"It is related of Ignatius that he grew up in such innocence of heart and purity of life, that to him it was granted to hear the angels sing; hence, when he became bishop of Antioch, he introduced into the service of his church the practice of singing the praises of God in responses, as he had heard the choirs of angels answering each other.... His story and fate are so well attested, and so sublimely affecting, that it has always been to me a cause of surprise as well as regret to find so few representations of him."—Jameson's Sacred Art, 693.
Soon after the death of Ignatius, 115 Christians were shot down here with arrows. Under Hadrian, A.D. 218, a patrician named Placidus, his wife Theophista, and his two sons, were first exposed here to the wild beasts, but when these refused to touch them were shut up in a brazen bull, and roasted by a fire lighted beneath. In 253, Abdon and Sennen, two rich citizens of Babylon, were exposed here to two lions and four bears, but on their refusing to attack them, were killed by the swords of the gladiators. In A.D. 259, Sempronius, Olympius, Theodulus, and Exuperia, were burnt at the entrance of the Coliseum, before the statue of the Sun. In A.D. 272, Sta. Prisca was vainly exposed here to a lion, then starved for three days, then stretched on a rack to have her flesh torn by iron hooks, then put into a furnace, and—having survived all these torments—was finally beheaded. In A.D. 277, Sta. Martina, another noble Roman lady, was exposed in vain to the beasts and afterwards beheaded in the Coliseum. St. Alexander under Antoninus; St. Potitus, 168; St. Eleutherius, bishop of Illyria, under Hadrian; St Maximus, son of a senator, 284; and Vitus, Crescentia, and Modesta, under Domitian, were also martyred here.[71]
"It is no fiction, but plain, sober, honest truth, to say: so suggestive and distinct is it at this hour: that, for a moment—actually in passing in—they who will, may have the whole great pile before them, as it used to be, with thousands of eager faces staring down into the arena, and such a whirl of strife, and blood, and dust going on there, as no language can describe. Its solitude, its awful beauty, and its utter desolation, strike upon the stranger, the next moment, like a softened sorrow; and never in his life, perhaps, will he be so moved and overcome by any sight, not immediately connected with his own affections and afflictions.
"To see it crumbling there, an inch a year; its walls and arches overgrown with green, its corridors open to the day; the long grass growing in its porches; young trees of yesterday springing up on its ragged parapets, and bearing fruit—chance produce of the seeds dropped there by the birds who build their nests within its chinks and crannies; to see its pit of fight filled up with earth, and the peaceful cross planted in the centre; to climb into its upper halls, and look down on ruin, ruin, ruin, all about it; the triumphal arches of Constantine, Septimius Severus, and Titus, the Roman Forum, the Palace of the Cæsars, the temples of the old religion, fallen down and gone; is to see the ghost of old Rome, wicked, wonderful old city, haunting the very ground on which its people trod. It is the most impressive, the most stately, the most solemn, grand, majestic, mournful sight conceivable. Never, in its bloodiest prime, can the sight of the gigantic Coliseum, full and running over with the lustiest life, have moved one heart, as it must move all who look upon it now, a ruin. God be thanked: a ruin!
"As it tops all other ruins: standing there, a mountain among graves: so do its ancient influences outlive all other remnants of the old mythology and old butchery of Rome, in the nature of the fierce and cruel Roman people. The Italian face changes as the visitor approaches the city; its beauty becomes devilish; and there is scarcely one countenance in a hundred, among the common people in the streets, that would not be at home and happy in a renovated Coliseum to-morrow."—Dickens.
The spot where the Christian martyrs suffered is now marked by a tall cross, devoutly kissed by the faithful,—and all round the arena of the Coliseum, are the small chapels or "stations," used in the Via Crucis, which is observed here at 4 P.M. every Friday, when a confraternity clothed in grey, with only the eyes visible, is followed by a crowd of worshippers who chaunt and pray at each station in turn,—after which a Capuchin monk preaches from a pulpit on the left of the arena. These sermons are often very striking, being delivered in a familiar style, and upon popular subjects of the day, but they also often border on the burlesque.
