FOLLOWING the road which leads to the Temple of Vesta, &c., as far as the Via Savelli, and then turning down past the gateway of the Orsini palace, with its two bears,—we reach the Ponte Quattro Capi.

This was the ancient Pons Fabricius, built of stone in the place of a wooden bridge, A.U.C. 733, by Fabricius, the Curator Viarum. It has two arches, with a small ornamental one in the central pier. In the twelfth century the greater part was faced with brickwork. An inscription, only partly legible, remains. L. FABRICIUS. C. T. CUR. VIAR. FACIUNDUM. CURAVIT. EIDEMQ. PROBAVIT.—Q. LEPIDUS. M. F. M. LOLLIUS. M. F. COS. EX. S. C. PROBAVERUNT. From this inscription the inference has been drawn that the senate always allowed forty years to elapse between the completion of a public work, and the grant to it of their public approval. This bridge, according to Horace, was a favourite spot with those who wished to drown themselves; hence Damasippus would have leaped into the Tiber, if it were not for the precepts of the stoic Stertinius:

The name of the bridge changed with time to "Pons Tarpeius" and "Pons JudÆorum," from the neighbouring Ghetto. It is now called Ponte Quattro Capi, from two busts of the four-headed Janus, which adorn its parapet, and are supposed to have come from the temple of "Janus Geminus," which stood in this neighbourhood.

On crossing this bridge, we are on the Island in the Tiber, the formation of which is ascribed by tradition to the produce of the corn-fields of the Tarquins (cast contemptuously upon the waters after their expulsion), which accumulated here, till soil gathered around them, and a solid piece of land was formed. Of this, AmpÈre says:

On this island, anciently known as the Isola Tiberina, were three temples,—those, namely, of Æsculapius:

of Jupiter:

and of Faunus:

Here also was an altar to the Sabine god Semo-Sancus, whose inscription, legible in the early centuries of Christianity, led various ecclesiastical authors into the error that the words "Semoni Sanco" referred to Simon Magus.[357]

In imperial times the island was used as a prison: among remarkable prisoners immured here was Arvandus, Prefect of Gaul, A.D. 468. In the reign of Claudius sick slaves were exposed and left to die here,—that emperor—by a strange contradiction in one who caused fallen gladiators to be butchered "for the pleasure of seeing them die"—making a law that any slave so exposed should receive his liberty if he recovered. In the middle ages the island was under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Bishop of Porto, who lived in the Franciscan convent. Under Leo X. a fÊte was held here in which Camillo Querno, the papal poet, was crowned with ivy, laurel, and cabbage (!). In 1656 the whole island was appropriated as a hospital for those stricken with the plague,—a singular coincidence for the site of the temple of Æsculapius.

The first building on the left, after passing the bridge, is a fine brick tower, of great historic interest, as the only relic of a castle, built by the family of the Anicii, of which St. Gregory the Great was a member, and two of whom were consuls together under Honorius:

From the Anicii the castle passed to the Gaetani. It was occupied as a fortress by the Countess Matilda, after she had driven the faction of the anti-pope Guibert out of the island, and was the refuge where two successive popes, Victor III. and Urban II., lived under her protection.[358]

The centre of the island is now occupied by the Church and Convent of S. Bartolomeo, which gives it its present name.

The piazza in front of the church is occupied by a pillar, erected at the private expense of Pius IX., to commemorate the opening of the Vatican Council of 1869—70,—adorned with statues of St. Bartholomew, St. Paulinus of Nola, St. Francis, and S. Giovanni di Dio. Here formerly stood an ancient obelisk (the only one of unknown origin). A fragment of it was long preserved at the Villa Albani, whence it is said to have been removed to Urbino. The church, a basilica, was founded by Otho III. c. 1000; its campanile dates from 1118. The nave and aisles are divided by red granite columns, said to be relics of the ancient temple,—as is a marble well-head under the stairs leading to the tribune. This was restored in 1798, and dedicated to St. Adalbert of Gnesen, who bestowed upon the church its great relic, the body of St. Bartholomew, which he asserted to have brought from Beneventum, though the inhabitants of that town profess that they still possess the real body of the apostle, and sent that of St. Paulinus of Nola to Rome instead. The dispute about the possession of this relic ran so high as to lead to a siege of Beneventum in the middle ages. The convent belongs to the Franciscans (Frati-Minori), who will admit male visitors into their pretty little garden at the end of the island, to see the remains of

