"When condemned by the college of pontifices, the vestal was stripped of her vittæ and other badges of office, was scourged, was attired like a corpse, placed in a close litter, and borne through the forum, attended by her weeping kindred with all the ceremonies of a real funeral, to the Campus Sceleratus, within the city walls, close to the Colline gate. There a small vault underground had been previously prepared, containing a couch, a lamp, and a table with a little food. The Pontifex Maximus, having lifted up his hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the litter, led forth the culprit, and placing her on the steps of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell, delivered her over to the common executioner and his assistants, who conducted her down, drew up the ladder, and having filled the pit with earth until the surface was level with the surrounding ground, left her to perish deprived of all the tributes of respect usually paid to the spirits of the departed. In every case the paramour was publicly scourged to death in the forum."—Smith's Dict. of Antiquities.
"A Vignaiuolo showed us in the Gardens of Sallust a hole, through which he said those vestal virgins were put who had violated their vows of chastity. While we were listening to their story, some pretty Contadini came up to us attended by their rustic swains, and after looking into the hole, pitied the vestal virgins—'Poverine,' shrugged their shoulders, and laughing, thanked their stars and the Madonna, that poor Fanciulle were not buried alive for such things now-a-days."—Eaton's Rome.
A turn in the road now leads to the gate of the beautiful Villa Ludovisi, to which it has been very difficult to obtain admittance since the Sardinian occupation. The excellent proprietors, the Duke and Duchess Sora, have lived at Foligno in complete seclusion, since the change of government.
The villa was built early in the last century by Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of Gregory XV., from whom it descended to the Prince of Piombino, father of Duke Sora. The grounds, which are of an extent extraordinary when considered as being within the walls of a capital, were laid out by Le Nôtre, and are in the stiff French style of high clipped hedges, and avenues adorned with vases and sarcophagi. Near the entrance is a pretty fountain shaded by a huge plane-tree; the Quirinal is seen in the distance.
To the right of the entrance is the principal casino of sculptures, a very beautiful collection (catalogues on the spot). Especially remarkable are,—the grand colossal head, known as the "Ludovisi Juno" (41);
"A Rome, une Junon surpasse toutes les autres par son aspect et rappelle la Junon de Polyclète par sa majesté: c'est la célèbre Junon Ludovisi que Goethe admirait tant, et devant laquelle dans un accès de dévotion païenne,—seul genre de dévotion qu'il ait connu à Rome,—il faisait, nous dit-il, sa prière du matin.
"Cette tête colossale de Junon offre bien les caractères de la sculpture de Polyclète; la gravité, la grandeur, la dignité; mais ainsi que dans d'autres Junons qu'on peut supposer avoir été sculptées à Rome, l'imitateur de Polyclète, on doit le croire, adoucit la sévérité, je dirai presque la dureté de l'original, telle qu'elle se montre sur les médailles d'Argos, et celles d'Elis."—Ampère, Hist. Romaine, iii. 264.
"No words can give a true impression of the colossal head of Juno in the Villa Ludovisi: it is like a song of Homer."—Goethe.
—the Statue of Mars seated (I), with a Cupid at his feet, found in the portico of Octavia, and restored by Bernini;
"II y avait bien un Mars assis de Scopas, et ce Mars était à Rome; mais un dieu dans son temple devait être assis sur un trône et non sur un rocher, comme le prétendu Mars Ludovisi. On a donc eu raison, selon moi, de reconnaître dans cette belle statue un Achille, à l'expression pensive de son visage, et surtout à l'attitude caractéristique que le sculpteur lui a donnée, lui faisant embrasser son genou avec ses deux mains, attitude qui, dans le langage de la sculpture antique, était le signe d'une méditation douloureuse. On citait comme très-beau un Achille de Silanion, sculpteur grec habile à rendre les sentiments violents. D'après cela, son Achille pouvait être un Achille indigné; c'est de lui que viendrait l'Achille de la villa Ludovisi. L'expression de dépit, plus énergique dans l'original, eût été adoucie dans une admirable copie.'—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 437.
—and No. 28;
"Le beau groupe auquel on avait donné le nom d'Arria et Pætus; il fallait fermer les yeux à l'évidence pour voir un Romain du temps de Claude dans ce chef barbare qui, après avoir tué sa femme, se frappe lui-même d'un coup mortel. Le type du visage, la chevelure, le caractère de l'action, tout est gaulois; la manière même dont s'accomplit l'immolation volontaire montre que ce n'est pas un Romain que nous avons devant les yeux; un Romain se tuait plus simplement, avec moins de fracas. Le principal personnage du groupe Ludovisi conserve en ce moment suprême quelque chose de triomphant et de théâtral; soulevant d'une main sa femme affaissée sous le coup qu'il lui a porté, de l'autre il enfonce son épée dans sa poitrine. La tête haute, l'œil tourné vers le ciel, il semble répéter le mot de sa race: 'Je ne crains qu'une chose, c'est que le ciel tombe sur ma tête.'"—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 207.