"Oswald voulut aller au Colisée pour entendre le Capucin qui devait y prêcher en plein air au pied de l'un des autels qui désignent, dans l'intérieur de l'enceinte, ce qu'on appelle la route de la Croix. Quel plus beau sujet pour l'éloquence que l'aspect de ce monument, que cette arène où les martyrs ont succédé aux gladiateurs! Mais il ne faut rien espérer à cet égard du pauvre Capucin, qui ne connâit de l'histoire des hommes que sa propre vie. Néanmoins, si l'on parvient à ne pas écouter son mauvais sermon, on se sent ému par les divers objets dont il est entouré. La plupart de ses auditeurs sont de la confrérie des Camaldules; ils se revêtent, pendant les exercises religieux, d'une espèce de robe grise qui couvre entièrement la tête et le corps, et ne laisse que deux petites ouvertures pour les yeux; c'est ainsi que les ombres pourraient être représentées. Ces hommes, ainsi cachés sous leurs vêtements, se prosternent la face contre terre, et se frappent la poitrine. Quand le prédicateur se jette à genoux en criant miséricorde de pitié! le peuple qui l'environne se jette aussi à genoux, et répète ce même cri, qui va se perdre sous les vieux portiques du Colisée. Il est impossible de ne pas éprouver alors une émotion profondément religieuse; cet appel de la douleur à la bonté, de la terre au ciel, remue l'âme jusque dans son sanctuaire le plus intime."—Madame de Staël.
"'C'est aujourd'hui Vendredi,' dit Guy, 'il y aura foule au Colisée, il vaudrait mieux, je crois, y aller un autre jour.'
"'Non, non,' dit Eveline, 'c'est précisément pour cela que je veux y aller. On m'a dit qu'il fallait le voir ainsi rempli de monde, et que d'ailleurs cette fête était curieuse.'
"'Ce n'est pas une fête,' dit Guy gravement, 'c'est un simple acte de dévotion qui se répète tous les Vendredis.'
"'En vérité,' dit Eveline, 'et pourquoi le Vendredi?'
"'Parceque c'est le jour où Christ est mort pour nous; par cette raison, vous ne l'ignorez pas, ce jour est demeuré consacré dans le monde chrétien ... dans le monde catholique du moins,' repondit Guy.
"'Mais à quel propos choisit-on le Colisée pour s'y réunir ce jour là?'
"'Parceque le Colisée a été baigné du sang des martyrs et que leur souvenir se mêle là plus qu'ailleurs à celui de la croix pour laquelle ils l'ont versé.'"—Mrs. Augustus Craven in Anne Severin.
The pulpit of the Coliseum was used for the stormy sermons of Gavazzi, who called the people to arms from thence in the revolution of March, 1848.
It is well worth while to ascend to the upper galleries (a man who lives near the entrance from the Forum will open a locked door for the purpose), as then only is it possible to realize the vast size and grandeur of the building.
"May, 1827.—Lastly, we ascended to the top of the Coliseum, Bunsen leaving us at the door, to go home; and I seated myself just above the main entrance, towards the Forum, and there took my farewell look over Rome. It was a delicious evening, and everything was looking to advantage:—the huge Coliseum just under me, the tufts of ilex and aliternus and other shrubs that fringe the walls everywhere in the lower part, while the outside wall, with its top of gigantic stones, lifts itself high above, and seems like a mountain barrier of bare rock, enclosing a green and varied valley. I sat and gazed upon the scene with an intense and mingled feeling. The world could show nothing grander; it was one which for years I had longed to see, and I was now looking at it for the last time. When I last see the dome of St. Peter's I shall seem to be parting from more than a mere town full of curiosities, where the eye has been amused, and the intellect gratified. I never thought to have felt thus tenderly towards Rome; but the inexplicable solemnity and beauty of her ruined condition has quite bewitched me, and to the latest hour of my life I shall remember the Forum, the surrounding hills, and the magnificent Coliseum."—Arnold's Letters.
