  S. Antonio dei Portoguesi—Torre della Scimia—S. Agostino—S. Apollinare—Palazzo Altemps—Sta. Maria dell' Anima—Sta. Maria della Pace—Palazzo del Governo Vecchio—Monte Giordano and Palazzo Gabrielli—Sta. Maria Nuova—Sta. Maria di Monserrato—S. Girolamo della CaritÀ—Sta. Brigitta—S. Tommaso degl' Inglese—Palazzo Farnese—Sta. Maria della Morte—Palazzo Falconieri—Campo di Fiore—Palazzo Cancelleria—SS. Lorenzo e Damaso—Palazzo Linote—Palazzo Spada—TrinitÀ dei Pellegrini—Sta. Maria in Monticelli—Palazzo Santa Croce—S. Carlo a Catinari—Theatre of Pompey—S. Andrea della Valle—Palazzo Vidoni—Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne—S. Pantaleone—Palazzo Braschi—Statue of Pasquin—Sant' Agnese—Piazza Navona—Palazzo Pamfili—S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli—Palazzo Madama—S. Luigi dei Francesi—The Sapienza—S. Eustachio—Pantheon—Sta. Maria sopra Minerva—Il PiÈ die Marmo. THE Campus Martius, now an intricate labyrinth of streets, occupying the wide space between the Corso and the Tiber, was not included within the walls of ancient Rome, but even to late imperial times continued to be covered with gardens and pleasure-grounds, interspersed with open spaces, which were used for the public exercises and amusements of the Roman youth. "Tunc ego me memini ludos in gramine Campi Aspicere, et didici, lubrice Tibri, tuos." Ovid, Fast. vi. 237. "Tot jam abiere dies, cum me, nec cura theatri, Nec tetigit Campi, nec mea musa juvat." Propert. ii. El. 13. The vicinity of the Tiber afforded opportunities for practice in swimming. "Quamvis non alius flectere equum sciens Æque conspicitur gramine Martio." Hor. iii. Od. 7. "Altera gramineo spectabis Equiria campo, Quem Tiberis curvis in latus urget aquis." Ovid, Fast. iii. 519. "Once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, CÆsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood, And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, And bade him follow,—so, indeed, he did: The torrent roared; and we did buffet it With lusty sinews; throwing it aside, And stemming it with hearts of controversy." Shakspeare, Julius CÆsar. It was only near the foot of the Capitol that any buildings were erected under the republic, and these only public offices; under the empire a few magnificent edifices were scattered here and there over the plain. In the time of Cicero, the Campus was quite uninhabited; it is supposed that the population were first attracted here when the aqueducts were cut during the Lombard invasion, which drove the inhabitants from the hills, and obliged them to seek a site where they could avail themselves of the Tiber. The hills, which were crowded by a dense population in ancient Rome, are now for the most part deserted; the The plain was bounded on two sides by the Quirinal and Capitoline hills, which were both in the hands of the Sabines, but it had no connection with the Latin hill of the Palatine. Thus it was dedicated to the Sabine god, Mamers or Mars, either before the time of Servius Tullius, as is implied by Dionysius, or after the time of the Tarquins, as stated by Livy. Tarquinius Superbus had appropriated the Campus Martius to his own use, and planted it with corn. After he was expelled, and his crops cut down and thrown into the Tiber, the land was restored to the people. Here the tribunes used to hold the assemblies of the plebs in the Prata Flaminia at the foot of the Capitol, before any buildings were erected as their meeting-place. The earliest building in the Campus Martius of which there is any record, is the Temple of Apollo, built by the consul C. Julius, in B.C. 430. Under the censor C. Flaminius, in B.C. 220, a group of important edifices arose on a site which is ascertained to be nearly that occupied by the Palazzo Caetani, Palazzo Mattei, and Sta. Caterina dei Funari. The most important was the Circus Flaminius, where the plebeian games were celebrated under the care of the plebeian Ædiles, and which in later times was flooded by Augustus, when thirty-six crocodiles were killed there for the amusement of the people. Close to this Circus was the Villa Publica, erected B.C. 438, for taking the census, levying troops, and such other public business as could not be transacted within the city. Here, also, foreign ambassadors were received before their entrance into the city, as afterwards at the Villa Papa Giulio, and here victorious generals awaited the decree which allowed them a triumph. "Tunc flos HesperiÆ, Latii jam sola juventus, Concidit, et miserÆ maculavit ovilia RomÆ." Lucan, ii. 196. The cries of these dying men were heard by the senate who were assembled at the time in the Temple of Bellona (restored by Appius Claudius CÆcus in the Samnite War), which stood hard by, and in front of which at the extremity of the Circus Flaminius, where the Piazza Paganica now is, stood the Columna Bellica, where the Ferialis, when war was declared, flung a lance into a piece of ground, supposed to represent the enemy's country, when it was not possible to do it at the hostile frontier itself. Julius CÆsar flung the spear here when war was declared against Cleopatra. "Prospicit a templo summum brevis area Circum. Est ibi non parvÆ parva columna notÆ. Hinc solet hasta manu, belli prÆnuncia, mitti; In regem et gentes, cum placet arma capi." Ovid, Fast. vi. 205. Almost adjoining the Villa Publica was the Septa, where the Comitia Centuriata of the plebs assembled for the election of their tribunes. The other name of this place of assembly, Ovilia, or the sheepfolds, bears witness to its primitive construction, when it was surrounded by a wooden barrier. In later times the Ovilia was more In B.C. 189 the Temple of Hercules Musagetes was built by the censor Fulvius Nobilior. It occupied a site on the north-west of the portico of Octavia. "Altera pars Circi custode sub Hercule tuta est; Quod Deus Euboico carmine munus habet. Muneris est tempus, qui Nonas Lucifer ante est: Si titulos quÆris; Sulla probavit opus." Ovid, Fast. vi. 209. This temple was rebuilt by L. Marcius Philippus, stepfather of Augustus, and surrounded by a portico called after him Porticus Philippi. The Portico of Octavia itself was originally built by the prÆtor, Cn. Octavius, in B.C. 167, and rebuilt by Augustus, who re-dedicated it in memory of his sister. Close adjoining was the Porticus Metelli, built B.C. 146, by CÆcilius Metellus. The munificence of Pompey extended the public buildings much further into the Campus. He built, after his triumph, a Temple of Minerva on the site now occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, on which the beautiful statue called "the Giustiniani Minerva" was found, and the Theatre of Pompey, surrounded by pillared porticoes and walks shaded with plane-trees. Under the empire important buildings began to rise up further from the city. The Amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus, whose ruins are supposed to be the foundation of the "Qua vicina pluit Vipsanis porta columnis, Et madet assiduo lubricus imbre lapis, In jugulum pueri, qui roscida templa subibat, Decidit hiberno prÆgravis unda gelu." Martial, iv. Ep. 18. Near this aqueduct was a temple of Juturna; "Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, Æde recepit; Hic ubi Virginea campus obitur aqua." Ovid, Fast. i. 463. and another of Isis. "A MeroË portabit aquas, ut spargat in Æde Isidis, antiquo quÆ proxima surgit ovili." Juvenal, Sat. vi. 528. These were followed by the erection of the Temple of Neptune—by some ascribed to Agrippa, who is said to have built it in honour of his naval victories, by others to the time of the Antonines; by the great Imperial Mausoleum, then far out in the country; and by the Baths of Nero, on the site now occupied by S. Luigi and the neighbouring buildings. " ... Quid Nerone pejus? Quid thermis melius Neronianis?" Martial, vii. Ep. 33. " ... Fas sit componere magnis Parva, Neronea nec qui modo totus in unda Hic iterum sudare negat." Statius, Silv. i. 5. Besides these were an Arch of Tiberius, erected by Claudius; a Temple of Hadrian and Basilica of Matidia, built by Antoninus Pius, in honour of his predecessors; the Temple and Arch of Marcus Aurelius, near the site of the present Palazzo Chigi; and an Arch of Gratian, Valentinian II., and Theodosius. Of all these various buildings nothing remains except the Pantheon, a single arch of the Baths of Agrippa, some disfigured fragments of the Mausoleum, a range of columns belonging to the temple of Neptune, and a portion of the Portico of Octavia. The interest of the Campus Martius is almost entirely mediÆval or modern, and the objects worth visiting are scattered amid such a maze of dirty and intricate streets, that they are seldom sought out except by those who make a long stay in Rome, and care for everything connected with its history and architecture. Following the line of streets which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to St. Peter's (Via Condotti, Via Fontanella Borghese), beyond the Borghese Palace, let us turn to the left by the Via della Scrofa, Passing, on the right, St. Ivo of Brittany, the national church of the Bretons, the second turn on the right, Via S. In this tower once lived a man who had a favourite ape. One day this creature seized upon a baby, and rushing to the summit, was seen from below, by the agonized parents, perched upon the battlements, and balancing their child to and fro over the abyss. They made a vow in their terror that if the baby were restored in safety, they would make provision that a lamp should burn nightly for ever before an image of the Virgin on the summit. The monkey, without relaxing its hold of the infant, slid down the wall, and bounding and grimacing, laid the child at its mother's feet. Thus a lamp always burns upon the battlements before an image of the Madonna. This building is better known, however, as "Hilda's Tower," a fictitious name which it has received from Hawthorne's mysterious novel. "Taking her way through some of the intricacies of the city, Miriam entered what might be called either a widening of a street or a small piazza. The neighbourhood comprised a baker's oven, emitting the usual fragrance of sour bread; a shoe shop; a linendraper's shop; a pipe and cigar shop; a lottery office; a station for French soldiers, with a sentinel pacing in front; and a fruit stand, at which a Roman matron was selling the dried kernels of chesnuts, wretched little figs, and some bouquets of yesterday. A church, of course, was near at hand, the faÇade of which ascended into lofty pinnacles, whereon were perched two or three winged figures of stone, either angelic or allegorical, blowing stone trumpets in close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace. This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the architecture of Roman edifices; that is to say, a mediÆval tower, square, massive, lofty, and battlemented and machicolated at the summit. "At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the Virgin, "As Miriam approached, she looked upward, and saw—not, indeed, the flame of the never-dying lamp, which was swallowed up in the broad sunlight that brightened the shrine—but a flock of white doves, shining, fluttering, and wheeling above the topmost height of the tower, their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the air. Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window, pushing one another off by their eager struggle for this favourite station, and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously against the panes; some had alighted in the street, far below, but flew hastily upward, at the sound of the window being thrust ajar, and opening in the middle, on rusty hinges, as Roman windows do."—Transformation. The next street, on the right, leads to the Church of S. Agostino, built originally by Bacio Pintelli, in 1483, for Cardinal d'Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen and Legate in France (the vindicator of Joan of Arc), but altered in 1740 by Vanvitelli. The delicate work of the front, built of travertine robbed from the Coliseum, is much admired by those who do not seek for strength of light and shadow. This church—dedicated to her son—contains the remains of Sta. Monica, brought hither from Ostia, where she died. The chapel of St. Augustin, in the right transept, contains a gloomy picture by Guercino of St. Augustin between St. John Baptist and St. Paul the Hermit. The high altar, by Bernini, has an image of the Madonna brought from Sta. Sophia at Constantinople, and attributed to St. Luke. The second chapel in the left aisle has a group of the On the third pilaster, to the left of the nave, is a fresco of Isaiah by Raphael, painted in 1512, but retouched by Daniele de Volterra in the reign of Paul IV. The prophet holds a scroll with words from Isaiah xxvi. 2. Few will agree with the stricture of Kugler:— "In a fresco, representing the prophet Isaiah and two angels, who hold a tablet, the comparison is unfavourable to Raphael. An effort to rival the powerful style of Michael-Angelo is very visible in this picture; an effort which, notwithstanding the excellence of the execution in parts, has produced only an exaggerated and affected figure."—Kugler, ii. 371. The church overflows with silver hearts and other votive offerings, which are all addressed to the Madonna and Child of Andrea Sansovino, close to the west entrance, which is really a fine piece of sculpture—for an object of Roman Catholic idolatry. "On the pedestal of the image is inscribed—'N. S. Pio VII. concede in perpetuo 100 giorni d'indulgenza da lucrarsi una volta al giorno da tutte quelle che divotamente toccheranno il piede di questa S. Immagine recitando un Ave Maria per il bisogno di S. Chiesa. 7 Giug. MD.CCCXXII." Around this statue are, or were a short time ago, a whole array of assassins' daggers hung up, strange instances of trespass-offering. "The Church of S. Agostino is the Methodist meeting-house, so to speak, of Rome, where the extravagance of the enthusiasm of the lower orders is allowed the freest scope. Its Virgin and Child are covered, smothered, with jewels, votive offerings of those whose prayers the image had heard and answered. All round the image the walls are covered with votive offerings likewise; some of a similar kind—jewels, watches, valuables of different descriptions. Some offerings again consist of "It is not long since the report was spread, that one day when a poor woman called upon this image of the Madonna for help, it began to speak, and replied, 'If I had only something, then I could help thee, but I myself am so poor!' "This story was circulated, and very soon throngs of credulous people hastened hither to kiss the foot of the Madonna, and to present her with all kinds of gifts. The image of the Virgin, a beautiful figure in brown marble, now sits shining with ornaments of gold and precious stones. Candles and lamps burn around, and people pour in, rich and poor, great and small, to kiss, some of them two or three times—the Madonna's foot, a gilt foot, to which the forehead also is devotionally pressed. The marble foot is already worn away with kissing, the Madonna is now rich.... Below the altar it is inscribed in golden letters that Pius VII. promised two hundred days' absolution to all such as should kiss the Madonna's foot, and pray with the whole heart Ave Maria."