At the end of the gardens, to the left, is another casino, from whose roof a most beautiful view may be obtained. Here are the most famous frescoes of Guercino. On the ceiling of the ground-floor, Aurora driving away Night and scattering flowers in her course, with Evening and Daybreak in the lunettes; and, on the first floor, "Fame" attended by Force and Virtue. Smaller rooms on the ground floor have landscapes by Guercino and Domenichino, and some groups of Cupids by T. Zucchero; on the staircase is a fine bas-relief of two Cupids dragging a quiver.
"The prophets and sibyls of Guercino da Cento (1590—1666), and his Aurora, in a garden pavilion of the Villa Ludovisi, at Rome, almost attain to the effect of oil paintings in their glowing colouring combined with the broad and dark masses of shadow."—Kugler.
"In allegorising nature, Guercino imitates the deep shades of night, the twilight grey, and the irradiations of morning, with all the magic of chiaroscuro; but his figures are too mortal for the region where they move."—Forsyth.
In B.C. 82, the district near the Porta Collina, now occupied by the Villa Ludovisi, was the scene of a great battle for the very existence of Rome, between Sylla, and the Samnites and Lucanians under the Samnite general Pontius Telesinus, who declared he would raze the city to the ground if he were victorious. The left wing under Sylla was put to flight; but the right wing, commanded by Crassus, enabled him to restore the battle, and to gain a complete victory; fifty thousand men fell on each side.
The road now runs along the ridge of the hill to the Porta Salara, by which Alaric entered Rome through the treachery of the Isaurian guard, on the 24th of August, 410.
Passing through the gate and turning to the right along the outside of the wall, we may see, against the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi, the two round towers of the now closed Porta Pinciana, restored by Belisarius. This is the place where tradition declares that in his declining years the great general sat begging, with the cry, "Date obolum Belisario."
"A côté de la Porta Pinciana, on lit sur une pierre les paroles célèbres: 'Donnez une obole à Bélisaire'; mais cette inscription est moderne, comme la légende à laquelle elle fait allusion, et qu'on ne trouve dans nul historien contemporain de Bélisaire. Bélisaire ne demanda jamais l'aumône, et si le cicerone montre encore aux voyageurs l'endroit où, vieux et aveugle, il implorait une obole de la charité des passants, c'est que près de ce lieu il avait, sur la colline du Pincio, son palais, situé entre les jardins de Lucullus et les jardins de Salluste, et digne probablement de ce double voisinage par sa magnificence. Ce qui est vrai, c'est que le vainqueur des Goths et des Vandales fut disgracié par Justinien, grâce aux intrigues de Théodora. La légende, comme presque toujours, a exprimé par une fable une vérité, l'ingratitude si fréquente des souverains envers ceux qui leur ont rendu lus plus grands services."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 396.
A short distance from the gate, along the Via Salara, is, on the right, the Villa Albani (shown on Tuesdays by an order), built in 1760 by Cardinal Alessandro Albani,—sold in 1834 to the Count of Castelbarco, and in 1868 to Prince Torlonia, its present possessor. The scene from its garden terrace is among the loveliest of Roman pictures, the view of the delicate Sabine mountains—Monte Gennaro, with the Montecelli beneath it—and in the middle distance, the churches of Sant' Agnese and Sta. Costanza, relieved by dark cypresses and a graceful fountain.
The Casino, which is, in fact, a magnificent palace, is remarkable as having been built from Cardinal Albani's own designs, Carlo Marchionni having been only employed to see that they were carried out.
"Here is a villa of exquisite design, planned by a profound antiquary. Here Cardinal Albani, having spent his life in collecting ancient sculpture, formed such porticoes and such saloons to receive it as an old Roman would have done: porticoes where the statues stood free upon the pavement between columns proportioned to their stature; saloons which were not stocked but embellished with families of allied statues, and seemed full without a crowd. Here Winckelmann grew into an antiquary under the cardinal's patronage and instruction; and here he projected his history of art, which brings this collection continually into view."—Forsyth's Italy.
The collection of sculptures is much reduced since the French invasion, when 294 of the finest specimens were carried off by Napoleon to Paris, where they were sold by Prince Albani upon their restoration in 1815, as he was unwilling to bear the expense of transport. The greater proportion of the remaining statues are of no great importance. Those of the imperial family in the vestibule are interesting—those of Julius and Augustus Cæsar, of Agrippina wife of Germanicus, and of Faustina, are seated; most of the heads have been restored.
Conspicuous among the treasures of this villa, are the sarcophagus with reliefs of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, pronounced by Winckelmann to be one of the finest in existence; a head of Æsop, supposed to be after Lysippus; and the bronze "Apollo Sauroctonos," considered by Winckelmann to be the original statue by Praxiteles described by Pliny, and the most beautiful bronze statue in the world,—it was found on the Aventine. But most important of all is the famous relievo of Antinous crowned with lotus, from the Villa Adriana (over the chimney-piece of the first room to the right of the saloon), supposed to have formed part of an apotheosis of Antinous:
"As fresh, and as highly finished, as if it had just left the studio of the sculptor, this work, after the Apollo and the Laocoon, is perhaps the most beautiful monument of antiquity which time has transmitted to us."—Winckelmann, Hist. de l'Art, vi. ch. 7.
