A Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/classicaltourthr01eust_0 BAUDRYS ElllOPEAIV LIBRARY, 3, QUAI MALAQUAIS, WEAR THE PONT DKS ARTS. PARIS. HAL LAM’S COMPLETE WOMEN) 10 vols. in- 8vo., 60 fr. OR EACH WORK SEPARATELY, VIZ : EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, complete in 2 vols. 8vo. . . . INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE OF EUROPE in the XVtb, XVIlh and XVlIih centuries, 4 vols. 8vo Vols. 2 , 3, 4 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 4 vols. 8vo. fine paper . , . 10 fr. 20 fr. 15 fr. 30 fr. HISTOIRE D£ LA LITTERATURE 35E L’EUROPE, PENDANT LES XV e , XVl e ET XVII C S1ECLES. Traduit de l’anglais de Hallam par Borghers, 1839, 1840. 4 vols. in-8vo br., so fr. A NEW AND COMPLETE EDITION OF Titos. JfMoore’s Poetical Works. FROM THE LAST LONDON EDITION, WITH THE NEW PREFACES, ETC. ETC. The 10 vols. contained in 3 vols. 8vo, only 15 fr. 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Oiliffe, 1840, l gros vol. in-8vo. 5 fr. THE EDINBUMSaa In future, the subscribers on the Continent to the Edinburgh Review will, in consequence of an arrangement concluded with the London publishers, be supplied for 1840 and the following years with the London edition, price 18 fr. per annum, for four quarterly Nos., or 5 fr. each separate No., instead of 7 fr. 50 c. the price in London. FOR ONLY 30 FR. The last twenty Numbers of the Edinburgh Review, containing the years 1835, 1836, 1837 , 1838, iS3t), forming Ten Volumes, 8vo. of about 55o pages each, with a general and alphabetical Index, instead of 150 fr. subscription price of the Edinburgh edition. Each volume separately 5 fr. and each number 3 fr. 50 c. It must be observed that the principal motive which has induced the editor to reprint this liighh esteemed publication, since the year 1834, is that a selection has been made from lUc 1 12 preceding numbers of the most remarkable articles in each branch of literature; for, notwithstanding the merits of the work, it cannot be denied that a quantity of matter is contained in it which offers no interest to the general reader; it was therefore necessary to adopt some fixed method to guide him through such a heap of precious riches. No one was belter qualified than Mr. Maurice Cross, to supply a work which was as necessary to Englishmen as to foreigners in directing them in the study of their own literature, and which would correspond to the Cours de Li tte rut tire dr La llarpe. Besides the advantage of embracing a greater space of time, Mr. Maurice Cross's work lias the merit of containing the judgments and opinions of the most celebrated literary men of the present day, in each branch of science. The work is entitled SELECTIONS FROM THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. Comprising the best articles of that journal from its commencement to the year 1834 inc:uded : consisting of Characters of Eminent Poets, Painters, Divines, Philosophers, Statesmen, Orators, Historians, Novelists, and Critics; Dissertations on Poetry and the Drama ; Miscellaneous Literature; Education; Political History; Metaphysics; Foreign and Domestic Politics; Political Economy; Law and Jurisprudence; Par- liamentary Reform ; Church Reform ; the Liberty of the Press; the Stale of Ireland ; and West India Slavery. Edited hv Maurice Cross. Secretary to the Belfast Society. 6 vcls. 8vo. 30 fr. liAUDHY. L1BKA11UE EUROPEENNE, 3. QUAI MALAQUA1S, PRES LIVRES ITALIEXS. 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Hoc k, 1 vol. 5 fr.— F amily Records, by Charlotte Bury. 1 vol. 5 fr.— L tngard’s History of England, complete in 8 vols. 40 fr. COLLECTION OF ANCIENT AND MODERN ENGLISH AUTHORS. VOL. CCII. A CLASSICAL TOUR TIIliOliGH ITALY, PRINTED BY CASIMIR, 12, rue de la Vlellle-Monnale A CLASSICAL TOUR THROUGH ITALY. v BY THE REV. JOHN CHETWODE EUSTACE. FROM THE SIXTH LONDON EDITION. Hajc est Italia dlls sacra, hao gentes ejus, baec opplda populorum. P/In. Nat. liist. III. 20. I PARIS: BAUDRY’S EUROPEAN LIBRARY, RRB DR COQ, NEAR THE LORVRE. SOLD ALSO BY AMYOT, BUE DE LA PAIX; TRUCI1Y, BOULEVARD DES 1TALIENS; THEOPU1LE BARROIS, JUN., BUE RICHELIEU; LIBRAIRIE DES ETRANGERS, RUB NEUVE-SAINT-AUGUSTIN; AND BY ALL THB PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS ON THE CONTINENT. 1857 TO THE S \ RIGHT HONORABLE . JOHN LORD BROWNLOW, t . LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY OF LINCOLN, ETC. ETC. ETC. THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, J ' i / AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS MANY VIRTUES, 3ts on SLknocoleirgtnent of Ijts constant funbness, AND AT THE SAME TIME AS A MONUMENT OF AN INSTRUCTIVE AND PLEASANT TOUR, BY HIS LORDSHIP’S FELLOW-TRAVELLER AND MOST SINCERE FRIEND, JOHN CHET WORE EUSTACE. a * t : Wf t «> > . • \ 1 ~'r>* - ; ' ■ .. ’V- • ' ; ■■ -**' . <1 ' -• . ;• r V .. \ ' ■ , * i / ; * v I ' , , ft t 1 : • * ft/- ■; ». v* Y«: at) •;» • '••• .'•i -A - ■ 13 i#- - • • ■ r y - PREFACE The Author presents the following pages to the public with diffi- dence. He is aware that the very title of “ a Tour through Italy ” is sufficient in itself to raise expectation, which, as he has learned from the fate of similar compositions, is more frequently disappointed than satisfied. To avoid as much as possible this inconvenience, he thinks it necessary to state precisely the nature and object of the present work, that the Reader may enter upon its perusal with some previous knowledge of its contents. The Preliminary Discourse is intended chiefly for the information of young and inexperienced travellers, and points out the qualities and accomplishments requisite to enable them to derive from an Italian Tour its full advantages. The Reader then comes to the Tour itself. The epithet Classical sufficiently points out its peculiar character, which is to trace the resemblance between Modern and Ancient Italy, and to take lor guides and companions in the beginning of the nine- teenth century, the writers that preceded or adorned the first. Con- formably to that character, the Author may be allowed to dwell with complacency on the incidents of ancient history, to admit every poetical recollection, and to claim indulgence, if in describing objects so often alluded to by the Latin writers, he should frequently borrow their expressions : Matcriae scripto conveniente suae.* Ovid. Trist. 1. v. i. Citations, in fact, which, notwithstanding the example of Cicero, and the precept of Quintilian 3 , some severe critics are disposed to pro- scribe, may here be introduced or even lavished, without censure ; they rise spontaneously from the soil we tread, and constitute one of its distinguishing beauties. In Modern History, he may perhaps be considered as sometimes too short ; but it must be remembered that Modern History is not Classical , and can claim admission only as an illustration. As for the forms of government established in many provinces by the present 1 Their expressions being appropriate to his subject, 2 Quintil. lib. i. cap. v. Edit. Rollin. iv PREFACE. French rulers, they are generally passed over in silence and con- tempt, as shifting scenes or rather mere figuranti in the political drama, destined to occupy the attention for a time, and to disappear when the principal character shows himself upon the stage. Of the state of painting and sculpture, though these arts reflect so much lustre on Italy, little is said 1 ; an acknowledgment which may surprise and disappoint many readers. But, on the one hand, to give a long catalogue of pictures and statues, without explanatory observations, appeared absurd ; and on the other, to execute such a work in a becoming manner requires leisure, technical information, and the pen of a professed artist, perhaps of a Reynolds. The sub- ject is therefore touched incidentally only ; but as it is extensive and amusing, and affords scope to the display of skill, taste and erudi- tion united, it will, it is to be hoped, ere long attract the attention of some writer capable of doing it justice. As to the Style — in the lirst place some, perhaps many expres- sions, and occasionally whole sentences, may have been inadvertently repeated ; a fault great without doubt, but pardonable because al- most unavoidable in descriptive composition. Who, indeed, can paint like Nature, or who vary liis coloring with all the tints of Italian scenery, lighted by an Italian sky? If Lucretius has repeated at length two of the most beautiful passages in his poem 2 , the Author may claim indulgence, if in describing the perpetual recurrence of similar objects he has been betrayed into similar language. In Proper Names, he has ventured frequently to use the ancient appellation if not irrecoverably lost in the modern. Thus, he some- times introduces the Benacus, Liris, and Athesis, instead of the Lago di Garda, Garigliano and Adige, because the former names are still familiar to the learned ear and by no means unknown even to the pea- santry. The same may be said of the Arno, the Tiber, and several other rivers, and may be extended to many cities and mountains. He has, as much as possible, attempted to discard the French termi- nation in Italian names, and laments that he cannot carry consistency so far as to apply it to antiquity, and, rejecting the semi-barbarous appellations with which the French have misnamed some of the most illustrious ancients, restore to Horace, and Virgil, all their Ro- man majesty 3 . But this general reformation must be left to more able and more popular writers, or rather, perhaps, recommended to the learned gentlemen who preside over the Universities and the great Schools, and to the Critics who direct the public taste in Re- views, and have of late exercised no small influence over custom itself. * Little is said of the arts, when the extent and importance of the subject are considered ; but much is said in comparison of other Tours and similar compositions. Lib. i. v. 925.— Lib. iv. v. 3 Titus Livius owes the recovery of his Roman appellation to the Bishop of Landaff, who introduces it into his Apolog>for'the Bible. PREFACE. v We now come to objects of greater moment, and here the Author must, however reluctantly, obtrude himself on the attention of the Reader. Religion, Politics, and Literature, are the three great ob- jects that employ every mind raised by education above the level of the laborer or of the mechanic ; upon them every thinking man must have a decided opinion, and that opinion must occasionally influence his conduct, conversation, and writings. Sincere and undisguised in the belief and profession of the Roman Catholic Religion, the Author affects not to conceal, because he is not ashamed of its in- fluence. However unpopular it may be, he is convinced that its evil report js not the result of any inherent defect, but the natural con- sequence of polemic animosity, of the exaggerations of friends, of the misconceptions of enemies. Yes ! he must acknowledge that the affecting lessons, the holy examples, and the majestic rites of the Catholic Church, made an early impression on his mind ; and neither time nor experience, neither reading nor conversation, nor much travelling, have weakened that impression, or diminished his venera- tion. Yet with this affectionate attachment to the ancient Faith, he presumes not to arraign those who support other systems. Per- suaded that their claims to mercy, as well as his own, depend upon Sincerity and Charity, he leaves them and himself to the disposal of the common Father of all, who, we may humbly hope, will treat our errors and our defects with more indulgence than mortals usually shew to each other. In truth. Reconciliation and Union are the ob- jects of his warmest wishes, of his most fervent prayers : they occupy his thoughts, they employ his pen ; and if a stone shall happen to mark the spot where his remains are to repose, that stone shall speak of Peace and Reconciliation. We come next to Politics, a subject of a very delicate nature, where difference of opinion, like disagreement in Religion, has given occasion to many rancorous and interminable contests : and here ex- pressions apparently favourable to republicanism, or perhaps the general tendency of his principles to the cause of freedom, may in- cline some of his readers to suspect him of an excessive and uncon- stitutional attachment to that form of government. Without doubt, Liberty, the source of so many virtues, the mother of so many arts, the spring of public and private happiness, of the glory and the greatness of nations, is and ever w ill be the idol of liberal and manly minds, and that system which is most favourable to its development must necessarily obtain their approbation. But fortunately they need not have recourse to fine-spun theories for the principles, or look to past ages or to distant countries for the practice of a free, and, what may justly be called, a republican government. The Constitution of England actually comprises the excellencies of all the ancient commonwealths, together with the advantages of the best forms of monarchy : though liable, as all human institutions are, to abuse and decay, yet, like the works of Providence, it contains in VI PREFACE. itself the means of correction and the seeds of renovation. Such a system was considered as one of unattainable perfection by Cicero, and was pronounced by Tacitus a vision fair but transient. A scheme of policy that enchanted the sages of antiquity may surely content the patriot and the philosopher of modern days, and the only wish of both must be, that, in spite of royal encroachment and of popular frenzy, it may last for ever. In Literature, if the Author differs from those who have preceded him in the same Tour; if he censures the opinions of any other tra- veller or writer ; he hopes he has expressed the reasons of his dis- sent with the tenderness and with the attention due to their feelings and reputation. On the merits of the French language and literature he differs from many ; but he is open to conviction even on this subject, and only requests the Reader to weigh with impartiality the reasons which he produces against both, and the more so, as the question is of greater importance than may perhaps be imagined ; for, to the wide circulation of French authors may be attributed many of the evils under which Europe now labors. This observation naturally leads to the following. If ever he indulges in harsh and acrimo- nious language, it is when speaking of the French, their principles, and measures ; and on this subject he acknowledges that his expres- sions, if they correspond with his feelings, must be strong, because his abhorrence of that government and of its whole system, is deep and unqualified. Neither the patriot who recollects the vindictive spirit with which the Ruler of France carries on hostilities against Great Britain, the only bulwark of Europe, and the asylum of the Independence of Nations, because he knows where Freedom makes her last stand, Libertas ultima mundi Quo steterit ferienda loco ; 1 Lucan, vii. nor the philosopher who considers the wide wasting war, which the French government has been so long carrying on against the liber- ties and the happiness of mankind, will probably condemn the au- thor’s feelings as intemperate, or require an apology for the harsh- ness of his expressions. As long as religion and literature, civiliza- tion and independence, are objects of estimation among men, so long must revolutionary France be remembered with horror and detesta- tion. It now only remains to inform the Reader, that the Tour sketched out in the following pages was undertaken in company with Philip Rocue, Esq. a young gentleman of fortune, who, while he spared no expense to render it instructive, contributed much to its pleasures * The spot where the liberty of the world must receive her last blow. I PREFACE. vii by his gentle manners, and by his many mild and benevolent virtues; virtues which, it was hoped, would have extended their influence through a long and prosperous life, and contributed to the happiness, not of his family only, but of an extensive circle of friends and ac- quaintance. But these hopes were vain, and the Author is destined to pay this unavailing tribute to the memory of his friend and com- panion. The two gentlemen who, with the Author and his fellow-traveller, formed the party often alluded to in the following pages, were the Honourable Mr. Cust, now Lord Brownlow, and Robert Rush- broke, Esq. of Rushbroke Park. The information, the politeness, and the good humor of the former, with the liveliness, the mirth, and the accomplishments of the latter, heightened the pleasures of the journey, and, by supplying a continual fund of incident and conversation, rendered even Italy itself more delightful. To Lord Brownlow, the Author must acknowledge another obligation, as he is indebted to his Lordship for several useful observations during the course of this work, and particularly for the details of the excursion to the island of Ischia , and the account of the solitudes of Camaldoii and of Alvernia . The publication of these volumes has been delayed by frequent avocations, and particularly by a more extensive and scarcely less interesting excursion to parts of Dalmatia , the Western Coasts of Greece, the Ionian Islands, to Sicihj , Malta, etc., etc. The details of this latter Tour may, perhaps, be presented to the public if the following pages meet its approbation. I EDITOR S PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. The Editor of the sixth edition of Mr. Eustace's work might have submitted it to the public with no other preface than that addition to its title-page. With a testimonial so unequivocal of public opinion, he might have consi- dered the Classical Tour as placed above the influence of those animadver- sions which are said invariably to pursue success. But he would ill discharge his duty, did he not guide himself by the remembrance of the amiable qua- lities and unassuming Christian virtues of that individual, who, firm in his attachment to the “ ancient faith," pleaded its cause with humility ; and who, secure of applause in his opinions, never offered them in private life without diffidence, and almost timidity. Who certainly, had Providence been pleased to allow him to have penned this preface, would have composed it in apology for those errors which had escaped his notice, rather than in triumph for the discomfiture of those opinions, the prevalence of which it was perhaps too great an object with him to combat. The most direct attacks upon the writings of Mr. Eustace have been put forward as notes to a canto of one of the poems of perhaps the first poet of the day; whose works are received with avidity, and circulated so extensively, that any observations attached to them must necessarily be known to, and read by, the great mass of the educated community. This criticism is too long for repelition; but a single paragraph may suffice to give an idea of its purport, as well as to present a slight specimen of its composition and candor. After expressing disappointment at having chosen the Classical Tour as a guide-book in Italy, and asserting that this disappointment is shared by every one who has followed the example, the style is condemned, notwith- standing it is allowed to be “ to the taste of others, who experience some sa- lutary excitement in ploughing periods.” But it is elegantly and classically added, that “ it must be said that polish and weight are apt to beget expec- tation of value. It is amongst the pains of the damned to toil up a climax with a huge stone.” Why the word stone should be printed in Italics would be difficult to imagine, nor do we believe it would be of much conse- quence to inquire, since the pretensions of the critic to direct our judgment with reference to style cannot be considered as well established by this example of his own. But those who look into the Classical Tour for the detail of a road-book, search for that which the author never intended, since he expressly declares, that his guides in the nineteenth century were the writers who preceded or adorned the first; that his allusions to modern history are short, and his re- ferences to the arts slight; though very much otherwise compared with those X EDITOR’S PREFACE. of preceding travellers — these objects being secondary, while his principal views are directed to the greater questions of religion, politics, and literalure. Upon tha Ill’s t object of Mr. Eustace’s inquiry it is hardly necessary lo en- large; but we think that his last moments might have been consoled with the reflection, that his work had had its full share in dispelling the mist of pre- judice and bigotry which now r appears to be fast passing from amongst us, and he might reasonably have entertained the conviction, that his name would consequently be not thought unworthy the grateful recollection of a considerable portion of his countrymen. Upon the question of politics his feelings are even less equivocal ; he pro- fesses the prejudices of an Englishman ; but with an admiration of liberty de- clares , that no harshness of expression can equal his abhorrence of French principles and forms of government. — Now all this we are told was a mere idle phantom by which he was haunted. — What! shall we ask — was that gigantic influence which gathered together the nations of the east, and the west, and the south, and poured them out at pleasure like the accumulated ocean of waters, ruled and directed by a peculiar genius that seemed more than human, until a better Providence interfering to stay its rage, chilled the irresistible wave, and, in the highest glory and wanlonness of its might, locked its triumph for ever in the icy bosom of winter? Was the monster only an “oppressive nightmare with which we have struggled? was it all but a frightful dream?” were the daggers but air drawn visions? was there no reality of blood or confiscation, or of atheism dissolving the dearest ties and forbidding even religion to strengthen or hope lo console ? The scene is now changed, and the actors are replaced by a more iron do- minion. But the admission of that fact throws no “imputation upon the competency of our author;” for it is, on the contrary, the precise conse- quences he foresaw in the nations of the peninsula not co-operating against the common enemy. There is little doubt that a great portion of the people of Italy desire the return of French dominion ; and it may be predicted with equal confidence, that if ever the modern Greeks are placed under the wing of the Holy Alliance, and receive an emperor from the North, that they will very soon groan for the return of their Turkish oppressors. But who is there who does not see that in these cases the French or the Turks are equally looked to as instruments ? Kaischruck will sound as barbarous to the ears of the modern Athenians as it does to those of the modern Mediolenses, and will be equally difficult to their utterance ; and when, like the latter, the liberated Greeks shall have an archbishop of such name imposed upon them by their new protectors, their complaints will not be the less loud because their reverend pastor may not understand their language. But all this only proves, according to a homely saying, that the nations of Italy have got out of the frying-pan into the fire; in the agonies of death they may prefer a return to simple torture, but we believe there scarcely exists an individual in that peninsula who does not desire freedom from both the one and the other. In contemplating the splendid exhibition of the virtues and powers of the human mind, as displayed by the Italians of all ages, our author justly re- grets the impossibility of their broken masses affording any effectual resistance to the impetus of the overgrown powers who dictate to the rest of Europe ; but he looked forward with confidence to the day when general oppression would concentrate their interests, and prompt them, by a simultaneous exer- tion, to expel every transalpine intruder; while their numbers he thinks EDITOR S PREFACE. xi sufficient for this consummation, if their energies could be sufficiently brought into co-operation. That time seemed lately to have arrived, but they failed, as greater nations have also done in the hour of trial; and now united in subjugation, hut discordant for every better purpose, we are scarcely permitted to hope, that they can ever again be combined under one head, or afford more effectual exertion in the cause of independence and li- berty. The glory of Rome seems destined never to revive, nor 44 the valor and perseverance which subdued the Gauls and Teutones to be again dis- played in chastising the insolence of the French, or in checking the incur- sions of the Germans.” With reference to literature, the claim of Italy is allowed to be ably vin- dicated by Mr. Eustace ; who, while he admits and even praises Boccacio amongst the great men in that path, has however excited strong animadver- sion, and given rise to many pages of panegyric in the u Illustrations,” by ranking that author with Petronius and Pietro Aretino, and expressing in- difference to the spot where thp impure remains 1 of a licentious author are consigned to their kindred dust. We most willingly relinquish the defence of these two virtuous characters to Mr, Hobhouse : and to that enlightened philosopher my Lady Morgan, the difficult research for any memorials marking the depository of their re- mains; but we really cannot silently suffer either one or the other to misre- present the meaning of Mr. Eustace, in accusing him of staling that which he does not say, and of confounding the identity of two individuals whom he distinctly recognizes, in their respective characters, as praiseworthy or malignant. The passage in the Classical Tour is upon the churches of Flo- rence, which, although in external appearance inferior to many, are repre- sented as containing a charm peculiar to themselves, in their intimate con- nection with the great men who in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries diffused from Florence the light of literature over the western world; and thus the church of Santa Croce may be said to have a superior claim upon our attention, from its containing the remains of the greatest luminaries of their age in every branch of science or of art. There reposes the great painter, sculptor, and architect— Michel Angelo. The profound lawyer — Leonardo Bruni Aretino. The illustrious astronomer and philosopher — Galileo. The Florentine Livy. — Guicciardini. The Tuscan Tacitus. — Mac- chiavelli, — and possessing these it imported little to our author to inquire where their fellow-countrymen the licentious novellist Boccacio, or malig- nant Aretino Bacci, were consigned to their kindred dust. “ Boccacio may have allured the poetry of Greece to the bosom of Italy,” but it was only what Petronius had done before him, and in language quite as beautiful, while there are other bosoms which it becomes the duty of the divine to guard against the poison of those writings of which their author in his more advanced years deprecated the reading for the sake of decency, and for the production of which he apologized, as from the command of those he could not disobey. We must, therefore, state our perfect concur- rence with Mr. Eustace, that the church of Santa Croce contains all that can excite our admiration or awaken our enthusiasm, and would not possess a greater charm, at least to the moralist, had he there found the sepulchres of Bacci, Boccacio, or Petronius Arbiter, who, equally pure in their language, are equally to be deprecated with reference to the impurity which that lan- guage is prostituted by them to convey. * Vol. II. ck. i. xii EDITOR S PREFACE. “Mr. Eustace should not have stuck his cross on the Clitumnus. ,, We suppose the gentleman means the temple upon the banks of that river. That the chapel now seen upon the Spoleto road is not the temple of Pliny, may be inferred from the patchwork of the columns and their dissimilar capitals, while a more minute inspection of the blocks composing the edifice will serve to shew that inscriptions of no very ancient date have been used, not only in its repairs, but original construction 1 * 3 ; of which the form of the plan, a cross, may give rise to well-grounded suspicions with reference to the date of the whole structure, though that form can hardly be said to be peculiar to churches of the earliest period. The temple is about a mile from the fountain, and the post-house is equidistant between the two. In the “ Illustrations,” we find quoted from Yenuti an account of some spo- liations committed upon the edifice : four columns are said to have been sold; but even admitting this as fact, w r e should not forget the previous state of dilapidation into which the whole had fallen, and allow that the principal object, however ill-judged, was to repair it. Before we form injurious conclusions upon such spoliations, it would be but just even to ourselves to make some inquiry into the precise state of repair in which the edifice existed, or rather of dilapidation into which it had previously fallen. The robbery of the Pantheon by Pope Urban VIII. is execrated, and the execration is repeated by each succeeding tourist ; while in the enthusiasm of the moment there are few who do not wish St. Peter’s deprived of the apostle’s chair, cleared of the Baldacchino, and un- defended by the cannon of St. Angelo, if those objects could be recast, and refixed upon the mouldering beams of the portico of Agrippa. Now it ill becomes us Englishmen to talk of neglect or spoliation of sacred edifices at all, whether ancient or modern, whether pagan or Christian ; and the real state of the case is this : — The Pantheon had stood a neglected, unappropriated, desecrated building, falling into a more or less rapid state of ruin for a lapse of time nearly equal to that which intervened from the sup- pression of monasteries by our Henry VIII. to the accession of his late majesty George III. ; after this interval it was consecrated to the purposes of Chris- tianity, and hallowed according to the custom of the day by the introduction of an incredible quantity of relics, by the baptism of a hundred Jews, and by the operation of a miracle. But even all this could not protect the building from the spoliation of its bronze covering in the same century by Constans, the grandson of Ileraclius ; and that the mere act of consecration did not protect a building hardly applicable from its form to the purposes of Chris- tian worship, may be inferred from the repeated renewal of that ceremony in the year 850 % and again by Urban VIII. 1 It would be difficult to divine what Mr. Forsyth can mean, when he says that “ instead of columns bescratched with the nonsense of an album, here are columns coupled in the middle of the front, to correspond with those on the antes, a thing not to be found in any classical antiquity." We do not pretend to expound this very scientific piece of criticism, as we confess its meaning to be totally beyond our powers of comprehension. 3 Mr. Forsyth erroneously remarks, that the Catholics let the temples stand, and gloried in their conversion to Christianity. There is no instance whatever of such conversion ; and the horror against the impiety of such a profanation had worn out two centuries before Boni- face LV. obtained permission from the Emperor Phocas to appropriate, not convert this. The only churches pretended to have been converted are, the Pantheon ; Remus into St. Cosmo and Damiano, 527 ; Romulus to St. Theodore, 774 ; Fortuna virilis to Sta. Maria Egiz- ziaca, 872 ; Vesta in Madonna del Sole, the Basilica of yEmilius, to St. Hadrian ; and that of St. Stefano Rotunda, which was in all probability entirely rebuilt by St. Simplicius. We of course take no account of those built upon ancient sites, as Sta. Maria in Cosinedin ; St. Lo- EDITOR S PREFACE xiii In the mean time we find it used as a strong hold * and it can hardly be expected, when we recollect the centuries of anarchy and pillage through which t he city had dragged a precarious existence, that the contending par- ties would have refrained from seizing upon a building so well adapted to their purpose. There is every reason, at least it is fair, to presume, that the feeble protection which consecration had afforded the Rotunda was never extended to the Portico ; that when the whole was used for defence, the spaces between the columns of the latter were partly, if not wholly willed up ; w T hile in the vicissitudes it underwent, the three columns, namely, one at the angle and two at the side, of which we find it deprived at the be- ginning of the seventeenth century, were thrown dow r n and carried away r . At this period, and in this state, Urban VIII. found and put up the angular column ; when the whole building underwent something like a general re- pair, and received the addition of two belfries, which if they are not beautiful objects, were designed by the first architect, and were in conformity with the taste, of the day. It is not necessary to have studied the science of architecture to enable us to imagine the state in which this part of the edifice must have existed without three of the twelve columns of its circuit. If the columns were removed tHe architraves could not have upheld themselves in the air, and the roof could scarcely have existed at all : consequently the wooden beams of the ceiling after fifteen centuries must have been utterly decayed, and the bronze plates with which they were covered could hardly have admitted of replacing and repair under an expense totally impossible to the exhausted treasury of the pontiff, when w r e consider that its whole energies for more than a century before had been applied to one great object, St. Peter’s : while within that time Rome had been sacked by Charles, and never was secure from foreign irruption or domestic treason, until these very spoils were converted into cannon for the defence of the new glory of the Christian world J . renzo in Miranda, etc. Mr. Forsyth, in St. Stefano, speaks of the beauty of its two circles of columns, and the third lost in the wall; and remarks “how immoderately unequal the intercolumniations, if all the columns radiated from a common centre ! ” What becomes of the criticism, when we find they do not so radiate, and that moreover, except those lost in the wall, there is but one circle ? In the same way he describes a fourth' order at the Coli- seum, surmounted by a heavy attic. The fourth is the attic ! 1 Mr. Hobhouse errs in calling the Pantheon the Sta. Maria in Turribus, defended by the anlipope Clemens III. in 1087. In front of the old St. Peter’s was an atrium or square court surrounded by a portico. At the entrance to the latter was the chapel of Sta. Maria ad turres, so called from the tower or towers which rose over it. It is curious to remark the state of Rome at this period. The archbishop of Ravenna was supported in his pretensions to the papacy by the emperor; but the more powerful arm of the countess Matilda protected the abbot of Monte Cassino ; the latter took the portico alluded to, and in the evening of the same day his enemies evacuated the church : but, insecure in its vicinity, the victor retired to the island in the Tiber, while the more popular antipope occupied the Rotunda. The day of the apostles was consumed in a struggle at St. Peter’s between the parties, to prevent the latter from saying mass in the church ; and as he could not get possession of it until night- fall, the septflchre of the apostles remained, for the first time, unhonored by the religious ob- servance of that anniversary, though Clement having expelled his adversaries from the portico, and smoked them out of the towers, had been enabled to celebrate mass at the altar of Sta. Maria ad turres. But the Cronico Cassinense tells us that St. Peter, in disgust at the profanation of the heretics, left bis shrine, and was met and accosted upon the road to St. Be- nedict at Monte Cassino by some pilgrims. Fleury, Hist. Eccl., also follows Baronius in thinking Leo Ostiensis alluded to the Pantheon, and explains that it was so called from Bernini’s turrets— built six centuries after! a We have good evidence of the state of the roof from the inscriptions fixed by Urban, xiv EDITOR’S PREFACE. The author of the Illustrations will rejoice to hear, that “the ill-assorted modern contemporary heads which glared in all the niches of the Rotunda; the little white hermaean busts ranged on ledges side by side, and giving this temple of immortality the air of a sculptor’s study;” and even those which at the period of his visit, were still under the chisel of the “ mo- dern Cleomenes,” were in the latter part of the year 1819 all cleared away: that either prompted by his remarks or more probably the opinion that they interfered with the religious character of the structure, they have been all sent back to their maker, and that even the sacred image of the divine Raffaello has not escaped the general proscription. The observation of another journalist is so complete a specimen of his manner, that we cannot refrain from quoting it. “ What barbarians could have white-washed so grand a canopy ? If their rapacity tore off its ancient covering, they might have bronzed the surface exposed, and left us at least the color of their plunder behind.” Now who would not suppose that the same barbarous pope who white- washed, had plundered it? or who would suppose from this, that the bronze covering was plundered from the outside of the portico about eleven centuries before the white-wash of the inside of the cupola ? • As the intention of Mr. Eustace was to make only general remarks upon the ancient temples at Rome, he merely in his descent from the Capitol 1 alludes to those situated at its foot, and cites the frequent contests which took place in that quarter as explanatory of the term “ restitutum,” used in the friezes yet remaining. It never was his object to enter into any grammatical disquisition upon the letters estituer of one, upon the restituit of the second, or the details of the five inscriptions found upon the site of the real temple of Concord, close to the three columns and behind the arch of Severus, and of which inscriptions only one appears to have been known to our diligent antiquary. Mr. Eustace “saw no difficulties,” because it was not his purpose to discuss them ; the term “ restored ” was all his cursory remark required, and of that he availed himself. And here it may be observed, that it is not for the editor of Mr. Eustace’s Tour to vindicate its author’s knowledge of the Latin language by enlarging upon the inaccuracy of others ; but it would be difficult to imagine a more ludicrous oversight than that of this indefatigable antiquary, where he asserts that the ashes of Trajan were deposited in the head of the spear which the statue of that emperor, placed upon the column called by his name in Rome, held in its hand. It may be useful to inform him, that the word “pila” means a globe ; a symbol, so held by the stalue, and the size of which was fully adequate to the purpose, and at the same time presented an appropriate depository for the remains of him who had ruled the destinies of the Ro- man world ; for as the column was never intended to be a sepulchral mo- nument to Trajan till Hadrian made it so, we may fairly presume the latter did not or could not pull up the foundations to deposit his predecessor’s re- mains beneath them. There is one mistake has hitherto escaped. Mr. Eustace 9 calls the steps from the Piazza di Spagna to the church of Trinita di Monte “ marble,” they which say that the remains of bronze were hardly known to exist, and that having removed them, he repaired the whole bond conlignalione. Alexander VII. restored the two other columns. » Vol. I. Ch. x. * prid. Ch. xiii, EDITOR’S PREFACE. XV are of travertine ; and lie also speaks of tlie copper the French contemplated stripping from the dome of St. Peter’s, which is covered with lead. Now, we believe, there are few individuals who have seen the magnificent staircase first alluded to, who think of the material at all. They are perhaps the finest flight of steps in Europe, and as such our author quoted them. As to whether the whole covering of the dome of St. Peter’s is of copper or no, for some part of it is of that metal, is no refutation of the main object of the charge ; for lead would have been desirable to French rapacity in a precise proportion with its value, though it might not be quite worth the trouble and expense of taking down. And we may ask, will any one who has entered the diligence offices at Tours or Rouen, or the coachmaker’s shop at the latter place, or the lamp magazine at Venice, vindicate French forbearance to religious edifices ? who has seen the Abbe Fourmont’s nar- rative upon Grecian antiquities, advocate their respect for national monu- ments? or read the illustrator’s account of the amputation of the arm of the statue of Pompey, contend that their taste or love for ancient art has any reality ? Our author, speaking of the particular tract of country between Tivoli, and the Bandusian fount, says it corresponds with its general features of two thousand years ago as described by Horace ; and amongst a dozen other points of identity, contains the same little rills, and even an “ occasional pine,” u imminens villa pinus.” We are told that “ we shall not be so lucky as a late traveller in finding the occasional pine still pendant on the poetic villa. There is not a pine in the whole valley, but two cypresses which he took or mistook for that tree. Horace probably had one in the orchard close to his farm, not on the rocky heights at some distance from his abode. The tourist may have easily sup- posed himself to have seen this pine figured in the above cypresses ; for the orange and lemon trees which throw such a bloom over his description of the royal gardens at Naples, unless they have been since displaced, were assuredly only acacias and other garden shrubs.” Mr. Eustace knew and has quoted the fact, that Horace had a pine tree at his villa, though in all probability not in his orchard, and if he had meant to allude to that particular tree, would not have used the word occasional. Pines are to be found in quantity sufficient in the neighbourhood of Tivoli, by those who will or will not take the trouble to look for them. As to the gratuitous lemon trees we say nothing ; but it should be recollected that the Villa Reale at Naples, for so the royal gardens in question are called, were doubled in extent, and totally altered and replanted during the French occupation : and we can assure our readers who have a love for the bloom of the orange, that in the garden of the Ferrandina palace into which our author’s back windows opened, a full acre of the trees in question is yet to be found, and bloom in the proper season. The fountain near the villa of Horace rises from no “knoll,” and has no 44 ploughed land in its immediate vicinity.” It is of very difficult access, though of uncommon beauty and crystalline purity. Itbursts forth a clear and copious stream from the craggy recesses of the mountain, w hence it falls from rock to rock until it reaches thelevel of the valley below, and there waters the ploughed land alluded to by the poet. Whether Horace “ satis beatusunicis Sabinis,” called this Bandusian or Blandusian, we think hardly worth contro- versy ; we are content with the old reading, and while we are told that the real fountain existed atVenusia,but is now r dried up, confess to have received xvi EDITOR S PREFACE. some pleasure in finding this false one, with every feature recorded in the ode. And may we not be permitted to conjecture the possibility that the poet might have chosen to call the fountain at his farm after one at his birth- place ? for this at least seems to have been the taste of Hadrian in subse- quent times. We must allow that we feel eminently indebted to the author of the Illus- trations for much valuable research upon the subject of Roman antiquity ; we only wish he had felt his admission “ that the love of liberty distinguished the character as it adorned the pages of Mr. Eustace, whose gentlemanly spirit, so recommendatory either in an author or his productions, is con- spicuous throughout the Classical Tour:” that “ gentlemanly ” feeling might have softened some expressions and omitted others ; or it might at least have spared itself the trouble of imputation. It is, we confess, somewhat against our own interest, but notwithstanding his assertion we can assure him that there is to be found an Italian edition of Mr. Eustace’s Tour : and while we are upon the subject of information, we may recommend him to make a personal inspection of the bronze wolf in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, for we were not successful in discovering any real traces upon it of gilding or marks whatever of the fusion attending metal struck by lightning, and con- sequently cannot imagine it to be the statue, Quae turn cum pueris flammato fulminis ictu Concidit, atque avulsa pedum vestigia liquit. Cicero tells his audience that they recollect it, because two years before he speaks, it was fused and became like all objects struck down by lightning too sacred to replace upon its feet and repair. 1 A more recent writer has resolved to have his share in exposing the inac- curacies of our author; and accordingly says, that the tomb of Virgil con- tains a certain inscription, which he is surprised Mr. Eustace did not give Instead of one which does not exist. The inside of the tomb contains no inscriptions except the name of Miss Eliza Johnson and John Oliver of his Majesty’s Ship Audacious, with some other modern worthies of similar pretensions ; but on the cliff immediately opposite the entrance is a marble slab with the following, though not quite accordant with Mr. Matthews’s “ tough piece of lability.’* Quae cineris tumulo haec vestigia conditur olim lile hoc qui cccinit pascua, rura, duces. Can. reg. MDLIII. The modern date annexed to this inscription, and its bad construction, may account for its omission by Mr. Eustace, who has given that of Dona- lus, which Mr. Forsyth remarks, was in his time “rejected on the cliff as a forgery;” we can therefore only presume that either these two authors erred, or that it w r as removed in the interim between their visit and that of Mr. Matthews. As it was an object with Mr. Eustace to support the cause of the Italian clergy, it may be w'orth while to notice an assertion in the same journal which seems to have been imagined with a contrary view. The author lodged at Naples “ in the house of a little dirty chocolate-faced bishop, w ho 1 In Cat. iii. 8 —The follies of the antiquaries upon this statue are too absurd some go so far as to assert that it is at once the wolf of Dionysius and Cicero. It may be the former, but will hardly be admitted to be so by those who have seen the Perugian statues at Florence. EDITOR’S PREFACE. xvii chattered two hours to he repaid by a few carlines, who exhibited his epis- copal trappings with fiddle-faddle vanity, and who giggled and skipped at the joke of his guest’s trying on his mitres;” in short, that he was a thief, and stole twenty dollars out of a former lodger’s cash-bag, the disgrace of which felony would fall of course upon the servant who was entrusted with the money. Now from all this his readers would conclude, that all the bishops and perhaps archbishops in Naples deserve to be hung; and that the hierarchy in that kingdom are quite equal in wickedness to all that is de- picted in the author’s travelling guide, Mrs. Radcliffe ; but he will be sur- prised after these entertaining conclusions to be told the indisputable fact, that the laws of the Neapolitans, are so unlike our English liberal regulations, as to impose forfeiture of his see upon the bishop who shall not constantly reside within his diocese; that moreover even sickness is not admitted an excuse for non-residence, and that consequently no bishop except the car- dinal archbishop, who we hope is not here alluded to, can live in Naples or let lodgings. In the same volume, we have a comparison of the dimensions of St. Pe- ter’s, as given by Mr. Eustace, with what the author of course considers more correct admeasurements. These however are exceedingly difficult to ascertain ( but from a careful revisal of Bonanni and other authorities, we see no reason to alter those given, vol. I. cli. XVI. The height being taken from the pavement of the church, which inside the dome is 550 feet. Those assigned to St. Paul’s are within a few feet except the two last. It may suf- fice to remark that the latter covers two acres, the former more than five; that cutting off the ball and cross, the whole dome of one might be included within that of the other, and that the vestibule of the Roman is wider than the nave of the London Cathedral, of which the three aisles, that is, the building within the walls is precisely the width of the nave of St. Peter’s, this (by actual admeasurement) is 90 feet; the width of the nave of St. Paul’s is 40, in height we believe about 90. The accounts of St. Peter’s, its archi- tects, and even dimensions are so various and contradictory, that we have thought proper to make a few cursory observations ; not so much with the intention of adding to, as to clear the subject from unreal criticism. While Julius II. was yet a cardinal, he appears to have had a strict inti- macy with and friendship for Juliano Giamberti, a Florentine architect pa- tronized by the Medici, and who received from a monastery he erected at Florence the surname of San Gallo. Soon after the elevation of Julius to the pontificate, he resolved to rebuild St. Peter’s upon a scale surpassing all other earthly edifices ; and to the end that the beauty of the structure should equal the vastness of his ideas, he received various designs for the projected building. He preferred the plan of Bramante, while his old friendship inclined him to associate the two architects in carrying that design into execution; but San Gallo in disgust retired to Florence. The latter had previously recommended his friend and countryman M. An- gelo Bonaroti to the pontiff ; he was now employed upon the tomb of Julius. He passed the most severe censures upon the successful plan, of which the author had strengthened his interests by the assistance of a young country- man and relation, whose talents justified his presentation to Julius. This was Raphael; Bramante and Raphael on the one hand; Julian San Gallo b xviii EDITOR S PREFACE. and Michel Angelo on the other, hehekl each other with rivalry, if not with national enmity. 1 With the death of Bramante the care of St. Peter’s devolved upon Raf- faello ; but the new pope, Leo X. obliged his countryman San Gallo to re- turn, and with a third to form a commission of architects. San Gallo, too old for active exertion, recommended his nephew Antonio, with whom, upon the early death of Raphael, Leo placed Peruzzi as a more experienced colleague; but the ensuing troubles allowed no funds for execution though they afforded leisure for design, and this was principally directed to the saving of expense. With this view Peruzzi recommended the Greek cross. His death left uncontrolled San Gallo, who with returning tranquillity swelled the projected church to nearly its original extent as designed by his master Bramante; adhering to the Greek cross he added a pronaos nearly as large as our church of St. Paul’s; two towers of equal height with the central cupola flanked the entrance, and the whole exhibited a stupendous pile of pillared but almost gothic magnificence. Since Bramante, who had completed the four great arches to support the dome, thirty-two years had elapsed, and the building had made scarcely perceptible progress; for the interim had been principally employed in strengthening his masses. The death of San Gallo now left the superintendance to Michel Angelo, who at seventy-two unwillingly entered upon restricted functions which perhaps a conciliatory disposition would have secured to his extraordinary talents long before. The extent of* the cupola could not be altered, and the ground plan was so far chalked out as to leave little to be departed from. The new architect had always censured all the preceding designs as visionary, and ills views were principally directed to form one of which the execution would employ * The contrast of character between Raphael and Michel Angelo, presents one of the most striking features in the biography of art. The former, born in U83, was nine years younger than the latter. His Entombment of Christ, at twenty, had surpassed the most successful efforts of his master, the greatest painter of the day, and placed him upon a height from which he seems destined never to descend. The life of Michel Angelo has been detailed by a friend, he has found an eulogist in the partialities of a countryman. The amiable qualities of Raphael are so unequivocally stamped upon all his works, that we need no other biogra- pher. lie was the numen which inspired every youth placed under its influence, and enabled the artist to leave for our admiration more than the shortness of his career would seem to permit. Surrounded by his pupils he painted in the face of day ; his study was open to all comers, while the presence and approving smile of woman seems to have been almost neces- sary to his exertions and existence. The first great work of Michel Angelo was the ceiling of the Sixtine chapel : his resolution was to surpass his cotemporaries ; he dismissed his pupils, and for twenty months suffered no human being to approach his labors. He hardly escaped blindness. The recorded conver- sation of Raphael is distinguished, like his manner, by a gentlemanlike feeling which seems the birth of a later age; his observations were of kindness to his friends. The replies of Michel Angelo are vituperative of his rivals. The latter may be compared to the Old Tes- tament ; the former seems to have sought a model in the New. The one condemned his enemies to the society of the damned ; the other exalted his friends to the company of the philosophers and sages of antiquity. The women of Michel Angelo may be “ moulds of generation;” but those of Raphael are the mistresses of our affections, and exalt our nature even to idolatry. The children of the former may “ teem with the man,” but who shall describe the intelligence beaming in the countenances of the boys of Foligno. The Transfiguration of Raphael displays the divinity of Christ, and teaches the lesson of faith. It was reserved to the perverse genius of his rival to depict the Son of God in the act of cursing man, and the Saviour of the human race reels from his hands the terrible minister of divine vengeance.— lie sits, ac- cording to Vasari; but stands, according to others. It will be difficult for the unlearned spectator to agree with cither one or the other. EDITOR S PREFACE xix less time, and entail more reasonable expense. The original design of Bra- mante would have covered 530,000 square feet, or about eight and a half English acres ; it was reduced by Peruzzi to 280,000, swelled again by San Gallo to 520,000, curtailed by Michel Angelo to 180,000, and finished by Maderni at 240,000. Our own St. Paul’s covers about 80,000 feet. The great alteration made by Michel Angelo was in curtailing a series of aisles behind the ends of the transepts and choir, and in cutting off eight chapels opening under the present four smaller cupolas, each of which chapels would have been more than fifty feet square. It is a common error to suppose that he designed a portico like the Pantheon, which had not been yet weeded and brought into notice. The front of that architect scarcely differed in geometrical elevation from that now executed. A gal- lery for papal benediction was required, and the columns now stick to the wall; whereas Michel Angelo’s design brought them out in a tetrastyle por- tico, surmounted by the same hideous attic, and forming a tottering mass, of which the elevation , was double the width of the portico; supposed, be- cause the columns were insulated, to imitate the glorious architecture of Agrippa. 1 The design of Mictyel Angelo being perfected by his successors, Vignola and Jacopo della Porta^ with the exception of the front, Paul V. on his ele- vation resolved to extend the plan more upon the principle of the original design of Bramante. ’ For the more clearly understanding the intention of Bramante’s plan, re- ference may be made to that of St. Paul fuori ie mura, which the ancient St. Peter’s very much resembled. The centre of the ancient absis was Fixed upon as the centre of the projected dome; a great portion of the new build- ing was consequently erected upon new ground, but the long arm of the Latin cross included the whole of the sacred precincts. The plan of Michel Angelo in shrinking to the Greek cross had excluded nearly one-third of the length of the nave, and had shut out many sites ranked amongst the most holy of the ancient edifice, and with them the Sixtine chapel, as well as the shrine of the Sudario, perhaps the relic most revered of the catholic church. 3 For the purpose of including these, a competition of architects was esta- blished. The design of Maderni, nephew to Fontana, who assisted Jacopo della Porta in raising the dome, was chosen. 3 ; Had the design of Michel Angelo for Uic portico been followed, we should have had in the two great cathedrals of Christendom two memorable monuments in defiance of the dictates of common sense. The gallery, an absolute necessity for the imposing ceremony of papal benediction at St. Peter’s, would have been omitted ; while St. Paul’s exhibits to this day that conveniency useless to a protestant church. The image of the Virgin, put up at Oxford in a repair by Laud, formed an article in his impeachment : we are only sur- prised this feature in the church of London was not turned against Charles and James, as indicative of their intention to restore catholic superstition. a The ceremony of exhibiting this relic to the congregation at Faster has given occasion to one of Mr. Forsyth’s most admired turhs. “The priest on the balcony unfolded the real handkerchief impressed, as he said, with the original features of Christ ; but the abdicated king of Sardinia, who was then kneeling below, seemed to think his own sudarium the genuine relic of the two.’’ We by no means wish to dispute the profundity of the author’s penetration, hut we cannot imagine that his majesty had any such thoughts ; for he must have known that his reiic, the sindone, or supposed winding-sheet, was much too large to have ever been carried about by St. Veronica as a pocket handkerchief. * He is “hit off” as a wretched plasterer by Mr. Forsyth; who thus blindly copying Fontana, seems totally unconscious of having begun the page by deciding his vestibule to be XX EDITORS PREFACE. The great objection urged to Maderni’s prolonged nave, and consequently applying also to that of Bramanle, is that it breaks the unity of the plan. The cupola, which before canopied the whole, now crowns only a part, and the effect is too gradual, with the approach of the spectator; but this is easily remedied by passing round to the entrance on the side of the sacristy which affords the means of access immediately under the giories of the dome, while the grand vestibule may be resorted to by those who admire the lengthened approach of the first architect. It may admit of a doubt whether the plan of Antonio San Gallo, did not combine both these objects with su- perior skill and effect.' Maderni was succeeded by Bernini, under whom the relation of the for- mer, Borromini, acted ; but this success superinduced the enmity of the Ca- valiere, who charged him with corrupting the taste of the day ; while the ingenuity of the architectural deception in the Palazzo Spada vindicates the skill of Borromini, and excited his rival to attempt a similar effect with less success but more magnificence, in the Scala Regia. Having enlarged to perhaps an unnecessary extent upon the alleged de- fects of the Classical Tour, as advanced by those who have allowed them- selves to impute even unworthy motives to its author, we now proceed to correct, and observe upon, those which have escaped general notice. We believe that freedom from error falls to the lot of few ; and although some more recent works profess to contain nothing more than the observa- tions made upon the spot, we know of no book of travels, however much it may insist upon this as a merit, that does not bear strong internal evidence in contradiction to such pretensions. We pronounce it to be the duty of an author to avail himself of former notices; and the man who, living next door to information, sits down to discuss the merits of the Athenian sculpture, and calmly declares that he does not know whether Lord Elgin’s collection contained any part of the Parthenon frieze, should at any rate apologize to his country readers for not giving himself the trouble to inquire. It may possibly be the good fortune of some future traveller to supply the world with more information than Mr. Eustace has done ; but until that in- dividual comes forward, w r e must beg to vindicate to our author his station as a traveller ; we must beg to declare, that until that day arrives he must stand second to no one. The magnificent tazza alluded to vol. I. eh. XI. and XIV. in the Campo Vaccino, has been removed to the Monte Cavallo, and there forms the basin of the fountain at the feet of the celebrated statues brought from Alexandria by Constantine. They are well known to he inscribed with the names of Phidias and Praxiteles, and were removed from the baths of Constantine to an architectural picture which no engraving can flatler, and who proceeds to finish it by eulogizing his nave as infinitely grand and sublime without the aid of obscurity ! It is not generally remarked, that the first church of the Christian world fronts the east; the pope consequently faces the door of the church when he celebrates mass. * The elliptical cupolettas are said by Mr. Forsyth “to be mere expedients to palliate the defect of Maderni’s aisles, which depend on them for fight;” but all the light is received from the six windows in the nave, assisted by others in the aides. He also says, that the roses of the ceiling have fallen in ruins from the deeper lacunaria, and remain only where the relief is low: this, as well as the remainder of the paragraph including the puff of Braschi, is totally mistaken ; the lacunaria without roses have never yet contained that ornament. We hardly know what he can mean by the middle orb of the vault; but the arms of the respective popes have been invariably placed to mark the works done under their ponti- ficate. Pius gilded the vault. EDITOR S PREFACE. xxi liieir present situations by the command of that extraordinary Pontiff Six-, tus V. Pius VI. turned them at right angles to each other, and placed be- tween them an obelisk nearly 50 feet high of red granite. 1 The angle formed by the three pedestals was adorned by the present Pope with the tazza in question ; it is of Oriental granite, and measures 20 feet across the rim. The propriety of the appellation of the grotto of the nymph Egeria is doubted. Livy, as quoted, vol. I. eh. XVIII. says, “ ex opaeo specu tons surely this is authority sufficient for a cave whence the water flowed. Mr. Eustace has mistaken the mutilated statue for a female ; it is evidently male, and it is singular that any doubt could ever have existed. Yet La- lande also remarks, “paroitjphtfdt line figure d’homme que celle de la nymplie ; ” anil Forsyth says, “ it passes for Egeria.” There remaining only six niches does not prove there never were nine. The temple of Vesta at Tivoli, vol. I. ch. XIX. is a specimen of the Co- rinthian, which was singular in its detail until the discovery of Pompeii, where the same character is given to that order, constructed of a similar po- rous material, and made out in like manner by means of stucco, which seems to have been composed by the same hand. Mr. Forsyth’s criticism upon this temple turns upon the niche, which is a mere scoop in the wall, painted with saints, and so evidently barbarous as to have nearly caused the ruin of the whole edifice ! With reference to the vase in the cathedral of Gaieta,* mentioned vol. I. ch. XXI. considerable ridicule has been thrown upon our author by some who have represented that he overlooked the anchor of Hope in the hand of Athamas, and the cross held by Faith; while Charity with the child he was supposed to have mistaken for Ino, and the Saviour kneeling to be baptized with John, for Bacchanals. The vase described by Mr. Eustace had been removed in the interim between his visit and that of this inquiring observer to the Museum at Naples, and its place supplied by a mire appropriate font sculptured for the purpose. The hall wherein is the painting of Leonardo da Vinci representing the Last Supper, at the period of Mr. Eustace’s visit was used as a store-room for artillery, and he probably had not access to view the picture. Mr. For- syth also says, “it was shot at wantonly by the Sclavonians, who were lately quartered there.” The Viceroy Eugene raised the floor three feet, the room being very damp, replaced the roof, and repaired the whole, as an inscrip- tion still allowed to remain over the entrance records ; and the lovers of art will rejoice to hear that the picture has received no more inquiry than time and the nature of the materials employed have caused. To the second and subsequent Editions of the Classical Tour is subjoined a Postscript, furnished to Mr. Eustace by a friend ; it comprises a short ac- count of the excavations made by the French around the ancient monuments, 1 This obelisk is of the same dimensions with tliat near the church of Santa Maria Mag- giore. They were brought to Rome by Claudius to adorn the mausoleum of Augustus, near which they were both found. The length of the stone is as stated above. Mr. Eustace, vol. I. ch. XV. says 60 feet, which includes the cross, etc. * The governor of this fortress could not feel much indebted to Mr. Forsyth, who goes out of his way no less than three times to record that liis brother, Sir John Acton, rose from a barber. His English baronetcy dates from 1644. xxii EDITOR’S PREFACE. and the consequent discoveries ; subsequent research by the ambassador of France and her grace the Duchess of Devonshire has added to this infor- mation, as well as confirmed or negatived the conjectures of the writer. We shall shortly pass them in review. THE COLUMN IN THE FORUM. This column rises from a pedestal which is placed upon a pyramidal basement of steps. Upon the pedestal is an inscription which informs us that it was erected by the Exarch Smaragdus 608, and sustained a gilded statue of the Emperor Phocas whose name had been erased, it is imagined, by his successor Heraclius. — The repaired inscription reads : OPTIMO CLEMENTIS PIISSIMOQVE PRINCIPI DOMINO IN PIIOCAE IMPERATOR PERPETVO ADO C0R0NAT0 TRIVMPIIATOR SEMPER AVGVSTO SMARAGDVS EX PRAEPO"s SACRI PALATII AC PATRICIVS ET EXARCHVS ITALIAE DEVOTVS EIVS CLEMENTIAE PRO INNVMERABIL1EVS PIETATIS EIVS BENEFICIIS ET PRO QVIETE PROCVRATA ITAL. AC CONSERVATA LIBERTATE HANC STATVAM MAJESTATIS EIVS AVRI SPLENDORE FVLGENTEM HVIC SVBLIMI COT.VMNAE AD PERENNEM 1PSIVS GLORIAM IMPOSVIT AC DEDICAVIT DIE PRIMA MENSIS AVGVST INDICT. VND PC PIETATIS EIVS ANNO QVINTO It is placed at the loot of the declivity from the Capitol, below the arch of Severus. The French were contented to dig to the base of the pedestal, and then speculated upon its high-and inexplicable level. The Duchess of Devonshire excavated to the ancient pavement, laid open the steps, and shewed that it was seven feet lower than the triumphal arch alluded to. THE TEMPLE OF PEACE The excavations here are highly curious. The building is evidently placed upon the site of some more ancient edifice, of which the better exe- cuted brickwork may be observed in the foundations running obliquely across the fine of its walls, while a portion of the ancient way of ba- saltic pavement still remains, pursuing the same direction. This vast hall measures about two hundred and seventy by eighty-two feet. It was almost precisely similar in dimensions and decoration with, the great saloon in the baths of Dioclesian, and like it the ceiling w r as supported bv eight gigantic columns, except that the material w as here of w r hite marble in- stead of granite. This hall opened by three arches on each side into two aisles. The entrance to the building w as by means of a low 7 vestibulum at one end of the saloon, towards the Coliseum, or east ; at the other end is a semicircular recess or tribunal. The external wall of the north aisle w r as pierced by six arches in two tiers under each of the three great openings connecting it with the nave; but the centre of these three divisions had undergone an alteration apparently in the progress of the work, and its EDITOR S PREFACE xxiiL straight wall was thrown out into a semicircular tribune, with a half cupola ceiling, like that before alluded to at the west end, opposite the original entrance : and this change seems to have been made in consequence of an alteration in the approach; for although the south aisle no longer remains, yet the excavations have laid open a flight of steps and foundations of a portico of entrance in the centre of this south side of the building. We presume not to speculate upon the original destination of this edifice ; it has been called the Temple of Peacp; it is now by some considered to be the Basilica of Constantine. 1 We can only say, that it is very unlike our ideas of the form of either of these species of building. We have before stated its similarity to the great hall of the baths of Dioclesiaru It was en- tered from the Sacred Way which ran close to it ; but could have had no subordinate apartments by reason of its confined situation. THE COLISEUM. The vaults and passages under the arena bear out Mr. Eustace’s conjec- ture : we can only add, that they appear to have been used principally for the introduction of the wild beasts; the cages containing them were raised through a trap-door, and a simple process turned the beast out upon the arena. In the excavations were found various fragments and inscriptions recording repairs to the arena, the podium, and the seats; but the latest alludes to the partial reinstatement of the building after the dilapidation of a tremendous earthquake in the sixth century, by the Prefect Basilius, per- haps its last repair. The present Pope has built an immense buttress to the top of the building, to uphold the tottering extremity of the outer circle; and the convicts were still employed in a work of draining for its security in 1820. The temple of Fortuna Virilis has been simply cleared of the rubbish which had accumulated about the podium. THE TEMPLE OF CONCORD. This appellation was attached to the eight patchwork granite columns of a strange species of Ionic order at the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus ; but the late excavations have laid open the foundations of the cell of the real temple behind the arch of Septimius Severus, and adjoining the temple of Jupiter Tonans. The site had been occupied by a church dedicated to Sts. Sergio and Bacco, which was thrown down to open the way to the Capitol for the Emperor Charles V. 1 A great hall of this precise shape and even dimensions seems to have been repeated in all the baths, and was probably the pinacotheca for the reception of works of art, or perhaps also included the library. In the baths of Caracalla is a second hall of equal size, which from the different construction of its ceiling is presumed to be the Celia Solearis, mentioned by Spartianus, who states that the architects of his time were unable to explain the scientific contrivance of its arched ceiling, of which the framing of brass lattice work, we conjec- ture, may have resembled the interlacing of a sandal latchet, and thus have suggested the name given to the hall, which appellation is absurdly imagined by one author to have arisen from its being the room for the slippers of bathers, and by another to have contained a throne for the Emperor. But it is pseiess to enlarge upon the obscure architectural cri- ticisms of ancient writers in a barbarous age, when we find even those of our own time and language so far from intelligible. There is another room (circular) in these baths 112 lcet in diameter, which might have been covered with a dome upon the principle of the Halle au Bled at Paris, and been the Celia Solearis alluded to. xxiv EDITOR’S PREFACE. The eight columns are now assigned to the temple of Fortune, restored by Constantine, after being burnt under Maxentius; they are an extraor- dinary example of patchwork, with different unfinished bases and capitals eked out with stucco, while the portions composing the granite shafts are placed sometimes with their diminished ends downwards, and what origi- nally was the moulding immediately above the base, now forms that directly under the capital. Between this and the three columns of Jupiter Tonans, runs the ancient paving of the Clivus Capitolinus of large blocks of lava. The latter temple was placed upon an elevated podium, and a narrow terrace or platform ran along its front. Little more has been done to the triumphal arches than laying them open to the ancient basaltic pavement, and building dwarf walls around them to prevent the earth again failing in. This is also done at the temple of Antoninus and Faustina. ■ The arch of Titus, which required no excavation, exists in a most melan- choly state of dilapidation, and is only upheld by timber supports. It is placed at one corner of the oblong plot of ground selected by the Emperor Hadrian for the site of his magnificent double temple to Venus and Rome. This area was about five hundred and thirty* five feet by three hundred and twenty. It was enclosed by a wall, around the inside of which was a por- tico of granite columns about three feet diameter, and consequently thirty high. In the midst of this area arose the peripteral temple of white marble fluted columns of the Corinthian order, designed by the emperor ; and if we may judge from the waste of white marble to be observed in its w^alls, not without some mistakes in the execution, arising in all probability from his want of professional practice. The double temple was enlevated upon seven steps, and columns of porphyry adorned the interior of both portions. The vaulted roof of stucco was gilded, and the pavement shone in compartments of serpentine and giallo antico. Some remains of steps adjoining the arch of Titus shew r that in all probability a propylea gave entrance to the peribo- lus on that side. The excavations at the three columns in the forum have only shewn that the building to which they belonged was elevated upon a lofty podium with a platform, and approached by a magnificent flight of steps. It is pre- sumed to have been the Comitium. FORUM OF TRAJAN. The column of Trajan is now placed at one end of an oblong sunk area, surrounded by a post and chain, of which the line runs not parallel but ob- liquely to that of the surrounding building ; as unfortunately for the excava- tors, the form of the modern piazza does not follow' that of the ancient city. Two double row r s of columns run across this area ; but those now seen are only fragments of the ancient granite shafts raised upon bases which have been placed in the positions of the original columns, as marked by the foun- dations. Some portion of the ancient marble paving remains, and is per- fect in the immediate vicinity of the great column. It is to be regretted that the researches were necessarily impeded in the direction of the line of these porticos by the adjoining houses, and on the other side of the column by the Palazzo Imperiale and two churches ; as some interesting traces of the Ulpian library and basilica, or of the triumphal arch and temple of Trajan might have been discovered. EDITOR S PREFACE. XXV The temple of Mars and the pertbolus of the forum of Pallas, we believe, remain unexcavated. We conclude that the water alluded to by Mr. Eustace as remaining stag- nant in these hollows is of little consequence, and hut seldom rises into them; but with the exception of those walled round, the excavations will gradually be refilled. The abandonment of the church of Si. Paulo fuori le mura we believe to be unavoidable. The Benedictine monks are now in possession, but the malaria expels them at an unusually early period of the year. It is to be regretted that 1 the columns of its aisles are not employed in a building where their magnificent shafts could be better appreciated. 1 The cloister is a most curious specimen of architecture in twisted columns and mosaic. The church and cloister of the Carthusians is also now in the possession of the Order. This church is perhaps the most magnificent space in Rome, with the exception of St. Peter’s ; and if it had been restored more judi- ciously, and with reference to the original design, would have been hardly inferior to that structure. But the shutting up the side aisles has totally perverted the effect of the columns, now placed at rambling intervals, and supporting the ponderous pendentives of the groins originally relieved by three gigantic vaults like those of the Temple of Peace. What architect in restoring the latter structure would think of shutting out those magnificent coffered arches, and seeking our admiration by the substitution of the tor- tured pediments and angels which straggle upon their broken slopes in the church of the Madonna e sette Angioli? Would it not have been better to have raised instead of burying the columns six feet, and omitted or shor- tened the high attic over them ? Mr. Lalande cites a mistake mentioned by Boscovicb, with reference to the scale of the meridian of Bianchini : he errs, there is no mistake. The columns were originally forty-six feet six inches high ; the ancient dimensions of the whole hail were 195 feet long, and 150 broad; the in- closed space at present is reduced in width to 80 feet. Mr. Eustace’s di- mension, vol. I. ch. XI. which gives 550 feet to the length, is taken the other way. * They have been supposed by most antiquaries to have belonged originally to the mau- soleum of Hadrian, see vol. I. eh. XIII. and XV.; but it is doubtful whether that building ever had columns. This error seems to have arisen from their having been really removed from the church of St. Hadrian, the presumed Basilica of Paulus Alniilius. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE Jam mens praetrepldans avet vagari : Jam laeti studio pedes vigescunt. O dulces comitum valete coetus, longe quos simul a domo profectos, Diverse variae vise reportant . 1 Catul. xnv. The degree of preparation necessary for travelling depends upon the motives which induce us to travel. He who goes from home merely to change the scene and to seek for novelty ; who makes amusement his sole object, and has no other view but to till up a few months that must other- wise remain unemployed, has no need of mental preparation for his excur- sion. All that such a loiterer can possibly want, are a convenient post- chaise, a letter of credit, and a well-furnished trunk ; for occupation he will have recourse to inns, to coffee-houses, and to theatres, with their appur- tenances, which cannot fail to supply him with incidents, anecdote, and pastime in abundance. But he who believes with Cicero, that it becomes a man of a liberal and active mind to visit countries ennobled by the birth and the residence of the great; who, with the same Roman, finds himself disposed by the contemplation of such scenes to virtuous and honourable pursuits; he who, like Titus Quintius devoting the first days of leisure after his glorious achievements, to the celebrated monuments of Greece, embraces the earliest opportunity of visiting the classic regions of Italy ; such a tra- veller will easily comprehend the necessity of providing before-hand the information requisite to enable him to traverse the country without constant difficulty, doubt, and inquiry. And, indeed, if there be a tour in which such preparation is more particularly wanting than in any other, it is that to which I allude : as Italy owes more to history than even to nature; and he who goes over it merely with his eyes open to its embellishments, and his mind intent on observation, though he may see much and learn much also, will yet, with all his curiosity and diligence, discover one-hall only of its beauties. Even those travellers who have made some efforts to qua- lify themselves by previous application, will on many occasions regret that they have not extended their researches still farther, and that they have not by a longer course of preparation, added to their means both of amuse- ment and of instruction. 1 It may, therefore, be considered as an appro- Now longs my flutt'ring heart to rove ; My feet with livelier ardour move. Then fare ye well, my comrades gayl From home at once we take our way, But far through distant climates borne, Must all by sep’rate paths return. 3 Vous ne sauriez croire, says the Abbd Barthe'lemi to the Comte de Cayius, ombien mon voyage ten Italie) m’a huniiliti; j’ai vu tant Ue chores que j ignorais, et quej’ignorc 4 2 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. priate introduction to an account of Italy, to point out to the reader such branches of information as are either indispensable or highly advantageous in an excursion to that country ; after which I mean to add a few reflections and cautions, with a view either to remove prejudices^ or to prevent incon- veniencies. CLASSICAL KNOWLEDGE. I. As these pages are addressed solely to persons of a liberal education, it is almost needless to recommend the Latin poets and historians. Virgil and Horace, Cicero and Livy, ought to be the inseparable companions of all travellers ; they should occupy a corner in every carriage, and be called forth in every interval of leisure, to relieve the fatigue and to heighten the pleasure of the journey. Familiar acquaintance or rather bosom intimacy with the ancients is evidently the lirst and most essential accomplishment of a classical traveller. But there is a class of poets who, though nearly allied in language, senti- ments, and country, to the ancients, are yet in general little known : I mean the modern Latin poets, Vida, Sannazarius, Fracastorius, Flaminius, Politian, etc . 1 who laboured so successfully to restore the pure taste of an- tiquity. Boileau and the French critics affected to despise these authors , 2 and, for what reason it is difficult to discover, undervalued their latinity. But men of equal discernment, Atterbury, Pope, and Johnson, entertained a very different opinion of their merit, and not only read but sometimes bor- rowed from them. Every body is acquainted with the beautiful compliment which the British poet pays to Vida, and through him indirectly to his fel- low bards, whose united rays lighted up the glories of the second Augustan age; and every reader not blinded by prejudice must admit the propriety of this poetical tribute, and acknowledge, that not Vida only but several of his contemporaries tread in the footsteps of their illustrious countrymen Virgil and Horace ; not unfrequently catch a spark of their inspiration, and often speak their language with the grace and the facility which distinguish native Romans. Upon the present occasion I mean to recommend, in par- ticular, only such passages in their works as have an immediate connexion with Italy, and are calculated to give an additional interest to any part of its history, scenery, or antiquities. In these passages, where the subject calls forth their energies, they glow with native lire and in numbers not un- encore, qu’il rn’a para fou de se savoir grd de quelques connaissances superficielles *.—Lettre xxi. Yet the author of Anacharsis was one of the most learned and judicious antiquaries in France. i Pope printed, or rather, I believe, reprinted, with additions, a collection of poems from these authors in two volumes duodecimo. The Clarendon press gave the public a superb specimen of typographical elegance , in an edition of Vida, in three volumes octavo, in the years 22, 23, 24, of the last century. a The contempt which the French critics generally shew for modern Latin poetry, may perhaps arise fionri a consciousness of their own deficiency in this respect, cardinal Poli~ gnac, Vaniere, Rapin and Santeuil,** are the only Lalin poets, if 1 recollect well, of any consideration that France has produced, and although they are not without merit, yet Ihey betray in the effort with which they advance and in the very art which they display, some- * You cannot believe bow much my journey (in Italy 1 has bumbled me. I saw' so many things of which 1 was before ignorant, and of which 1 slill remain ignorant, that it appeared to me madness for a man to pride himself on a little superlicial knowledge. ** This last author is inferior to the others, because more affected. Ilis hymns, though inserted in the Parisian breviary, and much admired by French critics, are quite distigured by conceit and antithesis. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. 3 worthy the fathers of Roman verse, pure, majestic, or pathetic, celebrate the grandeur, describe the beauties, or lament the misfortunes of their country. ITALIAN LANGUAGE. II. It is evident that he who wishes to become acquainted with the man- ners, or to enjoy the society of the inhabitants of any country, must pre- viously learn their language ; it is not therefore my intention, at present, merely to recommend, what indeed no traveller entirely neglects, the study of Italian, but to enforce the necessity of commencing it at a much earlier period, and of continuing it for a much longer space of time than is now customary. He who enters Italy with an intention of applying to its lan- guage particularly , must make a longer residence there than our country- men usually do, or he will find too many external calls upon his attention and curiosity to allow him to devote his lime to cabinet studies. Informa- tion there, is to be gathered, not from sedentary application, hut from ac- tive research and observation. One day is devoted to the contemplation of churches or ruins, the next is passed in the examination of pictures, a third is dedicated to a groupe of ancient statues, and a fourth and a fifth are agreeably spent in the galleries or the gardens of a villa ; then excursions are to be made to spots consecrated by history or by song, to Horace’s Sabine farm or to Virgil’s tomb,, to Jibuti or Tusc.ulum , to Fesole , or Vallomhrosa. In these delightful and instructive occupations, days, weeks, and months glide away with imperceptible rapidity, and- the few leisure hours that may chance to occur at intervals are scarcely sufficient to give the diligent tra- veller time to collect his remarks and !o embody his recollections. Let him, therefore, who wishes to visit Italy with full satisfaction and advantage, ac- quire, if possible, such an acquaintance witli its language, previous to his journey, that nothing maybe wanting to complete his command of it but practice and conversation. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeih to school and not to travel , says Bacon. ITALIAN HISTORY. HI. The next objeet which claims attention is the History of the different Revolutions of Italy, not only before, but during the decline and after the fall of the Roman Empire. The republican part of Roman history is considered as purely classical, and as such is pre-supposed in the first paragraph. The lives or the reigns of the first emperors are contained in Suetonius, Tacitus, and Ilerodian, what of the latent barbarian. Even in Latin prose the French do not seem to have succeeded better. There is always an appearance of study and constraint in their style, very different from the easy, unaffected flow of the Italian authors. The latter only have either preserved op recovered the certa vox Romani generis , ur bisque propria, in qua nihil offendi, nihil displicere, nihil animadverti possit, nihil sonare, aul olere peregrinum. *—(Ci;ero de Or.) Hence Mr. Roscoe has reason to mention these poets with partiality, under the appellation of the rivals of Virgil and Horace. * That certain style, peculiar to the Roman race, and to the city of Rome, in which nothing can be objected to, nothing can displease, nothing be animadverted upon, nothing retain a foreign sound, or as it were, a foreign flavour. 4 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. whose curious and amusing volumes must of course be perused with atten- tion, while the Scriptores Historic Augusta will not be neglected. The Abate Denim* s History of the Revolutions of Italy, a work in great estima- tion, gives a very satisfactory view of the whole subject, including both an- cient and modern times. The two Sister Histories of Lorenzo and of Leo, by Mr. Roscoe, contain a full and interesting account of one of the most im- portant epochs that occur in the annals of Italy ; they have long since at- tracted the attention of every candid and reflecting mind, and need not be recommended to persons who mean to visit the country which has been the theatre of the events, and the abode of the great men so eloquently recorded in them. MEDALS. IY. Though I do not mean to turn young travellers into profound anti- quaries, yet I would have them at least skim over all the regions of ancient learning. No spot in this extensive territory is either dreary or unproduc- tive. Medals are intimately connected with the history and the manners, with the arts and even the taste, of the ancients. .... And faithful to their charge of fame Through climes and ages bear each form and name. In one short view, subjected to our eye, Gods, emp’rors, heroes, sages, beauties, lie. They merit therefore considerable attention. Addison’s Dialogues, written with the usual felicity of that graceful author, deserve to be recommended as a very proper introduction to this amusing branch of knowledge. These dialogues have also, independently of their scientific merit, a very strong claim to the attention of the classical traveller, from the numberless extracts from the ancients, and particularly the poets, introduced with art, and fre- quently illustrated with elegance. ARCHITECTURE. V. As Italy possesses some of the most perfect monuments of antiquity now remaining, res antiquce laudis et artis, 1 as well as the most splendid productions of modern genius in Ar chitecture, Sculpture, and Painting, it is absolutely necessary to acquire a general knowledge of the principles of these three great arts. With regard to Architecture, Dean Aldrich’s Elements, translated by Mr. Smyth of New College, is a very clear and concise treatise on the general principles, proportions, and terms of this art, and may be recommended as a good work of the kind for the use of beginners. The five orders, accord- ing to Palladio’s system, are explained in a little treatise, and illustrated in a set of neat engravings by Cypriani . a Scamozzi’s Lives of the principal Architects, preceded by a dissertation on the art in general, is an useful and very entertaining work. But the man who wishes to have accurate ideas and comprehensive notions on this subject, must not content himself with these nor indeed with any rao- n The glories of ancient art. Roma 1801. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. $ dern compositions. He must have recourse to the ancients — inventas qui vi - tain excoluere per artes ' — and in their writings and monuments study the best models and the fairest specimens of architectural beauty. Rollin’s short trea- tise, in his Appendix to his Ancient History, enriched with several citations and classical references, may serve as an introduction. It is not, perhaps, al- ways accurate, because written before an exact survey of several ancient monu- ments had been made, but it is perspicuous and interesting, and like all the works of t hat excellent author, admirably calculated to awaken curiosity in the youthful mind. Stuart’s Athens, a work of surprising exactness, presents to the eye, in one groupe, a collection of the noblest specimens of Grecian art and of Attic taste now existing . 9 In these matchless edifices, erected during the most flourishing period of Grecian architecture, the reader will discover thegenumeproporlionsoftheorigtimf Doric, the first and favorite order of the Grecian architects; an order either slightly mentioned or totally omitted by modern artists, though it is supposed, at least as employed in the Parthenon and the temple of Theseus, to unite above all others, ornament with simpli- city and beauty with solidity. Vitruvius must be perused or at least con- sulted, with the assistance of the Italian translation and notes, to remove such difficulties as must invariably occur without some explanation . 3 Many works of greater length and more detail might be recommended, but the few alluded to are sufficient, not indeed to perfect an architect, but to form the taste of a young traveller. Besides, when the first principles are once known and the original proportions well understood, an attentive observer may improve his taste by comparing the best models of Greek and Roman, of ancient and modern, architecture . 4 SCULPTURE. VI. We come in the next place to Sculpture. Some acquaintance with anatomy is a desirable preliminary to the knowledge of this art ; therefore be who wishes to form correct notions of the statues, which he must neces- sarily examine during his travels, would do well to attend a few anatomical lectures previous to Iris departure from the University. The best method of acquiring a correct and natural taste in sculpture is, without doubt, to in- spect frequently the masterpieces of the art, to compare them with each other, and to converse occasionally with the best informed artists. PAINTING. VII. Hit Fresnoifs Art of Painting, and Sir Joshua Reynolds’s well known discourses, together with much observation and frequent conversa- tion with persons well versed in this enchanting art, may enable attentive observers to distinguish the different schools, to observe the characteristic excellence of each great master, the peculiar beauty of every celebrated Who grac’d their age with new-invented arts. — Dryden. 2 Mr. Wilkins’s magnificent work, entitled, Magna Grecia, is, in execution, accuracy, and interest, equal to any of the kind, and cannot be too strongly recommended. 3 Vitruvio del Galiani, Napoli. 4 No art deserves more attention than architecture, because no art is so often called into action, tends so much to the embellishment or contributes more to the reputation of a coun- try. It ought, therefore, at all events to occupy some portion of^ime in a liberal education. Had such a method of instruction as that which is here recommended been adopted a century ago, the streets of London, Oxford, and Cambridge, would not present so many shapeless PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. $ piece, and give them, if not the erudites oculos , the discr minating eye of the professed artist, at least the liberal satisfaction of the judicious admirer. MUSIC. VIII. As Italy is acknowledged to be the first country in the world for Music, both with regard to composition and execution, something perhaps may be expected on that subject also. But, much as we may value music, yet I think that young travellers ought rather to be cautioned against its allurements than exposed by preparatory lessons to their dangerous in- fluence. Music in Italy has lost its strength and its dignity ; it is little calculated either to kindle patriotism or to inspire devotion; it does not call forth the energies of the mind, nor even touch the strings of melancholy. It tends rather by its effeminacy to bring dangerous passions into action, and like the allegorical stream of antiquity, to unman those who allow themselves to be hurried down its treacherous current. Plato would have forbidden such music, and banished its professors from his republic ; at all events it neither wants nor deserves much encouragement, and we may at least be allowed to caution the youthful traveller against a taste that too often leads to low and dishonourable connexions. IX. I have now pointed out the preparatory knowledge which I think necessary to all travellers who wish to derive from their Italian tour their full share of information and amusement. I will next proceed, according to my plan, to point out such dispositions, as will contribute very materially to this object, by removing prejudices, and leaving the mind fully open to the impressions of experience and observaiion. All the dispositions alluded to, are included in one short but compre- hensive expression, an unprejudiced mind. This excellent quality is the result of time and observation, of docility and benevolence. It does not require that we should be indifferent to the prosperity of our own country or blind to its pre-eminence; but, that we should shew some indulgence to the errors, and some compassion for the sufferings of less favoured nations. Far be it from me, to wish to repress that spirit of patriotism which forms one of the noblest features of the national character, and still farther every idea of encouraging the unfeeling sect, who conceal general indifference, under the affectation of philanthropy, and sacrifice the feelings of the patriot, to the pretended benevolence of the philosopher. But attachment to our own country, and partiality to its reputation, do not oblige us to despise those nations, which having been once tumbled from the pinnacle of Glory, are held by a series of disastrous revolutions and irresistible circumstances in a state of dependence and of consequent degradation. On the contrary, the numberless evils and abuses which result from slavery and oppression, cannot but excite sentiments of compas- sion and of sympathy. Scipio, when he beheld the flames of Carthage buildings, raised at an enormous expence, as if designed for eternal monuments of the opu- lence and of the bad taste of the British nation. We should not see such a multitude of absurd edifices under the names of temples, ruins, etc. disgrace the scenery of England so much admired by foreigners. In short, instead of allowing architects to pursue novelty at the ex- pence of taste, and seek for reputation by adaptations and pretended improvements of their own invention, a method which lias never yet succeeded, their employers would oblige them to adhere strictly to the ancients, and by adopting their forms and proportions to adorn Eng- land with the noblest edifices of Greece and of Italy. PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE. ? ascending to the skies, exclaimed with a prophetic application to Rome then triumphant, E v /asv yap rod's oT One thousand five hundred and forty-two. a Gibbon sajsof the council of Constance, that the number and weight of civil and ecclesiastical members might seem to constitute the States-general of Europe; a remark equally applicable to the council of Trent. 3 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. II. 3J. definitively settled in the general assemblies. The bull of convo- cation issued by Paul the Third, is a masterpiece of its kind. The style of the Acts is pure and dignified, and the dissertations and observations that precede the canons, cannot be perused, even by an impartial and pious protestant, without instruction and edifica- tion. One of the great objects of the Council was the restoration of peace and unity among Christians. In this respect it failed : animosity prevailed over charity ; conscious authority on one side, rage of innovation on the other, would submit to no concession. The other object was the reformation of the church. Here its ef- forts were attended, if not with total, at least with very general success, and must receive the approbation of every impartial reader. Many of its regulations have been adopted by the civil authority, even in Protestaut countries ; such, for instance, as those relating to matrimony ; and where admitted, their utility has been felt and acknowledged. Intrigue, without doubt, was not inactive at Trent : and where so many persons of such rank and weight, so many diplomatic agents from almost all the countries and all the corporate bodies in Christendom, were brought to- gether, it must have been frequently and strongly exerted. Yet with such an obstacle in its way, the Council drew up a set of articles clear and concise, comprehending all the principal points then in debate, and fixing the faith of the Catholic with logical precision. After having thus represented the Council in a favorable light, I must now, reluctantly I confess, turn to the charges advanced against it; the first of which is the influence supposed to have been exer- cised over it by the Roman court; an influence which, after all, seems to have been confined to subjects connected with the tem- poral interests and with the interior concerns of that Court, and never extended either to the deliberations or to the final decrees of the Council. In the second place, many a benevolent man, many a true friend of the peace and union of the Christian body, has deplored the degree of precision, with which the articles in debate were defined, and a line was drawn between the contending parties, — to separate them perhaps for ever ! Real union, indeed, at that time of delirious contest, was not to be hoped for ; but some latitude allowed to the wanderings of the human mind, a greater scope given to interpretation, and a respectful silence recommended to the disputants on subjects too mysterious to be explained, and too awful to be bandied about in scholastic disputation, might, perhaps, at a more favorable season, have soothed animosity, and disposed all temperate persons to terms of accommodation. Re- mote, however, as we now are from that aera of discord, and stran- gers to the passions which then influenced mankind, it might seem to border upon temerity and injustice, were we to censure the pro- ceedings of an assembly, which combined the benevolence, the sane- Chap II. THROUGH ITALY. 35 ti/y and the moderation of the Cardinals Pole and Sadoleti, Conta - rent and Seripando. 1 February 18th. From Trent the road continues to run through a narrow valley, watered by the Adige (or A thesis) and covered with vines conducted over trellis work, or winding from tree to tree in garlands. High mountains rise on each side, and the snow, though occasionally deep, was yet sensibly diminished. After the first stage, the snow appeared only on the mountains, while in the valley we enjoyed some share of the genial influence of an Italian sun. The number of neat villages seemed to increase on both banks of the river; though in all, the ravages of war and that wanton rage for mischief which, upon all occasions, distinguishes an invading army, were but too discernible. Collages destroyed, houses burnt or damaged, and churches disfigured forced themselves too fre- quently upon the attention of the traveller. A fortress covering the brow of a steep hill, rises on the left at some distance from the road, and forms too conspicuous an object to pass unnoticed. Its ancient name was, according to Cluverius, Yerrucca Castellum; it is now called Caslcllo della Pietra (the Castle of the Rocks), from its site. It was taken and re-taken twice by the French and Austrians during the last war, though its situation might induce a traveller to consider it impregnable. Roveredo, anciently Pioboretum, the second stage from Trent, is a neat little town in the defiles of the Alps, situated, geographically speaking, in the German territory, but in language, manners, and appearance, Italian. The entrance on the side of Trent looks well, though the main street is narrow. An inscription over the gate, relative to the marriage and passage of the Princess of Parma, pleased me much, as it affords a specimen of the good taste of this little town. ‘ Yida has made a beautiful allusion both to the City and the Council of Trent, in the form of a devout prayer, at the end of one of hi., hymns. 1 Nos prlmum pele, qui in sedern eonvcnimus unam, Saxa ubi depressum condunt praerupta Ti idcntuiu ; Uinc, atque bine, variis aecf.i e sedibus orbis, Ul studiis juncii, atque aufniis corrcordihus una Tendanius, dupe te freli, succurrerelapsis Legibus, et versos revocare in prislina mores. Teque ideo coetu celebramus, ei ute ciemus, Sancte, veni, penitus te mentibus inserenostris, Aura potens, ampr omnipoteus, cceli aucea Uamqia ! J Ilyin. Spin : Sun ■' And first on us descend, assembled here. Where round Trent's vale the closiug mountains rear Their rugged beads : From various lands we came, In zeal united, and with minds the same, . That by thy guidance, in Religion's cause. Our efforts may support the sinking laws. And morals, laps'd and undermin'd, restore To the bright purity they knew before. Then come, Almighty Love I thine aid afford! Thee we invoke, we praise with one accord. Pure spark of flame divine, our souls inspire, And warm thy vot’ries with celestial fire l 3fi CLASSICAL TOUR Cii Isabella Philippi Borb. Parma* ducis Josepho Austria duci nupta Viennam proficiscenti Felix sit iter Faustusque thalamus Roboretanis gaudentibus. 1 In fact, as you approach Italy, you may perceive a visible im- provement not only in the climate of the country, but also in the ideas of its inhabitants ; the churches and public buildings assume a better form ; the shape and ornaments of their portals, doors, and windows are more graceful, and their epitaphs and inscrip- tions, which, as Addison justly observes, are a certain criterion of public taste, breathe a more classical spirit. Roveredo is situated in the beautiful valley of Lcigarina, has distinguished itself in the literary world, and has long possessed an academy, whose mem- bers have been neither inactive nor inglorious. The descent (for from Sieinach , or rather a few miles south of that village, three stages before Brixen, we had begun to descend) becomes more rapid between Roveredo and Ala; the river which glided gently through the valley of Trent, assumes the roughness of a torrent; the defiles become narrower; and the mountains break into rocks and precipices, which occasionally approach the road, sometimes rise perpendicular from it, and now and then hang over it in terrible majesty.* Ala is an insignificant little town, in 1 By the rejoicing inhabitants of Roveredo, to Isabella, daughter of Philip of Bourbon, Duke of Parma, bride of Joseph, Duke of Austria, or her way to Vienna. May her journey be prosperous, and her nuptials happy. * Amid these wilds the traveller cannot fail to notice a vast tract called the Slavini di Marco , covered with fragments of rock torn from the sides of the neighboring mountains by an earthquake, or perhaps by their own unsupported weight, and hurled down into the plains below. They spread over the whole valley, and in some places contract the road to a very narrow space. A few firs and cypresses scattered in the intervals, or sometimes rising out of the crevices of the rocks, cast a partial and melancholy shade amid the surrounding nakedness and desolation. This scene of ruin seems to have made a deep impression upon the wild imagination of Dante, as he has introduced it into the twelfth canto of the Inferno, in order to give the reader an adequate idea of one of his infernal ram- parts. Era lo loco ove a scender la riva Venimmo, Alpestro e per quel cti’ tv’ er' anco, Tal, ch ogoi vista ne sarebbe sebiva. Quale c; uella ruiua cbe net banco De qua da Trento I’Adice percosse, O per tremuoto o per sostegno manco; Cbe da ciraa del monte oude si mosse, A1 piano e si la roccia discoscesa, Cb' alcuua via darebbe a chi su fosse. The place where to descend the precipice Wc came, was rough as Alp. and there beside Such object Iny, as ev'ry eye would shun. As is that ruin, which Adice s stream On this side Trento struck, should ring the wave. Or lous'd by earthquake, or for lack of prop ; For from the mountain's summit, whence it mov'd QiAi\ II. THROUGH ITALY. 37 no respect remarkable, except as forming the geographical boun- dary of Italy. The same appearances continue for some time, till at length the mountains gradually sink into hills; the hills diminish in height and number, and at last leave an open space beyond the river on the right. In front, however, a round hill presents itself at a little dis- tance, which, as you approach, swells in bulk, and opening just leaves room sufficient for the road, and for the river on the right, between two vast perpendicular walls of solid rock, that tower to a prodigious height, and cast a most terrific gloom over the narrow strait that divides them. As the road leads along a precipice, hang- ing over the river, without any parapet, the peasants, who live at the entrance of the defile, crowd round the carriage to support it in the most dangerous parts of the ascent and descent. A fortifi- cation,' ruined by the French in the late war, formerly defended this dreadful pass, and must have rendered it impregnable. But French gold Perrumpere amat saxa, potentius Ictu fulmineo. a In the middle of the defile a cleft in the rock on the left gives vent to a torrent that rushes down the crag, and sometimes sweeps away a part of the road in its passage. After winding through the defile for about half an hour, we turned, and suddenly found ourselves on the plains of Italy. A traveller, upon his entrance into Italy, longs impatiently to dis- cover some remains of ancient magnificence, or some specimen of modern laste, and fortunately finds much to gratify his curiosity in Verona, the first town that receives him upon his descent from the Rhetian Alps. Verona is beautifully situated on the Adige, partly on the decli- vity of a hill, which forms the last swell of the Alps, and partly on the skirts of an immense plain extending from these mountains to the Apennines. The hills behind are adorned with villas and gardens, where the graceful cypress and tall poplar predominate over the bushy ilex and spreading laurel. The plains before the city are streaked with rows of mulberry trees, and shaded with To the low level, so the headlong rock Is shiver d, that some passage it might give To him who from above would pass. -Cary. 1 The fortress alluded to is called Chiusa , and is said to have been originally built by the Romans ; and though frequently destroyed during the wars and va- rious invasions of Italy, yet it was as constantly repaired in more peaceable times. It must be acknowledged that Nature could not have erected a more impregnable rampart to Italy than the Alps, nor opened a more magnificent avenue than the long defile of the Tyrol. * Stronger than thunder’s winged force, All-pow'rful gold can speed its course. Gold loves through solid walls to break. -Fry are inferior perhaps to the palaces of Genoa, but in style of arch* dee lure and in external beauty far superior. Palladio in fact had a particular talent in applying the orders and the ornaments of arc hiteeture to the decorations of private edifices. Unlike the ancien ts, who seem to have contented themselves with employing its grai ideur in temples, porticos, and public buildings, he intro- duced it into common life, and communicated its elegant forms to private e difices and to ordinary dwellings. I do not mean to as- sert that t he houses and the villas of the ancients were entirely de- « To Virtue and Genius, the Academy of the Olympics in the year 1584 raised from its found ation this theatre, of which Palladio was the architect. Chap. III. THROUGH ITALY. 49 void of architectural ornaments. Horace speaks of the columns that decorated the palaces of the rich Romans of his time. Nempe, inter varias nutritur sylva columnas.— Epist. lib. 1. 10. Non trabes Hymettia* Premunt columnas ultima recisas Africa Tu secanda marmora, etc. 1 — Hor. ii. 18. Pillars had been introduced long before, as Crassus, the orator, was humorously styled Venus Palatina, on account of six pillars of Hymettian marble, which ornamented his house on the Palatine Mount. We learn also, from the same author , 2 tha* Mamurra, a Roman knight, who had acquired great riches in the service of Julius Caesar, entirely incrusted his house on Mount Celius with marble, and adorned it with columns of the richest species of the same materials. Cicero speaks of a Greek architect whom he em- ployed, and complains of his ignorance or inattention in raising his pillars, as he had placed them neither perpendicular, nor op- posite to each other. Aiiquando, says Cicero, perpendiculo et lined discet uli 3 (Some time or other he will learn to use the perpendicu- lar and the line). This surely is a strange compliment to a Greek artist. The pillars here alluded to seem to have supported the por- tico of his villa at Arpinum. Suetonius also, to give his readers an idea of the moderation of Augustus, observes, that the pillars of his house on the Palatine Mount were of Alban stone, not marble. But I am inclined to believe that such ornaments were confined to the most celebrated palaces, or perhaps employed only in the inte- rior courts and surrounding porticos : if they had been common on the exterior we should have discovered some traces of them in the ruins of different villas, or at least in the fronts of the houses of Pompeii : and yet though I cannot assert that there are none, I do not recollect to have observed in the streets of the latter city the slightest vestige of architectural ornaments on private edifices. To these external decorations of architecture, the cities of Italy, and indeed most modern towns of any consideration, owe a great par of their beauty ; and may glory, not perhaps without reason, in surpassing the towns of antiquity in general appearance. I feel some regret in being obliged to acknowledge, that the metropolis of the British empire, though the first city of Europe, for neatness, convenience, and cleanliness, is yet inferior to most capitals in architectural embellishment. This defect is owing, in a Among your columns, rich with various dyes, IJnnat'ral woods with aukward art arise. -Francis. No colonnade Proudly supports my citron beams.— Francis. But you Command the pillar'd dome to rise.— Francis. 2 Plin. mvi. cap. 3. 3 Ad. Quint : Fratrem. III. v. 4 I. 50 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. III. great degree, to the nature of the materials of which it is formed, as brick is ill-calculated to receive the graceful forms of an Ionic volute, or of a Corinthian acanthus; while the dampness of the climate seems to preclude the possibility of applying stucco to the external parts with permanent advantage. Besides, some blame may justly be attributed to architects, who either know not, or neglect the rules of proportion and the models of antiquity ; and in edifices, where no expense has been spared, often display splendid instances of tasteless contrivance and of grotesque ingenuity. But, it is to be hoped, that the industry and the taste of the British na- tion will, ere long, triumph over this double obstacle, inspire artists with genius, teach even brick to emulate marble, and give a becoming beauty and magnificence to the seat of government and to the capital of so mighty an empire. Augustus found Rome of brick, and in his last moments boasted that he left it of marble . 1 May not London hope at length to see its Augustus? As Palladio was a native of Vicenza, it may be proper to say something of that celebrated architect, while we are employed in admiring the many superb structures, with which he ornamented his country. Of all modern architects, Palladio seems to have had the best taste, the most correct ideas, and the greatest influence over his contemporaries and posterity. Some may have had more favorable opportunities of displaying their talents ; and such, in both respects, was the felicity of the two grand architects of St. Peter’s, Bramanle and Michael Angelo : but Palladio has the exclu- sive glory of having first collected, from the writings and monu- ments of the ancients, a canon of symmetry and proportion, and of having reduced architecture under all its forms, to a regular and complete system. I am aware that many parts of that system have been severely criticized ; that his pedestals, for instance, are by many considered as heavy, his half pillars as little, and his decorations as luxuriant : yet it must be remembered, that these real or merely no- minal defects are authorised by the practice of the ancients ; and that it is not fair to blame, in a modern edifice, that which is ad- mired in the Temple of Fortuna Viriiis, or on the Triumphal Arch of Trajan. But supposing this criticism well founded, every candid spectator will admit, that there are in all the edifices erected under the direction, or on the immediate plans of Palladio, a simplicity and beauty, a symmetry and majesty, that abundantly compensate petty defects, and fulfil all the ends of architecture, by producing great- ness of manner and unity of design. I know not whether my opinion, in this respect, may agree with that of professed artists; but of all the grand fabrics, which I have had an opportunity of contemplating after St. Peter’s and the Pan- theon, the two masterpieces, one of ancient, the other of modern * Suet : D. Oct : C$s : Aug. 28. Chap. III. THROUGH ITALY. 51 architecture, I own I was most delighted with the abbey church of St. George at Venice, and that of St. Justina at Padua. Addison represents the latter as the most luminous and disencumbered building that he had ever seen ; though, for my part, I should be inclined* to give the preference to the former, which he passes over in silence: but be the superiority where it may, both these superb edifices display the characteristic features of Palladian architecture to the highest advantage ; and in a manner not often witnessed, even in Italy, blend simplicity with ornament, extent with propor- tion, and combination with unity. St. Justina was, if I be not mis- taken, 1 erected on the plan of Palladio, though after his death; some defects consequently occur in the execution, which ought not to be attributed to that illustrious architect, particularly as these defects are lost in the admirable symmetry and proportion of the whole; perfections owing exclusively to the genius that conceived and arranged the original model. On the whole, Palladio may be considered as the Vitruvius of modern architecture ; and it has been very properly recommended to persons who wish to make a proficiency in that art, to pass some time at Vicenza , Padua, and Venice, in order to study the many monuments of Palladian skill that abound in these cities. The splendor of Vicenza is not confined to its walls, but extends to the country for some distance round, where private or public munificence has erected several villas and magnificent edifices. Among the former, we may rank the villa of the M archest , called the Jto- tunda , an exquisite fabric of Palladio’s, and among the latter the triumphal arch, and the portico which leads to the church on Monte Berico. The arch is said by some to be the work of Palladio, in imitation of that of Trajan at Ancona ; and is, like it, light and airy. The portico is a noble gallery leading from the town to the church, and intended to shade and shelter the persons who visit the sanc- tuary in which it terminates ; and as its length is more than a mile, its materials stone, and its form not inelegant, it strikes the spec- tator as a very magnificent instance of public taste. The church is seen to most advantage at a distance : as, on a nearer approach, it appears overloaded with ornaments. It is of fine stone, of the Corinthian order, in the form of a Greek cross, with a dome in the centre ; but wants in all its decorations, both internal and external, the proportions and the simplicity of Palladio. The view from the windows of the convent annexed to the church, is extensive and beautiful. It may be here the proper place to mention a political pheno- menon, of a very extraordinary nature, which few travellers have, I believe, noticed. The Cimbri and Teutones, two tribes from the 1 The architect of St. Giustina was a Paduan, Andrea Briosco, It was begun 15*1; Palladio was born 1518. >2 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. Ilf. northern Chersonesus, invaded Italy, as it is well known, in the year of Rome 640, and were defeated, and almost extirpated by Marius, in the neighborhood of Verona. The few who escaped from the vengeance of the conquerors took refuge in the neighbor- ing mountains, and formed a little colony, which either from its poverty, its insignificance, or its retired position, has escaped the notice, or perhaps excited the contempt of the various parties, that have disputed the possession of Italy for nearly two thousand years. They occupy altogether seven parishes, and are therefore called the Setle commune (the seven communes) ; they retain the tradition of their origin, and though surrounded by Italians still preserve their Teutonic language. The late king of Denmark vi- sited this singular colony, discoursed with them in Danish, and found their idiom perfectly intelligible. Though we felt no inclina- tion to visit them (for a classic traveller cannot be supposed to be very partial to barbarian establishments in Italy however ancient their date), yet we were struck with the circumstance, and beheld their distant villages nested in the Alps, as they were pointed out to us from Vicenza , with some interest. The reader will hear with more satisfaction that a Roman colony still remains on the borders of Transylvania, and that it retains the Latin language nearly un- mixed, and glories in its illustrious origin. Hence, when any of its members enlists in the imperial service, and according to cus- tom is asked his country and origin, his answer is always, “ Ro- manus sum” (I am a Roman). 1 « In mezzo alia colta Europa, says Lanii, vivon tuttora popolazioni di linguaggi non eslesi ; nelle montagne di Vicenza vive il Celtico di Karbari chi vi si annida- rano ai tempi di Mario; nella Valakia il Latino di presidi che vi mise Trajano ; in qualche parte di Elvezia il Romans di Franzesi antichi. Saggiodi linguaEtrusca Epilogo, etc . Vol. i. “In the midst of congregated Europe there continue to exist populations, whose languages extend no farther than themselves ; in the mountains of Vicenza is still found the Celtic of the barbarians, who established themselves there in the time of Marius; in Wallachia, the Latin of the garrisons who were placed there by Trajan; in some parts of Switzerland, the Romance of the ancient French.” Non e stato fuor di proposito il distendersi alquanto nel racconto della spedizione de’ Cimbri si per distinguerne i tempi ed i fatti, si perche cltre all’ essere di quella famosa guerra il paese nostro stato leatro, uu avanzo di quella gente rimase per sempre neile montagne del Veronese, del Vicentino, e del Trentino, mantenendo ancora in questi territorj la discendenza ed una lingua differente da tutti i circo- stanti paesi. Si e trovato Tedesco veramente essere il liriguaggio, e simile pure la pronunzia, non pero a quella de’ Tedeschi piu limitrofi dell’ Italia, ma a quella de’ Sassoni e de’ popoli situati verso il mar Baltico : il che fu studiosamente ricono- sciuto da Frederico IV. Re di Danimarca, che onord con sua dimora di died giorni la citla di Verona nel 1708. Non s’ inganna dunque il nostro popolo, quando per immemorabil uso Cimbri chiama gli abitatori di que’ boschi e di quelle montagne. — Maffei; Verona illustrata, Lib. hi. “It has not been foreign to the purpose to discuss at some length the account of the expedition of the Cimbri, as well for the sake of distinguishing the period at which it took place, and the transactions connected with it, as because, besides that our country was the theatre of that famous war, a remnant of that nation has Chap. III. THROUGH ITALY. 53 The hills, called the Colics Berici, in the neighborhood of Vicenza, present some natural grottos, of great extent, and of surprising variety. Monsieur dc la Lande speaks of a little temple of the form of the Pantheon, which he represents as a masterpiece of the kind; if it be such, I regret that we had not an opportunity of visiting it, though not above twenty miles from Vicenza . Bassano , seven leagues to the north, merits a visit without doubt, if the traveller has time at his disposal. From Vicenza to Padua it is eighteen miles. About three miles from the former is a bridge over a stream, a branch of the Medua- cus, now Bacchiglionc, erected by Palladio, which will not fail to attract the attention of the curious traveller. Late in the evening we entered Padua, Urbem Patavi sedesque Teucrorum, * and reflected with some exultation that we stood, as it were, on the confines of Greek and Latin literature, in a city that derives its origin from a catastrophe celebrated in itself, or in its conse- quences, by the two greatest poets of antiquity. Few cities can boast of an origin so ancient and so honorable, and not many can pretend to have enjoyed for so long a period so much glory and prosperity as Padua. We learn from Tacitus 2 that it was ac- customed to celebrate the antiquity of its origin and the name of its founder in annual games said to have been instituted by that hero. Livy informs us that a Naumachia exhibited annually on one of the rivers which water the town, perpetuated the memory of a signal victory obtained by the Paduans, long before their union with Rome, over a Lacedemonian fleet commanded by Cleonymus. 3 They are also said to have not unfrequently assisted the Romans, and con- tributed in no small degree to their victories, particularly over the Gauls, the common enemy of both states ; while an immense popu- always continued in the mountains in the neighborhood of Verona, Vicenza, and Trent, still keeping up in those territories an unmixed descent, and a language different from all the surrounding countries. The language has been discovered to be actually Teutonic, and the pronunciation moreover similar, not to that of the Teutonic tribes who border upon Italy, but to that of the Saxons, and of the na- tions situated near the Baltic; which was diligently ascertained by Frederic IV. king of Denmark, who honored the city of Verona with a stay of ten days in 1708. Our people therefore are not deceived, when, from immemorial usage, they call the inhabitants of these woods and mountains, Cimbrians.” With two such vouchers, the author thinks himself justified in preferring the opinion expressed in the text to that of some writers of inferior reputation. There are several wprks for the information of travellers w ith regard to the curiosities of this town, among others I recommend “ Descrizione della A rchh tettura" 2 vols, with prints. » The city of Padua, and the settlements of the Trojans. 9 Tacjt ! Annal. lib, ml, c, 21 3 Lib, v. book %. c. % 54 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. III. lation furnished them with the means of giving effect to their measures, by sending powerful armies into the field. Padua afterwards submitted to the genius of Rome, but sub- mitted with dignity, and was accordingly treated not as a conquered but an allied republic. She was admitted at an early period to all the privileges and honors of the great Capital, and shared, it seems, not only the franchises but even the riches of Rome; as she could count at one period five hundred Roman knights among her citizens, and drew by her manufactures, from the emporium of the world, no small portion of the tribute of the provinces. After having shared the glory of Rome, Padua partook of her disasters ; was, like her, assaulted and plundered by Alaric and Attila; like her, was half unpeopled by the flight of her dismayed inhabitants, and obliged to bend under the yoke of a succession of barbarian invaders. After the expulsion of the Goths, Rome re- covered her independence; not so Padua, which was subject succes- sively to the Lombards, to the F ranks, and to the Germans. During this long period of disastrous vicissitude, Padua sometimes enjoyed the favor and sometimes felt the fury of its wayward tyrants. At length it shook off the yoke, and with its sister states, Verona, Vicenza , Ferrara , and Mantua, experienced the advantages and disadvantages of republicanism, occasionally blessed with the full enjoyment of freedom, and occasionally, with all its forms, smart- ing under the rod of a powerful usurper. * At length, in the fif- teenth century, Padua united itself to the Venetian territory, and under the influence of its own laws acknowledged the supreme authority of that republic. The consideration that Venice was founded by citizens of Padua, who flying from the ravaging armies of Alaric and Attila took refuge in the solitary isles of the Adriatic, might perhaps have lightened the yoke of submission, or facilitated the arrangements of union. As fire and sword, aided by earthquakes and pestilence, have been employed more than once, during so many ages of convulsion, in the destruction of Padua, we are not to expect many monuments of the Roman colony, within its walls, or to wonder so much at its decline as at its existence. However it is still a great, and in many respects a beautiful city, as its circumference is near seven miles, its population about fifty thousand persons, and notwith- standing the general narrowness of its streets, many of its build- ings both public and private are truly magnificent. The abbey of St. Giustina deserves particular attention. Its church was planned and built by Andrea Briosco ; its library, * In the fourteenth century Padua owned the sway of the Carrara family; Pan - dolfo di Carrara was the friend of Petrarca. This family and their r.vals in power and place, the Scaglieri, were among the many patrons and supporters of literature that graced Italy in that and the succeeding centuries. Chap. III. THROUGH ITALY. 55 hall or refectory, and cloister are all in the highest style of archi- tecture.* The piazza before it, called Pralo clella Valle , is perhaps one of the largest and noblest in Europe. The cathedral, though not remarkable for its architecture, still deserves to be ranked among buildings of eminence, and contains several objects worthy of notice. The church denominated II Santo (The Holy), a title given by way of eminence to St. Anthony of Padua, though the most frequented, is not by any means the most beautiful ; it is of Gothic architecture, of great magnitude, and was, before the late French invasion, enriched with a valuable treasury. That treasury, consisting of church plate, gold and silver candlesticks to a vast amount, was seized and carried off by the French ; but the most remarkable object still remains — the tomb of the saint, adorned with fine marbles and most exquisite sculpture. In Ad- dison’s days, ointments, it seems, distilled from the body, celestial perfumes breathed around the shrine, and a thousand devout ca- tholics were seen pressing their lips against the cold marble, while votive tablets hung over and disfigured the altar. When we visited the Santo , the source of ointment had long been dried, the per- fumes were evaporated, the crowds of votaries had disappeared, and nothing remained to certify the veracity of our illustrious tra- veller but a few petty pictures hanging on one side of the monu- ment. But the excellency of the sculpture makes amends for the wretchedness of the painting, and small must the taste of that man be, who derives no satisfaction from the examination of the marble pannels that line the chapel. Each pannel represents some miracu- lous event of the Saint’s life; and however strange or chimerical the subject may be, yet the skill of the artist finds means to make it interesting. The rich materials and ornaments of the altar and of the shrine, the bronze candelabra and lamps, will not escape the attentive observer. On the whole, though the style of architec- ture is bad, yet this church, from its size and furniture, deserves attention. II Salone, or the town-hall, remarkable for its vast magnitude,* contains a monument in hofiqj* of Titus Livius, with an ancient bust. 1 Dimensions of the church of St. Giustina. The length 500 feet. Breadth U0 The Transept 350 Height 120 The central dome (there are several) 265 The pavement is laid out in compartments of white and red marble, its various altars with their decorations are of beautiful marble. The whole is kept in a style of neatness and repair, that gives it the appearance of a church just finished. The outside was never completed. » It is three hundred and twelve feet in length, one hundred and eight in breadth, and one hundred and eight in height, and consequently the largest hall in Europe. 5t> CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. III. This author, as is well known, was a native of Padua, and is sup- posed to have retained in his style some of the provincial peculia- rities of his country, 1 perceptible indeed only to the refined critics of the Augustan aera. The Italian towns in general are not apt to forget such of their natives as have distinguished themselves in ancient or modern story ; and Padua, amongst others, is not want- ing in the honors which she pays to the memory of her illustrious citizens. The inscription under the bust of the historian is not re- markable for its beauty. The last line expresses at least the gene- rosity of the Paduans, who, if their means were adequate to their zeal, would have converted the marble statue into one of gold. Hoc lotus stares aureus ipse loco ! 2 They shew a house which, as they pretend, belonged to him, and, whether it was built upon the spot which traditionary report repre- sented as the site of the historian’s dwelling ; or whether it was erected on the ruin of some ancient edifice that bore a name re- sembling his ; or whether, in short, some inscription favorable to such an opinion, may have been found in or near it, I could not discover; but every object connected in the most distant manner with so eminent an author, inspires interest and claims some atten- tion. I need not observe, that the pretended tornb of Antenor, though it recals to mind the antiquity of the city, and at the same time some very beautiful verses, 3 is a monument of some prince of the middle ages, discovered in 1274. Padua was famous in ancient limes for its woollen manufactures celebrated in prose by Strabo and in verse by Martial. It still re- tains much of its repuiation in this respect, and its wool and woollen articles are considered as the best in Italy. But the principal glory of Padua arises from its literary pursuits, and from an ancient and well directed propensity to liberal science. The prince of Roman history (perhaps, if we consider the extent of his plan, and the masterly manner in which he has executed it, we may add, the - / 9 ' v ... i Pollio, says Quintilian, reprehendit in Livi§ pativinitatem. L. I. — Pollio censures Livy for his Paduan style. % 3 Thou should’st stand here in solid gold. 3 Anteuor potuit, mediic elapsus Achivis, Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque intimu tutus Regna Liburuorum el fontem superare Timavi ; Unde per ora novem roagno cum murnoure raontis It mare proruptura et pelago premit arva eonanti. Hie tamen ille urbem l'atavi, sedesque locavit Teucrorum, et genii nomen dedlt. armaque tixit Troia ; nunc placidH compostus pace quiescit.— £heid. I. Antenor from tbe midst of Grecian hosts Could pass secure, and pierce th’ Illyrian coasts, Where rolling down the steep, Timavus raves, And thro' nine channels disembogues bis waves. At length be founded Padua's happy seat, And gave his Trojans a secure retreat. There flx d their arms, and there renew'd their name. And there in quiet rules, and crown'd with lam e^-Dryien. THROUGH ITALY. 57 Chap. III. first of historians) was not only born, but, as we may fairly conjec- ture from the loi al peculiarities of language, which adhered to him during life, was educated at Padua. Silius Italicus, among the va- rious chieftains whom he introduces, represents Pedianus the leader of the Euganeans and Paduans (Apono gaudens populus)' as equally excelling in the arts of war and of peace, and dear alike to Mars and to the Muses. As the verses are composed in the best style of Silius, and likely to please the reader, 1 insert them. Polydamanteis juvenis Pedianus in armis Pella agitabat atrox, Trojanaque semina et ortus, Atque Antenorea sese de stirpe ferebat: Maud levior generis fama, sacroque Timavo Gloria et Euganeis dilectuni nomen in oris. Huic pater Eridanus, Venettcque ex ordine genles, Atque Apono gaudens populus, seu bella cieret, Seu Musas placidus, doctaeque silentia vitae Mallet, et Aonio plectro muleere labores, Non ullum dixere parem; nee notior alter Gradivo juvenis, nec Phoebo notior alter.* — xii. 215. The love of knowledge, the partiality to learned ease here alluded to, was probably attributed to the Lhief, because in some degree characteristic of the people; so much at least we should infer from a similar passage in Homer or in Virgil. During the various revolutions that followed the fall and dis- memberment of the Roman empire, Padua, in the intervals of re- pose that followed each successive shock, endeavored to repair the shattered temple of the Muses, and to revive the sacred fire of knowledge. Some success always attended these laudable exertions, and a beam of science occasionally broke through the gloom of war and of barbarism. At length, the University was founded about the end of the eleventh century, and its foundation was to Padua the commencement of an era of glory and of prosperity. Its fame soon spread over Europe, and attracted to its schools prodigious numbers of students from all, even the most remote countries; while the reputation of its professors was so great, and their sta- tion so honorable, that even nobles, at a time when nobles were 1 The tribes that boast the possession of Aponus. a Voting Pedianus grasp'd his shining arms. And wak’d Ihe war, exuiling in alarms : From old Antenor he rejoic'd to trace, And great Polydamas, his Trojan race. Nor less his deeds : th’ Euganean mountains o'er Dis praises sung, and on Timavus' shore. The warlike tenants of Venetla s coast And Po's proud river, and the tribes (bat boast Their henliog Aponus, no chieftain own'd Like Pedianus honor'd and renow n'd, Whether to war, the science of the brave. Or to the modest Muse his thoughts he gave, 'Mid learned ease pursued his silent way. Life's labors soothing with th' Aoniau lay ; Alike to him did either crown belong, The battle's laurel, and the wreath of song. 5 * CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. III. considered as beings of a more elevated nature, were ambitious to be enrolled in their number. Eighteen thousand students are said to have crowded the schools during ages ; and amidst the multitude were seen, not Italians and Dalmatians, Greek and Latin Christians only; but even Turks, Persians, and Arabians are said to have tra- velled from the distant regions of the East to improve their know- ledge of medicine and botany, by the lectures of the learned Pa- duans. Hence the catalogue of the students of this University is rich in numbers and in illustrious names. Petrarca, Galileo, and Christopher Columbus applied here, each to his favorite art, and in classics, astronomy, and navigation, collected the materials that were to form their future fame and fortune. But Universities, like empires, have their eras of prosperity, and their periods of decline; science, as commerce, often abandons its favorite seat; and those very arts of medicine and anatomy which flourished for so many centuries in Salerno and in Padua, have long since migrated to the North, and seem to have fixed their temporary residence at Gottingen and Edinburgh. Of eigh- teen thousand students six hundred only remain, a number, which thinly scattered over the benches, is barely sufficient to shew the deserted state of the once crowded schools of Padua. This dimi- nution of numbers i^not to be attributed either to the ignorance or to the negligence of the professors; to the defects of the system of instruction, or to the want of means of improvement. The lec- turers are men of zeal and abilities; the plan of studies is the re- sult of long and successful experience; and libraries, collections, and cabinets of every kind are numerous and magnificent. More- over, encouragement is not wanting, as the places of professors are both lucrative and honorable, and the directors, till the late dis- astrous revolution, were three Venetian senators. The decrease of numbers, therefore, at Padua, and in other ancient Universities, is to be attributed to the establishment of similar institutions in other countries, and to the general multiplication of the means of knowledge over the Christian world. Knowledge is now fortu- nately placed within the reach of almost every village; the most abstruse science may be learned in the most remote corners ; col- leges and seminaries have been planted and flourish even in the polar circles; and youth, in almost every country, may enjoy that which an eloquent ancient justly considers as one of the greatest blessings of early life — home education . 1 The architecture of the schools or University is admired, and, I believe, said to be of Palladio; the observatory, the botanical gar- 1 Ubi enim aut jucundius morarentur quam in palrid? aut pudicias contine- rentur quam sub oculis parenturn ? aut minore sumplu quam domi ? iv. Ep. xiii. For where could they dwell more pleasantly than in their own country? where more confined within the bounds of temperance and modesty, than under the eyes of their parents? where with less expense, than at home? Chap. III. THROUGH ITALY. 59 den in particular, the cabinet of natural philosophy, containing a peculiarly curious collection of fossils, the hall of midwifery, and indeed most of the dependencies of the University, are grand in their kind, well furnished and well supported. An agricultural lec- ture is, I believe, peculiar to Padua, and consequently very ho- norable to it; especially as so large a space as fifieen acres is allotted to the professor for experiments. It is singular that no such lecture exists in any British University, when we consider the bent of the national character to a rural life, and the great encou- ragement and countenance given by the higher classes, and indeed by the Nation at large, to every species of agricultural improvement. 1 Besides the University, there are in Padua, for the propagation of taste and of literature, several academies, some of which were opened so early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. At that time, the love of knowledge and of classical distinction seems to have been the predominant passion of the Italians, who were then like the ancient Greeks — prceter laudem nullius avari . a Others have been established in the last century, particularly the Academy of Sciences founded by the senate of Venice. Most of these institu- tions are supported with spirit, not only by the clergy, but more- over by the gentry of Padua, who seem to take an honorable pride in the literar y reputation of their city. The following beautiful lines of J\augerius , a poet of Leo's golden dags , contain a fine, though concise encomium on Padua, and may be considered as an abridgment of its history, even to the present period, when war has again ravaged its vicinity, and disfigured its edifices. Urbs, quam vctusto vectus ab Ilio Post fata Troum tristia, post graves Tot patriae exhaustos iniquo Tempore, tot pelago Iabores, Ducente demurn Pallade, qua rapax Cultos per agros Medoacus fluit, Diis fretus Antenor secundis Condidit, Euganeis in oris. Tu nuper et flos, et dceus urbium, Quascumque teilus Itala continet : Magnas tot artes, tot virorum Ingenia, et studia una alebas. Te, scpticornis Danubii accola, Te fulva polanl flumina qui Tagi, Longequc scmoli Iirilanni Cultum animi ad capiendum adibant. At nunc, accrbi hcu sa?\a necessitas Faii, severas ut paleris yices ! 1 ‘ ‘ There has been such a lecture for many years in the University of Edinburgh ; and to those who know with what distinguished success and ability the duties of that oflice are discharged, no apology will appear necessary for having stopped to notice this mistake .”— Edinburgh Review. * Only covetous of praise.— Francis. 60 tf; > CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. Ut te ipse vastatam vel hosti Conspicio niiscrandam iniquo! Quid culfa tot pomaria eouquerar? Tot pulchra flammis hausta suburbia? Quid glande delurbata ahena Mcenia ? 1 CHAPTER IV. The Brenta— -Venice; its Magnificence ; Power; Degeneracy; and Fall— Return to Padua— the Environs of that City — the Fons Aponus— Colies Euganei— Arquato — Villa and Tomb of Petrarca; Observations on his character. We deferred the consideration of the neighborhood of Padua, till our return from Venice, whither we hastened in order to enjoy the few remaining days of the expiring carnival. We accordingly embarked on the Brenta about ten o’clock in the morning, February the twenty-first, in a convenient barge drawn by horses, and glided rather slowly down the river. The country through which it flows is a dead flat, but highly cultivated, well wooded, and extremely populous. The banks are lined with villages, or rather little towns, and decorated with several handsome palaces and gardens. Among these, that of Giovnnelle at Novenia , two miles from Padua; that of Pisani at Sira; of Trona at Dolo; that of Bembo at Mira; and about ten miles farther, that of Foscari of the architecture of Pal- 1 Fair Town ! which on th’ Euganean shore Renown’d Auteuor built of yore. Where swift Medoacus is seen Hurrying through the meadows green. Ue. after Ilium's fatal day. Took from his native realm his way; Though many a woe severe he knew. When his lov d Troy the fates o’erlhrew. And many a toil was doom'd to brave, Tost on the angry ocean's wave, Ilis steps at length Minerva led. And fav'ring Gods his labours sped. Padua ! twas late thy boast to stand The glory of Ausonia s land, And twas thine envied, honor’d part, To foster genius learning, art. The tribes that dwell hv Danube’s waves, And those which golden Tagus laves. The hardy Britons, far remote. Thee, favor'd nurse of -dence, sought! Attracted by thy matchless Tame, To drink at learning's fount, they came. But now what change has fall'n on thee I Ah ! unrelenting destiny ! 1 see thee ravag’d and laid low. The victim of a cruel foe. Why shall 1 mourn thy groves consum'd, Thy gardens where Pomona bloom'd ! Or w hy thy beauteous suburbs name, Devote to ruin, wrapt in flame? Thy walls, adorn'd with many e tow’r, Thev to the thund'ring cannon's pow'v? Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 01 ladio, merit particular attention. These celebrated banks have, without doubt, a rich, a lively, and sometimes a magnificent ap- pearance; but their splendor and beauty have been much exag- gerated, or are much faded; and an Englishman accustomed to the Thames, and to the villas which grace its banks, will discover little to excite his admiration, as he descends the canal of the Brenta. About five o’clock we arrived at Fusina, on the shore of the Lagune , 1 opposite Venice. This city instantly fixed all our atten- tion. It was faintly illuminated by the rays of the setting sun, and rising from the waters with its numberless domes and towers, attended, if I may be allowed the expression, by several lesser islands, each crowned with spires and pinnacles, it presented the appearance of a vast city floating on the bosom of the ocean. We embarked, and gliding over the Lagune, whose surface, unruffled by the slightest breeze, was as smooth as the most polished glass, we touched at the island of S. Georgio half way, that is two miles from the main land on one side, and from Venice on the other; and then entering the city, passed under the Rialto , and rowed up the grand 2 canal, admiring, as we advanced, the various architec- ture and the vast edifices that line its sides. Venice cannot boast of a very ancient origin, nor has it any direct connexion with Roman story and with classical recollections; yet I doubt much, whether any city in Italy, not even excepting Rome itself, contains so much genuine Roman blood; as none has, certainly, preserved so long the spirit of the ancient Romans. Founded by the inhabitants of Aquileia, of Padua, and other Ro- man colonies bordering on the Adriatic, joined probably by several from the interior provinces, it escaped the all-wasting sword of Alaric and of Attila; first eluded, then defied the power of suc- ceeding invaders, and never saw a barbarian army within its walls till the fatal epoch of 1797. Its foundation dates from the year 421 ; the succession of Doges or Dukes from the year G97. Its name is derived from the Veneti, a people that inhabited all the neighboring coasts, and appropriated, as it has been, from a very * The Lagune are the shallows that border the whole coast, and extend round Venice; their depth, between the city and the main land, is from three to six feet in general. These shallows are occasioned by the vast quantities of sand carried down by the many rivers that descend from the Alps and fall into the Adriatic, all along its western shores. Ravenna, which lies much lower down, anciently stood like Venice in the midst of waters; it is now surrounded with sand, as Venice will probably be ere long, if it should continue subject to the Austrian government. The republic expended considerable sums in cleansing the canals that intersect and surround the city, in removing obstacles, and keeping up the depth of waters so necessary for the security of the Capital. The interest of a foreign sovereign is to lay it open to a! tack. a Canal grande (so called because the widest of the canals of Venice) is more than three hundred feet wide, and intersects the city nearly in the middle. The Rialto crosses it, and forms one of its most conspicuous ornaments. 62 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. early period, to it, is a sufficient monument of the origin and of the numbers of its founders. Its government was at first popular ; as the power and riches of the State increased, the influence of the nobles augmented ; at intervals the Doges acquired and abused the sovereignty; till at length, after six centuries of struggle, the aris- tocratic party prevailed, limited the ^nwer of the Doge, excluded the people, and confided to their ow t body all the authority and exercise of government. As Venice may justly be considered a Roman colony, so it bore for many centuries a striking resemblance to the great parent Re- public. The same spirit of liberty, the same patriot passion, the same firmness, and the same wisdom that characterized and en- nobled the ancient Romans, seemed to revive in the Venetians, and to pervade every member of the rising State. That profound re- spect for religion also, which formed so distinguished a feature in the character of the former, 1 was equally conspicuous in the latter, but more permanent and effectual, because directed to a better object, and regulated by superior information. The same success in a just proportion accompanied the same virtues; and we behold Venice, from dirt and sea-weed, rise into magnificence and fame, extend its sway over the neighboring coasts, wrest towns, islands, and whole provinces from mighty potentates, carry its arms into Asia and Africa, and cope successfully with the collected force of vast empires. As its greatness rested on solid foundations, so was it permanent; and Venice may boast of a duration seldom allowed to human associations, whether kingdoms, or commonwealths, thirteen complete centuries of fame, of prosperity, and of inde- pendence. It is not wonderful therefore that this Republic should have been honored with the appellation of another Rome, consi- dered as the bulwark and pride of Italy, and celebrated by orators and poets as the second fated seat of independence and empire. Una Italum regina, alt# pulcherrima Rom# AEmula, qu® terris, qu# dominaris aquis! Tu tibi vel reges cives facis; O decus! 0 lux Ausoni#, per quam libera turba sumus; Per quam barbaries nobis non imperat, et Sol Exoriens nostro clarius orbe micat! * Act. Syn. Sannaz. lib. iii. Eleg. 1, 95. The literary fame of Venice was unequal, it must be confessed, * Et si conferre volumus nostra cum extends, c#teris rebus aut pares aut etiam inferiores reperiemur; Religione, id est, cultu Deorum, multd superiorcs. — De Nat. Deor. ii. 3. “ And if we wish to compare our advantages with those of foreigners, in other respects we shall be found only equal, or even inferior : but in Religion, that is, in the honors paid to the Gods, much superior.” V Italia's empress I queen of land and seat Rival of Rome, and uoman majesty I Tby citizens are kings ; to thee we owe Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. f>$ to its military renown : perhaps because the government, as is usually the case in free countries, left talents and genius to their own activity and intrinsic powers ; yet the ardor of individuals who either did not, or could not take a share in public administration, led many to seek distinction in the new career which the revival of letters opened to their ambition. Many eminent scholars had vi- sited, and some had settled in the Republic, and to their labors we owe many an interesting publication on some or other branch of classic erudition. But it would be difficult to say whether the exer- tions of any individual, however splendid his talents, or even the labors of any particular association or academy, however celebrated, ever shed so much lustre on the place of their residence as that which Venice derives from the reputation of a stranger, who vo- luntarily selected it for his abode. I allude to Aldus Manutius. This extraordinary person combined the lights of the scholar, with the industry of the mechanic : and to his labors carried on without interruption till the conclusion of a long life, the world owes the first or principes editiones, of twenty-eight Greek Classics. Among these we find Pindar, jEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Plato, and Aristotle. Besides these, there are few ancient authors of any note, of whom this indefatigable editor has not published editions of acknowledged accuracy, and as far as the means of the Art then in its infancy permitted, of great beauty. In order to appreciate the merit of Aldus, we must con- sider the difficulties under which he must have labored at a time when there were few public libraries ; when there was no regular communication between distant cities; when the price of manu- scripts put them out of the reach of persons of ordinary incomes ; and when the existence of many since discovered, was utterly un- known. The man who could surmount these obstacles, and publish so many authors till then inedited ; who could find means and time to give new and more accurate editions of so many others already published, and accompany them all with prefaces mostly of his own composition ; who could extend his attention still farther, and by his laborssecure the fame, by immortalizing the compositions, ofthemost distinguished scholars of his own age and country, * must have been endowed in a very high degree, not only with industry and perseve- rance, but with judgment, learning, and discrimination. One virtue more Aldus possessed in common with many of the great literary characters of that period, I mean, a sincere and manly piety ; a virtue which gives consistency, vigor, and permanency to every good qua- lity, and never fails to communicate a certain grace and dignity to the whole character. Freedom, the choicest gift of TTeav’n below. By thee barbaric gloom was chas'd away. And dawn'd on all our lands a brighter day, , « Among these is Politianus, a CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. The appearance of Venice is not unworthy of its glorious desti- nies. Its churches, palaces, and public buildings of every descrip- tion, and sometimes even its private edifices, have in their size, materials, and decorations, a certain air of magnificence truly Ro- man. The style of architecture is not always either pure or pleas- ing, but con r ormable to the taste that prevailed in the different ages when each edifice was erected. Hence, the attentive observer may discover the history of architecture in the streets of Venice, and may trace its gradation from the solid masses and the round arches, the only remains of the ancient grand style in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, through the fanciful forms and gro- tesque embellishments of the middle ages, to its revival and re-es- tablishment in these latter limes. The church of St. Mark with its accompaniments, its tower, its square, its library, and its palace, from its celebrity alone deserves the traveller’s first visit. The tower has neither grace in its form, nor beauty in its materials. Its only merit is its height, which, though not extraordinary in itself, yet from the flatness of the sur- rounding scenery gives the spectator a very clear and advantageous •view of the city and its port and shipping, with the neighboring coasts, and all their windings. The famous Piazza di S. Marco , surrounded with arcades, is more remarkable for its being the well known scene of Venetian mirth, conversation, and intrigue, than for its size or its symmetry. It is inferior, in both respects, to many squares in many great cities ; yet as one side is the work of Palladio, and the whole of fine stone or Istrian marble, its ap- pearance is grand and striking. The church of St. Mark, the great patron of the city and of the republic, occupies one end of this square, and terminates it with a sort of gloomy barbaric magnifi- cence. In fact, the five domes which swell from its roof, and the paltry decorations which cover and encumber its porticos, give it externally the appearance of an eastern pagoda; while formed within on the plan of the Greek churches, and adorned with clumsy mosaics, it is dark, heavy, and sepulchral. This church is extremely ancient, it was begun in the year 829, and after a fire, rebuilt in the year 976. It was ornamented with mosaics and marble in 1071. The form of this ancient fabric, evidently of eastern origin, may perhaps throw some light on the rise of the style called Gothic. Its architects, it is related, were ordered by the Republic to spare no expense, and to erect an edifice superior in size and splendor to any then existing. They took Santa Sophia for their model, and seem to have imitated its form, its domes, and its bad taste. But if riches can compensate the absence of beauty, the church of St. Mark possesses a sufficient share to supply the deficiency, as it is ornamented with the spoils of Constantinople, and displays a profusion of the finest marbles, of alabaster, onyx, emerald, and of all the splendid jewellery of the East. The celebrated bronze Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 65 horses stood on the portico facing the Piazza . These horses are supposed to be the work of Lysippus ; they ornamented succes- sively different triumphal arches at Rome, were transported by Constantine to his new city, and conveyed thence by the Venetians, when they took and plundered it in the year 120G. They were erected on marble pedestals over the portico of St. Mark, where they stood nearly six hundred years, a trophy of the power of the Republic, till they were removed to Paris in the year 1797, and placed on stone pedestals behind the palace of the Tuileries ,* where they remain a monument of the treachery of French friend- ship. 2 As it is not my intention to give a minute description of the orna- ments or riches of the church of St. Mark, I shall only observe, that they merit much attention ; and that to discover the value of the internal decorations, a very minute inspection is often rendered neeessary by the gloominess of the place. The reader may perhaps wish to know how and when St. Mark, whose life and evangelical writings seem to have no connexion with the Venetian history, acquired such consideration in the city of Ve- nice, as to become its patron saint, and to give his name to the most splendid and celebrated of its churches. The following ac- count may possibly satisfy his curiosity. In the year eight hundred and twenty-nine, two Venetian mer- chants of the names of Bono and Rustico, then at Alexandria, con- trived, either by bribery or by stratagem, to purloin the body of St. Mark at that time in the possession of the Mussulmen, and to convey it to Venice. On its arrival, it was transported to the Ducal palace, and deposited by the then Doge in his own chapel. St. Mark was shortly after declared the patron and protector of the Re- public ; and the lion which, in the mystic vision of Ezekiel, is sup- posed to represent this evangelist, was emblazoned on its stan- dards, and elevated on its towers. The church of St. Mark was erected immediately after this event, and the saint has ever since retained his honors. Rut the reader will learn with surprise, that notwithstanding these honors, the body of the evangelist was in a very short space of time either lost, or privately sold by a tribune of the name of Carozo , who had usurped the dukedom ; and to support himself against the legitimate Doge, is supposed to have plundered the treasury, and to have alienated some of the most valuable articles. Since that period, the existence of the body of St. Mark has never been publicly ascertained, though the Vene- tians firmly maintain that it is still in their possession. The place, 1 The statues are now restored to their place upon the portico. a The French entered Venice as friends, and were ferried over the Lagune in Venetian boats. The Venetians entered Constantinople as enemies, sword in hand ; and no restraints, says Gibbon, except those of religion and humanity, were im- posed on the conquerors by the laws of war. I. 5 66 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. however, where the sacred deposit lies, is acknowledged to be an undivulged secret , or perhaps, in less cautious language, to be ut- terly unknown. The Piazetla, opening from St. Mark’s to the sea in front, and lined on one side with the ducal palace, on the other with the public library, with its two superb pillars of granite standing insulated in the centre, is a scene at once grand, airy, and from the concourse of people which frequents it, animated. Close to St. Mark's stands the ducal palace, the seat of the Venetian government, where the senate and the different councils of state used to assemble each in their respective halls. This antique fabric is in the Gothic or rather Saracenic style, of vast extent, of great solidity, and of ve- nerable appearance. Some of its apartments are spacious and lofty, and some of its halls of a magnitude truly noble. They are all adorned with paintings by the first masters of the Venetian school ; and Titian, Paolo Veronese , and Tintoretto , have exerted all their powers, and displayed all the charms of their art to adorn the se- nate-house, and to perpetuate the glories of the republic. The subjects of the pictures are taken either from the Scriptures or from the history of Venice : so that the nobles, when assembled, had always before their eyes incentives to virtue and examples of patriotism. Tablets with inscriptions were suspended over the tribunals of the magistrates, pointing out either the duties attached to their offices in particular, or those of the nobility in general. The style is often diffusive, but the sentiments are always just. The following, which is inserted in a picture over the Doge's seat in one of the council chambers, may serve as specimen. Qui patriae pericula suo periculo expellunt, hi sapientes putandi sunt, cum ct eum quern debent honorem reipub. reddunt, et pro niultis perire malunt quam cum multis. Etenim, vehementer est iniquum vitam, quam a natura acceptam propter patriam conservaverimus, naturae, cum cogat, reddere, patriae, cum roget, non dare. Sapientes igitur aestimandi sunt, qui nullum pro salute patriae periculum vitant. Hoc vinculum est hujus dignitatis qua fruimur in repub. hoc fundamentum libertatis. Hie fons equitatis; mens et animus et consilium et sen- tentia civitatis posita est in legibus. Ut corpora nostra sine inente, sic civitas sine lege. Legum ministri magistratus. Legum interpretes judices. Legum deniq. id- circo omnes servi sumus, ut liberi esse possimus. 1 It would have been happy for the State, if the nobles had been animated by these principles previous to the French invasion. The courts and staircases are decorated with antique statues ; 'They are to be accounted wise, who at their own risk ward olTdanger from their country, since they both render to the state the honor which is due to it, and choose rather to perish in behalf of, than in conjunction with their fellow-citizens. For it is surely the height of injustice to resign to nature that life which from nature we received, and which we preserved for our country’s use, but to refuse it to our country when she demands it. They therefore must be esteemed wise, w ho shun no danger for the sake of their country’s safety. This is the very bond of the Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 67 marble and bronze shine on every side, and the whole edifice cor- responds in every respect with the dignity of its destination. The celebrated Rialto is a single but very bold arch thrown over the Gran-Canale ; and though striking from its elevation, span, and solidity, yet it sinks almost into insignificance when compared with the beautiful bridge Della Trinita, at Florence, or with the superb, and far more extensive structures of Blackfriars and Westminster. The arsenal occupying an entire island, and fortified not only by its ramparts, but by the surrounding sea, is spacious, commodious, and even magnificent. Before the gate stand two vast pillars, one on each side, and two immense lions of marble, which formerly adorned the Piraeus of Athens. They are attended by two others of a smaller size, all, as the inscription informs us, “ Triumphali manu e Pirceo direpta The staircase in the principal Building is of white marble. The halls are large, lofty, and commodious ; one of the principal is decorated w ith a beautiful statue by Canova, re- presenting Fame crowning the late Admiral Emo , the Pompey of Venice, the last of her heroes. In short, nothing is wanting to make this celebrated arsenal perhaps the first in Europe ; except- ing that for which all arsenals are built, stores and shipping ; and these the French in their late invasion either plundered or destroyed. So far their rapacity, however odious, had an object and a pretext; but it is difficult to conceive any motive, except an innate propen- sity to mischief, which could have prompted them to disfigure the buildings and statues, to break the marble stairs, by rolling cannon balls down them, and to dismantle the Bucentaur, the famous state galley of the republic. Highw aymen have been known to spare or to restore a seal, a ring, a trinket, to indulge the whim or the feel- ings of the owner ; and robbers and housebreakers refrain from damaging furniture which they cannot carry away ; in the same manner the French might have respected the above-mentioned mo- nument of a gallant man, and not disfigured it by forcing a paltry gold pencil from the hand of a figure of Fame : they might have spared a gaudy state pageant, whose antique magnificence had lor ages delighted the eyes, and soothed the pride of the Venetian com- monalty. Yet such is the peculiar cast of this people, whose armies at Venice, in every town in Italy, and indeed in almost every coun- try they have over-run, have uniformly added insult to rapacity, and have wounded the feelings, while they plundered the property, of the miserable inhabitants. dignity which we enjoy in the republic, this the foundation of liberty. This is the fountain of equity; the soul, the spirit, the sentiments and determinations of the state centre in the laws. As the human body without the mind, so is a state without laws. The magistrates are the ministers of the law s. The judges are the interpreters of the law s. It results therefore that we are all slaves to the law s, in order that we may be free. 1 Torn from the Piraeus by the hand of Victory, 68 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. But no public edifice does so much credit to the state, as the noble rampart erected on the Lido di Palestrina , to protect the city and port against the swell and the storms of the Adriatic. This vast pile, formed of blocks of Istrian stone resembling marble, runs along the shore for the space of nineteen miles, connects va- rious little islands and towns with each other, and if completed, would excel in utility, in solidity, in extent, and perhaps in beauty, the Piraeus, the mole of Antium and of Ancona, and all other si- milar works of either Greeks or Romans. Of the churches in Venice, it may be observed in general, that, as some of them have been built by Palladio, and many raised on models designed by him, they are of a better st\le in architecture : and also, that on account of the riches and the religious temper of the Republic, they are adorned with more magnificence than those of any other town in Italy, if we except the matchless splen- dors of Rome. I need not add, that the talents of the first Ve- netian artists have been exerted to adorn them with sculptures and with paintings. Of these churches that De Salute (of Salvation), thatDe Redemptore (of the Redeemer), two votive temples, erected by the Republic on the cessation of two dreadful pestilences, and that of S. Georgio Maggiore , are very noble ; the latter in particular, an exquisite work of Palladio, with some few defects, has num- berless beauties. The church of ihe Dominican friars, SS. Gio- vanni e Paolo, is gothic, and remarkable for a chapel of the Blessed Virgin lined with marble divided into pannels, containing each a piece of gospel history rej resented in beaut i ui basso relievo. But the peculiar and characteristic ornaments of this church are the statues erected by the Senate to many of its Worthies, and the su- perb mausoleums of several heroes and Doges. The materials are always the finest marbles, and the ornaments frequently of the best taste. The descriptions, as pompous as the tombs themselves, carry us back to the heroic ages of the republic; and in lofty and clas- sical language, relate the glorious achievements of the doges and warriors of ancient times. The appellations of Creticus, Africanus, Asiaticus, grace many of the tombs, and seem to revive and emu- late the triumphs and the titles of consular Rome. The conclusion of one of these epitaphs deserves to be recorded ; it is the last ad- monition which the dying hero addresses to his countrymen, “ Vos justitiam et concordiani , quo sempiternum hoc sit imperium , conservate. 1 ” Next to the churches we may rank the Scuole, or the chapels and halls of certain confraternities, such as that of St. Roch, St. Mark, and that of the Mercatanti; all of noble proportions and rich fur- niture, and ail adorned with pa ntlngs relative to their respective denominations, by the best masters. * Be ye mindful to preserve justice and unanimity, that this our empire may be eternal. Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 69 But, why enlarge on the beauty, on the magnificence, on the glories of Venice? or, why describe its palaces, its churches, its monuments? That Liberty which raised these pompous edifices in a swampy marsh, and opened such scenes of grandeur in the middle of a pool, is now no more ! That bold independence which filled a few lonely islands, the abode of sea-mews and of cormorants, with population and with commerce, is bowed into slavery ; and the republic of Venice, with all its bright series of triumphs, is now an empty name. The city, with its walls and towers, and streets, still remains; but the spirit that animated the mass is fled. Jacet ingens lillore truncus . l It is unnecessary, therefore, at present, to enlarge upon the for- mer government of Venice; suffice it to say, that it is now a petty province of the Austrian empire, and that of all its former terri- tories, the Seven Ionian Islands only, once considered as a very insignificant part of the Venetian dominions, enjoy a nominal and precarious independence. The unjust and cruel deed of destroying a republic, weak, inoffensive, and respectable from its former fame, belongs to Bonaparte; but the causes that led to it must be sought for in the bosom of the republic itself. Had the same virtues which fostered the infant commonwealth still flourished ; had the courage which urged it so often to unequal contest with the mighty power of the Ottomans, continued to inspire its sons; had the spirit and the wisdom that directed its councils during the famous league of Cambray, influenced its decisions in 1797, it might still have stood; and in defiance of the treachery, and of the power of France, it might have preserved, if not all its territories, at least its honor and independence. But those virtues, that spirit, that wisdom, were now no more ; they blazed out for the last time in the war of the Morea , a and even the last spark died away with the gallant Emo. Luxury had corrupted every mind, and unbraced every sinew. Pleasure had long been the only object of pursuit; the idol to which the indolent Vene- tians sacrificed their time, their fortune, their talents. To attend the Doge on days of ceremony, and act their part in public pa- geantry ; or, perhaps, to point out in the senate the best mode of complimenting some powerful court, or of keeping or patching up an inglorious peace with the piratical powers of Africa, was the only business of the nobility. To accompany their chosen ladies, to while-away the night at their casinos , and to slumber away the day in their palaces, was their usual, their favorite employment. Hence Venice, for so many ages the seat of independence, of com- merce, of wisdom, and of enterprise, gradually sunk from he? 1 On the bleak shore it lies A headless carcase, and a nameless thing. -Dry den. 3 A. D, 1718, 70 CLASSICAL TOUR CilAI*. IV. eminence, and at length became the foul abode of effeminacy, of wantonness, and of debauchery. Her arsenal, where so many storms once fermented, and whence so many thunderbolts had been levelled at the aspiring head of the Turk, resigning its war- like furniture, became a scene of banquetting ; and instead of re- sounding to the stroke of the anvil, re-echoed to the dance and the concert . 