The Temple of Æsculapius, built after the great plague in Rome, in B.C. 291, when, in accordance with the advice of the Sibylline books, ambassadors were sent to Epidaurus to bring Æsculapius to Rome;—they returned with a statue of the god, but as their vessel sailed up the Tiber, a serpent, which had lain concealed during the voyage, glided from it, and landed on this spot, hailed by the people under the belief that Æsculapius himself had thus come to them. In consequence of this story the form of a ship was given to this end of the island, and its bow may still be seen at the end of the convent garden, with the famous serpent of Æsculapius sculptured upon it in high relief.[359] The curious remains still existing are not of sufficient size to bear out the assertion often made that the whole island was enclosed in the travertine form of a ship, of which the temple of Jupiter at the other end afterwards formed the prow, and the obelisk the mast.

Opposite S. Bartolomeo, on the site of the temple of Faunus, is the Hospital of S. Giovanni Calabita, also called Benfratelli, entirely under the care of the brethren of S. Giovanni di Dio, who cook, nurse, wash, and otherwise do all the work of those who pass under their care, often to the number of 1200 in the course of the year, though the hospital is very small.

A narrow lane near this leads to the other end of the island, where the temple of Jupiter stood. It is worth while to go thither for the sake of the view of the river and its bridges, which is to be obtained from a little quay leading to one of the numerous water-mills which exist near this. These floating Mills (which bear sacred monograms upon their gables) are interesting as having been invented by Belisarius in order to supply the people and garrison with bread, during the siege of Rome by Vitiges, when the Goths had cut the aqueducts, and thus rendered the mills on the Janiculan useless.

The bridge, of one large and two smaller arches, which connects the island with the Trastevere, is now called the Ponte S. Bartolomeo, but was anciently the Pons Cestius, or Gratianus, built A.U.C. 708, by the PrÆtor Lucius Cestius, who was probably father to the Caius Cestius buried near the Porta S. Paolo. It was restored A.D. 370 by the emperors Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian, as is seen from the fragments of a red letter inscription on the inside of the parapet, in which the title "Pontifex Maximus" is ascribed to each—"a tide accepted without hesitation," says Gibbon, "by seven Christian emperors, who were invested with more absolute authority over the religion they had deserted, than over that which they professed."

We now enter the Trastevere, the city "across the Tiber,"—the portion of Rome which is most unaltered from mediÆval times, and whose narrow streets are still overlooked by many ancient towers, gothic windows, and curious fragments of sculpture. The inhabitants on this side differ in many respects from those on the other side of the Tiber. They pride themselves upon being born "Trasteverini," profess to be the direct descendants of the ancient Romans, seldom intermarry with their neighbours, and speak a dialect peculiarly their own. It is said that in their dispositions also they differ from the other Romans, that they are a far more hasty, passionate, and revengeful, as they are a stronger and more vigorous race. The proportion of murders (a crime far less common in Rome than in England) is larger in this than in any other part of the city. This, it is believed, is partly due to the extreme excitement which the Trasteverini display in the pursuit of their national games, especially that of MorrÀ:—

A house with gothic windows on the right, soon after passing the bridge, is pointed out as that once inhabited by the Fornarina, beloved of Raphael, and so well known to us from his portrait of her in the Tribune at Florence.

Crossing the Via Longarina, we find ourselves in the little piazza of S. Benedetto a Piscinuola, where there is a tiny church, with a good brick campanile intersected by terra-cotta mouldings, which occupies the site of the house inhabited by St. Benedict before his retreat to Subiaco. The exterior is uninviting, but the interior very curious; an atrium with antique columns opens to a vaulted chapel (of the same design as the Orto del Paradiso at Sta. Prassede), in which is a picture of the Virgin and Child, revered as that before which St. Benedict was wont to pray. Hence is entered the cell of the saint, of rough-hewn stones. His stone pillow is shown.