Inferior only to this, is another bas-relief, also over a chimney-piece,—the parting of Orpheus and Eurydice.
"Les deux époux vont se quitter. Eurydice attache sur Orphée un profond regard d'adieu. Sa main est posée sur l'épaule de son époux, geste ordinaire dans les groupes qui expriment la séparation de ceux qui s'aiment. La main d'Orphée dégage doucement celle d'Eurydice, tandis que Mercure fait de la sienne un léger mouvement pour l'entraîner. Dans ce léger mouvement est tout leur sort; l'effet le plus pathétique est produit par la composition la plus simple; l'émotion la plus pénétrante s'exhale de la sculpture la plus tranquille."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 256.
The villa also contains a collection of pictures, of which the most interesting are the sketches of Giulio Romano for the frescoes of the story of Psyche in the Palazzo del Te at Mantua, and two fine pictures by Luca Signorelli and Perugino, in compartments, in the first room on the left of the saloon. All the works of art have lately been rearranged. The Caffè and the Bigliardo—(reached by an avenue of oaks, which, being filled with ancient tombstones, has the effect of a cemetery)—contain more statues, but of less importance.
Beyond the villa, the Via Salara (said by Pliny to derive its name from the salt of Ostia exported to the north by this route) passes on the left the site of Antemnæ, and crosses the Anio two miles from the city, by the Ponte Salara, destroyed by the Roman government in the terror of Garibaldi's approach from Monte Rotondo, in 1867. This bridge was a restoration by Narses, in the sixth century, but stood on the foundations of that famous Ponte Salara, upon which Titus Manlius fought the Gaulish giant, and cutting off his head, carried off the golden collar which earned him the name of Torquatus.
"Manlius prend un bouclier léger de fantassin, une épée espagnole commode pour combattre de très-près, et s'avance à la rencontre du Barbare. Les deux champions, isolés sur le pont, comme sur un théâtre, se joignent au milieu. Le Barbare portait un vêtement bariolé et une armure ornée de dessins et d'incrustations dorées, conforme au caractère de sa race, aussi vaine que vaillante. Les armes du Romain étaient bonnes, mais sans éclat. Point chez lui, comme chez son adversaire, de chant, de transports, d'armes agitées avec fureur, mais un cœur plein de courage et d'une colère muette qu'il réservait tout entière pour le combat.
"Le Gaulois, qui dépassait son adversaire de toute la tête, met en avant son bouclier et fait tomber pesamment son glaive sur l'armure de son adversaire. Celui-ci le heurte deux fois de son bouclier, le force à reculer, le trouble, et se glissant alors entre le bouclier et le corps du Gaulois, de deux coups rapidement portés lui ouvre le ventre. Quand le grand corps est tombé, Manlius lui coupe la tête, et, ramassant le collier de son ennemi décapité, jette tout sanglant sur son cou ce collier, le torques, propre aux Gaulois, et qu'on peut voir au Capitole porté par celui qu'on appelle à tort le gladiateur mourant. Un soldat donne, en plaisantant, à Manlius le sobriquet de Torquatus, que sa famille a toujours été fière de porter."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 10.
Beyond the ruins of the bridge, is a huge tomb with a tower, now used as an Osteria. Hence, the road leads by the Villa of Phaon (Villa Spada) where Nero died, and the site of Fidenæ, now known as Castel Giubeleo, to Monte Rotondo.
The district beyond the Porta Salara, and that extending between the Via Salara and the Monte Parioli, are completely undermined by catacombs (see Ch. IX.). The most important are—1. Nearest the gate, the Catacomb of St. Felicitas, which had three tiers of galleries, adorned by Pope Boniface I., who took refuge there from persecution,—now much dilapidated. Over this cemetery was a church, now destroyed, which is mentioned by William of Malmesbury. 2. The Catacomb of SS. Thraso and Saturninus, much decorated with the usual paintings. 3. The Catacomb of Sta. Priscilla, near the descent to the Anio. This cemetery is of great interest, from the number of martyrs' graves it contains, and from its peculiar construction in an ancient arenarium, pillars and walls of masonry being added throughout the central part, in order to sustain the tufa walls. Here were buried—probably because the entrance to the Chapel of the Popes at St. Calixtus was blocked up to preserve it in the persecution under Diocletian—Pope St. Marcellinus (ob. 308), and Pope St. Marcellus (ob. 310), who was sent into exile by Maxentius. On the tomb of the latter was placed, in finely cut type, the following epitaph by Pope Damasus:—
"The truth-speaking pope, because he preached that the lapsed should weep for their crimes, was bitterly hated by all those unhappy ones. Hence followed fury, hatred, discord, contentions, sedition, and slaughter, and the bonds of peace were ruptured. For the crime of another, who in (a time of) peace had denied Christ, (the pontiff) was expelled the shores of his country by the cruelty of the tyrant. These things Damasus having learnt, was desirous to narrate briefly, that people might recognise the merit of Marcellus."[242]
Several of the paintings in this catacomb are remarkable; especially that of a woman with a child, claimed by the Roman Church as one of the earliest representations of the Virgin. The painting is thus described by Northcote:—
"De Rossi unhesitatingly says that he believes this painting of our Blessed Lady to belong almost to the apostolic age. It is to be seen on the vaulted roof of a loculus, and represents the Blessed Virgin seated, her head partially covered by a short light veil, and with the Holy Child in her arms; opposite to her stands a man, clothed in the pallium, holding a volume in one hand, and with the other pointing to a star which appears above and between the figures. This star almost always accompanies our Blessed Lady, both in paintings and in sculptures, where there is an obvious historical excuse for it, e. g., when she is represented with the Magi offering their gifts, or by the side of the manger with the ox and the ass; but with a single figure, as in the present instance, it is unusual. The most obvious conjecture would be that the figure was meant for St. Joseph, or for one of the Magi. De Rossi, however, gives many reasons for preferring the prophet Isaias, whose prophecies concerning the Messias abound with imagery borrowed from light."—Roma Sotterranea.