—Frederika Bremer. Passing the arch, just beyond this, is the Church of S. Apollinare, built originally by Adrian I. (772—795), but modernized under Benedict XIV. by Fuga. It contains a number of relics of saints brought from the East by Basilian monks. Over the altar, on the left, in the inner vestibule, is a Madonna by Perugino. The church now belongs to the German college. S. Apollinare is said to have accompanied St. Peter from Antioch to Rome, and to have remained here as his companion and assistant (whence the church dedicated to him here). He was afterwards sent to preach the faith in Ravenna, where he became the first Christian bishop, and suffered martyrdom outside the Rimini gate, July 23, A.D. 79. Adjoining this church is the Seminario Romano, founded by Pius IV., on a system drawn up by his nephew, S. Carlo Nearly opposite the church is the Palazzo Altemps, built 1580, by Martino Lunghi. Its courtyard, due, like all the best palace work in Rome, to Baldassare Peruzzi, is exceedingly graceful and picturesque. Ancient statues and flowering shrubs occupy the spaces between the arches of the ground-floor, and on the first-floor is a loggia, richly decorated with delicate arabesques in the style of Giovanni da Udine. Near this loggia is a chapel of exceedingly beautiful proportions, and delicately worked detail. It has several good frescoes, especially the Flight into Egypt, and Sta. Cecilia singing to the Virgin and the Child. At the west end is a small gracefully proportioned music-gallery, in various coloured marbles; in an inner chapel is a fine bronze crucifix. The palace, of which the most interesting parts are shown on request, is now the property of the Duke of Gallese, to whom it came by the marriage of Jules Hardouin, Duke of Gallese, with Donna Lucrezia d'Altemps. Following the Via S. Agostino by the mediÆval Torre Sanguinea, whose name bears witness to the mediÆval frays of popes and anti-popes, we reach the German national church of Sta. Maria dell' Anima, which derives its name from a marble group of the Madonna invoked by two souls in purgatory, found among the foundations, and now inserted in the tympanum of the portal. It was originally The front entrance is generally closed, but one can always gain admittance from behind, through the courtyard of the German hospital. The interior is peculiar, from its great height and width in comparison with its length. It is divided into three almost equal aisles. Over the high altar is a damaged picture of the Holy Family with saints, by Giulio Romano. On the right is the fine tomb of Pope Adrian VI., Adrian Florent (1522—23), designed by Baldassare Peruzzi, and carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Niccolo Tribolo. This pope, the son of a ship-builder at Utrecht, was professor at the university of Louvain, and tutor of Charles V. After the witty, brilliant age of Julius II. and Leo X., he ushered in a period of penitence and devotion. He drove from the papal court the throng of artists and philosophers who had hitherto surrounded it, and he put a stop to the various great buildings which were in progress, saying, "I do not wish to adorn priests with churches, but churches with priests." Still he found the times so much too frivolous for him, that he only survived a year. In his epitaph we read:— "Hadrianus hic situs est, qui nihil sibi infelicius in vita quam quod imperaret, duxit." and— "Proh dolor! quantum refert in quÆ tempora vel optimi. .... Cujusque virtus incidat!" The tomb was erected at the expense of Cardinal William of Enkenfort, the only prelate to whom he had time to give a hat. "It is an irony, that Adrian, who despised all the arts on principle, and looked upon Greek statues as idolatrous, had a more artistic monument than Leo X. of the house of Medici. Baldassare Peruzzi made the design, its sculptures were carried out by Michelangelo Sanese and Tribolo, and they merit the highest acknowledgment. Here, as is so often the case, the architecture is, as it were, a frontispiece; but the way in which the pope is represented, resembles, in conformity with his character, the type of the middle ages. He is stretched upon a simple marble sarcophagus, and slumbers with his head supported by his hand. His countenance (Adrian was very handsome) is deeply marked and sorrowful. In the lunette above, following the ancient type, appears Mary with the Child between St. Peter and St. Paul. Below, in the niches, stand the figures of the four cardinal virtues: Temperance holds a chain; Courage a branch of a tree, while a lion stands by her side; Justice has an ostrich by her side; Wisdom carries a mirror and a serpent. These figures are executed with great care. Lastly, under the sarcophagus is a large bas-relief representing the entry of the pope to Rome. He sits on horseback in the dress of a cardinal; behind him follow cardinals and monks; the senator of Rome renders homage on his knees, while from the gate the eternal Rome comes forth to meet him. This Cypria, so well adorned by his predecessors, seems ill-pleased to do homage to this cross old man. With secret pleasure one sees a pagan idea carried out in the corner: the Tiber is represented as a river god with his horn of abundance; and thus the devout pope could not defend himself against the heathen spirit of the time, which has at least attached itself to his tomb."—Gregorovius, GrabmÄler der PÄpste. Opposite the pope, on the left of the choir, is the fine tomb of a Duke of Cleves, who died 1575, by Egidius of Riviere and Nicolaus of Arras. The body of the church has several good pictures. In the 1st chapel of the right aisle is St. Bruno receiving the keys of the cathedral of Miessen in Saxony from a fisherman, who had found them in the inside of a fish, by Carlo Saraceni The two pictures in this church are cited by Lanzi as the best works of this comparatively rare artist, sometimes called Carlo Veneziano, 1585—1625. He sought to follow in the steps of Caravaggio; many will think that he surpassed him, when they look upon the richness of colour and grand effect of light and shadow which is displayed here. In the 3rd chapel (del Christo Morto), frescoes from the life of Sta. Barbara, Mich. Coxcie, altar-piece (the entombment) and frescoes by Salviati. On the left of the west door is the tomb of Cardinal Andrea of Austria, nephew of Ferdinand II., who died 1650; on the right that of Cardinal Enckenovirt, died 1500. In the passage towards the sacristy is a fine bas-relief, representing Gregory XIII. giving a sword to the Duke of Cleves. Close to this church is that of Sta. Maria della Pace, built in 1487, by Baccio Pintelli, to fulfil a curious ex-voto made by Sixtus IV. Formerly there stood here a little chapel dedicated to St. Andrew, in whose portico was an image of the Virgin. One day a drunken soldier pierced the bosom of this Madonna with his sword, when blood miraculously spirted forth. Sixtus IV. (Francesco della Rovere, 1471—84) visited the spot with his cardinals, and vowed to compensate the Virgin by building her a church, if she would grant peace to Europe and the Church, then afflicted by a cruel war with the Turks. Peace was restored, and the Church of "St. Mary of Peace" was erected by the grateful pope. Pietro da Cortona added the peculiar semicircular Above the 1st chapel on the right (that of the Chigi family) are the Four Sibyls of Raphael. "This is one of Raphael's most perfect works: great mastery is shown in the mode of filling and taking advantage of the apparently unfavourable space. The angels who hold the tablets to be written on, or read by the Sibyls, create a spirited variety in the severe symmetrical arrangement of the whole. Grace in the attitudes and movements, with a peculiar harmony of form and colour, pervade the whole picture; but important restorations have unfortunately become necessary in several parts. An interesting comparison may be instituted between this work and the Sibyls of Michael Angelo. In each we find the peculiar excellence of the great masters; for while Michael Angelo's figures are grand, sublime, profound, the fresco of the Pace bears the impress of Raphael's severe and ingenious grace. The four Prophets, on the wall over the Sibyls, were executed by Timoteo della Vite, after drawings by Raphael."—Kugler. "The Sibyls have suffered much from time, and more, it is said, from restoration; yet the forms of Raphael, in all their loveliness, all their sweetness, are still before us; they breathe all the soul, the sentiment, the chaste expression, and purity of design that characterize his works. The dictating angels hover over the heads of the gifted maids, one of whom writes with rapid pen the irreversible decrees of Fate. The countenances and musing attitudes of her sister Sibyls express those feelings of habitual thoughtfulness and pensive sadness natural to those who are cursed with the knowledge of futurity, and all its coming evils."—Eaton's Rome. "The Sibyls are simply beautiful women of antique form, to whom, with the aid of books, scrolls, and inscriptions, the Sibyllic idea has been given, but who would equally pass for the abstract personifications of virtues or cities. They are four in number,—the Cumana, Phrygia, Persica, and Tiburtina; all, with the exception of the last, in the fulness of youth and beauty, and occupied, apparently, with no higher aim than that of displaying both. Indeed, the Tiburtina matches ill with the rest, either in character or action. She is aged, has an open book on her lap, but turns with a strange and rigid action as if suddenly called. The very comparison with her tends to divest the others of the Sibylline character. In this, the angels who float above, and obviously inspire them, also help, for while adding to the charm of the composition, "The inscription on the scroll of the CumÆan Sibyl gives in Greek the words, 'The Resurrection of the Dead.' The Persica is writing on the scroll held by the angel, 'He will have the lot of Death.' The beautiful Phrygia is presented with a scroll, 'The heavens surround the sphere of the earth;' and the Tiburtina has under her the inscription, 'I will open and arise.' The fourth angel floats above, holding the seventh line of Virgil's Eclogue, 'Jam nova progenies.'"—Lady Eastlake's 'History of Our Lord.' The 1st chapel on the left has monuments of the Ponzetti family. The 2nd chapel on the left has an altar-piece of the Virgin between St. Bridget and St. Catherine, by Baldassare Peruzzi; in the front of the picture kneels the donor, Cardinal Ponzetti. The 1st altar on the right has the Adoration of the Shepherds by Sermoneta. The 2nd chapel, the burial-place of the Santa Croce family, has rich carved work of the sixteenth century. The high altar, designed by Carlo Maderno, has an ancient (miracle-working) Madonna. Of the four paintings of the cupola, the Nativity of the Virgin is by Francesco Vanni; the Visitation, Carlo Maratta; the Presentation in the Temple, Baldassare Peruzzi; the Death of the Virgin, Morandi. Newly-married couples have the touching custom of attending their first mass here, and invoking "St. Mary of Peace" to rule the course of their new life. The Cloister of the Convent, entered on the left under the dome, was designed by Bramante for Cardinal Caraffa in 1504. From the portico of the church the Via in Parione leads to the Via del Governo Vecchio. Here, on the right, is the Palazzo del Governo Vecchio, with a richly-sculptured door-way, and ancient cloistered court. Proceeding as far as the Piazza del Orologio, we see on the right an eminence known as Monte Giordano, supposed to be artificial, and to have arisen from the ruins of ancient buildings. Its name is derived from Giordano Orsini, a noble of one of the oldest Roman families, who built the palace there, which is now known as the Palazzo Gabrielli, and which has rather a handsome fountain. It was probably in consequence of the name Jordan, that this hillock was chosen in mediÆval times as the place where the Jews in Rome received the newly-elected pope on his way to the Lateran, and where their elders, covered with veils, presented him, on their knees, with a copy of the Pentateuch bound in gold. Then the Jews spoke in Hebrew, saying, "Most holy Father, we Hebrew men beseech your Holiness, in the name of our synagogue, to vouchsafe to us that the Mosaic Law, given on Mount Sinai by the Almighty God to Moses our priest, may be confirmed and approved, as also other eminent popes, the predecessors of your Holiness, have approved and confirmed it". And the pope replied, "We confirm the Law, but we condemn your faith and interpretation thereof, because He who you say is to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, is come already, as our Church teaches and preaches." Turning to the left, we enter a piazza, one side of which is occupied by the convent of the Oratorians, and the vast Church of Santa Maria in Valicella, or the Chiesa Nuova, built by Martino Lunghi for Gregory XIII. and S. Filippo Neri. The faÇade is by Rughesi. The decorations of the magnificently-ugly interior are partly due to Pietro da Cortona, who painted the roof and cupola. On the left of the tribune is the gorgeous Chapel of S. Filippo Neri, containing the shrine of the saint, rich in lapis-lazuli and gold, surmounted by a mosaic copy of the picture by Guido in the adjoining convent. On the right, in the 1st chapel, is the Crucifixion, by Scipione Gaetani; in the 3rd chapel, the Ascension, Maziano. On the left, in the 2nd chapel, is the Adoration of the Magi, The high altar has four columns of porta-santa. Its pictures are by Rubens in his youth;—that in the centre represents the Virgin in a glory of angels; on the right are St. Gregory, S. Mauro, and St. Papias; on the left St. Domitilla, St. Nereus, and St. Achilleus. The Sacristy, entered from the left transept, is by Marucelli. It has a grand statue of S. Filippo Neri, by Algardi. The ceiling is painted by Pietro da Cortona—the subject is an angel bearing the instruments of the passion to heaven. The Monastery, built by Borromini, contains the magnificent library founded by S. Filippo. The cell of the saint is accessible, even to ladies. It retains his confessional, chair, shoes, rope-girdle,—and also a cast taken from his face after death, and some pictures which belonged to him, including one of Sta. Francesca Romana, and the portrait of an archbishop of Florence. In the private chapel adjoining, is the altar at which he daily said mass, over which is a picture of his time. Here also are the crucifix which was in his hands when he died, his candlesticks, and some sacred pictures on tablets which he carried to the sick. The door of the cell is the same, and the little bell by which he summoned his attendant. In a room below is the carved coffin in which he lay in state, a picture of him lying dead, "Let the world flaunt her glories! each glittering prize, Though tempting to others, is naught in my eyes. A child of St. Philip, my master and guide, I would live as he lived, and would die as he died. "If scanty my fare, yet how was he fed? On olives and herbs and a small roll of bread. Are my joints and bones sore with aches and with pains? Philip scourged his young flesh with fine iron chains. "A closet his home, where he, year after year, Bore heat or cold greater than heat or cold here; A rope stretch'd across it, and o'er it he spread His small stock of clothes; and the floor was his bed. "One lodging besides; God's temple he chose, And he slept in its porch his few hours of repose; Or studied by light which the altar-lamp gave, Or knelt at the martyr's victorious grave." J. H. Newman, 1857. The church of the Chiesa Nuova belongs exclusively to the Oratorian Fathers. Pope Leo XII. wished to turn it into a parish church. "It was said that the superior of the house took, and showed, to the Holy Father, an autograph memorial of the founder St. Philip Neri to the pope of his day, petitioning that his church should never be a parish. And below it was written that pope's promise, also in his own hand, that it never should. This pope was St. Pius V. Leo bowed to such authorities, said that he could not contend against two saints, and altered his plans."