The upper arches frame a series of views of the Aventine, the Capitoline, the Cœlian, and the Campagna, like a succession of beautiful pictures.
Those who visit the Coliseum by moonlight will realize the truthfulness of the following descriptions:—
"No one can form any idea of full moonlight in Rome who has not seen it. Every individual object is swallowed in the huge masses of light and shadow, and only the marked and principal outlines remain visible. Three days ago (Feb. 2, 1787) we made good use of a light and most beautiful night. The Coliseum presents a vision of beauty. It is closed at night; a hermit lives inside in a little church, and beggars roost amid the ruined vaults. They had lighted a fire on the bare ground, and a gentle breeze drove the smoke across the arena. The lower portion of the ruin was lost, while the enormous walls above stood forth into the darkness. We stood at the gates and gazed upon this phenomenon. The moon shone high and bright. Gradually the smoke moved through the chinks and apertures in the walls, and the moon illuminated it like a mist. It was an exquisite moment!"—Goethe.
It is believed that the building of the Coliseum remained entire until the eighth century, and that its ruin dates from the invasion of Robert Guiscard, who destroyed it to prevent its being used as a stronghold by the Romans. During the middle ages it served as a fortress, and became the castle of the great family of Frangipani, who here gave refuge to Pope Innocent II. (Papareschi) and his family, against the anti-pope Anacletus II., and afterwards in the same way protected Innocent III. (Conti) and his brothers against the anti-pope Paschal II. Constantly at war with the Frangipani were the Annibaldi, who possessed a neighbouring fortress, and obtained from Gregory IX. a grant of half the Coliseum, which was rescinded by Innocent IV. During the absence of the popes at Avignon the Annibaldi got possession of the whole of the Coliseum, but it was taken away again in 1312, and placed in the hands of the municipality, after which it was used for bull-fights, in which (as described by Monaldeschi) nobles of high rank took part and lost their lives. In 1381 the senate made over part of the ruins to the Canons of the Lateran, to be used as a hospital, and their occupation is still commemorated by the arms of the Chapter (our Saviour's head between two candelabra) sculptured in various parts of the building. From the fourteenth century it began to be looked upon as a stone-quarry, and the Palazzos Farnese, Barberini, S. Marco, and the Cancellaria, were built with materials plundered from its walls. It is said that the first of these destroyers, Cardinal Farnese, only extorted permission from his reluctant uncle, Paul III., to quarry as much stone as he could remove in twelve hours, and that he availed himself of this permission to let loose four thousand workmen upon the building. Sixtus V. endeavoured to utilize it by turning the arcades into shops, and establishing a woollen manufactory, and Clement XI. (1700—1721) by a manufactory of saltpetre, but both happily failed. In the last century the tide of restoration began to set in. A Carmelite monk, Angelo Paoli, represented the iniquity of allowing a spot consecrated by such holy memories to be desecrated, and Clement XI. consecrated the arena to the memory of the martyrs who had suffered there, and erected in one of the archways the still existing chapel of Sta. Maria della Pietà. The hermit appointed to take care of this chapel was stabbed in 1742, which caused Benedict XIV. to shut in the Coliseum with bars and gates. After this time destruction became sacrilege, and the five last popes all contributed to strengthen and preserve the walls which remain. Even so late as thirty years ago, however, the interior was (like that of an English abbey) an uneven grassy space littered with masses of ruin, amid which large trees grew and flourished, and the clearing out of the arena, though exhibiting more perfectly the ancient form of the building, is much to be regretted by lovers of the picturesque.[72]
Among the ecclesiastical legends connected with the Coliseum, it is said that Gregory the Great presented some foreign ambassadors with a handful of earth from the arena as a relic for their sovereigns, and upon their receiving the gift with disrespect, he pressed it, when blood flowed from the soil. Pius V, urged those who wished for relics to gather up the dust of the Coliseum, wet with the blood of the martyrs.