This catacomb is one of the oldest, Sta. Priscilla, from whom it is named, being supposed to have been the mother of Pudens, and a contemporary of the apostles. Her granddaughters, Prassede and Pudenziana, were buried here before the removal of their relics to the church on the Esquiline. With this cemetery is connected the extraordinary history of the manufacture of Sta. Filomena, now one of the most popular saints in Italy, and one towards whom idolatry is carried out with frantic enthusiasm both at Domo d'Ossola and in some of the Neapolitan States. The story of this saint is best told in the words of Mrs. Jameson.
"In the year 1802, while some excavations were going forward in the catacomb of Priscilla, a sepulchre was discovered containing the skeleton of a young female; on the exterior were rudely painted some of the symbols constantly recurring in these chambers of the dead; an anchor, an olive branch (emblems of Hope and Peace), a scourge, two arrows, and a javelin: above them the following inscription, of which the beginning and end were destroyed:—
——LUMENA PAX TE CUM FI——
"The remains, reasonably supposed to be those of one of the early martyrs for the faith, were sealed up and deposited in the treasury of relics in the Lateran; here they remained for some years unthought of. On the return of Pius VII. from France, a Neapolitan prelate was sent to congratulate him. One of the priests in his train, who wished to create a sensation in his district, where the long residence of the French had probably caused some decay of piety, begged for a few relics to carry home, and these recently discovered remains were bestowed on him; the inscription was translated somewhat freely, to signify Santa Philumena, rest in peace. Another priest, whose name is suppressed because of his great humility, was favoured by a vision in the broad noon-day, in which he beheld the glorious virgin Filomena, who was pleased to reveal to him that she had suffered death for preferring the Christian faith and her vow of chastity to the addresses of the emperor, who wished to make her his wife. This vision leaving much of her history obscure, a certain young artist, whose name is also suppressed, perhaps because of his great humility, was informed in a vision that the emperor alluded to was Diocletian, and at the same time the torments and persecutions suffered by the Christian virgin Filomena, as well as her wonderful constancy, were also revealed to him. There were some difficulties in the way of the Emperor Diocletian, which incline the writer of the historical account to incline to the opinion that the young artist in his wisdom may have made a mistake, and that the emperor may have been not Diocletian but Maximian. The facts, however, now admitted of no doubt; the relics were carried by the priest Francesco da Lucia to Naples; they were enclosed in a case of wood resembling in form the human body; this figure was habited in a petticoat of white satin, and over it a crimson tunic after the Greek fashion; the face was painted to represent nature, a garland of flowers was placed on the head, and in the hands a lily and a javelin with the point reversed to express her purity and her martyrdom; then she was laid in a half-sitting posture in a sarcophagus, of which the sides were glass, and, after lying for some time in state in the chapel of the Torres family in the Church of Sant' Angiolo, she was carried in grand procession to Mugnano, a little town about twenty miles from Naples, amid the acclamations of the people, working many and surprising miracles by the way.... Such is the legend of Sta. Filomena, and such the authority on which she has become within the last twenty years one of the most popular saints in Italy."—Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 671.
It is hoped that very interesting relics may still be discovered in this Catacomb.
"In an account preserved by St. Gregory of Tours, we are told that under Numerianus, the martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria were put to death in an arenaria, and that a great number of the faithful having been seen entering a subterranean crypt on the Via Salara, to visit their tombs, the heathen emperor caused the entrance to be hastily built up, and a vast mound of sand and stone to be heaped in front of it, so that they might be all buried alive, even as the martyrs whom they had come to venerate. St. Gregory adds, that when the tombs of these martyrs were re-discovered, after the ages of persecution had ceased, there were found with them, not only the relics of those worshippers who had been thus cruelly put to death, skeletons of men, women, and children lying on the floor, but also the silver cruets (urcei argentei) which they had taken down with them for the celebration of the sacred mysteries. St. Damasus was unwilling to destroy so touching a memorial of past ages. He abstained from making any of those changes by which he usually decorated the martyrs' tombs, but contented himself with setting up one of his invaluable historical inscriptions, and opening a window in the adjacent wall or rock, that all might see, without disturbing, this monument so unique in its kind—this Christian Pompeii in miniature. These things might still be seen in St. Gregory's time, in the sixth century; and De Rossi holds out hopes that some traces of them may be restored even to our own generation, some fragments of the inscription perhaps, or even the window itself through which our ancestors once saw so moving a spectacle, assisting, as it were, at a mass celebrated in the third century."—Roma Sotterranea, p. 88.