1 * In short, this once proud and potent republic, like some of the degenerate emperors of Rome, seemed to prefer the glo- ries of the theatre to those of the field, and willingly rested its modern claim to consideration, on the pre-eminent exhibitions of its well-known carnival . 3 From a people so degraded, so lost to bold and manly senti- ments, no generous exertions, no daring enterprise is to be ex- pected in the hour of danger. It is their policy to temporize, to weigh chances, to flatter the great contending powers, and it must be their fate to sink under the weight of the victorious. Such was the destiny of Venice. After having first insulted, and then courted the French republic, it at length, with all the means of defence in its hands, resigned itself to hollow friendship; and sent a thousand boats to transport the armies of France from the main land over the Lagune into the very heart of the city. The English commo- dore in the Adriatic, protested against such madness, and offered to cover the city with his own ships — in vain! The people, who i Several noble halls in the arsenal had been for a long time appropriated to the entertainment of royal guests, and of strangers of very great distinction. * “ In fatti, un certo egoismo sempre fatale alle repubbliche, un reflessibile raf- freddamento di quel zelopatrio che tanto distinse gli aristocratici dei passati secoli, una falsa clemenza nei tribunali, onde rimanevano i delitti senza il castigo dalle leggi prescritto, una certa facilita di propalare i secreti del Senato, sorpassata con indolenza dagl’inquisitori dello stato, una non curanza delle cose sacre e religiose, un immoderate spirito di passatempi, una scandalosa impudenza nelle donne, un libertinaggio posato percosi dire intrionfo negli uomini, crano fra gli altri disordini che dominavano in una parte di patrizi, e di cittadini d’ogni condizione si in Ve- nezia, che nello Stato. Ne fanno fede gl’interni sconvolgimenti degli anni 1762 e 1780, e la Loggia de Liberi Muratori scoperta nel 1785, in che alcuni rispettabili soggetti avevano ingresso : Queste furono le cagioni estrinseche, che disponevano l’edificio ad un imminente pericolo di crollare.”— Such is the acknowledgment of a Venetian author. Raccolta, vol. i. p. 16. “ In their transactions, a certain selfishness always fatal to republics, a coolness, whose effects were always reflected back upon themselves, in that patriotic zeal which so much distinguished the aristocracy of past ages, a false clemency in the tribunals, which suffered offences to pass without the punishment prescribed by the laws, a certain facility in divulging the secrets of the Senate, which was again surpassed by the indolence of the inquisitors of the state, a disregard of the sacred concerns of religion, an immoderate spirit of amusement, a scandalous impudence in the women, a libertinism of which the men seemed to be proud— these were the disorders which reigned amongst a great part of the patricians, and of the citizens of every rank, both in the city and territory of Venice. This is sufficiently proved by the internal disturbances of 1762 and 1780, and by the Lodge of Free Masons discovered in 1785, into which several respectable subjects had entered : These were the external causes which brought the fabric into imminent danger of falling ” » Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 71 are always the last to lose a sense of national honor, expressed their readiness to stand forth and to defend their country— in vain! The nobles trembled for their Italian estates ; and in the empty hope of saving their income, they betrayed their country, and submitted to plunder, to slavery, and to indelible disgrace. Not one arm was raised, not one sword was drawn, and Venice fell, self-betraved, and unpitied. Her enemies punished her pusillanimity, by pillaging her public and her private treasures, by defacing her edifices, by stripping her arsenal, by carrying away her trophies; and then they handed her over as a contemptible prize, to a foreign despot. A tremendous lesson to rich and effeminate nations to rouse them to exertion, and to prove, if such proof were wanting, that inde- pendence must be preserved, as it can only be obtained, by the sword ; that money may purchase arms, but not freedom : that submission excites contempt; and that determined heroic resistance, even should it fail, challenges and obtains consideration and honor. Non tamen ignavae Percipient gentes quam sit non ardua virtus Servitium fugisse manu Ignorantque datos, ne quisquam serviat, enses *. — Lucan. The population of Venice, previous to the late revolution, amounted to about one hundred and fifty thousand souls ; it is supposed to have decreased considerably since that event, and if the present order of things should unfortunately continue, it will diminish, till, deserted like Sienna and Pisa, this city shall become a superb solitude, whose lonely grandeur will remind the traveller, that Venice was once great and independent. The state of society in Venice seems to be upon a more en- larged scale than formerly; the casinos indeed continue still to be the places of resort, of card-parties and of suppers ; but various houses are open to strangers; and balls and concerts, and club dinners are given frequently ; to all which, introduction is not dif- ficult. The carnival was distinguished by plays in the day, and by masked balls at night; the illumination of the theatre on such nights is very beautiful. One species of theatrical amusement at this sea- son is singular. It is a regular farce carried on at all hours; so that the idle part of the community may, if they please, pass all the twenty-four hours in the play-house, fall asleep, and awake, go out and come in, and still find the play going on with its usual spirit. In such pieces, the actors seem to be obliged to have re- The dastard nations yet, shall fail to know, That valour's arm may ward the shameful blow, And slop ihe march of Slav ry Aud shall th important tiulb be still unknown, That swords were giv n for this great usealoue, That men might not be slaves? 72 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. course to their own ingenuity for the dialogue, which, however, seldom flags for want of materials; such is their natural talent for repartee and buffoonery. A person accustomed to the rides, the walks, the activity of or- dinary towns, soon grows tired of the confinement of Venice, and of the dull, indolent, see-saw motion of Gondolas . He longs to expatiate in fields, and to range at large through the streets, with- out the encumbrance of a boat and a retinue of Gondolieri . We therefore left Venice on the sixth of March, without much regret, and embarking at the inn door, proceeded towards Fusina. As we rowed over the Lagurie, we prevailed upon our Gondolieri to sing, according to an ancient custom, mentioned I think by Addison, some stanzas of Tasso ; but however beautiful the poetry might be, we thought the tune and execution no ways superior to that of a common ballad-singer in the streets of London. This classical mode of singing verses alternately, a remnant of the ancient pas- toral 1 so long preserved in Italy, has been much on the decline in Venice since the French invasion, which has damped the ardor of the people, and almost extinguished their natural mirth and vivacity. From Fusina we ascended the Brenta in the same manner as we had descended it, and arrived late at Padua. The next morning, after a second visit to the most remarkable edifices, such as St. Giustina , the Santo , the Cathedral, the Salone, we turned our thoughts to the neighboring country, and considered what objects it presented to our curiosity. The warm fountains and baths of Aponus, now called Abano , lie about four miles from Padua. They were frequented by the ancient Romans under the emperors, and have been celebrated by Claudian, and by the Gothic king Theo- doric, in long and elaborate descriptions in verse and prose.* These 1 Alternlsdicelis,amantaltern0e Camena.— Virgil. £ Each in your turn your tuneful numbers bring ; By turns the tuneful muses love to sing. — Dryilen. a The principal effects are described in the following verses. Claudian addresses himself to the fountain : Felices, proprium qui te meruere coloni. Fas quibus est Apouon juris habere sui; Mon illis terrena lues, corrupta nec Austi i Flamina, nec saevo Sirius igne nocet Quod si forte malus membris exuberat humor Languida vel nimio viscera felle virent; Non venas reserant, nec vulnere vulnera sanant, I’oeula nec tristi gramine mista bibunt : Amissum lymphis reparant impune vigorem, Pacaturque, aegro luxuriante, dolor —Eidyl. Afion. Thrice happy are the swains, a favor’d throng, To whom thy treasures, Aponus, belong ; No fell disease they fear, nor Auster's breath, Nor Sirius, charg'd with peslilence and death ; But if distemper tills the languid veins, Or bile, malignant in th’ intestines reigns. No blood they draw, nor trenchant knife apply. Nor goblet drugg’d with nauseous med cines try ; Thy waves alone their wasted strengbt restore; . The grateful draught is drunk, and pain exists no more. Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 73 writers attribute to them many strange and wonderful effects; how- ever, making all due allowances for poetical exaggeration, the waters are in many cases of great advantage. About seven miles southward of Padua, rises the ridge of hills called the Colli Euganei, still retaining the name of one of the ear- liest tribes that peopled the Paduan territory. These mountains, for so they might justly be termed, if the enormous swell of the neighboring Alps did not in appearance diminish their elevation, were formerly, it seems, inhabited by a race of soothsayers, who vied with the Tuscans in the art of looking into futurity. One of these seers, according to Lucan, beheld the battle of Pharsalia while seated on his native hill, and described to his astonished auditors all the vicissitudes of that bloody contest, 1 on the very morning on which it took place. Aulus Gellius relates the same story, but attributes it to a priest of the name of Cornelius, a citizen of Padua, without mentioning, as he frequently does, the author from whom he de- rived the tale. But, whether it was a Paduan priest or an Euga- nean soothsayer, who was gifted with this extraordinary power of vision, it proves at least that claims to the faculty termed second sight , are not confined to modern times, or to the northern regions of Great Britain. a In one of the recesses of the Colli Euganei stands the village of Arquato , distinguished by the residence of Petrarca during the latter years of his life, and by his death, which took place in 1374. He was buried in the church-yard of the same village, and a monument was erected to his honor. This monument and his villa have been preserved by the people with religious care, and continue even now to attract a number of literary visitants of all countries, who, as they pass through Padua, fail not to pay their respects to the manes of Petrarca. The road to Arquato, as far as Monte Selice, runs along a canal, over a very flat and very fertile country bearing a strong resem- blance to some of the finest parts of the Netherlands. Villas and large villages lie thick around, and the scene on every side gives the traveller an idea of plenty and of population. To relieve the flatness of the adjacent country, mountains rise in various forms in r Euganeo, si vera fides memorantibus, augur Colie sedens, Aponus terris ubi fumifer exit, Atque Auteuorei dispergitur unda Timuvi, Venit summa dies, geritur res maxima, dixit, Impia concurrunt Pompeii et Caesaris orma.— Zuc. vii. 192. (The poet’s geography is not very accurate. ) Where Aponus Drst springs in smoky steam, And full Timavus rolls bis nobler stream, Upon a bill that day, if fame be true, A learned augur sate, the skies to view : “’Tis come, the great event is come,” be cried ; “Our.impious chiefs the wicked war decide.”— Rowe. * Aul. Gell. lib. xv. 18. U CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. front, and Monte Selice (or Silicis) in particular, strikes the eye by its lofty conical form. About eight miles from Padua, on the banks of the canal, stands the castle of the Obizzi , an ancient and illus- trious family of Padua. This edifice is much in the style of the old castles of romance. Lofty rooms, long galleries, winding stair- cases, and dark passages, fit it admirably for the purposes of a no- velist, and render it equally proper for the abode of a great baron, for the receptacle of a band of robbers, for the scene of nightly murders, or for the solitary walk of ghosts and of spectres. But the predominant taste of the country has fitted it up in a style well calculated to dispel these gloomy transalpine illusions, and to cure the spectator’s mind of its Gothic terrors. The apartments are adorned with paintings, some of which are in fresco , on the walls, representing the glories and the achievements of the Obizzian heroes in days of old, and others are on canvas, being originals or copies of great masters. The galleries, and one in particular of very considerable length, are filled with Roman antiquities, altars, vases, armour, inscriptions, pillars, etc. On the whole, the castle is very curious, and ought to be made the object of a particular visit, as an accidental hour is not sufficient for an examination in detail of the various curiosities which it contains. * A little beyond the village of Cataio, we turned off from the high road, and alighting from the carriage on account of the swampi- ness of the country, we walked and rowed occasionally through lines of willows, or over tracts of marshy land, for two or three miles, till we began to ascend the mountain. Arqnato is prettily si- tuated on the northern side of a high hill, with a valley below it winding through the Euganean ridge. It is not a very large, but a neat village. Petrarca’s villa is at the extremity farthest from Padua. It con- sists of two floors. The first is used for farming purposes, as it is annexed to a farmer’s house. The second story contains five rooms, three of which are large, and two closets; the middle room seems to have been used as a reception room or hall; that on the right is a kitchen ; that on the left has two closets, one of which might have been a study, the other a bed-chamber. Its fire-place is high, and its posies fuligine nigri (beams black with soot). To the chief window is a balcony $ the view thence towards the opening of the valley on the side, and in front towards two lofty conical hills, one of which is topped with a convent, is calm and pleasing. The only decoration of the apartments is a deep border of gro- tesque painting running as a cornice under the ceiling ; an old smoky 1 When we visited it, the proprietor was walking up and down the great gallery, and giving directions to his servants to clear and arrange some new acquisitions, lie seemed to contemplate his collection with great complacency; and it must be owned that the number and arrangement of the articles which compose it give a favorable opinion both of his diligence and his judgment. 75 Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. picture over the fire-place in the kitchen, said by the good people to be an original by Michael Angelo , and a table and chair, all appa- rently, the picture not expected, as old as the house itself. On the table is a large book, an album, containing the names, and some- times the sentiments, of various visitants. The following verses are inscribed in the first page; they are addressed to the traveller. Tu che devoto al sagro albergo arrivi, Ove s’aggira ancor l’ombra immortalc Di chi un di vi depose il corpo (Yale, La Patna, il nome, il sensi luoi qui scrive. The walls are covered with names, compliments, and verses. Behind the house is a garden, with a small lodge for the gardener and the ruins of a tower covered with ivy. A narrow walk leads through it, and continues along the side of the hill, under the shade of olive trees; a solitary laurel 2 still lingers beside the path, and recalls to mind both the poet and the lover. The hill ascends steep from the garden, and winding round, closes the vale and the pro- spect. Its broken sides are well cultivated, and interspersed with olives and with cottages. It was already evening when we arrived. After having examined the house, we walked for some time in the garden; a thousand violets perfumed the air; the nightingale was occasionally heard, as if making its first essay; and, excepting his evening song, “most musical, most melancholy,” all was still and silent around. The place and the scenery seemed so well described in the following beautiful lines, that it was impossible not to recol- lect and apply them, though probably intended by the poet for another region. Qui non palazzi, non tcatro, o loggia, Ma n lor vece un abete, un faggio, un pino, Tra 1’ erba verde, e l bel monte vicino, Ondc se scende poetando e poggia, Levan di terra al ciel nostro intellctto : E ’I rosignuol che dolcemente all’ ombra Tutte le notti si lamenta e piagne. a Soti. x. * Thou, who with pious footsteps lov’st to trace The honor d precincts ol this sacred place. Where still lb immortal spirit hovers near Or him, who lelt bis lleshly burden here, Inscribe thy name, thy country, and impart The new emolious that expand thy heart. * It is necessary to remark here, once for all, that the Italian laurel is the bay- tree, the laurus of the ancients. 3 No theatres, nor proud balconies here, Nor lofty domes their pompous fabrics rear ; But in their place the spreading beech is-^eeu, The Ur, the pine, oershacle the velvet green ; These scenes- the hill aloug whose slope 1 stray. And tune, ascending, my poetic lay — And the sweet nightingale, that all night long Trills in the shade her melancholy song— These bid the buoyant spirit upwards rise And lift a raptur d mortal to the skies, 76 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. The garden is entirely neglected, but the house is kept in good repair; a circumstance which cannot but reflect much honor on the spirit of the proprietor and on the inhabitants of the tillage, when it is considered that more than four hundred years have now elapsed since the death of Petrarca, and that many a destructive war has raged in the country, and many a wasting army passed over it since that event. His body lies interred in the church-yard of the village, in a large stone sarcophagus raised on four low pillars, and surmounted with a bust. As we stood and contem- plated the tomb by the pale light of the moon, we indulged the ca- price- of the moment, and twining a branch of laurel into the form of a crown, placed it on the head of the bust, and hailed the manes of the Tuscan poet in the words of his admirer. Deh pioggia, o vento rio non faccia scorno All’ ossa pie; sol porti grati odori L ’aura chc ’1 ciel suol far puro e sereno. Lascin le ninfe ogni lor antro ameno E raccolte in corona al sasso intorno, Liete ti cantin lodi e spargan fiori ! * Aless. Piceolimini. Several of the inhabitants who had gathered round us during this singular ceremony, seemed not a little pleased with the whim, and cheered us with repeated vivas as we passed through the vil- lage, and descended the hill. Though overturned by a blunder of the drivers, and for some time suspended over the canal with imminent danger of being precipitated into it, yet as the night was bright and warm, and all the ^rty in high spirits, the excursion was extremely pleasant. Few names seem to have been so fondly cherished by contempo- raries, or treated with so much partiality by posterity, as that of Petrarca. This distinction he owes not so much to his talents, or even to his virtues, as to the many amiable and engaging qualities which accompanied them, and set them off to the greatest ad- vantage. As an orator, an historian, and a poet, he had even in his own time many rivals, perhaps in Boccaccio an equal, and in Dante undoubtedly a superior. But in pleasing manners, in gene- rous feelings, in warm attachment, and in all the graceful, all the attractive accomplishments of life, he seems to have surpassed every public character of his time, and to have engaged universal and unqualified admiration. Gibbon asserts that the literary reputation of Petrarca must rest Let no rude show’rs, nor boist’rous winds that rave, Insult the Tuscan poet's honor'd grave : Let those soft airs, that smooth Heav'n’s azure brow. From their light w ings ambrosial sweets bestow ; Let ev'ry nymph her verdant grotto leave, The mystic dance with joyous footsteps weave Around thy tomb, thy praises there resound. Tune her melodious voice, and scatter flow rets round. Chap. IV* THROUGH ITALY. 77 entirely on his Latin works, and insinuates that his sonnets are trifles; that his passion was, in his own opinion, and in that of his contemporaries, criminal; and that Laura, the mother of ten chil- dren, could have possessed few of the charms ascribed to her by the poet. Though [ have no particular inclination to enter the lists as champion of the lady’s charms, yet I may venture to ob- serve, that a matron who died at the age of forty or forty-two, may possibly have been very beautiful at the age of nineteen or twenty, when the poet first behold her ; that female beauty some- times survives forty, however fatal the age may be to it in general ; that it is less liable to fade when it consists more in expression than in color and freshness ; and in fine, that though Laura, if we may believe her lover, possessed both species of beauty, yet she excelled in the former. ' , c Le crespe chiome d’ or puro Iucente E ’1 lampeggiar dell angelico riso.... 1 II Parte Sonn. 21. Le perle in ch’ [amor] frange ed aflrena Dolci parole a I Parte Sonn. 184. are perishable charms without doubt, and liable to very rapid decay. But, Leggiadria singolare e pellegrina; E ’1 cantar che nell anirna si sente : L’ andar celeste, e’l vago spirito ardente : Begli occhi che i cor fanno smalti : Col dir pien d’ intelletti, dolci ed alti : E 1 bel tacere, c quei santi costumi 1*3 I parte Sonn. 1?8‘, These are charms which emanate directly from the mind, and seem almost to enjoy some portion of its pure and imperishable nature. Laura, therefore, may still be allowed to retain her honors, and continue to rank among the celebrated beauties of ancient times, ollra le belle bella. 1 As to Petrarca’s passion, it was undoubtedly misplaced, exces- sive, and highly reprehensible; but his contemporaries do not seem to have considered it in that light, especially as it never broke out in any guilty deed, or even indecorous expression. The author of his life, Beccadelli , a man of unblemished morals and reputation, and an archbishop, declares that Petrarca’s attachment 1 Her curling locks, like purest gold that shine, And the bright flashes of her smile divine. 2 The pearls, within which Love confines and breaks short her dulcet words. That grace and elegance, so rarely seen, That voice, which in the inmost soul is felt. That air inspir'd, that heav'nly gait and mien, T hose eyes, whose glance the proudest heart can melt, tier words, where mind, and thought, and genius shine, H e r silence sweet, her manners all divine. 4 Fair beyond all the fair. — Yol. ii. Son. xxi. 78 • CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IV. was innocent in itself, and beneficial in its consequences, as it call- ed forth the powers of his genius, and contributed in a high de- gree to the perfection of his language, and to the honor of his country. The poet himself condemns, and applauds his passion alternately; representing it sometimes as having preserved him from, the indulgence of low grovelling appetites, and urged him to the pursuit of honorable fame ; 1 * and at other times lamenting it as a guilty weakness, to which he had sacrificed his time, and had devoted talents destined for nobler objects. a But, notwithstand- ing the severity of this self-censure, he continued either to compose or to correct the strains that love inspired, not only for several years after the death of its object, but even to the near approach of his own : a circumstance which, considering the religious turn of his mind, particularly in his latter days, proves that he attached no criminality to the passion itself, since he could indulge himself so freely in its recollection. As to the sonnets of Petrarca, in the eyes of a moralist they are trifles, and so are the elegies of Propertius and of Tibullus, and all the numerous poems both ancient and modern, that treat the same airy and unsubstantial subject; but trinkets may derive value from their materials and workmanship, and even love songs may acquire both importance and interest from their language and their sentiments. Genius communicates its own dignity to every subject that it chooses to handle ; it can give weight to insignificance, and make even an amorous ditty, the vehicle of awful truths and of useful lessons. This* observation is more applicable perhaps to Petrarca than to any other poet. Equal, I had almost said superior in felicity of expression, and in harmony of language, to his Homan predecessors, he rises far above them in delicacy of thought, and in dignity of sentiment. He borrows no embellishments from the fictions of mythology, and indulges himself in no pastoral tales, no far-fetched allusions. The spirit of religion, which strongly in- fluenced his mind in all the vicissitudes of life, 'not unfrequently gives his passion something of the solemnity of devotion, and inspires the holy strains that chant Quanto piu vale Sempiterna bellezza che mortale . 3 This peculiar turn of thought, that pervades the poems of Pe- trarca, and raises them so much above all similar compositions, is noticed by his biographer as a distinction highly honorable to the Tuscan muses, le quail, lia mostro, come allamente e sanlamente possono 1 Parte II. Canz. vii. * Son. lxxxvi. 3 How greatly mortal beauty is excelled by that which is eternal, Chap. IV. THROUGH ITALY. 70 cantor d f amove . 1 It is not wonderful therefore, that the poet himself should have rested his hopes of fame on his Italian poems, and have persisted in correcting and in repolishing them with so much assiduity; or that posterity should have confirmed the au- thor’s judgment, and continued ever since to set a high value on these short, but highly labored productions. While his Latin poems (histories and moral dissertations) slumber undisturbed on the shelf, his Rime will sometimes amuse the leisure of the youth- ful reader, and now and then, perhaps, attract the attention of the philosopher, who will often find in them, intermingled with the frivolous graces of the subject, sublime sentiments expressed in language the most harmonious. CHAPTER V. Visit to the Lago di Garda, or Benacus— the River Mincius— the Promontory of Sirmio— Desensano— Storm on the Lake — Pa radisino— Banks of the Mincius-— Mantua— Pietole— Excursion to the Po— Honors paid to Virgil — Virgiliano. Next day we took leave of Padua, returned through Vicenza to Verona, and having passed the following day there, on the ensuing morning (March 13) we set out for the Lago di Garda (the Benacus) celebrated by Virgil as one of the noblest ornaments of Italy. Its principal promontory, Sirmio, has been commemorated by Ca- tullus, as his favorite residence. We reached Peschiera, a fortress on the southern extremity of the lake, at about half past two. The distance is about eighteen miles, the road is excellent, generally descending, and always passing through corn fields striped with vines, with some swells at a distance crowned with villages, and churches, and seats; while the Alps formed a vast line to the north. Traces of hostility, as I before observed, are indeed too visible in the neighborhood of Verona, where several severe skirmishes, and one decisive battle, took place during the’late war. The vine- yards and mulberry trees, of course, were torn up or cut down by the armies as they passed along. However, I observed with sa- tisfaction, that the peasants were busily employed in replanting them. At Peschiera, the lake terminates in the river Mincio, which flows through the town, broad, deep, and clear as crystal, though almost as rapid as a mountain torrent. The traveller, when he beholds this river, the name of which is so familiar and so pleasing to a 1 Which he has demonstrated to be capable of siDging of love in lofty and in holy strains. «' so CLASSICAL TOl'R Chap. IV. classic ear, will recal to mind the passages in which Virgil describes its banks and appearances. We contemplated it for some time from the bridge, and then went out of the town, and embarking without the gate, glided over the surface of the lake so smooth and clear, that we could distinguish the bottom at the depth of twenty or five-and-twenty feet. The weather, though only the thirteenth of March, was as warm, and the sun as bright, as on a summer’s day in England ; yet some clouds hung on the summits of the mountains, and a certain haziness dimmed their sides. The borders of the lake towards the south, though rather flat, rise sufficiently to display to advantage the towns, villages, and seats, with the olives, corn fields, and vineyards that adorn them; and when lighted up by a bright sunshine, they present a very exhilarating prospect. The shores, as they advance northward, assume a bolder aspect, and exhibit all the varieties of Alpine scenery. Rocky promontories, precipices, lofty hills, and towering moun- tains, in all their grotesque, broken, and shapeless appearances, rise in succession one above another; while the declining sun, playing upon the snow that capped their summits, tinged them with various hues, and at length spread over them a thin veil of purple. The peninsula of Sirmione, and the bolder promontory of Mi- nerbo, the former about seven, the latter about fourteen miles distant, appeared to great advantage from Peschiera, and grew upon the sight as we advanced. Sirmione appears as an island ; so low and so narrow is the bank that unites it to the main land. Its entrance is defended, and indeed totally covered by an old castle, with its battlements and high antique tower in the centre, in the form of a Gothic fortification. The promontory spreads behind the town, and rises into a hill entirely covered with olives; this hill may be said to have two summits, as there is a gentle descent between them. On the nearest is a church and hermitage, plun- dered by the French, and now uninhabited and neglected. On the farthest," in the midst of an olive grove, stand the walls of an old building, said to be a Roman bath, and near it is a vault, called the grotto of Catullus . The extremity of this promontory is covered with arched ways, towers, and subterranean passages, supposed by the inhabitants to be Roman, but apparently of no very distant sera. At all events, Catullus undoubtedly inhabited this spot, and preferred it, at a certain period, to every other region. He has expressed his attachment to it in some beautiful lines. Peninsularum Sirmio, insularumquc Ocelle, quascunque in liquentibus stagnis Marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus : Quam te libenter, quamque laitus inviso. T Catull. 32. Sirmio sweet! all isles excelling! Neptune from bis wat'ry dwelling Not one so wond rous fair can see : With what delight I visit thee ! . t Chap. V. THROUGH ITALY. 8i He could not haVe chosen a more delightful retreat. In the cen- tre of a magnificent lake, surrounded with scenery of the greatest variety and majesty, secluded from the world, yet beholding from his garden the villas of his Veronese friends, he might have enjoyed alternately the pleasures of retirement and of society; and daily, without the sacrifice of his connexions, which Horace' seemed in- clined to make in a moment of despondency, he might have con- templated the grandeur and the agitation of the ocean, without its terrors and immensity. Besides, the soil is fertile and its surface varied; sometimes shelving in a gentle declivity, at other times breaking in craggy magnificence : and thus furnishing every requi- site for delightful walks and for luxurious baths ; while the views vary at every step, presenting rich coasts or barren mountains, sometimes confined to the cultivated scenes of the neighboring shore, and at other times bewildered and lost in the windings of the lake, and in the recesses of the Alps. In short, more convenience and more beauty are seldom united ; and such a peninsula is, as Catul- lus enthusiastically observes, scarcely to be matched in all the wide range of the world of waters. We left Sirmione after sunset ; and, lighted by the moon, glided smoothly over the lake to Desensano , four miles distant, where, about eight, we stepped from the boat into a very good inn. So far the appearance of the Benacus was very different from the de- scription which Virgil has given of its stormy character. Before we retired to rest, about midnight, from our windows, we observed it still calm and unruffled. About three in the morning I was roused from sleep by the door and windows bursting open at once, and the wind roaring round the room. I started up, and looking out, observed by the light of the moon, the lake in the most dreadful agitation, and the waves dashing against the walls of the inn, and resembling the swellings of the ocean, more than the petty agitation of inland waters. Shortly after, the landlord entered with a lan- tern, closed the outward shutters, expressed some apprehensions, but at the same time assured me, that their houses were built to resist such sudden tempests, and that I might repose with confi- dence under a roof, which had withstood full many a storm as ter- rible as that which occasioned our present alarm. Next morning, the lake so tranquil and serene the evening before, presented a surface covered with foam, and swelling into mountain billows, that burst in breakers every instant at the very door of the inn, and covered the whole house with spray. Virgil’s description now seem- ed nature itself, and, taken from the very scene actually under our eyes, it was impossible not to exclaim, Teque Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens, Benace, marino. * Geor. ii. 160. 1 Lib. i. Ep. xi. * Benacus. with tempestuous billows vex'd .—Dryden. I. 82 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. V. After breakfast ( March 14, Sunday) I walked up the road to Brescia , and from a high hill viewed the lake, its coasts, peninsulas and promontories.' The peninsula of Sirmione forms the most striking object, as running between Peschiera and Desensano; it di- vides the first and widest part of the lake into two nearly equal spaces, and on account of the lowness and the narrowness of the passage to it, appears like a beautiful and well wooded island. The next striking feature of the lake is the bold promontory of Minerbo, or rather of San Pietro , and the Isola dei Venli ( Island of the Winds ). Behind this promontory and island, lies the river of Salo, supposed to be one of the most picturesque parts of the lake. Nearly opposite to San Pietro , stands the town of Garda (founded in the middle ages), which now gives its name to the lake, while an- ciently the lake gave its name to the surrounding territory called Ager Benacensis * (the district of Benacus), whose inhabitants as- sembled for public purposes at Tusculanum. This town still exists, under its ancient appellation, near Salo. The remaining part of the lake is concealed among the mountains, and placed beyond the observation of one who stands in the neighborhood of Desensano . The waters of the lake are of the finest sea-green; its depth is un- equal ; in the narrow parts, from ten to forty, in the wider, from one hundred to three hundred feet. The Benacus is fed by several Alpine streams, and particularly by th eSarca, a river that still bears its Roman name: its only outlet is the Mincio. Hence this stream is supplied with a perpetual flow of waters, and never rises or falls more than a few inches, while other rivers are oftentimes almost dried up in warm seasons, and swelled in wet months into an in- undation. On the fifteenth we left Desensano, and passing through Rigoltela, alighted at the turn towards the peninsula, and visited Sirmione once more. We ranged, as before, over the whole promontory, and examined its coasts, its productions, and its ruins more >mi- nutely. The eastern and western sides are formed principally of steep craggy rocks, that sometimes rise into a wall, and at other times descend in regular gradations to the water. The northern extremity is a grassy declivity. A vast mass of solid rock seems to form the basis of the promontory. It borders it on all sides, and shelving by degrees, extends to a considerable distance visible though under water, and losing itself almost imperceptibly in the deep. The views on all sides, excepting the south, are such an in- termixture of level and mountainous, of cultivated and barren coun- Many geographers suppose, and pretend to ground their suppositions upon an- cient monuments, that the name of Benacus belonged not to a town, but to the lake itself only, and that the surrounding country was called Ager Benacensis, and the inhabitants, Benacenses. The lake is now known among the people of the country, as much by the appellation of Lago de Benaco, as that of Lago di Garda. Chap. V. THROUGH ITALY. SS try, as cannot fail to interest even by its contrast ; while from the northern point you discover the utmost borders of the lake, though their distance, which is about forty-five miles, and the dark shade of the superincumbent mountains, involve them in dimness and obscurity. The produce of the hill consists principally of olive trees, plants evergreen indeed, but neither lofty nor luxuriant in foliage, and consequently not well calculated to answer the purposes of orna- ment, shade, or shelter. They are, however, productive, and the inhabitants are so sensible of their value, that they contrive to plant them on the sides, and even in the clefts of the rocks, and some- times raise walls to prop -them when in a situation too perpendi- cular, or of a form too spreading and extensive for the trunk. This instance of exertion, and indeed many others, which I may intro- duce occasionally hereafter, together with the highly cultivated ap- pearance of the country, have ef.eclually removed some of our prejudices, and convinced us, notwithstanding the partial and hasty representations of certain travellers, that the Italians are a very laborious people, and that if they do not enjoy all the advantages attached by Providence to industry, the fault is to be attributed, not to them, but to their landlords and governors: But though olives he the principal produce of the peninsula, yet vines and corn are by no means excluded : on the contrary, vineyards occupy a considerable part of the first hill, particularly towards the west, where, bordering on the town and lake, a beautiful vineyard rises, enclosed with large laurels; and corn fills the spaces between the olive rows, and covers the peninsula with verdure from shore to shore. A large garden occupies the first hill immediately over the town, and contains, among other plants, some beautiful cypresses, favorite trees in all Italian gardens both ancient and modern. Having wandered up and down these poetical retreats, and read Catullus on the ruins of his residence; having observed again and again all the beautiful points of view that rose around us, we were reminded by the setting sun of the necessity of retiring ; and with- drew, reluctantly indeed, but with the satisfaction of having seen the Benacus under all its forms of calmness, of agitation, and of re- turning tranquillity. We walked along its banks by the light of the moon, to Peschiera, six miles, and thence once more to Paradisino, a country seat, belonging to Sig. Alberto Albertini , our banker at Verona. The house is in a lovely country, yet so situated as to en- joy none of its advantages ; for though it stands on the banks of the Mincio, and within a mile of the lake, it commands a view of neither. Its furniture is very indifferent, and the walks around, the principal of which opposite the house, consists of a double row of cypresses, seem to promise neither shade nor shelter. To account for this deficiency, it would perhaps be sufficient to observe, that the Italians in general have very little taste in furnishing a house ? si CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. V. or in laying out grounds to advantage ; but in justice to the pro- prietor of Paradisino, I must add, that the French had plundered the' house, and cut down the greatesl part of the wood that sur- rounded it, so that its nakedness must in some degree be ascribed to the general cause of all the miseries of Italy, to the destroying spirit of the French army. Before we take a last leave of the Benacus and of its borders, of Verona and of its vicinity, I must inform the reader that the lake, with all its streams and surrounding hills, and indeed the whole circumja- cent country, has been rendered truly classical by having been made the scene or the subject of many beautiful compositions in the second Augustan age of Italy. Fracaslorius, Nftuaerius, Caslilio, have in- voked th e Nymphce Bcnacules; and Bertlbo has given the appellation of Benacus to one of his most correct and most pleasing Latin poems. The mountains and hills on its borders have been con- verted into the Arcadia of Italy, and peopled with a race of shep- herds, who almost rival in song the Grecian swains once solicantare periti (who alone knew how to sing), and who far surpass them in innocence and in piety. But of all the strains in which these scenes are celebrated, the most affecting are those addressed by Fracaslo- rius to his departed friend Flaminius , who was himself one of the most tuneful natives of this happy region. Te miserum ! ante diem, crudeli funere, Marce Antoni ! aetatis primo sub flore cadentem Vidimus extrema positum Benacide ripa Quam medio inter saxa sonans Sarca abluit undA. Te ripae flevere Athesis, te voce vocare Auditae per noctem umbrae manesque Catulli, Et patrios mulcere nova dulcedine lucos. ’—Sypli. lib. i. Next morning we sent our carriages towards Mantua, and de- termined to proceed on foot in order to explore the secret beauties of the Mincius, and to trace its pastoral banks, hitherto untrodden by the foot of any British traveller. We took one of Sig. Albertims men, an honest looking peasant, for our guide, and descending the little hill on which Paradisino stands, advanced towards the banks of the river. These banks consist of line little broken hills covered with vineyards and mulberry trees, interspersed with corn fields and downs, with a rill occasionally tumbling through a chasm. On the left, on the highest part of the bank, stands the village of Sa- lionche, and on leaving this village you have a line view over the £ Thee, hapless frieod, in youth's aspiring morn, Frim all life s op'niug joy s*un timely torn, Wesavy interr d,, where sounding Sarca laves . The fretted rocks* end joins Benaco's waves. Thee pleasant Adige wept; Catullus' shade Invok'd thy name, and mournful wailings made, And in his native woodlands all night long . Sooth'd ev'ry well-known echo with his song. Chap. V. THROUGH ITALY. 85 river, between two swells, of the fortress of Ponte , at about two miles distance, backed by the Alps. Before you, rises on a hill the old castle of Mosembano , with its two towers and long battlementecl ramparts. Beyond it a fine swell crowned with a few solitary cy- presses, attracts the attention, merely by its apparent loneliness. Mosembano stands high on the right bank, and as you approach, increases to your view, presenting a handsome church, and a fine old castle. Opposite Mosembano on the left, a fertile plain extends for the space of a mile, to a range of well wooded hills, adorned with a tower on the middle eminence called Monte Velio , and termi- nating in the very picturesque hill and castle of Valeggio. A little beyond Mosembano , the scenery improves considerably; broken hills, increasing in magnitude, approach the river : trees, more frequent and more majestic, adorn their sides ; the Mincio, spreading as it winds along, assumes the appearance of a magnifi- cent river, while the castle of Valeggio on the hill, and the fortified bridge of Borghetto in the valley, form a very singular and striking termination. The side of a high hill, on the left, is crowned with the house and garden of the Marquis Maffei , a name well known, in literature. Borghetto is situated in a very beautiful valley : a high road runs across and is fianked with a wall on each side, strengthened with towers, and defended by three castles, one at each end, and one in the middle, forming a bridge over the river. On the top of a steep hill, rising immediately from the bridge or fortified road, stands the romantic castle of Valeggio . In its centre rises a lofty tower, which the Austrians were employed in repairing and raising, till the moment of their final retreat. The whole is now neglected, and will undoubtedly, if the present system remains in force much longer, become a heap of ruins. A little beyond the castle of Valeggio from its highest rampart, we enjoyed one of the most delicious views imaginable. To the south extended a plain almost interminable watered by the Mincio , covered with corn-fields, divided by mulberry trees and vines, in- tersected by various roads, and dotted with villas, villages, and towns. Among the latter, Mantua, at the distance of about fifteen miles, made the most conspicuous figure. To the east, rose the hills of Vicenza , and the more distant mountains of Arqua, amongst which the peaked forms of Monte Selice, and Monte Ferro , were, though so remote, very remarkable. Westward, and immediate- ly under the eye, lay the delightful valley of Borghetto , with its little town, its castle, its fortified bridge, and all its towers and battlements. An amphitheatre of hills partly encloses the valley with a rampart of woods and villages, and through its middle rolls the sea-green Mincio, tumbling in foam over two or three slight rocky layers. To the north, the churches and castles of Mosembano and Ponte crown their respective hills, while* the Alps, forming a vast semicircular sweep from east to west, close the prospect with a 86 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. V. broken line of blue rocks, snowy masses, and cloud-capt pinnacles. We here caught, for the first time, an indistinct view of the very distant Apennines, running from west to south, and observed with surprise, that they were still, like the neighboring Alps, covered with snow. We descended from the rampart, and following the hill to its southern extremity, saw the Mincio rushing from the defile between two eminences (one of which on the right is called the Volta Mantuana) and then sweeping along a wood, till it loses itself in the distant level. As the day advanced, and the river did not promise any picturesque scenery during its progress over the flat country, we mounted our carriages in the town of Borghetto, and drove over a most fertile, well wooded, highly cultivated, and well peopled plain. About six o’clock on the 17th of March, we entered Mantua, Mantua musarum domus, atque ad sidera cantu Evecta Aonio, et Smyrnaeis emula pleetris. 1 — Sil. viii. The day after our arrival we crossed the lower lake, and visited the village of Pietole, anciently supposed by some to be Andes, where Virgil is said to have been born. It is about three miles distant from Mantua, on the banks “ tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat Mincius t ” 3 and consists of several neat cottages, good farm houses, and a handsome church. About half a mile southward on the road, and near the river, stands a large farm, with two extensive gar- dens, and offices well walled in,' formerly belonging to the Imperial government, which granted it to a Mantuan citizen, Count Giberti, to defray the interest of the money which he had advanced for public purposes. This farm is called Virgiliana, and is said to have belonged to the poet himself. The country around it and Pietole, is extremely flat, but fertile, well wooded, and highly cultivated. On the 19th (Friday) we took a boat and descended the Mincio, to the place where it falls into the Po, about twelve miles below Mantua. The country through which it flows is so low, that the river is generally embanked like a canal, and cannot be supposed to exhibit any picturesque views; especially as the fields around were still, in consequence of the late inundation, in many places covered with water. However, many trees, great fertility, and high culti- vation, give it all the beauty it is capable of receiving ; while several neat cottages adorn the banks, and as the weather was extremely fine, appeared, when we passed, to much advantage. At the beautiful village of Governoloy the Mincio makes a sudden bend, and shortly after loses itself in the Po. The breadth of this latter river, and the vast mass of waters which it rolls along, give * Mantua, the muses’ scat ! Aonian song, scarce rivall’d by the faru’d Homeric lyre, Exalts tbee to the skies 1 * Where mighty Miocius, slowly winding, strays. Chap. V. THROUGH ITALY. 8T it a very magnificent appearance, and entitle it to the pompous appellation of Fluviorum Rex (the King of Rivers ) ; if, as Addison justly observes, its pre-eminence be confined to the rivers of Italy. Though inferior to the Rhine or Danube in the extent of country it waters, it certainly surpasses the former, and equals the latter, at least at Vienna, in its immense surface. Its waters, very different from the sea-green colour of the Mincio, were thick and yellow with mud ; its banks are low, and the country around flat; hence its frequent and extensive inundations. Its borders are lined with trees and villages, and pleasing, though by no means picturesque. As the Po is a truly classic river, we walked for some time on its banks with great satisfaction, and recalled to mind various passages in Virgil, Ovid, Vida, etc., in which its name occurs. We then returned to Governolo, and as we passed through, visited and ad- mired its beautiful church, which, unfortunately, owing to the poverty of the inhabitants, occasioned by the French invasion, has never been fitted up and furnished for divine service. We were then drawn up the river by our boatmen, and arrived at Mantua about five 1 The reader will naturally suppose, that while we ranged along the banks of the Mincio , or glided down its stream, we frequently recurred to Virgil, and enjoyed his descriptions on the borders of his favorite river, and amid the scenery of his native fields. We perused his Eclogues and Georgies during our tour, and after having exa- mined and applied them to the face of the country, as it now appears, have been led to the following conclusions. Virgil composed his Eclogues, in order to enrich his language with a species of poetry till then unknown in Latin, and that he might succeed the better, he took Theocritus, the Prince of Pastoral Poets, for his model. W T ith little regard to originality, he pretended to no more than the honor of being the first Roman who imitated the Sicilian bard. — Prima Syracosio dignata est ludere versu Nostra, nec erubuit sylvas habitare, Thalia.* — Ecl.\ i. and made no difficulty of borrowing the sentiments, images, and even descriptions of his master. We are not therefore, generally speaking, to look into Virgil’s Pastorals for delineations of Mantuan scenery, nor expect to find in them many unmixt and peculiar allu- sions to the Mincius and its borders. His object was to copy the original, not to give a new picture of his own composition. I have said generalhj , because in two pastorals, the first and the ninth, the 1 I thought it necessary to enter into very minute details in describing the banks of the Mincio, as they are very little known, notwithstanding the poetical fame of the river. I first transferr'd to Rome Sicilian strains ; Nor blush’d the Doric Muse to dwell on Mantuan plain 9,-Dryi$n. CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. V. poet treats professedly of that river, of Mantua, and of the neigh- boring country; and in the seventh, though the names are Greek, the two contending shepherds Arcadians, and the scene, we must suppose, Grecian also, yet, by an inaccuracy, not unusual in pastoral compositions, he introduces the Mincius, with its characteristic reeds, and its verdant banks. Hie virides tenera praitexit arundine ripas Mincius. 1 In the two former the poet certainly means to describe some of the features of his own little possession, and by these features it is evident, that it lay at the foot, or in the immediate neighbor- hood of the hills, not far from Valeggio , near which town they begin to subside, and gradually lose themselves in the immense plain of Mantua — Qua se subducere colies lncipiunt, molliquc jugum demiltere clivo. * Eel. ix. 7 — 16. On no other part of the banks of the Mincius, are to be discovered either the “bare rocks,” that disfigured the farm of Tityrus, or the “towering crag” that shaded the pruner, as he sung, or the “vine-clad grotto,” where the shepherd reclined, or the “bushy cliff,” whence “the browsing goats seemed as if suspended,” or “the lofty mountains,” which, in the evening, cast their “pro- tracted shadows ” over the plain. The “ spreading beech,” indeed, and “aerial elm,” still delight in the soil, and adorn the banks of the Mincius, in all its windings. From these observations we may venture to infer, in opposition to great authority, the impropriety of fixing Virgil’s farm at Pieiole , 3 or Virgiliana, in the immediate vicinity of Mantua, while the poet represents it as at the distance of at least some miles, or a walk, deemed long even for active young shepherds : Cantantes, licet usque, minus via Icedet, eamus. 4 — ix. Of the tomb of Bianor we at present know nothing; but as se- pulchral monuments unless formed of valuable materials, orstand- * Here wanton Mincius winds along the meads. And shades his happy banks with bending reeds.— Dry den. * Fromjtbe sloping mountain to the vale.— Ibid. 3 E quell’ ombra geritll per cul si noma Pielola piu cbe villa Mantovana.-PHryalorio, xvm. That clear spirit, Who ralseth Andes above Mantua's name.— Cary. From these verses we may infer that it was not only the opinion of Dante, but the tradition of his times, that Pietole occupied the site of Andes. 4 Let us sing as we go, and the walk will appear less tedious. Chap. V. THROUGH ITALY. 89 ing in the immediate neighborhood of cities, have generally been respected, or at least neglected, I have no doubt but that some ves- tiges of it might be discovered by a diligent investigator, on or near some of the roads leading from the hills to Mantua. The observation which I have just made, that Virgil’s Pastorals ought, in general, to be considered, not as pictures of real scenery, or as conveying his own feelings and sentiments, but as mere lusus poelici (poetic fancies) composed in imitation of Theocritus, leads me to another, which, though unconnected with the Mincio, will, I hope, recommend itself by its object, which is to rescue the me- mory of the first and purest of poets, from a very odious and ill- founded suspicion. Every critical reader knows, that the subject of the second Pastoral, though it has exposed Virgil to the charge alluded to, is taken from Theocritus, and that many images, senti- ments, and even expressions are copied literally, and almost ver- batim from the Sicilian poet. This circumstance alone is sufficient to clear the writer from the suspicion of any personal application ; especially when we recollect the contempt with which he elsewhere speaks Qf a character to whom he attributes such a propensity, and whom he seems to have introduced for the express purpose of branding him with infamy. 1 The truth is, that he who judges of the morality of the Latin poets from a few detached passages in their works, must form a very unfair estimate of their character ; and impute to them criminal habits, from which they were most probably exempt. Pliny the younger, to excuse himself for having composed some sportive verses, pleads the example of Cicero, * and cites a passage from Catullus, 3 importing, that however blame- less the manners of the poet should be, his verses may be play- ful, and even lascivious. Ovid adopts the same idea, and holds it forth as a justification of his own wanton compositions. 4 The modern Italians have imitated the ancients in this respect, and some of the most classical writers of the sixteenth century, 1 Tu quoque, L. x. 325. a Plin. Lib. v. Ep. 3. 3 Seimus alioqui hujus opusculi illam esse \erissimam legem quam Catullus expressit. Nam castum esse deoet pium poetarn Ipsum, verslculos nibil necesse est : Qui tunc denlque habent salem ct leporem. Si sunt molliculi et parum pudici .-Plin. Lib. iv. Ep. \A. We know, moreover, that the regulation which Catullus has laid down, is the proper one for this little production. Let but the poet’s life be pure, No need bis muse be too demure; The praise of wit be best maintains, When loose and wanton are bis strains. Crede mibi mores distant a carmine nostri, Vila verecuuda est, Musa jocosa fuit. My Muse and my manners are widely at strife; • Though sportive my verses, yet cbqste is my life. 90 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. V. though eminent for the unblemished innocence of their lives, have, in moments of poetical playfulness, employed expressions, which, if literally understood, may be censured as licentious. I admit that the reasoning of Pliny is by no means satisfactory, and that the rule laid down by Catullus is both absurd and immoral, and I most readily pass condemnation on every loose and indecent expression, in whatsoever composition it may be found. But as the ancients seem to have adopted this rule, and acted upon it, I contend that it authorizes us to acquit Virgil of the odious charge brought against him by some systematical grammarians, and ignorant commentators, especially as it is supported by mere traditional tales and conjectural anecdotes . 1 Above and below Mantua, the Mincio spreads iqto two lakes, called the Lago di Sopra (Upper Lake), and the Lago di Infra (Lower Lake)} the space between, the breadth of which entitles it to a si- milar appellation, is called the Lago Mezzo. Virgil alludes to this vast expanse, when in the third Georgic he promises to erect a temple to Augustus. Et viridi in campotemplum de marmore ponam Propter aquam, tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat Mincius a . —3 Geor. xiii. The banks of the Mincio , above Mantua, are rather higher than below the town, and a little more picturesque, particularly on the right side of the river, near the Cremona road ; several large farms rise on its borders, and its reeds wave over them as usual, in fo- rests. Mantua is a large city, with spacious streets, and some fine edi- fices. Its cathedral, built nearly upon the same plan as Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, is a very regular and beautiful edifice. The nave consists of two rows of Corinthian pillars, supporting, not arches, but an architrave and cornice, with a range of windows above, and niches in the intervals between them. Another row of pillars of the same order, on both sides, forms a double aisle. The choir con- sists of a semicircular recess behind the altar. Between the choir and the nave rises a very noble dome, decorated with pilasters and fine paintings. The transept on the left terminates in the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, an hexagon, with a recess for the altar, sur- mounted with a dome, adorned with paintings and arabesques in the best style, presenting, on the whole, an exquisite specimen of Mantuan taste. The day after our arrival happened to be the festival of St. An - selmo , patron of Mantua. At evening service, about six o’clock, 1 See Pope’s Letter to Swift on Gay’s death; letter Ixv. * Of Parian stone a temple will I raise. Where the slow Mincius through the Talley stray».»i)ry on account of its form, with its apartments ; together with several private mansions, merit attention. In fact, Giulio Romano , an architect and painter of the first eminence, and a disciple of Raphael, devoted his time and su- perior talents to the embellishment of Mantua, and adorned it with many a magnificent pile, and many a noble painting. The house of this celebrated artist is shown to strangers, and as it was erected by himself, it certainly deserves to be visited. The taste of Giulio in architecture, seems to have been manly and bold ; he was fond of strength and majesty; but sometimes inclined to encumber his edi- fices with too much mass, and with too many ornaments. Mantua can boast an antiquity superior even to that of Rome, and is represented by her native poet, not without some historical truth, as existing so early as the time of Eneas. Ule etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris Fatidic* Mantus et Tusci Alius amnis : Qui muros, matrisque dedit tibi, Mantua, nomen, Mantua dives avis. * —jEneid. x. 198. Mantua shared the prosperity of Rome, underwent her disas- • Ocnus was qext, who led his native train Of hardy warriors through the wat’ry plain. The son of Manto, by the Tuscan stream, From whence the Mantuan town derives the name* An ancient clly,-Dryden, 92 CLASSICAL TOUll Chap. V. ters, felt all the vicissitudes of the middle ages, and emerged thence, like the other great Italian cities, into liberty and inde- pendence. At length, it became subject to one of its own power- ful families, and acknowledged the Gonzagas as Dukes and Sove- reigns. This form of government remained for near two hundred years, when the last Duke, taking up arms against the Austrian inte- rest, was driven from his estates, and died an exile at Padua, in 1708. Mantua, while free, and even under the dominion of her own dukes, enjoyed no small share of riches and of prosperity. Her walls were supposed to contain about fifty thousand inhabitants. She was often engaged in wars with the neighboring stales, and had her full proportion of victory and of honor. The ails and sciences flourished in her territories, and numberless palaces adorned her streets, her squares, and her suburbs. But this golden age closed at the Austrian invasion. The city was plundered, several of its antiquities carried off or defaced, and its independence finally sacrificed to Austrian ambition. In the late war, it had the misfortune of undergoing twice the horrors of a siege, and is now annexed to the Italian republic, to share its nominal independence and real slavery. It must injustice be owned, that the arts and sciences had not been neglected by the Austrian government. An Imperial academy was erected, a noble palace devoted to its meetings, and a fine assem- blage of antiquities collected in its galleries. The inscription over its entrance is as follows : INGREDERE. HOSPES. ET. MIRARE. QUjE. GRAECORUM. ET. ROMANO RUM. ANTIQUI. AEVI. MONUMENTA. CVM. PRINCiriS. TUM. CIVIVM. MUNERE. IN. HOC. MUSEO. CONLECTA. SPECTANDA. TIBI. EXHIBET. VIRGIUI. PATRIA. 1 The most interesting object in this collection was the well- known bust of Virgil, which, as may be easily supposed, the Man- tuans always pointed out to strangers, with peculiar complacency. It seems, that at the end of the fourteenth century, a statue of Virgil stood on an elevated pedestal, in the Piazza clelErbe (Herb- market), when Carlo Malatesla, one of the brutal chieftains of the times, ignorant of every art but that of war, and knowing, proba- bly, nothing of Virgil but his name, in one of his triumphal pro- cessions, ordered it to be thrown down, and cast into the lake. The reason for this act of sacrilegious violence, is characteristic 1 Enter, stranger, and admire the monuments of Greek and Roman antiquity which the country of Virgil exhibits to thee, collected in this Museum by the mu - nificence both of the Prince and of the citizens. Chap. V. THROUGH ITALY. 93 both of the hero and of the times. “ The honor of a statue be- longs,” said he, “ to Saints only, and ought not to be profaned by being communicated to scribblers and buffoons.” The bust in question is supposed to be the head of this very statue, and, as such, it was crowned with ivy by the Duke Vespasian, and erected in the principal hall of his palace, about the year 1580. The ivy, which was real, and only covered with a fine varnish to preserve it the longer, on being touched, many years after, fell into dust; but the bust survived the plunder of the ducal palace on the en- trance of the Austrians, and was placed in the academical gallery, where it remained till the year 1797. The French no sooner be- came masters of Mantua, than they began to pillage its gallery, and to pilfer its most valuable articles. Among them was the bust ol Virgil, which they carried off, notwithstanding the intreaties of the Mantuans, while with cruel mockery they celebrated civic feasts in honor of the poet, and erected piaster busts in the place of his marble statues. Such is the taste of this nation, such the honors it pays to the ancients ! 1 The circumstances which I have just related prove, at least, that the Mantuans have never been indifferent to the memory of their celebrated countryman, as some travellers have pretended ; and that they have not been wanting in the erection of becoming mo- numents to his honor, as often, and in as magnificent a manner, as the vicissitudes of the times would allow. Even during all the rage and tempest of the late w’ar, while contending armies hovered round their walls, and the roar of artillery resounded in their ears, they had planned a public garden at Pieiole, and laid out a conside- rable piece of ground in walks and groves, in the centre of which a temple was to rise, and a statue to be erected, in honor of the immortal poet. Thus they would have accomplished the grand design so finely unfolded in the third Georgic, adorned the classic Mincio with a fabric becoming its fame, and bestowed, with more propriety, on the acknowledged viriues of their countryman, the honors which he intended, with a flattery pardonable because the result of gratitude, for the very equivocal merit of Augustus. But the second siege of Mantua put an end to this project ; the gates were thrown down, the enclosures torn up, the plantations de- stroyed, and the whole scene of rural beauty and poetical illusion was stained with blood, and abandoned to devastation. 1 We were present at one of these exhibitions. In the middle of the great square was erected an ill-proportioned pillar, about ten feet high. On it was placed a plaster bust of Virgil. Four lesser pillars supporting four other plaster busts, joined by garlands, formed a sort of square enclosure. Virgil’s bust was crowned w ith laurel, and from it hung garlands, extending to the other four. These garlands or festoons, instead of hanging loose, and waving gracefully in the air, were drawn tight, and were consequently as motionless as ropes. Around this ridiculous pa- geant, the French troops drew up, and paraded. The inhabitants seemed pur- posely to keep aloof. CLASSICAL TOUR 9 £ Chap. V. On the twenty-third of March, we took leave of Mantua, ex- tremely well pleased with the general appearance of the town, and convinced that it is far more flourishing at present than it seems to have been in ancient days. In extent it is considerable, not in- significant in population, and in magnificence equal to most cities ; circumstances, which place it far above the epithet of parva applied to it by Martial. Tantum magna suo debet Verona Calullo Quantum parva suo Mantua Virgilio. 1 The road to Cremona, for some miles, borders on the Mincio, and runs close to its reedy banks, as long as it forms the Lago di Sopra, that is, till it turns northward, as it comes down from the hills of Borghetlo. As the road is formed on the ancient Via Post- humia, it is strait and even, runs through several large villages, or rather little towns, and traverses a tract of country intersected by various streams and luxuriantly fertile. Proud of her Virgil's honor'd name Though little M.mlua be, As much of grout Verona's fame, Catullus, springs from thee! The following lines, addressed to Mantua, in the day of its glory, are not inap- plicable to Uneven in its present humiliation and distress : Felix Manlua. civitatum ocelie, Quam Mars Palladi cerlat usque et usque Claram reddere genlihus, probisque Ornare ingeniis virorum, et armis I Te frugum facilis, potonsque rerum Telius, te celebrem facit virente Qui ripa, calamisque ilexuosus Leni flumine Mlncius susurrat, Et qui te lacus intrat. advenisque Dites mercihus invebit carinas. Quid palatia culta, quid deorum Templa, quid memorem vias, et urbis Moles nubibus arduis propinquas? Pax secura loco, quiesque nuilis Turbata ejsiiiis, frequensque rerum Semper copia, et odium bonarum. Felix Mantua, centiosque felix, Tantis Mantua dotibus beata.— M. Ant. Flamin. Car. Lib. i. 30. Flow'r of cities ! Mantua fair ! Pallas. Mars, a rival pair, Strive foudly to exalt tby name And to the world tby praise proclaim, Alike for arts and arms renown'd. For valour fam d, with wisdom crown'd. Fam'd is tby soil for golden grain, For wealth and pow r tby rich domain : And fam d is Mindus. that proceeds Soft whisp'ring through his banks of reeds. Or winding through ib enamelld ground : And fam <1 the lake that girds tbee round. And. borne in many a bark, supplies Rich stores of foreign merchandize. Need 1 the gorgeous fabrics tell. In whic It thy high born nobles dwell ? Thy spacious roads? tby fanes that rise With tow'rs that seem to touch the skies. Peace is thy guest ; no civil war, Nor Jars, nor broils, thy blessings mar, \ Chap. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 95 CHAPTER VI. Cremona— River Addua— Placentia— the Trebia— Parma— Reggio— Modena— its Library, and celebrated Librarians, Muratori, Tiraboschi, etc. Cremona derives some degree of importance from the well- known verse of Virgil, Mantua vae miser® nimium vicina Crcmon®. 1 — Eclog. ix. 28. And from the accurate observation of Tacitus. Hunc exitum Cre- mona habuit bellis externis Intacta, civilibus infelix .* In fact, these few words contain the whole history of this city, which, being founded by one of the Celtic tribes that occupied the northern parts of Italy, was colonized and fortified by the Romans, about the commencement of the second Punic war, as a rampart against the approaching attack of Annibal. The strength of its walls, or the courage of its inhabitants, preserved it from the fury of this formidable invader, and it went on increasing in num- bers, size, and opulence, till by its attachment to the cause of the senate, and of liberty, it drew down upon itself the vengeance of the Triumvirs, and incurred forfeiture and confiscation . 3 Its fide- lity to Vitellius, or its mistaken prudence calculating on the supposed superiority of his interest, exposed it to the rage of Vespasian’s partisans, who besieged, took, plundered, and reduced it to aheap of ashes. Shortly after it rose from its ruins ; but rose to expe- rience the disasters of war and of revolution, and to share the long and painful agonies of the expiring empire. However, it survived all its reverses, and after having been the prey of Goths and of Lombards, of French and of Germans; after having enjoyed a precarious liberty, and then born the light yoke of the sovereigns of Milan; it is, for the present, annexed to that sickly abortion of French influence misnamed the Italian Republic. Cremona is a large and well-built city, adorned with many noble But gen'rous arls, and virtues rare. And wealth and plenty flourish there. Tenfold, Mantua, art thou blest, Of such mighty goods possest I r the Mantuan tow’rs, Obnoxious by Cremona's neigbb’ring crime.— Dryden. * Such was the end of Cremona, uninjured by foreign, but ever ruined by civil wars. 3 The consequences of this confiscation reached the Mantuan territory, and occasioned, as is well known, the flight and the fame of Yirgil. CLASSICAL TOUR Ckap. VI. 96 edifices, and advantageously situated on the northern bank of the Po. Its cathedral, of Gothic, or rather mixed architecture, was begun in the year HOT, and continued at different periods, but not completely finished till the fourteenth century. It is faced with white and red marble, and highly ornamented though in a singular and fanciful style. It contains several beautiful altars and fine paintings. One chapel in particular merits attention. It is that which is set apart for the preservation of the relics of the primitive martyrs. Its decorations are simple and chaste, its colors soft and pleasing. The ashes of the “sainted dead” repose in urns and sarcophagi placed in niches in the wall regularly disposed on each side of the chapel, after the manner of the ancient Roman sepul- chres. It is small, but its proportions, form, and furniture are so appropriate and so well combined, that they produce a very beau- tiful and perfect Whole. The Baptistery, which, according to the ancient manner still preserved in many of the great towns of Italy, is a separate building near the cathedral, contains in the centre a font of curious form and workmanship, cut out of one immense block of party-colored marble. The tower is of great height and of singular architecture. The view from it is extensive, taking in the town with its streets ; the roads that cross the country in strait lines in various directions; the Po winding along almost close to the walls, and intersecting the immense plain of the Milanese ; the Alps to the north, and the Apennines to the south-west, both covered with snow, and occasionally half veiled with passing clouds. Such was the prospect we beheld from the top of the To - razzo. The public palace, for so the town-hall is not improperly called in Italy, and most of the churches, but particularly that of St. Pietro al Po , are worthy the attention of the traveller; since, with several objects which correct taste must blame, they contain many which it will admire. Cremona has produced her proportion of genius and of talent, both in ancient and modern times ; but among all her sons, none have contributed more to her reputation than Marcus Hieronymus Vida, the first poet of the second Augustan age of Roman literature, and sometimes not undeservedly styled by his admirers, the Christian Virgil. Every reader is acquainted with the poetical tri- bute which Pope has paid to his memory, in his Essay on Criticism; and all, who peruse Vida’s works, will acknowledge that the com- pliment is not misplaced. But literary excellence was neither the sole, nor the principal merit of Vida : piety and purity of morals, unsullied even by suspicion, graced his early years, and a zealous discharge of every episcopal duty employed him from the middle to the close of life. lie was buried in his cathedral at Alba, and a cenotaph is said to have been erected to his honor in the Duomo at Cremona; though we endeavored in vain to discover it. I shall conclude this account with some verses taken from a hymn of this ("hap. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 97 poet, which, with the passage of Tacitus inserted above, will suf- fice to give the reader some notion both of the history and of the territory of Cremona. The verses are addressed to our Blessed Sa- viour, and express a Christian sentiment in the purest language of Heathen poetry. Turn veri, Graium obliti mendacia, yates Funera per gentes referent lua, carmine verso Atque tuis omnes resonabunt Iaudibus urbes. Praesertim laetam Italiae felicis ad oram, Addua ubi vagus, et muscoso Serius amne Purior electro tortoque simillimus angui ; Qua rex ftuviorum Eridanus se turbidus infert, Mcenia turrigerae stringens male tuta Cremon®, Ut sibi jam tectis Yix temperet unda caducis .* Christ iados vi. 885 — 890. If the reader wishes to see the history of Cremona , the beauties of its district, and the achievements and talent^ of its inhabitants, set off in the most splendid colors of partial eloquence, he may read the pleadings or Actioncs tres attributed to this author, and supposed to have been pronounced before competent judges at Milan, on a question of precedency between Cremona and Pavia. From Cremona , to the fortress of Pizzigliitone, are two short stages. We there passed the Addua, on a Hying bridge. This ri- ver is represented, by Claudian, as remarkable for the cerulean tints of its waves, and is united to the Tesino, in a very pretty verse. Colla lavant pulcher Ticinus et Addua visu Coerulus. 2 The country continues populous and fertile, but displays more forest wood. Casliglione, with various little towns and villages, appears rich and beautiful. Thence the roads were deep and bad, owing to the late inundations. Towards sunset we arrived at the Po, and passing it on a flying bridge, entered Placentia, March 23d. Placentia was built and colonized by the Romans, about two hundred and eighteen years before Christ, and, not long after, served as an asylum to the Roman army when defeated by Annibal, at the Trebia. It was afterwards assaulted by that Carthaginian, 1 Then Grecian fable shall delight no more. But sacred bards their alter’d numbers pour To thee, with rival zeal thy praise proclaim, Till ev’ry realm is vocal with thy name. But most of all on fair Italia's strand, Where Addua wanders through the smiling land. Where Serius in his mossy channel strays, As amber pure, through many a sinuous maze; Where Po, the king of streams, in turbid pride, Rolls on by tall Cremona's tow r-crown'd side, Cremona fair I whose time-enfeebled wall Dreads the rough wave, and iotters to its fall. a Tesino fair, and Addua's azure stream. I. 98 CLASSICAL Tv, (JR Chap. YI. but in vain ; and like Cremona, was destined to suffer more from the madness of citizens, than from the fury of invaders. More for- tunate however than the latter, though attacked by a party of Vitel- lians it resisted with success, and in the bloody contest, had only to lament the loss of its amphitheatre, remarkable (it seems) for its capaciousness and architecture. This edifice, like that of Verona, stood without the walls, and was of course exposed to the fury of the assailants. It seems to have been principally of wood, as it was consumed by fire, a circumstance which, in our ideas, must take away much of its pretended splendor : but, whatever were its materials, its extent was at that time unequalled; and it stood the pride of Placentia, and the envy of the neighboring cities. It was set on fire when Caecina assaulted the town, either by 'chance, which is more probable, or perhaps, as the PlaceiUians suspected, by the malice of some incendiaries, who took advantage of the confusion of the contest, and was reduced to ashes. It perished, however, at a fortunate period, and with all its glory around it; for, had it survived only a few years, its fame would have been eclipsed by the splendor and by the magnificence of the gigantic Coliseum. Placentia , after hating frequently changed masters, was annexed to Parma, and remained so till the expulsion of the late duke, when, with the whole of its territory it was occupied by the French. It is a large and well-built city. Its cathedral is Saxon : the town house, with some other public buildings in the great square, are Go- thic. Several churches, particularly that of St. Agostino, are of fine Roman architecture, and some adorned with paintings of great celebrity. The square is ornamented with two brass equestrian statues ; one of the celebrated Alexander Farnese , the other, of his brother Ranuccio : they are much admired, particularly the former, for attitude, animation, and drapery. Many oi the convents, some of which are now suppressed, seem to have been magnificent. The neighborhood of Placentia is, perhaps, more interesting than the town itself, as it has been the theatre of many bloody engage- ments. The first, and most remarkable, occurred shortly after the foundation of the city, about three miles from it, and its scene lies on the banks of the Trebia. We visited the spot, with Livy as our guide, and I need not add, that we found his description extremely accurate. It must indeed be observed, in justice to the great wri- ters of antiquity, that their pictures so resemble the objects which they are intended to represent, that a traveller might imagine they had always been sketched on the spot itself, and in the very heat of action. The banks, though low, are yet sufficiently elevated, in a military sense, not indeed at the very confluence of the two ri- vers, the Po and the Trebia ; but a little higher up the latter, where the battle look place, the stream is wide enough to form a line of defence, and yet shallow enough to be in many places fordable. Chap. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 99 Its sides, particularly on the right as you ascend the stream, where Mago lay in ambush, are still covered with reeds and brush-wood. After these observations, merely applying the present scenery to the historian’s description, the reader need but open Livy, and he will become a spectator of the action so bloody and disastrous to the Romans. But the banks of the Trebia have been the theatre of more con- tests than one, nor is the last-mentioned, though, without doubt, the most illustrious, either the most bloody or the most decisive. It is well known that a memorable battle between the French and the Russians, under the command of Marshal Suwarrow , was fought on the same spot, and was attended with more important conse- quences. It is said to have lasted two days, and to have been sup- ported with the utmost obstinacy on both sides. The Russians, who advanced with their usual firmness and impetuosity, were thrice driven back in dismay : at length, the Marshal, with the looks and the voice of a Fury, led them on to a fourth attack, when they rushed into the bed of the river, and with horrible shouts and screams, fell once more upon the enemy. Resistance was now overpowered ; the F rench fled in confusion ; the banks were strewed with bodies, and the fields covered with fugitives. The consequence of this victory was the immediate deliverance of Italy from the insolence and rapacity of the French armies; a deliverance which, instead of being a mere interval of repose, would perhaps have been the commencement of a long era of tranquillity, had the same spirit continued to animate the armies, and the same union prevailed in the cabinets of the confederates. But this battle, how- ever bloody and important, will pass unnoticed, in the long re- gister of contests between different tribes of invading barbarians ; perhaps the very names of the generals may sink into oblivion , with the leaders of the Goths and of the Vandals, of the Huns and of the Lombards : while the “ Battle of Trebia ” will live for ever in the pages of Livy, the names of Annibal and of Mago, of Sci- pio and of Sempromus, recorded both by the historian and by the poet, will continue to delight the youthful reader, and a thousand generations will contemplate with emotion, Cannas et Trebiam ante oculos, Thrasimenaque busta. 1 Sil. Ital. lib. xi. 345. From Placentia we proceeded to Parma, on the Via Emilia. This road was made by Marcus Emilius Lepidus, about one hun- dred and eighty-seven years before the Christian era; it has been kept in good repair, and is still excellent. We crossed over seve- ral rivers, and passed through some pretty towns. These rivers Cannae, and Trebia, and lb’ abundant graves Of fatal Tbraslmene. too CLASSICAL TOUR Cuap. VI. generally retain their ancient name with little variation, and de- scending from the Apennines, fall into the neighboring Po. The principal are the Chiavenna, the Ongina, the Stivona , and the Taro. Among the towns Fiorenzuala, anciently Florentiala, and S. Don- nino , deserve most attention. At or near the latter (once Fiden- tiola) Sylla defeated the Marian general Garbo, and dispersed or utterly destroyed his army. About twelve miles to the south of Fiorenzuala , once stood the town of Velleia, ruined by the sudden fall of part of the neighboring mountain, about the end of the fourth century. Several excavations were made amongst the ruins, in 1760, and the four following years ; but the difficulty of penetrating through the vast masses of rock that cover the town, was so great, that the work was suspended, and 1 believe never since renewed. This want of spirit, or of perseverance, is much to be regretted, as few enterprises promise so fairly, or seem so likely to reward the labor. The dreadful catastrophe is supposed to have been sud- den, and the inhabitants, with their furniture and property, were buried in one tremendous crash ; it is therefore highly probable, that more medals, coins, and books, may be found here than in Herculaneum, where gradual ruin gave time to remove the most precious and portable effects. Besides the latter town, with Pom- peii, and the various cities that studded the Neapolitan coast, were Greek colonies, and appear to have paid but little attention to Latin literature; while Velleia was entirely Roman, and some of its citi- zens must have possessed tolerable collections of Latin authors. It would not, therefore, be unreasonable to expect, if the excavations were pushed on with vigor and with discernment, the discovery of some, if not of several Latin manuscripts. Rut such under- takings require opulence and leisure, and are not to be expected in the present impoverished and distracted state of Italy. The country, as the traveller advances, improves in beauty, and, if not in fertility (for that seems scarcely possible), at least in the neatness and in the order of cultivation. The Apennines advancing at every step present their bold forms to vary the dullness of the plain ; hedges and neat enclosures mark the different farms ; elms in long rows garlanded with vines separate the fields ; and villages, each with a magnificent church, enliven the road at every mile. Parma stands on a river of the same name: it was founded by the Etrurians, taken by the Boii, a tribe of Gauls, and, at length, colo- nized by the Romans. It is said to have suffered much from the licentious cruelty of Antony, and its sufferings on this occasion are pathetically deplored and immortalized by Cicero in his four- teenth Philippic, the last tribute which he paid to Rome and to li- berty. During the disastrous period that elapsed between the reigns of Theodosius and of Charlemagne, it was taken and retaken by the Goths and by the Romans, by the Lombards and by the Greek Exarchs, till it was given by Charlemagne to the Holy See; and, Chap. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 101 after a succession of ages and of changes, it was at length bestowed by Paul III. on his son Ottavio Farnese. On the extinction of this family in the middle of the last century, it passed to a prince of Spain; and, on the death of the last Duke, it was taken possession of by the French, and is now pining away under the influence of their iron domination. Parma is large, populous, airy, and clean, though it cannot boast of any very striking or regular building. The cathedral is Saxon, but lined in the interior with Roman architecture; its dome is much admired for the beautiful painting with which it was adorned by- Correggio. The baptistery is an octagon, in the same style as the cathedral, cased with marble and ornamented with various arches and galleries. The Steccata is the most regular church in Parma; it is in the form of a Greek cross, and not without beauty. The church of the Capuchins is remarkable only for being the burial place of the celebrated Alexander Farnese , who, in consequence of his own directions, lies interred, distinguished from the vulgar dead only by the following epitaph : D. 0. M. ALEXANDER FARNESICS ItELGIS DEVICTIS FRANCISQUE OB9IDIONE LEVATIS UT HUMILI HOC LOCO EJUS CADAVER DEPONERETUR MANDAVIT. 4 NON : DECEMB *. MDXCII. 1 * The palace is large, but irregular ; the library is well furnished : it contains the Academia de Belle Arli (Academy of Fine Arts), in which there is a noble hall adorned with excellent paintings, and with several ancient statues found in the ruins of Vaileia. In this hall, during the happier era of Parma, the prince used to preside over the assembled academicians, and to distribute prizes in the various arts. In the same palace is the celebrated theatre, magni- ficent in its size, its proportions, its form, and its decorations. It is modelled on the ancient plan, like the Olympic theatre at Vicenza , and like it, but on a greater scale, adorned with pillars, colonnades, and statues. Unfortunately, either in consequence of the many re- volutions of late years, or on account of the difficulty of filling, and the expense of repairing, furnishing, and lighting up such a vast edifice, this theatre, perhaps the noblest in the world, has been so long and so much neglected, that it will probably soon sink into a heap of ruins, and remain only in the plans of artists, and in the descriptions of travellers. 3 1 Alexander Farnese, having conquered the Belgians, and delivered the French from blockade, ordered that his body should be deposited in this humble spot, on the 2d of December, 1592. This theatre was made out of a large gallery as a temporary expedient, and is principally remarkable for its size. 102 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VI. But the principal ornament of Parma, and its pride and glory, were the numberless masterpieces of Correggio, with which its churches, palaces, and public halls were once adorned. This cele- brated artist, born in a village near Modena, and of course not far from Parma has spread the enchantments of his pencil over all the great towns that bordered on the place of his nativity, and seems to have exerted his wonderful powers, in a particular manner, for the decoration of this city. Parmeggiano and Lanfranco, two other painters of high reputation, were natives of Parma, and contributed not a little to the embellishment of its churches and palaces ; so that no city in Italy, if we except Rome, presented more attrac- tions to the artist, or furnished more delightful entertainment to the traveller of taste. But, alas! such were the decorations and the glory of Parma. The French, though in peace with the sovereign of this unfortunate city, in their late wide-wasting progress, en- tered its walls, raised heavy contributions on its inhabitants, and stripped it of its best and most valuable ornaments — its unrivalled paintings. Many, without doubt, still remain, because painted on walls and ceilings, and therefore attached to the spot; but the mas- terpieces are gone, and the indignant Parmensians can only show the traveller the place where they once were. The arts and sciences were by no means neglected in Parma. An university, two academies, schools of painting, etc. announce the application, and a long catalogue of great names might be pro- duced to prove the success, of the Parmensians in every literary pursuit. The dukes have, for many years past, been the active pa- trons of literature, and by their judicious encouragement attracted strangers of talents to their territories. Among these we may rank the Abbale Frugoni, a Genoese, and [he Abbe Condillac, a French- man; the former a poet of great reputation, and next in fame to Melastasio ; the latter preceptor to the prince, and author of a well- known “ Course of Education.’' The royal press of Parma was established in the year 1765 : it is conducted by Bodoni, and has produced several beautiful editions, Greek, Latin, and Italian, together with various works in the Oriental languages. The public walk on the ramparts is extremely pleasing. The country round is well wooded, and the town and territory of Parma seemed to have been in a flourishing state till the entrance of the French army. Since that fatal period, its prosperity has been on the decline, its government unsettled, its inhabitants impoverished and discontented. The contributions raised by the French amounted to five millions of French livres : a sum enormous for so small a territory, and equalling two years of its regular income. Petrarca resided some years at Parma, or in its neighborhood, and seems to have been delighted with the beauty of the country, with the generous spirit of its princes, and with the open manly manners of its inhabitants. To the honor of their descendants, it Chap. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 103 may be added, that notwithstanding the lapse of ages, the change of government, and the galling pressure of recent revolutions, these qualities are said to be still perceptible. Two stages from Parma the traveller arrives at Forum Lepidi Regium, now called Reggio, an ancient Roman colony, destroyed by Alaric, and rebuilt by Charlemagne. The cathedral, the church of S. Prospero, and that of the Augustin-friars, together with the Town-house, and the Porta Nuova, are considered as deserving some attention. It possesses no antiquities. However, the tra- veller will visit it with some respect, as the country of Ariosto — the copious, the fantastic Ariosto ! Two more stages brought us to Modena (Mutina), lately the ca- pital of a dukedom, now a dependence on the will of Bonaparte, Though an ancient Roman colony, called by Cicero “ fir missima et splendidissima Colonia 1 it presents no traces of antiquity ; it has been the scene of so many bloody contests, has been so often de- stroyed and has so often risen from its ruins, that not only no vestige of its former splendor remains at present, but it is even un- certain whether it occupies the same site as the ancient city. But whatever might have been its strength and magnificence in ancient times, they have been probably far surpassed by its present (I should rather have said its late) prosperity. It is a well built town, its streets are wide, and several of its public edifices have a noble appearance. Its cathedral is Gothic, and like most of its churches, rather inferior to the expectation naturally excited by the general features of the town. The ducal palace is of vast size; and though built in a German, that is, in a heavy and fanciful style of architecture, is on the whole rather magnificent. It contains several handsome apartments, and, what still more merits the at- tention of travellers, a gallery of paintings, a noble library, and a numerous and curious collection of sketches, by the first masters, of prints, of medals, and of Cameos . a # The arts and sciences, particularly the latter, have long flourished at Modena , under the fostering care of its princes of the house of Esle , a family so much and so justly celebrated by Tasso and Ariosto, for its generous feelings and its noble munificence. “Tu Magna- nimo Alfonso,” says the former to a prince of this line, his patron, Tu Magnanimo Alfonso, il qual ritogli A I furor di fortuna, e guidi in porto Me percgrino errante, e fra gli scogli E fra I’ onde agitato e quasi assorto ; Queste mie carte in lieta fronle accogli Che quasi in voto a te sacrate i’ porto. 1 * 3 G ierus. Lib. Canto 1. 4. 1 A colony of great strength and splendor- 1 This latter collection has either been removed or plundered by the French. August Alphonso t whosu benignant hand 104 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VI. The latter, in a less poetical, but equally grateful style, expresses his obligations to the same family, and enlarges upon its heroical qualities and its prospects of glory . 1 Under such encouragement, it is not wonderful that genius should flourish, and that men of learning should flock from all quarters, to enjoy the advantages of such liberal patronage. Among the illustrious personages who have done honor to Mo- dena by their virtues and talents, one of the earliest, and if the good qualities of the heart give double lustre to the brilliant en- dowments of the head, one of the greatest is Cardinal Sadoleti. This eminent prelate rose to notice in the fostering era of Leo the Tenth, became intimately connected with the most conspicuous characters of that period, and shone himself, with no small lustre, in the midst of its brightest luminaries. In the turbulent pontifi- cates that succeeded the era of Leo, when the animosities kindled by the Reformation blazed out with unquenchable fury, and every bosom glowed with rage almost infernal against the opponents of his own creed, this worthy bishop preserved the native candor of his soul, and the characteristic mildness of his sacred office. Above passion and resentment, he treated the supporters of the new opi- nions with paternal tenderness, and while he condemned their creed, he cherished, and whenever an opportunity occurred, he pro- tected their persons. “Fond to spread friendships, and to cover hates,” he made it the business of his life to diffuse his own spirit, a spirit of charily, peace, and indulgence, into all around him ; and while he zealously endeavored to clear up the subjects in de- bate, and to remove misapprehensions, he still more strenuously exerted himself to calm the rage of contest, and to infuse a milder temper into the disputants. Even in these days of tranquil dis- cussion, when a general spirit of toleration seems to have gradually diffused itself over the Christian world, such a conciliating cha- racter, if placed in an elevated station, would engage our esteem and reverence^ but at the era of the Reformation, that age of division and madness, such gentleness, moderation, and candor, were godlike qualities indeed. The works of Sadoleti , consisting principally of letters, addressed to the most conspicuous persons of the age, are still extant : and as they are drawn up in a pure and elegant style, and frequently treat of subjects of great interest and importance, they are equally amusing and instructive, and are calculated to give a very fa- vorable idea of the taste, the knowledge, and the piety of the author. Welcom’d a wand'riog stranger in thy land. And guided safe, mid rocks and billows tost. My sinking bark ; to thcc, much honor'd host, The grateful off rings of my Muse belong ; Nor thou disdain the dedicated song.— Hunt's Translation. 1 See Orlando Furioso. Canto i. 3. 4. Chap. VI. THROUGH ITALY. 105 From the time of Sadoleli, that is from the middle of the sixteenth century, down to the present period, a regular succession of men eminent for their talents and learning, either natives of its ter- ritory, or attracted to its walls by the liberal patronage of its princes, has continued to adorn Modena, and to support its literary reputation. Instead of giving a long and dry catalogue of names, I will mention only two authors; but these of a reputation so splendid as to throw a lustre on any city. One is the Abbate Mu- ratori , an Ex-Jesuit, the Duke’s librarian, perhaps the most learned antiquary, the most inquisitive, and at the same time, the most impartial historian, that the last century has produced. His works consist of nearly fifty volumes in folio ; of these, his Annali d’lialia are perhaps the most instructive and the most entertain- ing. The other is the Abbate Tiraboschi , Ex-Jesuit and librarian as his predecessor Muratori , and like him eminent for his profound knowledge of history and of antiquities. His principal work is a history of Italian literature, entitled Italia Liter aria, in sixteen vo- lumes, a work replete with erudition, seasoned with curious anec- dotes, and enriched with much judicious and amusing criticism. In justice to the Muses of Modena, I must add the name of the playful Tassoni, who, in his Secchia Rapita (Rape of the Bucket), gave Boileau and Pope the hint and the model of the Lutrin and of the Bape of the Lock ; taught them to trifle with the splen- dor of poetry without degrading it, and enabled them, even on frivolous subjects, to display the ease, the pliancy, and the perfection of their respective languages. The important “ Bucket/’ celebrated in this poem, was carried off from a well in one of the streets of Bologna, by a party of Modenese troops, during a petty war be- tween these neighboring cities, and has ever since been most care- fully preserved as an invaluable trophy, in a vault under the great tower. The naturalist may find some occupation in the territory of Mo- dena, by investigating the nature of its wells supplied by perennial sources, and uninfluenced by the state of the atmosphere, as well as by inspecting its petrifactions and its mineral fountains. The Campi Macri (the lean plains), celebrated, in opposition to their name, for their fertility, and the excellent pasturage which they afforded to a famous breed of cattle, were the plains which lie between Parma and Modena, and extend beyond the latter city towards Bologna. 106 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VII. < T CHAPTER VII. — 157. These streams, it is true, are mere rills, as most rivers are in southern countries during the heats of summer, and may easily deceive the superficial traveller, who passing their dry channels in that season, may very naturally suppose that their sources have failed, and that the streams themselves exist only in description. To this mistaken notiop we perhaps owe the poetical fiction of Lucan when he represents Caesar as stepping over the unnoticed Xanthus, Inscius in sicco serpentem pulvere rivum Transierat, qui Xanthus erat; 3 Lib. ixi 274-5. as well as Addison’s pleasing lines. " Sometimes misguided by the tuneful throng, I look for streams immortalized in song, That lost in silence and oblivion lie, (Dumb are their fountains, and their channels dry) Yet run for ever by the muses’ skill, And in the smooth description murmur still. But when swelled by the rains in autumn, or by the melting snows in spring, these apparently petty rills cover their broad channels, fill their banks, and swell into considerable rivers. Cesena retains its ancient name unaltered by time or by barbarism. It is a little clean town, beautifully situate at the foot of a ridge of fine hills covered with villas and convents ; the eminence imme- diately over the town is crowned with a romantic old castle. Its ca- thedral scarcely deserves notice, but its ancient bridge of three vast arches merits attention. The late Pope Pius VI. was born at Cesena , and with all the partiality of a native, adorned it with va~ 1 Castles aud towns, on steepy rocks Ibat stand a And rivers, gliding under ancient walls. 3 lie stepp'd, unconscious, o'er a narrow brook, That crept along ibe sand : -’twas Xanthus once. 4 Letter to Lord Halifax. 1 . 8 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VII. 114 rious edifices, and dignified it with several privileges. His country- men, in grateful acknowledgment, erected a bronze statue over the gate of the Town-hall, representing him in the usual attitude of Popes, that is, as giving his benediction. The inscription is, “ Civi optimo,” 1 a style perfectly Roman, when applied to the sovereign, and used only in the early periods of the monarchy, while the bold spirit of republican equality still breathed in a few surviving Romans. The soil around the town is fertile, and was anciently remarkable, as the hilly regions of Italy generally were, for excel- lent wines; such, at least, was the opinion of Pliny. Whether the vines have degenerated, or their culture is neglected; or whether the defect was in our palates, I know not; but we thought the wines of Cesena indifferent. About two miles from Cesena flows a stream, called the Pisatello, supposed to be the ancient Rubicon. There stood on its northern bank an obelisk, with the decree of the senate and Roman people inscribed on its pedestal, and two other inscriptions on its sides. The French destroyed this obelisk. The slabs that formed the pedestal lay half-buried in a farm-yard, about a hundred paces from the road, where we dug them up, and placed them against the trunk of a tree. The Pisatello, like most other mountain streams, is very shallow in dry weather; but its banks are high in some places, and in others its channel is wide; so that it might occasionally present a mass of waters considerable enough to embarrass an army in its passage. Its sides are shaded with poplars, and present a solitary scene. But it must be observed, that notwithstanding the above-mentioned inscriptions, which are generally acknowledged to be spurious, the name and honors of this streamlet are disputed, and that the inha- bitants of both Savignano and Rimini , boldly maintain that their respective rivers have a better title than the Pisatello to the clas- sical appellation of the Rubicon, and to the veneration of the tra- veller. I must add, what the reader will be not a little surprized to hear, that the learned are nearly as much divided about the mo- dern as about the ancient name of this rivulet. To understand the difficulties of this question, he must be in- formed, that between Cesena and Savignano , the Via Emilia is in- tersected by three streams; the first is about two miles from Ce- sena; the second, five; and the third, eight. The first is commonly, I believe, called, and certainly marked in the most correct maps, such as that of the learned Jesuits Maire and Boscovick , Pisatello ; the second Rugone, Rugosa, Rigosa, or Urgone ; the third is called Borco , and bathes the walls of Savignano. These three rills, before they fall into the neighboring Adriatic, unite and form a consi- derable river called the Fiumecino. In opposition to most Italian * To the most excellent citizen. Chap. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 115 writers, Cluverius maintains (and it is difficult to question the ac- curacy of so attentive and indefatigable an investigator) that the former is called Rugone, that this appellation is evidently a corrup- tion of Rubicone, and that the second is, properly speaking, the Pisatello. However we must assert upon the authority, not of maps or of books only, but of the innkeeper and the drivers, an authority perhaps more decisive on such a question, that the common name of the first stream is now the Pisatello , and that of the second the Rugone. But notwithstanding the difference of names, it is still evident, that the stream now called Pisatello is a branch only of the Rubicon; and equally so, that the river which Caesar passed, was not the Pisatello , or the Rugone , but that which is formed by the three streams united, and is now called the Fiumeeino. To prove this circumstance, it is only necessary to observe, that Caesar marched from Ravenna to Rimini by the direct road, (for as he was in haste we cannot suppose that he deviated from it) that is, not by the Via Emilia (Emilian Way), but by that which runs along the sea shore, and is called the Lower Road ; to this we may add, that the distance of the Fiumeeino at present, from Ravenna on one side, and from Rimini on the other, agrees with the distance ascribed to the Ru- bicon, from the same towns in the ancient itineraries. Moreover, it is highly probable, or as the above-mentioned learned geographer maintains, nearly certain, that the ancient Via Emilia, instead of passing the three streams, turned to the sea, and crossed the Rubi- con over a bridge, at the point where the rivers unite, and which is therefore called, in the itineraries, “ad Confluenteis” (at the confluence). Rimini , by the present road, is only eighteen very short, that is, sixteen ancient miles, while it was formerly twenty, from Cesena; the difference evidently implies a turn in the road, which could be no other than that leading from Cesena to the bridge, “ad Confluenteis.” There were, therefore, two passages over the Rubicon anciently, the one by the Via Emilia, over a bridge, “ad Confluenteis;” the other, about a mile lower down, or nearer the sea, on the direct road from Ravenna to Rimini. This latter then was the passage, and here was the celebrated spot where Caesar stood, and absorbed in thought suspended for a moment his own fortunes, the fate of Rome, and the destinies of mankind ; here appeared the warlike phantom, commissioned by the furies, to steel the bosom of the re* lenting chief, and to hurry him on to the work of destruction; and here too, arose the Genius of Rome, the awful form of the mighty Parent, to restrain the fury of her rebel son, and to arrest the blow levelled at justice and at liberty. Ut ventum est parvi Rubiconis ad undas Ingens visa duci patriae trepidantis imago, lie CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VII. Clara per obscuram vultu maestissima noctem Turrigero canos elTuudens vertice crines. 1 Lucan, lib. i. Here Caesar passed, and cast the die, that decided the fate, not of Rome only, of her consuls, of her senates, and of her armies, but of nations and empires, of kingdoms and republics, that then slept in embryo in ihe bosom of futurity. In crossing the Rubicon, the traveller passes from Cisalpine Gaul into Italy properly so called, and enters the territory of the Umbri, that is Umbria. This province, though it retains its general name, is divided into various arbitrary departments, such as the Legazione d’ Urbino , Marca cf Ancona , etc. of which, as of most similar parti- tions, I shall take little or no notice ; because they are mere tran- sient distinctions, adapted to the particular administration of each district, and varying with every accidental change in the system of government. A few miles from Cesena we came within sight of the Adriatic on the left, while on the right, the mountains increase in height and in magnificence. On the summit of one that rose in full view before us, covered with snow and shining with ice, rose the town of S. Marino, bosomed in the regions of winter, and half lost in the clouds. The genius of Liberty alone could have founded, and supported a Republic, in such a situation ! Savignano on the Borco is a large handsome town, but, I believe, contains nothing remarkable. Thence to Rimini, and, indeed, to Ancona, the road runs along the coast of the Adriatic, presenting such scenery as the se$ on one side, and on the other the Apen- nines, or rather their attendant mountains must naturally furnish. About four miles from Savignano , we passed the Luso (anciently Plusa) and six miles further, crossing the ancient Ariminus, now the Marecchia , entered llimini (Ariminum). The bridge over which we passed, is of marble:, and in the best style of Roman architec- ture; it was erected in the times of Augustus and Tiberius Caesar, and is inscribed with their names. Its consists of five arches with niches for statues between, and a regular cornice surmounting both arches and niches. Its solidity, boldness, and beauty, as well as the date of its erection, have led many connoisseurs to conclude that it is the work of Vitruvius. The gate on the opposite side, under which the traveller passes on his way to Pesaro, is a trium- phal arch of Augustus, of the best materials and noblest form. The order is Corinthian, but in some respects peculiar. The bar- * Now near the banks of Rubicon he stood ; When lo ! as he survey’d the narrow flood, Amidst the dusky horrors of the night, a wondrous vision stood contest to sight. Her awful head Home's rev’rend image rear'd ; Trembling and sad the matron form appear'd; A tow’ry crown her hoary temples bound, x Aud her torn tresses rudely hung around.— floier. Chap. VII. THROUGH ITALY. 11T barous taste of the middle ages crowned this monument of Roman grandeur with a Gothic battlement, a deformity which is still allowed to exist, “in media luce Ilalice ,” 1 in such an age and in such a country. Rimini is large and well built. In the principal square is a foun- tain, and a statue of Paul V. changed into that of St. Gaudentius by the French, who, upon this occasion, seem, I know not how, to have forgotten their usual propensity to destruction. The cathedral had been turned by them inioa military hospital, and so much dis- figured as to be rendered unlit for public worship. The church of the Dominican Friars was, therefore, used for the purposes of ca- thedral service. That of St. Francis, adorned with a profusion of marble, deserves notice, particularly as it is supposed to be the last in Italy, if we except however the cathedral of Milan, into which Gothic forms and ornaments have been admitted. It was built in the year 1450, a period when the latter style began to give way to the restored proportions of Roman architecture. However, this attempt to resume the graces of antiquity does not seem to have succeeded, as the orders are ill proportioned, and the whole edifice is clumsy and whimsical. Several other churches and some palaces are worthy the attention of the traveller. The port of Rimini is much obstructed by the sands swept along by the river in its descent from the neighboring mountains : and though much labor has been employed, and money expended, in order to keep it clear, yet at present it admits small vessels only ; an inconvenience incidental to all ports formed by mountain tor- rents, when they fall into the sea near their sources, and before they have time to deposit the gravelly particles with which they are necessarily encumbered. Some fragments of marble linings and piers remain to attest the ancient magnificence of this port. Of the history of Rimini it can only be said, that after having suf- fered in common with all the other cities in Italy, the ravages of the first barbarian invaders, and bowed its neck for some years un- der the Gothic sceptre, it was restored to the empire by Belisa- rius, and at the fall of the Exarchate was annexed once more to the Roman territory in the eighth century. Since that period, though occasionally distracted by factions, and sometimes enslaved by its own citizens, it has never entirely dissolved the tie that binds it to the parent city, nor refused to pay legal submission to its pontiffs. But the most remarkable event in the records of Rimini is, without doubt, that which first registered its name in the page of history, and still gives it a claim upon the attention of the traveller. Rimini was the first town that beheld Csesar in arms against his country. After having harangued his troops on the banks of the Rubicon, and made the last appeal from the laws to the sword, he rushed for- ! In the very midst of the light of Italy. 118 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VIII. ward with his usual rapidity, and at day-break appeared, surround- ed with his cohorts, in the forum at Rimini. The untimely sound of the trumpet, the alarm and confusion of the inhabitants, the threat- ening aspect of Caesar, are circumstances which the historian dis- creetly leaves to the imagination of his readers; while the poet finds in them the materials of sublime description : Constitit ut capto jussus deponere miles Signa foro, stridor Iituum, clangorque tubarum Non pia concinuit cum rauco classiea cornu. Rupta quies populis, stratisque excita juventus Diripiunt sacris affixa penatibus arma Ut not® fulsere aquil®, Romanaque signa, Et celsus medio conspectus in agmine Caesar, Diriguere metu, gelidos payor occupat artus. * Luc. i.— 230, etc. CHAPTER VIII. Cattolica— Pesaro— Fano— The Metaurus and Monte Asdrubale— Senegaglia — Ancona, its Harbor and Triumphal Arch— Loretto, and the Santa Casa— Tol- lentino — Ponte Della Trave. Close to Rimini we passed the river Ansa or Aprusa. Thence to Ancona, the scenery continues the same; the Adriatic on the left; on the right, fine fertile hills covered with buildings, and ri- sing gradually in height, till they swell into the ridge of the Apen- nines about fifteen miles southwest. Among the hills, S. Marino presents to the eye a perpendicular precipice of tremendous height, and of craggy aspect, and long continues to form a most majestic and conspicuous feature of the landscape. The first stage is Caitolica , a title given to this place, because it became the asy- lum of the orthodox prelates, who receded from the council held at Rimini , when they found that the Arian faction seemed likely to prevail. Such at least is the import of an inscription in the principal church, a neat edifice, with a high Gothic tower opposite. The river Concha, which flows a few miles from Catiolica, on the road 1 To tbe mid forum on the soldier pass'd. There halted, and his victor ensigns plac'd ; With dire alarms from band to band around, Tbe fite, hoarse horn, and rattling trumpets sound. The starling citizens uprear their beads. The lustier youth at once forsake their beds; Hasty they snatch their weapons, which among Their household gods in peace had rested long; . . . Soon as their crests the ltoman eagles rear'd. And Caesar high above the rest appear'd. Each trembling heart with secret horror shook. Chap. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 119 to Rimini, is supposed, by Cluverius, to be the “ Crustumium ra- pax ” 1 2 3 of Lucan. About ten miles from Cattolica, is Pesaro (Pesaurus), a large, clean, airy town, with a handsome square ornamented by a noble fountain, and formerly by a marble statue of Urban VIII. lately destroyed by the French. Most of the churches are remarkable for their paintings, and some for their architecture. Among the latter are S. Giovanni , La Misericordia and S. Carolo. Several pa- laces have the same claim to attention. On the whole, few towns have a handsomer or more prepossessing appearance than Pesaro . The bridge over the Focjlia, anciently the Pesaurus, is a very noble edifice, and though not ancient, worthy of being so. About seven miles further is Fano (Fanum Fortunse), a well- built and very handsome town. One of the gates of Fano is a triumphal arch of Augustus ; a gallery or portico of five arcades was built over it, at a later period, that is, under Constantine; the whole is, or was, Corinthian. It was considerably defaced, and the upper story destroyed, by the artillery, in a contest between this town and Julius II. Several pillars still lie, as they seem to have fallen, on the platform above the arch. On the three diffe- rent cornices, there are three inscriptions. The churches at Fano are not inferior to those at Pesaro. The theatre was a noble and commodious edifice, but has been so long neglected, that it has at present much the appearance of a ruin. “ The Via Flaminia here turns from the sea towards the Apen- nines, and runs along the banks of the Metaurus, now called the Me - taro, or shorter, the Metro. This river, a streamlet in dry weather, must, if we may judge by its wide-extended bed, and by the long bridge thrown over it, form in rainy seasons a vast sheet of water. Its western banks are covered with wood, and increase in height and declivity as they retire from the sea. To the east, opens a plain, bounded by gentle eminences, and contracting in breadth as it runs southward, where the hills line the banks of the river. The Adriatic occupies the north, and to the south rise the Apennines in irre- gular forms, interrupted only by the steep dell, through which the river forces its passage. The character of boisterous rapidity, given by the poets to this stream, agrees with it only while rush- ing from the Apennines, or confined within the defiles that line the base of these mountains. Veloxque Metaurus. 3 Lucan ii. £95. 1 The violent Crustumium. 2 The Basilica annexed to the forum of Fanum was planned and built by Vitruvius. Would it be impossible to discover some traces of an edifice, which, from the account which he gives of its form and proportions, seems to have been of considerable magnitude and beauty? None are now observable. Fit. lib. y. c. 1. 3 And the swift Metaurus. 120 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. YIII. Cavis venientes montibus Umbri, Hos JEsis, Sapisque lavant, rapidasque sonanti Yertice contorquens undas per saxa Metaurus. * Sil. viii. 447. The banks of this river wore, as is well known, the theatre of one of the most glorious and most decisive victories ever obtained by the Romans, a victory which saved Rome, by depriving Annibal of his long expected reinforcements, and anticipated the fall of Car- thage, by cutting off at one stroke the strength of her armies and the flower of her rising generation. The description which Livius has given of the battle of Metau- rus is animated and circumstantial ; and though the learned seem to doubt whether it be possible to ascertain the spot on which it took place, may, I think, enable us to guess at it, with some proba- bility. According to the historian, both armies were encamped on or near the Sena, about four miles westward of Senegaglia, or to use his words, “ Ad Senam casira consults ercint , et quingenlos hide passus As drub al aberat . 2 Asdrubal began his retreat, “ prima vi- gilid ” 3 that is, about an hour after sunset; and after having wan- dered in the dark for some time, reached the Metaurus, about eight miles from the Sena, and there halted till break of day, when following the banks from the sea towards the mountain, in order to discover some place fordable, he was overtaken and attacked by the Romans. The battle commenced at an early hour, for after various manoeuvres and a most bloody contest, it was only mid- day when victory decided in favor of the Romans. “ Etjam diei medium erat, sitisque et calor liiantes f ccedendos capiundosque ( lioslcs ) affatim prcebebatA Now when we consider these circumstances united, that is that the nights were short, as it was summer, that after having marched eightmiles, the Carthaginian army bewildered themselves in the windings of the banks, “per tortuosi amnis sinus flexusque errorem volvens , 5 that they halted and were overtaken early in the morning, we shall conclude, that they had not marched more than eighteen miles from Sena, or, in other words, that they had not reached the mountains, and, of course, that the battle took place in the plain, but nearer the mountains than the sea. Moreover the left wing of the Carthaginian army, formed chiefly of Gauls, was covered by a hill. Round this hill, when the Consul * The Umbrians left their mountains and their caves ; These drink of VEsls’, and of Sapis' waves, And swift Metaurus’ stream, \>ho rolls along, Roaring amid the rocks, his eddies strong. 3 The camp of the consul was on the Sena, and Asdrubal was five hundred paces distant thence. 3 At the first watch. 4 And now it was the middle of the day, and abundance of the enemy, panting with thirst and heat, were slain and taken. T. Liv. lib. xxvii. 48. 5 Lost among the tortuous mazes of the winding river. Chap. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 121 Claudius had attacked the enemy in the rear, was the principal slaughter, and it is highly probable that the fall of the Carthagi- nian general ennobled this spot, and dignified it with the appella- tion of Monte Asdrubalc. We may therefore I think conclude, with- out much danger of wandering widely from the truth, that the round hill which still bears that name, and rises south of the Me- taurus, about three miles from Fossombrone on the road to Forii, was the scene of this memorable action. It is about eighteen miles by the Via Flaminia from Fano , and about fourteen from the Sena , on which both armies were encamped the day before. In fine, a battle in which a hundred thousand combatants are engaged, co- vers a great extent of country, and spreads over all the neighbor- ing region, so that the banks of the river, for many a mile, wit- nessed the rout of the Carthaginians ; and the poetical prediction was fully accomplished, Multa quoque Asdrubalis fulgebit strage Metaurus . 1 Two hours brought us to the river Negola (Misus), Quo Sena relictum Gallorum a populis traxit per saecula nomen ! a for, on its banks stand Senegaglia, which took its name from the Galli Senones, though colonized by the Homans after the destruc- tion of that race. Senegaglia is a very well built, airy, and apparently flourishing town. The cathedral of the Corinthian order was lately rebuilt, and its high altar adorned with a most beautiful tabernacle, by the present bishop, Cardinal Onorati, who has the reputation of being a man of taste and public spirit. Unfortunately for the town, his means of indulging the useful propensities which naturally fol- low such endowments, have been completely annihilated by the rapacity of the French, and all improvements, since the fatal period of their arrival, have been totally suspended. The distance from this town to Ancona is twenty-four computed, twenty real miles. A little beyond Casa Frascata y at the Bocca cle Fiumecino , (mouth of the rivulet) we passed the Esino , the Roman Aesis, en- tered Picenum and arrived late at Ancona. Ancona retains its ancient name, supposed to be derived from its reclining posture, and no small share of its ancient prosperity, as, Venice excepted, it is still the most populous and the most trading city on the shores of the Adriatic. Most of the towns we have And Metaurus’ stream For Asdrubal’s defeats be far renown’d. r Where Sena through unnumber'd years has borne A name, by Gaulish tribes bequeath'd. 122 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VIII. hitherto mentioned were founded by various Gallic tribes. Ancona boasts a nobler origin. It was built by a band of Syracusan pa- triots who, to avoid the insolence and lawless sway of Dionysius the tyrant, abandoned their country, and settled on this coast, about four hundred years before Christ. It was anciently remarkable for a celebrated temple of Venus, and, like Paphos and Cylhera, was supposed to be one of the favorite resorts of the Goddess of Love and Beauty. * In reality, it would be difficult to find a situation more conformable to the temper of the “Queen of smiles and sports, ” or better adapted to health and enjoyment than Ancona* Seated on the side of a hill forming a semicircular bay, sheltered by its summit from the exhalations of the south, covered by a bold promontory from the blasts of the north, open only to the breezes of the west, that wanton on the bosom of the waters which bathe its feet, and surrounded by fields of inexhaustible fertility, Ancona seems formed for the abode of mirth and luxury. Hence it has been remarked by travellers, that the inhabitants of Ancona, and its territory, are of a more beautiful form and fairer color than their countrymen in general ; and though several invidious reasons have been given to account for this flattering distinction, I must add, that their morals are acknowledged to be pure, and the conduct of the females unimpeachable. The Romans, aware of the advantages of this port, made it their principal naval station in the Adriatic, built a magnificent mole to cover the harbor, and adorned it with a triumphal arch. This use- ful and splendid work was undertaken and finished by Trajan, and to him the triumphal arch is dedicated. It is still entire, though stripped of its metal ornaments ; the order is Corinthian ; the mate- rials, Parian marble ; the form light, and the whole is considered as the best, though not the most splendid, nor the most massive model, that remains of similar edifices. It was ornamented with statues, busts, and probably inferior decorations of bronze ; but of these, as I hinted above, it has been long since stripped by the ava- rice of barbarian invaders, or perhaps of ignorant and degenerate Italians. From the first taking of Rome by Alaric, that is, from the total fall of the arts to their restoration, it was certain ruin to an ancient edifice to retain, or to be supposed to retain, any orna- ment, or even any stay of metal. Not the internal decorations only were torn off, but the very nails pulled out, and not unfre- quently stones displaced, and columns overturned, to seek for bronze or iron. Of this species of sacrilegious plunder we find numberless instances, not only in the edifice now under our consi- deration, but in various remains of antiquity, and particularly in the Pantheon and Coliseum. Ante domum Veneris quam Dorica sustinet Aucon.— /uu. iv.]3». Where Venus’ shrine does fair Ancona grace.— Drt/den. Chap. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. m Nor will this conduct appear wonderful in men either by birth or by habits, and grovelling passions, barbarians 5 when in our own times, and almost before our own eyes, persons of rank and educa-* tion have not hesitated to disfigure the most ancient, and the most venerable monuments of Grecian architecture, to tear the works of Phidias and Praxiteles from their original position, and to demolish fabrics, which time, war, and barbarism, had respected during twenty centuries. The F rench, whose rapacity the voice of Europe has so loudly and so justly censured, did not incur the guilt of dismantling ancient edifices; they spared the walls, and contented themselves with statues and paintings, and even these they have collected and arranged in halls and galleries, for the inspection of travellers of all nations ; while, if report does not deceive us, our plunderers have ransacked the temples of Greece, to sell their boo- ty to the highest bidder, or, at best, to piece the walls of some obscure old mansion, with fragments of Parian marble, arid of Attic sculpture. The triumphal arch has only one gateway, is ornamented with four half columns on each front, one at each side of the gateway, and one at each angle. The marble, particularly in the front to- wards the sea, retains its shining white; the capitals of the pillars have suffered much, and lost the prominent parts of the acanthus; however, on the whole, this arch may be considered in high pre- servation. The greatest part of the mole still remains, a solid compact wall, formed of huge stones bound together by iron, and rising to a con- siderable height above the level of the sea. Close to it, but much lower, is the modern mole, adorned in like manner with a trium- phal arch of the Tuscan order, in itself not beautiful, and when compared with the Corinthian arch that stands almost immediately over it, extremely cumbersome. The architect was Vanvitelli , a name of considerable repute in the architectural annals of the last century* and if we may judge from the solidity of the new mole, from the elevation of the light-house that terminates it, and from the admirable arrangement of the Lazaretto , he seems to have me- rited the celebrity which he enjoyed. It is difficult, however, to conceive what motives could have induced him to place an arch, of so mixed a composition, and so heavy a form, so near to the sim- ple and airy edifice of Trajan, unless it were to display their op- posite qualities by the contrast, and of course to degrade and vi- lify his own workmanship. But all modern architects, not except- ing the great names of Michael Angelo, Bramante, and Palladio, have had the fever of innovation, and more than ten centuries of unsuc- cessful experiments have not been sufficient to awaken a spirit of diffidence, and to induce them to suspect that, in deviating from the models of antiquity, they have abandoned the rules of symmetry; and that in erecting edifices on their own peculiar plans, they have 124 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VIII. only transmitted their bad taste, in stone and marble monuments, to posterity. The cathedral of Ancona is a very ancient, but a low, dark edifice. It contains nothing within, and exhibits nothing without, to fix at- tention. Its situation, however, compensates in a great degree, its architectural defects. Placed near the point of the Cumerian pro- montory, elevated far above the town and the harbor, it commands a most magnificent view, extending along the sea coast to Pesaro and Fano on the north, bounded on the west by the snow-crowned Apennines, while on the east it wanders over the Adriatic, and, in clear weather, rests on the distant hills of Dalmatia. We lingered on this delightful spot with much satisfaction, and while our eyes feasted on the varied prospect expanded before us, we enjoyed, though it was only the second of April, the freshness of the gale that sprang occasionally from the sea, and fanned us as we ascend- ed the summit of the promontory and the tops of the neighboring mountains. There are, however, several churches that merit observation; particularly the Agosliniani , and the Giesu (of Vanvilelli ), as also the Palazzo delta Commumta , or Town-hall, and the Palazzo del Mcr- canti , or Merchants’-hall. The Popes have not been wanting in their attention to the prosperity of Ancona. They have made it a free port, allowed liberty of conscience to persons of all religions, improved the harbor, and opened a new and very noble approach on the land side. However, in commerce, activity, and population, Ancona is still inferior to Leghorn, owing probably to the situation of the latter on the western coast of Italy, in the heart of the Medi- terranean, and open, of course, to the commerce of France, Spain, Africa, and the Mediterranean islands ; while the former, on the Adriatic, a sea comparatively unfrequented, faces Dalmatia, a country little given to mercantile speculation and activity. The general appearance of Ancona, though beautiful at a distance, is, within, dark and gloomy, in consequence of the narrowness of the streets, and the want of squares and of great public buildings. Ancona and its neighboring towns and coasts, are celebrated in the following lines of Silius Italicus : Hie et quos pascunt scopulos® rura Numans, Et quis More® fumant altaria Cupr®, Quique Truentinas servant cum fluinine turres Cernere erat : clypeata proeul sub sole corusco Agmina, sanguinea vibrant in nubila luce. Stat Fucare colus nec Sidone vil or Ancon, Murice nec Libyco. Statque huinectata Yomano Adria, et inclemens hirsuti signifer Ascii. * Sil. ltal. viii. 430, 438. And here were they, who reap the scanty grain On wild isumana's cliffs, a rough domain ; Chap. Vllf. THROUGH ITALY. 125 Numana is now Humana; Cupra, Le Grotte. Truentium on the banks of the Trento, unknown at present. The river still bears its ancient name Vomano and Ascii Ascoli. The distance from Ancona to Loretto , is about fourteen miles; the road hilly, the country in the highest degree fertile, and the views on every side extremely beautiful. Camurja.no, the intermediate stage, stands on a high hill, and has a small but handsome church. Loretto also is situate on a very bold and commanding eminence. This town is modern, and owes its existence to the Santissima Casa (the holy house), and its splendor to the zeal or to the policy of Sixtus Quintus. It is large, well built, populous, and notwithstanding its elevated site well supplied by an aqueduct with water. It is sur- rounded with a rampart, and from that rampart commands a varied and most delightful prospect on all sides. To the north rise Osimo the Auximum of the ancients, and Camurano , each on a lofty hill ; also close to the sea, an abbey perched on the summit of Monte Go- mero ( Cumerium promontorium, the Cumerium promontory) ; on the south, Monte Santo (the holy mountain), anciently Sacrata, and Macerata; to the west, Recanaii, and Monte Fiore; with the Apen- nines rising, broken, white and craggy behind; while to the east, between two hills, the Adriatic spreads its blue expanse, and brigh- tening as it retires from the shore, vanishes gradually in the white fleecy clouds that border the horizon. Every reader is acquainted with the legendary history of the Santissima Casa , or most holy house; that it was the very house which the Virgin Mother, with the infant Saviour and St. Joseph, inhabited at Nazareth ; that it was transported by angels from Pales- tine, when that country was totally abandoned to the infidels, and was placed, first in Dalmatia, and afterwards on the opposite shore in Italy, close to the sea side, whence, in consequence of a quarrel between two brothers, the proprietors of the ground, it was re- moved, and finally fixed on its present site. This wonderful event is said to have taken place in the year 1294, and is attested by the ocular evidence of some Dalmatian peasants, the testimony of the two quarrelsome brothers, and, I believe, the declaration of a good old lady of the name of Laureia. Some had seen it in Dal- matia, others beheld it hovering in the air, and many had found it in the morning on a spot, which they knew to have been vacant the evening before. Such is, at least in general, the account given at And they, whose altars smoke upon the strand Of sea-wasb'd Cupra ; and the neighbor bund. That till the fields which deep Truentium laves, Uis name-sake tow’rs reflecting in his waves ; Their bucklers, flashing to the solar rays, Shoot far into the clouds a sanguine blaze. There too was Ancon, whose bright purple vies Or with the Libyan or Sidonian dyes; And Adria through whose plain Vomanus runs, And the fierce flag of Ascii's rugged sons. 126 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. YIII. Loretto, circulated all over Italy, piously admitted by many holy persons, and not a little encouraged by the Popes. I need not say, however, that many men of reflection in Italy, and indeed within the precincts of Loretto itself, consider this wonderful story as an idle tale, or at best a pious dream, conceived by a heated imagination, and circulated among an ignorant race of peasants and fishermen. They suppose the holy house to have been a cottage or building long buried in a pathless forest, and unnoticed in a country turned almost into a desert by a succession of civil wars, invasions, and revolutions, during the space of ten or twelve centuries. A dream, an accidental coincidence of circumstances might have led one or more persons to the discovery of this long forgotten edifice, and such an incident working on minds heated by solitude and enthusiasm, might easily have produced the conviction, and propa- gated the belief of the wonderful tale. But be the origin of the holy house what it may, the effect of artifice or of credulity, it gradually attracted the attention first of the country round, then of Italy at large, and at length of the whole Christian world. The miracle was every where heard with joy and admira- tion, and every where welcomed with implicit unsuspecting faith. Princes and prelates, rich and poor, hastened with pious alacrity to ’venerate the terrestrial abode of the incarnate Word, and to implore the present aid and influence of his Virgin Mother. Gifts and votive offerings accumulated ; a magnificent church was erected ; gold, silver and diamonds blazed round every altar, and heaps of treasures loaded the shelves of the sacristy; various edifices rose around the new temple, and Loretto became, as it still remains, a large and populous city. The church is a very noble structure, in the form of a cross, with a dome over the point of intersection, planned by Bramante. Under this dome, and designed by the same architect, is the Santa Casa, a building about thirty feet long and fourteen high, vaulted, of stone rough and rather uneven. It is difficult to discover the original color of the stone, as it is blackened by the smoke of the numberless lamps continually burning, but it is said to be ofa red- dish grey; the interior is divided by a silver rail into two parts of unequal dimensions. In the largest is an altar ; in the less, which is considered as peculiarly holy, is a cedar image of the blessed Virgin placed over the chimney-piece. The exterior is covered with a marble casing, ornamented with Corinthian pilasters and sculptured pannels representing various incidents of Gospel His- tory. The font, the Mosaics over several ahars, the bronze gates both of the church and of the Santa Casa , and several paintings in the chapels are admired by connoisseurs, and deserve a minute exa- mination. The square before the church, formed principally of the apostolical palace, the residence of the bishop and of the ca- nons and the penitentiaries, is in a very grand style of architecture. Chap. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 127 The treasury was formerly a subject of admiration and asto- nishment to all travellers, who seemed to attempt but in vain to describe, not the gold and silver only, but the gems and the dia- monds that glittered on every vase, and dazzled ihe eyes with their splendor. Long catalogues were produced of the names of Em- perors, Kings, Potentates, and Republics, who had contributed to augment this immense accumulation of wealth with additional offerings, and some surprise was expressed, that the Turk or some hardy pirate tempted by the greatness of the booty, and by the facility of the conquest, did not assault the town, and endeavor to enrich himself with the plunder. But such was the supposed sanctity of the place, such the religious awe that surrounded it, that even the Turks themselves beheld it with veneration, and the inhabitants reposed with confidence under the tutelar care of the Virgin Pa- troness. Once, indeed, the infidels made a bold attempt to assault the sanctuary of Loretto; but, like the Gauls under Brennus pre- suming to attack the temple of Delphi, they were repulsed by tre- mendous storms, and struck with supernatural blindness. Loretto , indeed, in later times, as Delphi in days of old, was surrounded with an invisible rampart, which no mortal arm could force, and no malignant demon even venture to assail,, repressed both by supe- rior power, motiquc verenda Majestate loci * But Loretto has now shared the fate of Delphi; its sacred bounds have been violated, its sanctuary forced", and its stores of treasure seized, and dispersed by the daring hands of its late invaders. No vestige now remains of this celebrated collection of every thing that was valuable; rows of empty shelves, and numberless cases, only afford the treasurer an opportunity of enlarging on its im- mensity, and a tolerable pretext for cursing the banditti that plun- dered it. “Galli” said he, “semper rapaces , crutleles , barbarorum omnium Ilalis infestissimi 2 he added, in a style of compliment, “ Angli, jusli, moderati , continenles.” 3 I hope our countrymen will endeavour to verify the compliment, by their conduct towards the degraded Greeks, and the oppressed Italians ! But though we condemned the sacrilegious rapine of the French, we could not share the deep regret of the good father. Trea- sures buried in the sacristies of the churches, are as useless, as if still slumbering in their native mines; and though they may contribute to the splendor of an altar, or to the celebrity of a convent, they can be considered only as withheld from the 1 And awe-struck by the venerable majesty of the place. *The French are always rapacious and cruel, of all the barbarians the most Itostile to the Italians. 3 The English are just, moderate, and continent. 128 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. VIIl. purposes for which Providence designed them, and as drawbacks upon that industry which they are made to encourage. The altar ought certainly to be provided with a sufficient quantity of plate for the decency, and even for the splendor of divine service : such was the opinion of the Christian church even in the second cen- tury; but it is the duly of government not to allow it to accumu- late : and it is much to be lamented, that the immense wealth depo- sited in the churches in Italy, had not been employed, as anciently was the custom in times of public distress, for public relief. “Ad divos adeunto caste : pietatem adhibento: opes amovenlo .” 1 The church of Loretto is a magnificent establishment. It con- sists of twenty prebendaries or resident canons : twenty chaplains or minor canons; and twenty penitentiaries, to hear the confes- sions of the pilgrims, and to administer to them advice and spiri- tual consolation. These penitentiaries are selected from various countries, that every pilgrim may find a director, who can dis- course with him in his own language. The number of pilgrims seems at present to be very small ; indeed they have long ceased to be of any advantage to the town, as they are generally of the lowest class, beg their bread on the road, and are supported at the expense of the church while at Loretto. We visited the fathers, and were treated by them with much kindness and cordiality. The traveller would do well, while his head-quarters are at Lo- retto, to visit OsiniOy Humana , Monte Santo , and as much of the coast and country southward as possible. These places are all of ancient fame, and the whole region around is both beautiful and classical. From Loretto the road turns directly to Rome, passes under a noble gateway, descends the hill of Loretto, with an aqueduct run- ning on the left, and then rising traverses Reeanati , a neat but de- serted episcopal town. Again descending, it winds through a delicious plain watered by the Potenza , adorned with all the beauty of cultivation, and with all the exuberance of fertility, producing corn and beans, clover and flax, vines and mulberries, in profu- sion ; and when we passed through it, all lighted up and exhilarated by the beams of a vernal evening sun. A little beyond the post Sambucheto, and on the banks of the river lie the ruins of an amphitheatre, or rather of a town, sup- posed by some antiquaries to have been Recina; though others conclude, from the distance of fourteen miles marked by the Iti- neraries, between Auximum and Recina, that the latter stood on or near the site of the modern Macerata , that is, about two miles and a half farther on. Macerata is an episcopal see, a town of some population, acti- vity, and even magnificence. It is situated on a high hill, and com- * Let them approach the gods with purity ; let them carry piety with them to the altar, hut let them remove superfluous riches. Cic. de Legibus, ii. 8. Chap. VIII. THROUGH ITALY. 120 mands an extensivo view of the lovely country which we had tra- versed, terminating in *he distant Adriatic. The gate is a sort of modern triumphal arch not remarkable either for materials or for proportion. The same beautiful scenery continues to delight the traveller till he reaches Toleniino. Tolentino, an episcopal see and very ancient, contains nothing remarkable. Its principal church is dedicated to St. Nicolas, a na- tive saint, and of course in high veneration. The bust of a cele- brated philosopher of the fifteenth century, Philelphus, is placed over the entrance of the Town-hall; a circumstance which I men- tion merely as an instance of the respect which the Italians are wont to shew to the memory of their great men of every descrip- tion. The gate towards Loretto is double, of Gothic architecture, and of a singular form. 1 The situation of the town is extremely pleasing, on a gentle eminence on the banks of the Chienti, in a fertile plain iined on either side with wooded hills. A little beyond Toleniino we began to enter the defiles of the Apennines; the hills closing and swelling into mountains, the river roughening into a torrent, and the rocks breaking here and there into huge precipices. The road runs along the sides of the hills, with the Cliienti rolling below on the left. A little beyond Belforte, a view opens over the precipice towards a bridge, and presents a landscape of very bold features. Belforle is an old fortress perched on the side of a rock in a very menacing situation, and well calcu- lated to command the defile. A village on the opposite side of the river adds not a little to its picturesque appearance. The grandeur of the scenery increased as we advanced; beyond the stage Valcimara , the mountains are naked, rocky, and wild for some miles; on a sudden they assume a milder aspect, sink in height, clothe their sides with sylvan scenery, and present on their wooded summits, churches, castles, and ruins, the usual ornaments of Italian mountains. The landscape continued to improve in soft- ness and in milder beauty till we arrived at Ponte della Trave, so called from a bridge over the Cliienti. Here, though we had tra- velled two stages or eighteen miles only, and it was still early, we * As we sat on a heap of stones contemplating the Gothic structure of the gate, and its antique accompaniments, a pilgrim made his appearance under the arch- way. He was dressed in a russet cloak, his beads hung from his girdle, his hat was turned up with a scollop shell in front, his beard played on his breast, and he bore in his hand a staff with a gourd suspended. Never did pilgrim appear in costume more accurate, or in more appropriate scenery. With the Gothic gate through which he w as slow ly mov ing, he formed a picture of the thirteenth cen- tury. We entered into conversation with him, and found that he was a German, and had been, as Kings and Princes were wont to go in ancient times, to the Threshold of the Apostles ( ad limina Apostolorum ) and had offered up his orisons at the shrine of St. Peter. He did not ask for aims, but accepted a trifle with gratitude, and with an humble bow promised to remember us in his prayers, and proceeded on his journey. I. 9 130 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IX. determined to remain during the night; partly from a just appre- hension of danger in passing the sleep and lonely fastnesses of Sera - valle in the dark, and partly from an unwillingness to traverse the majestic solitudes of the Apennines, when incapable of enjoying the prospect. The inn, it is true, was indifferent, but the surround- ing scenery extremely pleasing. The river rolling rapidly along close to the road ; a convent seated in the middle of a vineyard ; groves waving on the sides of the hills; the fields painted with the lively green of vernal vegetation ; fruit-trees in full blossom on all sides; farm-houses interspersed in the groves and meadows; and broken crags surmounted with churches and towers in distant perspective, formed on the whole a scene, rich, varied, tranquil and exhilarating. One would imagine that Addison, who travelled this road, had this delicious valley in view, when in imitation of Virgil, he exclaims. Bear me, some God, to Baiae's gentle seats, Or cover me in Umbria's green retreats; Where western gales eternally reside. And all the seasons lavish all their pride : Blossoms and fruits and flowers together rise, And the whole year in gay confusion lies. Letter from Italy. CHAPTER IX. Passage of the Apennines— Foligno— Improvisatore— The Clitumnus, its Temple and Yale— Spoleto— Monte Somma— Terni— Falls of the Yelino, Addison’s opinion refuted — The Nar, Narni— The Tiber — Otricoli— Civita Castcllana — Montes Cimini— Nepi— Campagna— First View of Rome. From Ponte clella Trave, the road runs for some time over a country enclosed, cultivated, and wooded, with much variety; but the scenery gradually roughens as you ascend the Apennines; the mountains swell and close upon you, assume a savage aspect, and though on the banks of the river, which still attends you and winds through the defile, yet the scenery is rocky, naked, and barren. Sera Valle is in a deep dell, where the river rolls tumbling along shaded by oaks, poplars, and vines. A rocky mountain rises im- mediately to the west of the town. From its foot close to the road, through various crevices gushes a vast source of the purest water, which may justly be considered as one of the heads of the Potentia. On the steep side of the hill stands an old ruined Gothic castle, whose fortifications run in different compartments, down to the road side. In the nearest is an aperture in a vault formed over a large and deep spring. This rocky mountain appears to be a vast reservoir of waters, as a little higher up towards the Chap. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 131 summit, about one hundred yards from the first source of the river Potentia, another bursts out at the bottom of a cavern finely shaded with bushes, shrubs, and fruit trees. A little farther on, you enter a plain spreading in the midst of the Apennines, whose summits rise in various shapes around, and form a majestic amphitheatre. It is not however to be understood, that the summits to which 1 allude, are the highest points of the whole ridge : this is not true, as the pinnacles of the Apennines are covered with snow almost all the year, while the mountains which we passed over, only exhibited a few detached sheets of snow, and were in general green. I mean therefore that above Seravalle, you reach the highest point of the mountains that intersect the Via Fla- minia, and the road from Ancona to Rome. On the sides of the mountains you see villages and cottages, the greatest part of which look bleak and miserable, and in the midst of the plain, graze nu- merous flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle. There is, however, an appearance of loneliness about the place, that excites in the traveller’s mind ideas of danger, which are considerably increased by accounts of murders and robberies, said to have been commit- ted in this remote region. While we were gliding over this elevated plain, with silence and dreariness around us, I began to reflect on the descriptions which the ancient poets have left us of the Apennines, a ridge of moun- tains which the Romans beheld with fondness and veneration, as contributing so much both to the beauty and to the security of their country. In reality, they had reason to thank Providence for having placed such a tremendous barrier between them and their victorious enemy, after the disastrous engagement on the banks of the Trebia. The attempt of Annibal to pass the Apennines, is elo- quently described by Titus Livius : 1 upon that occasion one would suppose that the Genius of Rome, enveloped in tempests, and armed with thunder, had stood on the summit to arrest the in- vader : — “ Turn verb ingenli sono coelum slrepere el inler horrendos fragoresmicare ignes .” a After repeated, but useless exertions, Anni- bal returned to the plain, and Rome had time to arm her youth and to call forth all her energies, to meet the approaching tempest. Lucan, in his description of the Apennines, indulges as usual his vein of hyperbolical exaggeration ; but as he is accurate in his re- presentation of the bearing of this immense ridge, and of the rivers that roll from its sides, it may not be amiss to insert his lines. Moris inter geminas medius se porrigit undas Inferni, superique maris : collesque coercent Hinc Tyrrhena vado frangentes sequora Pis®, * Liv. xii. 58. a Then the heavens thundered with a mighty noise, and lightnings flashed amid the tremendous peals. 132 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. L5l. Illinc Dalmaticis obnoxia, fluetibus Ancon. Fontibus hie vastis immensos concipit amnes, Fluminaque in gemini spargit divortia ponti. In laevum cecidere latus veloxque Metaurus, Crustumiumque rapax, et junctus Isapis Isauro, Semnaque, et Adriacas qui verberat Aufidus undas : Quoque magis nullum tellus se solvit in amnem, Eridanus, fractasque evolvit in sequoia silvas.... Dexteriora petens montis declivia Tybrim Unde facit, Rutubamquc cavum; delabitur inde Yulturnusque celer, noeturnaeque editor aurae Sarnus, et umbrosae Liris per regna Maricae Yeitinis impulsus aquis, radensque Salerni Culta Siler, nullasque vado qui Macra moratus Alnos, vicinae procurrit in aequora Lunae. Longior educto qua surgit in aera dorso, Gallica rura videt, devexasque excipit Alpes. Tunc Umbris Marsisque ferax, domitusque Sabello Vomere, piniferis amplexus rupibus omnes Jndigcnas Latii populos, non deserit ante Hesperiam, quam cum Scyllaeis clauditur undis, Extenditque suas in templa Lacinia rupes. 1 Lib. ii. This poet delighted in details, and loved to display his knowledge, whether connected with his subject or not. Others have been more correct, and have selected such particular features only as suited the circumstance. Thus Petronius Arbiter alludes merely to height, as an extensive view only was requisite for the Fury, whom he represents as perched upon its summit. * Between the higher and inferior sea, The long extended mountain lakes his way ; Pisa and Ancon bound his sloping sides. Wash d by the Tyrrhene and Dalmatic tides ; Rich in the treasure of his wat’ry stores, A thousand living springs and streams he pours, And seeks the diff rent seas by diff'rent shores. From hi.s left, falls Crustumium's rapid flood. And swift Metaurus, red with Punic blood ; There gentle Sapis with Isaurus joins, And Sena there the Seuones coniines; Rough Aufidus the meeting Ocean braves, And lashes on the lazy Adria’s waves ; Uence vast Eridanus, with matchless force. Prince of the streams, directs his regal course ; Proud with the spoils of fields and woods he flows. And drains Hesperia’s rivers as he goes .... These from the left ; while from the right there come The Rutuba, and Tiber dear to Rome; Thence slides Vulturnus' swift descending flood. And Sarnus, bid beneath a misty cloud : Thence Liris, whom the Vcstln fountains aid Winds to the sea through close Marica s shade ; Thence Siler through Salernian pastures falls. And shallow Macra creeps by Luna's walls. Bord'riRg on Gaul the loftiest ridges rise. And the low Alps from cloudy heights despise; Thence his long back the fruitful mountain bows. Beneath the Umbrian and the Sabine ploughs ; The race primaeval, natives all of old, His woody rocks within their circuit hold ; For as Hesperia s utmost limits pass. The hilly father runs bis mighty mass, Where Juno rears her high Lactnian fane, And Scvlla's raging dogs molest the maiu.r-Jiotrf. Chap. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 133 Haec ut Cocyti tenebras, et Tartara liquit, Alta petit gradiens iuga nobilis Apennini, Unde omnes terras, atque omnia littora posset Adspicere, ac toto fluitantes orbe catervas.' Silius Italicus enlarges upon the deep expanse of driven snow, and the vast sheets of solid ice, which, when Annibal attempted the pas- sage, buried the forests, and wrapped up the pinnacles of the Apennines in impenetrable winter. Horrebat glacie saxa inter lubrica, summo Piniferum coelo misceus caput Apenninus; Condiderat nix alta trabes, et vertice celso Canus apex struct^ surgebat ad astra pruina.* Sil. Ital. ix. Til . In fine, Virgil, whose masterly hand generally gives a perfect pic- ture in a single line, to close one of his noblest comparisons with the grandest image, presents the Apennine in all its glory, with its evergreen forests waving on its sides, and a veil of snow thrown over its majestic summit. Quantus Athos aut quantus Eryx, aut ipse, coruscis Cum fremit ilicibus, quantus; gaudetque nivali Yertice se attollens pater Apenninus ad auras. 1 * * * 5 Fir. xii. 701. On quitting the plain you wind along the mountain with a lake on your right, and passing an eminence, begin to descend the de- clivity of Colfiorito, represented more dangerous than it really is, because, though the precipice be steep and abrupt, the road is good, and winding along the side of the hill descends on an easy slope. Through the deep dell that borders the road, a streamlet murmurs along, and gradually increasing becomes a river, which, in the plain below, falls into the Clitumnus. The little post of Case nouve forms the first stage of the descent, which continues with little or no intermission to the neighborhood of Foligno. About three miles from this town, the mountains open and give the traveller a de- lightful view through the deep wooded defile into the adjoining vale; a view, which, when we passed, was considerably improved by the splendid coloring of the evening sun. 1 She left the darkness of the realms below, Aud sought great Apcr.nine's aspiring brow, Whence ev ry ren : m was seen, and ev'ry shore, And ev'ry tribe, dispers d Earth's surface o’er. * Thick glaz’d with solid ice, and shagg’d with pine. Rear d bis tall cliffs the lofty Apennine : Deep snow the forests bid, and rising high. His cloud-envelop'd summit pierc'd the sky. Like Eryi, or like Athos, great he shews, Or father Apennine, when white with snows, His head divine, obscure in clouds he hides, And shakes the sounding forest qn his sides— Dryden. 134 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IX. At the village situate in the dell below amidst woods and rocks, the river pent up between the closing crag, works its way through several little chasms, and tumbles in seven or eight cascades down the steep through tufts of box and ilex, amidst houses and frag- ments of rocks intermingled, into the plain below, where turning two or three mills as it passes, it hurries along to join the neigh- boring Clitumnus. I should advise the traveller to alight, order his carriage to wait for him at the foot of the hill, and going down to the village, visit a very curious grotto formed by the waters while confined within the caverns of the mountain. It is entirely under ground, may be about five-and-twenty feet high, is hollowed into several little niches supported by stalactite pillars, and ornamented on all sides with natural fretwork. He may then pass through the rows of olive trees that cover the opposite rocks, observe the singular situation of the village between two mountains, one of naked rock, the other covered with brush-wood ; examine as he descends, the picturesque effect of the several hills bursting through masses of wall and verdure, and then he may follow the road that runs along the foot of the hill, and mount his carriage within a mile of Foligno. While at supper, we were amused by the appearance of an Jm- provisatore , 1 who, after having sung an ode of his own composi- tion, in honor of England, poured forth his unpremeditated verse with great harmony of tones, strength of voice, and rapidity of utterance. He asked for a subject, and we gave the prosperity of Italy, which he enlarged upon with some enthusiasm, asking em- phatically at the conclusion of each stanza, how Italy, open as it was to two barbarous nations, such as the French and the Germans, could ever expect prosperity? His extemporary effusions gene- rally ended in the praises of England : and after some bumpers and a suitable present, he retired with much apparent satisfaction. These characters, in their wandering habits, precarious mode of living, and interested exertions, so much like the bards of ancient days, have, it is said, decreased in number since the French in- vasion, owing partly to the depression of the national spirit, and partly to the poverty of their former patrons, and to the absence of wealthy foreigners. The exhibition was perfectly new to us, and while we enjoyed it, we could not but agree that such an ease and versatility of talent, might if properly managed be directed to very great and very useful purposes. Foligno , the ancient Fulginia, though a large, is yet a very in- different town. Its cathedral unfinished without is neat within, of handsome Ionic, arid contains two pretty side altars. In reality, there are few Italian churches which do not present something inte- resting to an attentive traveller, so generally is taste diffused over * A maker of extempore verses. Chap. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 1 35 this classic country. But the situation of Foligno compensates all its internal defects. At the foot of the Apennines, in a delightful plain that winds between the mountains, extending ten miles in breadth and about forty in length, adorned with rows of vines, corn fields, and villages, it enjoys the breezes and the wild scenery of the mountains with the luxuriance and warmth of the valley. This its site, is alluded to by Silius. patuloque jacens sine mcenibus arvo Fulginia.i Sil. viii. 459. About three miles distant rises Bevagna , the ancient Mevania ; and through the same valley the Clitumnus rolls his “ sacred stream,” and glories in the beauty and fertility of his banks. At Foligno , the traveller from Loretto again re-enters the Via Fla- minia. The first stage from Foligno terminates at a place called Le Vene .* Almost close to the post-house on the northern side, rises on a sleep bank an ancient temple ; and a little to the south of it, from various narrow vents or veins , gushes out a most plentiful stream of clear limpid water, forming one of the sources of the Clitumnus. From these sources the place takes its name, and the temple on the bank was once sacred to the river-god, under the appellation of Jupi- ter Clitumnus. The younger Pliny has given a lively and accurate description of this fountain, which the reader will prefer, no doubt, to the best modern picture. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SCO. S. Vidistine aliquando Clitumnum fontem? Si nondum (et puto nondum alio- qui narrasses mibi) vide : quem ego, poenitet larditatis, proxime vidi. Modicus collis assurgit, antiqua cupressu r.emorosus et opacus : banc subter fons exit, et exprimitur pluribus venis, sed imparibus, eluctatusque facit gurgitem, qui lato gremio pateseit purus et vitreus, ut numerare jactas stipes et relucentes caiculos possis. Inde, non loci devexitate, sed ipsd sui copia et quasi pondere impellitur. Fons adhuc, et jam amplissimum flumen atque etiam naviurn patiens, quas obvias quoque et contrario nisu in diversa tendentes, transmittit et perfert : adeo validus ut ilia qua properat, ipse tanquam per solurn planum remis non adjuvetur : idem aegcrrime remis contisque superelur adversus. Jueundum utrumque per jocum ludumque fluitantibus, ut flexerint cursum, laborera ocio, ocium labore variare. Ripae fraxino muita, multa populo vestiunlur : quas perspicuus amnis, velut mersas viridi imagine annumerat. Rigor aquae certaveril nivibus, nec color cedit. Ad- jacet templum priscum et religiosum. Star Clitumnus ipse amictus, ornatusque praelexta. Praesens numen atque etiam fatidicum, indicant sortes. Sparsa sunt circa sacella complura, to.tidemque Dei simulacra : sua cuique veneratio, suum numen : quibusdam vero etiam routes. Nam praeter ilium, quasi parentem caete- rorum, sunt minores capite discreti; sed flumini miscentur, quod ponte transmit- titur. Is terminus sacri profanique. In superiore parte navigare tantum, infra etiam natare concessum. Balineum Hispellates, quibus ilium locum Divus Au- i And rising in a spacious plain The UDwall’d Fulgiuia. 11 The veins, or the springs. 136 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IX. gustus dono dedit, publice prsebent ct hospitium. Ncc desunt villae, quae secutae fluminis amaenitatern, margini insistunt. In summti, nihil erit, ex quo non capias voluptatem. Nam studebis quoque, et leges rnulta multorum omnibus columnis, omnibus parietibus inscripta, quibus fons ille Deusque celebratur. Plura laudabis, nonuulla ridebis, quanquam tu vero, quae tua humanitas, nulla ridebis. Yale. 1 C. Plin. Lib. viii. Epist. 8. Some changes have however taken place, not indeed in the great features of nature, but in those ornamental parts which are under the influence of cultivation. The ancient cypresses that shaded the hill, the ash and the poplar that hung over the river, have fallen long since, and have been replaced by mulberries, vines, and olives, less beautiful but more productive. The sacred grove has not been spared ; the little chapels have disappeared, and the statue of the god has yielded his place to the triumphant cross. This * C. PLINY TO HIS FRIEND ROM ANUS. Have you ever seen the sources of the Clitumnus? If not, (and I think, if you had, you would have mentioned it to me) go and see them. I saw them not long since, and I regret that I did not see them sooner. There is a rising ground of moderate elevation, thickly shaded w ith aged cypresses. At the loot of this, a fountain gushes out in several unequal veins, and having made its escape, forms a pool, whose broad bosorn expands, so pure and crystal-like, that you may count small pieces of money that you throw in, and the shining pebbles. Thence it is impelled forward, not by the declivity of the ground, but as it were, by its own abundance and weight Though yet at its source, it is already a spacious river, capable of bearing vessels, which it transports in every direction, even such as come upwards, and strive against the stream; it is so powerful that oars give no assistance downwards, but upwards, oars and poles can scarce get the better of the current. It is a delightful recreation to those who amuse themselves w ith floating upon its surface, to exchange alternately, as they alter their direction, labor for ease, and ease for labor. Some parts of the banks are clothed with the wild ash, some with poplars, and the transparent river gives back the image of every one of them distinctly, as if they were submerged beneath its waters. The coldness of the water is equal to that of snow, and its color nearly so. Hard by, is an ancient and venerable temple. There stands the god Clitumnus himself, not naked, but adorned with the preetexta. * The oracles which are delivered there, indicate, not only the presence, but the prophetic power of the deity. Several chapels are scattered about the neighborhood, each containing an image of the god ; each has a sanctity, and each a divinity peculiar to itself : some also contain fountains. For besides the Clitumnus, who is as it were the father of all the rest, there are some smaller streams, distinct at the source, but which mingle with the river as soon as it passes the bridge. There ends every thing sacred and profane. Above the bridge, navigation only is allowed ; below it, swimming is permitted. The inhabi- tants of Hispella, to whom Augustus made a present of the place, supply a bath and an inn for the accommodation of the public. Along the banks are a number of villas, to which the beauty of the stream has given birth. In a word, there is nothing with which you will not be delighted. For you may even indulge your propensity for study, and may read many inscriptions w ritten by dilferent persons on every pillar and every wall, in honor of the fountain and the god. Many you will applaud, some you will laugh at, though in fact, such is your good-nature, that you will laugh at none. Farewell. * The dress worn by the Roman youth, before they came to man’s estate. Chap. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 137 circumstance is rather fortunate, as to it the temple owes its pre- servation. This temple consists of the cella and a Corinthian portico, sup- ported by four pillars and two pilasters ; the pilasters are fluted ; two of the pillars are indented with two spiral lines winding round, and two ornamented with a light sculpture representing the scales of fish. The inscription on thefreize is singular, “ Dens angelorum, qui fecit resurrectioncm. 1 Underneath is a vault or crypta: the entrance is on the side as the portico hangs over the river; the walls are solid, the proportions beautiful, and the whole worthy of the Romans, to whom it is ascribed. I am however inclined to think, that the portico has been altered or repaired since the construction of the temple, as it is more ornamented than the general form of the edi- fice would induce us to expect. Besides, the capitals of the pilasters differ from those of the pillars, a circumstance very unusual in Ro- man architecture. It is not improbable, that this temple suffered considerably before it was converted into a Christian church, and that when repaired for that purpose, the ancient pillars, perhaps thrown into the river, might have been replaced by columns from the ruins of the various other fanes, which, as Pliny informs us, were interspersed up and down the sacred grove, around the re- sidence of the principal divinity. The Clitumnus still retains its ancient name, and recalls to the traveller’s recollection many a pleasing passage in the poets, con- necting the beauty of the scenery about him with the pomps of a triumph, and transporting him from the tranquil banks of the rural stream to the crowds of the Forum, and to the majestic temples of the Capitol. Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges et maxima taurus Victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro, Romanos ad templa Deum duxere triumphos. a Vir. Geo. ii. Ii6. Propertius confines his softer muse to the beauty of the scenery, and seems to repose with complacency on the shaded bank, Qui Formosa suo Clitumnus flumina luco Integit et niveos abluit unda boves . 3 Lib. ii. IT. Though white herds are still seen wandering over the rich plain watered by this river, yet a very small portion of it is employed in pasturage. Its exuberant fertility is better calculated for tillage, and * The god of the angels, who made the resurrection. a There flows Clitumnus through the flow'ry plain : Whose waves, for triumphs after prosp’rous war. The victim ox and snowy sheep prepare. — Dryden. 3 Where fair Clitumuus bids his waters flow Through arching groves, and bathes his herds of snow. 138 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IX. every year sees it successively covered with wheat, grapes, mul- berries , and olives. From Le Vene to Spoleto is about nine miles. The ancient town of Spoletum is situated on the side and summit of a hill. It is well known that Annibal attacked this town immediately after the defeat of the Romans at Thrasimenus, and the inhabitants still glory in having repulsed the Carthaginian general, flushed as he was with conquest, and confident of success. An inscription over the great arch of an ancient gate commemorates this event so honorable to the people of Spoleto . I have observed, as I have already hinted, with great satisfaction, not only in Spoleto , but in many Italian towns, particularly such as were founded by Roman colonies, a vivid re- collection of the glory of their ancestors. Notwithstanding the lapse of so many ages, notwithstanding so many cruel and destructive in- vasions, though insulted and plundered, and almost enslaved, the Italians remember with generous pride, that the Romans were their ancestors, and cherish the records of their glorious achievements, as an inheritance of honor, a birth-right to fame. Unhappy race ! it is the only possession, which their invaders cannot wrest from them Maneant meliora nepotes !” 