—Wiseman's Life of Leo XII. "S. Filippo Neri was good-humoured, witty, strict in essentials, "S. Filippo Neri laid the foundation of the Congregation of Oratorians in 1551. Several priests and young ecclesiastics associating themselves with him, began to assist him in his conferences, and in reading prayers and meditations to the people in the Church of the Holy Trinity. They were called Oratorians, because at certain hours every morning and afternoon, by ringing a bell, they called the people to the church to prayers and meditations. In 1564, when the saint had formed his congregation into a regular community, he preferred several of his young ecclesiastics to holy orders; one of whom was the eminent CÆsar Baronius, whom, for his sanctity, Benedict XIV., by a decree dated on the 12th of January, 1745, honoured with the title of 'Venerable Servant of God.' At the same time he formed his disciples into a community, using one common purse and table, and he gave them rules and statutes. He forbade any of them to bind themselves to this state by vow or oath, that all might live together joined only by the bands of fervour and holy charity; labouring with all their strength to establish the kingdom of Christ in themselves by the most perfect sanctification of their own souls, and to propagate the same in the souls of others, by preaching, instructing the ignorant, and teaching the Christian doctrine."—Alban Butler. "S. Filippo Neri exacted from his scholars and associates various undignified outward acts. He required from a young Roman prince, who wished to enjoy the distinction of being a member of his Order, that he should walk through Rome with a fox's tail fastened on behind: and when the prince declined to submit to this, he was declined admission to the Order. Another was made to go through the city without a coat; and another, with torn and tattered sleeves. A nobleman took compassion on the last, and offered him a new pair of sleeves: the youth declined, but afterwards, by command of the master, was obliged gratefully to fetch and wear them. During the building of the new church, he compelled his disciples to bring up the materials like day labourers, and to lay their hands to the work."—Goethe, Romische Briefe. It was in the piazza in front of this church that (during the reign of Clement XIV.) a beautiful boy was wont to improvise wonderful verses to the admiration of the crowds who surrounded him. This boy was named Trapassi, and From the corner of the piazza in front of the Chiesa Nuova, the Via Calabraga leads into the Via Monserrato, which it enters between Sta. Lucia del Gonfalone on the right, and S. Stefano in Piscinula on the left;—then, passing on the right S. Giacomo in Aino—behind which, and the Palazzo Ricci, is Santo Spirito dei Napolitani, a much frequented and popular little church—we reach Sta. Maria di Monserrato, built by Sangallo, in 1495, where St. Ignatius Loyola was wont to preach and catechise. Here, behind the altar, under a stone unmarked by any epitaph, repose at last the remains of Pope Alexander VI., Rodrigo Borgia (1492—1503),—the infamous father of the beautiful and wicked CÆsar and Lucretia Borgia, who is believed to have died from accidentally drinking in a vineyard-banquet the poison which he had prepared for one of his own cardinals. When exhumed and turned out of the pontifical vaults of St Peter's by Julius II., he found a refuge here in his national church. The bones of his uncle Calixtus III., Alfonso Borgia (1455—58), rest in the same grave. A little further, on the left, is the Church of S. Tommaso degli Inglesi, rebuilt 1870, on the site of a church founded by Offa, king of the East Saxons in 775, but destroyed by fire in 817. It was rebuilt, and was dedicated by Alexander III. (1159) to St. Thomas À Becket, who had lodged in the adjoining hospital when he was in Rome. Gregory XIII., in 1575, united the hospital which existed here with one for English sailors on the Ripa Grande, dedicated to St. Edmund "Nothing like a hospice for English pilgrims existed till the first great Jubilee, when John Shepherd and his wife Alice, seeing this want, settled in Rome, and devoted their substance to the support of poor palmers from their own country. This small beginning grew into sufficient importance for it to become a royal charity; the King of England became its patron, and named its rector, often a person of high consideration. Among the fragments of old monuments scattered about the house by the revolution, and now collected and arranged in a corridor of the college, is a shield surmounted by a crown, and carved with the ancient arms of England, lions or lionceaux, and fleur-de-lis, quarterly. This used formerly to be outside the house, and under it was inscribed: 'HÆc conjuncta duo, Successus debita legi, Anglia dant, regi Francia signa suo. Laurentius Chance me fecit M.CCC.XII.'" Cardinal Wiseman. In the hall of the college are preserved portraits of Roman Catholics who suffered for their faith in England under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. The small cloister has a beautiful tomb of Christopher Bainbrigg, archbishop of York, British envoy to Julius II., who died at Rome 1514, and a monument of Sir Thomas Dereham, ob. 1739. Against the wall is the monument of Martha Swinburne, a prodigy of nine years old, inscribed: "MemoriÆ MarthÆ, Henrici et MarthÆ Swinburne. Nat. AngliÆ. ex. Antiqua. et. Nobili. Familia. CaphÆton. NorthumbriÆ. Parentes. Moestiss. FiliÆ. CarissimÆ. Pr. QuÆ. Ingenio. Excellenti. Forma. Eximia. Incredibili. Doctrina. Moribus. Suavissimis. Vix. Ann. viii. Men. xi. Tantum. PrÆrepta. RomÆ. v. ID. SEPT. AN. MDCCLXVIII. "Martha Swinburne, born Oct. X. MDCCLVIII. Died Sept. VIII. MDCCLXVII. Her years were few, but her life was long and full. She spoke English, French, and Italian, and had made some progress The arm of St. Thomas À Becket is the chief "relic" preserved here. At the end of the street are two exceedingly ugly little churches—very interesting from their associations. On the right is St. Girolamo della CaritÀ, founded on the site of the house of Sta. Paula, where she received St Jerome upon his being called to Rome from the Thebaid by Pope Damasus in 392. Here he remained for three years, till, embittered by the scandal excited by his residence in the house of the widow, he returned to his solitude. In 1519 S. Filippo Neri founded here a Confraternity for the distribution of dowries to poor girls, for the assistance of debtors, and for the maintenance of fourteen priests for the visitation and confession of the sick. "Lorsque St. Philippe de Neri fut prÊtre, il alla se loger À Saint-JerÔme della CaritÀ, oÙ il demeura trente-cinq ans, dans la sociÉtÉ des The masterpiece of Domenichino, the Last Communion of St. Jerome, in which Sta. Paula is introduced kissing the hand of the dying saint, hung in this church till carried off to Paris by the French. Opposite this is the Church of Sta. Brigitta, on the site of the dwelling of the saint, a daughter of the house of BrahÉ, and wife of Walfon, duke of Nericia, who came hither in her widowhood, to pass her declining years near the Tomb of the Apostles. With her, lived her daughter St. Catherine of Sweden, who was so excessively beautiful, and met with so many importunities in that wild time (1350), that she made a vow never to leave her own roof except to visit the churches. The crucifix, prayer-book, and black mantle of St. Bridget are preserved here. "St. Bridget exercised a reformatory influence as well upon the higher class of the priesthood in Rome as in Naples. For she did not alone satisfy herself with praying at the graves of the martyrs, she earnestly exhorted bishops and cardinals, nay, even the pope himself, to a life of the true worship of God and of good works, from which they had almost universally fallen, to devote themselves to worldly ambition. She awoke the consciences of many, as well by her prayers and remonstrances, as by her example. For she herself, of a rich and noble race, that of a BrahÉ, one of the nobles in Sweden, yet lived here in Rome, and laboured like a truly humble servant of Christ. 'We must walk We now reach the Palazzo Farnese,—the most magnificent of all the Roman palaces,—begun by Paul III., Alessandro Farnese (1534—50), and finished by his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Its architects were Antonio di Sangallo, Michael Angelo, and Giacomo della Porta, who finished the faÇade towards the Tiber. The materials were plundered partly from the Coliseum and partly from the theatre of Marcellus; the granite basons of the fountains in front are from the baths of Caracalla. The immense size of the blocks of travertine used in the building give it a solid grandeur. This palace was inherited by the Bourbon kings of Naples by descent from Elizabetta Farnese, who was the last of her line, and it has for the last few years been the residence of the Neapolitan Court, who have lived here in the utmost seclusion since their exile. For this reason the palace is now very seldom shown. Its vast halls are painted with the masterpieces of Annibale Caracci—huge mythological subjects,—and a few frescoes by Guido, Domenichino, Daniele da Volterra, Taddeo Zucchero, and others; but there has not been much to see since the dispersion of the Farnese gallery of sculpture, of which the best pieces (the Bull, Hercules, Flora, &c.) are in the museum at Naples. In the courtyard is the sarcophagus which is said once to have held the remains of Cecilia Metella. "The painting the gallery at the Farnese Palace is supposed to have partly caused the death of Caracci. Without fixing any price he set about it, and employed both himself and all his best pupils nearly seven years in perfecting the work, never doubting that the Farnese family, Behind the Palazzo Farnese runs the Via Giulia, which contains the ugly fountain of the Mascherone. Close to the arch which leads to the Farnese gardens is the church of Sta. Maria della Morte, or Dell' Orazione, built by Fuga. It is in the hands of a pious confraternity who devote themselves to the burial of the dead. "L'Église de la Bonne-Mort a son caveau, dÉcorÉ dans le style funÈbre comme le couvent des Capucins. On y conserve aussi ÉlÉgamment que possible les os des noyÉs, asphyxiÉs et autres victimes des accidents. La confrÉrie de la Bonne-Mort va chercher les cadavres; un sacristain assez adroit les dessÈche et les dispose en ornements. J'ai causÉ quelque temps avec cet artiste: 'Monsieur,' me disait-il, 'je ne suis heureux qu'ici, au milieu de mon oeuvre. Ce n'est pas pour les quelques Écus que je gagne tous les jours en montrant la chapelle aux Étrangers; non; mais ce monument que j'entretiens, que j'embellie, que j'Égaye par mon talent, est devenu l'orgueil et la joie de ma vie.' Il me montra ses matÉriaux, c'est-À-dire quelques poignÉes d'ossements jetÉs en tas dans un coin, fit l'Éloge de la pouzzolane, et tÉmoigna de son mÉpris pour la chaux. 'La chaux brÛle les os,' me dit-il, 'elle les fait tomber en poussiÈre. On ne peut faire rien de bon avec les os qui ont ÉtÉ dans la chaux. C'est de la drogue (robbaccia).'"—About. Beyond the arch is the Palazzo Falconieri (with falcons at the corners), built by Borromini about 1650. There is something rather handsome in its tall three-arched loggia, as seen from the back of the courtyard, which overhangs the Tiber opposite the Farnesina. Cardinal Fesch (uncle of Napoleon I.) lived here, and here formed his fine gallery of pictures. "The whole of Cardinal Fesch's collection was dispersed at his death, having been vainly offered by him, during the last years of his Further on are the Carceri Nuove, prisons established by Innocent X. (appropriately reached by the Via del Malpasso), and then the Palazzo Sacchetti, built by Antonio da Sangallo for his own residence, and adorned by him with the arms of his patron, Paul III., and the grateful inscription, "Tu mihi quodcumque hoc rerum est." The collection of statues which was formed here by Cardinal Ricci, was removed to the Capitol by Benedict XIV., and became the foundation of the present Capitoline collection. In front of the Palazzo Farnese, beyond its own piazza, is that known as the Campo di Fiore, a centre of commerce among the working classes. Here the most terrible of the Autos da FÉ were held by the Dominicans, in which many Jews and other heretics were burnt alive. One of the most remarkable sufferers here was Giordano Bruno, who was born at Nola, A.D. 1550. His chief heresy was ardent advocacy of the Copernican system,—the author of which had died ten years before his birth. He was also strongly opposed to the philosophy of Aristotle, and gave great offence by setting forth views of his own, which strongly tended to pantheism. He visited Paris, England, and Germany, and everywhere excited hostility by the uncompromising expression of his opinions. It was at Venice that he first came into the power of his ecclesiastical enemies. After six years of imprisonment in that city, he was brought to Rome to be put to death. His execution took place in the Campo di Fiore on the 17th of February, 1600, in the presence of an immense concourse. It was noted that when the monks offered him the crucifix as he was led to the stake, he turned away and refused to kiss it. This put the finishing touch to his career, in the estimation of all beholders. Scioppus, the Latinist, who was present at the execution, with a sarcastic allusion to one of Bruno's heresies, the infinity of worlds, wrote, "The flames carried him to those worlds which he had imagined." On the left of this piazza is the gigantic Palace of the Cancelleria, begun by Cardinal Mezzarota, and finished in 1494 by Cardinal Riario, from designs of Bramante. The huge blocks of travertine of which it is built were taken from the Coliseum. The colonnades have forty-four granite pillars, said to have belonged to the theatre of Pompey. The roses with which their (added) capitals are adorned are in reference to the arms of Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV. This palace was the seat of the Tribunal of the Cancelleria Apostolica. In June, 1848, the Roman Parliament, summoned by Pius IX., was held here. In July, while the deputies were seated here, the mob burst into the council-chamber, and demanded the instant declaration of war against Austria. On the 16th of November, its staircase was the scene of the murder of Count Rossi. "C'Était le 16 Novembre, 1848, le ministre de Pie IX., vouÉ dÈs longtemps À la mort, dont la presse sÉditieuse disait: 'Si la victime condamnÉe parvient À s'Échapper, elle sera poursuivie sans relÂche, en tout lieu, le coupable sera frappÉ par une main invisible, se fÛt-il rÉfugiÉ sur le sein de sa mÈre ou dans le tabernacle du Christ.' "Dans la nuit du 14 au 15 Novembre, de jeunes Étudiants, rÉunis dans cette pensÉe, s'exercent sans frÉmir sur un cadavre apportÉ À prix d'or au thÉÂtre Capranica, et quand leurs mains infÂmes furent devenues assez sÛres pour le crime, quand ils sont certains d'atteindre au premier coup la veine jugulaire, chacun se rend À son poste—'Gardez-vous d'aller au Palais LÉgislatif, la mort vous y attend,' fait dire au ministre une FranÇaise alors À Rome, Madame la Comtesse de Menon: 'Ne sortez pas, ou vous serez assassinÉ!' lui Écrit de son cÔtÉ la Duchesse de Rignano. Mais l'intrÉpide Rossi, n'Écoutant que sa conscience, arrive au Quirinal. A son tour le pape le conjure d'Être prudent, de ne point s'exposer, afin, lui dit-il, 'd'Éviter À nos ennemis un grand crime, et À moi une immense douleur.'