Returning to the Porta Salara, and following the walls, we reach the Porta Pia, built, as it is now seen, by Pius IX.—very ugly, but appropriately decorated with statues of St. Agnes and St. Alexander, to whose shrines it leads. The statues lost their heads in the capture of Rome in 1870 by the Italian troops, who entered the city by a breach in the walls close to this. A little to the right was the Porta Nomentana, flanked by round towers, closed by Pius IV. It was by this gate that the oppressed Roman people retreated to the Mons Sacer—and that Nero fled.
"Suivons-le du Grand-Cirque à la porte Nomentane. Quel spectacle! Néron, accoutumé à toutes les recherches de la volupté, s'avance à cheval, les pieds nus, en chemise, couvert d'un vieux manteau dont la couleur était passée, un mouchoir sur le visage. Quatre personnes seulement l'accompagnent; parmi elles est ce Sporus, que dans un jour d'indicible folie il avait publiquement épousé. Il sent la terre trembler, il voit les éclairs au ciel: Néron a peur. Tous ceux qu'il a fait mourir lui apparaissent et semblent se précipiter sur lui. Nous voici à la porte Nomentane, qui touche au Camp des Prétoriens. Néron reconnaît ce lieu où, il y a quinze ans, suivant alors le chemin qu'il vient de suivre, il est venu se faire reconnaître empereur par les prétoriens. En passant sous les murs de leur camp, vers lequel son destin le ramène, il les entend former des vœux pour Galba, et lancer des imprécations contre lui. Un passant lui dit: 'Voilà des gens qui cherchent Néron.' Son cheval se cabre au milieu de la route: c'est qu'il a flairé un cadavre. Le mouchoir qui couvrait son visage tombe; un prétorien qui se trouvait là le ramasse et le rend à l'empereur, qu'il salue par son nom. A chacun de ces incidents son effroi redouble. Enfin il est arrivé à un petit chemin qui s'ouvre à notre gauche, dans la direction de la voie Salara, parallèle à la voie Nomentane. C'est entre ces deux voies qu'était la villa de Phaon, à quatre milles de Rome. Pour l'attendre, Néron, qui a mis pied à terre, s'enfonce à travers un fourré d'épines et un champ de roseaux comme il s'en trouve tant dans la Campagne de Rome; il a peine de s'y frayer un chemin; il arrive ainsi au mur de derrière de la villa. Près de là était un de ces antres creusés pour l'extraction du sable volcanique, appelé pouzzolane, tels qu'on en voit encore de ce côté. Phaon engage le fugitif à s'y cacher; il refuse. On fait un trou dans la muraille de la villa par où il pénètre, marchant quatre pieds, dans l'intérieur. Il entre dans une petite salle et se couche sur un lit formé d'un méchant matelas sur lequel on avait jeté un vieux manteau. Ceux qui l'entourent le pressent de mourir pour échapper aux outrages et au supplice. Il essaye à plusieurs reprises de se donner la mort et n'y peut se résoudre; il pleure. Enfin, en entendant les cavaliers qui venaient le saisir, il cite un vers grec, fait un effort et se tue avec le secours d'un affranchi."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 65.
Immediately outside the Porta Pia is the entrance of the beautiful Villa Patrizi, whose grounds enclose the small Catacomb of St. Nicomedus. Then comes the Villa Lezzani, where Sta. Giustina is buried in a chapel, and where her festa is observed on the 25th of October.
Beyond this is the ridiculous Villa Torlonia (shown with an order on Wednesdays from 11 to 4, but not worth seeing), sprinkled with mock ruins.
At little more than a mile from the gate the road reaches the Basilica of St' Agnese fuori le Mura, founded by Constantine at the request of his daughter Constantia, in honour of the virgin martyr buried in the neighbouring catacomb; but rebuilt 625—38 by Honorius I. It was altered in 1490 by Innocent VIII., but retains more of its ancient character than most of the Roman churches. The polychrome decorations of the interior, and the rebuilding of the monastery, were carried out at the expense of Pius IX., as a thank-offering for his escape, when he fell through the floor here into a cellar, with his cardinals and attendants, on April 15, 1855. The scene is represented in a large fresco by Domenico Tojetti, in a chamber on the right of the courtyard.
