  Palazzo Barberini—Palazzo Albani—S. Carlo a Quattro Fontane—S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo—Quirinal Palace—Palazzo della Consulta—Palazzo Rospigliosi—Colonna Gardens and Temple of the Sun—S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo—Sta. Caterina di Siena—SS. Domenico e Sisto—Sta. Agata dei Goti—Sta. Maria in Monte—S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna—Sta. Pudenziana—S. Paolo Primo Eremita—S. Dionisio—S. Vitale. IT is difficult to determine the exact limits of what in ancient times were regarded as the Quirinal and Viminal hills. They, like the Esquiline and Coelian, are "in fact merely spurs or tongues of hill, projecting inwards from a common base, the broad table-land, which slopes on the other side almost imperceptibly into the Campagna." The Quirinal, like all the other hills, except the Palatine and the Coelian, belonged to the Sabines in the early period of Roman history, and is full of records of their occupation. They had a Capitol here which is believed to have been long anterior to that on the Capitoline, and which was The name Quirinal is derived from the Sabine word Quiris—signifying a lance, which gave the Sabines their name of Quirites, or lance-bearers, and to their god the name Quirinus. Adjoining the temple was a portico: "Vicini pete porticum Quirini: Turbam non habet otiosiorem Pompeius." Martial, xi. Ep. i. ——"Officium cras Primo sole mihi peragendum in valle Quirini." Juvenal, Sat. ii. 132. Hard by was a temple of Fortuna Publica, "Qui dicet, Quondam sacrata est colle Quirini Hac Fortuna die Publica; verus erit." Ovid, Fast. iv. 375. also an altar to Mamurius, an ancient Sabine divinity, probably identical with Mars, and a temple of Salus, or Health, which gave a name to the Porta Salutaria, which must have stood nearly on the site of the present Quattro Fontane, and near which, not inappropriately, was a temple of Fever, in the Via S. Vitale, where fever is still prevalent. The site of the temple of Quirinus is ascertained to have been nearly that now occupied by S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo. On the opposite side of the street, where part of the papal palace now stands, was the temple of Semo-Sanctus, the reputed father of Sabinus. Between these two temples was the House of Pomponius Atticus (the friend and correspondent of Cicero), a situation which gave an opportunity for the witticism of Cicero when he said that Caesar would rather dwell with Quirinus than with Salus, meaning that he would rather be at war than be in good health. In the same neighbourhood lived Martial the epigrammatist, "Mater, ades, florum, ludis celebranda jocosis: Distuleram partes mense priore tuas. Incipis Aprili: transis in tempora Maii. Alter te, fugiens; cum venit, alter habet. Quum tua sint cedantque tibi confinia mensum, Convenit in laudes ille vel ille tuas. Circus in hunc exit, clamataque palma theatris: Hoc quoque cum Circi munere carmen eat." Ovid, Fast. v. 183. Among the great families who lived on the Quirinal were the Cornelii, who had a street of their own, Vicus Corneliorum, probably on the slopes behind the present Colonna Palace; and the Flavii, who were of Sabine origin. As some fragments remain of the two buildings erected on the Quirinal during the later empire, Aurelian's Temple of the Sun, and the Baths of Constantine, they will be noticed in the regular course. On the ascent of the hill, just above the Piazza del Tritone, is the noble Barberini Palace, built by Urban VIII. from designs of Carlo Maderno, continued by Borromini, and finished by Bernini, in 1640. It is screened from the This immense building is a memorial of the magnificence and ambition of Urban VIII. Its size is enormous, the smallest apartment in the palace containing forty rooms. The Prince at present inhabits the right wing; with him lives his elder brother the Duke, who abdicated the family honours in his favour. In the left wing—occupied in the beginning of this century by the ex-king (Charles VII.) and queen of Spain, and the "Prince of Peace"—is the huge apartment of the late Cardinal Barberini, now uninhabited. On this side is the grand staircase, upon which is placed a lion in high relief, found on the family property at Palestrina. It is before this lion that Canova is said to have lain for hours upon the pavement, studying for his tomb of Clement XIII. in St. Peter's. The guarda-roba, badly kept, contains many curious relics of family grandeur; amongst them is a sedan-chair, painted by Titian. The Library (open on Thursdays from nine to two) contains a most valuable collection of MSS., about 7000 in number, brought together by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Urban VIII. They include collections of letters of Galileo, Bembo, and Bellarmine; the official reports to Urban VIII., relating to the state of Catholicism in England in the time of Charles I.; a copy of the Bible in the Samaritan character; a Bible of the fourth century; several MSS. copies of Dante; a missal illuminated by Ghirlandajo; and a book of sketches of ancient Roman edifices, of 1465, by Giuliano de Sangallo,—most interesting In the right wing is a huge Hall (adorned with second-rate statues), with a grand ceiling by Pietro da Cortona (1596—1669), representing "Il Trionfo della Gloria," the Forge of Vulcan, Minerva annihilating the Titans, and other mythological subjects—much admired by Lanzi, and considered by Kugler to be the most important work of the artist. Four vast frescoes of the Fathers of the Church are preserved here, having been removed from the dome of St. Peter's, where they were replaced with mosaics by Urban VIII. Below are other frescoes by Pietro da Cortona, a portrait of Urban VIII., and some tapestries illustrative of the events of his reign and of his own intense self-esteem—thus the Virgin and Angels are represented bringing in the ornaments of the papacy at his coronation, &c. But the conceit of Pope Urban reaches its climax in a room at the top of the house, which exhibits a number of the Barberini bees (the family crest) flocking against the sun, and eclipsing it—to typify the splendour of the family. The Will of Pope Urban VIII. is a very curious document, providing against the extinction of the family in every apparent contingency; this, however, now seems likely to take place; the heir is a Sciarra. The pillars in front of the palace, and all the surrounding buildings, teem with the bees of the Barberini, which may also be seen on the Propaganda and "The Barberini were the last papal nephews who aspired to independent principalities. Urban VIII., though he enriched them enormously, appears to have been but little satisfied with them. He used to complain that he had four relations who were fit for nothing, the first, Cardinal Francesco, was a saint, and worked no miracles: the second, Cardinal Antonio, was a monk, and had no patience: the third, Cardinal Antonio the younger, was an orator (i.e. an ambassador), and did not know how to speak: and the fourth was a general, who could not draw a sword."