1 Two other gates seem by their form and materials, to have some claim to antiquity. Some vast masses of stone, forming the piers of a bridge, the ruins of a theatre, and of a temple, said to be dedicated to Concord (though the latter scarce exhibit enough to constitute even a ruin) as being Roman, deserve a passing look. The cathedral, in a commanding situation, presents a front of five Gothic arches, supported by Grecian pillars, and within, con- sists of a Latin cross, with a double range of pillars, of neat and pleasing architecture. The order is Corinthian. The two side altars are uncommonly beautiful. Two vast candelabra, near the high altar, deserve attention. The view from the terrace of the cathedral is very extensive and beautiful. Near it, a very fine fountain of an elegant form pours out, though near the summit of a high hill, a torrent of the purest water. The Roman pontiffs, it must be acknowledged, have, in this respect, retained the sound maxim of antiquity, and endeavored to unite the useful and the agreeable. Never have I seen water employed to more advantage, or poured forth in greater abundance, than in the Roman terri- tories. It is sometimes drawn from distant sources, sometimes collected from various springs gathered into one channel, and always devoted to public purposes. The castle is a monument of barbarous antiquity, built by Theo- doric, destroyed during the Gothic war, and repaired by Narses, the rival and successor of Belisarius. It is a vast sfone building, surrounded by a stone rampart, standing on a high hill that over- 8 May a better fate attend their posterity. Chap. IX. THROUGH ITALY. m looks the town, hut as it is commanded by another hill still higher, it loses at present much of its utility in case of an attack. Behind the Castle, a celebrated aqueduct, supported by arches of an as- tonishing elevation, runs across a deep dell, and unites the town by a bridge, to the noble hill that rises behind it, called Monte Luco. This hill is covered with evergreen oaks, and adorned by the white cells of a tribe of hermits established on its shaded sides. These hermits are of a very different description from most others who bear the name. They are not bound by vows nor teased with little petty observances; and notwithstanding this kind of independence, they are said to lead very pure and exemplary lives. The aqueduct is Roman, but said to have been repaired by the Goths. The town of Spoleto is in general well-built, and though occasionally damaged by earthquakes, as we were informed by various inscriptions on the public buildings, yet it possesses many noble edifices and beautiful palaces. The road from Spoleto is bordered by a stream on the left, and by wooded hills on the right. About two miles from the town we began to ascend the Somma. The road is excellent, and winds up the steep without presenting any thing particularly interesting, till you reach the summit, whence you enjoy a delightful and exten- sive view o xer Spoleto, and the vale of Clitumnus on one side, and on the other towards Term, and the plains of the Nar. Monte Somma is supposed to have taken its name from a temple of Ju- piter Summanus placed on its summit, is near five thousand feet high, fertile, shaded with the olive, the ilex, and various forest trees, well cultivated, and enlivened with several little towns. The descent is long and rapid, and extends to the stage next to Term . This ancient town, the Interamna of the Romans, retains no traces of its former splendor, if it ever was splendid, though it may boast of some tolerable palaces, and, what is superior to all palaces, a charming situation. The ruins of the amphitheatre in the episcopal garden consist of one deep dark vault, and scarcely merit a visit. Over the gate is an inscription, informing the tra- veller that this colony gave birth to Tacitus the historian, and to the emperors Tacitus and Florian ; few country towns can boast of three such natives. The principal glory of Terni, and indeed one of the noblest ob- jects of the kind in the world, is the celebrated cascade in its neigh- borhood, called the“ Caduta delle Marmore.” 1 To enjoy all the beauties of this magnificent fall, it will be proper first to take a View of it from the side of the hill beyond the Nar. The way to it runs through the valley along the Nar, sometimes overshaded by the superincumbent mountain with its groves of pine, ilex, and beech, rustling above, and at every turn exhibiting new scenery of The marble cascade. 140 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IX. rocks, woods, and waters. At length you climb the steep shaggy sides of the hill, and, from a natural platform, behold the cascade opposite. This point enables you to see, with much advantage, the second fall, when the river bursting from the basin into which it was first precipitated, tumbles over a ridge of broken rocks in various sheets half veiled in spray and foam. Hence are taken most of the views hitherto published, and when we visited it, we found two Roman art ists employed on the spot. If the contempla- tion of this scene for ever shifting to the eye, should be found tiresome, the remainder of the day may be spent very agreeably in traversing the surrounding woods, and exploring the vale of the Nar and its enclosing mountains. The second day must be devoted to the examination of the cascade from above, and the excursion commenced from the earliest dawn. Mules, or one horse chairs, are commonly hired, though, if the weather be cool, and the tra- veller a good walker, it may easily be performed on foot. The upper road to the Caduta crosses a plain varied with olives, vines, and corn fields, and climbs the mountain through a defile, whose sides are clad with vines below, and with box and ilex above. Through the dell, the Nar, “ sulfurea albas aqua,” 1 of a wheyish color, tumbles foaming along his rocky channel. In the centre of the defile rises an insulated eminence, topped with the ruins of the village of Papignia destroyed by the French. Ascending still higher, you come to an angle, where the road is worked through the rock, and forming a very elevated terrace, gives you a view of Term and its plain; of the dell below with the Nar; of the mountains around with their woods; and of the Velino itself, at a considerable distance, just bursting from the shade, and throwing itself down the steep. The road still continues along the precipice, then crosses a small plain bounded by high mountains, when you quit it, and follow a pathway that brings you to a shed, placed on the point of a hill just opposite to the cascade, and so near to it, that you are occasionally covered with its spray. Here we sat down, and observed the magnificent phenomenon at leisure. At a little distance beyond the cascade, rise two hills of a fine swelling form, covered with groves of ilex. The Velino passes near one of these hills, and suddenly tumbling over a ridge of broken rock, rushes headlong down in one vast sheet, and in three streamlets. The precipice is of brown rock ; its sides are smooth and naked ; it forms a semicircle, crowned with wood on the right, and on the left it rises steep, and feathered with ever- greens. On the one side it ascends in broken ridges, and on the other, sinks gradually away, and subsides in a narrow valley, through which the Nar glides gently along till its junction with the Velino, after which it roils through the dell in boisterous agitation. 1 With his white, sulphureous waters. CtiAP. IX. THROUGH ITALY. Ui The artificial bed of the Velino is straight, but before it reaches it, it wanders through a fertile plain spread between the mountains, and extending to the lake Pie de Luco. This beautiful expanse of water, about a mile in breadth, fills the defile, and meanders between the mountains for some miles. The way to it from the fall, is by a path winding along the foot of the mountain, and leading to a cottage, where you may take a boat, and cross to a bold promontory opposite. There, seated in the shade, you may enjoy the view of the waters, of the bordering mountains, of the towns perched on their sides, the village Pie de Luco, and rising behind it the old castle of Labro , whose dis- mantled towers crown a regular hill, while its shattered walls run in long lines down the declivity. We were here entertained with an echo the most articulate, the most retentive, and the most mu- sical I ever heard, repeating even a whole verse of a song, in a softer and more plaintive tone indeed, but with surprising precision and distinctness. We sat for some time on the point of the pro- montory, partly to enjoy the view, and partly to listen to the strains of this invisible songstress, and then crossed the lake to the village now called Pie de Luco , or “ad Pedes Luci.” 1 This name is pro- bably derived from a grove which formerly covered the hill, and was sacred to Velinia, the goddess who presided over the “ Lacus Velinus . 2 Around and above the lake are the “Roscida rura Ve- lini /’ 3 so celebrated for their dews and fertility, and always so in- teresting for their variety and beauty. We would willingly have followed the banks of the Velino up to its source, and visited Reate, now Rieti, with its vale of Tempe, alluded to by Cicero; but the day was on the decline, and it would have been imprudent to have allowed ourselves to be benighted, either amid the solitudes of the mountain, or o i its declivity. We therefore returned, again visited the cascade, ranged through a va- riety of natural grottos and caverns, formed in its neighborhood by the water, before the present spacious bed was opened to re- ceive it; and then descending the hill we hastened to TerniA After having minutely examined the scenery of this superb wa- terfall, I cannot but wonder that Addison should have selected it as a proper gulph to receive the Fury Alecto, and transmit her to the infernal regions. The wood-crowned basin of rock that re- ceives the Velinus; the silver sheet of war descending from above ; 1 The foot of the grove. 2 The Yclinian lake. 3 The dewy fields of the Velinus. t The first artificial vent of the Velinus on record was made by the consul Curius Dentatus, but it did not fully answer the purpose. The Velinus still continued to inundate the vale of Reate, and occasioned, in Cicero’s time, several legal contests between the inhabitants of that city and those of Interamna, who opposed its full discharge into the Nar. The present bed was opened, or at least enlarged, by the late Pope Pius the Sixth, and gives the river a free passage down the steep. 142 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IX. the white spray that rises below, and conceals the secrets of the abyss ; the Iris that plays over the watery cavern, and covers it with a party-colored blaze, are all features of uncommon beauty, and better adapted to the watery palaces of the Naiads of the neigh- boring rivers, Centum quae sylvas, centum quae flumina servant. 1 * Yir. Geo. iv. 383. Addison’s conjecture is founded upon one particular expression, “Est locus Italiae medio,”* and two verses in Virgil’s description : Urget utrimque latus nemoris, medioque fragosus Dat sonitum saxis et torto vertice torrens. 3 4 5 JEn. Lib. vii. 566. But the first expression may merely imply that Amsanctus was at a distance from the coasts and extremities of Italy; and the de- scription contained in the verses may be applied to any wood, and to the roar and agitation of any torrent; while, if intended to re- present the thunder of the falling Velinus, they convey, what Vir- gil’s descriptions are seldom supposed to do, a very faint idea of their object. Besides, in opposition to these critical conjectures, we have the positive authority of the ancients, and particularly of Cicero and Titus Livius, who inform us in plain terms, that the vale or lake of Amsanctus was in the territories of the Hirpini, which lay on and along the Apennines, to the south of Beneventum, and about twenty-five or thirty miles east of Naples.4 In that ter- ritory, not far from Friento, a lake even now bears the name of Ansanto, and emits a vapor, or rather throws up in the middle a torrent of sulphur, “ lorlo vertice,” 5 and if we may credit travel- lers, agrees in every respect with Virgil’s description. 6 However, I cannot close these remarks better, than by inserting the verses of Virgil, which actually allude to the river in question, and to the neighboring Nar, as they give the characteristic features in the the usual grand manner of the poet. The Fury, says Virgil, Tartaream intendit vocem : qua protinus omne Contreinuit nemus, et sylvae intonuere profundae. i Who rule the wat'ry plains, and hold the woodland shade.— Drydeu. * There is a place in the centre of Italy. 3 On either side Thick forests the forbidden entrance hide. Full in the centre of the sacred wood An arm arises of the Stygian flood, Which, breaking from beneath with bellowing sound, Whirls the black waves aud rattling stones around .— Dry dtn. 4 Cic. De Div. i. 36. 5 In a whirling vortex. " Whirls the black waves.” 6 See SwinBurne. Chap. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 143 Audiit et Triviae longe lacus, audiit amnis Sulfurca Naralbus aqua, fontesque Yelini. * vii. 514. The Nar, now called the Nera , is the southern boundary of Um- bria, and traverses, in its way to Narni, about nine miles distant, a vale of most delightful appearance. The Apennine, in its mildest form, “ coruscis ilicibus firemens ,” i 2 bounds this plain ; the milky Nar intersects it, and fertility equal to that of the neighboring vale of Clitumnus, compressed into a smaller space, and of course placed more immediately within the reach of observation, adorns it on all sides with vegetation and beauty ; so that it resembles a noble and extensive park, the appendage of some princely palace, laid out and cultivated to please the eye, and to amuse the fancy. The ancient Roman colony of Narni stands on the summit of a very high and steep hill, whose sides are clothed with olives, and whose base is washed by the Nera. At the foot of the hill we alighted, in order to visit the celebrated bridge of Augustus. This noble row of arches thrown over the stream and the defile in which it rolls, to open a communication between the two moun- tains, and to facilitate the approach to the town, was formed of vast blocks of white stone fitted together without cement. All the piers and one arch still remain; the other arches are fallen, and their fall seems to have been occasioned by the sinking of the middle pier : otherwise a fabric of so much solidity and strength must have been capable of resisting the influence of time and of weather. The views towards the bridge on the high road and the plain on one side, and on the other through the remaining arch along the river, are unusually picturesque and pleasing. We pro- ceeded through this dell, along the Nar tumbling and murmuring over its rocky channel, and then, with some difficulty, worked our way through the olives and evergreens that line the steep, up to the town. We were particularly struck with the romantic appearance of Narni. Its walls and towers spread along the uneven summit, sometimes concealed in groves of cypress, ilex, and laurel, and sometimes emerging from the shade, and rising above their waving tops ; delightful views of the vales, towns, rivers, and mountains, opening here and there unexpectedly on the eye; a certain loneliness and silence, even in the streets ; the consequence and sad memorial of ages of revolution, disaster, and suffering, are all features pleasing and impressive. i ————to her crooked horn. Adds all her breath ; the rocks and woods around, And mountains tremble at lh' infernal sound. The sacred Lake of Trivia from afar, The Veline fountains, and sulphureous Nar, Shake at the baleful blast, the signal of the war .—Dryden, * Shaking the sounding forest on bis sides.— Dryden, 144 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. IX. Few towns have suffered more than Narni, but its greatest wounds were inflicted by the hands, not of Goths or Vandals, of barbarians and foreigners, but of Italians, or at least of an army in the pay of an Italian government, of Venice itself, which at that time gloried in the title of the second Rome, the bulwark and pillar of Italian liberty and security. It is probable that this army was composed of mercenaries, banditti, and foreigners, and, like that of Charles V. which they were hastening to join, fit solely for the purposes of plunder, sacrilege, and devastation. Rut, of what- ever description of men those troops were composed, they acted under the authority of the Venetians, when they destroyed Narni , and butchered its defenceless inhabitants. The site of this town, its extensive views, its dell, and the river, are happily described in the following lines of Claudian : Celsa dehinc patulum prospectans Narnia campura Regali caleatur equo, rarique coloris Non procul amnis adest urbi, qui nominis auctor, Ilice sub densa sylvis arctatus opacis Inter utrumque juguin, tortis anfractibus albet. 1 De Sext. Cons. Hon. 515. From Narni the road runs through the defile along the middle of the declivity, till suddenly, the opposite mountain seems to burst asunder, and opens through its shaggy sides an extensive view over the plain of the Tiber, terminating in the mountains of Vi- terbo. Here we left the defile and the Nar, but continued to enjoy mountain and forest scenery for some miles, till descending the last declivity, a few miles from Oiricoli , for the first time in the midst of a spacious and verdant plain, we beheld clear and dis- tinct, glittering in the beams of the sun, and winding along in silent dignity — the Tiber.’ Oiricoli stands on the side of a hill, about two miles from the ancient Ocriculi, whence it takes its name. The remains of the * Then Narnia, fam'd for spreading prospects, feels The trampling of th' imperial courser's heels. Hard by, a river of unwonted hue, From w hich her name th’ adjacent city drew, Beneath a shady forest flows ; confin'd By wood-crown’d hills, its whit uing waters wind. * ©u/*6^tS i'Xiazousvos xar Oxpov poov fit's jiaXltl ©y/jtSyjts ivpbdzr^ rroT««wv j^xzO,vjzxzo<; «//cov, ®'jp.£ptS os ipepTXV drcozspvezxt ikvfiyx Pju/xyjv PgO/xtqv zifJLt,tzov. Dionys. IIEPIHrH2I2. The lovely liber through the spacious pjain Bolls his pure waves, and hurries to the main; Great Prince of streams, through mighty Rome that flows, And parts the Sov reign City as he goes, Home, wealth's abode, and empire's honor'd seat, The Queen of cities, and the W orld's retreat. Chap. IX. THROUGH ITALY. 145 latter lie spread in the plain below, along the banks of the Tiber, and present a considerable heap of fragments, in which the vestiges of a theatre perhaps, and a few porticos may be perceived, while the principal features of the town are lost, and buried in a confused mass of ruins. We had now not only traversed the Apennines, but extricated ourselves from the various labyrinths and defiles which border the immense base of these mountains. The windings of the Tiber below Otricoli have been alluded to by Ariosto, who seems to have beheld one particular spot, a sort of peninsula formed by the meanderings of the stream, with partiality ; but either his muse has shed supernumerary beauties around it, or the shades that adorned the banks in his time have disappeared ; as it now presents a green but naked surface almost encircled by the waves. Ecco vcde un pratel d’ ombre coperto Che si d’ un alto flume si ghirlanda Che lascia a pena un breve spazio aperto, Dove 1’ acqua si torce ad altra banda, Un simil luogo con girevol onda Sott’ Otricoli ’1 Tevere circonda. '—Canto xiv. 38. We crossed the Tiber by the Ponte Felice , changed horses at Borghetto, and arrived, when dark, at Civita Ccistellana. From Civita Castellana we passed over a tract of forest country, enjoying beautiful views of the Montes Cimini, with their towns, villas, and villages to the right, and an occasional glimpse of So- racte to the left, and having passed the river Falisco y which an- ciently gave its name to the people and territory of the Falisci, came to Nepi f a small but very ancient episcopal town, whose cathe- dral, built on the site of a temple, was consecrated, if we may be- lieve an inscription over one of the doors, by the blood of the townsmen, in the early period of the year 150. Another inscrip- tion may record, with more certainty, though perhaps posterity may be as little inclined to credit it, that the same pile was deluged with the blood of its clergy, and almost entirely destroyed by the French army in the year 1798. From Ncpi we proceeded to Monte Rosi. The inhabitants of all this territory, who derived their names from its towns, some of which still remain, are enumerated in the following lines of Si- lius : His mixti Nepesina cohors, aequique Falisci, Quique tuos, Flavina, focos; Sabatia quique 1 A mead he spies, with trees o'erarching crown’d, So girded by a circling river round. That scarce a narrow isthmus may remain. Ere the broad waters downward turn again : Such spot below Otricoli we find, Where Tiber's tortuous waves in mazes wind. I. 10 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. X. ait 146 Stagna tenent, Ciminique Iacum ; qui Sutria tecta Baud procul, et sacrum Phoebo Soracte frcquentant. 1 Lib. yiii. 489. Many authors suppose that the road hence, or rather from Ponte Felice , was lined by a succession of magnificent edifices, obelisks, and palaces, adorned with statues, and conducted under triumphal arches, to the gates of the imperial city. Claudian indeed seems to encourage this supposition, in the well-known lines, Inde salutato libalis Tibride nymphis, Excipiunt arcus, operosaque semita vastis Molibus, et quidquid tantae pnemiltitur Urbi . 2 De Sext. Cons. Hon. 520. If this description be accurate, it is singular that no trace should now remain of all these splendid monuments. No mounds nor rem- nants of walls, no mouldering heaps of ruins, scarce even a soli- tary tomb, has survived the general wreck. On the contrary, beyond Nepi, or rather beyond Monte Rost the next stage, the Campagna diRoma begins to expand its dreary solitudes; and naked hills and swampy plains rise and sink by turns, without presenting a single object worth attention. It must not, however, be suppo- sed, that no vegetation decor tes these dreary wilds. On the con- trary, verdure but seldom interrupted, occasional corn fields, and numerous herds and flocks, communicate some degree of anima- tion to these regions otherwise so desolate ; but descending from mountains the natural seat of barrenness, where still we witnessed rural beauty and high cultivation, to a plain in the neighborhood of a populous city, where we might naturally expect the perfec- tion of gardening and all the bustle of life, we were struck with the wide waste that spreads around, and wondered what might be the cause that deprived so extensive a tract of its inhabitants. But neatness and population announce the neighborhood of every com- mon town ; they are the usual accompaniments of capitals, and excite no interest. The solitude that encircles the fallen Metropo- lis of the world, is singular and grand ; it becomes its majesty ; it awakens a sentiment of awe and melancholy, and may perhaps after all, be more consonant both to the character of the City, and to the feelings of the traveller, than more lively and exhilarating scenery. 1 With these the just Falisci troop'd along, The N’epesinian and Flavinian throng; And they who round the deep S.ibatiun lake, And Ciminus' wide pool, their dwellings make ; Who tenant Sulrium's town, not far remov’d. And higli Soracte s hill, by Phoebus lov’d. a At length in view the Tiber's current came ; The arches sacred to triumphant Fame; Huge monuments around the City plac'd. Uatvliins’ Translation . Chap. X. THROUGH ITALY. 147 On the heights above Baccano the postilions stopped, and point- ing to a pinnacle that appeared between two hills, exclaimed, — “ Roma! ” — That pinnacle was the cross of St. Peter’s. — The “ ETERNAL CITY ” rose before us ! CHAPTER X. Reflections— Rome— St. Peter’s— The Capitol. As the traveller advances over the dreary wilds of the Campagna, where not one object occurs to awaken his attention, he has time to recover from the surprise and agitation, which the first view of Rome seldom fails to excite in liberal and ingenuous minds. He may naturally be supposed to inquire into the cause of these emo- tions, and at first he may be inclined to attribute them solely to the influence of early habits, and ascribe the feelings of the man, to the warm imagination of the schoolboy. Without doubt the name of Rome echoes in our ears from our infancy ; our lisping tongues are tuned to her language ; and our first and most delightful years are passed among her orators, poets, and historians. We are taught betimes to take a deep interest in her fortunes, and to adopt her cause, as that of our own country, with spirit and with passion. Such impressions made at such an age are indelible, and it must be admitted, are likely to influence our feelings and opinions during life. x But the prejudices instilled into the mind of the boy, and strength- ened by the studies of the youth, are neither the sole nor even the principal causes of our veneration for Rome. The Mistress of the World claims our respect and affection, on grounds which the Christian and the philosopher must admit with grateful acknow- ledgment. In addition to her ancient origin and venerable fame, to her mighty achievements and vast empire, to her heroes and her saints, to the majesty of her language, and the charms of her lite- rature ; “ habe ante oculos hanc esse terrain quee nobis wisent jura } quee 1 We may apply to every youth of liberal education, the beautiful lines ad-* dressed by Claudian to Honorius : Hinc tibi concreta radice tenacias bapsit, Et penilus tolis mole vit Roma meduliis, Dilecta-que iirbis tenero concept us ab ungue Tecum crevit amor. De Cons. Hon. vi. 77. Then Rome's firm roots, upon iRy bosom fix’d. Increas'd in depth, and with the vitals mixd; The city, iu thy infancy rever'd To thee, as youth advanc’d, more dear appear’d,— Hawkins' Translation, 148 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. X. leges dederit. ” 1 Rome has been in the hands of Providence, the instrument of communicating to Europe, and to a considerable portion of the globe, the three greatest blessings of which human nature is susceptible — Civilization, Science, and Religion. The system of Roman government was peculiarly adapted to the attainment of this great end, and the extension of its empire seems to have been ordained by Heaven for its full accomplishment. The despotism of the Eastern monarchies, kept all prostrate on the ground in abject slavery ; the narrow policy of the Greek republics confined the blessings of liberty within their own precincts : Rome, with more enlarged and more generous sentiments, considering the conquered countries as so many nurseries of citizens, gradually extended her rights and privileges to their capitals, enrolled their natives in her legions, and admitted their nobles into her senate. Thus her subjects, as they improved in civilization, advanced also in honors, and approached every day nearer to the manners and to the virtues of their masters, till every province became another Italy, every city another Rome. With her laws and franchises she communicated to them her arts and sciences ; wherever the Roman eagles penetrated schools were opened, and public teachers were pensioned. Aqueducts and bridges, temples and theatres were raised in almost every town ; and all the powers of architecture, of sculpture, and of painting, were employed to decorate the capitals of the most distant provinces. Roads, the remains of which asto- nish us even at this day, were carried from the Roman Forum, the centre of this vast empire, to its utmost extremities ; and all the tribes and nations that composed it were linked together, not only by the same laws and by the same government, but by all the facili- ties of commodious intercourse, and of frequent communication. 2 Compare the state of Gaul, of Spain, and of Britain, when covered with numberless cities, and flourishing in all the arts of peace under the protection of Rome, with their forests, their swamps, and the sordid huts of half-naked savages scattered thinly over their wastes, previous to their subjugation; and you will be enabled to appreciate the blessings which they owed to Rome. Haec est, in gremium victos quae sola recepit, Humanumque genus communi nomine fovit, Matris non dominae ritu ; civesque vocavit Quos domuit, nexuque pio longinqua reYinxit.... * Keep in mind that this is the country which furnished us with jurisprudence, which gave us laws.— Plin. Epist. lib. viii. 24. * “Liceat dicere,” says Lipsius, with great truth, “divino munere Romanos datos ad quidquid rude expoliendum, ad quidquid infectum faciendum, et loca hominesque elegantia et artibus passim exornandos.” “Be it permitted to say, that the Romans were given by the bounty of Heaven, to polish whatever was rude, to do whatever was undone, and to adorn places and men, in every part of the world, by their elegance and by their arts.” Chap. X. m * - Rome them for the reception of that divine religion, which alone can give to human nature its full and adequate perfection ; and she comple- ted her godlike work, when influenced by her instructions and exam- ple Europe embraced Christianity. Thus she became the metropo- lis of the world, by a new and more venerable title, and assumed, in a more august sense, the appellation of the “Iloly City,” the “Light of Nations,” the “ Parent of Mankind. ” 3 When in the course of the two succeeding ages, she was stript of her imperial honors; when her provinces were invaded, and all the glorious scene of cultivation, peace, and improvement, was ravaged by sue- 1 ’TisZshe alone, who to tier bosom takes Tbe diffreut nations that she captives makes; In her no haughty sway tbe captives find, But all her actions shew a parent kind ; The name of citizens the conquer'd bear. And distant people easy fetters wear .... Like high Olympus’ zones, sev’n hills she shows; To arms and laws extensive empire owes; With her a cradle Justice first obtain'd ; . . . . In peace her favors fully we obtain ; Like fields paternal view each foreign plain ; Remove at will ; see Thule’s distant shore; Recesses, horrid thought of old, explore .... And thus, in union, one great nation seem.— Hawkins' Translation. 3 A classical bishop of the fifth century, who endeavored to communicate the charms of poetry to the metaphysical discussions of a refined theology, saw this new empire then gradually rising on the increasing ruins of the old, and expressed its extent and greatness in language not inelegant. Sedes Roma Petri, quae Pastoralis honoris Facta caput Mundo, quicquld non possidet armis, Religione tenet. St. Trosper. Rome, Peter’s past'ral seat ; O'er all th’ obedient world her mitred Lord Rules by religion now, and not the sword. Leo the Great, standing over the tomb of St. Peter and St. Paul, on their festival, addresses the Roman people in language equally elevated : "Isti sunt viri per quos tibi evangelium Christi, Roma! resplcnduit! Isti sunt qui te ad hanc gloriam provexerunt ut gens sancta, populus electus, civitas sacerdotalis ac regia per sacram beati Petri sedem caput orbis effecta, latius presi- deres religione divina, quam dominatione terrena.” Serrrt. in Nat. App. Petri et Pauli. “ These, 0 Rome, are the men, through whose means thou wert irradiated by the light of the gospel!.... These are they who raised thee to this height of glory, that having become a holy people, an elect nation, a sacerdotal and a regal city, and finally having been made by the apostolic see of St. Peter, the head of the world, thou mightest extend thy dominion more widely through the medium of the heavenly religion, than through that of earthly dominion.” THROUGH ITALY. H9 (Armorum legumque parens, qua? fundit in omnes Imperium, ct primi dedit incunabula juris).... Hujus pacificis debemus moribus omnes Quod veluti patriis regionibus utitur hospes Quod sedem mutare licet; quod cernere Thulen Lusus, et horrendos quondam penetrare recessus.... Quod cuncti gens una sumus. i Claudian De Sec. Cons. Stilich. 150. , in thus civilizing and polishing mankind, had prepared 150 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. X. ■ i cessive hordes of barbarians; she again renewed her benevolent exertions, and sent out, not consuls and armies to conquer, but apostles and teachers to reclaim, the savage tribes which had "wasted her empire. By them she bore the light of heaven into the dark recesses of idolatry ; and displaying in this better cause all the magnanimity, the wisdom, the perseverance, which marked her former career, she triumphed, and in spile of ignorance and of barbarism again diffused the blessings of Christianity over the Western world. Nor is it to be objected, that the religion of Rome was erroneous, or that she blinded and enslaved her converts. The religion which Rome taught was Christianity. With it the convert received in the Scriptures, the records of truth ; and in the sacraments, the means of sanctification ; in the creeds, the rule of faith ; and in the commandments, the code of morality. In these are comprised all the belief and all the practices of a Christian, and to commu- nicate these to a nation is to open to it the sources of life and happiness. But whatever may be the opinions of my reader in this respect, he must admit, that the Latin muses, which had fol- lowed the Roman eagles in their victorious flight, now accom- panied her humble missionaries in their expeditions of charity ; and with them penetrated the swamps of Batavia, the forests of Ger- many, and the mountains of Caledonia. Schools, that vied in learning and celebrity with the seminaries of the south, rose in these benighted regions, and diffused the beams of science over the vast tracts of the north, even to the polar circles. Thus the predictions of the Roman poets were fulfilled, though in a manner very different from their conceptions ; and their immortal compo- sitions were rehearsed in the remote islands of the Hebrides, and in the once impenetrable forests of Scandinavia. 1 At the same time, the arts followed the traces of the muse, and the untutored savages saw with surprise temples of stone rise in their sacred groves, and arches of rock spread into a roof over their heads. The figure of the Redeemer till then unknown, seemed to breathe on canvass to their eyes ; the venerable forms of the apostles in Parian marble replaced the grim uncouth statues of their idols ♦, and music surpassing in sweetness the strains of their bards, announced to them the mercies of that God whom they were summoned to adore. It was not wonderful that they . 1 “ Visam Britannos hospitibus feros, Et Ire turn equino sanguiue Coucanum, •: Visaui pharelratos Gelonos, “Et Scythicum inviolalus amncm.”— Bor. Lib. lit. Od.4. If by the muse's faithful guidance led, On Libya's thirsty sands I II fearless tread— Ivor Britons of inhospitable strain. Nor quiver d Scythians, uor the Caspian main, Nor be, who joyous quaffs the thirsty bowl Streaming with horses’ blood, shall shake my dauntless soul.— Ftuncit* Chap. X. THROUGH ITALY. 151 should eagerly embrace a religion adorned with so many graces, and accompanied by so many blessings ; and Europe finally settled in the profession of Christianity, and once more enlightened by the beams of science, was indebted to the exertions of Rome for both these blessings. But the obligation did not end here, as the work of civilization was not yet finished. The northern tribes long established in the invaded provinces had indeed become Christians, but they still re- mained in many respects barbarians. Hasty and intemperate they indulged the caprice or the vengeance of the moment; they knew no law but that of the sword, and would submit to no decision but to that of arms. Here again we behold the genius of Rome in- terposing her authority as a shield between ferocity and weakness, appealing from the sword to reason, from private combat to public justice, from the will of the judge and the uncertain rules of custom, to the clear prescriptions of her own written code. 1 * This grand plan of civilization, though impeded and delayed by the brutality and the obstinacy of the barbarous ages, was at length carried into effect, and the Roman law was adopted by consenting nations as the general code of the civilized world. Rome therefore may still be *said to rule nations, not indeed with the rod of power, but with the sceptre of justice, and may still be supposed to exercise the high commission of presiding over the world, and of regulating the destinies of mankind. * Thus too she has retained by her wisdom and benevolence, that ascendancy which she first acquired by her valor and magnanimity : and by the pre-eminence which she has enjoyed in every period of her history, she seems to have realized the fictitious declaration of her founder, “ Abi, nuncia Romanis, Codestes ita veile, ut mea Roma caput orbis t err arum sit .” 3 4 “ Urbs urbium — lemplumcequilatis — porlus omnium gentium,” 4 are titles fondly bestowed upon her in the days of her imperial glory ; and she may assume them without arro- gance even in her decline. Her matchless magnificence, so far su- perior to that of every other capital ; the laws which have ema- 1 On the effects produced by the discovery of the Pandects of Justinian, at Amalfi , in the twelfth century, see Hume's Theory of England, chapter xxiii. On the general effects of Roman domination on the provincials, see Cowper’s Expostulation, * Tu rcgere imperio populos, Roraane, memento ; nae libi erunt artes ! pacisque imponere morem, Parcere subjectls et debdlare superbos.— Virgil, &n. vi. 851. But, Rome, ’tis thine alone, with awful sway, To rule mankind, and make the world obey, Disposing peace and war, thy own majestic way. To tame the proud, the fetlefr'd slave to free. These are imperial arts, and worthy thee. — Dryden. 3 Tell the Romans, that it is the will of the gods that my Rome should be the capital of the world. — Tit. Liv. i. 16. 4 The city of cities— the temple of justice— the refuge of all nations. 152 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. X. nated from her as from their source ; and the encouragement which she has at all times given to men of talents and of virtue from every country, still give her an unquestionable right to these lofty appellations . 1 To conclude, in the whole Universe, there are only two cities in- teresting alike to every member of the great Christian common- wealth, to every citizen of the civilized world, whatever may be his tribe or nation — Rome and Jerusalem. The former calls up every classic recollection, the latter awakens every sentiment of de- votion ; the one brings before our eyes all the splendors of the present world ; the other, all the glories of the world to come. By a singular dispensation of Providence, the names and influence of these two illustrious capitals are combined in the same grand dispen- sation ; and as Jerusalem was ordained to receive, Rome was des- tined to propagate “the light that leads to heaven.” The cross i “Nulli sit ingrata Roma,” says Cassiodorus, in the sixth century, “ilia elo- quentise facunda mater, illud virtutum omnium latissimum templum.” Let none be displeased with Rome, the mother of eloquence, the [unconfined temple of all the virtues. “Aliis alia patria est; Roma communis omnium literatorum etpatria, et altrix, et evectrix,” ( Different men have different countries; but of all learned men, Rome is the common parent, and nurse, and patroness.) says the Cardinal of St. George to Erasmus, in the sixteenth century. “Quid loquor,” says the latter, “de Roma, communi omnium gentium parente.” (Why do I speak of Rome, the common parent of all nations?) The benefits derived from the Roman government are tolerably well expressed in the following lines of Rutilius : Fecisti patriam diversis gentibus unam ; Profuit injustis te dominantc capi ; Dumque offers victis proprii consortia juris' Urbem fecisti quod prius Orbis erat.— Lib. ii. She for the nations, various and disjoin'd, A common country made ; th’ unruly tribes Were glad to be reduc'd beneath her sway ; To conquer’d realms her own wise laws she gave, And made one mighty City of the World. "Numine Deum electa,” says Pliny, “qutecoelum ipsum clarius faceret, sparsa congregaret imperia, ritusque molliret, et tot populorum discordes ferasque lin- guas, scrmonis commercio contraheret ad colloquia, et humanitatem homini daret; breviterque una cunctarum gentium in toto orbe, patria fieret ” Nat. Hist. iii. • cap. v. At te, quae domitis leges, ac jura dedisti Gentibus, instituens naagnus qua tenditur orbis Arroorum, morumque feros ntansuescere ritus. Prudent : contra Sym : Chosen by the gods to make Heaven itself more clear, to collect scattered em- pires into one, and to soften their manners, and to unite by the intercourse of one common speech, the discordant and savage languages of so many nations, and to humanize mankind, and in a word to be the universal country of all the nations of the world. The nations that thy conqu'ring arms confest, Jly’thec with wisdom and with laws were blest ; In war, in peace, where'er man’s race is found. They grew less savage, as thy sway they ow n’d. Chap. X. THROUGH ITALY. 153 which Jerusalem erected on Mount Calvary, Rome fixed on the diadem of emperors; and the prophetic songs of Mount Sion have resounded from the seven hills, to the extremities of the earth . — How natural then is the emotion of the traveller, when he first be- holds the distant domes of a city of such figure in the history of the Universe, of such weight in the destinies of mankind, so familiar to the imagination of the boy, so interesting to the feelings of the man ! While occupied in these reflections, we passed Monte Mario, and beheld the city gradually opening to our view: turrets and cupolas succeeded each other, with long lines of palaces between, till the dome of the Vatican lifting its majestic form far above the rest, fixed the eye, and closed the scene with becoming grandeur. We crossed the Tiber by the Monte Molleo (Pons Milvius, the Milvian bridge), and proceeding on the Via Flaminia (the Flaminian Way), through the suburb, entered the Porta cleL Popolo, admired the beautiful square that receives the traveller on his entrance, and drove to the Piazza d' Espagna. Alighting, we instantly hastened to St. Peter’s, traversed its superb court, contemplated in silence its obelisk, its fountains, its colonnade, walked up its lengthening nave, and before its altar, offered up our grateful acknowledgments in “the noblest temple that human skill ever raised to the honor of the Creator.” Next morning we renewed our visit to St. Peter’s, and examined it more in detail : the preceding day it had been somewhat veiled by the dimness of the evening; it was now lighted up by the splendors of the morning sun. The rich marbles that compose its pavement and line its walls, the paintings that adorn its cupolas, the bronze that enriches its altars and railings, the gilding that lines the pannels of its vault, the mosaics that rise one above the other in brilliant succession up its dome, shone forth in all their varied colors. Its nave, its aisles, its transepts, expanded their vistas, and hailed the spectator, wherever he turned, with a long succession of splendid objects, and beautiful arrangement; in short, the whole of this most majestic fabric opened itself at once to the sight, and filled the eye and the imagination with magnitude, proportion, riches, and grandeur. From St. Peter’s we hastened to the Capitol, and ascending the tower, seated ourselves under the shade of its pinnacle, and fixed our eyes on the view beneath and around us. That view was no other than ancient and modern Rome. Behind us, the modern town lay extended over the Campus Martius, and spreading along the banks of the Tiber formed a curve round the base of the Ca- pitol. Before us, scattered in vast black shapeless masses over the seven hills, and through the intervening vallies, arose the ruins of the ancient city. They stood desolate, amidst solitude and silence, with groves of funereal cypress waving over them ; the awful mo- CLASSICAL TOUR 154 Chap. X. numents, not of individuals, but of generations ; not of men, but of empires. A distant view of iEgina and of Megara, of the Piraeus and of Corinth then in ruins, melted the soul of an ancient Roman, for a while suspended his private sorrows, and absorbed his sense of personal affliction, in a more expansive and generous compassion for the fate of cities and of states . 1 What then must be the emotions of the man who beholds extended in disordered heaps before him, the disjointed “ carcase of fallen Rome,” once the abode of the gods, the grand receptacle of nations, “the common asylum of mankind ! ” Immediately under our eyes, and at the foot of the Capitol, lay the Forum lined with solitary columns, and terminated at eac h end by a triumphal arch. Beyond and just before us, rose the Palatine Mount encumbered with the substructions of the Imperial Palace, and of the Temple of Apollo ; and farther on, ascended the Celian Mount with the Temple of Faunus on its summit. On the right was the Aventine spotted with heaps of stone swelling amidst its lonely vineyards. To the left the Esquiline with its scattered tombs and tottering aqueducts ; and in the same line, the Viminal, and the Quirinal supporting the once magnificent Raths of Diocletian. The Baths of Antoninus, the Temple of Minerva, and many a venerable fabric bearing on its shattered form the traces of destruction, as well as the furrows of age, lay scattered up and down the vast field; while the superb temples of St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore , and Santa Croce , arose with their pointed obelisks, ma- jestic bu( solitary monuments, amidst the extensive waste of time and of desolation. The ancient walls, a vast circumference, formed a frame of venerable aspect, well adapted to this picture of ruin, this cemetery of ages, “ Romani bastum populi.”* Beyond the walls the eye ranged over the storied plain of Latium,, now the deserted Campagna , and rested on the Alban Mount, which rose before us to the south shelving downwards on the west towards * “Ex Asia rediens, cum ab iEgina Megaram versus navigarem, coepi regiones circumcirca prospicere. Post me erat iEgina, ante Megara, dextra Piraeus, sinis- tra Corinthus; quae oppida quodam tempore florentissima fuerunt, nunc prostrata ac diruta ante oculos jacent. Ccepi egomet mecum sic cogitare. Hem I nos ho- munculi indignamur, si quis nostrum intcriit, aut occisus est, quorum vita brevior esse debet, cum uno loco tot oppidum cadavera projecla jaceant ?” — Cic. ad Fam. Lib. iv. Ep. 5. “On my return from Asia, as I sailed from iEgina towards Megara, I began to cxamiJK the regions around me. Behind me was iEgina, before me Megara, on my right hand the Piraeus, on my left Corinth, all which towns were formerly in the highest degree flourishing, but now lie before my eyes prostrate and in ruins. I began thus to commune with myself. How? shall we, poor mortals, be indig- nant if one of us dies, or is slain, when our lives ought rather to be shorter than they are, since the skeletons of so many tow ns lie prostrate and neglected on one spot!” 8 The sepulchre of the Roman people. Chap. X. THROUGH ITALY. 155 Antium and the Tyrrhene sea, and on the east towards the Latin vale. Here, it presents Tusculum in white lines on its declivity ; there, it exhibits the long ridge that overhangs its lake once the site of Alba Longa, and towering boldly in the centre with a hundred towns and villas on its sides, it terminates in a point once crowned with the triumphal temple of Jupiter Latialis. Turning eastward we beheld the Tiburtine hills, with Tibur reclining on their side; and behind, still more to the east, the Sabine mountains enclosed by the Apennines, which at the varying distance of from forty to sixty miles swept round to the east and north, forming an immense and bold boundary of snow. The Montes Cimini (the Ciminian Moun- tains), and several lesser hills, diverging from the great parent ridge the Pater Apenninus (Father Apennine), continue the chain till it nearly reaches the sea and forms a perfect theatre. Mount Soracte thirty miles to the north, lifts his head, an insulated and striking feature. While the Tiber enriched by numberless rivers and streamlets, intersects the immense plain ; and bathing the temples and palaces of Rome, rolls like the Po a current unex- hausted even during the scorching heats of summer. The tract now expanded before us was the country of the Etru- rians, Veientes, Rutuli, Falisci, Latins, Sabines, Volsci, iEqui, and Hernici, and of course the scene of the wars and the exertions, of the victories and the triumphs of infant Rome, during a period of nearly four hundred years of her history ; an interesting period, when she possessed and exercised every generous virtue, and esta- blished on the basis of justice, wisdom, and fortitude, the founda- tions of her future empire. As the traveller looks towards the re- gions once inhabited by these well-known tribes, many an illustrious name, and many a noble achievement, must rise in his memory, reviving at the same time the recollection of early studies and of boyish amusements, and blending the friendships of youth with the memorials of ancient greatness. The day was cloudless, the beams of the sun played over the landscape; hues of light blue intermingled with dark shades deepen- ing as they retired, chequered the mountains. A line of shining snow marked the distant Apennines, and a vault of the purest and brightest azure covered the glorious scene! We passed a long and delightful morning in its contemplation. The following day was employed in wandering over the city at large, and taking a cursory view of some of its principal streets, squares, buildings and monuments. This we did to satisfy the first cravings of curiosity, intending to proceed at our leisure to the examination of each object in detail . 1 1 I think it necessary to repeat here, what I declared in the preliminary dis- course, that it is not my intention to give a particular account of ruins, churches, buildings, statues, or pictures, etc. This belongs rather to guides and Ciceroni , and may be found in numberless works written professedly for the information of 156 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. X. ANCIENT ROME. >* ;. I THE CAPITOL. After having thus gratified ourselves with a general and some se- lect views, and formed a tolerably accurate idea of the most striking features of Rome, we proceeded on the fourth day, through the Via Lata (the Broad Way), now II Corso , through “ streets of pa- laces and walks of state,” to the Capitoline Hill. Every school- boy has read with delight Virgil’s short, but splendid description of this hill, then a silvan scene of dark forest and craggy rock, though destined one day to become the seat of regal opulence and of uni- versal empire. Hinc ad Tarpciam sedem, et Capitolia ducit, Aurea nunc, olim sylvestribus horrida dumis. Jam turn rcligio pavidos tcrrebat agrestes Dira loci : jam turn sylvam saxumque tremebant. Hoc nemus, hunc, inquit, frondoso vertice collem, (Quis Dcus, incertum est) habitat Deus. Arcades ipsum Credunt se vidisse Jovem : cum saepe nigrantem iEgida concuteret dextra, nirnbosque cieret.i sEneid. viii. 347. Every circumstance that could dignify and consecrate the spot, and prepare it for its grand destiny, is here collected and gradually expanded ; while a certain awful obscurity hangs over the whole, and augments the magnitude of the object thus dimly presented to the fancy. The traveller, however sensible he may suppose him- travellers on such heads. My wish is to lay before the reader an account of the observations which we made, and of the classical recollections which occurred to us, w hile we traced the remains of ancient grandeur. We began this examination by visiting in order the seven hills. We then proceeded to the Vatican and Pin- cian mounts, ranged over the Campus Martius, and along the banks of the Tiber; then wandered through the villas, both within and without the city; and finally explored the churches, monuments, tombs, hills, and fields, in its immediate neigh- borhood. This method I recommend as being more easy and more natural than the usual mode of visiting the city, according to its “ Rioni ” (regiones) or allotting a certain portion of it to each day; by which mode the traveller is obliged to pass rapidly from ancient monuments to modern edifices; from palaces to churches; from galleries to gardens; and thus to load his mind with a heap of unconnected ideas and crude observations. By the former process w e keep each object distinct, and take it in a separate view ; we first contemplate ancient then visit modern Rome, and pass from the palaces of the profane, to the temples of the sacred city. Thence lo the steep Tarpeian rock he leads, ISow roof'd with gold ; then thatch’d with homely reeds. A rev’rent fear (such superstition reigns Among the rude) ev’n then possest the swains. Some God, they knew 7 , what God, they could uot tell, ©id there amidst the sacred horror dwell. Th’ Arcadians thought him Jove, and said they saw The mighty Thund'rer with majestic awe, Who shook his shield, and dealt his bolts around. And scatter’d tempests on the teeming ground.— Dryden. Chap. X, THROUGH ITALY. 157 self to have been of the beauties of this description before, ima- gines that he feels its full force for the first time as he ascends the acclivity of the Capitoline Mount. The Capitol was anciently both a fortress and a sanctuary. A fortress surrounded with precipices, bidding defiance to all the means of attack employed in ancient times; a sanctuary, crowded with altars and temples, the repository of the fatal oracles, the seat of the tutelar deities of the empire. Romulus began the grand work, by erecting the' temple of Jupiter Feretrius; Tarquinius Pris- cus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus continued, and the Consul Horatius Pul villus, a few years after the expulsion of the kings, completed it, with a solidity and magnificence, says Tacitus, which the riches of succeeding ages might adorn, but could not increase. It was burnt during the civil wars between Marius and Sylla, and rebuilt shortly after ; but again destroyed by fire in the dreadful contest that took place in the very Forum itself, and on the sides of the Capitoline Mount, between the partisans of Vitellius and Vespasian . 1 This event Tacitus laments, with the spirit and indignation of a Roman, as the greatest disaster that had ever be- fallen the city . 2 And, indeed, if we consider that the public ar- chives, and of course the most valuable records of its history were deposited there, we must allow that the catastrophe was peculiarly unfortunate, not to Rome only, but to the world at large. However, the Capitol rose once more from its ashes, with re- doubled splendor, and received from the munificence of Vespa- sian, and of Domitian his son, its last and most glorious embellish- ments. The edifices were probably in site and destination nearly the same as before the conflagration ; but more attention was paid to symmetry, to costliness, and above all, to grandeur and magni- ficence. The northern entrance led under a triumphal arch to the centre of the hill, and to the sacred grove the asylum opened by Romulus, and almost the cradle of Roman power. On the right on the eastern summit stood the temple of Jupiter Feretrius. On the left on the western summit, was that of Jupiter Custos (Jupiter 1 A. D. 69. a Id facinus post conditam Urbem luctuosissiinum foedissimumque populo Ro- mano aceidit : nullo externo hoste, propitiis, si per mores nostros liceret, diis, sedem Jovis, Jovis optimi maximi, auspicato a majoribus pignus imperii, conditam, quam non Porsena dedita Urbe, neque Galli capta, temerare potuissent, furore Principum exscindi ! “That was the most lamentable and most disgraceful disaster that ever hap- pened to the Roman people since the building of the city : that the temple of Jupiter, the Great and Good, that pledge of our empire, w hich was built by our ancestors under the happiest auspices, which neither Porsena had been able to violate when the city was surrendered, nor the Gauls when it was taken, should be destroyed, not by a foreign enemy, but by the fury of our own chiefs, while we enjoyed, if indeed our corrupt manners would permit us to enjoy, the favor and protection of the Gods.” 158 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. X. the Guardian) : near each of these temples were the fanes of infe- rior Divinities, that of Fortune, and that of Fides (Fidelity) alluded to by Cicero. In the midst, to crown the pyramid formed by such an assemblage of majestic edifices, rose the residence of the guar- dian of the empire, the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, on a hundred steps, supported by a hundred pillars, adorned with all the refine- ments of art, and blazing with the plunder of the world. In the centre of the temple, with Juno on his left, and Minerva on his right side, the Thunderer sat on a throne of gold, grasping the lightning in one hand, and in the other wielding the sceptre of the universe. Hither the consuls were conducted by the senate, to assume the military dress, and to implore the favor of the gods before they marched to battle. Hither the victorious generals used to repair in triumph, in order to suspend the spoils of conquered nations, to present captive monarchs, and to offer up hecatombs to Tar- peian Jove. Here, in cases of danger and distress, the senate was assembled, and the magistrates convened to deliberate in the pre- sence, and under the immediate influence, of the tutelar gods of Rome. Here the laws were exhibited to public inspection, as if under the sanction of the Divinity ; and here also they were depo- sited, as if intrusted to his guardian care. Hither Cicero turned his hands and eyes, when he closed his first oration against Catiline, with that noble address to Jupiter, presiding in the Capitol over the destinies of the empire, and dooming its enemies to destruc- tion. In the midst of these magnificent structures, of this wonderful display of art and opulence, stood for ages the humble straw- roofed palace of Romulus, a monument of primitive simplicity dear and venerable in the eyes of the Romans . 1 This cottage, it may easily be supposed, vanished in the first conflagration. But not the cottage only, the temples, the towers, the palaces also that once 1 Mars speaks in Ovid, as follows : Quae fuerit noslri si q user Is regia na'.l; Adspire de cauna straminibusque domum. In stipula placid i earpebat niunera somnl : Et (amen ex illo veuit in astra loro.— Ovid. Fast. Lib. iii. v. 183. Seek'st ‘.hoy (be palace of my noble boy? Lo I built of reeds and straw his low abode ; On straw he lay, sleep's blessings to enjoy: Yet tbence pursued to Heav'u bis glorious road. Romuleoque reccns horrebat regia culmo. Vtr. jEneid. Lib. viii. v. G54. Then Rome was poor, and there you might behold The palace, thatch’d with straw. Drydcn. Vitruvius speaks of the cottage of Romulus as existing in his time, that is, in the reign of Augustus. In Capilolio commune facere potest et significare mores ve- tustatis Romuli casa in arce sacrorum. — Lib. ii. “The cottage of Romulus in the Capitol, points out to us, and makes us ac- quainted with the manners of antiquity,” Chap. X, THROUGH ITALY. 159 surrounded it have disappeared. Of all the ancient glory of the Capitol, nothing now remains but the solid foundation, and 1 * vast substructions raised on the rock, Capitoli immobile saxum. * Not only is the Capitol fallen, but its very name, expressive of do- minion, and once fondly considered as an omen of empire, is now almost lost in the semi-barbarous appellation of Campidoglio. At present the Capitoline Mount is covered with buildings, far inferior, without doubt, to the imperial edifices above described, but yet grand both in their proportions and in their magnitude. The northern, still the principal entrance, is an easy ascent adorned with a marble balustrade, which commences below with two co- lossal lionesses of Egyptian porphyry, pouring a torrent of water into spacious basins of marble, and is terminated above by sta- tues of Castor and Pollux, each holding his horse. Here you enter the square, in the centre of which stands the well-known equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. In front, and on each side, are three palaces erected by Michael Angelo. The edifice before you, of bold elevation, adorned with Corinthian pilasters and with a lofty tower, is the residence of the senator. A double flight of marble steps leads to its portal. In the front of this staircase sits the genius of Rome, like Minerva armed with the iEgis, and lean- ing on her spear. The drapery is porphyry, the flesh marble. A fountain bursts forth at her feet. On her right the Tiber, on her left the Nile lay reclined, each on its urn. The French have car- ried off the two latter statues , 3 with some other ornaments of the Capitoline square. In the palace of the Senator, and in that of the Conservatori , are several halls and apartments, magnificent in their size and decorations. The Capitol is the nominal palace of the Roman people, the seat of their power, and the residence of their magistrates. The sta- tues and other antiques placed here by the popes, are dedicated in the names of the donors to the Roman people, and the inscrip- tions in peneral run in the ancient style. One in the palace of the Conservatori pleased me much : “ S. P. Q. Pi. majorum suorum prcvslanliam ut animo sic re quantum licuit , imilatus , deformatum in - 1 These walls on one side form the stables of the Senator, and on the other a dark gloomy chapel, said to have been originally the Tullianum, in which Cati- line’s associates were put to death. The criminal was let down into this dungeon by a hole in the vault, as there was anciently no other entrance; the modern door w r as opened through the side wall, when the place was converted into a chapel, in honor of St. Peter, who is supposed to have been confined in it. Notwithstanding the change, it has still a most appalling appearance. * Fix'd as the Capitol's foundation Ues.—Dryden. 3 These two statues are now restored to their place, 160 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. X. juriatemporum capitolium restituit ; anno post urbem conditam 2320.” 1 Nor is it unworthy of its destination; as the beauty of its archi- tecture, the magnitude of its apartments, the excellence of its paint- ings, and the prodigious number of statues and antiques with which it is decorated, give it a splendor unequalled in any other city, and only eclipsed even in Rome itself by the recollection of its former greatness. The Museum Capitolinum contains in several large rooms a most splendid collection of busts, statues, sarcophagi, etc. bestowed by different popes and illustrious personages on this magnificent ca- binet devoted to the use of the Roman people, or rather of the literary and curious of all nations. One of the most interesting objects in this collection is an ancient plan of Rome cut in marble, once the pavement of a temple in the Forum, and thence trans- ferred to the Capitol, where it lines the walls of one of the grand staircases of the Museum. But unfortunately it is not entire; if it were, we should have had a most perfect plan of ancient Rome, the streets, forums, temples, etc. being marked out in the most distinct manner. There are, moreover, in the palace of the Con - scrvatori, galleries of paintings, and halls appropriated to the use of young artists, where lectures are given, and drawings taken from life; premiums are also bestowed publicly in the grand hall in the Senator’s palace. In short, the Capitol is now consecrated, not to the tutelar gods of Rome, but to her arts, to the remains of her grandeur, to the monuments of her genius, and, I may add, to her titles, now the mere semblance of her ancient liberty. It is to be regretted that the highest and most conspicuous part of the Capitoline Mount should be occupied by a building so taste- less and deformed as the church and convent of Ara Coeli. The ascent from the plain below, by an hundred and twenty-four mar- ble steps, deserves a better termination than its miserable portal ; and the various ancient pillars of Egyptian granite, that adorn the nave of the church and the portico of the cloisters, furnish a suf- ficient quantity of the best materials for the erection and decoration of a very noble edifice. Anciently there were two ways from the Capitol to the Forum; both parted from the neighborhood of the Tabularium, and di- verging as they descended, terminated each in a triumphal arch ; that of Tiberius to the west, that of Severus to the east. Of these arches, the latter only remains. The two descents are steep and at present without any regular terminations. The traveller as he descends, stops to contemplate the three Corinthian pillars, with 1 The senate and people of Rome, imitating the virtues of their ancestors, not only in spirit, but as far as circumstances permitted, in their actions, restored the Capitol, defaced by the injuries of time, in the 2320th year of the building of the city. Chap. XI. THROUGH ITALY. Ifil their frieze and cornice that rise above the ruins, and preserve the memory of the temple of Jupiter Tonans, * erected by Augus- tus, as a monument of his preservation from a thunderbolt that fell near him. A little lower down on the right, stands the portico of the temple of Concord, built by Camillus, consisting of eight granite pillars, with capitals and entablature of irregular Ionic. * To account for this irregularity, it is to be remembered, that the edifices on the sides of the hill shared the fate of the Capitol, in the contest which took place between the parties of Vespasian and Vi- tellius, and were rebuilt shortly after by Titus and Domitian, and afterwards by Constantine. Hence the word “ reslitutum" (re- stored) in the inscription, and hence the want of regularity in some parts of such buildings as were monuments of republican Rome, and did not, perhaps, enjoy the favor of the emperors. The trium- phal arch of Septimus Severus is nearly half buried in the ground. CHAPTER XT. The Roman Forum-Coliseum— Palatine Mount— A ventine— Tomb of C. Cestius — Coelian— Saburra — Esquiline — Baths of Titus— Minerva Medica — Palace of M®cenas— Viminal— Quirinal— Baths of Dioclesian. The Roman Forum now lay extended before us, a scene in the ages of Roman greatness of unparalleled splendor and magnificence. It was bordered on both sides with temples, and lined with statues. It terminated in triumphal arches, and was bounded here by the Pa- latine hill, with the Imperial residence glittering on its summit, and there by the Capitol, with its ascending ranges of porticos and of temples. Thus it presented one of the richest exhibitions that eyes could behold, or human ingenuity invent. In the midst of these su- perb monuments, the memorials of their greatness, and the trophies of their fathers, the Roman people assembled to exercise their sove- reign power, and to decide the fates of heroes, of kings, and of nations. Nor did the conlemrlation of such glorious objects fail to pro- duce a corresponding effect. Manlius, as long as he could extend his arm, and fix the attention of the people on the Capitol which he had saved, suspended his fatal sentence . 1 2 3 Caius Gracchus melted the hearts of his audience, when in the moment of distress he pointed to the Capitol, and asked with all the emphasis of despair, whether he could expect to find an asylum in that sanctuary whose 1 Jupiter the Thunderer. 2 The cella of the real temple of Concord has been since excavated. 3 Liv. vi. 20. 1G2 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XL pavement still streamed with the blood of his brother.* Scipio Africanus, when accused by an envious faction, and obliged to appear before the people as a criminal, instead of answering the charge, turned to the Capitol, .and invited the assembly to accom- pany him to the temple of Jupiter, and give thanks to the gods for the defeat of Annibal and the Carthaginians . 1 2 Such, in fact, was the influence of locality, and such the awe, interest, and even emotion, inspired by the surrounding edifices. Hence the frequent refe- rences that we find in the Roman historians and orators to the Capitol, the Forum, the temples of the gods; and hence those no- ble addresses to the deities themselves, as present in their re- spective sanctuaries, and watching over the interests of their favored city: “ I ta prcesentes his iemporibus opera ct auxilium nobis lulerunt, ut eos pene oculis videre possimus ” 3 4 But the glories of the Forum are now fled for ever; its temples are fallen; its sanctuaries have crumbled into dust; its colonnades encumber its pavements now buried under their remains. The walls of the Rostra stripped of their ornaments and doomed to eternal silence, a few shattered porticos, and here and there an insulated column standing in the midst of broken shafts, vast frag- ments of marble capitals and cornices heaped together in masses, remind the traveller, that the field which he now traverses, was once the Roman Forum. A fountain fills a marble basin in the middle, the same possibly to which Propertius alludes when speaking of the Forum in the time of Tatius he says, Murus erant montes, ubi nunc est Curia septa, Bcllicus ex illo fonte bibebat equus.4 — Lib. iv. 4. A little farther on commences a double range of trees that leads along the Via Sacra (the Sacred Way] by the temples of Antoninus and of Peace to the arch of Titus. A herdsman seated on a pe- destal while his oxen were drinking at the fountain, and a few pas- sengers moving at a distance in different directions, were the only living beings that disturbed the silence and solitude which reigned around. Thus the place seemed restored to its original wildness described by Virgil , 5 and abandoned once more to flocks and herds 1 Cic. De Orat. lib. iii. cap. 56. 2 Liv. xxxviii. 51. i In these times they have been so manifestly present, alfording us succour and assistance, that we can almost see them with our eyes. Cic. in Cat. Or. iii. 8. 4 Where uow the Curia is enclo6’d t V The hills a native wall compos’d : And there a gushing fountain burst, At which the war-horse quench d his thirst. As this fountain is near the three pillars, w hich have occasioned so much discus- sion, we may draw a presumptive argument from these verses, that they formed part of the Curia. 5 , ...passimque armeuta videbant llomanoque loro et lautis mugire carinis. — /En. viii. 301 , Chap. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 1G3 of cattle. So far have the modern Romans forgotten the theatre of the glory and of the imperial power of their ancestors, as to degrade it into a common market for cattle, and sink its name il- lustrated by every page of Roman history into the contemptible appellation of Campo Vacc{no (the Cow Market). Proceeding along the Via Sacra and passing under the arch of Titus, on turning a little to the left, we beheld the amphitheatre of Vespasian and Titus, now ‘called the Coliseum. Never did human art present to the eye a fabric so well calculated, by its size and form, to surprise and delight. Let the spectator first place himself to the north and contemplate that side which depredation, bar- barism, and ages have spared ; he will behold with admiration its wonderful extent, well proportioned stories and flying lines, that retire and vanish without break or interruption. Next let him turn to the south, and examine those stupendous archs, which, stripped as they are of their external decorations, still astonish us by their solidity and duration. Then let him enter, range through the lofty arcades, and ascending the vaulted seats, consider the vast mass of ruin that surrounds him ; insulated walls, immense stones suspended in the air, arches covered with weeds and shrubs, vaults opening upon other ruins; in short, above, below, and around, one vast collection of magnificence and devastation, of grandeur and of decay. ' Need I inform the reader that this stupendous fabric, “Which on its public shows unpeopled Rome, And held uncrowded nations in its womb,” was erected by the above-mentioned emperors, out of part only of the materials, and on a portion of the site of Nero’s golden house, which had been demolished by order of Vespasian, as too sumptuous even for a Roman emperor. They view’d the ground of Home's litigilus hall ; Once oxen low’d, where now the lawyers bawl. * Martial prefers, perhaps with justice, this amphitheatre to all the prodigies of architecture known in his time. Barbara Pyramidurn silcat miracula Memphis : Assiduus jactet nec Babylona labor ; .... b Nec Trivia? teaiplo modes laudenlur I ones; Dissimuletque deuni cornibus ara frequens Aere nec vacuo peudeulia Mausolea Laudibus immodids Cares in astra feraut. Omnis Caesareo cedat labor amphitbeatro Onum pro cunctis lama loquatur opus.— De Sped. Eplg. t , Why sing the wonders of th’ ^Egyptian shore? Let far-fam’d Babylon be prais'd no more .... Let not Ionia vaunt Diana's fane ; Nor let the Carian town extol so high its Mausoleum, hanging in I he sky. In Caesar's amphitheatre are shown These rival glories all combin'd in one : Let Fame henceforth her clamrou; tongue confine To sing the beauties of that dome divine. CLASSICAL tour Chap. XL 164 The Coliseum owing to the solidity of its materials, survived the era of barbarism, and was so perfect in the thirteenth century, that games were exhibited in it, not for the amusement of the Romans only, but of all the nobility of Italy. The destruction of this won- derful fabric is to be ascribed to causes more active in general in the erection than in the demolition of magnificent buildings — to Taste and Vanity. When Rome began to revive, and architecture arose from its ruins, every rich and powerful citizen wished to have, not a com- modious dwelling merely, but a palace. The Coliseum was an im- mense quarry at hand ;the common people stole, the grandees ob- tained permission to carry off its materials, till the interior was dismantled, and the exterior half stripped of its ornaments. It is difficult to say where this system of depredation so sacrilegious in the opinion of the antiquary, would have stopped, had not Bene- dict XIV, a pontiff of great judgment, erected across in the centre of the arena, and declared the place sacred, out of respect to the blood of the many martyrs who were butchered there during the persecutions. This declaration, if issued two or three centuries ago, would have preserved the Coliseum entire ; it can now only protect its remains, and transmit them in their present state to pos- terity. We next returned to the Meta Sudans and passed under the arch of Constantine. I need not give a description of this species of edifice so well known to the reader; it will suffice to say, that the arch of Constantine is the only one that remains entire, with its pillars, statues, and basso relievos, all of the most beautiful mar- ble, and some of exquisite workmanship. They were taken from the arch of Trajan, which, it seems, was stripped, or probably de- molished, by order of the senate, for that purpose. It did not occur to them, it seems, that the achievements of Trajan and his conquests in Dacia, could have no connexion with the exertions of Constantine in Britain, or with his victory over the tyrant Maxen- tius. But taste was then on the decline, and propriety of ornament not always consulted. We then ascended the Palatine Mount, after having walked round its base in order to examine its bearings. This hill, the nursery of infant Rome, and finally the residence of imperial grandeur, pre- sents now two solitary villas and a convent, with their deserted gardens and vineyards. Its numerous temples, its palaces, its por- ticos and its libraries, once the glory of Rome, and the admiration of the universe, are now mere heaps of ruins, so shapeless and scattered, that the antiquary and architect are at a loss to discover their site, their plans, and their elevation. Of that w ing of the im- perial palace, which looked to the west, and on the Circus Maximus, some apartments remain vaulted and of fine proportions, but so deeply buried in ruins, as to be now subterranean. Chap. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 105 A hall of immense size was discovered about the beginning of the last century, concealed under the ruins of its own massive roof. The pillars of vertle anlico (antique green) that supported its vaults, the statues that ornamented its niches, and the rich marbles that formed its pavement, were found buried in rubbish ; and were immediately carried away by the Farnesian family, the proprietors of the soil, to adorn their palaces, and furnish their galleries. This hall is now cleared of its encumbrances, and presents to the eye a vast length of naked wall, and an area covered with weeds. As we stood contemplating its extent and proportions a fox started from an aperture, once a window, at one end, and crossing the open space scrambled up the ruins at the other, and disappeared in the rubbish. This scene of desolation reminded me of Ossian’s beautiful description, “ the thistle shook there its lonely head ;the moss whistled to the gale; the fox looked out from the windows; the rank grass waved round his head,” and almost seemed the accomplishment of that awful prediction, “ There the wild beasts of the desert shall lodge, and howling monsters shall fill the houses ; and wolves shall howl to one another in their palaces, and dragons in their voluptuous pavilions.” 1 The classic traveller as he ranges through the groves, which now shade the Palatine Mount, 2 will recollect the various passages 1 Lowthe’s Isaiah, xiii. v. 21. 22. a Let the reader now constrast this mass of ruin, with the splendors of the Palatine in Claudian’s time. Ecce Paiatino crevit reverentia monti Non aliura certe decuit rectoribus orbis Esse larem. nulloque mogi.s se colle potestas A!siimat,el summi sentit fastigia Juris. Attollens apicem subjectis regia roslris. Tot circum delubra videf, taulisque Deorum Cingitur excubiis. Jural infra tecta Touantis Cernere Tarpeia pendentes rupe Cigantes, Caelatasque fores, inediisque volantia signa Nubibus. et densum st pantibus cethera templis, dEraque vestitis numerosi) puppe coluranis Consita. subnixnsque jugis immanibus, aides, Naturam eumulante raanu; s oliisque micantes Innnmeros areus. Acies slupel igne inetalli. Et circurafuso trepidans obtundilur auro De Cons. vi. Honor . 35. To Palatine's high mount see homage flows! . . . . No other residence was ever made For those whose pow’rs the Universe pervade; Such noble dignity no bill displays Nor equal magnitude of empire sways. The lofty palace tow'ring to the sky. Beholds below the courts of justice lie : The num rous temples round, and ramparts strong, That to lb' immortal deities belong; The Thund'rers domes ; suspended giant race Upon the summit ofTarpeian space ; The sculptur'd doors, in air the banners spread: The num'rous tow rs that hide iu clouds their beud ; The columns girt with naval prows of brass ; The various buildings rais'd on terreous mass ; The works of Nature joining human toils. And arcs of triumph deck'd w ith splendid spoils. The glare of metal strikes upon the sight. And sparkJiDg gold o'orpow’rs with dazzling light. Hawkins' Translation. 166 CLASSICAL TOUR Cijap. XI. in which Virgil alludes to this bill, a scene of so much splendor in his days, but now nearly reduced to its original simplicity and loneliness. Like iEneas he will contemplate the interesting spot with delight, and review like him, though with very different feel- ings, the vestiges of heroes of old, “ virum monumenta priorum .” 1 Cum muros arcemque procul, ac rara domorum Tecta vident, qu* nunc Romana potentia coelo iEquavit : turn res inopes Evandrus habebat. 3 JEn. viii. 98. Miratur, facilesque oculos fert omnia circum iEneas, capiturque locis, et singula laetus Exquiritque auditque virum monumenta priorum. Turn Rex Evandrus, Romana? condilor arcis, ileec nemora indigen* Fauni nympha?que teucbant.3— 310. From the Palatine we passed to the Aventine Mount well known for the unpropitious augury of Remus, and at an earlier period for the residence of Cacus, and the victory of Hercules, both so well described by Virgil, Ter totum fervid us ira Lustrat Aventini montem; ter saxea tentat Lirnina nequicquam ; ter fessus valle resedit. Stabat acuta silix, praccisis undique saxis, Spclunc* dorso insurgens, altissima visu, Dirarum nidis domus opporluna volucrum.4 jEn. viii. 230. Here also stood the temple of Diana, erected in the joint names of all the Latin tribes, in imitation of the celebrated temple of that goddess at Ephesus built at the common expense of the cities of Asia. The erection of the temple of Diana at Rome by the Latins in the reign of Servius Tullius, that is, at a time when the Latins 1 The memorials of former heroes. . 3 When they from far beheld the rising tow’rs, The tops of sheds, and shepherds' lowly bow'rs, Thiu as they stood, which, then of homely clay. Now rise in marble, from the Roman sway. These cots, Evander’s kingdom, mean and poor. —Dry den. 5 The stranger cast around his curious eyes, New objects view ing still wilh new surprise. With greedy joy enquires of various things And acts and monuments of ancient kings; Then ttius the founder of the Roman tovvr’s : 1 ‘ These w T oods were first the seal of sylvan pow'rs, “ Of Nymphs and Fauns.” Dryden. 4 And here and there his raging eyes he roll’d, He gnash d his teeth, and thrice he compass'd round With winged speed the circuit of the ground. Thrice at the cavern's mouth he pull'd In vain; And panting, thrice desisted from his pain. A pointed, flinty rock, all bare and black. Crew gibbous from behind the mountain’s back. Owl's, ravens, all ill omens of (be nighl. Here built their nests, and hither wtng d their flight.'-.Orj/den. ClIAr. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 167 were independent and had frequently disputed with the Romans for pre-eminence, was considered as a tacit renunciation of their pretensions, and an acknowledgment that Rome was the centre and the capital of the Latin nation at large. The sacrifice of a cele- brated ox in this temple by a Roman, instead of a Sabine, was sup- posed to have decided the destiny of Rome, and to have fixed the seat of universal empire on its hills . 1 Of this temple, once so mag- nificent and so celebrated, no traces remain, not even a base, a fallen pillar, a shattered wall, to ascertain its situation, or furnish the antiquary with grounds for probable conjecture. The same may be said of the temple of Juno, of that of the IJea Rona, and of the numberless other stately edifices that rose on this hill. Some parts indeed are so deserted and so encumbered with ruins, as to answer the description Virgil gives of it when pointed out by Evander to his Trojan guest. Jam primum saxis suspensam hanc aspice rupem : Disjectae procul lit moles, desertaque montis Stat domus, et scopuli ingentem traxere ruinam. 2 JEn. viii. 190. The west side of the Aventine looks down on the Tiber and on the fields called Praii del Popolo Romano. 3 These meadows are planted with mulberry trees, and adorned by the pyramidal tomb of Caius Cestius. This ancient monument remains entire, an ad- vantage which it owes partly to its form well calculated to resist the influence of weather, and partly to its situation, as it is joined to the walls of the city, and forms part of the fortification. It stands on a basis about ninety feet square, and rises about a hun- dred and twenty in height. It is formed, at least externally, of large blocks of white marble : a door in the basis opens into a gallery terminating in a small room ornamented with paintings on the stucco, in regular compartments. In this chamber of the dead once stood a sarcophagus, that contained the remains of Cestius. At each corner on the outside there was a pillar once surmounted with a statue : two of these remain, or rather were restored, but without the ornament that crowned them anciently. It is probable that this edifice stands on an elevation of some steps, but the earth is too much raised to allow us to discover them at present. Its form is graceful, and its appearapce very picturesque : supported on either side by the ancient walls of Rome with their towers and galleries venerable in decay, half shaded by a few scattered trees, * Tit. Liv. i. 45. Valerius Maximus, vii. 3. a Sco from afar yon rock that mates the sky, About whose feet such heaps of rubbish lie. Such indigested ruin ; bleak and bare, flow desert now it stands, expos'd in air.— Dryden 3 The meadows of the Roman people. 