In 1744 "the blessed Leonardo di Porto Maurizio," who is buried in S. Buonaventura, drew immense crowds to the Coliseum by his preaching, and obtained permission from Benedict XIV. to found the confraternity of "Amanti di Gesù e Maria," for whom the Via Crucis was established here. Recently the ruins have been associated with the holy beggar, Benoit Joseph Labré (beatified by Pius IX. in 1860), who died at Rome in 1783, after a life spent in devotion. He was accustomed to beg in the Coliseum, to sleep at night under its arcades, and to pray for hours at its various shrines.
The name Coliseum is first found in the writings of the Venerable Bede, who quotes a prophecy of Anglo-Saxon pilgrims.
The name was probably derived from its size; the amphitheatre of Capua was also called Colossus.
"When one looks at the Coliseum everything else becomes small; it is so great that one cannot keep its true image in one's soul; one only remembers it on a smaller scale, and returning thither again finds it again grown larger."—Goethe, Romische Briefe.
Once or twice in the course of every Roman winter the Coliseum is illuminated with Bengal lights.
"Les étrangers se donnent parfois l'amusement d'éclairer le Colisée avec des feux de Bengale. Cela ressemble un peu trop à un finale de mélodrame, et on peut préférer comme illumination un radieux soleil on les douces lueurs de la lune. Cependant j'avoue que la première fois que le Colisée m'apparut ainsi, embrasé de feux rougeâtres, son histoire me revint vivement à la pensée. Je trouvais qu'il avait en ce moment sa vraie couleur, la couleur du sang."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 156.
S. Teodoro—Sta. Anastasia—Circus Maximus—S. Giorgio in Velabro—Arch of Septimius Severus—Arch of Janus—Cloaca-Maxima—Sta. Maria in Cosmedin—Temple of Vesta—Temple of Fortuna Virilis—House of Rienzi—Ponte-Rotto—Ponte Sublicio—S. Nicolo in Carcere—Theatre of Marcellus—Portico of Octavia—Pescheria—Jewish Synagogue—Palazzo Cenci—Fontana Tartarughe—Palazzo Mattei—Palazzo Caetani—Sta. Caterina dei Funari—Sta. Maria Campitelli—Palazzo Margana—Convent of the Tor de' Specchi.
THE second turn on the right of the Roman Forum is the Via dei Fienili, formerly the Vicus Tuscus, so called from the Etruscan colony established there after the drying up of the marsh which occupied that site in the earliest periods of Roman history. During the empire, this street, leading from the Forum to the Circus Maximus, was one of the most important. Martial speaks of its silk-mercers; from an inscription on a tomb we know that the fashionable tailors were to be found there; and the perfumers' shops were of such abundance as to give to part of the street the name of Vicus Thurarius. At its entrance was the statue of the Etruscan god, Vertumnus, the patron of the quarter.[74] This was the street by which the processions of the Circensian games passed from the Forum to the Circus Maximus. In one of the Verrine Orations, an accusation brought by Cicero against the patrician Verres, was that from avaricious motives he had paved even this street—used for processions of the Circus—in such a manner that he would not venture to use it himself.[75]
All this valley was once a stagnant marsh, left by inundations of the Tiber, for in early times the river often overflowed the whole valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline hills, and even reached as far as the foot of the Quirinal, where the Goat's Pool, at which Romulus disappeared, is supposed to have formed part of the same swamp. Ovid, in describing the processions of the games, speaks of the willows and rushes which once covered this ground, and the marshy places which one could not pass over except with bare feet:
We even know the price which was paid for being ferried across the Velabrum: "it was a quadrans, three times as much as one pays now for the boat at the Ripetta."[76] The creation of the Cloaca Maxima had probably done much towards draining, but some fragments of the marsh remained to a late period.