—'Ils sont trop lÂches, ils n'oseront pas.' Pie IX. le bÉnit et il continue de se diriger vers la chancellerie.... " ... Sa voiture s'arrÊte, il descend au milieu d'hommes sinistres, leur lance un regard de dÉdain, et continuant sans crainte ni Entered from the courtyard of the palace is the Church of SS. Lorenzo e Damaso, removed by Cardinal Riario in 1495, from another site, where it had been founded in 560 by the sainted pope Damasus. It consists of a short nave and aisles, and is almost square, with an apse and chapels. The doors are by Vignola. At the end of the left aisle is a curious black virgin, much revered. Opening from the right aisle is the chapel of the Massimi, with several tombs; a good modern monument of Princess Gabrielli, &c. Against the last pilaster is a seated statue of S. Hippolytus, Bishop of Porto, taken from that at the Lateran. His relics are preserved here, with those of S. Giovanni Calabita, and many other saints. The tomb of Count Rossi is also here, inscribed "Optimam mihi causam tuendam assumpsi, miserebitur Deus." The story of his death is told in the words: "Impiorum consilio meditata cÆde occubuit." He was embalmed and buried on the very night of his murder, for fear of further outrage. St Francis Xavier used to preach in this church in the sixteenth century. Standing a little back from the street, in the Via de' Baullari, is a pretty little palace, carefully finished in all its details, and attributed to Baldassare Peruzzi. It is sometimes called Palazzetto Farnese, sometimes Palazzo Linote, and is now almost in a state of ruin. Turning to the left, in front of the Palazzo Farnese, we reach the Piazza Capo di Ferro, one side of which is occupied by the Palazzo Spada alla Regola, built in 1564, by Cardinal Capodifero, but afterwards altered and adorned by In a picturesque and dimly-lighted hall on the first-floor, partially hung with faded tapestries, is the famous statue believed to be that of Pompey, at the foot of which Julius CÆsar fell. Suetonius narrates that it was removed by Augustus from the Curia, and placed upon a marble Janus in front of the basilica. Exactly on that spot was the existing statue found, lying under the partition-wall of two houses, whose proprietors intended to evade disputes by dividing it, when Cardinal Capodifero interfered, and in return received it as a gift from Pope Julius III., who bought it for 500 gold crowns. "And them, dread statue! yet existent in The austerest form of naked majesty,— Thou who beheldest 'mid the assassins' din, At thy bathed base the bloody CÆsar lie, Folding his robe in dying dignity, An offering to thine altar from the queen Of gods and men, great Nemesis! did he die, And thou, too, perish, Pompey? have ye been Victors of countless kings, or puppets of a scene?" Byron, Childe Harold. "I saw in the Palazzo Spada, the statue of Pompey: the statue at whose base CÆsar fell. A stem, tremendous figure! I imagined one of greater finish: of the last refinement: full of delicate touches: losing its distinctness in the giddy eyes of one whose blood was ebbing before it, and settling into some such rigid majesty as this, as Death came creeping over the upturned face."—Dickens. "CÆsar was persuaded at first by the entreaties of his wife Calpurnia, who had received secret warning of the plot, to send an excuse to the senate; but afterwards, being ridiculed by Brutus for not going, was carried thither in a litter.... At the moment when CÆsar descended from his litter at the door of the hall, Popilius LÆna approached him, and was observed to enter into earnest conversation with The collection of pictures in this palace is little worth seeing. Among its other sculptures are eight grand reliefs, which, till 1620, were turned upside down, and used as a pavement in Sant' Agnese fuori Mura; and a fine statue of Aristotle. "Aristote est À Rome, vous pouvons l'aller voir au palais Spada, tel que le peignent ses biographes et des vers de Christodore sur une statue qui Était À Constantinople, les jambes grÊles, les joues maigres, le bras hors du manteau, exserto brachio, comme dit Sidoine Apollinaire d'une autre statue qui Était À Rome. Le philosophe est ici sans barbe aussi A little further, on the right, is the Church of the TrinitÀ dei Pellegrini, built in 1614; the faÇade designed by Francesco de' Sanctis. It contains a picture of the Trinity by Guido. The hospital attached to this church was founded by S. Filippo Neri for receiving and nourishing pilgrims of pious intention, who had come from more than sixty miles' distance, for a space of from three to seven days. It is divided into two parts, for males and females. Here, during the Holy Week, the feet of the pilgrims are publicly washed, those of the men by princes, cardinals, &c., those of the women by queens, princesses, and other ladies of rank. In this case the washing is a reality, the feet not having been "prepared beforehand," as for the Lavanda at St Peter's. An authentic portrait of S. Filippo Neri is preserved here, said to have been painted surreptitiously by an artist who happened to be one of the inmates of the hospital. When S. Filippo saw it, he said, "You should not have stolen me unawares." The building in front of this church is the Monte di PietÀ, founded by the Padre Calvo, in the fifteenth century, to preserve the people from suffering under the usury of the Jews. It is a government establishment, where money is lent at the rate of five per cent. to every class of person. Poor people, especially "Donne di facenda," who have no work in the summer, thankfully avail themselves A short distance further, following the Via dei Specchi, surrounded by miserable houses (in one of which is a beautiful double gothic window, divided by a twisted column), is the small Church of Sta. Maria in Monticelli, which has a fine low campanile of 1110. Admission may always be obtained through the sacristy to visit the famous "miracle-working" picture called "GesÙ Nazareno," a modern half-length of Our Saviour, with the eyelids drooping and half-closed. By an illusion of the painting, the eyes, if watched steadily, appear to open and then slowly to close again as if falling asleep,—in the same way that many English family portraits appear to follow the living bystanders with their eyes; but the effect is very curious. In the case of this picture, the pope turned Protestant, and disapproving of the attention it excited, caused its secret removal. Remonstrance was made, that the picture had been a "regalo" to the church, and ought not to be taken away, and when it was believed to be sufficiently forgotten, it was sent back by night. The mosaics in the apse of this obscure church are for the most part quite modern, but enclose a very grand and expressive head of the Saviour of the World, which dates from 1099, when it was ordered by Pope Paschal II. A little to the left of this church is the Palazzo Santa Prince Santa Croce claims to be a direct descendant of Valerius Publicola, the "friend of the people," who is commemorated in the name of a neighbouring church, "Sancta Maria de Publicolis." This is one of the few haunted houses in Rome: it is said that by night two statues of Santa Croce cardinals descend from their pedestals, and rattle their marble trains about its long galleries. Hence a narrow street leads to the Church of S. Carlo a Catinari, built in the seventeenth century, from designs of Rosati and Soria. It is in the form of a Greek cross. The very lofty cupola is adorned with frescoes of the cardinal virtues by Domenichino, and a fresco of S. Carlo, by Guido, once on the faÇade of the church, is now preserved in the choir. Over the high altar is a large picture by Pietro da Cortona, of S. Carlo in a procession during the plague at Milan. In the first chapel on the right, is the Annunciation, by Lanfranco; in the second chapel, on the left, the Death of St. Anna, by Andrea Sacchi. On the pilaster of the last chapel on the right is a good modern tomb, with delicate detail. The cord which S. Carlo Borromeo wore round his neck in the penitential procession during the plague at Milan, is preserved as a relic here. The Catinari, from whom this church is named, were makers of wooden dishes, who had ——"In his mantle muffling up his face, Even at the base of Pompey's statue, Which all the while ran blood, great CÆsar fell." Behind the remains of the theatre, perhaps on the very site of the Curia, rises the fine modern Church of S. Andrea della Valle, "In the fresco of the Flagellation, the apostle is bound by his hands and feet to four short posts set firmly in the ground; one of the executioners, in tightening a cord, breaks it, and falls back; three men prepare to scourge him with thongs: in the foreground we have the usual group of the mother and her frightened children. This is a composition full of dramatic life and movement, but unpleasing."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 229. In the second chapel on the left is the tomb of Giovanni della Casa, archbishop of Beneventum, 1556. The last piers of the nave are occupied by the tombs of Pius II., Eneas Sylvius Piccolomini (1458—64), and Pius III., Todeschini (1503), removed from the old basilica of St. Peter's. The tombs are hideous erections in four stages, by Niccolo della Guardia and Pietro da Todi. The epitaph of the famous Eneas Sylvius is as good as a biography. "Pius II., sovereign pontiff, a Tuscan by nation, by birth a native of Siena, of the family of the Piccolomini, reigned for six years. His pontificate was short, but his glory was great. He reunited a Christian Council (Basle) in the interests of the faith. He resisted the enemies of the holy Roman see, both in Italy and abroad. He placed Catherine of Siena amongst the saints of Christ. He abolished the Pragmatic Sanction in France. He re-established Ferdinand of Arragon in the kingdom of Sicily. He increased the power of the Church. He established the alum mines which were discovered near Talpha. Zealous for religion and justice, he was also remarkable for his eloquence. As he was setting out for the war which he had declared against the Turks, he died at Ancona. There he had already his fleet prepared, and the doge of Venice, with his senate, as companions in arms for Christ. Brought to Rome by a decree of the fathers, he was laid in this spot, where he had ordered the head of St. Andrew, which had been brought him from the Peloponnese, to be placed. He lived fifty-eight years, nine months, and twenty-seven days. Francis, cardinal of Siena, raised this to the memory of his revered uncle. MCDLXIV." Pius III., who was the son of a sister of Eneas Sylvius, only reigned for twenty-six days. His tomb was the last to be placed in the old St. Peter's, which was pulled down by his successor. To the right, from S. Andrea della Valle runs the Via della Valle, on the right of which is the Palazzo Vidoni (formerly called Caffarelli, and Stoppani), the lower portion of which was designed by Raphael, in 1513, the upper floor being a later addition. There are a few antiquities preserved here, among them the "Calendarium PrÆnestinum" To the left from St. Andrea della Valle runs the Via S. Pantaleone, on the right of which, cleverly fitting into an angle of the street, is the gloomy but handsome Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, built c. 1526 by Baldassare Peruzzi. The semi-circular portico has six Doric columns. The staircase and fountain are peculiar and picturesque. In the loggia is a fine antique lion. The palace is not often shown, but is a good specimen of one of the smaller Roman princely houses. In the drawing-room, well placed, is the famous Statue of the Discobolus, a copy of the bronze statue of Myron, found in 1761, upon the Esquiline, near the ruined nymphÆum known as the Trophies of Marius. This is more beautiful and better preserved than the Discobolus of the Vatican, of which the head is modern. "Le tÊte du discobole Massimi se retourne vers le bras qui lance le disque, apest?a???? e?? t?? d?s??f????. Cette tÊte est admirable, ce qui est encore une resemblance avec Myron, qui excellait dans les tÊtes comme PolyclÈte dans les poitrines et PraxitÈle dans les bras."—AmpÈre, iii. 271. The entrance-hall has its distinctive dais and canopy adorned with the motto of the family "Cunctando Restituit," in allusion to the descent which they claim from the great dictator Fabius Maximus, who is described by Ennius as having "saved the republic by delaying." "NapolÉon interpella un Massimo avec cette brusquerie qui intimidait tant de gens: 'Est il vrai,' lui dit-il, 'que vous descendiez de Fabius-Maximus?' "'—Je ne saurais le prouver,' rÉpondit le noble romain, 'mais c'est un bruit qui court depuis plus de mille ans dans notre famille.'"—About. On the second floor is a chapel in memory of the temporary resuscitation to life by S. Filippo Neri of Paul Massimo, a youth of fourteen, who had died of a fever, March 16th, 1584. "S. Filippo Neri was the spiritual director of the Massimo family; it is in his honour that the Palazzo Massimo is dressed up in festal guise every 16th of March. The annals of the family narrate, that the son and heir of Prince Fabrizio Massimo died of a fever at the age of fourteen, and that St. Philip, coming into the room amid the lamentations of the father, mother, and sisters, laid his hand upon the brow of the youth, and called him by his name, on which he revived, opened his eyes, and sate up—'Art thou unwilling to die?' asked the saint. 