The approach to the church is by a picturesque staircase of forty-five ancient marble steps, lined with inscriptions from the catacombs. The nave is divided from the aisles by sixteen columns, four of which are of "porta-santa" and two of "pavonazzetto." A smaller range of columns above these supports the roof of a triforium, which is on a level with the road. The baldacchino, erected in 1614, is supported by four porphyry columns. Beneath is the shrine of St. Agnes surmounted by her statue, an antique of oriental alabaster, with modern head, and hands of gilt bronze. The mosaics of the tribune, representing St. Agnes between Popes Honorius I. and Symmachus, are of the seventh century. Beneath, is an ancient episcopal chair.
The second chapel on the right has a beautiful mosaic altar, and a relief of SS. Stephen and Laurence of 1490. The third chapel is that of St. Emerentiana, foster-sister of St. Agnes, who was discovered praying beside the tomb of her friend, and was stoned to death because she refused to sacrifice to idols.
"So ancient is the worship paid to St. Agnes, that next to the Evangelists and Apostles, there is no saint whose effigy is older. It is found on the ancient glass and earthenware vessels used by the Christians in the early part of the third century, with her name inscribed, which leaves no doubt of her identity. But neither in these images, nor in the mosaics, is the lamb introduced, which in later times has become her inseparable attribute, as the patroness of maidens and maidenly modesty."—Jameson's Sacred Art, p. 105.
St. Agnes suffered martyrdom by being stabbed in the throat, under Diocletian, in her thirteenth year (see Ch. XIV.), after which, according to the expression used in the acts of her martyrdom, her parents "with all joy" laid her in the catacombs. One day as they were praying near the body of their child, she appeared to them surrounded by a great multitude of virgins, triumphant and glorious like herself, with a lamb by her side, and said, "I am in heaven, living with these virgins my companions, near Him whom I have so much loved." By her tomb, also, Constantia, a princess sick with hopeless leprosy, was praying for the healing of her body, when she heard a voice saying, "Rise up, Constantia, and go on constantly ('Costanter age, Constantia') in the faith of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who shall heal your diseases,"—and, being cured of her evil, she besought her father to build this basilica as a thank-offering.[243]
On the 21st of January, a beautiful service is celebrated here, in which two lambs, typical of the purity of the virgin saint, are blessed upon the altar. They are sent by the chapter of St. John Lateran, and their wool is afterwards used to make the pallium of the pope, which is consecrated before it is worn, by being deposited in a golden urn upon the tomb of St. Peter. The pallium is the sign of episcopal jurisdiction.
"Ainsi, le simple ornement de laine que ces prélats doivent porter sur leurs épaules comme symbole de la brebis du bon Pasteur, et que le pontife Romain prend sur l'autel même de Saint Pierre pour le leur adresser, va porter jusqu'aux extrémités de l'Eglise, dans une union sublime, le double sentiment de la force du Prince des Apôtres et de la douceur virginale d'Agnes."—Dom Guéranger.
Close to St' Agnese is the round Church of Sta. Costanza. erected by Constantine as a mausoleum for his daughters Constantia and Helena, and converted into a church by Alexander IV. (1254—61) in honour of the Princess Constantia, ob. 354, whose life is represented by Marcellinus as anything but saintlike, and who is supposed to have been confused in her canonization with a sainted nun of the same name. The rotunda, seventy-three feet in diameter, is surrounded by a vaulted corridor; twenty-four double columns of granite support the dome. The vaulting is covered with mosaic arabesques of the fourth century, of flowers and birds, with scenes referring to a vintage. The same subjects are repeated on the splendid porphyry sarcophagus of Sta. Costanza, of which the interest is so greatly marred by its removal to the Vatican from its proper site, whence it was first stolen by Pope Paul II., who intended to use it as his own tomb.
"Les enfants qui foulent le raisin, tels qu'on les voit dans les mosaïques de l'église de Sainte Constance, les bas-reliefs de son tombeau et ceux de beaucoup d'autres tombeaux chrétiens sont bien d'origine païenne, car on les voit aussi figurer dans les bas-reliefs où paraît Priape."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. iii. 257.
Behind the two churches is an oblong space, ending in a fine mass of ruin, which is best seen from the valley below. This was long supposed to be the Hippodrome of Constantine, but is now discovered to have belonged to an early Christian cemetery.
The Catacomb of St Agnese is entered from a vineyard about a quarter of a mile beyond the church. It is lighted and opened to the public on St. Agnes' Day. After those of St. Calixtus, this, perhaps, is the catacomb which is most worthy of a visit.
We enter by a staircase attributed to the time of Constantine. The passages are lined with the usual loculi for the dead, sometimes adapted for a single body, sometimes for two laid together. Beside many of the graves the palm of victory may be seen scratched on the mortar, and remains of the glass bottles or ampullæ, which are supposed to indicate the graves of martyrs, and to have contained a portion of their blood, of which they are often said to retain the trace. One of the graves in the first gallery bears the names of consuls of A.D. 336, which fixes the date of this part of the cemetery.