According to Varro the name of the Velabrum was derived from vehere, because of the boats which were employed to convey passengers from one hill to the other.[77] Others derive the name from vela, also in reference to the mode of transit, or, according to another idea, in reference to the awnings which were stretched across the street to shelter the processions,—though the name was in existence long before any processions were thought of.
It was the waters of the Velabrum which bore the cradle of Romulus and Remus from the Tiber, and deposited it under the famous fig-tree of the Palatine.
On the left of the Via dei Fienili (shut in by a railing, generally closed, but which will be opened on appealing to the sacristan next door) is the round Church of S. Teodoro. The origin of this building is unknown. It used to be called the temple of Romulus, on the very slight foundation that the famous bronze wolf, mentioned by Dionysius as existing in the temple of Romulus, was found near this spot. Dyer supposes that it may have been the Temple of Cybele; this, however, was upon, and not under, the Palatine. Be they what they may, the remains were dedicated as a Christian church by Adrian I., in the eighth century, and some well preserved mosaics in the tribune are of that time.
"It is curious to note in Rome how many a modern superstition has its root in an ancient one, and how tenaciously customs still cling to the old localities. On the Capitoline hill the bronze she-wolf was once worshipped as the wooden Bambino is now. It stood in the Temple of Romulus, and there the ancient Romans used to carry children to be cured of their diseases by touching it. On the supposed site of the temple now stands the church dedicated to S. Teodoro, or Santo Toto, as he is called in Rome. Though names must have changed and the temple has vanished, and church after church has here decayed and been rebuilt, the old superstition remains, and the common people at certain periods still bring their sick children to Santo Toto, that he may heal them with his touch."—Story's Roba di Roma.[78]
Further on the left, still under the shadow of the Palatine Hill, is the large Church of Sta. Anastasia, containing, beneath the altar, a beautiful statue of the martyred saint reclining on a faggot.
"Notwithstanding her beautiful Greek name, and her fame as one of the great saints of the Greek Calendar, Sta. Anastasia is represented as a noble Roman lady, who perished during the persecution of Diocletian. She was persecuted by her husband and family for openly professing the Christian faith, but being sustained by the eloquent exhortations of St. Chrysogonus, she passed triumphantly, receiving in due time the crown of martyrdom, being condemned to the flames. Chrysogonus was put to death with the sword and his body thrown into the sea.
"According to the best authorities, these two saints did not suffer in Rome, but in Illyria; yet in Rome we are assured that Anastasia, after her martyrdom, was buried by her friend Apollina in the garden of her house under the Palatine hill and close to the Circus Maximus. There stood the church, dedicated in the fourth century, and there it now stands. It was one of the principal churches in Rome in the time of St. Jerome, who, according to ancient tradition, celebrated mass at one of the altars, which is still regarded with peculiar veneration."—Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.
It was the custom for the mediæval popes to celebrate their second mass of Christmas night in this church, for which reason Sta. Anastasia is still especially commemorated in that mass.
To the left of the high altar is the tomb of the learned Cardinal Mai, by the sculptor Benzoni, who owed everything to the kind interest with which this cardinal regarded him from childhood. The epitaph is remarkable. It is thus translated by Cardinal Wiseman:
Through this church, also, we may enter some of the subterraneous chambers of the Palace of the Cæsars.