—Goethe, Romische Briefe. On the right, on entering the palace, is the small Collection of Pictures (open when the custode chooses to be there), indifferently lodged for a building so magnificent. We may notice:— 2nd Room.— 3rd Room.— "The history of this person, to whom Raphael was attached even to his death, is obscure, nor are we very clear with regard to her likenesses. In the tribune at Florence there is a portrait, inscribed with the date 1512, of a very beautiful woman holding the fur trimming of her mantle with her right hand, which is said to represent her. The picture is decidedly by Raphael, but can hardly represent the Fornarina; at least it has no resemblance to this portrait, which has the name of Raphael on the armlet, and of the authenticity of which (particularly with respect to the subject) there can hardly be a doubt. In this the figure is seated, and is uncovered to the waist; she draws a light drapery around her; a shawl is twisted round her head. The execution is beautiful and delicate, although the lines are sufficiently defined; the forms are fine and not without beauty, but at the same time not free from an expression of coarseness and common life. The eyes are large, dark, and full of fire, and seem to speak of brighter days. There are repetitions of this picture, from the school of Raphael, in Roman galleries."—Kugler.
But the interest of this collection centres entirely around two portraits—that (81) of Lucrezia, the unhappy wife of Francesco Cenci, by Scipione Gaetani, and that (85) of Beatrice Cenci, by Guido Reni. "The portrait of Beatrice Cenci is most interesting as a just representation of one of the loveliest specimens of the workmanship of nature. There is a fixed and pale composure upon the features; she seems sad and stricken down in spirit, yet the despair thus expressed is lightened by the patience of gentleness. Her head is bound with folds of white drapery, from which the yellow strings of her golden hair escape, and fall about her neck. The moulding of her face is exquisitely delicate; the eyebrows are distinct and arched; the lips have that permanent meaning of imagination and sensibility which suffering has not repressed, and which it seems as if death scarcely could extinguish. Her forehead is large and clear; her eyes, which we are told were remarkable for their vivacity, are swollen with weeping, and lustreless, but beautifully tender and serene. In the whole mien there is a simplicity and dignity, which, united with her exquisite loveliness and deep sorrow, is inexpressibly pathetic. Beatrice Cenci appears to have been one of those "The picture of Beatrice Cenci represents simply a female head; a very youthful, girlish, perfectly beautiful face, enveloped in white drapery, from beneath which strays a lock or two of what seems a rich, though hidden luxuriance of auburn hair. The eyes are large and brown, and meet those of the spectator, evidently with a strange, ineffectual effort to escape. There is a little redness about the eyes, very slightly indicated, so that you would question whether or no the girl had been weeping. The whole face is very quiet; there is no distortion or disturbance of any single feature; nor is it easy to see why the expression is not cheerful, or why a single touch of the artist's pencil should not brighten it into joyousness. But, in fact, it is the very saddest picture ever painted or conceived; it involves an unfathomable depth of sorrow, the sense of which comes to the observer by a sort of intuition. It is a sorrow that removes this beautiful girl out of the sphere of humanity, and sets her in a far-off region, the remoteness of which, while yet her face is so close before us,—makes us shiver as at a spectre. You feel all the time you look at Beatrice, as if she were trying to escape from your gaze. She knows that her sorrow is so strange and immense, that she ought to be solitary for ever both for the world's sake and her own; and this is the reason we feel such a distance between Beatrice and ourselves, even when our eyes meet hers. It is infinitely heart-breaking to meet her glance, and to know that nothing can be done to help or comfort her, neither does she ask help or comfort, knowing the hopelessness of her case better than we do. She is a fallen angel—fallen and yet sinless: and it is only this depth of sorrow with its weight and darkness, that keeps her down to earth, and brings her within our view even while it sets her beyond our reach."—Hawthorne, Transformation. "The portrait of Beatrice Cenci is a picture almost impossible to be forgotten. Through the transcendent sweetness and beauty of the face, there is a something shining out that haunts me. I see it now, as I see this paper, or my pen. The head is loosely draped in white; the light hair falling down below the linen folds. She has turned suddenly towards you; and there is an expression in the eyes—although they are very tender and gentle—as if the wildness of a momentary terror, or distraction, had been struggled with and overcome, that instant; and "Five days had been passed by Beatrice in the secret prisons of the Torre Savella, when, at an early hour in the morning, her advocate, Farinacci, entered her sad abode. With him appeared a young man of about twenty-five years of age, dressed in the fashion of a writer in the courts of justice of that day. Unheeded by Beatrice, he sat regarding her at a little distance with fixed attention. She had risen from her miserable pallet, but, unlike the wretched inmate of a dungeon, she seemed a being from a brighter sphere. Her eyes were of liquid softness, her forehead large and clear, her countenance of angelic purity, mysteriously beautiful. Around her head a fold of white muslin had been carelessly wrapped, from whence in rich luxuriance fell her fair and waving hair. Profound sorrow imparted an air of touching sensibility to her lovely features. With all the eagerness of hope, she begged Farinacci to tell her frankly if his visit foreboded good, and assured him of her gratitude for the anxiety he evinced, to save her life and that of her family. "Farinacci conversed with her for some time, while at a distance sat his companion, sketching the features of Beatrice. Turning round, she observed this with displeasure and surprise; Farinacci explained that this seeming writer was the celebrated painter, Guido Reni, who, earnestly desiring her picture, had entreated to be introduced into the prison for the purpose of obtaining so rich an acquisition. At first unwilling, but afterwards consenting, she turned and said, 'Signor Guido, your renown might make me desirous of knowing you, but how will you undervalue me in my present situation. From the fatality There is a pretty old-fashioned garden belonging to this palace, at one corner of which—overhanging an old statue—was the celebrated Barberini Pine, often drawn by artists from the Via Sterrata at the back of the garden, where statue and pine combined well with the Church of S. Caio; but, alas, this magnificent tree was cut down in 1872. At the back of the palace-court, behind the arched bridge leading to the garden, is—let into the wall—an inscription which formed part of the dedication of an arch erected to Claudius by the senate and people, in honour of the conquest of Britain. The letters were inlaid with bronze. It was found near the Palazzo Sciarra, where the arch is supposed to have stood. Ascending to the summit of the hill, we find four ugly statues of river-gods, lying over the Quattro Fontane, from which the street takes its name. On the left is the Palazzo Albani, recently restored by Queen Christina of Spain. "In one of its rooms is a very ancient painting of Jupiter and Ganymede, in a very uncommon style, uniting considerable grandeur of conception, great force and decision, and a deep tone and colour which produce great effect. It is said to be Grecian."