The most interesting features here are a square chamber hewn in the rock, with an arm-chair (sedia) cut out of the rock on either side of the entrance, supposed to have been a school for catechists,—and near this is a second chamber for female catechists, with plain seats in the same position. Opening out of the gallery close by is a chamber which was apparently used as a chapel; its arcosolium has marks of an altar remaining at the top of the grave, and near it is a credence-table; the roof is richly painted,—in the central compartment is our Lord seated between the rolls of the Old and New Testament. Above the arcosolium, in the place of honour, is our Saviour as the Good Shepherd, bearing a sheep upon his shoulders, and standing between other sheep and trees;—in the other compartments are Daniel in the lions' den, the Three Children in the furnace, Moses taking off his shoes, Moses striking the rock, and—nearest the entrance—the Paralytic carrying his bed. A neighbouring chapel has also remains of an altar and credence-table, and well-preserved paintings,—the Good Shepherd, Adam and Eve, with the tree between them, Jonah under the gourd, and in the fourth compartment a figure described by Protestants merely as an Orante, and by Roman Catholics as the Blessed Virgin.[244] Near this chapel we can look down through an opening into the second floor of the catacomb, which is lined with graves like the first.
In the further part of the catacomb is a long narrow chapel which has received the name of the cathedral or basilica. It is divided into three parts, of which the furthest, or presbytery, contains an ancient episcopal chair with lower seats on either side for priests—probably the throne where Pope St. Liberius (A.D. 359) officiated, with his face to the people, when he lived for more than a year hidden here from persecution. Hence a flight of steps leads down to what Northcote calls "the Lady Chapel," where, over the altar, is a fresco of an orante, without a nimbus, with outstretched arms,—with a child in front of her. On either side of this picture, a very interesting one, is the monogram of Constantine, and the painting is referred to his time. Near this chapel is a chamber with a spring running through it, evidently used as a baptistery.
At the extremity of the catacomb, under the basilica of St. Agnes, is one of its most interesting features. Here the passages become wider and more irregular, the walls sloping and unformed, and graves cease to appear, indicating one of the ancient arenaria, which here formed the approach to the catacomb, and beyond which the Christians excavated their cemetery.
The graves throughout almost all the catacombs have been rifled, the bones which they contained being distributed as relics throughout Roman Catholic Christendom, and most of the sarcophagi and inscriptions removed to the Lateran and other museums.
"Vous pourriez voir ici la capitale des catacombes de toute la chrétienté. Les martyrs, les confesseurs, et les vierges, y fourmillent de tous côtés. Quand on se fait besoin de quelques reliques en pays étrangers, le Pape n'a qu'à descendre ici et crier, Qui de vous autres veut aller être saint en Pologne? Alors, s'il se trouve quelque mort de bonne volonté, il se lève et s'en va."—De Brosses, 1739.
Half a mile beyond St' Agnese, the road reaches the willow-fringed river Anio, in which "Silvia changed her earthly life for that of a goddess," and which carried the cradle containing her two babes Romulus and Remus into the Tiber, to be brought to land at the foot of the Palatine fig-tree. Into this river we may also recollect that Sylla caused the ashes of his ancient rival Marius to be thrown. The river is crossed by the Ponte Nomentana, a mediæval bridge, partially covered, with forked battlements.
"Ponte Nomentana is a solitary dilapidated bridge in the spacious green Campagna. Many ruins from the days of ancient Rome, and many watch-towers from the middle ages, are scattered over this long succession of meadows; chains of hills rise towards the horizon, now partially covered with snow, and fantastically varied in form and colour by the shadows of the clouds. And there is also the enchanting vapoury vision of the Alban hills, which change their hues like the chameleon, as you gaze at them—where you can see for miles little white chapels glittering on the dark foreground of the hills, as far as the Passionist Convent on the summit, and whence you can trace the road winding through thickets, and the hills sloping downwards to the lake of Albano, while a hermitage peeps through the trees."—Mendelssohn's Letters.
The hill immediately beyond the bridge is the Mons Sacer (not only the part usually pointed out on the right of the road, but the whole hillside), to which the famous secession of the Plebs took place in B.C. 549, amounting, according to Dionysius, to about 4000 persons. Here they encamped upon the green slopes for four months, to the terror of the patricians, who foresaw that Rome, abandoned by its defenders, would fall before its enemies, and that the crops would perish for want of cultivation. Here Menenius Agrippa delivered his apologue of the belly and its members, which is said to have induced them to return to Rome; that which really decided them to do so being the concession of tribunes, to be the organs and representatives of the plebs as the consuls were of the patricians. The epithet Sacer is ascribed by Dionysius to an altar which the plebeians erected at the time on the hill to Ζεὑς Δειμἁτιος.
A second secession to the Mons Sacer took place in B.C. 449, when the plebs rose against Appius Claudius after the death of Virginia, and retired hither under the advice of M. Duilius, till the decemvirs resigned.
Following the road beyond the bridge past the castle known as Casale dei Pazzi (once used as a lunatic asylum) and the picturesque tomb called Torre Nomentana,—as far as the seventh milestone—we reach the remains of the unburied Basilica of S. Alessandro, built on the site of the place where that pope suffered martyrdom with his companions Eventius and Theodulus, A.D. 119, and was buried on the same spot by the Christian matron Severina.[245] The plan of the basilica, disinterred 1856-7, is still quite perfect. The tribune and high altar retain fragments of rich marbles and alabasters; the episcopal throne also remains in its place.