The valley near this, between the Palatine and the Aventine, was the site of the Circus Maximus, of which the last vestiges were destroyed in the time of Paul V. Its ground plan can, however, be identified, with the assistance of the small circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, which still partially exists. It was intended for chariot-races and horse-races, and is said to have been first instituted by Tarquinius Priscus after his conquest of the Latin town of Apiolæ. It was a vast oblong, ending in a semicircle, and surrounded by three rows of seats, termed collectively cavea. In the centre of the area was the low wall called the spina, at each end of which were the metæ, or goals. Between the metæ were columns supporting the ova, egg-shaped balls, and Delphinæ, or dolphins, each seven in number, one of which was put up for each circuit made in the race. At the extremity of the Circus were the stalls for the horses and chariots called Carceres. This, the square end of the Circus, was termed oppidum, from its external resemblance to a town, with walls and towers. In the Circus Maximus, which was used for hunting wild beasts, Julius Cæsar made a canal, called Euripus,[79] ten feet wide, between the seats and the racecourse, to protect the spectators. The Ludi Circenses were first established by Romulus, to attract his Sabine neighbours, in order that he might supply his city with wives. The games were generally at the expense of the ædiles, and their cost was so great, that Cæsar was obliged to sell his Tiburtine villa, to defray those given during his ædileship. Perhaps the most magnificent games known were those in the reign of Carinus (Imp. A.D. 283), when the Circus was transformed into an artificial forest, in which hundreds of wild beasts and birds were slaughtered. At one time this Circus was capable of containing 385,000 persons.
At the western extremity of the Circus Maximus stood the Temple of Ceres, Liber, and Libera (said to have been vowed by the Dictator Albus Postumius, at the battle of the Lake Regillus), dedicated by the Consul Sp. Cassius, B.C. 492.
"Quand le père de Cassius l'eut immolé de ses propres mains à l'avidité patricienne, il fit don du pécule de son fils—un fils n'avait que son pécule comme un esclave—à ce même temple de Cérès que Spurius Cassius avait consacré, et par une féroce ironie, mit au bas de la statue faite avec cet argent, et qu'il dédiait à la déesse: 'Don de la famille Cassia.'
"L'ironie était d'autant plus amère, que l'on vendait auprès du temple de Cérès ceux qui avaient offensé au tribun.
"Ce temple, mis particulièrement sous la surveillance des édiles et où ils avaient leurs archives, était le temple de la démocratie romaine. Le farouche patricien le choisit pour lui faire adresser par son fils mort au service de la démocratie un dérisoire hommage."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 416.
We must now retrace our steps for a short distance, and descend into a hollow on the left, which we have passed, between the churches of S. Teodoro and Sta. Anastasia.
Here an interesting group of buildings still stands to mark the site of the famous ox-market, Forum Boarium. In its centre a brazen bull, brought from Egina,[80] once commemorated the story of the oxen of Geryon, which Hercules left to pasture on this marshy site, and which were stolen hence by Cacus,—and is said by Ovid to have given a name to the locality:
The fact of this place being used as a market for oxen is mentioned by Livy.[81]
The Forum Boarium is associated with several deeds of cruelty. After the battle of Cannæ, a male and female Greek and a male and female Gaul were buried alive here;[82] and here the first fight of gladiators took place, being introduced by M. and D. Brutus, at the funeral of their father in B.C. 264.[83] Here the Vestal virgins buried the sacred utensils of their worship, at the spot called Doliola, when they fled from Rome after the battle of the Allia.[84]
Amongst the buildings which once existed in the Forum Boarium, but of which no trace remains, were the Temple of the Sabine deity Matuta, and the Temple of Fortune, both ascribed to Servius Tullius.
The Temple of Fortune was rebuilt by Lucullus, and Dion Cassius mentions that the axle of Julius Cæsar's car broke down in front of it on occasion of one of his triumphs.[85] Another temple in this neighbourhood was that of Pudicitia Patricia, into which the noble ladies refused to admit Virginia, because she had espoused a plebeian consul[86] (see Chap. X.). Here, also, was the Temple of Hercules Victor, erected by Pompey.[87] The two earliest triumphal arches were built in this forum, being in honour of L. Stertinius, erected B.C. 196, after his victories in Spain.