—Eaton's Rome. The opposite church, S. Carlo a Quattro Fontane, is worth Turning down Via del Quirinale, on the left is S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo (on the supposed site of the temple of Quirinus), erected, as it is told by an inscription inside, by Camillo Pamphili, nephew of Innocent X., from designs of Bernini. It has a Corinthian faÇade and a projecting semicircular portico with Ionic columns. The interior is oval. It is exceedingly rich, being almost entirely lined with red marble streaked with white (Sicilian jasper), divided by white marble pillars supporting a gilt cupola. The high altar—supposed to cover the body of St. Zeno—between really magnificent pillars, is surmounted by a fine picture, by Borgognone, of the crucifixion of St. Andrew. Near this is the tomb, by Festa, of Emmanuel IV., king of Sardinia, who abdicated his throne in 1802, to become a Jesuit monk in the adjoining convent, where he died in 1818. On the right is the chapel of Santa Croce, with three pictures of the passion and death of Christ by Brandini; and that of St. Francis Xavier, with three pictures by Baciccio, representing the saint preaching,—baptizing an Indian queen,—and lying dead in the island of Sancian in China. On the "I have long ago exhausted all my capacity of admiration for splendid interiors of churches; but methinks this little, little temple (it is not more than fifty or sixty feet across) has a more perfect and gem-like beauty than any other. Its shape is oval, with an oval dome, and above that another little dome, both of which are magnificently frescoed. Around the base of the larger dome is wreathed a flight of angels, and the smaller and upper one is encircled by a garland of cherubs—cherub and angel all of pure white marble. The oval centre of the church is walled round with precious and lustrous marble, of a red-veined variety, interspersed with columns and pilasters of white; and there are arches, opening through this rich wall, forming chapels, which the architect seems to have striven hard to make even more gorgeous than the main body of the church. The pavement is one star of various tinted marble."—Hawthorne, Notes on Italy. The adjoining Convent of the Noviciate of the Order of "La petite chambre de S. Stanislas Kostka, est un de ces lieux oÙ la priÈre naÎt spontanÉment dans le coeur, et s'en Échappe comme par un cours naturel."—Veuillot, Parfum de Rome. In the convent garden is shown the fountain where "the angels used to bathe the breast of S. Stanislas burning with the love of Christ." Passing the Benedictine convent, with a courtyard containing an old sarcophagus as a fountain, and a humble church decorated with rude frescoes of St. Benedict and Sta. Scholastica, we reach a small and popular church, rich in marbles, belonging to the Perpetua Adoratrice del Divin Sacramento del Altare, founded by sister Maddalena of the Incarnation, who died 1829, and is buried on the right of the entrance. Here the low monotonous chant of the perpetual adoration may be constantly heard. The Piazza of the Monte Cavallo has in its centre the red granite obelisk (ninety-five feet high with its base) erected here by Antinori in 1781, for Pius VI. It was originally brought from Egypt by Claudius, A.D. 57, together with the obelisk now in front of Sta. Maria Maggiore, and they were "At the time when the Mirabilia RomÆ were published, that is, about the thirteenth century, these statues were believed to represent the young philosophers, Praxiteles and Phidias, who came to Rome during the reign of Tiberius, and promised to tell him his most secret words and actions provided he would honour them with a monument. Having performed their promise, they obtained these statues, which represent them naked, because all human science was naked and open to their eyes. From this fable, wild and absurd as it is, we may nevertheless draw the inference that the statues had been handed down from time immemorial as the works of Phidias and Praxiteles, though those artists had in the lapse of ages been metamorphosed into philosophers. May we not also assume the existence of a tradition that the statues were brought to Rome in the reign of Tiberius? In the middle ages the group appears to have been accompanied by a statue of Medusa, sitting at their feet, and having before her a shell. According to the text of the Mirabilia, as given by Montfaucon in his Diarium Italicum, this figure represented the Church. The snakes which surrounded her typified the volumes of Scripture, which nobody could approach unless he had first been washed—that is, baptized—in the water of the shell. But the Prague MS. of the Mirabilia interprets the female figure to represent Science, and the serpents to typify the disputed questions with which she is concerned."—Dyer's Hist. of the City of Rome. "L'imitation du grand style de Phidias est visible dans plusieurs sculptures qu'il a inspirÉes, et surtout dans les colosses de Castor et Pollux, domptant des chevaux, qui ont fait donner À une partie du mont Quirinal le nom de Monte Cavallo. "Il ne faut faire aucune attention aux inscriptions qui attribuent un des deux colosses À Phidias et l'autre À PraxitÈle, PraxitÈle dont le style n'a rien À faire ici; son nom a ÉtÉ inscrit sur la base de l'une des deux statues, comme PhÈdre le reprochait dÉjÀ À des faussaires du temps d'Auguste, qui croyaient augmenter le mÉrite d'un nouvel ouvrage en y mettant le nom de PraxitÈle. Quelle que soit l'Époque oÙ les colosses de Monte Cavallo ont ÉtÉ exÉcutÉs, malgrÉ quelques diffÉrences, on doit affirmer que les deux originaux Étaient de la mÊme École, de l'École de Phidias."—AmpÈre, Hist. Romaine, iii. 252. "Chacun des deux hÉros dompte d'une seule main un cheval fougueux qui se cabre. Ces formes colossales, cette lutte de l'homme avec les animaux, donnent, comme tous les ouvrages des anciens, une admirable idÉe de la puissance physique de la nature humaine."