The "Acts of the martyrs Alexander, Eventius, and Theodulus," narrate that Severina buried the bodies of the first two martyrs in one tomb, and the third separately—"Theodulum vero alibi sepelivit." This is borne out by the discovery of a chapel opening from the nave, where the single word "martyri," is supposed to point out the grave of Theodulus. A baptistery has been found with its font, and another chapel adjoining is pointed out as the place where neophytes assembled to receive confirmation from the bishop. Among epitaphs laid bare in the pavement is one to a youth named Apollo "votus Deo" (dedicated to the priesthood?) at the age of 14. Entered from the church is the catacomb called "ad nymphas," containing many ancient inscriptions and a few rude paintings.
Mass is solemnly performed here by the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda on the festival of St. Alexander, May 3, when the roofless basilica—backed by the blue Sabine mountains and surrounded by the utterly desolate Campagna—is filled with worshippers, and presents a striking scene. Beyond this a road to the left leads through beautiful woods to Mentana, occupying the site of the ancient Nomentum, and recently celebrated for the battle between the papal troops and the Garibaldians on Nov. 3, 1867. The conflict took place chiefly on the hillside which is passed on the right before reaching the town. Two miles further is Monte Rotondo, with a fine old castle of the Barberini family (once of the Orsini), from which there is a beautiful view. This place was also the scene of fighting in 1867. It is possible to vary the route in returning to Rome from hence by the lower road which leads by the (now broken) Ponte Salara.
If we re-enter Rome by the Porta Pia, immediately within the gates we find another Villa belonging to the Torlonia family. The straight road from the gate leads by the Termini to the Quattro Fontane and the Monte Cavallo. On the left, if we follow the Via de Macao, which takes its strange name from a gift of land which the princes of Savoy made to the Jesuits for a mission in China, we reach a small piazza with two pines, where a gate on the left leads to the remains of the Pretorian Camp, established by Sejanus, the minister of Tiberius. It was dismantled by Constantine, but from three sides having been enclosed by Aurelian in the line of his city-wall, its form is still preserved to us. The Pretorian Camp was an oblong of 1200 by 1500 feet; its area was occupied by a vineyard of the Jesuits till 1861, when a "Campo Militare" was again established here, for the pontifical troops.
"En suivant l'enceinte de Rome, quand on arrive à l'endroit où elle se continue par le mur du Camp des prétoriens, on est frappé de la supériorité de construction que présente celui-ci. La partie des murs d'Honorius qui est voisine a été refaite au huitième siècle. Le commencement et la fin de l'empire se touchent. On peut apprécier d'un coup d'œil l'état de la civilisation aux deux époques: voilà ce qu'on faisait dans le premier siècle, et voilà ce qu'on faisait au huitième, après la conquête de l'empire Romain par les Barbares. Il faut songer toutefois que cette époque où l'on construisait si bien a amené celle où l'on ne savait plus construire."—Ampère, Emp. i. 421.
Hence a road, three-quarters of a mile long, leads—passing under an arch of Sixtus V.—to the Porta S. Lorenzo (Ch. XIII.).
The road opposite the gateway leading to the Camp is bordered on the left by the buildings belonging to the Railway Station, beyond which is the entrance to the grounds of the Villa Massimo Negroni, which possessed a delightful terrace, fringed with orange-trees—a most agreeable sunny walk in winter—and many pleasant shady nooks and corners for summer, but which has been mutilated and stripped of all its beauties since the Sardinian rule. In a part of this villa beyond the railway but still visible from hence, is a colossal statue of Minerva (generally called "Rome"), which is a relic of the residence here of Cardinal Felix Perretti, who as a boy had watched the pigs of his father at Montalto, and who lived to mount the papal throne as Sixtus V. The pedestal of the statue bears his arms,—a lion holding three pears in its paw. Here, with her husband's uncle, lived the famous Vittoria Accoramboni, the wife of the handsome Francesco Perretti, who had been vainly sought in marriage by the powerful and ugly old Prince Paolo Orsini. It was from hence that her young husband was summoned to a secret interview with her brothers on the slopes of the Quirinal, where he was cruelly murdered by the hired bravos of her first lover. Hence also Vittoria went forth—on the very day of the installation of Sixtus V.—to her strange second marriage with the murderer of her husband, who died six months after, leaving her with one of the largest fortunes in Italy—an amount of wealth which led to her own barbarous murder through the jealousy of the Orsini a month afterwards.
Here, after the election of her brother to the papacy, lived Camilla, the sister of Sixtus V., whom he refused to recognise when she came to him in splendid attire as a princess, but tenderly embraced when she reappeared in her peasant's wimple and hood. From hence her two granddaughters were married,—one to Virginius Orsini, the other to Marc-Antonio Colonna, an alliance which healed the feud of centuries between the two families.
In later times the Villa Negroni was the residence of the poet Alfieri.
The principal terrace ends near a reservoir which belonged to the baths of Diocletian.