1 168 {CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XL and looking down upon a hundred humbler tombs interspersed in the neighboring grove, it rises in lonely pomp, and seems to pre- side over these fields of silence and of mortality. When we first visited this solitary spot a flock of sheep was dispersed through the grove, nibbling the grass over the graves; the tombs rose around in various forms of sepulchral stones, urns, and sarcophagi, some standing in good repair, others fallen and mouldering half buried in the high grass that waved over them ; the monument of Cestius stood on the back ground in perspective, and formed the principal feature of the picture; and a painter seated on a tomb-stone, was employed in taking a view of the scene. None but foreigners excluded by their religion from the cemeteries of the country, are deposited here, and of these fo- reigners, several were English. The far greater part had been cut off in their prime, by unexpected disease or by fatal accident. What a scene for a traveller far remote from home and liable to similar disasters! Turning from these fields of death, these 44 lugentes campi ” 1 and repassing the Aventine hill, we came to the baths of Antoninus Caracalla, that occupy part of its declivity and a considerable por- tion of the plain between it, Mons Coeliolus, and Mons Coelius. No monument of ancient architecture is calculated to inspire such an exalted idea of Roman magnificence, as the ruins of their thermae or baths. Many remain in a greater or less degree of preservation; such as those of Titus, Diocletian, and Caracalla. To give the untravelled reader some notion of these prodigious piles, I will confine my observations to the latter, as the greatest in extent, and as the best preserved ; for though it be entirely stript of its pillars, statues, and ornaments, both internal and ex- ternal, yet its walls still stand, and its constituent parts and princi- pal apartments are evidently distinguishable. The length of the Thermae of Caracalla was one thousand eight hundred and forty feet, its breadth one thousand four hundred and seventy-six. At each end were two temples, one to Apollo, and another to Aesculapius, as the “ Genii tuielares,” of a place sacred to the improvement of the mind, and to the care of the body. The two other temples were dedicated to the two protecting divi- nities of the Antonine family, Hercules and Bacchus. In the princi- pal building were, in the first place, a grand circular vestibule with four halls on each side, for cold, tepid, warm, and steam baths ; in the centre was an immense square, for exercise when the weather was unfavorable to it in the .open air; beyond it a great hall, where sixteen hundred marble seats were placed for the convenience of the bathers; at each end of this hall were libraries. This building terminated on both sides in a court sur- * The mournful fields.— Drydcn. Chap. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 169 rounded with porticos, with an odeum for music, and in the middle a capacious basin for swimming. Round this edifice were walks shaded by rows of trees, particularly the plane ; and in its front extended a gymnasium for running, wrestling, etc. in fine weather. The whole was bounded by a vast portico opening into exedrae or spacious halls, where poets declaimed and philosophers gave lectures. This immense fabric was adorned within and without with pillars, stucco-work, paintings, and statues. The stucco and painting, though faintly indeed, are yet in many places per- ceptible. Pillars have been dug up, and some still remain amidst the ruins; while the Farnesian bull, and the famous Hercules found in one of these halls, announce the multiplicity and beauty of the statues w'hich once adorned the Thermae (Baths) of Caracalla. The flues and reservoirs for water still remain. The height of the pile was proportioned to its extent, and still appears very considerable, even though the ground be raised at least twelve feet above its ancient level. It is now changed into gardens and vineyards : its high massive walls form separations, and its limy ruins spread over the surface, burn the soil, and check its natural fertility. From these Thermae, we crossed the Vallis Coelimontana and as- cended the Coelian Mount. Many shapeless ruins that bewilder antiquaries in a maze of conjectures, are strewed over the surface of this hill. One object only merits particular attention, and that is the church of S. Slephano in rolondo, so called from its circular form, admitted by all to bean ancient temple, though there is much doubt as to the name of its tutelar god. Some suppose it to have been dedicated to the emperor Claudius, a leaden divinity not likely either to awe or to delight his votaries ; while others con- ceive it to have been the sanctuary of the most sportive of the rural powers, of Faunus, “ Nympliarum fugientum amator.” 1 On this conjecture the imagination reposes with complacency. Its circular walls are supported by a double range of Ionic pillars of granite, to the number of sixty, and it derives from such an as- semblage of columns, a certain air of grandeur, though in other respects it is much disfigured, and at present much neglected. This latter circumstance seems extraordinary, as it is one of the most ancient churches in Rome, having been consecrated as such by Pope Simplicius in the year 468 ; and as it gives title to a Cardinal deacon, a privilege which generally secures to a church endowed with it, the attention and munificent partiality of the titular prelate. Descending the Coelian hill, we crossed the Suburra once the abode of the great and opulent Romans, now two long streets lined with dead walls, and covered with a few straggling houses and * Who with eager flame f ursues the nymphs, his flying game.- Francis. 170 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XI. solitary convents. Proceeding over tbeEsquiline Mount wo stopped at the baths of Titus, an edifice once of unusual extent and magnifi- cence, though on a smaller scale than the Thermae of Caracalla. Part of the theatre of one of the temples and of onre of the great halls still remains above, and many vaults, long galleries, and spacious ruins underground. Some of these subterraneous apartments were curi- ously painted, and such is the firmness and consistency of the colors that, notwithstanding the dampness of the place, the lapse of so many ages, and the earth which has filled the vaults for so long a time, they still retain much of their original freshness. Many of the figures are scratched on the plaster, and supposed to have been so ori- ginally to imitate basso relievo; but upon a close examination the little nails which fastened the gold, silver, or bronze, that covered these figures are perceptible, and seem to prove that they were all originally coaled over in a similar manner. Many of the paint- ings are arabesques ; a fanciful style of ornament observed and reprobated as unnatural and ill-proportioned by Vitruvius, 1 but revived and imitated by Raffael. Titus’s baths are, as 1 have observed before, inferior in extent to those of Caracalla and Diocletian ; but erected at a period when the arts still preserved their primeval perfection, they must have surpassed all later edifices of the kind in symmetry, decoration, and furniture. Every person of taste must therefore lament that they are not cleared and opened ; the famous groupe of Laocoon was found in an excavation made there not many years ago, and se- veral pillars of granite, alabaster, and porphyry have since been discovered in various partial researches. What precious remnants of ancient art and magnificence might we find, if all the streets of this subterraneous city (fo.r so these therma i may be called) were opened, and its recesses explored ! At present the curious visitor walks over heaps of rubbish so high as almost to touch the vault, so uneven as to require all his attention at every step ; and whilst he examines the painted walls by the faint glare of a taper, he is soon obliged by the closeness of the air to retire contented With a few cursory observations. To these baths belong the Sette Sale , seven halls, or vast vaulted rooms of one hundred feet in length by fifteen in breadth and twenty in depth, intended originally as reser- voirs to supply the baths, and occasionally the Coliseum with water when naval engagements were represented. Besides the baths of Titus several other vaulted subterraneous apartments, halls, and galleries, ornamented in the same style and with the same magnificence, have been discovered at different times on the same hill. They are supposed to have been parts of the same Thermae, or perhaps belonging to some of the many palaces that were once crowded together in this neighborhood. * Lib. vii. cap. 5. Chap. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 171 Towards (lie extremity of the Esquiline and not far from the Porta Maggiore , in a vineyard, stands a ruined edifice called the Temple of Minerva Medica (the healing Minerva), though it is sup- posed by some to have been a bath. Its form circular without, is a polygon within ; its arched roof swells into a bold dome; in its sides kre nine niches for so many statues ; the entrance occupies the place of the tenth. Many beautiful statues were found in the grounds that border it, among others that of Minerva with a ser- pent, an emblem of Aesculapius, twined round her legs, a circum- stance which occasioned the conjecture that this structure was a temple of that goddess. It seems to have been surrounded with a portico, cased with marble, and highly decorated. Nothing now remains but the walls, the vaulted roof in some places shattered, and on the whole a mass that daily threatens ruin. In the same vineyard are various subterranean vaulted apart- ments, some more some less ornamented, the receptacles of the dead of various families, whose ashes consigned to little earthen- ware urns remain in their places, inscribed with a name and an ex- clamation of sorrow. Anciently indeed, a considerable part of the Esquiline was devoted to the plebeian dead whose bodies were sometimes burnt here, and sometimes I believe thrown into ditches or graves uncovered : a circumstance to which Horace seems to allude when he represents it as the resort of beasts and birds of prey. Insepultura membra diflerant lupi Et Esquilina? alites. * Bor. Ej)od. Od. v. 101. To remove such funereal objects, and to purify the air, Augustus made a present of the ground so employed to Maecenas, who covered it with gardens and groves and erected on its summit a palace. The elevation of this edifice and its extensive views are alluded to by the same poet, when pressing his friend to descend from his pompous residence and visit his humble roof, he says, Eripe te mor*; Ne semper udum Tibur et iEsuIae Declive contempleris arvum, et Telegoni juga parricid®. Fastidiosarn desere copiam, et Molern propinquam nubibus arduis : Omitte mirari beata; Fumum et opes strepitumque Roma?, a Carm . iii. 29. Then beasts of prey, and birds of air Shall your unburied members tear.— Frances. * From the delights, oh ! break away, W hich Tibur s marshy prospect yields, Nor with unceasing joy .survey Fair Alsula’s declining fields; 172 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XI. From the top of this palace, or from a tower in a garden, Nero contemplated and enjoyed the dreadful spectacle of Rome in flames.* The precise site of this palace and its towers, and of the gardens surrounding, has never been ascertained in a satisfactory manner ; statues and paintings have been discovered in profusion in various parts of this hill ; but numberless were the temples and palaces that rose on all sides, and to which such ornaments belonged, it would be difficult to determine. Near the palace of his patron Maecenas, Virgil is said to have had a house ; but the retired temper of this poet, and his fondness for a country life, seem to render ex- tremely improbable a report, which I believe rests solely on the authority of Donatas. From the Esquiline hill we passed to that elevated site, which as it advances westward branches into the Viminal and Quirinal hills. On it stands one of the grandest remains of ancient splendor, a considerable portion of the baths of Diocletian, now converted into a convent of Carthusians. The principal hall is the church, and though four of the side recesses are filled up, and the two middle ones somewhat altered ; though its pavement has been raised about six feet to remove the dampness, and of course its proportions have been changed, yet it retains its length, its pillars, its cross-ribbed vault, and much of its original grandeur. It was paved and in- crusted with the finest marble by Benedict XIV. who carried into execution the plan drawn up originally by Michael Angelo, when it was first changed into a church. It is supported by eight pillars forty feet in height and five in diameter, each of one vast piece of granite. The raising of the pavement, by taking six feet from the height of these pillars, has destroyed their proportion, and given them a very massive appearance. The length of the hall is three hundred and fifty feet, its breadth eighty, and its height ninety-six. Notwithstanding its magnificence, the mixture of Corinthian and composite capitals shews how much the genuine taste of architec- ture was on the decline in the time of Diocletian. The vestibulum or entrance into this church, is a beautiful rotunda, consecrated by the monuments of Carlo Maratti and Salvator Rosa . The cloister deserves attention : it forms a large square supported by a hundred pillars. In the centre, four towering cypresses shade a fountain that pours a perpetual supply of the purest water into an immense marble basin, and forms a scene of delicious freshness and antique rural luxury. No more tbe verdant bills admire Of Telegon who kill'd bis aged sire. Instant forsake tbe joyless feast. Where appetite in surfeit dies. And from tbe tower'd structure haste. That proudly threatens to the skies ; From Rome and its tumultuous joys. Its crowds, and smoke, and opulence, and noise.— I'runcis. i Suetonius, Nero, 38. / Chap. XI. THROUGH ITALY. 173 The Viminal hill has no remnant of ancient magnificence to arrest the traveller in his progress to the Quirinal once adorned with the temple of Quirinus, whence it derived its name. Tims Livius and Ovid both relate the Apotheosis of Romulus ; the historian in his sublime manner — the poet in his usual easy graceful style. “ Ro- mulus, ” says Proculus in the former, “ parens urbis liujus, prima hodierna luce coelo repente delapsus, se mihi obvium dedit. Quum perfusus horrore venerabundusque astilissem petens precibus ut contra intueri fas esset. Abi, inquit, nuncia Romanis, coelestes ita Telle ut mea Roma caput orbis terrarum sit; proinde rem militarem colant, sciantque, et ita posteris tradant^ nullas opes humanas armis Romanis resistere posse. Haec, inquit, locutus, sublimis abut.” 1 Puleher et humano major, trabeAque decorus Romulus in media visus adesse viA Thura feranl, placentque novum pia lurba Quirinum Et palrias artes, mililiamque colant Templa Deo fiunt. Collis quoque dictus ab illo : Et referunt certi sacra paterna dies. 2 3 Ovid. Fast. lib. ii. 503. We may easily suppose that a temple dedicated to the founder and tutelar divinity of Rome, must have been a structure of unusual magnificence, and we find accordingly that a noble flight of marble steps conducted to its portal, and that it was supported by seventy- six lofty columns. It stood on the brow of the hill that looks towards the Viminal, and in such a site, and with such a colonnade, it must have made a most majestic and splendid appearance. On the opposite side and commanding the Campus Martins, rose the temple of the Sun erected by Aurelian, and almost equal in gran- deur and decorations to the palace of this deity described by Ovid, “ sublimibus alta columnist 3 In fact the pillars that supported its portal must have been, if we may judge by a fragment remaining in the Colonna garden, near seventy feet in height; and as they were 1 Romulus, the founder of this city, this morning at dawn of day suddenly de- scended from heaven, and stood before me. “ Go,” said he, “ tell the Romans that it is the will of the gods that my Rome should be the capital of the world : Let them therefore cultivate the art of war, and let them know, and transmit the knowledge to their posterity, that no human power shall be able to resist the Roman arms.” Having thus spoken, he mounted into the skies, and disappeared. — Liv. i. 16. * Surpassing human beauly, human size. Cloth <1 iu his kingly garb, before my eyes Rome's awful founder stood “ naste. bid my sons their duteous incense bring, “Aud own their heav’nly patrou, once their king. “ Be war their native art." To great Quirinus then a temple fam'd Rear’d its high head ; from him a hill was nam'd, Aud festal days, prescrib’d for rites sublime, Transmit his mein'ry to succeeding time. 3 Sublime with lofty columns. m CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XII. with the whole of their entablature of the whitest marble and of the richest order (the Corinthian) they must have exhibited a most dazzling spectacle worthy of the glory of “the far beaming god of day.” But not a tr^ce of either of these edifices remains ; their massive pillars have long since fallen, and the only remnant of the latter is a block of white marble, and a part of the entablature; and of the former, the flight of marble steps that now leads to the church of Am Codi in the Capitol. From the Quirinal we passed to the Monte Plncio anciently with- out the city, and called, “ Collis hortulorum ; ” 1 because covered then as now, with villas and suburban gardens. Pompey, Sallust, and at a later period the Emperors, delighted in the rural airy re- treat of this hill, high and commanding extensive views- on all sides. CHAPTER XII. Campus Martius, its Edifices— Mausoleum of Augustus— Pantheon— Columna Trajana— Bridges— Circus— Causes of the Destruction of ancient Edifices. From the hills we descended to the Campus Martius, in the early ages of the Republic an open field devoted to military exercises, and well calculated for that purpose by its level grassy surface, and the neighborhood of the river winding along its border. In process of time some edifices of public utility were erected upon it; but their number was small during the Republic; while under the Emperors they were increased to such a degree, that the Campus Martius became another city, composed of theatres, porticos, baths, and temples. These edifices were not only magnificent in them- selves, but surrounded with groves and walks, and arranged with a due regard to perspective beauty. Such is the idea which we must naturally form of buildings erected by Consuls and Emperors, each endeavoring to rival or surpass his predecessor in magnificence ; and such is the description which Strabo gives of the Campus in his time, that is, nearly in the time of its greatest g'ory. This superb theatre of glorious edifices, when beheld from the Janiculum, bor- dered in front by the Tiber, and closed behind by the Capitol, the Viminal, the Quirinal, and the Pincian hills, with temples, palaces, and gardens lining their sides, and swelling from their summits, must have formed a picture of astonishing beauty, splendor, and variety, and have justified the proud appellation so often bestowed on Rome “of the temple and abode of the gods.” But of all the pompous i The hill of gardens, Chap. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 175 fabrics that formed this assemblage of wonders how few remain ! and of the remaining few how small the number of those which retain any features of their ancient majesty ! Among these latter can hardly be reckoned Augustus’s tomb, the xast vaults and sub- structions of which indeed exist, but its pyramidal form and pillars are no more; or Marcellus’s theatre half buried under the super- structure raised upon its vaulted galleries; or the portico ofOctavia lost with its surviving arch and a few shattered pillars in the Pcs - cheria. Of such surviving edifices the principal indeed is the Pan- theon itself. The Pantheon, it is true, retains its majestic portico, and pre- sents its graceful dome uninjured : the pavement laid by Agrippa, and trodden by Augustus, still forms its floor; the compartments and fluted pillars of the richest marble that originally lined its walls, still adorn its inward circumference ; the deep tints that age has thrown over it only contribute to raise its dignity, and augment our veneration ; and the traveller enters its portal, through which twice twenty generations have flowed in succession, with a mixture of awe and religious veneration. Yet the Pantheon itself has been “ shorn of its beams, ” and looks eclipsed through the “ disastrous twilight” of eighteen centuries. Where is now its proud elevation, and the flight of steps that conducted to its threshold? Where the marbles that clothed, or the handmaid edifices that concealed its brick exterior? Were the statues that graced its cornice? The bronze that blazed on its dome, that vaulted its portico, and formed its sculp- tured doors ; and where the silver that lined the compartments of its roof within, and dazzled the spectator with its brightness? The ra- pacity of Genseric began, the avarice of succeeding barbarians continued, to strip it of these splendid decorations; and time, by levelling many a noble structure in its neighborhood, has raised the pavement, and deprived it of all the advantages of situation. The two celebrated pillars of Antoninus and Trajan stand each in its square; but they also have lost several feet of their original elevation ; and the colonnade or portico that enclosed the latter, supposed to be the noblest structure of the kind ever erected, has long since sunk in the dust, and its ruins probably lie buried under the foundations of the neighboring houses. Seven bridges formerly conducted over the Tiber to the Janicu- lum and the Vatican Mount : of these the most remarkable were the first, the Pons Elius; and the last, the Pons Sublicius : the former erected by Adrian, opened a grand communication from the Cam- pus Martius to his mausoleum. It remains under the appellation of Ponte S. Amjelo; the statues that adorned its balustrade, disappeared at an early period, and have since been replaced by statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of several angels executed by eminent mas- ters, and considered beautiful. The ancient statues were probably thrown into the Tiber, and may at some future period emerge from 176 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. YII. its channel. The Pons Sublicius lay much lower, and formed a passage from the Aventine Mount to the Janiculum. Though conse- crated by its antiquity, for it was the first bridge built at Rome, and still more by the heroic exertions of Horatius Codes, it has long since fallen, and only some slight traces of foundations or abut- ments remain on the Pupa Grande , to mark the spot where it once stood. Two others, the Pons Triumphalis and Pons Senatorius, have shared the same fate. The reader will probably expect an account of the various theatres and circusses that rose in every quarter of the city, and furnished perpetual occupation to the degenerate Romans of later times, who confined their ambition to the pittance of bread and the public amusement of the day : and he will feel some disappointment when he learns, that scarce a trace remains of such immense struc- tures, that in general their very foundations have vanished, and that the Circus Maximus itself, though capable of containing half the population of Rome within its vast embrace, is erased from the surface of the earth, and has left no vestige of its existence, except- ing the hollow scooped out in the Aventine Valley for its foun- dations. It may be asked how the edifices just alluded to, and a thousand others equally calculated to resist the depredations of time and the usual means of artificial destruction, should have thus sunk into utter annihilation? May we not, adopt the language of poetry? # ' Some felt the silent stroke of mould’ring age. Some hostile fury, some religious rage. Barbarian blindness, Christian zeal conspire. And Papal piety , and Gothic fire: Pope's Epistle to Addison . These verses contain a very comprehensive scale of destruction; five causes sufficient to compass and explain the widest range of devastation, and annihilate the most solid fabrics that human skill can erect, even the pyramids themselves. Yet upon impartial exa- mination we shall find that the fury of enemies, and the zeal of Christians, the piety of popes, and the fires kindled by the Goths, have not been the sole or even the principal agents in the work of devastation ; and that other causes less observable because slower, but equally effectual in their operations, have produced the wide extended scene of ruin which we have just traversed. To begin therefore with the first cause, hostile fury : it is to be recollected that the barbarians who took and sacked Rome, such as Alaric and Genseric, had plunder and profit, not destruction, in view ; and that they warred with the power and the opulence, not with the taste and the edifices of the Romans. Gold and silver, brass and precious stones, cloth and articles of apparel, with fur- Chap. XfT. THROUGH ITALY. 177 niture of every sort, were the objects of their rapacity; the persons also of the unfortunate Romans, whom they could either sell or employ as slaves, were considered a valuable part of their booty; in collecting the former, and securing the latter, their attention was fully occupied, nor had they leisure, supposing that they had the inclination, during the short space of time they occupied the city (confined to six days the first and fourteen the second time the city was taken) to demolish, or even very materially to disfigure the solidity of the public edifices. The massive roof of the Capitol formed of brass, and it seems lined with gold, and the bronze cover- ing and sculptured portals of the Pantheon, were torn from their respective temples by Genseric; but the edifices themselves were spared, and the latter still remains to shew how little damage its essential form suffered in the disaster. As for the destructive effects of Gothic fire, they seem to have been confined to a few palaces and private houses ; and so partial was the mischief, that only one edifice of any note, the palace of Sallust, is mentioned as having been consumed on this occasion. Religious rage, or Christian zeal, two expressions meaning the same thing, are frequently introduced by authors of a certain mode of thinking, as agents unusually active in the work of destruction; while Papal piety is represented as the presiding demon who directed their operations, and quickened their natural activity. The fact, however, is otherwise; we do not find that any one temple in Rome was destroyed by the Christians, either tumultuously, or legally, that is, by imperial orders ; on the contrary, such was the respect which the Christian emperors paid even to the prejudices of the Romans, that idols proscribed in the provinces, were still tolerated in the capital, and allowed to occupy their rich shrines, and sit enthroned in their deserted temples. In the pillage of Rome by the Goths and Vandals, these statues, when of precious materials, such as gold, silver, or brass, were not spared ; but the shrine only, or perhaps the furniture and decorations of the temple of similar ma- terials, and of course equally calculated to attract the hand of ra- pacity, were violated; while the edifices themselves, without, I believe, one exception, were respected. The influence of papal piety was employed to preserve these buildings, and if possible, to consecrate them to the pure mysteries of Christian adoration; and to it we owe the few temples that have survived the general ruin, such as the temple of Vesta, that of Faunus, that of Fortuna Virilis, and last, though first in estimation and grandeur, the Pantheon itself. Having thus rejected as fabulous or inefficient the causes pro- duced by the poet, and admitted by ignorance and prejudice with little or no examination ; it is necessary, and not difficult to sub- stitute in their place, the real agents that effected the degradation, and finally, the destruction of the noblest city that the world had ever beheld. i. 12 178 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XII. Under the auspicious government of Trajan, the empire of Rome had reached the utmost extent of its destined limits; and Rome herself had attained the full perfection of her beauty, and the highest degree of her magnificence. During the virtuous administration of the Antonines, that is, during the space of nearly a century, this state of prosperity and glory continued unaltered till the tyranny of Commodus revived the memory and the disasters of the reigns of Caligula, Nero, and Domitian, and ended, like them, in assassina- tion, civil war. and revolution. From the portentous aera of the death of Pertinax, Rome ceased to be the fixed and habitual resi- dence of her emperors, who were generally employed in the field, either in repressing rebellious usurpers, or in repelling foreign enemies. Still they occasionally returned to celebrate festive games, to receive the homage of the Senate and Roman people, or perhaps to ascend in triumph to the Capitol, and to worship the tutelar deities of the empire. From the accession of Diocletian, these visits became less frequent, and while the Mistress of the world was neglected by her half-barbarian emperors, the handmaid cities of the provinces, Thessalonica, Nicomedia, Antioch, Milan, and Ravenna, enjoyed the honor and the advantages of their resi- dence. Though Rome was still the acknowledged capital of the world, and though her population and her riches were unbounded, yet the arts, no longer encouraged or employed by the sovereign, lan- guished. Taste was on the decline, and the great masterpieces (edifices, statues, painting) that adorned the city, monuments of the genius and magnificence of happier periods, were passed by unnoticed, and gradually neglected. We cannot suppose that a people who had lost their taste and spirit, or that Emperors oc- cupied in remote provinces with the intrigues of competition, or with the dangers of war, were disposed to furnish the sums requi- site to repair and to maintain buildings, which they scarcely knew, or probably beheld with indifference. We may therefore fairly conclude, that, at the beginning of the reign of Constantine, some, perhaps several, public edifices must have suffered from neglect; and when we behold the triumphal arch of Trajan destroyed by order of the senate, to furnish materials for the erection of a similar trophy in honor of the former Emperor, we may fairly infer that such edifices were considered as scarcely worth preser- vation, and that they were indebted for their duration to their own solidity. Among the causes of ruin we may therefore savely rank the in- difference and the neglect of government ; nay, we have even some reason to suspect that the Emperors not only neglected the repa- ration, but sometimes hastened the fall of public structures. Each sovereign was ambitious of distinguishing his reign by some mag- nificent fabric, by erecting baths or a circus, a portico or a forum; Chap. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 179 but it is to be feared that they were not always delicate as to the places whence the materials were taken, and sometimes stripped the monuments of their predecessors of their ornaments, in order to employ them in the decoration of their new edifices. Certain it is that some emperorS, while they were adding to the splendor of the city on one side, made no difficulty of plundering it on the other. Moreover, as the number of Christians increased, the temples became deserted ; and Christian princes, though not obliged by their religion to destroy, did not, perhaps, consider themselves as authorized in conscience to repair the sanctuaries of idolatrous worship . 1 When Rome ceased to be free, and lost even the forms of re- publican liberty, the forum (the seat of popular deliberations) be- came useless, and the five or six superb squares that bore that ap- pellation, were turned into so many lonely walks. The various curice (the superb palaces of the senate) so necessary in the days of Roman freedom, when almost the whole of the civilized world was governed by the wisdom of that venerable body, stood silent and unfrequented under the later Emperors, when public delibera- tion was a mere form, and the senate itself an empty shadow. The basilicce, indeed (the halls where the magistrates sat to administer justice) might still collect a crowd, and challenge attention • but as the population of the city decreased, their numbers appeared too great, and the emperors seemed to embrace with readiness every opportunity of turning them to other purposes. These three sorts of edifices may be supposed, therefore, to have fallen into decay at an early period, and to have mouldered imperceptibly into dust, even though no active power was employed to hasten their dissolu- tion. Of the several curiw, not one has escaped destruction, and the reader will learn with regret, that time has swept away the very vestiges of these celebrated seats of liberty, wisdom, and of public dignity. Some few temples remain, which, after they had long been aban- doned both by their deities and their votaries, are indebted for their existence to “ Christian zeal and Papal piety,’’ which saved them from complete ruin by turning them into churches. We may lament that more of these beautiful edifices were not destined to partake of this advantage; and particularly that the magnificent temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was not of the number ; especially as 1 We may conjecture from an ancient inscription, how much Rome was en- cumbered with ruins even in the age of Honorius. s. p. q. r. ihipp. caess. dd. NN. INVICTISSIMIS. PIUISCIPIBUS. ARCADIO. ET. IIOXORO. VICTORIBUS. AC. TRIUM- PH ATORI BUS. SEMPER. AUGG OB. INSTAURATOROS. URBI. AETERNAi. MUROS. POR- TAS. AC. TURRES EGESTIS. IMMENS1S. RUDERIBUS, etc., etC., Apud. Grut. The Senate and People of Rome to the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, ( here follow their titles ) for renewing the walls, gates, and towers of the Eternal City, from which immense heaps of rubbish were removed, etc., etc. 180 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XII. it survived the taking of the city, and stood, as to its walls, unim- paired in the time of Theodoric. But in the first place, the Chris- tians do not seem to have taken possession of any temple, at least tin Rome, where the Emperors treated the ancient religion of the Empire with peculiar delicacy, till the total downfal of idolatry, and the complete change of public opinion ; that is, till many of these fabrics had fallen into irreparable decay, and become in- capable of restoration . 1 In the next place, the forms of pagan temples in general, and particularly of such as were built (and these formed the far greater number) on a smaller scale, were extremely ill adapted to the pur- pose of Christian worship. Narrow oblong edifices, frequently dark and lighted only from the entrance, they seem to have been constructed merely as sanctuaries to receive the statues of their respective gods, while the multitude of adorers filled the porticos, or crowded the colonnades without, and waited till the trumpets announced the moment of sacrifice, or the priest proclaimed the oracles of the god. The external ornaments, and the vast extent of porticos and galleries that surrounded the principal temples, and not the capacity of the interior, constituted their magnificence. The Adyta or Penetralia, seem mostly to have been on a contracted scale, and though well calculated for a chapel or oratory for a small assembly, are loo confined for a parish church, and for the accom- modation of a large congregation. The Basilica ?, on the contrary, presented every convenience, and seemed as if expressly erected for the purpose of a Christian as- sembly. The aisles on either side seemed formed to receive and screen the women; the vast area in the middle furnished a spacious range for the men ; the apsis or semicircular retreat raised on a flight of steps at the end, gave the bishop and his presbyters an elevated and honorable station ; while the sacred table surrounded * The opinion of the Christians relative to the idols themselves, appears from the following lines, which prove satisfactorily, I conceive, that they had no desire to destroy them. The Poet addresses himself to Rome. Deponas jam Testa veiim puerilia, ritus Ridicuios, tantoque indigna saernria regno. Marmora tabenti respergine tincta lavate, 0 proceres, liceat statuas consistere puras, Artilicum magnorum opera, hate pulcherrimn nostro Ornaruenta eluant pairia?, nee decolor usus Jn vitium versae monumenta coinquinet artis.— Prudent. Thy childish festivals, 0 Rome I disclaim, The riles, unworthy of so great a name. Hut wash, ye .Nobles, w ith respectful hand. Each statue; unpolluted let them stand; Let these, the w orks or names of high renown. Remain our country's glory, and our own. Let no discoloration, spot, nor stain, The honor'd monuments of art profane. If they spared even the idols, it is difficult to conceive why they should destroy the temples. Chap. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 181 with youth and innocence, stood between the clergy and the peo- ple, a splendid and conspicuous object. Hence several of these edifices, which depended entirely on the will of the sovereign, and might without offence or injustice be devoted to such purposes as\> he judged most expedient, were at an early period opened for the reception of the Christians, and consecrated to the celebration of the holy mysteries. Thus in the time of Constantine, the Basilica Lateranensis was converted into a church and dedicated to the Sa- viour; while the Basilica Vaticana became another Christian temple under the well-known appellation of St. Peter’s. Tt follows of course, that the temples would in general be permitted to crumble away insensibly into ruin, as useless and unappropriated edifices, while many of the Basilicae would be repaired with diligence, and not unfrequently enriched with the pillars and marbles of the fallen fanes in their neighborhood. The neglect of the Emperors was followed by indifference in the city magistrates, and contempt among the people, who made no dif- ficulty of stealing from the public edifices the materials requisite for the erection, or ornament of their private houses; a disorder which rose to such a pitch as to require the interference of public authority more than once, in order to prevent the total dilapidation of some of the finest monuments of Roman greatness. This inter- ference, however, only took place during the short reign of one Emperor, whose virtues struggled in vain against the misfor- tunes of the time and the destinies of the falling empire. I allude to Majorian, whose patriotic edict on this subject is cited with becoming applause by Gibbon, and proves that the magistrates themselves connived at the abuse, and were perhaps too fre- quently the transgressors. To the neglect of the sovereign there- fore we may add the indifference of the magistrates, and the in- terested pilferings of the people, a second and powerful agent of destruction. However, notwithstanding these disadvantages Rome retained much of her imperial grandeur, after the nominal fall of her em- pire, and still challenged the respect and admiration of nations, even when subjected to the sway of barbarian princes* Odoacer for instance and his victorious rival Theodoric, during a long and prosperous reign watched with jealous care over the beauty of the city, and not only endeavored to preserve what it retained, but to restore what it had lost of its ancient splendor. Their attempts merited praise and acknowledgment, but the effect was temporary, and withheld but could not avert the stroke which fate already le- velled at the monuments of Rome. When the evil genius of Italy prompted Justinian to re-annex it as a province to the empire of which it had formerly been the head; and when Belisarius took possession of the capital with a force suffi- cient to garrison, but not to protect it fully against the enemy, Rome 182 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XII. was turned into a fortress, her amphitheatres, mausoleums, and surviving temples were converted into strong holds, and their splen- did furniture and costly decorations were employed as they pre- sented themselves, for means of defence or of annoyance. In the course of this most destructive war, Rome was five times taken ; many of her edifices were demolished not by the hostile rage of the Goths, but by the military prudence of Belisarius ; her streets were unpeopled by the sword and by pestilence; the titles of her magis- trates were suppressed ; her senate was dispersed ; and her honors were finally levelled with the dust. The Exarchs, who succeeded Narses in the government of Italy, were more attentive to their own interests than to the prosperity of the country ; and residing at Ravenna, then an almost impregnable fortress, abandoned Rome to her own resources, and her edifices to the care* of the citizens, or rather to their own solidity. The misery and humiliation of Rome lasted near three hundred years; that is, from the invasion of Italy, or rather from the taking of Rome by Belisarius in the year 536, to the coronation of Charlemagne in 800. f During the disastrous interval which elapsed between these eras, Rome was oppressed by the Exarchs, threatened by the Lombards, wasted by pestilence, and visited at once by all the plagues em- ployed to chastise guilty nations. The few surviving Romans who remained to lament the ruin of their country, and to glide like spectres about its abandoned streets now turned into the sepulchres of the inhabitants, had too much employment in supporting their miserable existence to think of repairing or maintaining the vast edifices raised in prosperous times. During so many ages of war and despair, of public and private dejection, how extensive must have been the ravages of desolation! how many pillars must have fallen from their bases! how many temples sunk under their own weight! How many lofty fabrics subsided in the dust ! Even after these ages of war, when Rome became the head of a new empire, and the kings and princes of the western world listened with respect to the oracles of her pontiff; when some share of opulence pro- bably accompanied her reviving dignity, and emperors and sove- reigns hastened to enrich her sanctuaries with their gifts — yet no re-animating ray visited the pompous ruins spread over her hills, where the taste and spirit of her ancestors still slumbered undis- turbed, and temples, curiae, and forums, whose names and desti- nation had long been forgotten, were left tottering in decay, or extended in heaps on the earth. A transient gleam of prosperity is not sufficient ; a long season of tranquillity and encouragement is requisite to call forth and ma- ture the varied powers of the mind that produce taste and enter- prise. But Rome was far from enjoying this tranquillity; threatened sometimes by the Greeks, and sometimes by the Saracens; alter- nately oppressed by her barbarian emperors, and disturbed by her Chap. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 183 factious nobles; and at last convulsed by the unnatural contests be- tween her emperors and her pontiffs, she assumed by turns the appearance of a fortress besieged or taken ; her edifices, sacred and profane, ancient and modern, were demolished without distinc- tion, and her streets and churches were strewed with the bodies of her inhabitants. To these bloody divisions succeeded the absence of the popes, and their very impolitic residence at Avignon, at a distance from the seat of their spiritual authority and of their temporal dominion, which in the mean time was abandoned to the intrigues of a do- mineering nobility, and to the insurrections of a factious populace. During this period, the reign of anarchy, the few monuments of antiquity that remained were turned into forts and castles, and dis- figured with towers and Gothic battlements ; the country was over- run with banditti, and the city itself convulsed and defiled with perpetual scenes of violence and bloodshed. At length the Pontiff returned to his See ; and after some struggles a regular government was established : Julius the Second, a stern and arbitrary prince suppressed anarchy : the arts began to revive, architecture was restored, a Leo rose, and Rome, even ancient Rome, might have expected the return of her Augustan glory. But such an expectation would have been ill-founded : the very resto- ration of the arts, while it contributed to the splendor of modern Rome, was the last blow that fate gave to the magnificence of the ancient city. While new temples and new palaces arose, the re- mains of ancient edifices disappeared ; and posterity still laments that the Perizonium was demolished, the Coliseum deformed, and the Pantheon plundered, to supply materials or ornaments for the Farnesian and Barbarini palaces, and for the new Basilica of St. Peter. With regard to the latter, the man of taste and the lover of antiquity, as Gibbon justly observes, will perhaps pardon the theft; as it contributed to the triumph of modern genius, and to the decoration of the noblest edifice that human art has ever erected. Rut to plunder the venerable monuments of imperial greatness, in order to deck the mansions of two upstart families, was a sacri- lege justly reprobated by the satirical lampoons of the indignant Romans. We have now, l think, enumerated the principal causes of the destruction of Rome, very different from those assigned by the poet ; and if to the neglect of emperors, the indifference of magis- trates, the rapacity of individuals, the rage of contesting factions, and the impoverishment of the city, we add the silent stroke of mouldering Time , we shall have the list of destruction complete. The few edifices that still survive, owe their existence either to the protecting hand of religion that warded, or to their own solidity which defied, the blow levelled at their majestic forms by age or by malevolence. Some instances of the former have already been 184 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XII. given ; of the latter, besides the tombs of Cestius and Metella, the columns of Trajan and Antoninus stand most magnificent examples. These superb columns are of the same materials, the finest white marble, of nearly the same height, about one hundred and twenty feet; and of the same decorations, as a series of sculpture winds in a spiral line from the base to the capital of each, representing the wars and triumphs of the respective emperors . 1 They formerly supported each a colossal statue of Trajan and Antoninus; these have long since disappeared, while St. Peter and Sr. Paul have been substituted in their stead, though very improperly, as the bloody scenes and profane sacrifices portrayed on the shafts beneath, are ill adapted to the character and pacific virtues of apostles. How- ever, notwithstanding the impropriety of the situation, the pictu- resque effect is the same, especially as the modern statues are pro- bably of the same size, and if we may judge by medals, placed in the same attitude as the ancient. To the question which I have here attempted to answer, one more may be added. It may be asked, what is now become of the rich materials, the bronze, the marbles employed in the statues, pillars, and decorations of this vast scene of grandeur? The bronze has 1 The Columna Trajana is formed of thirty-four blocks of w hite marble, eight of which are employed in the pedestal, one in the base (or torus ) twenty-three in the shaft, one in the capital, and one in the summit that} supports the statue. This celebrated column yields to the monument of London in elevation, but it surpasses that and all similar pillars in the admirable sculptures that adorn all its members. There are two thousand five hundred human figures, of two feet average height; besides the scenes in which they arc engaged, and the horses, standards, machi- nery, etc. with w hich they are accompanied. It is a complete representation of Roman military dresses, evolutions, standards, and edifices, and it has supplied all the most eminent artists, w hether painters or sculptors, w ith most of their attitudes and graces. This column, one of the most ancient and most perfect monuments of Roman art and pow er united, has been exposed twice to the probable danger of destruction; once when a Dutch artist proposed to the Roman government at an expense not exceeding fifteen hundred pounds, to take it down in order to raise its pedestal, which is now near twenty feet under the modern level of the city, and again re-erect it in a more conspicuous situation. Even though such precautions were to be taken, as to preclude the possibility of accident, yet the very removal of such masses of marble could not be effected without detriment to the sculpture. The second danger was of a far more alarming nature, and occurred while the French w ere masters of Rome during the late invasion. The Directory, it seems, had conceived the project of transporting both the Columna Trajana and Antonina to Paris, and measures were taken to ascertain the possibility of realizing this project of robbery and devastation. Fortunately their expulsion from Rome prevented the execution of this and some other enterprises equally just and honorable. Francis the First, in the happier days of France, conceived the nobler and more honorable design of adorning the French capital with a copy of this noble monu- ment in bronze, and the present ruler of France, has, it is said, raised in the Place Vendome, at Paris, a rival column, representing his German victories in brass. This latter design is neither unjust nor tmimperial. The Columna Antonini is inferior in the beauty and perfection of sculpture to that of Trajan : it is also formed of blocks of marble, twenty-eight in number, and in every respect an imitation of the latter. Chap. XII. THROUGH ITALY. 185 always been an object of plunder or of theft, and of course equally coveted by the rapacious barbarians and the impoverished Ro- mans. It was therefore diligently sought for, and consequently soon disappeared. Besides, though employed with profusion, and even with prodigality, yet its sum total was definite, and easily ex- haustible, particularly when every research was made to discover, and every method used to obtain it. The quantity of granite and marble that decorated ancient Rome is almost incalculable. If we may be allowed to judge by the marble plan which I have alluded to more than once, we should be inclined to imagine that its streets were lined with porticos, and formed an endless succession of co- lonnades. The shafts of the pillars were generally formed of one single piece or block, whatsoever their height might have been, an advantage equally calculated to secure them against the influence of time, and the attacks of wanton destruction. Of statues, if we may believe the elder Pliny, the number was equal to that of inhabitants, and seems in fact, to have been suffi- cient not only to fill the temples, basilicae, and curiae, but to crowd the streets, and almost people the porticos and public walks. These statues when of marble, fortunately for their duration, were beheld by all parties with indifference; and when not immediately within the verge of warlike operations, allowed to stand undis- turbed on their pedestals, or fall unsupported and forgotten into the mass of rubbish around them. That this was the case we may conclude, from the places where several beautiful statues were found, such as the baths of Titus and Caracalla, where they stood for ages exposed to depredation, and were only concealed in latter times by the fall of the buildings around them. The pillars met with a different fate ; some were conveyed by the Exarchs to Ra- venna, others transported by Charlemagne beyond the Alps, and thousands have been employed in the churches and palaces of the modern city. In reality ancient Rome has been for twelve centuries a quarry ever open and never exhausted ; and the stranger, as he wanders through the streets of the modern city, is astonished to see, sometimes thrown neglected into corners, and often collected round the shops, or in the yards of stone-cutters, shafts, capitals, parts of broken cornices, and in short, blocks of the finest marbles, all dug out of the ruins in the neighborhood. Yet, notwithstanding the waste and havoc of these materials, made in the manner l ha\e described, and by the causes I have enumerated, I am inclined to think that the far greater portion still remains buried amidst the ruins, or entombed under the edi- fices of the modern city. The columns carried away to ornament other cities, bear a small proportion to the numbers left behind, and of these latter, the number employed in the decorations of buildings now existing, will appear a very slight deduction from the remains of ancient magnificence, when we consider that the 186 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XII. great churches at Rome, 1 that is all the buildings where there is any display of pillars or marbles, were erected in the days of Ro- man glory, before the invasion of Italy and the wars of the Goths. Their ornaments therefore with a few exceptions, were not drawn from the ruins of ancient Rome : they are monuments of its glory, but have not shared its plunder. The elevation of the ground over the whole extent of the city, amounting in general to the height of from fourteen to twenty feet, and the many little hills which have risen in various parts of the Campus Martius, especially on the sites of theatres and baths, and other extensive buildings, sufficiently shew what a mass of ruin lies extended below. Few excavations have been made in this ar- tificial soil, without terminating in some interesting discovery; and it has frequently happened that in sinking a well, or in opening the foundations of a private house, the masons have been stopped by the interposing bulk of a pillar or an obelisk. One of the latter was discovered thrice, and as often buried again in rubbish, before it was raised by Benedict XIV. The pavement of the Forum is well known to exist about fourteen feet under the present level, and several of the thermae remain still unopened. The portico of Trajan lies near twenty feet under the foundations of churches and convents. What treasures of art may not be contained in these mines, hitherto unexplored! What beautiful forms of sculpture and architecture may still slumber in this immense cemetery of an- cient magnificence I Should the Roman government, when the present convulsions shall have subsided into tranquillity, acquire energy and means adequate to such an undertaking, it may perhaps turn its attention to an object so worthy of it, and the classic traveller may entertain the fond hope, that the veil which has so long concealed the beauties of the ancient city, maybe in part removed, and some grand fea- tures of Roman magnificence once more exposed to view. At least, the materials of many a noble structure may re-appear, many a long fallen column be taught again to seek the skies , and many a god, and many a hero, emerge from darkness, once more ascend their lofty pedestals, and challenge the admiration of future generations. But when these pleasing hopes may be realized it is difficult to deter- mine. Rome and all Italy crouch under the iron sway of the First Consul ; how he intends to model her various governments, and on whom he may hereafter bestow her coronets, crowns, and tiaras, is a secret confined to his own bosom: in the mean time, public confidence languishes, every grand undertaking is suspended, and it would be absurd to squander away expense and labor in reco- vering statues and marbles, which may be instantly ordered to Paris, to grace the palace of the Tuileries, or to enrich the gal- * St. Peter s excepted. Chap. XIII. THROUGH ITALY. 187 Jeries of the Louvre. The genius of the ancient city must still brood in darkness over her ruins, and wait the happy day, if such a day be ever destined to shine on Italy, when the invaders may be once more driven beyond the Alps, all barbarian influence be re- moved, and the talents and ability of the country left to act with all their native energy . 1 CHAPTER XIII. MODERN ROME. Its Population — Streets — Squares— Fountains— Tombs— Palaces. The modern city, as the reader must have already observed, possesses many features of ancient Rome. The same roads lead to her gates from the extremities of Italy — the same aqueducts pour the same streams into her fountains — the same great churches that received the masters of the world under the Flavian and Theodosian lines, are still open to their descendants — and the same venerable walls that enclosed so many temples and palaces in the reign of Aurelian, still lift their antique towers around the same circum- ference. Within this circumference, “ Modern Rome” lies extended principally on the plain, and scattered thinly over the hills, bordered by villas, gardens, and vineyards. Its population amounted to one hundred and eighty, or perhaps two hundred thousand souls pre- vious to the French invasion, which, by empoverishing the country, and severing from the capital one of its richest provinces, is said to have diminished the number of inhabitants by twenty, or even thirty thousand. The streets are well built and well paved, nar- rower in general than those in London, and wider than those in Paris ; but (as the houses are not too high) they are light and airy, often very long and straight, and not unfrequently terminated by an obelisk, a fountain, or a church. Such are the three streets which diverge from the Par la, or rather Piazza del Popolo ; the Corso , anciently the Via Lata, terminating at the foot of the Capitol; the Strada del Babuino, ending in the Piazza de Spagna , and the * A medal was found not long ago, I think near the Capitol, with the form of a hero crowned with laurel, extending a sword, with the inscription, Adsertori Libertatis, ( To the champion of liberty, ) on one side, and Rome seated, with the inscription, Roma resurges, (Rome, thou shall rise again, ) on the reverse. May Italy ere long have cause to strike a similar medal. 188 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIII. Strada de Ripelta, anciently the Via Populi, leading to the Tiber ; not to speak of the Slrada Giulia , Slrada della Longara , and many others. The houses are of stone, but plastered as at Vienna, Berlin, and other transalpine cities ; the plaster, or stucco, is extremely hard, and in a climate so dry may equal stone in solidity and duration. Hence its general use in Italy, and its reputation even among the ancients, who employed it not only in ordinary buildings, but even sometimes in porticos and temples ; as we find in the temple of Fortuna Virilis at Rome supposed by many to be a remnant of the Republican era, though more probably erected, or rather rebuilt, in the Augustan age. To us, stucco, however excellent in its kind, seems only a bad imitation of stone, and conveys an idea of poverty incompatible with grandeur or beauty. Before I enter into details, I shall premise, in order to give the reader a general idea of Mo- dern Rome, that it contains forty-six squares, five monumental pillars, ten obelisks, thirteen fountains, twenty-two mausoleums, one hundred and fifty palaces, and three hundred and forty-six churches ! Of these objects most have some peculiar feature, some appropriate beauty, to attract the attention of the traveller. SQUARES. Of the squares, the most remarkable for its extent is the Piazza Navona, which gradually rose on the ruins of the Circus Agonalis. It is adorned by the handsome church of St. Agnes and refreshed by three fountains decorated with statues. One of these fountains (that in the middle of the square) is much admired : it was designed and erected by Bernini. Four figures, representing four rivers, re- cline on a craggy rock : on its top stands an Egyptian obelisk ; from its hollow sides rushes a perpetual stream. These three foun- tains are so managed during the heats of August, as to inundate the whole square on Saturdays and Sundays, and afford a new and refreshing exhibition to the Roman gentry, who parade along in their carriages, and to the common people, who collect around in crowds, to behold the brilliant and enlivening scene. The Piazza de Spagna , so called from the palace of the Spanish embassy, is large, supplied by a fountain, and adorned with several handsome buildings, but particularly by the noble flight of traver- tine steps that ascends from it to the obelisk, church, and square, Della Trinila di Monti. From the balustrade that terminates this staircase above and borders the latter square, and indeed from the square itself which runs along the brow of the Pincian hill, there opens a delightful view of Rome, Monte Mario , and the Jani- culum. Of the Piazza Colonna 1 have already spoken ; that of Monte Citorio communicates with it. This square is extremely beautiful. Chap. XIII. THROUGH ITALY. 180 Its principal ornament is the Curia hmocenziann , a palace erected by Innocent XII. for the accommodation of (he courts of justice and for the officers belonging to them. Its magnitude, materials, and architecture, are equally admired. OBELISKS. Opposite the grand entrance of the Curia, stands an Egyptian obelisk, remarkable for its antiquity, its workmanship, and its des- tination. It is said to have been erected by Sesostris at Heliopolis; it is covered where not damaged, with hieroglyphics executed with uncommon neatness, and was employed by Augustus as a gnomon to an immense dial formed bv his direction, in the Campus Martius. After having been overturned, shattered, and buried in the ruins, it was discovered repeatedly, and as often neglected and forgotten; till Benedict XIV. rescued it from oblivion, and the late Pope, Pius VI. repaired and placet! it in its present situation. It is the third obelisk which that pontiff had the satisfaction of re-erecting, to the great ornament and glory of the city. These obelisks are particular to Rome, and seem to form orna- ments singularly appropriate, as they connect its present beauty with its ancient power and magnificence. When we recollect that their antiquity precedes the origin of regular history, and disappears in the obscurity of the fabulous ages ; that they are of Egyptian workmanship, the trophies, and perhaps the records of her ancient monarchs ; we cannot but look upon them as so many acknowledg- ments of homage, so many testimonials of submission to the mis- tress of the Universe. When we are informed that whatever their elevat ion or magnitude may be, they are of one solid block of gra- nite, and yet that they have been transported over many hundred miles of land and of sea, we are astonished at the combination of skill and boldness that marks such an undertaking, and surpasses the powers of modern art, though apparently so much improved in mechanical operations. It is then particularly incumbent on the sovereign to preserve and to recover as many as possible of these illustrious monumenls of Egyptian skill and of Roman majesty. IIow many obelisks adorned the city in the ancient times, it would be difficult to determine. Some confine the number to six- teen *, I should be inclined to enlarge it. However if there were only sixteen, more than one-half have been restored, as ten now stand in different squares of the city. Another, which has been too much shattered for re-erection, was employed in the reparation of that which stands in the Piazza (let Monte Citorio. It is probable that others may hereafter be discovered in the neighborhood of an Imperial sepulchre, or amidst the ruins of a circus: in the decora- tion of which edifices they seem to have been principally em- ployed. 190 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIII. The most remarkable of the obelisks are, that in the Piazza del Popolo, that in the centre of the colonnade of S. Peter’s, and that which stands in the square of St. John. The one before S. Peter’s stood in the circus of Nero, that is a few hundred paces from its present site, and was removed from the side to the front of the church by Sixtus Quintus. It is a single piece of granite, about eighty feet in length, and with its pedestal and the cross that tops it, rises to the height of an hundred and thirty-six feet. The two others anciently adorned the Circus Maximus, and were thence transported by the above-mentioned spirited pontiff to their present situations. That in the Piazza del Popolo is one hundred and eight feet in height, including its cross and pedestal. That erected near St. John Lateran is the highest of the obelisks, and including the ornaments of the fountain on which it reposes, it has an elevation of at least one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the pave- ment. The monument in London surpasses the obelisks in eleva- tion ; but its shaft is not a single piece, nor is it of Egyptian gra- nite, nor is it inscribed with hieroglyphics. FOUNTAINS. From the obelisks we pass to the fountains, because they are ge- nerally employed in the decoration of the same squares, and some- times united, as in the Piazza Navona and at St. John Lateran, to set each other off to more advantage. Three only of the ancient aqueducts now remain to supply modern Rome, and yet such is the quantity they convey, and so pure the sources whence they derive it, that no city can boast of such a profusion of clear and salubrious water. Artificial fountains in general are little better than orna- mented pumps, which sometimes squirt out a scanty thread of wa- ter, and sometimes distil only a few drops into a muddy basin. Those on a greater scale now and then throw up a column, or pour a torrent as occasion may require, on certain state days, or for the amusement of some distinguished personage; and then subside till a fresh supply enables them to renew the exhibition. Such are in general the fountains and cascades that adorn public walks and palace gardens ; and such the so much celebrated water-works of St. Cloudy Marti, and Versailles; inventions which can be consi- dered only as pretty play-things calculated, like a theatrical deco- ration, to act an occasional part and to furnish a momentary amuse- ment ; but too insignificant to be introduced into the resort of the public, or into the walks of princes, where we have reason to ex- pect solid magnificence founded on nature and reality. How far the ancient Romans carried this species of magnificence we may easily judge, when we consider that they had undoubtedly both the taste and the materials requisite for it. Their aqueducts which supplied them with water even to prodigality, still remain Chap. XIII. THROUGH ITALY. 191 striding across vallies, penetrating mountains, and sweeping over immense plains, till they meet in the heart of the city. The edifice where they united, and whence they separated to water their des- tined quarters, was called Castellum, and if we may judge by that which remains (the Porta Maggiore) was generally a fabric of great solidity and magnificence, and, as appears from the ruins of one disco- vered near the church of St. Ignatius, sometimes cased with marble and adorned with marble pillars. The number of these towers an- ciently, as well as of the fountains springing from them, must have been prodigious, as Agrippa alone, if we may believe Plinv, 1 erected one hundred and thirty of the former, and opened one hundred and five of the latter, and adorned them with three hundred brass or marble statues. Strabo says that such a quantity of water was introduced into the city, that whole rivers seemed to flow through the streets and down the sewers, so that every house had its pipes and cisterns sufficient to furnish a copious and perpetual supply. The modern Romans though inferior in numbers and opulence to their ancestors, have shewn equal taste and spirit in this respect, and deserve a just eulogium, not only for having procured an abundance of water, but for the splendid and truly imperial style in which it is poured forth for public use in the different quarters of the city. Almost every square has its fountains, and almost every fountain has some particularity in its size, form, or situation, to attract attention. The three principal however will suffice to give the reader an idea of the variety and of the beauty of such edifices, especially as l have already described one or two, and may hereafter call his attention to others which are too inti- mately connected with the objects around them to be taken as de- tached pieces. The Fontana Felice in the Piazza dei Termini on the Viminal Mount, deserves to be mentioned first, because first erected. It is supplied by the Aqua Claudia drawn from the Alban or rather Tusculan hills, and conveyed to Rome by channels under, and aqueducts above ground ; some of which are ancient, some modern. It discharges itself through a rock under an Ionic arcade built of white stone, and faced with marble. It is adorned by several gigantic statues, the principal of which represents Moses striking the rock whence the water issues. On the one side, Aaron con- ducts the Israelites ; on the other, Gideon leads his chosen soldiers to the brink of the torrent : below, four lions, two of marble and two of basaltes ornamented with hieroglyphics, hang over the vast basin as if in haste. to slake their thirst. The restoration of this noble fountain and the ornaments which grace it, are owing to the spirit of Sixtus Quintus, and it bears the name of Aqua Felice (Happy water) and is supposed to be now, as anciently, peculiarly wholesome. Lib. xxxvi. 15. 192 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIII. Nearly opposite, but beyond the Tiber and on the brow of the Janiculum, rises an arcade supported by six pillars of granite. Three torrents rushing from the summit of the hill tumble through the three principal arches of this arcade, and fill an immense marble basin with the purest water. They then roll down the side of the mountain, turn several^mills as they descend, and supply numberless reservoirs in the plain along the sides of the river, and even beyond it in the Campus Martius. The lofty situation of this fountain renders it a conspicuous object to ail the opposite hills. The trees that line its sides and wave to the eye through its arches, shed an unusual beauty around it; and the immense basin which it replenishes gives it the appearance, not of the contrivance of human ingenuity, but almost the creation of enchantment. In the Piazza di Trevi (in Triviis) on a rough and broken rock, rises a palace adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and supported in the centre by Corinthian pillars. It is ornamented with statues representing the salubrity and lertilizing powers of the waters; the beneficent Naid herself holds a conspicuous place among them, and seems to behold with complacency the profusion of her springs. In the middle of the edifice between the columns, under a rich arch stands Neptune on his car, in a majestic attitude as if com- manding the rocks to open before and the waters to swell around him. Two sea-horses conducted by two Tritons drag the chariot of the god, and emerging from the caverns of the rock, shake the brine from their manes; while the obedient waves burst forth in torrents on all sides, roar down the clefts of the crag, and form a sea around its base. In the heats of summer they overflow their usual limits, fill the whole marble concavity round the fountain, and rise to a level with the square, where after sunset the inhabi- tants of the neighboring streets assemble, to enjoy the united fresh- ness of the waters and of the evening. Such is the celebrated Fontana di Trevi , the noblest work of the kind in Rome, and probably the most magnificent fountain in the world. The basin itself is of while marble, and the vast enclosure around it, is flagged and lined with marble of the same color. A flight of steps of white marble leads down to this basin; and to prevent accidents, a chain supported by large blocks of granite encloses the exterior border. I know that the architectural part of the Fontana di Trevi , and indeed of the Aqua Paola and Aqua Felice , has been severely criticized ; and in candor I must acknow- ledge that the criticism is in many respects well founded; for in- stance, it must be allowed that the elegance 'and lightness of the Corinthian or Ionic is ill adapted to the simplicity of a fountain where Doric would be more appropriate, because plainer and more solid. It will be admitted also that these edifices are broken and subdivided into too many little parts ; a process in architecture, as in painting and in poetry, diametrically opposite to greatness and Chap. XIII. THROUGH ITALY. ion to sublimity. In fine, it cannot be denied, that the superstructure is in all three too massive for the order, and too much encum- bered with coats of arms and other supernumerary decorations- Yet notwithstanding these faults, and they are not inconsiderable, while the spectator sits on the marble border of the basin, and con- templates the elevation of the columns, the magnitude of the edifices, the richness of the materials, the workmanship of the statues, and above all, the deluge of waters poured round him, the defects are lost in the beauties and criticism subsides in admiration. TOMBS. In ancient times the bodies of the deceased were deposited without the walls, generally along the most frequented roads, where their tombs arose at intervals and under various forms, shaded by cypresses and other funereal plants, and exhibited on both sides a long and melancholy border of sorrow and morta- lity. Few persons were allowed the honor of being buried in the city or in the Campus Martius, and of the few tombs raised within its* space during the republic, one only remains in a narrow street, the Maceito di Corvi (the Crows’ Shambles), near the Capitoline hill. It is of a solid but simple form, and inscribed with the name of Caius Publicius Bibulus; and as the only one of that name men- tioned in history is distinguished by no brilliant achievement, but only represented as a popular tribune, it is difficult to discover the reason of the honorable exception. Under the emperors, certain illustrious persons were allowed tombs in the Campus Martius, or in its neighborhood; and these monumental edifices at length swelled into superb mausoleums, and became some of the most majestic ornaments of the city. Of these the two principal were the sepulchres of Augustus and of Adrian, and although both belong to the ruins of ancient Rome and have already been alluded to, yet as they still form, even though shattered and disfigured, two very conspicuous features in the mo- dern city, the reader may expect a more detailed description of them. The best and indeed the only ancient account of the former mo- nument denominated by way of eminence the Mausoleum , is given by Strabo, who represents it as a pendent garden raised on lofty arches of white stone, planted with evergreen shrubs, and termi- nating in a point crowned with the statue of Augustus. In the vault beneath lay the remains of the Emperor and of his family; at the entrance stood two Egyptian obelisks; round, arose an exten- sive grove cut into walks and alleys. Of this monument, the two inner walls which supported the whole mass, and the spacious vaults under which reposed the imperial ashes, still remain ; a work of great solidity and elevation. Hence it is seen at a considerable distance, and continues still a grand and striking object. The plat- i. 13 194 CLASSICAL TOUR CnAP. XIII. form on the top was for a considerable time employed as a garden, and covered as originally with shrubs and flowers. It is now con- verted into a sort of amphitheatre and surrounded with seats and benches, where the spectators may enjoy in safety the favorite amusement of bull-baiting. We attended at this exhibition, in which not dogs only but men act as assailants, and we thought it, although conducted with as much precaution, and even humanity as it is susceptible of, too dangerous to amuse persons not accustomed to contemplate hair-breadth escapes. This edifice owes its preser- vation to its solidity. It has been stripped of its marble, of its pilasters, and of its internal and external decorations; it has be- longed successively to numberless individuals, and is still I believe private property. Such a monument, alter having escaped so many chances of ruin, ought not to be neglected. Government should purchase it, should disengage it from the petty buildings that crowd around it and conceal its form and magnitude; should case it anew with Tiburtine stone and devote it under some form or other to public utility. Thus some portion of its former splendor might be restored, and its future existence secured as far as human foresight can extend its influence. The Emperor Hadrian who delighted in architecture and mag- nificence, determined to rival, or more probably to surpass, the splendor of Augustus’s tomb, and erected a mausoleum which from its size and solidity was called Moles Hadruini (Hadrian’s Mole). As the Campus Martius was already crowned with tombs, temples, and theatres, he selected for its site a spot on the opposite bank of the river, at the foot of the Vatican Mount; where on a vast qua- drangular platform of solid stone he raised a lofty circular edifice surrounded by a Corinthian port’co, supported by twenty-four pillars of a beautiful kind of white marble tinged with purple. The tholus or continuation of the inner wall formed a second story adorned with Ionic pilasters; a dome surmounted by a cone of brass crowned the whole fabric and gave to it the appearance of a most majestic temple. To increase its splendor, four statues occupied the four corners of the platform, twenty-four adorned the portico and occupied the intervals between the columns; an equal number rose above the entablature- and a proportional series occupied the niches of the second story between the pilasters. It is superfluous to observe that the whole fabric was cased with marble, or that the statues were the works of the best masters; and it is almost unnecessary to add that this monument was consi- dered as the noblest sepulchral edifice ever erected, and one of the proudest ornaments of Rome, even when she shone in all her imperial magnificence. Yet the glory of this mausoleum was transitory; its matchless beauty claimed in vain the attention of absent Emperors ; the ge- nius of Hadrian, the manes of the virtuous Antonini, names so Chap* XIII. THROUGH ITALY. 105 dear to the Roman world, pleaded in vain for its preservation. The hand of time daily defaced its ornaments, the zeal of Honorius stripped ii of its pillars, and the military skill of Belisarius turned it into a temporary fortress. The necessity of such a protection became from this period daily more visible. Threatened first by the Lombards, then by the German Emperors, and in the progress of time by its own lawless nobles, the government saw the neces- sity of securing a permanent post, and found none more defensible by situation and by structure than the Moles Hadriani, which com- mands the river, and from Sts internal solidity might defy all the ancient means of assault. The parts therefore that remain, are such as were adapted toThis purpose; that is part of its basement or platform and almost the whole of the central circular building, though stripped of its marbles, its pillars, its statues, and its cone. The marbles disappeared at an early era, having been employed in other buildings, or converted into lime and used as mortar. The pillars were transported to St. Paul’s fuori delle rnurd (without the walls) and still adorn its nave; the statues despised in a bar- barous age were tumbled to the ground, wedged into the wall, or hurled as missile weapons against the assailants. Some few have been discovered in the neighborhood; the greater part may pos- sibly still lie buried amidst the ruins. The brazen cone or pine- apple stands in a garden enclosed in one of the squares of the ^Va- tican palace; and the sarcophagus, in which the ashes of Hadrian w r ere deposited, is said to be one of the two now placed in the Corsini chapel of St. John Lateran. In the course of time various bastions, ramparts, and outworks have been added to the original building; several houses for soldiers, provisions, magazines, etc. are raised around; and some very considerable edifices containing spacious apartments, have been erected on the solid mass of the sepulchre itself. It takes its present name Caslel St. Angelo from its destination (it is the citadel of Rome) and from a bronze statue of an angel standing with extended wings on its summit. While speaking of these monuments of ancient magnificence, it is impossible not to mention the Septizonium of Severus, and not to regret its destruction; as it had survived the disasters of Rome, and suffered less during the barbarous ages than most other public edifices. It stood at the foot of the Palatine Mount near the Clivus Scauri, that is opposite Mount Celius, and the spot where now stands the convent of St. Gregory. It was built in the form of a pyramid, and consisted of s^en porticos or temples supported by pillars of the finest marbles rising above one another and tower- ing to a prodigious elevation. Three stories remained entire at so late a period as the reign of Sixtus Quintus, who ordered the pillars to be conveyed to St. Peter’s, which he was then building, and the remaining part of the structure to be demolished. It would be unjust and ungrateful to accuse a pope, to whom the ^orld owes 196 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIII. the dome of St. Peters, of want of taste ; or to suspect a sovereign, to whom modern Rome is indebted for half her beauty, of indif- ference to her antiquities; yet we cannot but lament the loss of the Septizonium, which had resisted the agency of so many destructive causes, and which whether entire or in ruins must have presented a most astonishing display of architectural grandeur. But, alas ! all the monuments of Roman magnificence, all the remains of Grecian taste, so dear to the artists, to the historian, to the antiquary, all depend on the will of an arbitrary sovereign, and that will is influenced too often by interest or vanity, by a nephew, or a sycophant. Is a new palace to be erected for the reception of an upstart family? The Coliseum is stripped to furnish materials. l)oes a foreign minister wish to adorn the bleak walls of a northern castle with antiques? The temples of Theseus or Minerva must be dismantled, and the works of Phidias or of Praxiteles torn from the shattered frieze. That a decrepit uncle absorbed in the religious duties of his age and station, should listen to the suggestions of an interested nephew is natural, and that an oriental despot should undervalue the masterpieces of Grecian art is to be expected; though in both cases the consequences of such weakness arc much to be lamented ; but that the minister of a nation famed for its knowledge of the language and its veneration for the monuments of ancient Greece, should have been the prompter and the instructor is almost incredible. Such rapacity is a crime against all ages and all gene- rations; it deprives the past of the trophies of their genius and the title-deeds of their fame; the present of the strongest inducements to exertion, the noblest exhibitions that curiosity can contemplate : and the future of the masterpieces of art, the models of imitation. To guard against the repetition of such depredations is the wish of every man of genius, the duty of every man in power, and the com- mon interest of every civilized nation. 1 Of the tomb of Cestius 1 have already spoken, and of some without the walls I may speak hereafter. At present we shall pass from the tombs of the ancient heroes of Rome to the palaces of her mo- dern nobles, which now rise thick around them on all sides, and almost eclipse their faded splendor. PALACES. In the first place the reader must observe, that the appellation of palace in Rome, and indeed in all the towns in Italy, is taken in a t How much more honorable would it have been to the English nation, if its minister at Constantinople had employed the influence which he then enjoyed in protecting the Athenian remains against the ignorance and the avarice of the Turkish troops in the citadel, by procuring an order to enclose and preserve these admired monuments : an order which might have been procured with as much facility, and enforced with as little expense as the permission to deface them. THROUGH ITALY. 