—Mad. de StaËl. "Ye too, marvellous Twain, that erect on the Monte Cavallo Stand by your rearing steeds in the grace of your motionless movement, Stand with your upstretched arms and tranquil regardant faces, Stand as instinct with life in the might of immutable manhood,— O ye mighty and strange, ye ancient divine ones of Hellas." A. H. Clough. "Before me were the two Monte Cavallo statues, towering gigantically above the pygmies of the present day, and looking like Titans in the act of threatening heaven. Over my head the stars were just beginning to look out, and might have been taken for guardian angels keeping watch over the temples below. Behind, and on my left, were palaces; on my right, gardens, and hills beyond, with the orange tints of sunset over them still glowing in the distance. Within a stone's throw of me, in the midst of objects thus glorious in themselves, and thus in harmony with each other, was stuck an unplaned post, on which glimmered a paper lantern. Such is Rome."—Guesses at Truth. Close by is a fountain playing into a fine bason of Egyptian granite, brought hither by Pius VII. from the Forum, where it had long been used for watering cattle. On the left, is the Palace of the Consulta, built in 1730 by Clement XII. (Corsini), from designs of Fuga. Before its gates, under the old regime, some of the Papal Guardia Nobile were always to be seen sunning themselves in a On the right, is the immense Palace of the Quirinal, which also extends along one whole side of the street we have been pursuing. "That palace-building, ruin-destroying pope, Paul IV., began to erect the enormous palace on the Quirinal Hill; and the prolongation of his labours, by a long series of successive pontiffs, has made it one of the largest and ugliest buildings extant."—Eaton's Rome. The chief, indeed almost the only, interest of this palace arises from its having been the favourite residence of Pius VII. (Chiaramonte). It was here that he was taken prisoner by the French. General Radet forced his way into the pope's room on the night of June 6, 1809, and, while excusing himself for being the messenger, hastily intimated to the pontiff, in the name of the emperor, that he must at once abdicate his temporal sovereignty. Pius absolutely refused, upon which he was forced to descend the staircase, and found a coach waiting at the entrance of the palace. Here the pope paused, his face streaming with tears, and, standing in the starlit piazza, solemnly extended his arms in benediction over his sleeping people. Then he entered the carriage, followed by Cardinal Pacca, and was hurried away to exile.... "Whirled away through the heat and dust of an Italian summer's day, without an attendant, without linen, without his spectacles—fevered and wearied, he never for a moment lost his serenity. Cardinal Pacca tells us, that when they had just started on this most dismal of journeys, the pope asked him if he had any money. The secretary of state replied that he had had no opportunity of providing himself. 'We then drew forth our purses,' continues the cardinal, 'and notwithstanding the state of affliction we were in at being thus torn away from Rome, and all that was dear to us, we could hardly compose our countenances, on finding the contents of each purse to consist—of the pope's, of a papetto (10d.), and of mine, of three grossi (7½d.). We had precisely thirty-five baiocchi between us. The pope, extending his hand, showed his papetto to General Radet, saying, at the same time, 'Look here—this is all I possess.'" It was from this same palace that Pius IX.—who has never inhabited it since—made his escape to Gaeta during the revolution of 1848, when the siege of the Quirinal by the insurgents had succeeded in extorting the appointment of a democratic ministry. "On the afternoon of the 24th of November, the Duc d'Harcourt had arrived at the Quirinal in his coach as ambassador of France, and craved an audience of the sovereign. The guards wondered that he stayed so long; but they knew not that he sat reading the newspapers in the papal study, while the pope had retired to his bed-room to change his dress. Here his major-domo, Filippani, had laid out the black cassock and dress of an ordinary priest. The pontiff took off his purple stole and white pontifical robe, and came forth in the simple garb he had worn in his quiet youth. The Duc d'Harcourt threw himself on his knees exclaiming, 'Go forth, holy Father; divine wisdom inspires this counsel, divine power will lead it to a happy end.' By secret passages and narrow staircases, Pius IX. and his trusty servant passed unseen to a little door, used only occasionally for the Swiss guards, and by which they were to leave the palace. They reached it, and bethought them that the key had been forgotten! Filippani hastened back to the papal apartment to fetch it; and returning unquestioned to the wicket, found the pontiff on his knees, and quite absorbed in prayer. The wards were rusty, and the key turned with difficulty; but the door was opened at last, and the holy fugitive and his servant quickly entered a poor hackney coach that was waiting for them outside. Here, again, they ran risk of being discovered through the thoughtless adherence to old etiquette of the other servant, who stood by the coach, and who, having let down the steps, knelt, as usual, before he shut the door. "The pope wore a dark great coat over his priest's cassock, a low-crowned round hat, and a broad brown woollen neckcloth outside his straight Roman collar. Filippani had on his usual loose cloak; but under this he carried the three-cornered hat of the pope, a bundle of the most private and secret papers, the papal seals, the breviary, the cross-embroidered slippers, a small quantity of linen, and a little box full of gold medals stamped with the likeness of his Holiness. From the inside of the carriage, he directed the coachman to follow many winding and diverging streets, in the hope of misleading the spies, who were known to swarm at every corner. Beside the Church of SS. Pietro e Marcellino, in the deserted quarter beyond the Coliseum, they found the Bavarian minister, Count Spaur, waiting in his own private carriage, "Meanwhile the Duc d'Harcourt grew tired of reading the newspapers in the pope's study; and when he thought that his Holiness must be far beyond the walls of Rome, he left the palace, and taking post-horses, hastened with all speed to overtake the fugitive on the road to Civita Vecchia, whither he believed him to be flying. As he left the study in the Quirinal, a prelate entered with a large bundle of ecclesiastical papers, on which, he said, he had to confer with the pope; then his chamberlain went in to read to him his breviary, and the office of the day. The rooms were lighted up, and the supper taken in as usual; and at length it was stated that his Holiness, feeling somewhat unwell, had retired to rest; and his attendants, and the guard of honour, were dismissed for the night. It is true that a certain prelate, who chanced to see the little door by which the fugitive had escaped into the street left open, began to cry out, 'The pope has escaped! the pope has escaped!' But Prince Gabrielli was beside him; and, clapping his hand upon the mouth of the alarmist, silenced him in time, by whispering, 'Be quiet, Monsignore; be quiet, or we shall be cut to pieces!' "Near La Riccia, the fugitives found Countess Spaur (who had arranged the whole plan of the escape) waiting with a coach and six horses—in which they pursued their journey to Gaeta, reaching the Neapolitan frontier between five and six in the morning. The pope throughout carried with him the sacrament in the pyx which Pius the Seventh carried when he was taken prisoner to France, and which, as if with prescience of what would happen, had been lately sent to him as a memorial by the Bishop of Avignon."