The building which first attracts attention, among those now standing, is the Arch of Janus, the Sabine god. It has four equal sides and arches, turned to the four points of the compass, and forty-eight niches, probably intended for the reception of small statues. Bas-reliefs on the inverted blocks employed in the lower part of this edifice, show that they must have been removed from earlier buildings. This was probably used as a portico for shelter or business for those who trafficked in the Forum; there were many similar porticoes in ancient Rome.
On the left of the arch of Janus is a narrow alley, spanned by low brick arches, which leads first to the beautiful clear spring of the Aqua Argentina, which, according to some authorities, is the place where Castor and Pollux watered their horses after the battle of the Lake Regillus.
The alley is closed by an arch of the celebrated Cloaca Maxima, the famous drain formed by Tarquinius Priscus, fifth king of Rome, to dry the marshy land of the Velabrum.
"Infima urbis loca circa Forum, aliasque interjectas collibus convalles, quia ex planis locis haud facile evehebant aquas, cloacis a fastigio in Tiberim ductis siccat."—Livy, lib. i. c. 38.
The Cloaca extended from the Forum to the Tiber, and is still, after 2,400 years, used, during the latter part of its course, for the purpose for which it was originally intended, though Pliny was filled with wonder that, in his time, it had already withstood the earthquakes, inundations, and accidents of seven hundred years. Strabo tells that the tunnel of the Cloaca was of sufficient height to admit a waggon laden with hay, but this probably supposes the water at its lowest. Agrippa, who cleaned out the Cloaca, navigated its whole length in a boat. The mouth of the Cloaca, composed of three concentric courses of blocks of peperino, without cement, is visible on the river a little to the right of the temple of Vesta.
"Ces lieux ont encore un air et comme une odeur de marécage—quand on rôde aux approches de la nuit dans ce coin désert de Rome où fut placée la scène des premiers moments de son premier roi, on y retrouve, à présent mieux qu'au temps de Tite-Live, quelque chose de l'impression que ce lieu devait produire il y a vingt-cinq siècles, à l'époque où, selon la vieille tradition, le berceau de Romulus s'arrêta dans les boues du Vélabre, au pied du Palatin, près de l'antre Lupercal. Il faut s'écarter un peu de cet endroit, qui était au pied du versant occidental du Palatin, et faire quelques pas à droite pour aller chercher les traces du Vélabre là où les rues et les habitations modernes ne les ont pas entièrement effacées. En s'avançant vers la Cloaca Maxima, on rencontre un enfoncement où une vieille église, elle-même au dedans humide et moisie, rappelle par son nom, San Giorgio in Velabro, que le Vélabre a été là. On voit sourdre encore les eaux qui l'alimentaient sous une voûte sombre et froide, tapissée de mousses, de scolopendres et de grandes herbes frissonnant dans la nuit. Alentour, tout a un aspect triste et abandonné, abandonné comme le furent au bord du marais, suivant l'antique récit, les enfants dont on croit presque ouïr dans le crépuscule les vagissements. L'imagination n'a pas de peine à se représenter les arbres et les plantes aquatiques qui croissaient sur le bord de cet enfoncement que voilà, et à travers lesquelles la louve de la légende se glissait à cette heure pour venir boire à cette eau. Ces lieux sont assez peu fréquentés et assez silencieux pour qu'on se les figure comme ils étaient alors, alors qu'il n'y avait ici, comme dit Tite-Live, vrai cette fois, que des solitudes désertes: Vastæ tunc solitudines erant."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 271.
