerable Bede, who quotes a prophecy of Anglo-Saxon pilgrims

'While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;

When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;

And when Rome falls, the world.' 2

The name was probably derived from its size; the amphitheatre of Capua was also called Colossus.

Once or twice in the course of every Roman winter the Coliseum is illuminated with Bengal lights.

'Les étrangers se donnent parfois l'amusement d'éclairer le Colisée avec des feux de Bengale. Cela ressemble un peu trop à un final de mélodrame, et on peut préférer comme illumination un radieux soleil ou les douces lueurs de la Îune. Cependant j'avoue que la première fois que le Colisée m'apparut ainsi, embrasé de feux rougeâtres, son histoire me revint vivement à la pensée. Jé trouvais qu'il avait en ce moment sa vraie couleur, la couleur du sang.'— Ampère, Emp. ii. 156.

1 A work on the extraordinary Flora of the Coliseum, 420 species, now, alas! extinct, has been published by S. Deakin.

2 Quamdiu stat Colysaeus, stat et Roma; quando cadet Colysaeus, cadet et Roma, cadet et mundus.'

CHAPTER V

THE VELABRUM AND THE GHETTO

S. Teodoro-S. Anastasia-Circus Maximus-S. Giorgio in Velabio--Arch of Septimius Severus-Arch of Janus-Cloaca Maxima-S. Maria in Cosmedin -Temple of Vesta-Temple of Fortuna Virilis-House of Rienzi-Ponte Rotto-Ponte Sublicio-S. Nicolo in Carcere-Theatre of Marcellus-Portico of Octavia-Pescheria-Jewish Synagogue-Palazzo Cenci-Fontana Tartarughe--Palazzo Mattei-Palazzo Caëtani S. Caterina dei Funari-S. Maria Campitelli-Palazzo Margana--Convent of the Tor de' Specchi.

THE second turn on the right of the Roman Forum is the Via dei Fienili, formerly the Vicus Tuscus, so called from the Etruscan colony established there after the drying up of the marsh which occupied that site in the earliest periods of Roman history. During the empire, this street, leading from the Forum to the Circus Maximus, was one of the most important. Martial speaks of its silk mercers from an inscription on a tomb we know that the fashionable tailors were to be found there; and the perfumers' shops were of such abundance as to give to part of the street the name of Vicus Thurarius. At its entrance was the statue of the Etruscan god Vertumnus, the patron of the quarter. This was the street by which the processions of the Circensian games passed from the Forum to the Circus Maximus. In one of the Verrine Orations, an accusation brought by Cicero against the patrician Verres was that from avaricious motives he had paved even this street-used for the processions of the Circus-in such a manner that he would not venture to use it himself.2

All this valley was once a stagnant marsh, left by inundations of the Tiber, for in early times the river often overflowed the whole valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline hills, and even reached as far as the foot of the Quirinal, where the Goat's Pool, at which Romulus disappeared, is supposed to have formed part of the same swamp. Ovid, in describing the processions of the games, speaks of the willows and rushes which once covered this ground, and the marshy places which one could not pass over except with bare feet ::

1 See Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 289–92.

2 Quis a signo Vertumni in Circum Maximum venit, quin is unoquoque gradu de avaritia tua commoneretur? quam tu viam tensarum atque pompae ejusmodi exegisti, ut tu ipse illa ire non audeas.'-In Verrem, i. 59. 161

VOL. I.

L

'Qua Velabra solent in Circum ducere pompas,
Nil praeter salices cassaque canna fuit.
Saepe suburbanas rediens conviva per undas
Cantat, et ad nautas ebria verba jacit.
Nondum conveniens diversis iste figuris
Nomen ab averso ceperat amne deus.

Hic quoque lucus erat, juncis et arundine densus,
Et pede velato non adeunda palus.

Stagna recesserunt, et aquas sua ripa coërcet;
Siccaque nunc tellus. Mos tamen ille manet.'

-Fast. vi. 405.

We even know the price which was paid for being ferried across the Velabrum: 'it was a quadrans, three times as much as one pays now for the boat at the Ripetta.'1 The creation of the Cloaca Maxima had probably done much towards draining, but some fragments of the marsh remained to a late period.

According to Varro, the name of the Velabrum was derived from vehere, because of the boats which were employed to convey passengers from one hill to another.2 Others derive the name from vela, also in reference to the mode of transit, or, according to another idea, in reference to the awnings which were stretched across the street to shelter the processions-though the name was in existence long before any processions were thought of.

It was the water of the Velabrum which bore the cradle of Romulus and Remus from the Tiber, and deposited it under the famous fig-tree of the Palatine.