—Beste. It is in the Quirinal Palace that the later conclaves have always met for the election of the popes. "In the afternoon of the last day of the novendiali, as they are called, after the death of a pope, the cardinals assemble (at S. Sylvestro a Monte Cavallo), and walk in procession, accompanied by their conclavisti, a secretary, a chaplain, and a servant or two, to the great gate of the royal residence, in which one will remain as master and supreme lord. Of course the hill is crowded by persons, lining the avenue kept open for the procession. Cardinals never before seen by them, or not * * * * * * * * "From the Quirinal Palace stretches out, the length of a whole street, an immense wing, divided in its two upper floors into a great number of small but complete suites of apartments, occupied permanently, or occasionally, by persons attached to the Court. During conclave these are allotted, literally so, to the cardinals, each of whom lives apart with his own attendants. His food is brought daily from his own house, and is overhauled, and delivered to him in the shape of 'broken victuals,' by the watchful guardians of the turns and lattices, through which alone anything, even conversation, can penetrate into the seclusion of that sacred retreat. For a few hours, the first evening, the doors are left open, and the nobility, the diplomatic body, and, in fact, all presentable persons, may roam from cell to cell, paying a brief compliment to its occupant, perhaps speaking the same good wishes to fifty, which they know can only be accomplished in one. After that, all is closed; a wicket is left accessible for any cardinal to enter, who is not yet arrived; but every aperture is jealously guarded by faithful janitors, judges and prelates of various tribunals, who relieve one another. Every letter even is opened and read, that no communications may be held with the outer world. The very street on which the wing of the conclave looks is barricaded and guarded by a picquet at each end; and as, fortunately, opposite there are no private residences, and all the buildings have access from the back, no inconvenience is thereby created.... In the mean time, within, and unseen from without, fervet opus. "Twice a day the cardinals meet in the chapel belonging to the palace, included in the enclosure, and there, on tickets so arranged that the voter's name cannot be seen, write the name of him for whom they give their suffrage. These papers are examined in their presence, and if the number of votes given to any one do not constitute the majority, they are burnt in such a manner that the smoke, issuing through a flue, is "Sais-tu ce que c'est qu'un conclave? Une rÉunion de vieillards, moins occupÉs du ciel que de la terre, et dont quelques-uns se font plus maladifs, plus goutteux, et plus cacochymes qu'ils ne le sont encore, dans l'espÉrance d'inspirer un vif interÊt À leurs partisans. Grand nombre d'Éminences ne renonÇant jamais À la possibilitÉ d'une Élection, le rival le plus prÈs de la tombe excite toujours le moins de rÉpugnance. Un rhumatisme est ici un titre À la confiance; l'hydropisie a ses partisans: car l'ambition et la mort comptent sur les mÊmes chances. Le cercueil sert comme de marchepied au trÔne; et il y a tel pieux candidat qui nÉgocierait avec son concurrent, si la durÉe du nouveau rÈgne pouvait avoir son terme obligatoire comme celui d'un effet de commerce. Eh! ne sais-tu pas toi-mÊme que le pÂtre d'AncÔne brÛla gaiement ses bÉquilles dÈs qu'il eut ceint la tiare; et que LÉon X., Élu À trente-huit ans, avait eu grand soin de ne guÉrir d'un mal mortel que le lendemain de son couronnement?"—Lorenzo Ganganelli (Clement XIV.) À Carlo Bertinazzi, Avril 16, 1769. Under the rule of the Popes the palace was shown from 12 A.M. to 4 P.M. on presentation of a ticket, which could easily be obtained through a banker. It was stripped of all historical memorials and contained very few fine pictures, so was little worth visiting. Since the winter of 1870—71 the palace has been appropriated as the residence of the Sardinian Royal Family. On the landing of the principal staircase, in a bad light, is a very important fresco by Melozzo da Forli, a rare master of the Paduan school. "On the vaulted ceiling of a chapel in the Church of the SS. Apostoli at Rome, Melozzo executed a work (1472) which, in those times, can have admitted of comparison with few. When the chapel was rebuilt in the eighteenth century some fragments were saved. That comprehending the Creator between angels was removed to a staircase in the Quirinal palace, while single figures of angels were placed in the sacristy of St. Peter's. These detached portions suffice to show a beauty and fulness of form, and a combination of earthly and spiritual grandeur, comparable in their way to the noblest productions of Titian, although in mode of execution rather recalling Coreggio. Here, as in the cupola frescoes of Coreggio himself, half a century later, we trace that constant effort at true perspective of the figure, hardly in character, perhaps, with high ecclesiastical art; the drapery, also, is of a somewhat formless description; but the grandeur of the principal figure, the grace and freshness of the little adoring cherubs, and the elevated beauty of the angels are expressed with an easy naÏvetÉ, to which only the best works of Mantegna and Signorelli can compare."—Kugler. Passing through a great hall, one hundred and ninety feet long, we are shown a number of rooms fitted up by Pius VII. and Gregory XVI. for the papal summer residence. They contain few objects of interest. In one chamber is a Last Supper by Baroccio;—in the next a fine tapestry representing the marriage of Louis XIV. The following rooms contain some good Gobelin tapestries. Several apartments have mosaic pavements, brought hither from pagan edifices. The chamber is shown in which Pius VII. died,—the bed has been changed. In the next room—an audience chamber—he was taken prisoner. Here is a curious ancient pietra-dura of the Annunciation,—the ceiling is painted by Overbeck. In one of the following rooms are some pictures, including— S. Giorgio: Pordenone. "One picture especially attracted me at the Quirinal; a St. George, the conqueror of the dragon, and deliverer of the maiden. No one Marriage of S. Catherine: Battoni. "The two standing figures of St. Peter and St. Paul, as large as life, were executed during a short residence in Rome. The first was completed by Raphael after Fra Bartolomeo's departure."