'No,' sighed the youth. 'Art thou resigned to yield thy soul to God?' 'I am.' 'Then go,' said Philip. 'Va, che sii benedetto, e prega Dio per noi.'—The boy sank back on his pillow with a heavenly smile on his face and expired."—Jameson's Monastic Orders. The back of the palace towards the Piazza Navona is covered with curious frescoes in distemper by Daniele di Volterra. In buildings belonging to this palace, Pannartz and Schweinheim established the first printing-office in Rome in 1455. The rare editions of this time bear in addition to the name of the printers, the inscription, "In Ædibus Petri de Maximis." "Conrad Sweynheim et Arnold Pannartz s'Établirent prÈs de Subiaco, au monastÈre de Sainte-Scholastique, qui Était occupÉ par les BÉnÉdictins de leur nation, et publiÈrent successivement, avec le concours des moines, les [Oe]uvres de Lactance, la CitÉ de Dieu de saint Augustin, et le traitÉ de Oratore de CicÉron. En 1467, ils se transportÈrent À Rome, au palais Massimi, oÙ ils s'associÈrent Jean AndrÉ de Bussi, ÉvÊque d'Aleria, qui avait ÉtudiÉ sous Victorin de Feltre, et Further, on the right, is the modernized Church of S. Pantaleone, built originally in 1216 by Honorius III., and given by Gregory XV., in 1641, to S. Giuseppe Calasanza, founder of the Order of the Scolopians, and of the institution of the Scuola Pia. He died in 1648, and is buried here in a porphyry sarcophagus. Adjoining this, is the very handsome Palazzo Braschi, the last result of papal nepotism in Rome,—built at the end of the last century by Morelli, for the Duke Braschi, nephew of Pius VI. The staircase, which is, perhaps, the finest in Rome, is adorned with sixteen columns of red oriental granite. Annual subscription balls for charities are held in this palace. At the further corner of the Braschi palace stands the mutilated but famous statue called Pasquino, from a witty tailor, who once kept a shop opposite, and who used to entertain his customers with all the clever scandal of the day. After the tailor's death his name was transferred to the statue, on whose pedestal were appended witty criticisms on passing events, sometimes in the form of dialogues which Pasquino was supposed to hold with his friend Marforio, another statue at the foot of the Capitol. From the repartees appended to this statue the term Pasquinade is derived. Pasquin has naturally been regarded as a mortal enemy by the popes, who, on several occasions, have made vain attempts to silence him. The bigoted Adrian VI. wished to have the statue burnt and then thrown into the Tiber, but it was saved by the suggestion of Ludovico Suessano, that his ashes would turn into frogs, who would croak louder than he had done. When Marforio, in the hope of stopping the dialogues, was shut up in the Capitoline museum, the pope attempted to incarcerate Pasquino also, but he was defended by his proprietor, Duke Braschi. Among offensive Pasquinades which have been placed here are: "Venditur hic Christus, venduntur dogmata Petri, Descendam infernum ne quoque vendar ego." Among the earliest Pasquinades were those against the venality and evil life of Alexander VI. (Rodrigo Borgia, 1492—1503): "Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum: Emerat ille prius, vendere jure potest." and, "Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero—Sextus et iste; Semper sub Sextis perdita Roma fuit." and, upon the body of his son Giovanni, murdered by his brother CÆsar Borgia, being fished up on the following day from the Tiber: "Piscatorem hominum re te non, Sexte, putemus, Piscaris natum retibus ecce tuum." In the reign of the warlike Julius II. (1503—13), of whom it is said that he threw the keys of Peter into the Tiber, while marching his army out of Rome, declaring that the sword of Paul was more useful to him: "Cum Petri nihil efficiant ad prÆlia claves, Auxilio Pauli forsitan ensis erit." and, in allusion to his warlike beard: "Huc barbam Pauli, gladium Pauli, omnia Pauli: Claviger ille nihil ad mea vota Petrus." At a moment of great unpopularity: "Julius est RomÆ, quid abest? Date, numina, Brutum. Nam quoties RomÆ est Julius, ilia perit." In reference to the sale of indulgences and benefices by Leo X.: "Dona date, astantes; versus ne reddite; sola Imperat Æthereis alma Moneta deis." and to his love of buffoons: "Cur non te fingi scurram, Pasquille, rogasti? Cum RomÆ scurris omnia jam licent." and with reference to the death of Leo, suddenly, under suspicion of poison, and without the sacrament: "Sacra sub extrema, si forte requiritis, hor Cur Leo non potuit sumere: vendiderat." On the death of Clement VII. (1534), attributed to the mismanagement of his physician, Matteo Curzio: "Curtius occidit Clementem—Curtius auro Donandus, per quem publica parta salus." To Paul III. (1534—50) who attempted to silence him, Pasquin replied: "Ut canerent data multa olim sunt vatibus Æra; Ut taceam, quantum tu mihi, Paule, dabis." Upon the spoliation of ancient Rome by Urban VIII.: "Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini." Upon the passion of Innocent X. (1644—55) for his sister-in-law, Olympia Maldacchini: "Magis amat Olympiam quam Olympum." Upon Christina of Sweden, who died at Rome, in 1689: "Regina senza Regno, Christiana senza Fede, E Donna senza Vergogna." In reference to the severities of the Inquisition during the reign of Innocent XI. (1676—89): "Se parliamo, in galera; se scriviamo, impiccati; se stiamo in quiete, al santo uffizio. Eh!—che bisogna fare?" To Francis of Austria, on his visit to Rome: "Gaudium urbis,—fletus provinciarum,—risus mundi." After an awful storm, and the plunder of the works of art by Napoleon occurring together: "L'Altissimo in sÙ, ci manda la tempesta, L'Altissimo qua giÙ, ci toglia quel che resta, E fra le Due Altissimi, Stiamo noi malissimi." During the stay of the French in Rome: "I Francesi son tutti ladri." . . . . . . . "Non tutti—ma Buona parte." Against the vain-glorious follies of Pius VI., Pasquin was especially bitter. Pius finished the sacristry of St. Peter's, and inscribed over its entrance, "Quod ad Templi Vaticani ornamentum publico vota flagitabant, Pius VI. fecit." The next day Pasquin retorted: "Publica! mentiris! Non publica vota fuere, Sed tumidi ingenii vota fuere tui." Upon his nepotism, when building the Braschi palace: "Tres habuit fauces, et terno Cerberus ore Latratus intra Tartara nigra dabat. Et tibi plena fame tria sunt vel quatuor ora QuÆ nulli latrant, quemque sed illa vocant." And in allusion to the self-laudatory inscriptions of this pope upon all his buildings, at a time when the two-baiocchi loaf of the common people was greatly reduced in size; one of these tiny loaves was exhibited here, with the satirical notice, "Munificentia Pii Sexti." But perhaps the most remarkable of all Pasquin's productions is his famous Antithesis Christi: "Christus regna fugit—Sed vi Papa subjugat urbem. Spinosam Christus—Triplicem gerit ille coronam. Abluit ille pedes—Reges his oscula prÆbent. Vectigal solvit—Sed clerum hic eximit omnem. Pavit oves Christus—Luxum hic sectatur inertem. Pauper erat Christus—Regna hic petit omnia mundi. Bajulat ille crucem—Hic servis portatur avaris. Spernit opes Christus—Auri hic ardore tabescit. Vendentes pepulit templo—Quos suscipit iste. Pace venit Christus—Venit hic radiantibus armis. Christus mansuetus venit—Venit ille superbus. Quas leges dedit hic—PrÆsul dissolvit iniquus. Ascendit Christus—Descendit ad infera PrÆsul." The statue called Pasquin is said to represent Menelaus with the body of Patroclus, and to be the same as two groups which still exist at Florence, but so little remains of either of these heroes, that it could only have been when overpowered by "L'esprit de contradiction," that Bernini protested that this was "the finest piece of ancient sculpture in Rome." "A l'angle que forment deux rues de Rome se voit encore il Pasquino, nom donnÉ par le peuple À un des plus beaux restes de la sculpture "Jan. 16, 1870: The public opinion of Rome has only one traditional organ. It is that mutilated block of marble called Pasquin's statue ... on which are mysteriously affixed by unknown hands the frequent squibs of Roman mother-wit on the events of the day. That organ has now uttered its cutting joke on the Fathers in Council. Some mornings ago there was found pasted in big letters on this defaced and truncated stump of a once choice statue the inscription, 'Libero come il Concilio.' The sarcasm is admirably to the point."—Times. Following the Via dell' Anima from hence, on the right, opposite the mediÆval Torre Mellina, is the Church of Sant' Agnese. It was built in 1642 by Girolamo Rainaldi, in the form of a Greek cross, upon the site of the scaffold where St. Agnes, in her fourteenth year, was compelled to be burnt alive. "The blessed Agnes, with her hands extended in the midst of the flames, prayed thus: 'It is to thee that I appeal, to thee, the all-powerful, adorable, perfect, terrible God. O my Father, it is through thy most blessed Son that I have escaped from the menaces of a sacrilegious tyrant, and have passed unblemished through shameful abominations. And thus I come to thee, to thee whom I have loved, to thee whom I have sought, and whom I have always chosen."—Roman Breviary. Then the flames, miraculously changed into a heavenly shower, refreshed instead of burning her, and dividing in two, and leaving her uninjured, consumed her executioners, and the virgin saint cried:— "I bless Thee, O Father of my God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who, by the power of this thy well-beloved Son, commanded the fire to respect me." "At this age, a young girl trembles at an angry look from her mother; the prick of a needle draws tears as easily as a wound. Yet fearless under the bloody hands of her executioners, Agnes is immoveable under the heavy chains which weigh her down; ignorant of death, but ready to die, she presents her body to the point of the sword of a savage soldier. Dragged against her will to the altar, she holds forth her arms to Christ through the fires of the sacrifice; and her hand forms even in those blasphemous flames the sign which is the trophy of a victorious Saviour. She presents her neck and her two hands to the fetters which they bring for her, but it is impossible to find any small enough to encircle her delicate limbs."—St. Ambrose. The statue of St. Sebastian in this church is an antique, altered by Maini, that of St. Agnes is by Ercole Ferrata; the bas-relief of St. Cecilia is by Antonio Raggi. Over the entrance is the half-length figure and tomb of Innocent X. (Gio. Battista Pamfili, 1644—55), an amiable but feeble pope, who was entirely governed by his strong-minded and avaricious sister-in-law, Olympia Maldacchini, who deserted him on his death-bed, making off with the accumulated spoils of his ten years' papacy, which enabled her son, Don Camillo, to build the Palazzo Doria Pamfili, in the Corso, and the beautiful Villa Doria Pamfili. "After the three days during which the body of Innocent remained exposed at St. Peter's, say the memoirs of the time, no one could be found who would undertake his burial. They sent to tell Donna Olympia to prepare for him a coffin, and an escutcheon, but she answered that she was a poor widow. Of all his other relations and nephews, not one gave any sign of life; so that at length the body was carried away into a chamber where the masons kept their tools. Some one, out of pity, placed a lighted tallow-candle near the head; and some one else having mentioned that the room was full of rats, and that they might eat the corpse, a person was found who was willing to pay for a watcher. And after another day had elapsed, Monsignor Scotti, the majordomo, had pity upon him, and prepared him a coffin of poplar-wood, and Monsignor Segni, Canon of St. Peter's, who had been his majordomo, and whom he had dismissed, returned him good for evil, and expended five crowns for his burial."—Gregorovius. Beneath the church are vaulted chambers, said to be part of the house of infamy where St. Agnes was publicly exposed "As neither temptation nor the fear of death could prevail with Agnes, Sempronius thought of other means to vanquish her resistance; he ordered her to be carried by force to a place of infamy, and exposed to the most degrading outrages. The soldiers, who dragged her thither, stripped her of her garments; and when she saw herself thus exposed, she bent down her head in meek shame and prayed; and immediately her hair, which was already long and abundant, became like a veil, covering her whole person from head to foot; and those who looked upon her were seized with awe and fear as of something sacred, and dared not lift their eyes. So they shut her up in a chamber, and she prayed that the limbs which had been consecrated to Jesus Christ should not be dishonoured, and suddenly she saw before her a white and shining garment, with which she clothed herself joyfully, praising God, and saying, 'I thank thee, O Lord, that I am found worthy to put on the garment of thine elect!' and the whole place was filled with miraculous light, brighter than the sun at noon-day. * * * * * * * * "The chamber, which, for her preservation, was filled with heavenly light, has become, from the change of level all over Rome, as well as from the position of the church, a subterranean cell, and is now a chapel of peculiar sanctity, into which you descend by torchlight. The floor retains the old mosaic, and over the altar is a bas-relief, representing St. Agnes, with clasped hands, and covered only by her long tresses, while two ferocious soldiers drive her before them. The upper church, as a piece of architecture, is beautiful, and rich in precious marbles and antique columns. The works of art are all mediocre, and of the 17th century, but the statue over her altar has considerable elegance. Often have I seen the steps of this church, and the church itself, so crowded with kneeling worshippers at matins and vespers, that I could not make my way among them;—principally the women of the lower orders, with their distaffs and market baskets, who had come thither to pray, through the intercession of the patron saint, for the gifts of meekness and chastity,—gifts not abounding in these regions."—Jameson's Sacred Art. Yorkshire maidens, anxious to know who their future "St. Agnes, be a friend to me, In the boon I ask of thee; Let me this night my husband see." Here, on the festival of St. Agnes, the papal choir sing the antiphons of the virgin saint, and the hymn "Jesu Corona Virginum." The front of Sant' Agnese opens upon the Piazza Navona, a vast oblong square on the site of the ancient Circus Agonalis, decorated with three fountains. That in the centre, by Bernini, supports an obelisk brought from the Circus of Maxentius, where it was erected in honour of Domitian. Around the mass of rock which supports the obelisk are figures of the gods of the four largest rivers (Danube, Nile, Ganges, Rio de la Plata). That of the Nile veiled his face, said Bernini, that he might not be shocked by the faÇade which was added by Borromini to the Church of St Agnes. "Bernin s'ingÉra de creuser un des fameux piliers de St. Pierre pour y pratiquer un petit escalier montant À la tribune; aussitÔt le dÔme prit coup et se fendit. On fut obligÉ de le relier tout entier avec un cercle de fer. Ce n'est point raillerie, le cercle y est encore; le mal n'a pas augmentÉ depuis. Par malheur pour le pauvre cavalier, on trouva dans les MÉmoires de Michel-Ange qu'il avait recommandÉ, sub poen capitis, de ne jamais toucher aux quatre piliers massifs faits pour supporter le dÔme, sachant de quelle masse Épouvantable il allait les charger; le pape voulait faire pendre Bernin, qui, pour se rÉdimer, inventa la fontaine Navone."