On the left of the Via dei Fienili (shut in by a railing, generally closed, but which will be opened on appealing to the sacristan next door) is the round Church of S. Teodoro. The origin of this building is unknown. This church formerly stood on a much higher level than the street, and it was so even in 1534; its present relation to the street is evidence of the rapid rise of the soil in Rome. The church used to be called the Temple of Romulus, on the very slight foundation that the famous bronze wolf, mentioned by Dionysius as existing in the Temple of Romulus, was found near this spot. Dyer supposes that it may have been the Temple of Cybele; this, however, was upon, and not under, the Palatine. Be they what they may, the remains were dedicated as a Christian church by Adrian I. in the eighth century, and some well-preserved mosaics in the tribune are of that time. The high altar, till 1703, was supported by a Roman ara, on the rim of which was inscribed: 'On this marble of the Gentiles incense was offered to the gods.'

'It is curious to note in Rome how many a modern superstition has its root in an ancient one, and how tenaciously customs still cling to the old localities. On the Palatine hill the bronze she-wolf was once worshipped as the wooden Bambino is now. It stood in the Temple of Romulus, and there the ancient

1 Varro, De Ling. Lat. v. 44. See Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 32.
2 Varro, De Ling. Lat. iv. 8.

Romans used to carry children to be cured of their diseases by touching it. On the supposed site of the temple now stands the church dedicated to S. Teodore, or Santo Toto, as he is called in Rome. Though names must have changed and the temple has vanished, and church after church has here decayed and been rebuilt, the old superstition remains, and the common people at certain periods still bring their sick children to Santo Toto, that he may heal them with his touch.'-Story's Roba di Roma.'1

Farther on the left, still under the shadow of the Palatine Hill, is the large and ancient Church of S. Anastasia, completely modernised in 1722 by Carlo Gimach, but containing, beneath the altar, a beautiful statue of the martyred saint reclining on a faggot.

'Notwithstanding her beautiful Greek name, and her fame as one of the great saints of the Greek Calendar, S. Anastasia is represented as a noble Roman lady, who perished during the persecution of Diocletian. She was persecuted by her husband and family for openly professing the Christian faith, but, being sustained by the eloquent exhortations of S. Chrysogonus, she passed triumphantly, receiving in due time the crown of martyrdom, being condemned to the flames. Chrysogonus was put to death with the sword and his body thrown into the sea.

'According to the best authorities, these two saints did not suffer in Rome, but in Illyria; yet in Rome we are assured that Anastasia, after her martyrdom, was buried by her friend Apollina in the garden of her house under the Palatine Hill and close to the Circus Maximus. There stood the church dedicated in the fourth century, and there it now stands. It was one of the principal churches in Rome in the time of S. Jerome, who, according to ancient tradition, celebrated mass at one of the altars, which is still regarded with peculiar veneration.'-Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art.'

It was the custom for the mediaeval Popes to celebrate their second mass of Christmas night in this church, for which reason S. Anastasia is still especially commemorated in that mass. Plato (father of Pope John VII., 705-8), buried in this church, is described in his epitaph as having restored, at his own expense, the staircase leading into the ancient Palace of the Caesars.

1 There is no doubt that many of the amusements, still more many of the religious practices now popular in this capital, may be traced to sources in pagan antiquity. The game of morra, played with the fingers (the micare digitis of the ancients); the rural feasting before the chapel of the Madonna del Divino Amore on Whit Monday; the revelry and dancing sub dio for the whole night on the Vigil of S. John (a scene on the Lateran piazza, riotous, grotesque, but not licentious); the divining by dreams to obtain numbers for the lottery; hanging ex-voto pictures in churches to commemorate escapes from danger or recovery from illness; the offering of jewels, watches, weapons, &c., to the Madonna; the adorning and dressing of sacred images, sometimes for particular days; throwing flowers on the Madonna's figure when borne in processions (as used to be honoured the image or stone of Cybele); burning lights before images on the highways; paying special honour to sacred pictures, under the notion of their having moved their eyes; or to others, under the idea of their supernatural origin-made without hands; wearing effigies or symbols as amulets (thus Sulla wore, and used to invoke, a little golden Apollo hung round his neck); suspending flowers to shrines and tombs; besides other uses, in themselves blameless and beautiful, nor, even if objectionable, to be regarded as the genuine reflex of what is dogmatically taught by the Church. This enduring shadow thrown by pagan over Christian Rome is, however, a remarkable feature in the story of that power whose eminence in ruling and influencing was so wonderfully sustained, nor destined to become extinct after empire had departed from the Seven Hills.'Hemans, 'Monuments of Rome.'

« PreviousContinue »