—Kugler. The room which is decorated with a fine modern tapestry of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, has a plaster frieze, being the original cast of the Triumph of Alexander the Great, modelled for Napoleon by Thorwaldsen. One of the last rooms shown is a kind of picture gallery. Among the best works here are:— Saul and David: Guercino. Here also is a worthless picture of the Battle of Mentana, presented to Pius IX. by the English Catholic ladies. The Private Chapel of the Pope, opening from this gallery, contains a magnificent picture of the Annunciation by Guido, and frescoes of the life of the Virgin by Albani. The great hall of the Consistory, a bare room with benches, has a fresco of the Virgin and Child by Carlo Maratta, over an altar. The Gardens of the Quirinal can be visited with an order from 8 to 12 A.M. They are in the stiff style of box hedges and clipped avenues, which seems to belong especially If we turn to the left on issuing from the palace, we reach—on the left—the entrance to the courtyard of the vast Palazzo Rospigliosi, built by Flaminio Ponzio, in 1603, for Cardinal Scipio Borghese, on a portion of the site of the Baths of Constantine. It was inhabited by Cardinal Bentivoglio, and sold by him to Cardinal Mazarin, who enlarged it from designs of Carlo Maderno. From his time to 1704 it was inhabited by French ambassadors, and it then passed to the Rospigliosi family. The present Prince Rospigliosi inhabits the second floor, his brother, Prince Pallavicini, the first. The palace itself (well known from its hospitalities) is not shown, but the Casino is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is situated at the end of a very small but pretty garden planted with magnolias, and consists of three chambers. On the roof of the central room is the famous Aurora of Guido. "Guido's Aurora is the very type of haste and impetus; for surely no man ever imagined such hurry and tumult, such sounding and clashing. "This is the noblest work of Guido. It is embodied poetry. The Hours, that hand in hand encircle the car of Phoebus, advance with rapid pace. The paler, milder forms of those gentle sisters who rule over declining day, and the glowing glance of those who bask in the meridian blaze, resplendent in the hues of heaven,—are of no mortal grace and beauty; but they are eclipsed by Aurora herself, who sails on the golden clouds before them, shedding 'showers of shadowing roses' on the rejoicing earth; her celestial presence diffusing gladness, and light, and beauty around. Above the heads of the heavenly coursers, hovers the morning star, in the form of a youthful cherub, bearing his flaming torch. Nothing is more admirable in this beautiful composition than the motion given to the whole. The smooth and rapid step of the circling Hours as they tread on the fleecy clouds; the fiery steeds; the whirling wheels of the car; the torch of Lucifer, blown back by the velocity of his advance; and the form of Aurora, borne through the ambient air, till you almost fear she should float from your sight."—Eaton's Rome. "The work of Guido is more poetic than that of Guercino, and luminous, and soft, and harmonious. Cupid, Aurora, Phoebus, form a climax of beauty, and the Hours seem as light as the clouds on which they dance."—Forsyth. Lanzi points out that Guido always took the Venus de Medici and the Niobe as his favourite models, and that there is scarcely one of his large pictures in which the Niobe or one of her sons is not introduced, yet with such dexterity, that the theft is scarcely perceptible. The frescoes of the frieze are by Tempesta; the landscapes by Paul Brill. In the hall are busts, statues, and a bronze horse found in the ruins of the Baths. There is a small collection of pictures—the only work of real importance being the beautiful Daniele di Volterra of our Saviour bearing his cross, in the room on the left. In the same room are two large pictures, David triumphing A second small garden belonging to this palace is well worth seeing in May from the wealth of camellias, azaleas, and roses, with which it is filled. Opposite the Rospigliosi Palace, by ringing at a gate in the wall, we gain admission to the Colonna Gardens (connected with the palace in the Piazza SS. Apostoli, by a series of bridges across the intervening street). Here, on a lofty terrace which has a fine view towards the Capitol, and overshadowed by grand cypresses, are the colossal remains of the Temple of the Sun (huge fragments of cornice) built by Aurelian (A.D. 270—75). At the other end of the terrace, looking down through two barns into a kind of pit, we can see some remains of the Baths of Constantine—built A.D. 326—and of the great staircase which led up to them from the valley below. The portico of these baths remained erect till the time of Clement XII. (1730—40), and was adorned with four marble statues, of which two—those of the two Constantines—may now be seen on the terrace of the Capitol. Beneath the magnificent cypress-trees on the slope of the hill are several fine sarcophagi. Only the stem is preserved of the grand historical pine-tree, which was planted on the day on which Cola di Rienzi died, and which was one of the great ornaments of the city till 1848, when it was broken in a storm. Just beyond the end of the garden, are the great Convent and Church of S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo—belonging to the Missionaries of St. Vincent de Paul—in which the Cardinals meet before going in procession to the Conclave. It contains a few rather good pictures. The cupola of the second chapel has frescoes by Domenichino, of David dancing before the Ark,—the Queen of Sheba and Solomon,—Judith with the head of Holofernes,—and Esther fainting before Ahasueras. These are considered by Lanzi as some of the finest frescoes of the master. In the left transept is a chapel containing a picture of the Assumption, painted on slate, considered the masterpiece of Scipione Gaetani. The last chapel but one on the left has a ceiling by Cav. d'Arpino, and frescoes on the walls by Polidoro da Caravaggio. The picture over the altar, representing St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena, is by Mariotto Albertinelli. Cardinal Bentivoglio—who wrote the history of the wars in Flanders, and lived in the Rospigliosi Palace—is buried here. We now reach the height of Maganaopoli, from which the isthmus which joined the Quirinal to the Capitoline was cut away by Trajan. Here is a cross-ways. On the right is a descent to the Forum of Trajan, at the side of which is the villa of Cardinal Antonelli, and beyond it, the handsome modern palace of Count Trapani, cousin to the King of Naples. Opposite, is the Church of Sta. Caterina di Siena, possessing some frescoes attributed, on doubtful grounds, to the rare master Timoteo della Vite. Adjoining, is a large convent, enclosed within the precincts of which is the tall brick mediÆval tower, sometimes called the Tower of Nero, "People pass through two regular courses of study at Rome,—the first in learning, and the second in unlearning. "'This is the tower of Nero, from which he saw the city in flames,—and this is the temple of Concord,—and this is the temple of Castor and Pollux,—and this is the temple of Vesta,—and these are the baths of Paulus-Æmilius,'—and so on, says your lacquey. "'This is not the tower of Nero,—nor that the temple of Castor and Pollux,—nor the other the temple of Concord,—nor are any of these things what they are called,' says your antiquary."