The church has ancient pillars, and a rich opus-alexandrinum pavement.

Turning down the Via Longarina towards the river, we pass, on the left, considerable remains of the old mediÆval Castle of the Alberteschi Family, consisting of a block of palatial buildings of handsome masonry, with numerous antique fragments built into them, and a very rich porch sculptured with egg and billet mouldings of c. A.D. 1150, and beyond these, separated from them by a modern street, a high brick tower of c. A.D. 1100. Above one of the windows of this tower, a head of Jupiter is engrafted in the wall.

We now reach the entrance of the Ponte Rotto (described Chap. V.). Close to this bridge is the Church of S. Crispino al Ponte (the saint is buried at S. Lorenzo Pane e Perna). The front is modernized, but the east end displays rich terra-cotta cornices, and is very picturesque. On the river bank below this are the colossal lions' heads mentioned in Chap. V.

Turning up the Via dei Vascellari, we pass on the right, the ancient Palace of the Ponziani Family, once magnificent, but now of humble and rude exterior, and scarcely to be distinguished, except in March, during the festa of Sta. Francesca Romana, when old tapestries are hung out upon its white-washed walls, and the street in front is thickly strewn with box-leaves.

In this house, also, Sta. Francesca Romana died, having come hither from her convent to nurse her son who was ill, and having been then seized with mortal illness herself.

Almost opposite the Ponziani Palace, an alley leads to the small chapel of Sta. Maria in Cappella, which has a good brick campanile, dating from 1090. This building is attached to a hospital for poor women ill of incurable diseases, attended by sisters of charity, and entirely under the patronage of the Doria family.

We now reach the front of the Convent and Church of Sta. Cecilia (facing which is a picturesque mediÆval house), in many ways one of the most interesting buildings in the city.

Cecilia was a noble and rich Roman lady, who lived in the reign of Alexander Severus. She was married at sixteen to Valerian, a heathen, with whom she lived in perpetual virginity, telling him that her guardian angel watched over her by day and night.

At length Valerian and his brother Tiburtius were converted to Christianity by her prayers, and the exhortations of Pope Urban I. The husband and brother were beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to idols, and Cecilia was shortly afterwards condemned by Almachius, prefect of Rome, who was covetous of the great wealth she had inherited by their deaths. She was first shut up in the Sudatorium of her own baths, and a blazing fire was lighted, that she might be destroyed by the hot vapours. But when the bath was opened, she was found still living, "for God," says the legend, "had sent a cooling shower, which had tempered the heat of the fire, and preserved the life of the saint." Almachius, then, who dreaded the consequences of bringing so noble and courageous a victim to public execution, sent a lictor to behead her in her own palace, but he executed his office so ill, that she still lived after the third blow of his axe, after which the Roman law forbade that a victim should be stricken again. "The Christians found her bathed in her blood, and during three days she still preached and taught, like a doctor of the Church, with such sweetness and eloquence, that four hundred pagans were converted. On the third day she was visited by Pope Urban, to whose care she tenderly committed the poor whom she nourished, and to him she bequeathed the palace in which she had lived, that it might be consecrated as a temple to the Saviour. Then, "thanking God that he considered her, a humble woman, worthy to share the glory of his heroes, and with her eyes apparently fixed upon the heavens opening before her, she departed to her heavenly bridegroom, upon the 22nd November, A.D. 280."

The foundation of the church dates from its consecration by Pope Urban I., after the death of St. Cecilia, but it was rebuilt by Paschal I. in 821, and miserably modernized by Cardinal Doria in 1725. The exterior retains its ancient campanile of 1120, and its atrium of marble pillars, evidently collected from pagan edifices and surmounted by a frieze of mosaic, in which medallion heads of Cecilia, Valerian, Tiburtius, Urban I., and others are introduced. In the courtyard of the convent, which belongs to Benedictine nuns, is a fine specimen of the Roman vase called Cantharus, perhaps coeval with St. Cecilia's own residence here.