—De Brosses. The lower fountain, also by Bernini, is adorned with tritons and the figure of a Moor. The great palace to the right of the church is the Palazzo Pamfili, built by Rainaldi for Innocent X. in 1650. It possesses a ceiling painted by Pietro di Cortona with the adventures of Eneas. Its It was in this palace that the notorious Olympia Maldacchini, foundress of the Pamfili fortunes, besported herself during the reign of her brother-in-law, Innocent X. "The great object of Donna Olympia was to keep at a distance from Innocent every person and every influence that could either lessen her own, or go shares in the profits to be extracted from it. For this, after all, was the great and ultimate scope of her exertions. To secure the profits of the papacy in hard cash; this was the problem. No appointment to office of any kind was made, except in consideration of a proportionable sum paid down into her own coffers. This often amounted to three or four years' revenue of the place to be granted. Bishoprics and benefices were sold as fast as they became vacant. One story is told of an unlucky disciple of Simon, who on treating with the popess, for a very valuable see, just fallen vacant, and hearing from her a price, at which it might be his, far exceeding all he could command, persuaded the members of his family to sell all they had for the purpose of making this profitable investment. The price was paid, and the bishopric was given to him, but with a fearful resemblance to the case of Ananias, he died within the year; and his ruined family saw the see a second time sold by the insatiable and incorrigible Olympia.... During the last year of Innocent's life, Olympia literally hardly ever quitted him. Once a week, we read, she left the Vatican, secretly by night, accompanied by several porters carrying sacks of coin, the proceeds of the week's extortions and sales, to her own palace. And, during these short absences, she used to lock the pope into his chamber, and take the key with her!"—Trollope's Life of Olympia Pamfili. On the opposite side of the piazza, some architectural fragments denote the half-ruined Church of S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli of the fifteenth century. It possesses a gothic rose window, which is almost unique in Rome. There is a handsome door on the other side towards the Via della Sediola. The lower end of the square near this is occupied by the Palazzo Lancellotti, built by Pirro Ligorio, behind which is the frescoed front of Palazzo Massimo, mentioned above. The Piazza Navona has been used as a market ever since 1447. In the hot months, the singular Vitale Mascardi gives an extraordinary account of the magnificent tournament held here in 1634 in honour of the visit of Prince Alexander of Poland, when the piazza was hung with draperies of gold and silver, and Donna Anna Colonna and Donna Costanza Barberini awarded gorgeous prizes of diamonds to noble and princely competitors. Nearly opposite Sant' Agnese, a short street leads (passing on the left, Arvotti's, the famous Roman-scarf shop) to the front of the Palazzo Madama, which is sometimes said to derive its name from Margaret of Parma, daughter of Charles V., who once occupied it, and sometimes from Catherine de' Medici, who also lived here, and under whom it was altered in its present form by Paolo Marucelli. The balcony towards the piazza is the scene every Saturday at noon of the drawing of the Roman lottery. "In the middle of the balcony, on the rail, is fixed a glass barrel, with a handle to turn it round. Behind it stand three or four officials, who have been just now ushered in with a blast from two trumpeters, also stationed in the balcony. Immediately behind the glass barrel itself stands a boy of some twelve or thirteen years, dressed in the white uniform of one of the orphan establishments, with a huge white shovel hat. Some time is occupied by the folding, and putting into the barrel, pieces of paper, inscribed with the numbers, from one onwards. Each of these is proclaimed, as folded and put in, by one of the officials who acts as spokesman or crier. At last, after eighty-seven, eighty-eight, "And now, or before this, appears on the balcony another character—no less a person than a Monsignore, who appears, not in his ordinary, but in his more solemn official costume; and this connects the ceremonial directly with the spiritual authority of the realm. And now commences the drawing. The barrel having been for some time turned rapidly round to shuffle the numbers, the orphan takes off his hat, makes the sign of the cross, and having waved his open hand in the air to show that it is empty, inserts it into the barrel, and draws out a number, giving it to the Monsignore, who opens it and hands it to the crier. This latter then proclaims it—'Prima-estratta, numero venti cinque.' Then the trumpets blow their blast, and the same is repeated four times more: the proclamation varying each time, Seconda estratta, Terza, Quatra, Quinta, etc., five numbers being thus the whole drawn, out of ninety put in. This done, with various expressions of surprise, delight, or disappointment from the crowd below, the officials disappear, the square empties itself, and all is as usual till the next Saturday at the same time.... "In almost every street in Rome are shops devoted to the purchase of lottery tickets. Two numbers purchased with the double chance of these two numbers turning up are called an ambo, and three purchased with the treble chance of those three turning up, are called a terno, and, of course, the higher and more perilous the stake, the richer the prize, if obtained."—Alford's Letters from Abroad. "Les Étrangers qui viennent À Rome commencent par blÂmer sÉvÈrement la loterie. Au bout de quelque temps, l'esprit de tolÉrance qui est dans l'air pÉnÈtre peu-À-peu jusqu'au fond de leur cerveau; ils excusent un jeu philanthropique qui fournit au pauvre peuple six jours d'espÉrances pour cinq sous. BientÔt, pour se rendre compte du mÉcanisme de la loterie, ils entrent euxmÊmes dans un bureau, en Évitant de se laisser voir. Trois mois aprÈs, ils poursuivent ouvertement une combinaison savante; ils ont une thÉorie mathÉmatique qu'ils signeraient volontiers de leur nom; ils donnent des leÇons aux nouveaux arrivÉs; ils Érigent le jeu en principe et jurent qu'un homme est impardonnable s'il ne laisse pas une porte ouverte À la Fortune."—About, Rome Contemporaine. The court at the back of the palazzo is now occupied by the General Post Office. Close by is the Church of S. Luigi dei Francesi, rebuilt 1589, with a faÇade by Giacomo della Porta. It contains a number of tombs of eminent Frenchmen who have died in Rome, and some good pictures. Following the right aisle, the second chapel has frescoes from the life of Sta. Cecilia, by Domenichino (she gives clothes to the poor,—is crowned by an angel with her husband Valerian,—refuses to sacrifice to idols,—suffers martyrdom,—enters into heaven). "Domenichino is often cold and studied in the principal subject, while the subordinate persons have much grace, and a noble character of beauty. Of this the two frescoes in S. Luigi at Rome, from the life of Sta. Cecilia, are striking examples. It is not the saint herself, bestowing her goods from a balcony, who contributes the chief subject, but the masterly group of poor people struggling for them below. The same may be said of the death of the saint, where the admiration and grief of the bystanders are inimitable."—Kugler. "Reclining on a couch, in the centre of the picture, her hand pressed on her bosom, her dying eyes raised to heaven, the saint is breathing her last; while female forms, of exquisite beauty and innocence, are kneeling around, or bending over her. The noble figure of an old man, whose clasped hands and bent brow seem to bespeak a father's affection, appears on one side; and lovely children, in all the playful graces of unconscious infancy, as usual in Domenichino's paintings, by contrast heighten, yet relieve, the deep pathos of the scene. From above, an angel—such an angel as Domenichino alone knew how to paint, a cherub form of light and loveliness—is descending on rapid wing, bearing to the expiring saint the crown and palm of glory."—Eaton's Rome. The copy of Raphael's Sta. Cecilia over the altar is by Guido. The fourth chapel has on the right frescoes by Girolamo Sicciolante, on the left by Pellegrino da Bologna, the altar-piece is by Giacomo del Conte. The fifth chapel has on the right the monument of Agincourt (ob. 1814), the famous archÆologist, on the left that of Guerin the painter. The high altar has an Assumption by Bassano. The first chapel in the left aisle has a St. Sebastian by Massei. In the fifth chapel, of St. Matthew, three pictures by Caravaggio represent the vocation and martyrdom of that saint. "The paintings of Caravaggio at S. Luigi belong to his most comprehensive works. The Martyrdom of St Matthew, with the angel with a palm branch squatting upon a cloud, and a boy running away, screaming, though highly animated, is an offensive production. On the other hand, the Calling of the Apostle may be considered as a genre picture of grand characteristic figures; for instance, those of the money-changers and publican at the table; some of them counting money, others looking up astonished at the entrance of the Saviour."—Kugler. "Over the altar is St. Matthew writing his Gospel; he looks up at the attendant angel, who is behind with outspread wings, and in the act of dictating. On the left is the Calling of St. Matthew: the saint, who has been counting money, rises with one hand on his breast, and turns to follow the Saviour: an old man, with spectacles on his nose, examines with curiosity the personage whose summons has had such a miraculous effect: a boy is slyly appropriating the money which the apostle has thrown down. The third picture is the martyrdom of the saint, who, in the sacerdotal habit, lies extended on a block; while a half-naked executioner raises the sword, and several spectators shrink back with horror. There is nothing dignified or poetical in these representations; and though painted with all that power of effect which characterized Caravaggio, then at the height of his reputation, they have also his coarseness of feeling and execution: the priests were (not without reason) dissatisfied; and it required all the influence of his patron, Cardinal Giustiniani, to induce them to retain the pictures in the church where we now see them."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 146. Amongst the monuments scattered over this church are those of Cardinal d'Ossat, ambassador of Henry IV.; Cardinal de la Grange d'Arquien, father-in-law of Sobieski, who died at the age of 105; Cardinal de la TrÉmouille, ambassador of Louis XIV.; Madame de Montmorin, with an epitaph by Chateaubriand; and Claude Lorraine, who is buried at the TrinitÀ di Monti. The pillars which separate the nave and aisles are of splendid Sicilian jasper. They were intended for S. Ignazio, but when the Order of the Jesuits was dissolved by Clement XIV., he presented them to S. Luigi. The site of this church, the Palazzo Madama, and their adjoining buildings, was once occupied by the baths of Nero. They are commemorated by the name of the small church "S. Salvatore in Thermis." In front of S. Luigi are the Palaces Patrizi and Giustiniani, and, following—to the right—the Via della Sediola, on the left is the entrance to the University of the Sapienza, founded by Innocent IV. in 1244 as a law school. Its buildings were begun by Pius III. and Julius II., and extended by Leo X. on plans of Michael Angelo. The portico was built under Gregory XIII. by Giacomo della Porta. The northern faÇade was erected by Borromini, with the ridiculous church (S. Ivo), built in the form of a bee to flatter Urban VIII., that insect being his device. The building is called the Sapienza, from the motto, "Initium SapientiÆ timor Domini," engraved over the window above the principal entrance. Forty professors teach here all the different branches of law, medicine, theology, philosophy, and philology. Behind the Sapienza is the small Piazza di S. Eustachio, containing on three sides the Giustiniani, Lante, and Maccarini palaces, and celebrated for the festival of the Befana, "The Piazza and all the adjacent streets are lined with booths covered with every kind of plaything for children. These booths are gaily illuminated with rows of candles and the three-wick'd brass lucerne of Rome; and at intervals, painted posts are set into the pavement, crowned The Church of S. Eustachio commemorates one, who, first a brave soldier of the army of Titus in Palestine, became master of the horse under Trajan, and general under Hadrian, and who suffered martyrdom for refusing to "One day, while hunting in the forest, he saw before him a white stag, of marvellous beauty, and he pursued it eagerly, and the stag fled before him, and ascended a high rock. Then Placidus (Eustace was called Placidus before his conversion), looking up, beheld, between the horns of the stag, a cross of radiant light, and on it the image of the crucified Redeemer; and being astonished and dazzled by this vision, he fell on his knees, and a voice which seemed to come from the crucifix cried to him, and said, 'Placidus! why dost thou pursue me? I am Christ, whom thou hast hitherto served without knowing me. Dost thou now believe?' And Placidus fell with his face to the earth, and said, 'Lord, I believe!' And the voice answered, saying, 'Thou shall suffer many tribulations for my sake, and shalt be tried by many temptations; but be strong and of good courage, and I will not forsake thee.' To which Placidus replied, 'Lord, I am content. Do thou give me patience to suffer!' And when he looked up again the glorious vision had departed."