—Eaton's Rome. The Convent of Sta. Caterina was built by the celebrated Vittoria Colonna, who requested the advice of Michael Angelo on the subject, and was told that she had better make the ancient "Torre" into a belfry. A very curious account of the interview in which this subject was discussed, and which took place in the Church of S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo, is left us in the memoirs of Francesco d'Olanda, a Portuguese painter, who was himself present at the conversation. Near this point are two other fine mediÆval towers. One is to the right of the descent to the Forum of Trajan, being that of the Colonnas, now called Tor di Babele, ornamented with three beautiful fragments of sculptured frieze, one of them bearing the device of the Colonna, a crowned column rising from a wreath. The other tower, immediately facing us, is called Torre del Grillo, from the ancient family of that name. Opposite Sta. Caterina is the handsome Church of SS. Domenico e Sisto, approached by a good double twisted staircase. Over the second altar on the left is a picture of the marriage of St. Catherine by Allegrani, and, on the anniversary of her (visionary) marriage (July 19), the dried hand of the saint is exhibited here to the unspeakable comfort of the faithful. Turning by this church into the Via Maganaopoli (formerly Baganaopoli, a corruption of Balnea Pauli—Baths of Emilius Paulus), we pass on the left the Palazzo Aldobrandini, with a bright pleasant-looking court and handsome fountain. The present Prince Aldobrandini is brother of Prince Borghese. Of this family was S. Pietro Aldobrandini, generally known as S. Pietro Igneo, who was canonized because, in 1067, he walked unhurt, crucifix in hand, through a burning fiery furnace ten feet long before the church door of Settimo, near Florence, to prove an accusation of simony which he had brought against Pietro di Pavia, bishop of that city. In the Via di Mazzarini, in the hollow between the Quirinal and Viminal, is the Convent of Sta. Agata in Suburra, through the courtyard of which we enter the Church of Sta. Agata dei Goti. A tradition declares that this (like S. Sabba on the Aventine) is on the site of a house of Sta. Silvia, mother of St. Gregory the Great, who consecrated the church after it had been plundered by the Goths, and dedicated it to Sta. Agata. It was rebuilt by Ricimer, the king-maker, in A.D. 472. Twelve ancient granite columns and a handsome opus-alexandrinum pavement are its only signs of antiquity. The church now belongs to the Irish Seminary. In the left aisle is the "This monument contains the heart of O'Connell, who dying at Genoa on his way to the Eternal City, bequeathed his soul to God, his body to Ireland, and his heart to Rome. He is represented at the bar of the British House of Commons in MDCCCXXIII., when he refused to take the anti-catholic declaration, in these remarkable words—'I at once reject this declaration; part of it I believe to be untrue, and the rest I know to be false.' He was born vi. Aug. MDCCLXXVI., and died xv. May, MDCCCXLVIII. Erected by Charles Bianconi, the faithful friend of the immortal liberator, and of Ireland the land of his adoption." At the end of the left aisle is a chapel, which Cardinal Antonelli (who has his palace near this) decorated, 1863, with frescoes and arabesques as a burial-place for his family. In the opposite chapel is a gilt figure of Sta. Agata carrying her breasts—showing the manner in which she suffered. "Agatha was a maiden of Catania, in Sicily, whither Decius the emperor sent Quintianus as governor. He, inflamed by the beauty of Agatha, tempted her with rich gifts and promises, but she repulsed him with disdain. Then Quintianus ordered her to be bound and beaten with rods, and sent two of his slaves to tear her bosom with iron shears, and as her blood flowed forth, she said to him, 'O thou cruel tyrant! art thou not ashamed to treat me thus—hast thou not thyself been fed at thy mother's breasts?' Thus only did she murmur. And in the night a venerable man came to her, bearing a vase of ointment, and before him walked a youth bearing a torch. It was the holy apostle Peter, and the youth was an angel; but Agatha knew it not; though such a glorious light filled the prison, that the guards fled in terror.... Then St. Peter made himself known and ministered to her, restoring with heavenly balm her wounded breasts. "Quintianus, infuriated, demanded who had healed her. She replied, 'He whom I confess and adore with heart and lips, he hath sent his apostle who hath healed me.' Then Quintianus caused her to be thrown bound upon a great fire, but instantly an earthquake arose, and the people in terror cried, 'This visitation is sent because of the sufferings Agatha (patroness of Catania) is one of the saints most reverenced by the Roman people. On the 5th of February her vespers are sung here, which contain the antiphons:— "Who art thou that art come to heal my wounds?—I am an apostle of Christ, doubt not concerning me, my daughter. "Medicine for the body have I never used; but I have the Lord Jesus Christ, who with his word alone restoreth all things. "I render thanks to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for that thou hast been mindful of me, and hast sent thine apostle to heal my wounds. "I bless thee, O Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, because through thine apostle thou hast restored my breasts to me. "Him who hath vouchsafed to heal me of every wound, and to restore to me my breasts, him do I invoke, even the living God. * * * * * * * "Blessed Agatha, standing in her prison, stretched forth her hands and prayed unto the Lord, saying, 'O Lord Jesus Christ, my good master, I thank thee because thou hast given me strength to overcome the tortures of the executioners; and now, Lord, speak the word, that I may depart hence to thy glory which fadeth not away." The tomb of John Lascaris (a refugee from Constantinople when taken by the Turks) has—in Greek—the inscription:— "Lascaris lies here in a foreign grave; but, stranger, that does not disturb him, rather does he rejoice; yet he is not without sorrow, as a Grecian, that his fatherland will not bestow upon him the freedom of a grave." Passing the great Convent of S. Bernardino Senensis, we reach the Via dei Serpenti, interesting as occupying "Sed Proculus Long veniebat Julius AlbÂ; Lunaque fulgebat; nec facis usus erat: Cum subito motu nubes crepuere sinistrÆ: Retulit ille gradus, horrueruntque comÆ. Pulcher, et humano major, trabeÂque decorus, Romulus in medi visus adesse viÂ." Ovid, Fast. ii. 498. Turning to the right down the Via dei Serpenti, we reach the Piazza Sta. Maria in Monti, containing a fountain, and a church dedicated to SS. Sergius and Bacchus, two martyrs who suffered under Maximian at Rasapha in Syria. One side of this piazza is occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria in Monti, in which is deposited a figure of the beggar Labre (canonized by Pius IX. in 1860), dressed in the gown of a mendicant-pilgrim, which he wore when living. Over the altar is a picture