The church with the picturesque campanile near the arch of Janus, is S. Giorgio in Velabro, founded in the fourth century, as the Basilica Sempronia, but repeatedly rebuilt. The architrave above its portico was that where Rienzi affixed his famous inscription, announcing the return to the Good Estate: "In breve tempo gli Romani torneranno al loro antico buono stato." The church is seldom open, except on its festival (Jan. 20), and during its station in Lent. The interior is in the basilica form, the long nave being lined by sixteen columns, of various sizes, and with strangely different capitals, showing that they have been plundered from ancient temples. The carving on some of the capitals is sharp and delicate. There is a rather handsome ancient baldacchino, with an old Greek picture let into its front, over the high altar. Beneath is preserved a fragment of the banner of St George. Some injured frescoes in the tribune replace mosaics which once existed here, and which were attributed to Giotto. In the centre is the Saviour, between the Virgin and St. Peter; on one side, St. George with the martyr's palm and the warrior's banner,—on the other, St. Sebastian, with an arrow. Several fragments of carving and inscriptions are built into the side walls. The pictures are poor and ugly which relate to the saint of the church, St. George (the patron of England and Germany), the knight of Cappadocia, who delivered the Princess Cleodolinda from the dragon.
"Among good specimens of thirteenth century architecture is the portico of S. Giorgio, with Ionic columns and horizontal architrave, on which is a gothic inscription, in quaint Leonine verse, informing us that the Cardinal (or Prior) Stephen, added this detail (probably the campanile also), to the ancient church—about the middle of the thirteenth century, as is supposed, though no date is given here; and in the midst of an age so alien to classic influences, a work in which classic feeling thus predominates, is remarkable."—Heman's Sacred Art.
Partly hidden by the portico of this church, is the beautiful miniature Arch of Septimius Severus, erected to the emperor, his wife Julia Pia, and his sons Caracalla and Geta, by the silversmiths (argentarii) who had their shops in the Forum Boarium on this very spot ("cujus loci qui invehent"). The part of the dedication relating to Geta (as in the larger arch of Septimius) was obliterated after his murder, and the words Fortissimo felicissimoque principi engraved in its place. The architecture and sculpture, part of which represents a sacrifice by the imperial family, prove the decadence of art at this period.
Proceeding in a direct line from the Arch of Janus, we reach the Church of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, on the site of a Temple of Ceres, dedicated by the consul Spurius Cassius, B.C. 493, and afterwards re-dedicated to Ceres and Proserpine, probably by Augustus, who had been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries in Greece. The church was built in the basilica form, in 782, by Adrian I., when the name Cosmedin, from the Greek κοσμος, is supposed to have been given, from the ornaments with which he adorned it It was intended for the use of the Greek exiles expelled from the East by the iconoclasts under Constantine Copronimus, and derived the epithet of Sta. Maria in Scuola Greca, from a "Schola" attached to it for their benefit. Another relic of the Greek colony which existed here is to be found in the name of the adjoining street, Via della Greca. In the middle ages the whole bank of the river near this was called Ripa Greca.
The interior of this church is of great interest. The nave is divided from the aisles by twelve ancient marble columns, of which two have especially curious antique capitals, and are evidently remains of the temple which once existed here. The choir is raised, as at S. Clemente. The pavement is of splendid Opus Alexandrinum (1120); the ambones are perfect; there is a curious crypt; the altar covers an ancient bason of red granite, and is shaded by a gothic canopy, supported by four Egyptian granite pillars; behind it is a fine episcopal throne, with lions, said to have been used by St. Augustine, an ancient Greek picture of the Virgin, and a graceful tabernacle of marble inlaid with mosaic, by Deodato Cosmati. In the sacristy is a very curious mosaic, one of the few relics preserved from the old St Peter's, A.D. 705. (There is another in S. Marco at Florence.) Crescimbeni, the founder and historian of the Arcadian Academy (d. 1728), is buried in this church, of which he was a canon. On St. Valentine's Day the skull of St. Valentine, crowned with roses, is exhibited here.
In the portico is the strange and huge mask of stone, which gives the name of Bocca della Verita to the neighbouring piazza. It was believed that if a witness, whose truthfulness was doubtful, were desired to place his hand in the mouth of this mask, he would be unable to withdraw it, if he were guilty of perjury.