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 792. A similar story is told of St. Hubert, St. Julian, and St. Felix. A fresco of St. Peter, by Pierino del Vaga, in this church, was much admired by Vasari, who dilates upon the boldness of its design, the simple folds of its drapery, its careful drawing and judicious treatment. Two streets lead from the Piazza S. Eustachio to— The Pantheon, the most perfect pagan building in the city, built B.C. 27, by Marcus Agrippa, the bosom friend of Augustus CÆsar, and the second husband of his daughter Julia. The inscription in huge letters, perfectly legible from beneath, "M. AGRIPPA. L. F. COS. TERTIUM FECIT," In A.D. 399 the Pantheon was closed as a temple in obedience to a decree of the Emperor Honorius, and in 608 was consecrated as a Christian church by Pope Boniface IV., with the permission of the Emperor Phocas, under the title of Sta. Maria ad Martyres. To this dedication we owe the preservation of the main features of the building, though it had been terribly maltreated. In 663 the Emperor Constans, who had come to Rome with great pretence of devotion to its shrines and relics, and who only staid there twelve days, did not scruple, in spite of its religious dedication, to strip off the tiles of gilt bronze with which the roof was covered, and carry them off with him to Syracuse, where, upon his murder, a few years after, they fell into the hands of the Saracens. In 1087 it was used by the anti-pope Guibert as a fortress, whence he made incursions upon the lawful pope, Victor III., and his protector, the Countess Matilda. In 1101, another anti-pope, Sylvester IV., was elected here. Pope Martin V., after the return from Avignon, attempted the restoration of the Pantheon by clearing away the mass of miserable buildings in which it was encrusted, and his efforts were continued by Eugenius IV., but Urban VIII. (1623—44), though he spent 15,000 scudi upon the Pantheon, and added the two ugly The Pantheon was not originally, as now, below the level of the piazza, but was approached by a flight of five steps. The portico, which is 110 feet long and 44 feet deep, is supported by sixteen grand Corinthian columns of oriental granite, 36 feet in height. The ancient bronze doors remain. On either side are niches, once occupied by colossal statues of Augustus and Agrippa. "Agrippa wished to dedicate the Pantheon to Augustus, but he refused, and only allowed his statue to occupy a niche on the right of the peristyle, while that of Agrippa occupied the niche on the left."—Merivale. The Interior is a rotunda, 143 feet in diameter, covered by a dome. It is only lighted by an aperture in the centre, 28 feet in diameter. Seven great niches around the walls once contained statues of different gods and goddesses, that of Jupiter being the central figure. All the surrounding columns are of giallo-antico, except four, which are of pavonazzetto, painted yellow. It is a proof of the great value and rarity of giallo-antico, that it was always impossible to obtain more to complete the set. "L'intÉrieur du PanthÉon, comme l'extÉrieur, est parfaitement conservÉ, et les Édicules, placÉs dans le pourtour du temple forment les chapelles de l'Église. Jamais la simplicitÉ ne fut alliÉe À la grandeur dans une plus heureuse harmonie. Le jour, tombant d'en haut et glissant le long des colonnes et des parois de marbre, porte dans l'Âme un ... 'Media testudine templi.' En effet, cette coupole surbaissÉe ressemble tout À fait À la carapace d'une tortue."—AmpÈre, Emp. i. 342. "Being deep in talk, it so happened that they found themselves near the majestic, pillared portico and huge black rotundity of the Pantheon. It stands almost at the central point of the labyrinthine intricacies of the modern city, and often presents itself before the bewildered stranger when he is in search of other objects. Hilda, looking up, proposed that they should enter. "They went in, accordingly, and stood in the free space of that great circle, around which are ranged the arched recesses and stately altars, formerly dedicated to heathen gods, but Christianized through twelve centuries gone by. The world has nothing else like the Pantheon. So grand it is, that the pasteboard statues over the lofty cornice do not disturb the effect, any more than the tin crowns and hearts, the dusty artificial flowers, and all manner of trumpery gewgaws, hanging at the saintly shrines. The rust and dinginess that have dimmed the precious marble on the walls; the pavement, with its great squares and rounds of porphyry and granite, cracked crosswise and in a hundred directions, showing how roughly the troublesome ages have trampled here; the grey dome above, with its opening to the sky, as if heaven were looking down into the interior of this place of worship, left unimpeded for prayers to ascend the more freely: all these things make an impression of solemnity, which St. Peter's itself fails to produce. "'I think,' said Kenyon, 'it is to the aperture in the dome—that great eye, gazing heavenward—that the Pantheon owes the peculiarity of its effect. It is so heathenish, as it were—so unlike all the snugness of our modern civilization! Look, too, at the pavement directly beneath the open space! So much rain has fallen there, in the last two thousand years, that it is green with small, fine moss, such as grows over tombstones in damp English churchyards.' "'I like better,' replied Hilda, 'to look at the bright, blue sky, roofing the edifice where the builders left it open. It is very delightful, in a breezy day, to see the masses of white cloud float over the opening, and then the sunshine fall through it again, fitfully, as it does now. Would it be any wonder if we were to see angels hovering there, partly in and ... "'Entrons dans le temple,' dit Corinne: 'vous le voyez, il reste dÉcouvert presque comme il l'Était autrefois. On dit que cette lumiÈre qui venait d'en haut Était l'emblÈme de la divinitÉ supÉrieure À toutes les divinitÉs. Les paÏens ont toujours aimÉ les images symboliques. Il semble en effet que ce langage convient mieux À la religion que la parole. La pluie tombe souvent sur ces parvis de marbre; mais aussi les rayons du soleil viennent Éclairer les priÈres. Quelle sÉrÉnitÉ; quel air de fÊte on remarque dans cet Édifice! Les paÏens ont divinisÉ la vie, et les chrÉtiens ont divinisÉ la mort: tel est l'esprit des deux cultes.'"—Mad. de StaËl. "In the ancient Pantheon, when the music of Christian chaunts rises among the shadowy forms of the old vanished gods painted on the walls, and the light streams down, not from painted windows in the walls, but from the glowing heavens above, every note of the service echoes like a peal of triumph, and fills my heart with thankfulness."—Mrs. Charles. "'Where,' asked Redschid Pasha, on his visit to the Pantheon, 'are the statues of the heathen gods?' 'Of course they were removed when the temple was Christianized,' was the natural answer. 'No,' he replied, 'I would have left them standing to show how the true God had triumphed over them in their own house."—Cardinal Wiseman. "No, great Dome of Agrippa, thou art not Christian! canst not, Strip and replaster and daub and do what they will with thee, be so! Here underneath the great porch of colossal Corinthian columns, Here as I walk, do I dream of the Christian belfries above them; Or, on a bench as I sit and abide for long hours, till thy whole vast Round grows dim as in dreams to my eyes, I repeople thy niches, Not with the martyrs, and saints, and confessors, and virgins, and children, But with the mightier forms of an older, austerer worship; And I recite to myself, how 'eager for battle here Stood Vulcan, here matronal Juno, And, with the bow to his shoulder faithful, He who with pure dew laveth of Castaly His flowing locks, who holdeth of Lycia The oak forest and the wood that bore him, Delos' and Patara's own Apollo.'" A. H. Clough. Some antiquarians have supposed that the aperture at the top of the Pantheon was originally closed by a huge "Pigna," or pine-cone of bronze, like that which crowned the summit of the mausoleum of Hadrian, and this belief has been encouraged by the name of a neighbouring church being S. Giovanni della Pigna. The Pantheon has become the burial-place of painters. Raphael, Annibale Caracci, Taddeo Zucchero, Baldassare Peruzzi, Pierino del Vaga, and Giovanni da Udine, are all buried here. The third chapel on the left contains the tomb of Raphael (born April 6, 1483; died April 6, 1520). From the pen of Cardinal Bembo is the epigram: "Ille hic est Raphael, timuit quo sospite vinci Rerum magna parens, et moriente mori" "Raphael mourut À l'Âge de 37 ans. Son corps resta exposÉ pendant trois jours. Au moment oÙ l'on s'apprÊtait À le descendre dans sa derniÈre demeure, on vit arriver le pape (Leon X.) qui se prosterna, pria quelques instants, bÉnit Raphael, et lui prit pour la derniÈre fois la main, qu'il arrosa de ses larmes (si prostrÒ innanzi l'estinto Rafaello et baciogli quella mano, tra le lagrime). On lui fit de magnifiques funÉrailles, auxquelles assistÈrent les cardinaux, les artistes, &c."—A. Du Pays. "When Raphael went, His heavenly face the mirror of his mind, His mind a temple for all lovely things To flock to and inhabit—when He went, Wrapt in his sable cloak, the cloak he wore, To sleep beneath the venerable Dome, By those attended, who in life had loved, Had worshipped, following in his steps to Fame, ('Twas on an April-day, when Nature smiles,) All Rome was there. But, ere the march began, Ere to receive their charge the bearers came, Who had not sought him? And when all beheld Him, where he lay, how changed from yesterday, Him in that hour cut off, and at his head His last great work; Now on the dead, then on that masterpiece, Now on his face, lifeless and colourless, Then on those forms divine that lived and breathed, And would live on for ages—all were moved; And sighs burst forth, and loudest lamentations." Rogers. Taddeo Zucchero and Annibale Caracci are buried on either side of Raphael. Near the high altar is a monument to Cardinal Gonsalvi (1757—1824), the faithful secretary and minister of Pius VII., by Thorwaldsen. This, however, is only a cenotaph, marking the spot where his heart is preserved. His body rests with that of his beloved brother Andrew in the church of S. Marcello. During the middle ages the pope always officiated here on the day of Pentecost, when, in honour of the descent of the Holy Spirit, showers of white rose-leaves were continually sent down through the aperture during service. "Though plundered of all its brass, except the ring which was necessary to preserve the aperture above; though exposed to repeated fire; though sometimes flooded by the river, and always open to the rain, no monument of equal antiquity is so well preserved as this rotunda. It passed with little alteration from the pagan into the present worship; and so convenient were its niches for the Christian altar, that Michael Angelo, ever studious of ancient beauty, introduced their design as a model in the Catholic church."—Forsyth. "Simple, erect, severe, austere, sublime— Shrine of all saints and temple of all gods, From Jove to Jesus—spared and bless'd by time, Looking tranquillity, while falls or nods Arch, empire, each thing round thee, and man plods His way through thorns to ashes—glorious dome! Shalt thou not last? Time's scythe and tyrant's rods Shiver upon thee—sanctuary and home Of art and piety—Pantheon! pride of Rome!" Byron, Childe Harold. In the Piazza della Rotonda is a small Obelisk found in the Campus Martius. "At a few paces from the streets where meat is sold, you will find gathered round the fountain in the Piazza della Rotonda, a number of bird-fanciers, surrounded by cages in which are multitudes of living birds for sale. Here are Java sparrows, parrots and parroquets, grey thrushes and nightingales, red-breasts (petti rossi), yellow canary-birds, beautiful sweet-singing little cardellini, and gentle ringdoves, all chattering, singing, and cooing together, to the constant splashing of the fountain. Among them, perched on stands, and glaring wisely out of their great yellow eyes, may be seen all sorts of owls, from the great solemn barbigiani, and white-tufted owl, to the curious little civetta, which gives its name to all sharp-witted heartless flirts, and the aziola, which Shelley has celebrated in one of his minor poems."—Story's Roba di Roma. (Following the Via della Rotonda from hence, in the third street on the left is the small semicircular ruin called, from a fancied resemblance to the favourite cake of the people, Arco di Ciambella. This is the only remaining fragment of the baths of Agrippa, unless the Pantheon itself was connected with them.) Behind the Pantheon, is the Piazza della Minerva, where a small Obelisk was erected 1667 by Bernini, on the back of an elephant. It is exactly similar to the obelisk in front of the Pantheon, and they were both found near this site, where they formed part of the decorations of the Campus Martius. "Sapientis Ægypti insculptas obelisco figuras Ab elephanto belluarum fortissimo gestari Quisquis hic vides, documentum intellige RobustÆ mentis esse solidam sapientiam sustinere." One side of the piazza is occupied by the mean ugly front of the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, built in 1370 upon the ruins of a temple of Minerva founded by Pompey. It is the only gothic church in Rome of importance. In 1848—55 it was redecorated with tawdry imitation marbles, which have only a good effect when there is not sufficient light to see them. In spite of this, the interior is very interesting, and its chapels are a perfect museum of relics of art or history. The services, too, in this church were, under the papal government, exceedingly imposing, especially the procession on the night before Christmas, the mass of St. Thomas Aquinas, and that of "the white mule day." Some celebrated divine generally preaches here at 11 A.M. every morning in Lent. Hither, on the feast of the Annunciation, comes the famous "Procession of the White Mule," when the host is borne by the grand almoner riding on the papal mule, followed by the pope in his glass coach, and a long train of cardinals and other dignitaries. Up to the time of Pius VI., it was the pope himself who rode upon the white mule, but Pius VII. was too infirm, and since his time they have given it up. But this procession has continued to be one of the finest spectacles of the kind, and has been an opportunity for a loyal demonstration, balconies being hung with scarlet draperies, and flowers showered down upon the papal On the right of the entrance is the tomb of Diotisalvi, a Florentine knight, ob. 1482. Beginning the circuit of the church by the right aisle, the first chapel has a picture of S. Ludovico Bertrando, by Baciccio, the paintings on the pilasters being by Muziano. In the second, the Colonna Chapel, is the tomb of the late Princess Colonna (Donna Isabella Alvaria of Toledo) and her child, who both died at Albano in the cholera of 1867. The third chapel is that of the Gabrielli family. The fourth is that of the Annunciation. Over its altar is a most interesting picture, shown as a work of Fra Angelico, but more probably that of Benozzo Gozzoli. It represents Monsignore Torquemada attended by an angel, presenting three young girls to the Virgin, who gives them dowries: the Almighty is seen in the clouds. Torquemada was a Dominican Cardinal, who founded the association of the Santissima-Annunziata, which holds its meetings in this chapel, and which annually gives dowries to a number of poor girls, who receive them from the pope when he comes here in state on the 25th of March. On this occasion, the girls who are to receive the dowries are drawn up in two lines in front of the church. Some are distinguished by white wreaths. They are those who are going to "enter into religion," and who consequently receive double the dowry of the others, on the plea that "money placed in the hands of religion bears interest for the poor." Torquemada is himself buried in this chapel, opposite the tomb, by Ambrogio Buonvicino, of his friend Urban VII., Giov. Battista Castagna, 1590,—who was pope only for eleven days. The fifth chapel is the burial-place of the Aldobrandini family. It contains a faded Last Supper, by Baroccio. "The Cenacolo of Baroccio, painted by order of Clement VIII. (1594), is remarkable for an anecdote relating to it. Baroccio, who was not eminent for a correct taste, had in his first sketch reverted to the ancient fashion of placing Satan close behind Judas, whispering in his ear, and tempting him to betray his master. The pope expressed his dissatisfaction,—'che non gli piaceva il demonio se dimesticasse tanto con GesÙ Christo,'—and ordered him to remove the offensive figure."