197 Chap. XIII. much more extensive sense than that in which we are accustomed to employ it, and is applied not only to the residence of the sovereign but to the mansions of the rich and the noble of every description. It follows that many edifices bear this name, which in the eyes of an Englishman would scarcely seem to deserve it, and of course we may infer that many among these palaces of Rome do not perhaps merit the trouble of a visit, and much less the honour of a description. I will venture to add that the far greatest part of these mansions are less remarkable for their external architecture, than for their size and interior decorations; a remark which I think applicable in particular to the pontifical palaces of the Ouirinal (Monte Cavallo) and the Vatican. The external walls of these palaces are plastered, while the window and doorcases with the angles and cornices only appear to be of stone. Even the ornaments of the most splendid, such as the Barberini Oclescalclii and Farnesi , are confined to pilasters or half pillars; a mode of decoration rich indeed and pleasing to the eye, but inferior in grandeur to the detached column and the pillared portico. Orna- ment it is true must be subservient to utility, and in streets where space is wanting, the open gallery and spacious colonnade must be resigned, and their place supplied by decorations more compact although less stately. However the extent and elevation of the principal palaces, may perhaps be considered a compensation for the absence of grand architectural ornaments, as they undoubtedly give them a most princely and magnificent appearance. At all events the spacious courts and porticos within, the vast halls and lofty apartments with the pillars, the marbles, the statues, and the paint- ings that furnish and adorn them in such profusion, place many of the Roman palaces on a level or rather raise them far above the royai residences of the m st powerful princes beyond the Alps. Some of our English travellers complain of a want of neatness and general cleanliness in these palaces. This complaint may probably be well founded, but it is applicable to most of the pa- laces on the continent, as well as to those in Italy ; and we may range far and wide I believe, before we discover that minute and perpetual attention to cleanliness in every apartment, and in every article of furniture, which prevails in every mansion in England, from the palace to the cottage, and forms such a distinguishing feature of the national character. In this respect, however, the Romans are not inferior to the inhabitants of Paris or of Vienna; nor can a traveller without fastidious delicacy find any very just cause of complaint. It has been again objected to Roman palaces, that their magnifi- cence is confined to the state apartments, while the remaining rooms, even those inhabited by the family itself, remain unfurnished, neglected, and comfortless. To this it may be answered that the words furniture and comfort convey a very different meaning in 19ft CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIII. northern and southern climates ; in the former the object is to re- tain heat ; in the latter to exclude it : the precautions taken for the one are diametrically contrary to those employed for the other ; and the carpeted floor, the soft sofa, the well closed door, and the blazing fire, all so essential to the comfort of an Englishman, excite ideas of heat and oppression in the mind of an Italian, who delights in brick or marble floors, in cold seats, in windows and doors that admit a circulation of air, and in chimnies formed rather to ventilate than warm the apartment. Damask tapestry, hangings, paintings, and statues are, it is true, confined in Italy, as in most other countries, to the state rooms; but the other parts of their houses did not appear to me neglected; and I think 1 have seen in the third or fourth stories of the Braschi and Burgliese palaces, apartments fitted up in a manner which even an Englishman would call neat and almost elegant. Moreover, several palaces are in- habited by families once opulent, but now reduced, and conse- quently unequal to the expense of keeping such vast edifices in repair, and of supporting the magnificence of many princely apart- ments. The French invasion has considerably increased the number of such distressed families * and occasioned the degrada- tion of many a noble mansion. The neglected and ruinous ap- pearances occasioned by such causes we may lament but cannot censure. To the cause of dilapidation just mentioned, we may add an- other, perhaps more effectual, and that is the absence and total indifference of the proprietors. It is a misfortune that some of the most noble palaces and villas in Rome belong to families now merged in those possessing sovereign power. Thus the Palazzo Farnese is the property of the King of Naples, that of Medici of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Both these edifices, after having been stripped of all their valuable ornaments, their marbles, their sta- tues, their paintings, were abandoned to the care of a few half- starved servants, and are now scarcely preserved from falling into ruin. ‘The furniture of the Mcdicean palace or villa was conveyed to Florence, that of the Fainesian to Naples; and they form in both places the principal ornaments of the respective collections. From the latter were taken the Hercules and the celebrated groupe called the Toro Farnese; from the former the Venus of Me- dicis — I need mention no more. It is not my intention, nor is it conformable to my general plan, to describe in detail the beauties of every palace. To point out the principal features of a few of the most celebrated edifices of t is kind will be fully sufficient. The Doria palace in the Corso presents three vast fronts ; con- tains a spacious court adorned with a public portico all around. The staircase is supported by eight pillars of oriental granite, and conducts to a magnificent gallery that occupies the foui: sides of the I THROUGH ITALY. 199 Chap. XIII. court, and with several adjoining apartments is filled with pictures of the highest estimation. The Palazzo Ruspoli is remarkable for its staircase, supposed to be the noblest in Rome. — It consists of lour flights of thirty steps each •, each step consists of a single piece of marble near ten feet long, and more than two broad : it is adorned with antique sta- tues ; and the walls of two noble galleries, to which it conducts, are covered with pictures. The Orsini palace owes the elevation which renders it remarkable to the theatre of Marcellus, on whose foundations, vaults, and col- lected ruins, it rises on a lofty eminence. The Palazzo Giusliniani stands on Nero’s baths, and is adorned with a profusion of statues and columns extracted from their ruins. This collection, once reported to contain above fifteen hundred antique figures, has, I fear, been much diminished since the com- mencement of the revolutionary war. The Palazzo Altieri is a detached edifice forming a square, and representing four fronts, all set off with architectural decorations. Two courts, a handsome portico, and several noble apartments, glowing with the rich tints of Claude Lorrain, embellish the in- terior. The fantastic architecture of the palace of Ciciaporci , in which Julio Romano seems to have allowed his talent to amuse itself in singularity, may deserve a transient visit. The residence of Christina Queen of Sweden has gi ven an addi- tional lustre to the Corsini palace, remarkable in itself for its mag- nitude, furniture, gardens, and superb library. The library, with the collection of prints annexed to it, is said to have once con- tained near four hundred thousand volumes. The garden runs along, and almost reaches the summit of the Janiculum. Both the library and the garden are open to the public, who may range through the apartments of the one; and as they wander over the other may en- joy a complete view of Rome extended over the opposite hills ; a view as classical as it is beautiful, because remarked and celebrated in classic times. Juli jugera pauca Martialis, Ilortis Hesperidum beatiora, Longo Janiculi jugo recumbunt. Lati collibus imminent recessus; Et planus modico tumore vertex Ccelo perfruitur sereniore : Et, curvas nebula legente valles, Solis luce nitet peculiari : Puris leniter admoventur astris Cels® culmina delicata vill®. Hinc septem dominos videre montes, Et totam licet sestimare Romam.* Martial, lib. iv. ep. lxiv* M My Martial's steal!, but lonely lands, On the gfeam gitfpre, that wide expands, 200 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIII. Opposite is one of the Farnesian palaces, which, though in the middle of the Slrada Lungara , is sometimes called Villa Farnesiana. It has in reality something of the appearance of a villa, as its gar- dens are extensive, and border the banks of the Tiber. The in- terior, though unfurnished and neglected (it belongs to the King of Naples) yet still interests and will continue to attract the curious traveller, till the splendid scenes which the genius of Raffaello has shed on the walls and ceilings shall vanish, and the Loves and Graces that now sport and smile on all sides, shall melt away, and Jose their airy forms in the damp vapors that too often brood around them. From the villa we naturally pass to the Palazzo Farnese. This edifice occupies one side of a handsome square adorned with two fountains. It was planned and its construction directed by the best architects, and principally by Michael Angelo : its apartments were painted by the first artists, and chiefly by Domenichino and Annibal Carracci. It is of immense size and elevation, and on the whole is considered as the noblest palace in Rome. Twelve massive pillars of Egyptian granite support the vestibule; three ranges of arcades rise one above the other round a spacious court, and suites of noble apartments open at every door, and follow each other in endless succession. The traveller contemplates so much magnificence with surprise and delight, but he learns with regret that it is founded upon wanton depredation: the Farnesian palace shines with the plundered fragments of the Coliseum. The Palazzo Costaguti indifferent in every other respect, has the walls of its apartments adorned by the hands of the first masters ; AlbaiiOy Domenichino , Guercino , etc. have all displayed their match- less powers in its decorations, and thus given it a reputation to which its size and architecture could never have raised it. Some share in a similar advantage added to great magnitude, distinguishes the Palazzo Malta. The Palazzo Borghcse is a superb edifice, remarkable for its ex- tent, its porticos, its granite columns, its long suite of apartments, its paintings and antiques ; and still more distinguished by a certain well supported magnificence that pervades every part, and gives the whole mansion from the ground floor to the attic, an appearance of neatness, order, and opulence. It may be added with justice, Of fair Janiculum recline; Th' Hesperian gardens less divine. There many a cool retreat is found Far rais’d o’er all the bills around ; The level summit, mounting high, Fnjoys an ever trauqui! sky : With suns their ow n I hose regions glow. Though clouds may hide the vales below. Thy beauteous villas tow'rd the skies With gentle elevation rise; lienee the sev'n hills, and hence is seen Whale'er great Home can bpast, the world's triuinpbaut quecu. Chap, XIII. THROUGH ITALY. 201 that the illustrious family to which the palace belongs, has been long and deservedly celebrated for taste, and for magnificence di- rected by order and regularity. — “ Mcineanl ea fata ncpotes ! ” ' In an antichamber of the Palazzo Spada , stands the celebrated statue of Pompey ; at the foot of which Caesar is supposed to have fallen. The history of this statue deserves to be inserted. It was first placed during Pompey’s life, in the senate house which he had erected ; and when that edifice was shut up, it was raised by order of Augustus on a double arch or gateway of marble, opposite the grand entrance of Pompey’s theatre. It was thrown down, or fell, during the convulsion of the Gothic wars, and for many ages it lay buried in the ruins. It was at length discovered, I believe about the beginning of the seventeenth century, in a partition wall between two houses. After some altercation, the proprietors of the two houses agreed to cut the statue asunder, and to divide the marble; when fortunately the Cardinal de Spaila heard the circumstance, and by a timely purchase prevented the accomplishment of the barba- rous agreement, and the destruction of one of the most interesting remnants of Roman antiquity. Another danger awaited Pompey’s statue at a much later period, and from an unexpected quarter. While the French occupied Rome in the years 1798-99, etc. they erected in the centre of the Coliseum a temporary theatre, where they acted various republican pieces for the amusement of the army, and for the improvement of such Romans as might be disposed to fraternize with them, and adopt their principles. Voltaire's Brutus was a favorite tragedy, as may easily be imagined ; and in order to give it more effect, it was re- solved to transport the very statue of Pompey, at the feet of which the dictator had fallen, to the Coliseum, and to erect it on the stage. The colossal size of the statue, and its extended arm, rendered it difficult to displace it ; the arm was therefore sawed off for the conveyance, and put on again at the Coliseum ; and on the second removal of the statue, it was again taken off, and again replaced at the Palazzo Spada. So friendly to Pompey was the republican en- thusiasm of the French ! So favorable to the arts and antiquities of Rome is their Love of Liberty ! The Palazzo Barberini , besides its paintings, its statues, and its vast extent, possesses a noble library, which, on certain days in every week, is open to the public; a species of patriotic magnifi- cence which compensates whatsoever architectural defects critics may discover in the exterior of this palace. I shall conclude this enumeration of palaces with the Palazzo Co - lonna , the residence of one of the most ancient and most distin- guished families in Rome, ennobled by its heroic achievements, and immortalized by the friendship and the verses of Petrarca. ’May the same fate attend their posterity. 202 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIII. Gloriosa Colonna, in cui s’ appoggia Nostra speranza, e ’I gran nome Latino, Ch’ ancor non torte dal vero camino L’ fra di Giove per ventosa pioggia. * —Sonetto x. The exterior of this mansion is indifferent ; but its extent, its vast court, its gardens, and its furniture, are worthy the rank and dig- nity of its proprietor. Its library is spacious and well filled ; its staircase is lined with statues ; and its apartments are filled with paintings by the first masters ; but its principal and characteristic feature is its hall, or rather gallery, a most magnificent apartment, of more than two hundred and twenty feet in length, and forty in breadth, supported by Corinthian pillars, and pilasters of beauti- ful yellow marble (cjiailo ant'ico , antique yellow), and adorned on the sides and vaulted ceilings with paintings and gildings inter- mingled ; so that it presents, on the whole, a scene of splendor and beauty seldom equalled even in Italy. 2 * Glorious Colonna , pillar of the state. The prop, oq which our bdpe, our Dame relies. Which, sianding firm, majeslic, and elate. Braves all the angry fury of the skies. The present Prince Colonna merits the title, and supports the character of an old Roman Senator, lie raised and maintained a regiment against the invaders of his country ; and when obliged to yield, he submitted with dignity, without descending to any mean compliance. Though almost ruined by the exactions of the French, and by the subsequent injustice of the Neapolitan Government, and obliged to sell not only his pictures, but even the utensils of his kitchen, he yet had the public spirit to present the Pope with a slate -coach and six horses, to enable him to enter Rome with becoming dignity. a Of the Roman palaces, many of which have been erected by the nephews or relations of different Popes, Gibbon speaks with admiration, but with severe cen- sure. “ They are,” says he, (ch. 71 ) “ the most costly monuments of elegance and servitude; the perfect arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture, have been prostituted in their service, and their galleries and gardens are decorated with the most precious works of antiquity which taste or vanity has prompted them to col- lect.” The judgment of the historian seems, on this occasion, as indeed on a few others, to be biassed by the prejudices of the philosophist. To raise and enrich favorites, w hatever may be the recommendation to the notice of the sovereign, at the expense of the country is criminal, but unfortunately too common in all govern- ments; in ours, free and republican as it is, as well as in others conducted on more arbitrary and selfish principles. Whether these favorites be the bastards of kings, or the nephews of popes, is a matter of little consequence to the public; for though in the latter the scandal be less, yet the inconvenience and the expense are the same; in point of dignity, the former have no superiority to claim, and as for talents, the nephews of different pontiffs may, I believe, enter the lists against most royal favorites, without having any reason to blush at the comparison. \ ■ •%/ \ ti*n\ ft Chap. XIV* THROUGH ITALY. 203 CHAPTER XIV. Pontifical Palaces: the Lateran— the Quirinal— the Vatican. We now proceed to the three pontifical palaces. The Lateran stands close to the patriarchal church of that name, and was ap- pointed for the residence of the Bishops of Rome, at the same lime as the adjoining Basilica was converted into a church by Constan- tine. 1 It had fallen into ruin, and was rebuilt by Sixtus Quintus. A part only is now reserved for the accommodation of the Pontiff, when be comes to perform service at St. John’s. The main body of the building was turned into an hospital for the reception of two hundred and fifty orphans, by Innocent XI. It presents three fronts, of great extent and simplicity, and strikes the eye by its magnitude and elevation. The Quirinal palace ( Monte Cavatio ) is become, from the loftiness and salubrity of its situation, the ordinary, or at least, the summer residence of the Roman pontiff. Its exterior presents two long fronts, plain and unadorned; the court within is about three hundred and fifty feet long, and near two hundred wide. A broad and lofty portico runs along it on every side, and terminates in a grand staircase, conducting to the papal apartments, to the gallery, and the chapel, all on a grand scale, and adorned with fine paintings. In the.furniture and other decorations, the style is simple and uni- form, and such as seems to become the grave unostentatious cha- racter of a Christian prelate. The adjoining gardens are spacious, refreshed by several fountains, and shaded by groves of laurel, pine, ilex, and poplar. In the recesses, arbors, and alleys, are statues, urns, and other antique ornaments, placed with much judg- ment, and producing a very picturesque effect. In other respects, the gardens are in the same style as the edifice, and exhibit magni- ficence only in their extent. The square before this palace is remarkable for an Egyptian obelisk erected in it by the late Pope. Two statues, representing each a horse held by a young man, stand, one on each side of the obelisk, and give the lull the appellation of Monte Cauallo. They are of colossal size and exquisite beauty; are supposed to repre- sent Castor and Pollux, although the inscription says, Alexander * Juvenal mentions egregias Lateranorum cedes ( the magnificent temples of the Lateran), as surrounded by the bloody cohorts of A T ero, who put the proprietor to death, confiscated his estates, and seized his palace. It continued At the disposal of the Emperors till the reign of Constantine. 204 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIV. I and Bucephalus, and are acknowledged to be the works oj; some great Grecian master. They were transported by Constantine from Alexandria, and erected in his baths which stood in the neighbor- hood ; and from thence they were conveyed, by order of Sixtus Quintus, to their present situation. The erection of the obelisk be- tween these groups has been censured by some, as taking from their effect, and oppressing them by its mass : but, as it is ad- mitted that they were made not to stand insulated, but probably to adorn the side or angle of some edifice, perhaps a mausoleum, and even, as appears from the roughness of their back parts, to touch the wall, and seem as if springing from it, their connexion with the obelisk must be considered as an improvement and an approxima- tion to their original attitudes and accompaniments. The Vatican hill retains its ancient appellation, and gives it to the palace and church which adorn its summit and declivity. Whether this appellation took its origin from the influence of some local di- vinity, which was supposed to manifest itself in omens and pre- dictions, more frequently on this spot than elsewhere, as Aulus Gellius imagines; or whether, as Varro asserts, the god himself takes his title from the first efforts of the infant voice at articu- lation, over which it seems he presided, is a matter of little im- portance ; from which we pass to the recollection of the pleasing imagery of Horace, so well known to our early years : Ut paterni Fluminis ripae, simul ct jocosa Rcdderet laudes tibi Vaticani Montis imago. 1 — Od. xx. lib. 1. But I know not whether these sportive ideas have not, in the minds of most of my readers, given way to impressions less pleasing; and whether the accents of the echo have not been drowned in the thunders of the Vatican, that have rolled through so many ages, and resounded so long and so tremendously in every English ear. But be that as it may, the Vatican has long ceased to be the forge (5f spiritual lightnings, the grand arsenal of ecclesiastical weapons, “ Armamentaria cceli,” a and ages have now elapsed since the roar of its thunders has dis- turbed the repose of the universe, or with fear of change perplexed monarchs. The Vatican is now the peaceful theatre of some of the most majestic ceremonies of the pontifical court ; it is the repository of the * When in applausive shouts thy name Spread from the theatre around. Floating on thy own Tyher's stream, And Echo, playful nymph, return'd Ihe sound.— I'rancis. a All the magazine of w rath above. -Dryden. Chap. XIV. THROUGH ITALY. i 205 records of ancient science, and the temple of the arts of Greece and Rome. Under these three heads it commands the attention of every traveller of curiosity, taste, and information. The exterior, as I have already hinted when speaking of palaces in general, does not present any grand display of architectural magnificence, nor even of uniformity and symmetrical arrangement; a circumstance easily accounted for, when we consider that the Vatican was erected by different architects at different aeras, and for very different pur- poses; and that it is rather an assemblage of palaces than one regular palace. It was begun about the end of the fifth, or the beginning of the sixth century, and rebuilt, increased, repaired, and altered by various pontiffs, from that period down to the latter years of the reign of the late Pope, when the French invasion put an end, for some time at least, to all improvements. All the great architects whom Rome has produced were in their days employed, in some part or other of this edifice, and Bramante, Raffaello , Fontana , Maclerno, and Bernini, successively displayed their talents in its augmentation or improvement. Its extent is im- mense, and covers a space of twelve hundred feet in length and a thousand in breadth. Its elevation is proportionate, and the num- ber of apartments it contains almost incredible. Galleries and por- ticos sweep around and through it in all directions, and open an easy access to every quarter. Its halls and saloons are all on a great scale, and by their multitude and loftiness alone give an idea of magnificence truly Roman. The walls are neither wainscotted nor hung with tapestry; they are adorned or rather animated by the genius of Raffaello and Michael Angelo. The furniture is plain and ought to be so : finery would be misplaced in the Vatican, and would sink into insignificance in the midst of the great, the vast, the sub- lime, which are the predominating features or rather the very genii of the place. The grand entrance is from the portico of St. Peter’s by the Scala Regia (the royal staircase), the most superb staircase perhaps in the world, consisting of four flights of marble steps adorned with a double row of marble Ionic pillars. This staircase springs from the equestrian statue of Constantine which terminates the portico on one side; and whether seen thence, or viewed from the gallery leading on the same side to the colonnade, forms a perspective of singular beauty and grandeur. The Scala Regia conducts to the i Sala Regia or regal Hall, a room of great length and elevation which communicates by six large fold- ing doors with as many other apartments. The space over and the intervals between the doors are occupied by pictures in fresco re- presenting various events, considered as honorable or advantageous to the Roman See. Though all these pieces are the works of great masters, yet one only is peculiarly beautiful ; and that is the trium- phal entrance of Gregory XI. into Rome, after the long absence of the pontiffs from the capital during their residence at Avignon. CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIV. m This composition is by Vasari, and is perhaps his masterpiece. The battle of Lepanto, in which the united fleet of the Italian powers under the command of Don John of Austria arid under the auspices of Pius V. defeated the Turks, and utterly broke their naval power till then so terrible to Europe, is justly ranked amongst the most glorious achievements of the Roman pontiffs, and forms a most appropriate ornament to the Sala Regia. Unfortunately the skill of the artist was not equal to the subject, and the grandeur and life of the action is lost in undistinguishable confusion below, and above in wild allegorical representations. The massacre of St. Bartholomew, if the memory of such an atrocious and horrible event must be preserved, would be better placed at Paris, where it was perpe- trated, than at Rome; and in the palace of the Louvre where it was planned, than in the Vatican. Occidat ilia dies ®yo, nec postera credant Saicula : nos certe taceamus, et obruta multA JXocte tegi nostra! patfamur crimina gentis.— Statius . 1 This was the patriotic and benevolent wish of a worthy French magistrate (the chancellor L'Hopilal) and in this wish every humane heart will readily join. The humiliation of the Emperors Henry IV. and Frederic Barlwosa, ought not to be ranked among the tro- phies of the Holy See. It reflects more disgrace on the insolent and domineering pontiffs, who exacted such marks of submission, than on the degraded sovereigns who found themselves obliged to give them. Aj, all events, it does not become the common father of Christians to rejoice in the humiliation of his sons, or to blazon the walls of his palace with the monuments of their weakness or condescension. At one end of the Sala Regia is the Cappella Paolina (the Pauline Chapel), so called because rebuilt by Paul ill. The altar is support- ed by porphyry pillars and bears a tabernacle of rock crystal : the walls are adorned with various paintings filling the spaces between the Corinthian pilasters. The whole however, though rich aud mag- nificent, looks dark and cumbersome. Towards the other end of the hall, on the left, a door opens into the Cappella Sislina built by Sixtus IV. and celebrated for its paint- ings in fresco by Michael Angelo and his scholars. These paint- ings, which cover the walls and vaulted ceilings, are its oniy orna- ments. The famous “ Last Judgment ” of Michael Angelo occu- pies one end entirely. Us beauties and defects are well known and may be comprised in one short observation ; that its merit consists • Be that foul day, polluted by our crime, Erasd for ever from the book of Time; Tba. deed let future ages disbelieve ; Let us at least in contrite silence g ieve, And pray that deep and endless night may bide The horrors of tb' accursed homicide. Chap. XIV. THROUGH ITALY. 207 more in the separate figures than in the arrangement or effect of tjie whole. The upper part glows with brightness, angels, and glory : on the right ascend the elect; on the left, the wicked blasted with lightning tumble in confused groups into the flaming abyss. The Judge stands in the upper part, supported on the clouds and arrayed in the splendor of heav en : he is in the act of uttering the dreadful sentence, Go, ye cursed , into everlasting fire; his arms are uplifted, his countenance burns with indignation, and his eyes flash lightning. Such is the Messiah in Milton, when he puts forth his terrors and hurls his bolts against the rebel angels; and so is he described by an eloquent French orator, when he exercises his judgments on sinners at the last tremendous day. Similar representations either in prose or verse, in language or in painting, are sublime and affecting ; but I know not whether they be suitable to the calm, the tranquil, the majestic character of the awful person who is to judge the world in truth and in justice. Nothing indeed is so difficult as to portray the features, the atti- tudes, and the gestures of the Word incarnate. He was not without feeling, but he was above passion. Joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, could reach his soul, for he was a man ; but they could not cloud its serenity, for he was God. Benevolence brought him from heaven ; it was therefore his prevailing sentiment, and may be supposed to influence his countenance, and to shed over his features a perpetual expression of benignity. To obey or to sus- pend the laws of nature was to him equally easy; a miracle cost him no effort 'and excited in him no surprise. To submit or to command, to suffer or to triumph, to live or to die, were alike w elcome in their turns as the result of reason and obedience. To do the will of his Fathers was the object of his mission, and every step that led to its accomplishment, whether easy or arduous, was to him the same. What poet shall dare to describe such a character? What painter presume to trace its divine semblance? No wonder then that the greatest masters should have failed in the bold attempt; and that even Michael Angelo by transferring, like Homer, the pas- sions of the man to the divinity, should have degraded the awful object, and presented to the spectator the form, not of a God, but of an irritated and vindictive monarch! If Michael Angelo has failed we can scarcely hope that other painters can succeed ; and we find few, very few representations of the Saviour, on which the eye or the imagination can rest with satisfaction. The divine infants of Carlo Dolce are, it must be acknowledged, beings of a superior nature that seem to breathe the airs and to enjoy at once the in- nocence and the bloom of paradise; and his Saviour of the World in the act of consecrating the bread and w ine is a most divine figure, every feature of w hose seraphic face speaks compassion and mercy : Love without end, and without measure, grace. Milton . iii. 142, 208 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIV: But love and mercy are not the only attributes of this sacred Per- sonage; justice and holiness accompany his steps, and cast an awful majesty as a veil around him, and these grand accompaniments of the Godhead are sought for in vain in the mild, the soft, l had al- most said the effeminate figures of Car lo Polcc. Four, I think, I have seen of a happier touch and more elevated description. One is in the King of Prussia’s gallery in Sans Souci and represents Christ in the act of raising Lazarus ; and three were in the Palazzo Jus - tiniani at Rome. In one Christ restores life to the son of the widow at Nain; in another he multiplies the loaves in the desert; in the third he gives sight to a blind man. The three last, I think, by An- nibal Carracci. In all these noble paintings, benevolence, compas- sion, and power unconscious of exertion, mark the features and at- titudes of the incarnate God, and give at least a distant and feeble glimpse of his majestic demeanor. Opposite the Cappella Sislina folding doors open into the Sala Bucale remarkable only for its size and simplicity. Hence we pass to the Loggie di Raffaello, a series of open galleries in three stories, lining the three sides of the court of St. Damasus. These are call- ed the galleries of Raffaello, because painted by that great master, or by his scholars. The first gallery in the middle story is the only one executed by Raffaello himself, or to speak more correctly, partly by him, and partly by his scholars under his inspection, and not unfrequently retouched and corrected by his hand. In the thirteen arcades that compose this wing of the gallery is represented the History of the Old and part of the New Testament; beginning with the Creation and concluding with the Last Supper. The plan, the arrangement, the ornaments of these celebrated pieces, are in ge- neral great and beautiful ; the fancy and expression oftentimes rise to the grand and even to the sublime. Some critics have ventured to find fault with the execution in detail, and the coloring has been censured frequently. The first compartment represents the Eternal Father with arms and feet expanded darting into chaos, and reducing its distracted elements into order merely by his motion. This representation is much admired, particularly by French connoisseurs, and if we may credit tradition, astonished Michael Angelo himself, who is said tb have accused Raffaello of having borrowed the figure of the Eternal from the Sistine chapel ; from this chapel the latter artist was then excluded by the express direction of the former, who it seems fear- ed either his criticism or genius. The figure of the Eternal thus represented may be poetical and sublime, even as the Jupiter of Homer, but (si verbo audacia delur 1 ) it excites no admiration and deserves little praise. If it be difficult to represent the son of God, who “became man’’ and “ dwelt amongst us,” without impairing » If I may be bold enough so to speak. A Chap. XIV. THROUGH ITALY. 209 the dignity of his sacred person, and degrading his majestic form, what means can the painter employ, what art can he call into play, to portray with becoming magnificence the Eternal himself, the model of beauty, the grand archetype of perfection ‘ ‘ who dwelleth in light inaccessible, whom no mortal hath seen or can see ? ” It is true that the prophet Daniel has introduced the Almighty in a visible form, and under the emphatical appellation of the “ An- cient of days ” ventured, with the guidance of the heavenly spirit, to trace a mysterious and obscure sketch of the Eternal. “ While I beheld,” says the prophet, “thrones were placed : then the An- cient of days took his seat : his garment was shining as snow : the hair of his head as the purest wool. His throne was raging flames: his wheels consuming fire. A torrent blazing and impetuous rolled before him: thousands of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand waited in his presence. He sat as judge and the books were opened.” In this description one only circumstance connected with the person of the divinity is mentioned. The prophet seems to refrain with reverential awe from such a sub- ject, and expatiating on the garments, the throne, the ministering spirits, he leaves the indescribable form to the imagination, or rather to the religious terror of the reader. Painters and poets would do well to imitate this holy discretion, and to refrain from all attempts to embody the Eternal mind, which by confining the energies of pure spirit within a human form, degrade omnipotence; and disfi- gure the original of all that is lovely in the heavens and on the earth, by marking it with the perishable features of human decrepitude. Besides, in the picture now before us, it is not the Word of the Creator that composes the disorder of chaos. No; his hands and feet are employed to separate the warring elements and confine them within their respective boundaries. This is an idea border- ing upon the burlesque and perfectly unworthy the lofty conceptions of Raffaello. How different the sentiment conveyed in the sublime language of the Scripture. No effort, no action even, was requisite. Chaos stood ready to obey his will, and nature arose at his word. “ He said, let Light Be, and Light Was ! — He spake and they were made : he commanded and they were created.” To the encomiums passed in general on the decorations of these galleries, I need not add that the intermediate ornaments, such as the basso relievos, which are supposed to be antiques taken from the halls of the different thermae, and the arabesques which sepa- rate and grace the different compartments, are much and justly ad- mired. From one of the galleries a door opens into the Camere de Raffaello . The Camere de Raffaello are a range of halls totally unfurnished and uninhabited. As the walls from the floor are covered with figures, furniture could only conceal their beauties ; and the busy hands of inhabitants, it is feared, might damage the delicate tints or I. 44 210 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIV. nicer features of some of these invaluable compositions. They are therefore accessible only to the visits of the traveller and to the labors of the artist, and are thus consecrated as a temple to the genius of painting, and to the spirit of Raffaclto. They have not however passed over three centuries without losing some portion of their original lustre, and paying tribute to the supreme decree that dooms man and his works to decay and to death. But their degradation is not to be attributed to their innate frailty, or to the unavoidable depredations of time ; but to folly and perversity, or rather to ignorance and stupidity. When the army of the Empe- ror Charles V. took and plundered Rome, a guard was established in these very halls, and fires were lighted in the middle of each room for their accommodation. The consequences of this deed, so characteristic of the barbarian horde of the German Emperor, are sufficient to account for the faded tints and obscure shades of many of these celebrated pieces, without the influence of dampness, which cannot be supposed to exist on a site so elevated, and in so dry a climate ; or to the guilt of negligence, so incompatible with that love of the arts, and that princely encouragement of genius which has so long been the predominant spirit of the Roman government. Two antichambers large and painted by great masters, lead to the first hall, called the Sala di Constantino , because adorned with the grand achievements of that Christian hero ; and thence to the second Camera , where the story of Heliodorus from the Maccabees, the interview of Pope Leo and Attila, the miracle of Bolsena, and above all, the deliverance of St. Peter from prison, attract and charm the eye. Then follow the third Camera with the School of the Philosophers, the Debate on the Holy Sacrament, the Judgment of Solomon, and Parnassus with its groves of bays, Apollo, the Muses, and the poets whom they inspired : and the fourth with the Incendio del Boryo, the victory of Pope Leo over the Saracens at Ostia, and the coronation of Charlemagne. All these are the works of Raffaello ; all masterpieces in their respective kinds ; standards of good taste and grand execution, and considered as the models of perfection. They present all the different species of painting, all the varied combinations of light and shade, all the singularities of attitude, all the secrets of anatomy ; in short all the difficulties and all the triumphs of the art. Hence these apartments are considered as the great school of painters, who flock from all parts to con- template and to imitate the wonders of the pencil of Raffaello, and to catch, if possible, in this sanctuary of his genius, some spark of his creative soul, some portion of his magic talent. It may perhaps be asked, to which of these celebrated per- formances the preference is given. The answer is difficult : for al- though these paintings have been so long the subject of considera- tion, and their merits so fully and so accurately understood and defined, yet the masters of the art have not been able to fix their Chap. XIY. THROUGH ITALY. 2ii relative excellence, or pronounce on their respective superiority. Each in fact has some peculiar beauty, some characteristic charm which gives it a partial advantage but cannot entitle it to a general preference. Besides, each nation has its propensities and every profession its bias, which imperceptibly influence the taste, even in the arts, and decide the opinion perhaps in painting itself. Those who love to contemplate a crowd of figures, all animated by strong emotions and engaged in the tumult without being lost in the confusion of some grand event ; and those who delight in forms strained by some unexpected exertion and features distorted by some sudden and imperious passion, will dwell with complacency, like the German, on the victory of Constantine, or like the French- man, on the conflagration of the Borgo . The Englishman who delights in the calmer expression, and the tranquil scenes of still life, stands in silence before the school of Athens ; enjoys the easy and dignified attitudes and the expressive but serene countenances of the different philosophers. The Ita- lian, accustomed to the wonders of art, and habituated from his infancy to early discrimination, admires the two aerial youths that pursue Heliodorus and glide over the pavement without seeming to touch its surface ; dw ells with rapture on the angelic form that w r atches St. Peter and sheds a celestial light, a beam of paradise, over the gloom of the dungeon — but like the Englishman he rests finally on the architectural perspective, the varied but orderly groups, the majestic figures, and all the combined excellencies of the matchless School. Yet notwithstanding the acknowledged superiority of this piece, the theologian will turn with reverence to the awful assemblage of divine and human beings; the union of holiness and learning in the saints of the Old and in the doctors of the New Testament; in short, of glory above and dignity below that fill the picture oppo- site, and give a just representation of the sublime objects of his profession. The poet, on the other hand, led by classical instinct, fixes his looks on the haunts of his fancy, feeds his eyes with the beauties of Parnassus, contemplates the immortal bloom of Apollo and the Muses, and “ holds high converse with the illustrious dead.” “Phcebo digna locuti .” 1 The traveller, while occupied in examining the transcendent beauties of the grand compositions of which I have been speaking, is apt to pass over unnoticed the minor ornaments that cover the vaults and fill up the intervals between the greater pieces and the floor or arch. Yet many of these, and particularly the basso re- lievos and medallions of the three first apartments by Caravaggio , representing rural scenes and historical subjects, are of exquisite beauty, and claim alike the attention of the artist and of the spec- Poet* worthy their Inspiring God^—Dryden, 212 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIV. tator. To conclude my remarks, the Camere di Raffaello , like all works of superior excellence, display their beauties gradually, and improve on examination, in proportion to the frequency of visits and the minuteness of inspection. After having traversed the court of St. Damasus and its adjoin- ing halls and chapels, which may be considered as the state apart- ments of the Vatican, the traveller passes to that part of the palace which is called the Belvidere from its elevation and prospect, and proceeding along an immeasurable gallery comes to an iron door on the left that opens into the library of the Vatican. A large apart- ment for the two keepers, the secretaries, or rather the interpre- ters seven in number, who can speak the principal languages of Europe, and who attend for the convenience of learned foreigners; a double gallery of two hundred and twenty feet long opening into another of eight hundred, with various rooms, cabinets, and apart- ments annexed, form the receptacle of this noble collection. These galleries and apartments are all vaulted and all painted with diffe- rent effect, by painters of different eras and talents. The paint- ings have all some reference to literature sacred or profane, and take in a vast scope of history and of mythology. The books are kept in cases; and in the Vatican the traveller seeks in vain for that pompous display of volumes, which he may have seen and ad- mired in other libraries. Their number has never been accurately stated, some confine it to two hundred thousand, others raise it to four hundred thousand, and many swell it to a million. The mean is probably the most accurate. But the superiority of this library arises not from the quantity of printed books, but the multitude of its manuscripts, which arc said to amount to more than fifty thousand. Some of these ma- nuscripts of the highest antiquity, such as that of Virgil of the fifth century, a Greek Bible of the sixth, a Terence of the same dale, etc. etc. were taken by the French and sent to Paris. The origin of this library is attributed by some to Pope Hilarius in the fifth century; but although it is probable, that long before that period, the Ro- man church must have possessed a considerable stock of books for the use of its clergy, yet the Popes may be supposed to have been too much occupied with the dangers and the difficulties of the times, to have had leisure or means necessary for the formation of the libraries. However, that several volumes had been col- lected at an early period seems certain; as it is equally so that Pope Zacharias augmented their number very considerably about the middle of the eighth century. Nicholas V. established the li- brary in the Vatican and enlarged the collection; while Galixtus III. is said to have enriched it with many volumes saved from the li- braries of Constantinople at the taking of that city. From this period it continued in a regular progression, receiving almost every year vast additions; sometimes even of whole libraries (as those of Chap. XIV. THROUGH ITALY. 213 the Elector Palatine, of the Dukes of Urbino , of Queen Christina) owing not only to the favor of the pontiff and various princes, but to the well directed zeal of its librarians; many of whom have been men both of eminent talents and of high rank and extensive influence. The French invasion which brought with it so many evils, and like a blast from hell checked the prosperity of Italy in every branch and in every province, not only put a stop to the increase of the Vatican library, but by plundering it of some of its most valuable manuscripts, lowered its reputation, and undid at once the labor and exertion of ages. The galleries of the library open into various apartments filled with antiques, medals, cameos, etc. One in particular is consecrated to the monuments of Christian antiquity, and contains a singular and and unparalleled collection of instruments of torture employed in the first persecutions; as also the dyptics or registers of commu- nion of the great churches, monumental inscriptions, etc. a collec- tion highly interesting to the ecclesiastical historian and the en- lightened Christian. The grand gallery which leads to the library terminates in the Museum Pio-Clementinum. Clement XVI. has the merit of having first conceived the idea of this museum and began to put it in exe- cution. The late Pope Pius VI. continued it on a much larger scale, and gave it its present extent and magnificence. It consists of several apartments, galleries, halls, and temples, some lined with marble, others paved with ancient mosaics, and all filled with statues, vases, candelabra, tombs, and altars. The size and pro- portion of these apartments, their rich materials and furniture, the well managed light poured in upon them, and the multiplicity of admirable articles collected in them and disposed in the most judi- cious and striking arrangement, fill the mind of the spectator with astonishment and delight, and form the most magnificent and grand combination that perhaps has been ever beheld or can almost be imagined. Never were the divinities of Greece and Rome honored with nobler temples ; never did they stand on richer pedestals ; never were more glorious domes spread over their heads; or brighter pavements extended at their feet. Seated each in a shrine of bronze or marble, they seemed to look down on a crowd of vo- taries and once more to challenge the homage of mankind ; while kings and emperors, heroes and philosophers, drawn up in ranks before or around them, increased their state and formed a majestic and becoming retinue. To augment their number, excavations were daily made and generally attended with success ; and many a statue buried for ages under heaps of ruins, or lost in the ob- scurity of some unfrequented desert, was rescued from the gloom of oblivion and restored to the curiosity and admiration of the public. But the joy of discovery was short, and the triumph of taste 214 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIV. transitory! The French, who in every invasion have been the scourge of Italy and have rivalled or rather surpassed the rapacity of the Goths and Vandals, laid their sacrilegious hands on the unparalleled collection of the Vatican, tore its masterpieces from their pedestals, and dragging them from their temples of marble, transported them to Paris, and consigned them to the dull sullen halls, or rather stables, of the Louvre. But on this subject I may perhaps enlarge hereafter. At present I shall proceed to point out some of the most remarkable among the various apartments that constitute the Museum Pio-Clementinum. Three anti-chambers called, from their forms or from the sta- tues that occupy them, II Veslibolo Quadrato (the Square Vesti- bule), II Vestibolo Rotondo (the Round Vestibule), and La Camera di Baccho (the Chamber of Bacchus), conduct the traveller to a court of more than a hundred feet square, with a portico supported by granite pillars and decorated by numberless pieces of antiquity. Need I observe that the principal among these were once the Apollo of Belvidere, the Laocoon, and the Antinous; or that the cele- brated Torso once adorned one of the anti-chambers? They are now at Paris, and their absence is not so much supplied as ren- dered remarkable by the casts that now occupy their places. Next to this court is the Zala decjli Animali (the Hall of Animals), a noble gallery so called because furnished with ancient statues of various animals. This hall opens at one end into the Galleria delle Statue (the Gallery of Statues), lined on both sides with exquisite statues both of Greek and Roman sculpture, and terminated by three apartments called the Stanze delle Buste (the Apartments of Busts). The busts are placed on tables or stands of ancient workmanship, and generally of the most beautiful and curious marble. Towards the opposite end of the gallery is an apartment called II Gabinetto , adorned with all the charms that the united arts of painting, sculp- ture, and architecture could bestow upon it. Eight pillars of ala- baster support its roof; its floor is formed of an ancient mosaic of the brightest colors, representing theatrical exhibitions and rural scenery; its ceiling is painted and displays alternately historical events and mythological fables. The spaces between the columns are filled each with a statue, and the walls are incrusted with an- cient basso relievos formed into pannels and placed in symmetrical arrangement. Different antique seats, some of which are formed of blocks of porphyry and supported by feet of gilt brass, are ranged along the sides. An open gallery forms a communication between this cabinet and the Stanze delle Buste on one side, while on the other a small anti-chamber opens into the Galleria delle Statue which is connected by an opposite door with th &*Sala decjli Animali. Hence through a noble pillared vestibule you enter the hall, or rather the Temple of the Muses; an octagon supported by sixteen pillars of Carrara Chap. XIV. THROUGH ITALY. 215 marble with ancient capitals, paved with ancient mosaics, repre- senting in various compartments actors and theatrical exhibitions separated and bordered by mosaic. The vault above and the great divisions of the sides, are adorned with paintings of Apollo, the Muses, Homer, and various Poets; of Minerva,’ Genii, and other figures adapted to the general destination of the place. In the cir- cumference below rose Apollo, Mnemosyne, and the Muses in the most conspicuous stations, and on elevated and highly wrought ancient pedestals. The most celebrated sages, poets, and orators of Greece stood in order around, as waiting on the divinities which had inspired their immortal strains : — a noble assembly that might have honored the Laurelled pinnacles of Parnassus and not disgraced even the cloud capt summits of Olympus. But this assembly is now dispersed. The Muses have been dragged from the light and splendor of the Vatican, and are now immured in a sepulchral hall, where a single window sheds through a massive wall a few scanty beams on their gloomy niches. Next to the Slanze dclle Muse is the Sala Rolonda , a lofty dome supported by ten columns of Carrara marble, lighted from above, paved with the largest piece of ancient mosaic yet discovered. In the middle is a vase of porphyry of more than fifty feet in circum- ference ; around are colossal statues, and busts resting on half pil- lars of porphyry of great magnitude. This hall indeed is appro- priated to colossal statues ; all its forms and ornaments partake in some degree of their gigantic proportions. From this Rolonda , which is considered as the noblest hall in the museum, a rich portal conducts into the Sala a Croce Greca (Hall of the Greek Cross,) supported by columns paved with ancient mosaic, furnished with statues and lined with basso relievos. One object here naturally attracts attention. It is a vast sarcophagus formed with its lid of one block of red porphyry, beautifully orna- mented in basso relievo with little infant Cupids employed in the vintage, and bordered with tendrils and arabesques. It once con- tained the ashes of Constantia, the daughter of Constantine the Great, and stood for ages in her mausoleum near the church of St. Agnes without the Porta Pia Nomentana. At length Alexander IV. con- verted the mausoleum into a church, and ordered the body of the Princess to be deposited, as that of a saint, under the altar; a mo- tive which removes all imputation of guilt from the deed, though it would have been more prudent, as well as more respectful, to al- low the body to remain undisturbed in the tomb to which it had fceen consigned by the hands of a father. The sarcophagus long remained a useless ornament, and was lately transported to the Museum. The Sala a Croce Greca opens on a double staircase, raised on twenty-two pillars of red and white granite: its steps are marble, its balustrade bronze. The middle flight conducts down to the 216 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIV. Vatican library : the two other lead to the Galleria de Candelabri t a long gallery divided into six compartments, separated from each other by columns of rich marbles. The furniture of this gallery consists in candelabra of different kinds, all of exquisite work- manship and of the finest marbles, so numerous as to have given to the place its peculiar denomination. With these are intermingled vases, columns, Egyptian figures, tablets, tombs, tripods, and sta- tues, which may have been discovered since the other apartments were filled, or could not perhaps be placed to advantage in any of the other classes. At the end of this long suite of apartments a door opens into the Galleria de ’ Quadri (Gallery of Pictures), containing a collection of pictures by the principal masters of the different Italian schools. Though several of these pieces have a considerable degree of merit, yet they are inferior to a thousand others in Rome, and can excite little or no interest in the mind of a spectator who has just passed through such a series of temples, and has been feasting his eyes with the most perfect specimens of ancient sculpture. To this dis- advantage another may be added, arising from the immediate neigh- borhood of the unequalled performances of Raffaello, before which most other compositions, however great their merit or extensive their fame, lose their splendor and sink into obscurity. However a gallery of pictures, though certainly not necessary in the Vatican, may yet produce a good effect ; as under the patronage and active encouragement of government, it may gradually unite on one spot the fine specimens now dispersed over Italy, and by bringing the rival powers of the two sister arts of painting and sculpture into contact, it may concentrate their influence, and eventually promote their perfection. As the traveller returns from these galleries he finds on the left, before he descends the above-mentioned staircase, a circular tem- ple of marble supported by Corinthian pillars and covered with a dome. In the centre, on a large pedestal, stands an antique chariot with two horses in marble. This temple, though on a smaller scale, yet from its materials, form, and proportions, appeared to me one of the most beautiful apartments of the Museum and cannot fail to excite admiration. Such is in part the celebrated Museum Pio-Clcmenlinum , which in the extent, multiplicity, and beautiful disposition of its apartments, far surpasses every edifice of the kind, eclipses the splendor of the gallery of Florence once its rival, and scorns a comparison with the Parisian Museum whose gloomy recesses have been decorated with its plunder. The design of this Museum was first formed (as I have already observed, and the court, portico, and gallery allot- ted to it) and fitted up in part by Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) ; but the plan was enlarged and all the other halls and apartments were erected and furnished by Pius VI. the late pontiff. It would there- Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 217 fore be unbecoming, and indeed ungrateful, to turn from the Vatican without paying a just tribute of praise to the memory of these princes, who in the times of distress, when their income was gradually diminishing, found means to erect such a magnificent temple to taste, to the genius of antiquity, and to the loveliest and most engaging of the arts. They deserve to have their statues erected at the grand entrance of the Museum, and the lovers of the Arts would readily agree in the propriety of inscribing on the pedestal, “ Quique sui memores, alios fecerc mercndo. ” * In this account of the Vatican I have purposely avoided details, and confined my observations to a few of the principal and most prominent features, as my intention is not to give a full description of this celebrated palace, which would forma separate volume; but merely to awaken the curiosity and attention of the traveller. Of the pictures and statues I may perhaps speak hereafter. At present I shall content myself with referring to the well-known w ork of the Abate Winckelman , who speaks on the subject of sta- tues with the learning of an antiquary, the penetration of an artist, and the rapture of a poet. , s CHAPTER XV. Churches— General Observations— St. Clement’s— St. Peter in Yinculis— St. Mar- tin and St. Sylvester — St. Laurence — St. John Lateran — St. Paul and other Pa- triarchal Churches. From the palaces we naturally pass to the churches which form the peculiar glory of Modern Rome, as the temples seem to have been the principal ornaments of the ancient city. On this subject, as on the preceding article, I think it best to begin by a few general observations, the more necessary as the topic is of great extent and much interest ; for while the palaces of Venice and Genoa have been compared, and the latter not unfrequently preferred, to those of Rome, the superior splendor and magnificence of her churches stand unrivalled and undisputed; and in this respect, it is acknow- ledged that still, Haec tantum alias inter caput cxtulit urbes. Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi. * Virg. Ecl.i. 1 They who made their memories immortal by their merits. * Other towns, compar’d with her, appear iike shrubs, when lofty cypresses are near .—Dryden. ■ ■ 218 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. Addison observes, “that the Christian antiquities are so em- broiled in fable and legend, that one receives but little satisfaction from searching into them.” The portion of satisfaction to be derived from such researches, depends upon the taste and views of the person who makes them ; for as to fable and legend, I fancy there is a sufficient stock in heathen as well as in Christian antiquity, to puzzle and embroil an ordinary inquirer. However, notwithstand- ing the obscurity which ages and revolutions, ignorance or folly, may have thrown over both these species of antiquity, the traveller, as he wanders over the venerable regions of this wonderful city so long the seat of Empire and Religion, will find a sufficient num- ber of monuments, both sacred and profane, to edify as well as to delight an unprejudiced mind. Among the former the churches without doubt occupy the first rank, as some few of them were erected in the sera of Constantine, and many may ascribe their origin to the zeal of that Emperor himself, or to that of his sons and their immediate successors. In these edifices the constituent and essential parts remain the same as they were at the period of erection, and even the more solid and permanent ornaments still stand unaltered in their re- spective places. From them therefore we may learn with some certainty, the form of Christian churches in the early ages, the po- sition of the altar, of the episcopal chair, and of the seats of the clergy, together with the arrangement and furniture of the chancel and the choir. Moreover some of these churches had been tem- ples, and many were basilicae or courts destined to public meetings, and may therefore contribute not a little to give us clearer ideas of the size and proportions of such buildings, particularly of the latter, and of the order observed in the assemblies held in them. We may perhaps from them be able to make some conjectures re- lative to the forms early established in Christian churches, and to judge how far the ancients may have thought proper to transfer the rules observed in civil assemblies to religious congre- gations. In the next place, in the churches principally we may trace the decline and restoration of architecture, and discover thence which branches of the art were neglected, and which cultivated during the barbarous ages. These edifices were almost the only objects at- tended to and respected during that long period, and as most of the new were erected on the plans of the old, they became the vehicles, if I may be allowed the expression, by which some of the best prin- ciples of Roman architecture were transmitted to us. Is has been justly observed, that while the symmetry, the proportion, the very constituent forms of the Greek and Roman orders were abandoned and apparently forgotten, the solidity, the magnitude, and what is more remarkable, the greatness of manner so much admired in the interior of ancient buildings, were retained and still appear in many Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 219 churches erected in the darkest intervals of the middle ages. From such fabrics we may therefore infer, that magnificence and grandeur long survived the foil of taste, and that some features of the Roman character still continued to manifest themselves in the works of their descendants, in spite of the prevalency of foreign ignorance and of transalpine barbarism. This observation relative to internal magnificence leads to another which must have struck every traveller; that in many churches the outward form and embellishments are far inferior to the inward appearances. Whether the ancients themselves did not always pay equal attention to the outside; or whether like the modern Italians, they sometimes deferred the execution of the whole plan for want of money or materials ; or whether the hand of time or the more destructive hand of war has torn away the marble that covered these edifices ; but it must be owned that the outside of the Pantheon and of Diocletians’s baths by no means corresponds with their inter- nal magnificence. In succeeding ages the disproportion became more striking, and nothing can be more contemptible than the external show of some of the noblest basilic® : as that of St. Paul’s for instance, of St. Laurence, and also that of St. Sebastian, which ex- hibits more the appearance of a neglected barn than of a patriar- chal church. The same remark might have been applied to Santa Maria Maggiore till the reign of Benedict XYI. who cased it with Tiburtine stone, adorned it with a portico or a colonnade in front, and gave it an exterior of some dignity, though not perfect nor altogether worthy of its grand and splendid interior. Moreover, while the traveller expects, and not without reason, to find some specimens of the best taste and purest style of archi- tecture among the Roman churches, he must not be surprised if he should frequently meet with instances of the very reverse in both respects, and have reason too often to lament that the finest mate- rials have been thrown away in the construction of shapeless and deformed edifices. To explain this singular combination of good and bad taste, the reader has only to recollect, that in Rome, as in other great cities, different fashions have prevailed at different pe- riods, and that architects, even when above the ignorance or the prejudices of their age, have yet been obliged to submit to them, and conform to the caprice of their employers. Besides, architects in modern times have been too prone to indulge the fond hope of excelling the ancients, by deviating from their footsteps, and of discovering some new proportion, some form of beauty unknown to them, by varying the outlines, and by trying the effects of endless combinations. Now in no city have architects been more encouraged and employed than in Rome, and in no city have they indulged their fondness for ori- ginality with more freedom and more effect, to the great depravation of taste, and perversion of the sound principles of ancient architecture. 220 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. Few have been entirely exempt from this weakness, but none have abandoned themselves to its influence more entirely than Borromini , who, although a man of genius, talent, and information, has yet filled Rome with some of the most deformed buildings that ever disgraced the streets of a capital. Such deviations from the principles of the ancients must appear extraordinary every where, and particularly at Rome, where so many superb monuments remain to attract the attention of the artist, and form his taste, while they excite his admiration. In truth, while the portico of the Pantheon stands preserved, it would seem by the genius of architecture, as a model for the imitation of future generations ; while it meets the architect in every morning walk, and challenges his homage as he passes, it must appear extraordinary indeed that he should abandon its simple yet majestic style, to substitute in its stead a confused and heavy mass of rich materials, which may astonish but can never please even the rudest observer. Surely the double or triple range of columns, the uninterrupted entablature, the regular pediment unbroken and unencumbered, delight the eye more x by their uniform grandeur, than pillars crowded into groups, cornices sharpened into angles, and pediments twisted into curves and flourishes which break one grand into many petty objects, and can neither fix the sight, nor arrest the attention. Yet, while the former, exemplified in the Pantheon, is coldly admired and neglected, the latter is become the prevailing style in ecclesiastical architecture at Rome, and of conse- quence over all Italy. Again, churches, like most places of public resort, have their day of favor and of fashion when they are much frequented, and of course repaired and decorated with care and magnificence. Not unfrequently some cardinal or rich prelate, or perhaps the reigning pontiff himself, may conceive a particular attachment to some church or other, and in that case we may conclude, that all the powers of art will be employed in repairing, adorning, and fur- nishing the favored edifice. But this sunshine of popularity may pass away, and many a noble pile has been abandoned for ages to the care of an impoverished chapter, of a needy incumbent, or of a parish thinned by emigration. In such circumstances, only so much attention is paid to the edifice as is necessary to protect it against the inclemency of the weather or the injuries of time, and this care is generally confined to the exterior, while the interior is abandoned to solitude, dampness, and decay. — Unfortunately some of the most ancient and venerable churches in Rome are in this latter situation; whether it be that they stand in quarters once populous but now deserted, or that churches erected in modern times, or dedicated to modern saints, engross a greater share of public attention, I know not ; but those of St. Paul, St. Laurence, St. Stephen, St. Agnes, and even the Pantheon itself, the glory of Rome, and the boast of architecture, owe little or nothing to modern munificence. Ciiap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 221 But notwithstanding these disadvantages and defects, there are few, very few churches in Rome, which do not present, either in their size or their proportions, in their architecture or their mate- rials, in their external or internal decoration, something that de- serves the attention of the traveller and excites is just admiration. He therefore who delights in halls of an immense size and exact proportion, in lengthening colonnades and vast pillars of one solid block of porphyry, of granite, of Parian or Egyptian marble ; in pavements that glow with all the tints of the rainbow, and roofs that blaze with brass or gold ; in canvass warm as life itself, and statues ready to descend from the tombs on which they recline; will range round the churches of Rome, and find in them an inex- haustible source of instructive and rational amusement, such as no modern capital can furnish, and such as might be equalled or sur- passed by the glories of ancient Rome alone. I shall now proceed to some particular churches, and without pretending to enter into very minute details, mention only such cir- cumstances as seem calculated to excite peculiar interest. The church of St. Clement, in the great street that leads to St. John Lateran, is the most ancient church in Rome. It was built on the site, and was probably at first one of the great apartments of the house of the holy bishop whose name it bears. It is mentioned as ancient by authors of the fourth century (St. Jerome, Pope Zo- zimus, etc.) and is justly considered as one of the best models that now exist of the original form of Christian churches. It has fre- quently been repaired and decorated, but always with a religious respect for its primitive shape and fashion. In front of it is a court with galleries, supported by eighteen granite pillars and paved with pieces of shattered marbles, among which I observed several frag- ments of beautiful Verde antico. The portico of the church is formed of four columns of the same materials as the pillars of the gallery, and its interior is divided into a nave and aisles by twenty pillars of various marbles. The choir commences about the centre of the nave, and extends to the steps of the sanctuary ; there are two pulpits, called anciently Ambones, one on each side of the choir. A flight of steps leads to the sanctuary or chancel, which is termi- nated by a semicircle, in the middle of which stands the episcopal chair, and on each side of it two marble ranges of seats border the walls for the accommodation of the priests; the inferior clergy with the singers occupied the choir. In front of the episcopal throne, and between it and the choir, just above the steps of the sanctuary, rises the altar unencumbered by screens and conspicuous on all sides. The aisles terminated in two recesses, now used as chapels called anciently Exedrae orCellae, and appropriated to pri- vate devotion in prayer or meditation. Such is the form of St. Clement’s, which though not originally a basilica, is evidently mo- delled upon such buildings ; as may be seen not only by the de- 222 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. scription given of them by Vitruvius, but also by several other churches in Rome, which having actually been basilicae, still retain their original form with slight modifications. The same form has been retained or imitated in all the great Roman churches, and indeed in almost all the cathedral and abbey churches in Italy ; a form without doubt far better calculated both for the beauty of perspective and for the convenience of public worship than the arrangement of Gothic fabrics, divided by screens, insulated by partitions, and terminating in gloomy chapels. 1 S. Pietro in Vincoli, so called from the chains with which St. Peter was bound both in Rome and at Jerusalem, now preserved, as is believed, under the altar, was erected about the year 420, and af- ter frequent reparations presents now to the eye a noble hall, sup- ported by twenty Doric pillars of Parian marble, open on all sides, adorned with some beautiful tombs, and terminating in a semicircle behind the altar. It is pity that the taste of the age in which this edifice was erected should have been perpetuated through so many successive reparations, and the arches carried from pillar to pillar still suffered to appear; while an entablature, like that ofS. Maria Macjcjiore, would have concealed the defect and rendered the order perfect. The pillars are too thin for Doric proportions, and too far from each other ; very different in this respect from the Doric mo- dels still remaining at Athens. But the proportions applied by the ancient Romans to this order, rendered it in fact a distinct order, and made it almost an invention of their own. Among the monu- ments the traveller will not fail to observe a sarcophagus of black marble and of exquisite form, on the left hand ; and on the right, the tomb of Julius II. indifferent in itself, but ennobled by the cele- brated figure of Moses, supposed to be the masterpiece of Michael Angelo, and one of the most beautiful statues in the world. 2 Not far from S. Pietro in Vincoli is the church of S . Martino and S. Silvestro , formed out of a part of the ruins of the neighboring baths of Titus, and, as far as regards the Crypta or subterraneous church, as ancient as the times of St. Sylvester and Constantine the Great. It has, as will easily be imagined, undergone various re- pairs, and is at present one of the most beautiful edifices in Rome. It is supported by Corinthian cole 'ms of the finest marbles, bear- ing not arches but an entablature egular indeed as to ornament, 1 1 recommend to my readers the account of ancient churches and their orna- ments given by the judicious and learned Fleurij. The work which contains it, with many curious details and interesting observations, is entitled Les Mazurs des Chretiens. The perusal of it will give the traveller a very accurate notion of the subject at large, and enable him not only to comprehend what he finds written upon it, but also to pronounce with some precision on the form and ornaments of such churches as he may hereafter visit. ( See chapters 35, et seq. ) * The ode or sonnet of Zappi inspired by the contemplation of this wonderful statue, is well known, and may be found in Roscoe’s late excellent work, the Life of Leo the Tenth, with a very accurate translation. Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 223 but of great and pleasing effect. The walls of the aisles are adorn- ed with paintings by the two Poussins and much admired by con- noisseurs. The tribuna or sanctuary is raised several steps above the body of the church ; the high altar, which stands immediately above the steps, is of the most beautiful form and of the richest materials. The paintings on the walls and the roof are colored in the brightest yet softest tints imaginable, and seem to shed over the whole church a celestial lustre. Under the altar a door opens upon a marble staircase leading to a subterraneous chapel lined with stucco, nearly resembling marble, and adorned with numerous pillars in a very pleasing style of architecture. Thence you pass into the ancient church, which, from the increase of the ruins around, is now become almost subterranean: it is a large vaulted hall, once paved with mosaic, and seems from the remains, to have been well furnished with marble and paintings ; it is now the receptacle of damp unwholesome vapors, that tinge the walls, and hover round the solitary tombs. A few purple hats with their rich tassels, the insignia of the dignity of Cardinal, suspended from the vaults, and tarnished with time and humidity, cast a feeble unavailing ray of splendor on the monuments of their departed possessors. The spec- tator, cautioned by the chilness of the place not to prolong his stay, contents himself with casting a transient glance on the sullen sce- nery, and returns to the splendid exhibition of the temple above. The church of St. Andrea in Monte Cavallo, by Bernini , though so small as to deserve the name of chapel only, is so highly finished and so richly decorated that I should' recommend it to the attention of the traveller as peculiarly beautiful. It was formerly, with the annexed convent, the property of the Jesuits, who seldom wanted either the means or the inclination to impart splendor and magni- ficence to their establishments. Unfortunately they have often dis- played more riches than taste, and given their churches the deco- rations and glare of a theatre, instead of adhering to the golden rule in religious architecture, that of disposing the best materials in the simplest order. The neglect of this maxim renders the great church of the Jesuits (the Gesic) though confessedly one of the richest, yet in my opinion one of the ugliest, because one of the most gaudy in Rome. St. Cecilia in Trastevere has great antiquity and much magnificence to recommend it. It is supposed to have been the house of that virgin martyr, and they show a bath annexed to it in which they pretend that she was beheaded. Over the tomb is a fine statue, exactly representing the attitude and the drapery of the body as it was discovered in the tomb in the year 821 ; such at least is the purport of the inscription. The saint is represented as reclining on her side, her garments spread in easy folds around her, and her neck and head covered with a veil of so delicate a texture, as to allow the spectator almost to discover the outlines of the coun- 224 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. tenance. The posture and drapery are natural as well as graceful, and the whole form wrought with such exquisite art, that we seem to behold the martyred virgin, not locked in the slumbers of death, but in the repose of innocence, awaiting the call of the morning. A court and portico, according to the ancient custom, lead to this church, and pillars of fine marble divide and adorn it; but it labors under the defect alluded to above, and like many other churches, is encumbered with its own magnificence. S. Pietro in Monlorio, or Monte Aureo , a very ancient church, was once remarkable for its sculpture and paintings, furnished by the first masters in these two branches; but many of the former have been broken or displaced, and some of the latter carried off by the French during the late predatory invasion. Among these is the famous Transfiguration, generally supposed to be the first painting in the world. It was said to have been in a bad light in its original situation ; but it must be recollected, that Raffaello de- signed it for that very light ; besides, I do not believe that the French are likely to place it in a better.’ In the middle of the little square, formed by the cloisters of the convent belonging to the church of St. Pietro in Monlorio , is a chapel in the form of an ancient temple; round, supported by sixteen pillars, and crowned with a dome. It is the work of Bramanlc , and much admired. It would, methinks, have been more beauti- ful if the architect had copied the Greek models, or adopted the proportions of the temple of Tivoli of a similar form. Besides, the lantern that crowns the dome, or rather terminates the cella, is by much too large for the edifice, and seems to crush it by its weight. Yet the colonnade, such is the effect of pillars, gives this little temple, with all its defects, an antique and noble appearance. 2 Sancla Maria in Trastevere or Basilica Calixti, is a very ancient church, supposed to have been originally built by Pope Calixtus, about the year 220. It was rebuilt by Julius I. in the year 340, and has since undergone various repairs, and received of course many improvements. Its bold portico and its nave are supported by ancient pillars, some of red, some of black granite, all of dif- ferent orders and different dimensions *, the entablature also is composed of the shattered remains of various ancient cornices ; and indeed the whole edifice seems an extraordinary assemblage of orders, proportions, and materials. However, it exhibits a certain * When I was at Paris in the year 1802, it had been withdrawn from the gallery, and was intended for the chapel of one of the first consul’s palaces. If in that of Versailles the light be not too strong, the Transfiguration may appear to advan- tage, as the architecture and decorations of the chapel, the best I have seen beyond the Alps, are not perhaps altogether unworthy of contributing to display the beauties of such a masterpiece. a This edifice is introduced into the Cartoon that represents St. Paul preaching at Athens, and is given with considerable accuracy. Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 22r» greatness of manner in the whole f that never fails to cover defects in the detail, and its general appearance is bold and majestic. Its vault and chapels are adorned with several beautiful paintings by Domeniclnno , and other great masters. The square before this church is watered by a handsome fountain, perhaps the most an- cient in Rome, as it was opened by Adrian I. about the year 790, and restored and ornamented by Clement XII. S. Grisogono, a very ancient church, ascribed originally to Con- stantine, is remarkable for the numerous columns of granite, por- phyry, and alabaster, that support its nave and choir. S. Giovanni e Paolo is equally ancient, and still more splendidly furnished with pillars and antique ornaments. S. Gregorio Magno is remarkable because erected by the cele- brated pontiff, whose name it bears, on the very site of his own house, the residence of the Anician family. The church, with the convent adjoining, was by its founder dedicated under the title of St. Andrew, a title which was gradually lost, and replaced by that of St. Gregory. This fabrichas undergone several changes, and though rich in materials, has, from the bad taste with which those changes have been conducted, but little claim to our admiration. There are three chapels within the precincts of the convent, or rather an- nexed to the church, one of which is ennobled by the rival exer- tions of Guido and Domenichino , who have here brought their productions into contact, and left the delighted connoisseur to admire, and if he dare, to decide the point of pre-eminence. As these paintings are on the walls of the chapel, they remain ; but every article that could possibly be removed from the church and its dependent chapels, was carried off by the Polish legion, which, during the French invasion, was stationed in the convent. So far indeed did this regular banditti carry their love of plunder, as to tear away the iron bars inserted in the walls of the church and cloisters, in order to strengthen them and to counteract the action of the vaults ; so that it was considered as dangerous to walk in them, as their fall was expected every hour. The classical reader would not pardon a traveller who should pass over in silence the church where the ashes of Tasso repose. This poet, the next in rank and in fame to Virgil, died in the con- vent of St. Onofrio , was buried without pomp, and lay for many years among the vulgar dead , without a monument or even an in- scription over his remains. Few poets have received monumental honors immediately on their demise. Their fame has seldom taken its full range, or surmounted the difficulties which envy throws in its way during their lifetime ; to pay due homage to their genius, and give to memory all that man can give to the illustrious dead, sepulchral distinction, is generally the task of an impartial and grateful posterity. Upon this occasion however it was neither envy nor indifference, but friendship alone that deprived the Italian I. 15 226 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. poet of the honors due to his merit. Immediately after his death, the fathers of the convent of St. Onofrio, and many persons of dis- tinction, particularly the celebrated Manso, the friend and pane- gyrist of Milton, pressed forward with generous emulation to exe- cute the honourable work; but the cardinal Cinihio Medici , the patron of the poet in his latter days, considered the erection of a be- coming monument as a duty and an honor peculiarly appropriated to himself, and though he found himself obliged to defer the discharge of the friendly office year after year, yet he could never be induced to allow any other person to fulfil it in his stead. Death however deprived him of the honor of erecting a tomb to Tasso; and to the cardinal Bevilaccjua alone, is the public indebted for the present monument rather decent than magnificent, with a short inscription. Every English traveller who , feels the sublimity of Milton, and knows how much the British bard owes to the Tuscan poet, will hasten to the church of St. Onofrio , and at the tomb of Torquato Tasso, hail the muse that inspired their rival strains. Che di caduchi allori Non circonda la fronte in Helicona : Ma su ne Cielo infra i beati chori Ha di stelle immortali aurca corona! * S. Sebastiano , a church erected by Constantine in memory of the celebrated martyr whose name its bears, has a handsome portico and contains some good pictures and paintings. It is however more remarkable for being the principal entrance into the cata- combs which lie in its neighborhood. The catacombs are subterranean streets or galleries from four to eight feet in height, from two to five in breadth, extending to an immense and almost unknown length, and branching out into va- rious walks. The confusion occasioned by the intersection of these galleries resembles that of a laby rinth, and renders it difficult, and, without great precaution, dangerous to penetrate far into their re- cesses. The catacombs were originally excavated in order to find that earth or sand called at present puzzonala , and supposed to form the best and most lasting cement. They followed the direction of the vein of sand, and were abandoned when that was exhausted, and oftentimes totally forgotten. Such lone, unfrequented caverns afforded a most commodious retreat to the Christians, during the persecutions of the three first centuries. In them therefore they held their assemblies, celebrated the holy mysteries, and deposited the remains of their martyred brethren. For the latter purpose • not thou whose brows are crown'd With laurels pluck d on Heliconian ground, But thou who dwell'st the heavenly tribes among. Prompting to ang6l choirs seraphic song, While brightest stars their golden radiance shed jn unextinguish'd glories, round thy head .—Hunt's Translation. I Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 227 they employed niches in the sides of the wall, placed there the body with a vial filled with the blood of the martyr, or perhaps some of the instruments of his execution, and closed up the mouth of the niche with thin bricks or tiles. Sometimes the name was inscribed with a word or two importing the belief and hopes of the deceased ; at other times a cross or the initials of the titles of our Saviour interwoven, were the only marks employed to certify that the body enclosed belonged to a Christian. Several bodies have been found without any inscription, mark, or indication of name or profession. Such may have belonged to Pagans, as it is highly probable that these cavities were used as burial places 1 * be- fore as well as during the age of persecutions. It is impossible to range over these vast repositories of the dead, these walks of hor- ror and desolation, without sentiments of awe, veneration, and almost of terror. We seemed on entering to descend into the re- gions of the departed, wrapped up in the impenetrable gloom of the grave. Marcentes intus tenebr®, pallensque sub antris, Longa node situs quo Non metuunt emittere manes. * Independent of these imaginary terrors, the damp air and fetid exhalations warn the curious traveller to abridge his stay and hasten to the precincts of day . 