Right of the door, on entering, is the tomb of Adam of Hertford, Bishop of London, who died 1398, the only one spared from a cruel death, of the cardinals who conspired against Urban VI., and were taken prisoners at Lucera—from fear of King John who was his friend. His sarcophagus is adorned with the arms of England, then three leopards and fleurs-de-lis quartered. On the opposite side of the entrance is the tomb of Cardinal Fortiguerra, conspicuous in the contests of Pius II. and Paul II. with the Malatestas and Savellis in the fifteenth century. The drapery is a beautiful specimen of the delicate carving of detail during that period.

The altar canopy, which bears the name of its artist, Arnolphus, and the date 1286, is a fine specimen of gothic work, and has statuettes of Cecilia, Valerian, Tiburtius, and Urban. Beneath the altar is the famous statue of St. Cecilia.

In the archives of the Vatican remains an account written by Pope Paschal I. (A.D. 817—24) himself, describing how, "yielding to the infirmity of the flesh," he fell asleep in his chair during the early morning service at St. Peter's, with his mind pre-occupied with a longing to find the burial-place of Cecilia, and discover her relics. Then in a glorified vision the virgin-saint appeared before him, and revealed the spot where she lay, with her husband and brother-in-law, in the catacomb of Calixtus, and there they were found, and transported to her church on the following day.

In the sixteenth century, Sfondrato, titular cardinal of the church, opened the tomb of the martyr, when the embalmed body of Cecilia was found, as it had been previously found by Paschal, robed in gold tissue, with linen clothes steeped in blood at her feet, "not lying upon the back, like a body in a tomb, but upon its right side, like a virgin in her bed, with her knees modestly drawn together, and offering the appearance of sleep." Pope Clement VIII. and all the people of Rome rushed to look upon the saint, who was afterwards enclosed as she was found, in a shrine of cypress wood cased in silver. But before she was again hidden from sight, the greatest artist of the day, Stefano Maderno, was called in by Sfondrato, to sculpture the marble portrait which we now see lying upon her grave. Sfondrato (whose tomb is in this church) also enriched her shrine with the ninety-six silver lamps which burn constantly before it. In regarding this statue it will be remembered that Cecilia was not beheaded, but wounded in the throat,—a gold circlet conceals the wound.

The tribune is adorned with mosaics of the ninth century, erected in the lifetime of Paschal I. (see his square nimbus). The Saviour is seen in the act of benediction, robed in gold: at his side are SS. Peter and Paul, St. Cecilia and St. Valerian, St. Paschal I. carrying the model of his church, and St. Agatha, whom he joined with Cecilia in its dedication. The mystic palm-trees and the phoenix, the emblem of eternity, are also represented, and, beneath, the four rivers, and the twelve sheep, emblematical of the apostles, issuing from the gates of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, to the adoration of the spotless Lamb. The picture of St. Cecilia behind the altar is attributed to Guido.

At the end of the right aisle is an ancient fresco representing the dream of Pope Paschal,—the (mitred) pope asleep upon his throne, and the saint appearing before him in a rich robe adorned with gems. This is the last of a series of frescoes which once existed in the portico of the church. The rest were destroyed in the seventeenth century. There are copies of them in the Barberini Library, viz.

1. The marriage feast of Valerian and Cecilia.
2. Cecilia persuades Valerian to seek for St. Urban.
3. Valerian rides forth to seek for Urban.
4. Valerian is baptized.
5. An Angel crowns Cecilia and Valerian.
6. Cecilia converts her executioners.
7. Cecilia suffers in the bath.
8. The Martyrdom of Cecilia.
9. The Burial of Cecilia.
10. The dream of Paschal.

Opening out of the same aisle are two chambers in the house of St. Cecilia, one the sudatorium of her baths, in which she was immured, actually retaining the pipes and calorifers of an ancient Roman bath.