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 277. Here are the fine tombs erected by Clement VIII. (Ippolito Aldobrandini) as soon as he obtained the papacy, to his father and mother. Their architecture is by Giacomo della Porta, but the figures are by Cordieri, the sculptor of Sta. Silvia's statue. At the sides of the mother's tomb are figures emblematical of Charity, by that of the father, figures of Humility and Vanity. Beyond his mother's tomb is a fine statue of Clement VIII. himself (who is buried at Sta. Maria Maggiore), by Ippolito Buzi. "Hippolyte Aldobrandini, qui prit le nom de ClÉment VIII., Était le cinquiÈme fils du cÉlÈbre jurisconsulte Silvestro Aldobrandini, qui, aprÈs avoir professÉ À Pise et joui d'une haute autoritÉ À Florence, avait ÉtÉ condamnÉ À l'exil par le retour au pouvoir des MÉdicis ses ennemis. La vie de Silvestre devint alors pÉnible et calamiteuse. DÉpouillÉ de ses biens, il fut, du moins, toujours ennoblir son malheur par la dignitÉ de son caractÈre. Sa famille prÉsentait un rare assemblage de douces vertus et de jeunes talents qu'une forte Éducation dÉveloppait chaque jour avec puissance. AppelÉ À Rome par Paul III., qui le nomma avocat consistorial, Silvester s'y transporta avec son Épouse, la pieuse Leta Deti, qui, pendant trente-sept ans, fut pour lui comme son bon ange, et avec tous ses enfants, Jean, qui devait Être un jour cardinal; Bernard, qui devint un vaillant guerrier; Thomas, qui prÉparait dÉjÀ peut-Être sa traduction de DiogÈne-LaËrce; Pierre, qui voulut Être jurisconsulte comme son pÈre; et le jeune Hippolyte, un enfant alors, dont les saillies inquiÉtaient le vieillard, car il ne savait comment pourvoir À son Éducation et utiliser cette vivacitÉ de gÉnie qui dÉjÀ brillait The sixth chapel contains two fine cinque-cento tombs; on the left, Benedetto Superanzio, bishop of Nicosa, ob. 1495; on the right, a Spanish bishop, Giovanni da Coca, with frescoes. Close to the former tomb, on the floor, is the grave of (archdeacon) Robert Wilberforce, who died at Albano in 1857. Here we enter the right transept. On the right is a small dark chapel containing a fine Crucifix, attributed to Giotto. The central, or Caraffa Chapel, is dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas, and is covered with well-preserved frescoes. On the right, St. Thomas Aquinas is represented surrounded by allegorical figures, by Filippino Lippi. Over the altar is a beautiful Annunciation, in which a portrait of the donor, Cardinal Olivieri Caraffa, is introduced. Above is the Assumption of the Virgin. On the ceiling are the four Sibyls, by Raffaelino del Garbo. Against the left wall is the tomb of Paul IV., Gio. Pietro Caraffa (1555—59), the great supporter of the Inquisition, the patron of the Jesuits, the persecutor of the Jews (whom he shut up with walls in the Ghetto),—a pope so terrible to look upon, that even Alva, who feared no man, trembled at his awful aspect Such he is represented upon his tomb, with deeply-sunken eyes and strongly-marked features, with one hand raised in blessing—or cursing, and the keys of St. Peter in the other. The tomb was designed by Pirro Ligorio; the statue is the work of Giacomo and Tommaso Casignuola, and being made in marble of different pieces and colours, is cited by Vasari as an instance of a sculptor's "To Jesus Christ, the hope and the life of the faithful; to Paul IV. Caraffa, sovereign pontiff, distinguished amongst all by his eloquence, his learning, and his wisdom; illustrious by his innocence, by his liberality, and by his greatness of soul; to the most ardent champion of the catholic faith, Pius V., sovereign pontiff, has raised this monument of his gratitude and of his piety. He lived eighty-three years, one month, and twenty days, and died the 14th August, 1559, the fifth year of his pontificate." On the transept wall, just outside this chapel, is the beautiful gothic tomb of Guillaume Durandus, bishop of Mende, The first chapel on a line with the choir—the burial-place of the Altieri family—has an altar-piece, by Carlo Maratta, representing five saints canonized by Clement X., presented to the Virgin by St. Peter. On the floor is the incised monument of a bishop of Sutri. The second chapel—which contains a fine cinque-cento tomb—is that of the Rosary. Its ceiling, representing the Mysteries of the Rosary, is by Marcello Venusti; the history of St. Catherine of Siena is by Giovanni de' Vecchi; the large and beautiful Madonna with the Child over the altar is attributed to Fra Angelico. Here is the tomb of Cardinal Capranica of 1470. Beneath the high altar, with lamps always burning before it, is a marble sarcophagus with a beautiful figure, enclosing "St. Catherine was one of twenty-five children born in wedlock to Jacopo and Lupa Benincasa, citizens of Siena. Her father exercised the trade of dyer and fuller. In the year of her birth, 1347, Siena reached the climax of its power and splendour. It was then that the plague of Bocaccio began to rage, which swept off 80,000 citizens, and interrupted the building of the great Duomo. In the midst of so large a family and during these troubled times, Catherine grew almost unnoticed, but it was not long before she manifested her peculiar disposition. At six years old she already saw visions and longed for a monastic life: about the same time she used to collect her childish companions together and preach to them. As she grew her wishes became stronger; she refused the proposals which her parents made that she should marry, and so vexed them by her obstinacy that they imposed on her the most servile duties in their household. These she patiently fulfilled, at the same time pursuing her own vocation with unwearied ardour. She scarcely slept at all, and ate no food but vegetables and a little bread, scourged herself, wore sackcloth, and became emaciated, weak, and half delirious. At length the firmness of her character and the force of her hallucination won the day. Her parents consented to her assuming the Dominican robe, and at the age of thirteen she entered the monastic life. From this moment till her death we see in her the ecstatic, the philanthropist, and the politician combined to a remarkable degree. For three whole years she never left her cell except to go to church, maintaining an almost unbroken silence. Yet, when she returned to the world, convinced at length of having won by prayer and pain the favour of her Lord, it was to preach to infuriated mobs, to toil among men dying of the plague, to execute diplomatic negotiations, to harangue the republic of Florence, to correspond with queens, and to interpose between kings and popes. In the midst of this varied and distracting career she continued to see visions, and to fast and scourge herself. The domestic virtues and the personal wants and wishes of a woman were annihilated in her; she lived for the On the right of the high altar is a statue of St. John, by Obicci,—on the left is the famous statue of Christ, by Michael Angelo. This is one of the sculptures which Francis I. tried hard to obtain for Paris. Its effect is marred by the bronze drapery. Behind, in the choir, are the tombs of two Medici popes. On the left is Leo X., Giovanni de Medici (1513—21). This great pope, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was destined to the papacy from his cradle. He was ordained at seven years old, was made a cardinal at seventeen, and pope at thirty-eight, and at the installation procession to the Lateran, rode upon the same white horse, upon which he had fought and had been taken prisoner at the battle of Ravenna. His reign was one of fÊtes and pleasures. He was the great patron of artists and poets, and Raphael and Ariosto rose into eminence under his protection. His tomb is from a design of Antonio di Sangallo, but the figure of the pope is by Raffaello da Montelupo. Near the foot of Leo X.'s tomb is the flat monumental stone of Cardinal Bembo, his friend, and the friend of Raphael, who died 1547. His epitaph has been changed. The original inscription, half-pagan, half-Christian, ran: On the right of the choir is the tomb, by Sangallo, of Clement VII., Giulio de Medici (1523—34), son of the Giulio who fell in the conspiracy of the Pazzi,—who in his unhappy reign saw the sack of Rome (1527) under the Constable de Bourbon, and the beginning of the separation from England under Henry VIII. The figure of the pope is by Baccio Bandinelli. Among other graves here is that of the English Cardinal Howard, ob. 1694. Just beyond the choir is a passage leading to a door into the Via S. Ignazio. Immediately on the left is the slab tomb of Fra Angelico da Fiesole. It is inscribed: "Hic jacet Vene Pictor Fl. Jo. de Florentia Ordinis prÆdicatorum, 1404. "Non mihi sit laudi quod eram velut alter Apelles, Sed quod lucra tuis omnia, Christe, dabam. Altera nam terris opera exstant, altero coelo. Urbs me Johannem flos tulit EtruriÆ." "Fra Angelico was simple and most holy in his manners,—and let this serve for a token of his simplicity, that Pope Nicholas one morning offering him refreshment, he scrupled to eat flesh without the licence of his superior, forgetful for the moment of the dispensing authority of the pontiff. He shunned altogether the commerce of the world, and living in holiness and in purity, was as loving towards the poor on earth as I think his soul must be now in heaven. He worked incessantly at his art, nor would he ever paint other than sacred subjects. He might have been rich, but cared not to be so, saying that true riches consisted rather in being content with little. He might have ruled over many, but willed it not, saying there was less trouble and hazard of sin in obeying others. Dignity and authority were within his grasp, but he disregarded them, affirming that he sought no other advancement than to escape hell and draw nigh to Paradise. He was most meek and temperate, and by a chaste life loosened himself from the snares of the world, ofttimes saying that the student of painting hath need of quiet and to live without anxiety, and that the dealers in the things of Christ In the same passage are tombs of Cardinal Alessandrino, by Giacomo della Porta; of Cardinal Pimentel, by Bernini; and of Cardinal Bonelli, by Carlo Rainaldi. Beyond this, in the left transept, is the Chapel of S. Domenico, with eight black columns, appropriate to the colour of the Order, and an interesting picture of the saint. Here is the tomb of Benedict XIII., Vincenzo-Maria Orsini (1724—30), by Pietro Bracci. This pope, who had been a Dominican monk, laboured hard in his short reign for the reformation of the Church, and the morals of the clergy. Over a door leading to the Sacristy are frescoes representing the election of Eugenius IV. in 1431, and of Nicholas V. in 1447, which both took place in this church. The altar of the sacristy has a Crucifixion, by Andrea Sacchi. Returning down the left aisle, the second chapel, counting The third chapel is that of S. Vincenzo Ferreri, apostle of the Order of Preachers, with a miracle-working picture, by Bernardo Castelli. The fourth chapel—of the Grazioli family—has on the right a statue of St. Sebastian, by Mino da Fiesole, and over the altar a lovely head of our Saviour, by Perugino. This chapel was purchased by the Grazioli from the old family of Maffei, of which there are some fine tombs. The fifth chapel—of the Patrizi family—contains the famous miraculous picture called "La Madonna Consolatrice degli afflitti," in honour of which Pope Gregory XVI. conceded so many indulgences, as we read by the inscription. "La santitÀ di N. S. Gregorio Papa XVI. con breve in data 17 Sept. 1836. Ho accordato l'indulgenzia plenaria a chiunque confessato e communicato visiterÀ divotamente questa santa imagine della B. Vergine sotto il titolo di consolatrice degli afflitti nella seconda dominica di Luglio e suo ottavo di ciascun anno: concede altresi la parziale indulgenza di 200 giorni in qualunque giorno dell' anno a chiunque almeno contrito visiterÀ la detta S. Immagine: le dette indulgenze poi sono pure applicabili alle benedette anime del purgatorio." The last chapel, belonging to a Spanish nobleman, contains the picture of the Crucifixion, which is said to have conversed with Sta. Rosa di Lima. Near the entrance is the tomb of Cardinal Giacomo Tebaldi, ob. 1466, and beneath it that of Francesco Tornabuoni, by Mino da Fiesole. It was for the tomb of the wife of this Tornabuoni, who died in childbirth, that the wonderful relief of Verocchio, now in the Uffizi at Florence, was executed. In the pavement is the gravestone of Paulus The great Dominican Convent of the Minerva, lately suppressed, was the residence of the General of the Order. It contains the Bibliotheca Casanatensis (so called from its founder, Cardinal Casanata), the largest library in Rome after that of the Vatican, comprising 120,000 printed volumes and 4500 MSS. It is open from 8 to 11 A.M., and 1½ to 3½ P.M. This convent has always been connected with the history of the Inquisition. Here, on June 22, 1633, Galileo was tried before its tribunal for the "heresy" of saying that the earth went round the sun, instead of the sun round the earth, and was forced to recant upon his knees, this "accursed, heretical, and detestable doctrine." As he rose from his humiliation, he is said to have consoled himself by adding, in an undertone, "E pur si muove." When the "Palace of the Holy Office" was stormed by the mob in the revolution of 1848, it was feared that the Dominican convent would have been burnt down. The very beautiful cloister of the convent, which has a vaulted roof richly painted in arabesques, contains grand fifteenth century tombs,—of Cardinal Tiraso, ob. 1502, and of Cardinal Astorgius, ob. 1503. S. Antonino, archbishop of Florence, who lived in the reigns of Eugenius IV. and Nicholas V., was prior of this convent. From the Minerva, the Via del PiÈ di Marmo, so called from a gigantic marble foot which stands on one side of it, leads to the Corso. |
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