of him in the Coliseum, distributing to his fellow-beggars the alms which he had obtained. His fÊte is observed here on April 16. (At No. 3 Via dei Serpenti, one may visit the chamber in which Labre died—and in the Via dei Crociferi, near the fountain of Trevi, a chapel containing many of his relics,—the bed on which he died, the crucifix which he wore in his bosom, &c.) "BenoÎt Joseph Labre naquit en 1748 dans le diocÈse de Boulogne (France) de parents chrÉtiens et jouissant d'une modeste aisance. D'une piÉtÉ vive et tendre, il voulut d'abord se faire religieux; mais sa santÉ ne put rÉsister, ni aux rÈgles des Chartreux, ni À celles des Trappistes, chez lesquels il entra successivement. Il fut alors sollicitÉ intÉrieurement, est il dit dans la notice sur sa vie, de mener une vie de pÉnitence et de charitÉ au milieu du siÈcle. Pendant sept annÉes, il parcourut en "En 1777, il revint en Italie, pour ne plus en sortir. Il habitait Rome, faisant seulement une fois chaque annÉe, le pÈlerinage de LorÈte. Il passait une grande partie de ses journÉes dans les Églises, mendiait, et faisait des oeuvres de charitÉ. Il couchait quelquefois sous le portique des Églises, et le plus souvent au ColysÉe derriÈre la petite chapelle de la cinquiÈme station du chemin de la croix. L'Église qu'il frÉquentait le plus, Était celle de Ste. Marie des Monts; le 16 Avril, 1783, aprÈs y avoir priÉ fort longtemps, en sortant, il tomba, comme Évanoui, sur les marches du pÉristyle de l'Église. On le transporta dans une maison voisine, oÙ il mourut le soir."—Une AnnÉe À Rome. Almost opposite this church, a narrow alley, which appears to be a cul-de-sac ending in a picture of the Crucifixion, is in reality the approach to the carefully concealed Convent of the Farnesiani Nuns, generally known as the Sepolte Vive. The only means of communicating with them is by rapping on a barrel which projects from a wall on a platform above the roofs of the houses,—when a muffled voice is heard from the interior,—and if your references are satisfactory, the barrel turns round and eventually discloses a key by which the initiated can admit themselves to a small chamber in the interior of the convent. Over its door is an inscription, bidding those who enter that chamber to leave all worldly thoughts behind them. Round the walls are inscribed,—"Qui non diligit, manet in morti."—"Militia est vita hominis super terram."—"Alter alterius onera portate"; and, on the other side, opposite the door, "Vi esorto a rimirar La vita del mondo Nella guisa che la mira Un moribondo." In one of the walls is an opening with a double grille, beyond which is a metal plate, pierced with holes like the rose of a watering-pot. It is beyond this grille and behind this plate, that the abbess of the Sepolte Vive receives her visitors, but she is even then veiled from head to foot in heavy folds of thick bure. Gregory XVI., who of course could penetrate within the convent and who wished to try her, said, "Sorella mia, levate il velo." "No, mio padre," she replied, "E vietato dalla nostra regola." The nuns of the Sepolte Vive are never seen again after they once assume the black veil, though they are allowed double the ordinary noviciate. They never hear anything of the outer world, even of the deaths of their nearest relations. Daily, they are said to dig their own graves and lie down in them, and their remaining hours are occupied in perpetual and monotonous adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Returning as far as the Via Pane e Perna (a continuation of the Via Maganaopoli) we ascend the slope of the Viminal Hill, now with difficulty to be distinguished from the Quirinal. It derives its name from vimina, osiers, and was once probably covered with woods, since a temple of Sylvanus or Pan was one of several which adorned its principal street—the Vicus Longus—the site of which is now marked by the countrified lane called Via S. Vitale. This end of the hill is crowned by the Church of S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna, built on the site of the martyrdom of the deacon St. Laurence, who suffered under Claudius II., in A.D. 264, for refusing to give up the goods of the Church. Over the altar is a huge fresco, representing the saint extended upon a red-hot gridiron, and below—entered from the exterior of "Blessed Laurentius, as he lay stretched and burning on the gridiron, said to the impious tyrant, 'The meat is done, make haste hither and eat. As for the treasures of the Church which you seek, the hands of the poor have carried them to a heavenly treasury.'"—Antiphon of St. Laurence. The funeral of St. Bridget of Sweden took place in this church, July 1373, but after resting here for a year, her body was removed by her son to the monastery of Wastein in Sweden. Under the second altar on the right are shown the relics of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, "two holy brothers, who departed from Rome with St. Denis to preach the Gospel in France, where, after the example of St. Paul, they laboured with their hands, being by trade shoemakers. And these good saints made shoes for the poor without fee or reward (for which the angels supplied them with leather), until, denounced as Christians, they suffered martyrdom at Soissons, being, after many tortures, beheaded by the sword (A.D. 300)." "And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered." Shakespeare, Henry V. Throughout the middle ages the statues of Posidippus and Menander, now in the gallery of statues at the Vatican, The strange name of the church, Pane e Perna, is supposed to have had its origin in a dole of bread and ham once given at the door of the adjacent convent. In the garden belonging to the convent is a mediÆval house of c. 1200. The campanile is of 1450. The small neighbouring Church of S. Lorenzo in Fonte covers the site of the prison of St. Lawrence, and a fountain is shown there as that in which he baptized Vicus Patricius and his daughter Lucilla, whom he miraculously raised from the dead. Descending the hill below the church—in the valley between the Esquiline and Viminal—we reach at the corner of the street a spot of preËminent historical interest, as that where Servius Tullius was killed, and where Tullia (B.C. 535) drove in her chariot over the dead body of her father. The Vicus Urbius by which the old king had reached the spot is now represented by the Via Urbana; the Vicus Cyprius, by which he was about to ascend to the palace on the hill Cispius, by the Via di Sta. Maria Maggiore. "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 "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 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 In the tribune are magnificent mosaics, ascribed by some to the eighth, by others to the fourth century, and considered by De Rossi, "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 "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 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 WALKS IN ROMEBY AUGUSTUS J. C. HARE JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. |
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