The Festa of St. Cecilia is observed in this church on November 22nd, when—

—"rapt Cecilia, seraph-haunted queen of harmony"—[360]

is honoured in beautiful music from the papal choir assembled here. Visitors to Bologna will recollect the glorious figure of St. Cecilia by Raphael, rapt in ecstasy, and surrounded by instruments of music. This association with Cecilia probably arises from the tradition of the church, which tells how Valerian, returning from baptism by Pope Urban, found her singing hymns of triumph for his conversion, of which he had supposed her to be ignorant, and that when the bath was opened after her three days' imprisonment, she was again found singing the praises of her Saviour.

It is said that "she sang with such ravishing sweetness, that even the angels descended from heaven to listen to her, or to join their voices with hers."

The antiphons sung upon her festival are:

And the anthem:

It will be remembered that Cecilia is one of the chosen saints daily commemorated in the canon of the mass.

Just beyond St. Cecilia is the immense Hospital of S. Michele, founded by Cardinal Odescalchi, nephew of Innocent XI., in 1693, as a refuge for vagabond children, where they might be properly brought up and taught a trade. Innocent XII. (Pignatelli) added to this foundation a hospital for sick persons of both sexes, and each succeeding pope has increased the buildings and their endowment. The establishment is now divided into an asylum for old men and women, a school with ateliers for boys and girls, and a penitentiary ("Casa delle Donne cattive"). A large church was attached to the hospital by Leo XII. No old men are admitted who have not inhabited Rome for five years; if they are still able to work a small daily task is given to them. The old women, as long as they can work, are obliged to mend and wash the linen of the establishment. The boys, for the most part orphans, are received at the age of eleven. The girls receive a dowry of 300 francs if they marry, but double that sum if they consent to enter a convent. A printing press is attached to the hospital.

S. Michele occupies the site of the sacred grove of the goddess Furina (not of the Furies), where Caius Gracchus was killed, B.C. 123. Protected by his friends, he escaped from the Aventine, where he had first taken refuge, and crossed the Pons Sublicius. A single slave reached the grove of Furina with him, who having in vain sought for a horse to continue their flight, first slew his master and then himself. One Septimuleius then cut off the head of Gracchus, and—a proclamation having been issued that any one who brought the head of Caius Gracchus should receive its weight in gold—first filled it with lead, and then carried it on a spear to the consul Opimius, who paid him his blood-money.

At the end of this street is the Porta Portese, built by Urban VIII., through which runs the road to Porto and Fiumicino.

Outside this gate was the site of the camp of Tarquin,—afterwards given by the senate to Mutius-ScÆvola, for his bravery in the camp of Lars Porsenna. The vineyards here have an interest to Roman Catholics as the scene of one of the miracles attributed to Sta. Francesca Romana.

"One fine sunny January day, Francesca and her companions had worked since dawn in the vineyards of the Porta Portese. They had worked hard for several hours, and then suddenly remembered that they had brought no provisions with them. They soon became faint and hungry, and, above all, very thirsty. Perna, the youngest of all the oblates, was particularly heated and tired, and asked permission of the Mother Superior to go to drink water at a fountain some way off on the public road.

"'Be patient, my child,' Francesca answered, and they went on with their work; but Francesca withdrawing aside, knelt down, and said, 'Lord Jesus, I have been thoughtless in forgetting to provide food for my sisters,—help us in our need.'

"Perna, who had kept near the Mother Superior, said to herself, with some impatience, 'It would be more to the purpose to take us home at once.' Then Francesca, turning to her, said, 'My child, you do not trust in God; look up and see.' And Perna saw a vine entwined around a tree, whose dead and leafless branches were loaded with grapes. In speechless astonishment the oblates assembled around the tree, for they had all seen its bare and withered branches. Twenty times at least they had passed before it, and the season for grapes was gone by. There were exactly as many bunches as persons present.'—See Lady G. Fullerton's Life of Sta. F. Romana.