3 1 A Jewish cemetery was discovered on the Via Portuensis ; it was ornamented with various paintings, in one of which was seen the golden candlestick exactly in the same form as that in the Arch of Titus. An inscription containing the word iVNAi nr . . . (SYNAGOG . . . ) seems to show that it had been employed as a place of worship. * — — Within is dampness foul. And darkness, by ihe day-beam uudlspeU’d— — The cheerless dead's abode. 3 The arenarice extra Portam Esquilivam (Sand-pits without the Esquiline Gate) are mentioned by Cicero ( Pro Cluentio 13) as the scene of a horrible murder, the circumstances of which he relates ; and Nero it seems was advised to conceal himself for a time in one of the arenarice, but refused to go under ground while alive. ( Suetoniu s : Nero 48 ) Eusebius represents the Emperor Constantine as alluding to them, and frequent mention is made of them in the writers of the fourth and filth century. Prudentius describes them with great accuracy and minuteness. Baud procul extremo culta ad pomeria vallo Mersa latebrosls crypta patet foveis Hujus in occultum gradibus via prona reflexis Ire per anfractus luce latente docet; Primas namque fores sumrno tenus intrat hiatu, Ulustratque dies limina vestibuli. Inde ubi progressu facili nigrescere visa est Nox obscura loci per specus ambiguum, Occurrunt celsis immensa foramina tectis. Quae Jaciunt ciaros antra super radios. Quamiibet ancipites texant hinc inde recessus, Arcta sub umbi osls atria porticibus : Attamen excisi subter cava viscera montis Crebra terebrato fornice lux penetrat; 228 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. The church of Madonna del Sole is the ancient temple of Vesta, stripped of its whole entablature, curtailed of its full height by the raising of the ground which covers the lower part of the pillars, and disfigured by a most preposterous roof. The cell and pillars of white marble remain, but the latter are almost lost in a wall drawn from column to column, and filling up the whole inter- mediate space. It is much to be lamented that when this edifice was fitted up for a church, it was not restored to its original form and beauty; which might have been done with less expense and difficulty, than were necessary to erect the wall and raise the roof which 1 have just censured. It is indeed highly probable that the materials requisite for such a restoration, that is, the fragments of the frieze, architrave, and cornice, might be found round the bases of the pillars, as they may form part of the mass of ruins which Sic dalur absenlis per subtcrranea sclis Cernere fulgorem luminibusque frui. Peri Stepli : De Sanclo Uippolylo. In the fair suburbs, far beneath the ground. Hard by the walls, a spacious vault their lies. To whose deep womb a passage steep, supplied With winding steps, the darkiing visitor Through doubtful ways conducts; for at the door Day finds admission, and the entrance cheers ; But when at length the faint and fading light In the dim cave absorb'd, to night gives way. The lofty roof huge apertures displays Which cast amid the gloom a scanty beam. Although beneath the high and arching vaults In mazes blind the dark recesses wind, Vet far within the hollow mountain's womb. Through the pierc’d roof the penetrating light Finds ample way : thus, in earth's entrails deep, Although the solar orb be far remov'd. His influence still is felt, his light enjoy'd. The lively account w hich S. Jerome gives of these cemeteries is not less minute. “Dum essem Romae puer et liberalibus studiise rudirer, solebam cum caeteris ejusdem aetatis et propositi, diebus dominicis sepulcra apostoloi urn et marly rum circumire, crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in terrarum profundo defossae, ex utraque parte ingredientium perparietes habent corpora sepultorum; et ita obscura sunt omnia ut propemodum illudpropheticumcompleatur : descendant ininfernum, viventes : et raro desuper lumen admissum horrorem temperat tenebrarum, ut non tarn fe- nestram quam foramen demissi luminis putes; rursumque pedetentim acceditur, ct cava node circumdatis illud Virgilianum proponitur. Horror ubique animos sirnul ipsa silentia terrent.” S. Uieron. in Ezech. “ While I was pursuing my studies at Rome as a youth, I was accustomed fre- quently on Sundays, in company w ith others of the same age and disposition, to traverse the tombs of the apostles and martyrs, and frequently entered the vaults which are dug deep in the earth, and have the bodies of the buried ranged along the walls on either hand as you enter : every thing is there so dark, that the saying of the prophet is almost fulfilled : ‘ The living go down into Hell : ’ and a scanty light admitted from above, so moderates the gloomy horror, that you would think it admitted by a hole rather than a window : and as you again advance step by step, and are involved in darkness, you are reminded of the w ords of Virgil, All things were full of horror and affright, And dreadful ev'n the silence of the night .” — Dry den. The number of the cemeteries or catacombs is very great, as there arc more i CtfAP. XV. TIlROUGn ITALY, 229 has raised the present so much above the level of the ancient pavement. But this singular want of taste appears, if possible, more conspicuous in two other instances. The temple of Fortuna Virilis ' (the Fortune of Men), now the church of Santa Maria Egiziaca ( St. Mary of Egypt), is one of the few monuments that still remain of the sera of the Roman Republic. It is of the Ionic order, and its proportions and form are justly admired. Its portico was originally supported by four pillars, and its sides adorned with twice as many half columns. It was converted into a church in the ninth century, and long retained a considerable share of its primitive beauty. When it was reduced to its present degraded state I cannot precisely determine, but I believe about than thirty known and distinguished by particular appellations, such Cemeterium Calixti— Lucinae — Felicis et Adaucti, etc. (the cemetery of Calixtus, of Lucina, of Felix and Adauctus, etc.)— In several, the halls or opener spaces are painted. Daniel in the Lion’s Den — Jonas emerging from the Jaws of the Whale — and the Good Shepherd bearing a Lamb on his shoulders, seem to have been the favorite subjects. The latter recurs oftener than any other, and generally occupies the most conspicuous place. Some of these decorations are interesting and give a pleasing picture of the manners of the times, while others occasionally exhibit an affecting representati n of the sufferings of the Christians. Of the former kind is a painting on a vaulted ceiling in the cemetery of Pontianus; in a circle in the centre appears the Good Shepherd — in the corners four figures of Angels — on the sides the four Seasons. Winter is represented by a youth holding some sticks in his right hand and extending it towards a vase with a flame rising from it: in his left he bears a lighted torch; a withered tree stands in the back ground. Spring is signified by a boy on one knee, as if he had just taken up a Iamb which he supports with one hand ; in the other he holds a lily : the scene is a garden laid out in regular walks : near the border of one of these walks stands a tree in full foliage. Summer ap- pears as a man in a tunic, with a round hat on his head in the act of reaping; the sickle is of the same form as that used in England. Autumn is depicted as a youth applying a ladder to a tree, round which twines a luxuriant vine. All these com- partments are divided by garlands and arabesques. Of the latter species of repre- sentation, we have an instance in a painting which presents a human figure immersed up to the middle in a boiling caldron, with his hands joined before his breast, and his eyes raised to heaven as if in ardent supplication. The three chil- dren in the flames occur frequently, and probably allude to the same subject. An inscription placed over one of these scenes of martyrdom is affecting. O tempora infausta, quibus inter sacra et vota ne in cavernis quidem salvari possumus . . . Quid miserius vita . . . quid morte cum ab amicis et parentibus sepeliri nequeant.i — Several words are obliterated. Resides these representations there are many detached figures, all alluding to religious and Christian feelings, such as anchors, palms, vases exhaling incense, ships, and portraits of different apostles. The dresses are often curious, and border upon some ornaments still in use in Italy, such as the cap of the Doge of Venice; the tunica and trowsers so common in the south, etc., etc. The language of the inscriptions is probably the colloquial Latin of the times, at least in many instances, and sometimes approaches very near to modern Italian. 1 There are doubts as to the real appellation of this temple, but all agree in its antiquity. * 0 unhappy times, when we cannot worship with safely, even in caverns . . . What can he more wretched than life what than death . . . when meu cannot be buried by their friends and (heir parents. , 230 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. the middle of the seventeenth century. It is said to have been, when repaired, in a ruinous state : though that were the case, it was less difficult to preserve than to alter its principal features. The latter however has been done. The wall that separated the Celia from the Vestibule was removed, and rebuilt between the pillars of the portico, and windows were opened between the half columns on one of the sides. By these means a small space was added and more light was given to the interior, but the propor- tions and beauty were not a little impaired. St. Lorenzo in Miranda. The name of this church, placed as it is in the Forum, and situated amidst a most wonderful display of Roman grandeur, is alone a sufficient recommendation to the at- tention of the traveller ; but this recommendation acquires double weight when we learn that it stands on the ruins of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina. The portico of the temple, excepting the pediment and part of the walls, remains. The order is Corinthian: and the whole might have been restored without difficulty to its original form. But instead of following this process which the state of the ruin almost forced upon the architect, he has erected a frontispiece behind the pillars, of proportions, size, and order to- tally different ; of two stories so contrived, that the cornice of the first does not reach even the capitals of the pillars before it, while the second rises far above them, and exhibits on high, as if in triumph over good taste, its barbarous twisted pediment. Such instances of ignorance or stupidity, such preposterous and misshapen edifices, would surprise us even at Constantinople where almost every monument of ancient magnificence has long since perished, and every recollection of ancient taste is obliterated ; but in Rome, where so many superb models still present themselves to our consideration, where all the arts and particularly architecture are honored and cultivated with so much success, we behold them with astonishment and with horror. But neither censure, nor ex- perience, nor disappointment can deter vain and inconsiderate ar- chitects from fruitless attempts to improve upon the works of the ancients, or cure them of their partiality to capricious combinations that have hitherto invariably terminated in deformity. Torriani , for he I believe was the mason who built the modern part of the church of St. Lorenzo in Miranda , probably imagined that his new frontispiece, with its two contracted stories, its petty pilasters, and its grotesque entablature, would fix the attention of the public at once, and totally eclipse the simple majesty of the colonnade before it. Vain hopes ! The stately portico of Antoninus still attracts every eye and challenges universal admiration ; while the modern addition is condemned as often as noticed and ranked among the monuments of a tasteless and semi-barbarous age. It is not my intention at present to describe the churches beyond the^walls : and of several within, which bear the names or are sup- Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 231 posed to be formed of the ruins of ancient temples, I shall say but little, as they do not exhibit the least vestige of antiquity. Such is Ara Coeli , on the Capitoline hill, supposed by many authors to oc- cupy the site of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus : such also is Santa Maria sopra Minerva , reported to have been formerly the temple of that goddess ; neither of which have a particular claim, unless their titles be considered as such, to our attention . 1 We shall now there- fore proceed to the greater churches, under which appellation I in- clude the Pantheon and Seven Patriarchal Basilica ?, so called because they are the cathedrals of the sovereign pontiff, who officiates in them on certain festivals, and reserves the high altar entirely to himself. These seven churches are, St. Laurence ( fuori delle mura , without the walls), St. Sebastian , Santa Croce . Santa Maria maggiore or the Basilica Liberiana , St. Paul (fuori delle mura), St. John Later an or the Basilica Lateranensis , St. Peter or the Basilica Vaticana. These temples are all of great antiquity, and if we except St. Se- bastian, of great magnificence. But to begin with the Pantheon, The square of the Pantheon, or Piazza delta Botonda , is adorned with a fountain and an obelisk, and terminated by the portico of Agrippa. This noble colonnade consists of a double range of Co- rinthian pillars of red granite. Between the middle columns, which are a little farther removed from each other than the others, a passage opens to the brazen portals which, as they unfold, expose to view a circular hall of immense extent, crowned with a lofty dome, and lighted solely from above. It is paved and lined with marble. Its cornice of white marble is supported by sixteen co- lumns and as many pilasters of Giallo antico (antique yellow) ; in the circumference there are eight niches, and between these niches are eight altars adorned each with two pillars of less size but of the same materials. The niches were anciently occupied by statues of the great deities ; the intermediate altars served as pedestals for the inferior powers. The proportions of this temple are admirable for the effect intended to be produced; its height being equal to its diameter, and its dome not an oval but an exact hemisphere. Such is the Pantheon, the most noble and perfect specimen of Roman art and magnificence that time has spared, or the ancients could have wished to transmit to posterity. It has served in fact as a lesson and a model to succeeding generations; and to it Con- stantinople is indebted for Santa Sophia , and to it Rome or rather the World owes the unrivalled dome of the Vatican. I need not * The traveller should visit the churches that belong to particular nations and orders, and are considered as their respective mother, churches; because not only French, Spaniards, Germans, but Greeks, Armenians, Cophts or Egyptians, and even East Indians and Chinese have their colleges and churches. The same may be said of all the religious orders. Several interesting particularities that indicate the character of these nations and bodies, may be observed in their respective establishments. 232 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. inform my reader that the body of the Pantheon is supposed by many antiquaries to be of republican architecture, and of course more ancient than the portico which, as its inscription imports, was erected by Agrippa about thirty years before the Christian sera. But whether the temple was built at the same time, or per- haps one hundred years before its portico, is a matter of little consequence, as it is on the whole the most ancient edifice that now remains in a state of full and almost perfect preservation. It has, it is true, undergone various changes from pillage and repa- rations ; but these changes have been confined entirely to the de- corations. It was first altered by Domilian and afterwards repaired by Severus. The pillars, pilasters, and marble lining remain nearly as they were placed by the latter. It was plundered of part of its bronze ornaments, among which some authors rank its brazen doors, by Genseric, the Vandal monarch of Africa, and afterwards more completely stripped of all its metal decorations by Con- stantine, the grandson of Heraclius, in the seventh century. This semi-barbarian Emperor is represented by indignant antiquaries as the greatest scourge that ever visited Rome, and is said to have committed more excesses, and done more mischief to the city during a short stay of seven days, than the Goths or Vandals during their repeated hostile approaches or long established dominion. The Pantheon was converted into a church by Pope Boniface IV. about the year (509, and has since that period attracted the atten- tion and enjoyed the patronage of various pontiffs. But though much has been done for the support and embellishment of this edifice, yet much is still wanting in order to restore to it all its glory. The pavement should be repaired, the marble lining of the attic replaced, and above all, the pannels of the dome gilt or edged with bronze. The want of some such decoration gives it a white, naked appearance, very opposite to the mellow tints of the various marbles that cast so rich a glow over the lower part. Yet let not the traveller complain, if even in this magnificent monument he shall find that his expectations surpass the reality, and that his fancy has thrown around the Pantheon an imaginary splendor. He must not expect to find in it the freshness of youth. Years pass not in vain over man or his works ; they may sometimes spare propor- tion and symmetry, but beauty and grace, whether in the marble portico or in the human form, soon yield to their touch and va- nish. Twenty ages have now rolled over the Pantheon, and if they have not crushed its dome in their passage, they have at least imprinted their traces in sullen grandeur on its walls ; they have left to it all its primeval proportions, but they have gradually stript it of its ornaments, its leaves of acanthus and its glossy colors. Perhaps these marks of antiquity and this venerable tint which time alone can shed over edifices, rather increase than diminish its majesty by adding to its justly admired form, that which no ar- Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY, 233 chitect can bestow, the charms of recollection, and the united interest of age and disaster. Though the Pantheon probably owes its preservation to the cir- cumstance of its having been converted into a church, yet I know not whether it be altogether well calculated for that purpose. A circular hall, if consecrated to the offices of religion, requires that the altar should be in the centre, a position which it cannot occupy in the Pantheon, owing to the 3perture perpendicularly over it. A round temple is not, even when arranged to the best advantage, nearly so suitable or commodious for a Christian assembly as the Basilica, with its corresponding aisles, elevated chancel, and semi- circular termination. Leaving therefore to the Pantheon its prin- cipal character of a temple, I would set it apart as a mausoleum sacred to the memory and remains of persons eminently distin- guished by great talents and splendid public virtues ; of that class of worthies whom Virgil places in Elysium and ranks among demi- gods and heroes. In the centre might arise, on a lofty pedestal of steps, an altar of black marble destined solely for the service of the dead, supporting across of alabaster half veiled in brazen drapery . At the corners of the altar four antique candelabra might pour a stream of solemn light on the funereal scene around. The monu- ments might occupy the niches, line the wall, and when numerous, rise in circles round the centre. However as the number of per- sonages who deserve the honor of a public funeral is small, a length of time would elapse, perhaps many centuries, before the niches would be filled, or the pavement encumbered with sarcophagi. The arrangement here described is only an extension of that which has actually taken place, as the Pantheon contains at present the tombs or rather the busts of several distinguished characters, among which are the celebrated antiquary Winckelman, Metastasio, Mengs, Poussin, Hannibal Carracci, and Raffaello himself. Two musicians also, Corelli and Sacchini , have been admitted to the honors of the Pantheon. 1 On the Via Tiburtina , at a small distance from the gate once of the same name, now more frequently called Porta diS . Lorenzo , stands the Basilica of that martyr, erected over his tomb by Constantine. Though frequently repaired and altered, yet its original form and most of its original decorations still remain. A portico, as is usual in all the ancient Basilicae, leads to its entrance; it is supported and divided by four-and-twenty pillars of granite ; the choir occupies the upper part of the nave in the ancient manner, as in St. Clement’s. The ambones , or two pulpits, stand on either side of the entrance to the choir, close to the pillars ; they are very large and all inlaid with marble. From the choir a flight of steps leads to the sanctuary paved with i The dedication of this church on the first of November, in the year 830, gave occasion to the institution of the festival of AH Saints. 234 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. mosaic and adorned by a double story, each of twelve pillars of rich marble and of Corinthian form. Of the lower range of pillars part only appears above, as it descends through an open space left for that purpose far below the pavement. Four other columns adorn the wall that runs some feet behind the sanctuary as four more of porphyry support the canopy over the altar. The seats of the sanctuary are of marble, as is the chair of the pontiff, a very ancient episcopal throne. Under the altar is the Confession or tomb of St. Laurence, where his body reposes, as is related, with that of St. Stephen the first martyr ; it is beautifully inlaid and incrusted with the most precious marble. This church, though unfrequented on account of its situation, is yet rendered highly interesting by its antiquity, its form, and its materials, and by a certain lonely majesty which seems to brood over it, and fills the mind with awe and reverence. Prudentius has described the martyrdom of St. Laurence in a long hymn, in which among many negligences there are several beauties ; and the cele- brated Vida has treated the same subject with the devotion of a bishop and with the enthusiasm of a poet. Several of his images, sentiments, and allusions as well as his language throughout, are truly classical ; and while I recommend the two hymns of this author to the perusal of the reader, I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of inserting one passage from the first, not only on account of its exquisite beauty, but on account of its connexion with the scenery of Rome, and with the ground which we are now treading. In it the saint, when sensible or rather certain of his approaching fate, is represented as hanging occasionally over the Tiber, and turning with melancholy recollection towards his native land and the haunts of his youth. Si quando tamen in ripa subsistit amaeni Tibridis, aspectans auras, coelique profunda, Solis ad occasum versus, Non te amplius, inquit, Aspiciam, dives regnis, 1 * Hispania opimis, Nec vos, O patria? fluvii, carique parentes, Qui spem forte mei reditus agitatis inanem. Tuque, OTibri! vale! colies salvete Latini! Quos colui heroum tumuli, sacrataque busta ! 3 In another passage the last sensations and feelings of the martyr are 1 St. Laurence was a native of Spain. a Then stopping on fair Tiber's banks, bis eyes He rais'd, and gazing on the Western skies. Exclaim'd : No more, my dear and native Spain, Must these sad eyes behold thy shores again, Nor you, ye well-known streams, and parents lov'd. Who now perchance, by nature’s yearnings mov'd, Hope soon again your much-lov’d child to view : Tiber, farewell I ye Latin hills, adieu I Ve tombs, where many a hero’s ashes lie, And many a sainted tenant of the sky, Where oft my vows were paid ! Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 235 described in a style highly animated and affecting. The concluding verses of the same hymn express at once the piety and the patrio- tism of its author. 1 From the Porta Tiburtina a long and straight street, or rather road, leads almost in a direct line to the Basilica Liberiana , * or church of Santa Maria Magtjiore, which derives its former appella- tion from Pope Liberius, in whose time it was erected, its latter, from its size and magnificence, as being the first that bears the ap- pellation of .the Blessed Virgin. It is said to have been founded about the year 350 and has undergone many repairs and alterations since that period. It is one of the noblest churches in the world and well deserves an epithet of distinction. It stands by itself on the highest swell of the Esquiline hill, in the midst of two great squares which terminate two streets of near two miles in length. To these squares the Basilica presents two fronts of modern archi- tecture and of different decorations. The principal front consists of a double colonnade, one over the other, the lower Ionic, the upper Corinthian ; 3 before it on a lofty pedestal rises a Corinthian pillar supporting a brazen image of the Blessed Virgin. On the other side, a bold semicircular front adorned with pilasters and crowned with two domes, fills the eye and raises the expectation. Before it, on a pedestal of more than twenty feet in height, stands an Egyptian obelisk of a single piece of granite of fifty, terminating in a cross of bronze. These accompaniments on each side, give the Basilica an air of unusual grandeur, and it must be allowed that the interior is by no means unworthy of this external magnifi- cence. The principal entrance is, as usual in all the ancient churches, through a portico; this portico is supported by eight pillars of gra- nite, and adorned with corresponding marble pilasters. The tra- veller on his entrance is instantly struck with the two magnificent colonnades that line the nave and separate it from the aisles. They are supported each by more than twenty pillars, of which eighteen on each side are of white marble. The order is Ionic with its re- gular entablature, the elevation of the pillars is thirty-eight feet, the length of the colonnade about two hundred and fifty. The sanctuary forms a semicircle behind the altar. The altar is a large slab of marble covering an ancient sarcophagus of porphyry, in which the body of the founder formerly reposed. It is oversha- dowed by a canopy of bronze, supported by four lofty Corinthian * V. 2*5. » In the portico of this church there is a large antique sarcophagus, on which is sculptured an ancient marriage ; on another which stands behind the sanctuary is a vintage. They are both admired for the beauty of the workmanship. The iields around St. Lorenzo were called anciently the Campus Veranus. 3 This front, notwithstanding the noble pillars of granite that support it, is justly censured for want of simplicity. 236 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. pillars of porphyry. This canopy, though perhaps of too great a magnitude for its situation, as it nearly touches the roof, is the most beautiful and best-proportioned ornament of the kind which I ever beheld. The side walls supported by the pillars are divided by pilasters, between which are alternately windows and mosaic ; the pavement is variegated, and the ceilings divided into square pan- nels, double gilt and rich in the extreme. There is no transept, but instead of it two noble chapels open on either side. The one on the right as you advance from the great entrance^ towards the altar, was built by Sixtus Quintus, and contains his tomb : it would be considered as rich and beautiful, were it not infinitely surpassed in both these respects by the opposite chapel belonging to theBor- ghese family, erected by Paul V. Both these chapels are adorned with domes and decorated with nearly the same architectural or- naments. But in the latter, the spectator is astonished at the pro- fusion with which not bronze and marble only, but lapis lazuli, jasper, and the more precious stones are employed on all sides, so that the walls seem to blaze around, and almost dazzle the eyes with their lustre. He may perhaps feel himself inclined to wish that those splendid materials had been employed with more economy, and conceive that a judicious arrangement might have produced a better effect with less prodigality. These two chapels, whatever their magnificence or peculiar beauty may be, have prejudiced the internal appearance of the church, and occasioned the only material deformity which even the eye of a critic can discover : I mean the break occasioned by the arcades formed on both sides, to serve as entrance to these oratories. The colonnade so beautiful even in its present stale, would have been matchless were it not interrupted by these misplaced arches, which after all do not produce the effect intended by giving a grand entrance into these chapels, as the view is obstructed by the arch of the aisles, and by the interven- tion of the brazen portals. But be the defects what they may, I know not whether any architectural exhibition surpasses or even equals the Basilica Liberiana . The simplicity of the plan, the correctness of the execution, the richness of the materials and the decorations of the parts, the length of the colonnades and the elevation of the canopy, form altogether one of the no- blest and most pleasing exhibitions that the eye can behold. As we advance along the ample nave, we are rather pleased than astonished with the scenery around us; we easily familiarize ourselves with the calm grandeur of the place, and at the end retire with an impression, not of awe, but of delight and tran- quillity. From the Basilica Liberiana a long and wide street leads to the Basilica Laleranensis . This church is the regular cathedral of the bishop of Rome, and as such assumes the priority of all others, and the pompous title of the Parent and Mother of all Churches, Chap. XV, THROUGH ITALY. 23 ? “ Ecclesiarum Ur bis el Or bis Water cl Caput. ” x It was founded by Constantine, but it has been burnt, ruined, rebuilt, and frequently repaired since that period. Its magnitude corresponds with its rank and antiquity, and the richness of its decorations is equal to both. The Basilica, like that of Santa Maria Maggiore , has two porticos. That which presents itself to the traveller coming from the latter church, consists of a double gallery one above the other, adorned with pilasters; the lower range Doric, the higher Corinthian. On the square before this portico rises a noble obelisk, the most ele- vated of its kind. From its pedestal bursts an abundant stream that supplies all the neighboring streets with water. The principal portico faces the south; it consists of four lofty columns and six pilasters. The order is Composite; the attic is adorned with a ba- lustrade, and that balustrade with statues. A double order is intro- duced in the intervals and behind this frontispiece, to support the gallery destined to receive the pontiff when he gives his solemn benediction; though it is formed of very beautiful pillars, yet it breaks the symmetry and weakens the effect of the whole. Other defects have been observed in this front, and the height of the pe- destals, the heavy attic with its balustrade, and the colossal sta- tues that encumber it, have been frequently and justly criticised. Yet with all these defects it presents a very noble and majestic ap- pearance. The veslibulum is a long and lofty gallery. It is paved and adorned with various marbles. Five doors open from it into the church, the body of which is divided into a nave, and two aisles on each side. The nave is intersected by a transept, and termi- nated as is usual by a semicircular sanctuary. There are no rails nor partitions; all is open, and a few steps form the only division between the clergy and the people : thus the size and proportions of this noble hall appear to the best advantage. Its decorations are rich in the extreme, and scattered with profusion, but unfor- tunately with little taste. The nave was renewed or repaired by Borromini, and is disfigured by endless breaks and curves, as well as overloaded with cumbersome masses. The church was anciently supported by more than three hundred antique pillars, and had the same plan of decoration been adopted in its reparation as was afterwards employed at Santa Maria Mag- giore , , it would probably have exhibited the grandest display of pillared scenery now in existence. But the architect it seems had an antipathy to pillars ; he walled them up in the buttresses, and adorned the buttresses with groups of pilasters: he raised the win- dows, and in order to crown them with pediments, broke the ar- chitrave and frieze, and even removed the cornice : he made niches for statues and topped them with crowns and pediments of every * The Mother and Head of the Churches of the City and of the World. 238 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XV. contorted form; in short he has broken every straight line in the edifice, and filled it with semicircles, spirals, and triangles. The roof formed of wood, though adorned with gilding in profusion, yet from too many and dissimilar compartments appears heavy and confused. The altar is small and covered with a Gothic sort of tower, said to be very rich, and certainly very ugly. The statues of the twelve apostles, that occupy the niches on each side of the nave with their graceful pillars of Verde antico (antique green), are much admired. There are several columns also that merit parti- cular attention ; among these we may rank the antique bronze fluted pillars that support the canopy over the altar in the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento. Some suppose that these pillars belonged to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus; others fancy that they were brought from the temple of Jerusalem : be these conjectures as they may the columns are extremely beautiful. The various chapels of this church deserve attention, either for their form or for their embellishments; but the Corsini chapel is en- titled to particular consideration, and may be regarded as one of the most perfect buildings of the kind existing. Inferior perhaps in size, and more so in splendor to the Borghese chapel, it has more simplicity in its form and more purity in its decoration. This chapel is in the form of a Greek cross. The entrance occupies the lower, the altar the upper part; a superb mausoleum termi- nates each end of the transept ; the rail that separates the chapel from the aisle of the church is gilt brass ; the pavement is the finest marble; the walls are incrusted with alabaster and jasper, and adorned with basso relievos; six pillars adorn the recesses, the two on each side of the altar are Verde antico; the four others are porphyry, their bases and capitals are burnished bronze. The pic- ture over the altar is a mosaic, the original by Guido. The tombs with their statues are much admired, particularly that of Clement XII. the Corsini pontiff, whose body reposes in a large and finely pro- portioned antique sarcophagus of porphyry . 1 Four correspond- ing niches are occupied by as many statues, representing the Car- dinal virtues, and over each niche is an appropriate basso relievo. The dome that canopies this chapel, in itself airy and well lighted, receives an additional lustre from its golden pannels, and sheds a soft but rich glow on the marble scenery beneath it. On the whole, though the Corsini chapel has not escaped criticism, yet it struck me as the most beautiful edifice of the kind; splendid without gau- diness; the valuable materials that form its pavement, line its walls, and adorn its vaults, are so disposed as to mix together their va- ried hues into soft and delicate tints ; while the size and symmetry of its form enable the eye to contain it w ith ease, and contemplate > This sarcophagus was taken from the portico of the Pantheon, ami is supposed by some antiquaries to have contained the ashes of Agrippa. Chap. XV. THROUGH ITALY. 239 its unity, its proportions, and its ornaments without effort . 1 The Baptistery of St. John Lateran, which, according to the cus- tom of the early ages still observed in almost all the cathedrals of Italy, though near is yet detached from the church, is called S. Gio- vanni in Fonte, and is the most ancient of the kind in the Christian world. It was erected by Constantine, and is at the same time a monument of the magnificence of that Emperor and the bad taste of the age. A small portico leads into an octagonal edifice, in the centre of which there is a large basin about three feet deep, lined and paved with marble. This basin is of the same form as the build- ing itself; at its corners stand eight beautiful pillars, which support eight others of white marble, and these latter bear an attic crowned with a dome. These pillars, with their entablature, were probably taken from various buildings as they differ in order, size, and pro- portion. The attic is painted in fresco, as in the gallery around the pillars below; the former represents several Gospel histories, tho latter some of the principal events of the reign of Constantine. The modern font, a large vase of green basaltes, stands in the centre of the basin raised on some steps of marble. Anciently the basin itself was the font into which the catechumen descended by the four steps which still remain for that purpose. There are two chapels, one on each side of the Baptistery, formerly destined for the in- struction and accommodation of the catechumens. In this chapel only, and only upon the eves of Easter and Pentecost, was public baptism administered anciently in Rome ; many magnificent ceremo- nies which occupied the whole night accompanied this solemnity, and rendered it more delightful to the fervent Christians of that period than the most brilliant exhibitions of the day. The view from the steps of the principal portico of St. John La- teran is extensive and interesting. It presents a grove before ; on one side the venerable walls of the city ; the lofty arches of an aque- duct on the other; the church of Santa Croce in front, and beyond it the desolate Campagna bounded by the Alban Mount, tinged with blue and purple, and checkered with woods, towns, and vil- lages. A wide and straight road leads through the solitary grove which I have just mentioned, to the Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusa - lemme, 2 another patriarchal church erected by Constantine on the ruins of a temple of Venus destroyed by his orders. This church derives its name from some pieces of the holy cross, and. from a quantity of earth taken from Mount Calvary and deposited in it by St. Helena, Constantine’s mother. It is remarkable only for its an- * This edifice might be recommended as an excellent model for a domestic or college chapel, or a mausoleum. Some critics have ventured to censure its ar- chitecture as too tame, and deficient in boldness and relievo. Its size is not, I believe, susceptible of mere ; the defect, if it exist, is scarcely perceptible. a The Church of the Holy Cross at Jerusalem. 210 CLASSICAL TOUR Ciiap. XV. tique shape, and for the eight noble columns of granite that sup- port its nave . 1 Its front is modern, of rich materials, but of very indifferent architecture. The semicircular vault of the sanctuary is adorned with paintings in fresco, which, though very defective in the essential parts, yet charm the eye by the beauty of some of the figures and the exquisite freshness of the coloring. The lonely si- tuation of this antique basilicaamidst groves, gardens, and vineyards, and the number of mouldering monuments and tottering arches that surround it, give it a solemn and affecting appearance. The patriarchal Basilica of St. Paul, called S. Paolo fuori clelle mura , at some distance from the Porta Osliensis, is one of the grand- est temples erected by the first Christian Emperor. It was finished by Theodosius and his son Honorius, and afterwards, when shat- tered by earthquakes and time, it was repaired first by Leo III. and again after a long interval by Sixtus Quintus. Such was the respect which the public entertained for this church, and so great the crowds that flocked to ’it, that the Emperors above-mentioned thought it necessary (if we may believe Procopius) to build a por- tico from the gate to the Basilica, a distance of near a mile. The magnificence of this portico seems to have equalled the most cele- brated works of the ancient Romans, as it was supported by marble pillars and covered with giit copper. But whatsoever may have been its former glory, it has long since yielded to the depredations of age or barbarism, and sunk into dust without leaving even a trace to ascertain its former existence. The road is now unfre- quented, and the church itself, with the adjoining abbey belonging to the Benedictine monks, is almost abandoned during the summer months on account of the real or imaginary unwholesomeness of the air. The exterior of this edifice, like that of the Pantheon, being of ancient brick looks dismal and ruinous. The portico is supported by twelve pillars, and forms a gallery or vestibulum lofty and spa- cious. The principal door is of bronze ; the nave and double aisles are supported by four rows of Corinthian pillars, amounting in all to the number of eighty. Of these columns, four-and -twenty of that beautiful marble called jiavonazzo (because white tinged with a delicate purple) and the most exquisite workmanship and pro- portions were taken from the tomb of Adrian ( Castel S. Angelo). The transept or rather the walls and arches of the sanctuary rest upon ten other columns, and thirty more are employed in the de- coration of the tomb of the Apostle and of the altars. These pillars are in general of porphyry, and the four that support the central arches are of vast magnitude. Two flights of marble steps lead from the nave to the sanctuary : the pavement of this latter part is of fine marble ; that of the former of shattered fragments of ancient 1 The columns are buried in the modern work. Chap. XV, THROUGH ITALY. 2(1 tombs marked with inscriptions. The altar stands under a canopy terminated by an awkward Gothic pyramid ; the circumference of the sanctuary is adorned with some very ancient mosaics. The walls of the nave and centre rest on arches carried from pillar to pillar ; those of the nave are high and covered with faded paintings. The length of the church is about three hundred feet, its breadth about one hundred and fifty, and from its magnitude, proportions, and materials, it undoubtedly furnishes all the means requisite, if property managed, of rendering it one of the most noble, and perhaps one of the most beautiful churches in the world. As it is, it presents a very exact copy of its ancient state, for it seems to have suffered considerable damage almost as soon as finished, from the wars, alarms, and devastations that commenced in the reign of Iiono- rius, and continued during several successive centuries. Although many popes, and particularly Sixtus Quintus and Be- nedict XIV. have repaired or ornamented this venerable fabric, yet it still retains an unfinished, forlorn, and almost ruinous appear- ance. The pavement is, as has been observed above, made up of broken remnants ; the ancient pictures that adorned the walls are nearly effaced by damp vapors ; the beams and rafters of the roof form the only covering of the body of the church ; and the whole Basilica, excepting the sanctuary, presents the aspect of a neglected and melancholy monument. The Benedictine monks are, in all countries where the Order exists, but particularly in Italy, both rich and public-spirited, that it is a subject of surprise, and just reproach, that while so many superb edifices have been erected by them in different towns and countries, one of the most ancient and celebrated temples in the Christian world should even in the ca- pital itself, and under the eye of the pontiff, be allowed to moulder away and sink almost unnoticed into ruin. The expenses requisite for the reparation and embellishment of such an edifice would be great without doubt ; but to an opulent and religious society, money when employed for such a purpose cannot be an object of consideration, especially as the work might be carried on gradually, and with all due regard to economy/ The arches from pillar to 1 This roof is much admired for its mechanism and revered for its antiquity ; hut however curious or venerable it may be in these respects, it forms, as all mere carpentry must form, a very dull and unappropriate ceiling to a marble temple. The beams were originally lined w ith gold, and indeed the whole edifice was most splendidly decorated as we are assured by Prudentius who visited it in its first glory. Regia pompa loci est, princeps bonus has sacravit arces Lusitque magnis ambitum talenti*. Bracteolas trabibus sublevit, ut oninis aurulenta Lux esset intus, ceu jubar sub oriu. SubditJit et Parias fulvis laquearibus columnas, Distinguit illic quas quaternus ordo : Turn Camyros hyalo insigni varie cucurrit arcus, Sic prata vernis floribus renident .— Passio Beat. Apost. Imperial splendor all the dome adorns; I. 10 242 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. pillar introduced by the bad taste of the age of Diocletian, might be covered as in Sanla Marin Maggiore by a regular entablature ; and as in all the other Basilicae, the floor might be flagged and the walls lined with marble. The paintings might then be restored with perfect security, and the work of reparation finished by removing the present Gothic obelisk that encumbers the tomb of the Apostle, and by employing the beautiful columns that now seem to groan under its weight in supporting a light and well-proportioned canopy. I have already said that S. Paolo might be made one of the most beautiful churches in the world, and the changes here pointed out would I think accomplish that object, and give it all the splendor of which it is susceptible. It already indeed exhibits the noblest collection of pillars now existing, and if these were set off to ad- vantage by an appropriate cornice and corresponding decorations around, its colonnades would form a scene inferior in extent indeed, but equal if not superior in regular architectural beauty even to the magnificent arcades of the Vatican. CHAPTER XVI. The Basilica Vaticana, or St. Peter’s. To the Vatican we shall now turn, and close our account of Ro- man churches, by a faint and imperfect description of some of the glories of this unrivalled fabric, the boast of modern skill and tro- phy of the united arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture. The Basilica of St. Peter was the first and noblest religious edifice erected by Constantine. It stood on part of the circus of Nero, and was supposed to occupy a spot consecrated by the blood of numberless martyrs exposed or slaughtered in that place of public amusement by order of the tyrant . 1 But its principal and exclusive advantage was the possession of the body of St. Peter ; a circumstance which Those tow’rs a Monarch built to God, and grac'd With golden pomp the vast circumference. With gold the beams he cover'd, that within The light might emulate the beams of morn. Beneath the glitt'ring ceiling, pillars stood Of Parian stone, in four-fold ranks dispos’d : Each curviug arch with glass of various dye. Was deck'd ; so shines with tlow’rs the painted mead. In Spring’s prolilic day. i This supposition is far from being groundless, as appears from the words of Tacitus speaking of the persecutions of Nero. Ergo abolendo rumori (jussum in- cendium Romae) Nero subdidit reos et quaesitissirnis paenis adfecit, quos per flagi- tia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat. . . . Et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum tergis eontecti laniatu canum interirant aut crucibus alTixi, aut flammandi, Atque ubi defecisset dies, in usum noctuvni luminis urerentur. Hortus saos ei Chap. XYI. THROUGH ITALY. 243 raised it in credit and consideration above the Basilica Laleranensis , dignified its threshold with the honorable appellation of the Limina Apostolorum (the Threshold of the Apostles), and secured to it the first place in the affection and reverence of the Christian world. Not only monks and bishops but princes and emperors visited its sanctuary with devotion, and even kissed as they approached the marble steps that led to its portal. Nor was this reverence confi- ned to the orthodox monarchs who sat on the throne of the founder ; it extended to barbarians and more than once converted a cruel in- vader into a suppliant votary. The vandal Genseric , whose heart seldom felt emotions of mercy, while he plundered every house and temple with unrelenting fury, spared the treasures deposited under the roof of the Vatican Basilica, and even allowed the plate of the churches to be carried in solemn pomp to its inviolable altars. Totila, who in a moment of vengeance had sworn that he would bury the glory and the memory of Rome in its ashes, listened to the admonitions of the pontiff, and resigned his fury at the tomb of the Apostles. Every age, as it passed over the Vatican, seemed to add to its holiness and its dignity ; and the coronation of an Emperor, or the installation of a Pope, the deposition of the remains of a prince, or the enshrinement of the reliques of a saint, appeared as so many tributes paid to its supereminence, and gave it so many new claims to the veneration of the Christian world. At length, however, after eleven centuries of glory, the walls of the ancient Basilica began to give way, and symptoms of approaching ruin were become so visible about the year 1450, that Nicolas V. conceived the project of tak- ing down the old church, and erecting in its stead a new and more extensive structure. However, though the work was begun, yet it was carried on with feebleness and uncertainty during more than half a century, till Julius II. ascended the papal throne, and resu- med the great undertaking with that spirit and decision which dis- tinguished all the measures of his active pontificate. Great princes generally find or create the talents requisite for their purposes, and Julius discovered in Bramante , an architect capable of comprehend- ing and executing his grandest conceptions. A plan was presented and approved. The walls of the ancient Basilica were taken down, spectaculo Nero obtulerat et circense ludicrum edebat habitu aurigac permixtus plebi, vel curriculo insistens. Tacit. Ann. xv. 44. “Therefore in order to do away the report (of the city haying been set fire to by his orders), Nero accused, and inflicted the most exquisite punishments upon a set of people, odious on account of their crimes, whom the vulgar called Christians Mockery was added to the torments of the dying, for they were covered with the skins of wild beasts that they might be torn in pieces by dogs, or were nailed to crosses, or set on fire, that when day-light disappeared, they might serve instead of lamps. Nero lent his gardens for the spectacle, and gave a show of Circensian games, mixing with the mob, or standing on his chariot, in the habit of a cha- rioteer.” 2U CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. and on the eighteenth of April 1508, the foundation stone of one of the vast pillars that support the dome, was laid by Julius with all the pomp and ceremony that became such an interesting occur- rence. From that period the work, though carried on with ardor and perseverance, yet continued during the space of one hundred years, to occupy the attention and .absorb the income of eighteen pontiffs. I might have augmented this number by the addition of the names of Urban VIII. Alexander VII. and their successors down to Benedict XIII. who all contributed to the erection, embellish- ment, and completion, of the superb colonnade that opens before the church, and adds so much to its majesty. The popes who have since followed have not been entirely inactive, but have endeavour- ed, each according to his ability, to acquire a share in the glory and duration of this edifice by some decoration or improvement. In fine, the late Pius VI. built the sacristy, and by this necessary appendage, which had till then been wanting, may be considered as having accomplished the grand undertaking, and given the Basi- lica Vaticana its full perfection. On the whole, it would not be exaggeration to assert, that nearly three hundred years elapsed and five and thirty pontiffs reigned, from the period of the commencement to that of the termination of this stupendous fabric. The most celebrated architects of modern times had an opportunity of displaying their talents and immorta- lizing their names in the prosecution of the work, and Bramante , Rafjaello, San Gallo , Michael Angelo , Vignola , Karlo Maderno, and Bernini , not to speak of others of less reputation, labored succes- sively in its promotion or consummation. To calculate the expense with any great precision would be diffi- cult, but from the best information that has been collected on the subject, we may venture to state, that however enormous the sum may appear, the expenditure must have amounted to at least twelve millions sterling; and when we consider that the marbles, bronze, and other valuable materials employed in its decoration, are not only uncommon, but scarcely known out of Rome, we may add that it would require three times as much to raise a similar edifice in any other capital. From the latter observation we may infer, that if a convulsion of nature, or what is still more to be dreaded, an explosion of human malignity, should shatter or destroy this admirable fabric, many ages must elapse, and numberless genera- tions pass away, before means could be collected, or talents found to restore it, or to erect another of equal magnificence. What then will be the astonishment, or rather the horror of my reader, when I inform him that this unrivalled temple, the triumph and masterpiece of modern skill, the noblest specimen of the ge- nius and the powers of man, was, during the late French invasion, made an object of rapacious speculation, and doomed to ruin. Yet such is the fact. When the exhausted income of the state, and Chap. XVI. THROUGH ITALY. 245 the plunder of all the public establishments were found unequal to the avarice of the generals, and to the increasing wants of the sol- diers, the French committee turned its attention to St. Peter’s and employed a company of Jews to estimate and purchase the gold, silver, and bronze, that adorn the inside of the edifice, as well as the copper that covers the vaults and dome on the outside. The interior ornaments might perhaps have been removed without any essential or irreparable damage to the body of the fabric; but to strip it of its external covering was to expose it to the injuries of the weather, and to devote it to certain destruction; especially as the papal government, when restored, had not the means of repairing the mischief. But Providence interposed, and the hand of the Om- nipotent was extended to protect his temple. Before the work of sacrilege and barbarism could be commenced, the French army, alarmed by the approach of the allies, retired with precipitation, and St. Peter’s stands ! From the bridge and Castel de St. Angelo , a wide street conducts in a direct line to a square, and that square presents at once the court or portico, and part of the Basilica. 1 When the spectator approaches the entrance of this court, he views four rows of lofty pillars, sweeping off to the right and left in a bold semicircle. In the centre of the area formed by this immense colonnade , 3 an Egyptian obelisk, of one solid piece of granite, ascends to the height of one hundred and thirty feet; two perpetual fountains, one on each side, play in the air, and fall in sheets round the basins of porphyry that receive them. Before him, raised on three succes- sive flights of steps, partly of marble, extending four hundred feet in length, and towering to the elevation of one hundred and eighty, he beholds the majestic front of the Basilica itself. This front is supported by a single row of Corinthian pillars and pilasters, and adorned with an attic, a balustrade, and thirteen colossal statues. Far behind and above it rises the matchless Dome, the justly cele- brated wonder of Rome and of the world. The colonnade of coupled pillars that surround and strengthen its vast base, the graceful attic that surmounts this colonnade, the bold and expansive swell of the dome itself, and the pyramid seated on a cluster of columns, and bearing the ball and cross to the skies, all perfect in their kind, form the most magnificent and singular exhibition that the human * The late pope had some thoughts of widening this street, and giving it throughout an expansion equal to the entrance of the portico, so that the colon- nade, fountains, obelisk, and church, would thus burst at once upon the eye of the spectator, when he turned from t he bridge. Though the approach to St. Peter’s is already sufficiently noble, yet this alteration would, without doubt, have added much to its magnificence. The invasion of the French, and the consequent dis- tressing events, suspended the execution of this and many similar plans of im- provement. > This colonnade, with its entablature, balustrade, and statues, is seventy feet in height. 2 i(> CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. eye perhaps ever contemplated. Two less cupolas, one on each side, partake of the state, and add not a little to the majesty of the principal dome. The interior corresponds perfectly with the grandeur of the ex- terior, and fully answers the expectations, however great, which such an approach must naturally have raised. 1 Five lofty portals open into the portico or veslibulum, a gallery in dimensions and de- corations equal to the most spacious cathedrals. It is four hundred feet in length, seventy in height, and forty-two in breadth, paved with variegated marble, covered with a gilt vault, adorned with pillars, pilasters, mosaic, and basso relievos, and terminated at both ends by equestrian statues* one of Constantine, the other of Charlemagne. A fountain at each extremity supplies a stream suf- ficient to keep a reservoir always full, in order to carry off every unseemly object, and perpetually refresh and purify the air and the pavement. Opposite the five portals of the vestibule are the five doors of the church ; three are adorned with pillars of the finest marble ; that in the middle has valves of bronze. As you enter, you behold the most extensive hall ever con- structed by human art, expanded in magnificent perspective before you • advancing up the nave, you are delighted with the beauty of the variegated marble under your feet, and with the splendor of the golden vault over your head. The lofty Corinthian pilasters with their bold entablature, the intermediate niches with their statues, the arcades with the graceful figures that recline on the curves of their arches, charm your eye in succession as you pass along. But how great your astonishment when you reach the foot of the altar, and standing in the centre of the church, contemplate the four su- perb vistas that open around you ; and then raise your eyes to the dome, at the prodigious elevation of four hundred feet, extended like a firmament over your head, and presenting, in glowing mosaic, the companies of the just, the choirs of celestial spirits, and the whole hierarchy of heaven arrayed in the presence of the Eternal, whose “ throne high raised above all height ” crowns the awful scene. When you have feasted your eye with the grandeur of this un- paralleled exhibition in the whole, you will turn to the parts, the ornaments, and the furniture which you will find perfectly corres- ponding with the magnificent form of the temple itself. Around the dome rise four other cupolas, small indeed when compared to 1 Ad Basil icae Vatican® vestibulpm subsistimus; neque, audemus tarn divinae fubricae majestatem rudi calamo violare. Sunt cnim nonnulla, quae nullo melius modo quani stupore et silentio laudantur, says the learned Mabillon : Iter ltalicum. “We stopped at the vestibule of St. Peter’s Church; nor dare we with unhal- lowed pen violate the majesty of so divine a structure : for there are some things which are never more adequately praised, than by amazement and silence.” I saw St. Petei c ,” saysGray, “and was struck dumb with astonishment. ’ Chap. XVI. THROUGH ITALY. 247 its stupendous magnitude, but of great boldness when considered separately : six more, three on either side, cover the different di- visions of the aisles, and six more of greater dimensions canopy as many chapels, or, to speak more properly, as many churches. All these inferior cupolas are like the grand dome itself, lined with nlo- saics, many indeed of the masterpieces of painting which graced this edifice, have been removed and replaced by mosaics which re- tain all the tints and beauties of the originals, impressed on a more solid and durable substance. The aisles and altars are adorned with numberless antique pillars, that border the church all around, and form a secondary and subservient order. The variegated walls are, in many places, ornamented with festoons, wreaths, angels, tiaras, crosses, and medallions, representing the effigies of different pontiffs. These decorations are of the most beautiful and rarest species of marble, and often of excellent workmanship. Various monuments rise in different parts of the church ; but, in their size and accompaniments, so much attention has been paid to general as well as local effect, that they appear rather as parts of the ori- ginal plan, than posterior additions. Some of these arc much ad- mired for their groups and exquisite sculpture, and form very conspicuous features in the ornamental part of this noble temple. The high altar stands under the dome, and thus as it is the most important so it becomes the most striking object. In order to add to its relief and give it all its majesty, according to the ancient cus- tom still retained in the patriarchal churches at Rome and in most of the cathedrals in Italy, a lofty canopy rises above it, and forms an intermediate break or repose for the eye between it and the immensity of the dome above. The form, materials, and magni- tude of this decoration are equally astonishing. Below the steps of the altar and of course some distance from it, at the corners on four massive pedestals, rise four twisted pillars fifty feet in height, and support an entablature which bears the canopy itself topped with a cross. The whole soars to the elevation of one hundred and thirty-two feet from the pavement, and excepting the pedestals is of Corinthian brass ; the most lofty massive work of that or of any other metal now known. But this brazen edifice, for so it may be called, notwithstanding its magnitude, is so disposed as not to obstruct the view by concealing the chancel and veiling the Cathe- dral or Chair of St. Peter. This ornament is also of bronze, and consists of a group of four gigantic figures, representing the four principal Doctors of the Greek and Latin Churches, supporting the patriarchal chair of St. Peter. The chair is a lofty throne elevated to the height of seventy feet from the pavement ; a circular window tinged with yellow throws from above a milder splendor around it, so that the whole not unfitly represents the pre-eminence of the apostolic See, and is acknowledged to form a most becoming and majestic termination to the first of Christian templeSo CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. 248 When I have added that every part and every ornament is kept in the most perfect repair ; that the most exact neatness and clean- liness is observable on all sides } that the windows are so managed as to throw over the whole a light, clear and distinct, yet soft and gentle, I shall leave the reader to imagine what an impression the contemplation of an edifice so glorious must make on the mind of a youthful or enthusiastic traveller. Under the high altar of St. Peter’s is the tomb of that apostle, formerly called the Confession of St. Peter , an appellation which it has communicated to the altar and its canopy. The descent to it is before, that is to the west of the altar, where a large open space leaves room for a double flight of steps, and for an area before two brass folding doors that admit into a vault, whose grated floor is directly over the tomb. The rails that surround this space above are adorned with one hundred and twelve bronze cornucopise, which serve as supporters to as many silver lamps that burn per- petually in honor of the Apostle. The staircase with its balustrade, the pavement of the little area, and the walls around, are all lined with alabaster, lapis lazuli , verde anlico, and other kinds of the most beautiful marble. The pavement of the area is upon a level with the Sacre grotte (sacred grottos, or caves,) though the regular entrance into those subterranean recesses is under one of the great pillars that surround the dome. The Sacre grotte are the remains of the ancient church built by Constantine, the pavement of which was respected and preserved with all possible care during the demolition of the old and the con- struction of the new Basilica. They consist of several long wind- ing galleries extending in various directions under the present building. They are venerable for their antiquity and contents ; and if Addison never visited Westminster Abbey, or trod its gloomy cloisters without strong impressions of religious awe, I may be pardoned when I acknowledge that I felt myself penetrated with holy terror, while conducted by a priest in his surplice with a lighted torch in his hand, I ranged through these dormitories of the dead, lined with the urns of emperors and pontiffs, and almost paved with the remains of saints and martyrs. The intrepid Olho, the turbulent Alexander, and the polished Christiana, lie mouldering near the al- lowed ashes of the apostles Peter and Paul, of the holy pontiffs, Linus, Silvester, and Adrian. The low' vault closes over their porphyry tombs, and silence and darkness brood uninterrupted around them. My awe increased as I approached the monument of the apostles themselves. Others may behold the mausoleum of an emperor or of a consul, of a poet, or of an orator, with enthusiasm ; for my part, I contemplated the sepulchre of these Christian heroes with heart-felt veneration. What, if a bold achievement, a useful in- vention, a well-fought battle, or a well-told tale, can entitle a man to the admiration of posterity, and shed a blaze of glory over his Chap. XVI. THROUGH ITALY. 249 remains, surely the courage, the constancy, the cruel sufferings, the triumphant death of these holy champions, must excite our admira- tion and our gratitude, ennoble the spot where their relics repose, and sanctify the very dust that imbibed their sacred blood. By sacrificing their lives to the propagation of truth, and to the refor- mation of mankind, they are become the patriots of the world at large, the common benefactors of their species, and in the truest and noblest sense, heroes and conquerors. How natural then for a Christian not only to cherish their names but to extend his grate- ful attention to their ashes and his veneration even to their tombs. Superba sordent Csesares cadavera Queis urbis litabat impii cultus ferax : Apostolorum gloriatur ossibus Fixamque adorat collibus suis crucem. Nunc, O cruore purpurala nobili Novisque felix Roma conditoribus Horum tropaeis aucla quanto verius Regina fulges orbe toto civitas! ! , Brev . Par. The vestry or sacristy of St. Peter’s is a most magnificent edifice, connected with the church by a long gallery and adorned with num- berless pillars, statues, paintings, and mosaics. It is in reality a large and spacious church, covered with a dome in the centre, and surrounded with various chapels, recesses, and apartments adapted to the devotion and the accommodation of the pontiff, the dean of St. Peter’s, and the members of its chapter. It was erected by the * Unnotic’d dust, the Caesars now are laid. To whom Home's impious homage once was paid ; But of th' Apostles' tombs she proudly boasts. And vaunts the Cross, that tovv'rs thro' ail her coasts. Now, Rome, of many a martyr's blood possest, And in thy second founders doubly blest. Enrich'd, ennobled by such spoils divine. The sceptre of the world is truly tbine. St. John Chrysostom makes an eloquent allusion to this tomb, when speaking of the last day he exclaims Exetdev xpnxyrizezxt Ilav^os, exetdev Uezp 05. Evvovj 5 aT£, xat os) xxt Coov xvzots Ey/jape, yxt ovtgos aurous zptlzt, xx t nxpotv xvzots c hzlzydyi, xxt zov fttov zxet xxzzlvez * J'to xxt eirtffvj/uos vj noltS zvzzvdzv ft a/Xov, vj airo toov a)),oov airavroov — fix zxvzx S-av/za^oo tvjv nohv , ov c hx ZOV %pW70V ZOV nolov, OV fix TOV 5 XIOVXS, OV $IX Z1\V x'/lf\V cpxvzxztxv. T£5 fxot vvv ecTcoxe nzpiyv9Y,vxt too c^fxxzt Ilau^ov, yxt n aoo/avjv tvjv xovtv L'hiv TOOV yzipiiiV, TOOV tv xlvaet , — dV OJV zxvzx zx ypxfj.fj.xzx zypxfzzo ' — TlflV XOVIV TWV irodcav twv itepifpxfxQvzuiV tvjv otxov/»evvj.v, xx£ fj.fi xet/uvovrov. Horn ; in Epist : ad Rom ; / 250 CLASSICAL TOmV Chap. XVI. orders of the late Pope Pius VI. at an immense expense : and though in many respects liable to criticism, yet it is on the whole entitled to admiration. Erom the lower part of the Basilica , we pass to the roof by a well lighted staircase, winding round with an ascent so gentle that beasts of burthen go up without inconvenience. When you reach the platform of the roof you are astonished with the number of cupolas and domes and pinnacles that rise around you ; with the galleries that spread on all sides, and the many apartments and staircases that appear in every quarter. Crowds of workmen are to be seen passing and repassing in every direction, and the whole has rather the form of a town than that of the roof of an edifice. Here the traveller has an opportunity of e xamining closely and minutely the wonderful construction of the dome, and of discover- ing the skill and precision with which every part has been planned and executed. The vast platform of stone on which it reposes as on a solid rock ; the lofty colonnade that rises on this platform, and by its resistance counteracts, as a continued buttress, the hori- zontal pressure of the dome, all of stone of such prodigious swell and circumference ; the lantern which like a lofty temple sits on its towering summit ; these are objects which must excite the astonish- ment of every spectator, but can be perfectly understood and pro- perly described by none but by a skilful architect thoroughly ac- quainted with the difficulties and the resources of his art . 1 The access to every part, and the ascent even to the inside in the ball, is perfectly safe and commodious. Those who wish to reach the cross “From this place Paul, from this place Peter shall be snatched away. Consider and shudder, what a spectacle Rome will behold, Paul suddenly rising with Peter from that sepulchre, and carried up into the air to meet the Lord. “I honor Rome also for this reason; for though I could celebrate her praises on many other accounts— for her greatness, for her beauty, for her power, for her wealth, and for her exploits in war, — yet passing over all these things, I glorify her on this account, that Paul in his life-time w rote to them, and loved them, and was present with and conversed with them, and ended his life amongst them. Wherefore the city is on this account renowned more than on all others— on this account I admire her, not on account of her gold, her columns, or her other splendid decorations. — Who has now empowered me to embrace the body of Paul, and to rivet myself to his tomb, and to see the dust of his mouth? the dust of that mouth, with which he spoke before Kings, and was not ashamed, with which he silenced tyrants, and made the whole world approach to God? the dust of his heart, which was so capacious as to embrace entire cities, and peoples, and nations; that heart which lived a new life, not this which we live; ‘for I no longer live,’ says he, ‘but Christ lives in me.’ I wished to see the dust of his hands, of those hands w hich were in bonds, and with which he wrote these epistles; the dust of those feet which traversed the universe, and were not weary.” Homily on the Epistle to the Romans. 1 The dome of St. Paul’s is not calculated to give a just idea of that of St. Peter’s. The inner dome of the former is of brick, and in shape not very unlike the conical form of a glass house; the dome to which the -edifice owes all its external grandeur is a mere wooden roof raised over the other at a considerable distance, and covered Chap. XYI. THROUGH ITALY. 251 on the outside, as some bold adventurers are said to have done, are exposed to considerable danger without attaining any advantage to justify their rashness. 1 After having thus examined the upper parts, the interior and the subterraneous apartments of this edifice, the traveller will range round the outside and take a view of the external walls and termina- tion. A large open space surrounds it, and affords room enough even for perspective. The order of the portico with its attic is carried in pilasters round the outside of the church, and gives it all the greatness and majesty that result from unbroken unity. The only defect is the clusters of half or quarter pilasters, with their imperfect capitals and angular entablature crowded together in the corners. There are architects I know who consider these groups as ornamental or at least as necessary, and of course as not incurring the appellation of defects. But, without discussing the principles of the art, they certainly offer too many angles, and consequently too many breaks to the sight, and may justly be termed, if not de- fects, at least deformities. 1 have thus presented a general picture of this celebrated edifice, and dwelt with complacency on its unrivalled beauties. I may now be allowed to examine it with the eye of a critic, and venture to point out those parts which may be deemed liable to censure or ca- pable of improvement. To begin with the colonnade. Every spec- tator of taste while he contemplates and admires this most extensive and magnificent scene of pillars, regrets that Bernini , influenced without doubt by the love of novelty so fatal to the beauty of edifices and to the reputation of architects, instead of a simple and perfect order, should have employed a composite of his own invention. Surely the pure Doric of the Parthenon, the Ionic of the temple of Fortuna Virilis, and the Corinthian of the Pantheon might have been adopted with more propriety and effect, than a fanciful combination of irregular Doric pillars and an Ionic entablature? To this defect Bernini has added another, by introducing too many pilasters, or to with copper, which conceals the poverty of its materials. Both the domes ;of the latter are of stone; they run up a considerable way together, and when they sepa- rate, they merely leave room enough for a narrow staircase between them, so that the traveller as he ascends touches both the domes with his elbows. They unite again at the top and conjointly support the w eight of the lantern. 1 Some of the midshipmen of the Medusa frigate performed this feat w ith their usual spirit and agility. But this is not surprising in young tars, “ Prodlga gens ultro lucis animaeque capaces Mortis I” neroes prodigal of breath, A thirst for glory, and despising death. Mr. de la Landc talks of a French lady w ho some years before scrambled up the inclined ladder, mounted the hall and leaned on the cross, and did all this “ avec une souplesse ct une grave inconcevable (with an inconceivable agility and grace).” I hope no English lady will ever emulate such inconceivable grace 252 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. speak more properly massive piles that break the line unnecessarily, and increase the apparent weight without augmenting the solidity of the building. The front of St. Peter’s has been censured as having more of the appearance of a palace than of a church ; it is pierced with so many windows, divided into so many parts, and supported by so many half pillars and pilasters. This deformity which is common to all the patriarchal churches in Rome, is in a great degree owing to the necessity which architects are under of providing a gallery for the ceremony of papal benediction, and thus of dividing the intercolum- niation into arches and apartments. What a pity that such an ex- tensive and magnificent front should be sacrificed to such an insig- nificant motive; especially as the ceremony in question might be performed with equal if not more effect from the grand entrance of ttie church itself. It is indeed much to be lamented that the ori- ginal designs of Bramante and Michael Angelo were not executed, and the portico of St. Peter’s built on the plan of that of the Pan- theon ; a plan that united simplicity with grandeur and would have given to the Vatican a beauty and a majesty unblemished and un- paralleled. But it is the fate of great architects to be counteracted by ignorant employers, and not unfrequently obliged to sacrifice their sublime concepiions to the bad taste, to the prejudice, or to the obstinacy of their contemporaries. The architect of St. Paul’s shared the fate of that of St. Peter’s, and had the mortification to see his bold and masterly designs tamed and disfigured by dulness and parsimony. The inscription on the frieze ought I think to be corrected as below the dignity and destination of such a temple erected by the common father of all Christians, in their name and at their expense. Thus instead of “ In honorem principis Aposlo - lorum Paulus Borghesius Bomanus ,” 1 it should read, “ Deo oplimo maximo in lionorem principis Apostolorum Ecclesia Catholica ; 2 an inscription more worthy a temple which may justly be considered as the common property of the Christian world. In traversing the nave one is tempted to wish, notwithstanding the beauty of the arcades, that pillars had been employed in their stead, a support more graceful as well as more majestic. What a superb colonnade would two such long and lofty rows of pillars have formed ! how much above all modern magnificence ! and even how superior to the proudest monument that remains of ancient grandeur ! It has been justly observed, that no statues ought to have been admitted into St. Peter’s but such as represent the most distin- guished benefactors of the Christian church, whose services have * Paul Borghesc, a Roman, in honor of the Prince of the Apostles. 2 To the Supreme Being, the Catholic Church, in honor of the Prince of the Apostles. Chap. XVI. THROUGH ITALY. \ 253 been generally felt, and whose names are held in universal vene- ration ; such as the apostles, the principle martyrs, the doctors of the first ages, and the most celebrated bishops. The forms of these ancient worthies, these “ our fathers and masters in the faith” so well entitled to the most honorable places in every Chris- tian temple, might have occupied the niches of the nave and the transept with much dignity, and would have been contemplated by every spectator with interest and reverence. But though these holy personages are not excluded, yet many a conspicuous niche is occupied by a saint of dubious origin or obscure name, whose existence may be questioned by many, and is unknown to most, and whose virtues at the best had but a local and temporary, that is a very confined and very transient, influence. Thus of the four most remarkable niches in the whole church, of those which are formed in the piles that support the dome and which of course face the altar, two are filled by saints whose very names exist only in a legendary tale, I mean St. Veronica and St. Longinus; and a third is appropriated to St. Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, who, though a princess of great virtue and eminent piety, might stand with more propriety in the porch near the statue of her son. As for the founders of religious orders, such as St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, St. Bruno, etc. my different readers will entertain very different opinions, according as they may approve or disapprove of such institutions. Some will think them worthy of every honor, even of a statue in the Vatican; others will con- ceive that they might be stationed without disrespect in the porch or colonnade; and without pretending to derogate from the merit of these extraordinary personages I am inclined to favor this opinion. In reality the statues of men of tried and acknowledged virtue and learning might guard the approaches and grace the por- ticos of the august temple; but patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs alone should be admitted into the interior; they should line the sanctuary, and form an awful assembly round the throne of the victim Lamb. Statues so placed might edify the catholic, and could not displease the sensible protestant. The doves, tiaras, medallions, etc. with which the sides of the arcades are incrusted, have been censured by many as ornaments too insignificant for the magnitude, and too gaudy for the solem- nity of the place. This criticism may be well founded ; yet they give a variety and richness to the picture, so that the eye excuses while the judgment points out the defect. The pictures may be objected to on the same ground as the sta- tues, as many of them represent persons and events totally uncon- nected with the sacred records, and sometimes not to be met with even in the annals of authentic history. The candid and judi- cious Erasmus would have the subjects of all the pictures exhibited in churches taken exclusively from the holy scriptures, while the CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. 254 histories of saints, when authentic, he thinks might furnish decora- tions for porticos, halls, and cloisters. It is a pity that this opinion, so conformable to good taste and to sound piety, has not been adopted and followed as a general rule in the embellishment of churches ; as it would have banished from the sacred place many useless, some absurd, and a few profane representations. I do not pretend to hint that any of the mosaics above alluded to merit such severe epithets, but the Christian when he enters St. Peter’s the most magnificent edifice ever devoted to the purposes of religion, may justly expect to find delineated on its walls the whole history of his faith from the opening to the closing of the inspired volumes; to see portrayed in succession, as he advances, the mysterious transactions, the figures, the predictions, the allusions of the Old with the corresponding events, the realities, the accomplishments the coincidences of the New Testament; to discover the threats and promises, the discourses and parables of his divine master embodied in living colors before him, and thus as he casts his eyes around to contemplate in this noble temple a faithful transcript of the Holy Book, speaking to his eyes in the most brillant and im- pressive characters, combining and displaying in one glorious prospect before him the past and the future, the dispensations and the designs of Providence ; in short, all that is grand and terrible, and all that is mild and engaging in his religion. These or similar expectations will not certainly be entirely dis- appointed; as the mosaic decorations of the numberless cupolas and chapels are in general selected and applied with wonderful judgment and felicity : but I regret that such excellent choice and arrangement do not prevail throughout the whole fabric ; that an intermixture of representations, if not fabulous at least contro- vertible, should break the succession of scripture events ; and while they add nothing to the incomparable beauty of the edifice, should take much away from the purity and correctness of its decorations. Such are the defects, real or imaginary, which critical observers have discovered in this wonderful pile; defects which confined to ornamental or accessary parts leave the grandeur and magnificence of the whole undiminished, and only prove that the proudest works of man are stamped with his characteristic imperfection. To conclude — In magnitude, elevation, opulence, and beauty, the church of St. Peter has no rival, and bears no comparison : in neatness, cleanliness, and convenience, so necessary to the ad- vantageous display of magnificence, if any where equalled, it can nowhere be surpassed. It is cool in summer, and in winter dry and warm : its portals are ever open, and every visitant whether attracted by devotion or by curiosity may range over it at leisure, and without being molested or even noticed, either contemplate its beauties or pour out his prayers before its altars. Thus the Basi- lica Vaticana unites the perfection of art with the beauty of holiness. Chap. XVI. THROUGH ITALY. 255 and may justly claim the affection and reverence of the traveller both as the temple of taste and the sanctuary of religion. OBSERVATIONS. The only church >vhich has been compared with St. Peter’s is St. Paul’s in London. If the latter be, as in many respects it is, the second church in the world, yet it is far inferior to the for- mer, and cannot without absurdity be put upon a parallel with it, as the impartial traveller who has examined both will readily acknow- ledge. In fact, the size, proportions, and materials of the two edifices when put in opposition, shew at one view how ill-founded such a comparison must be. ST. PETKR’S. ST. PAUL’S. Length 700 feet 500 feet Transept 500 250 Height 440 .340 Breadth of the nave . . 90 60 Height of the nave. . . 154 120 The Portland stone of which St. Paul’s is built though in itself of a very beautiful color, is yet inferior in appearance to the Traver- tino of St. Peter’s : especially as the latter retains its rich yellow glow uninjured, while the delicate white of the former is inmost parts of the cathedral turned into a sooty black. The cold dark stone walls, the naked vaults, the faded paintings of the dome of St. Paul’s chill the spectator, and almost extinguish all sense of beauty and all emotions of admiration. The marble linings, the gilded arches, the splendid mosaics that emblazon St. Peter’s naturally dilate the mind, and awaken sentiments of wonder and delight. The fronts of both these churches are disfigured by too many divisions, which by breaking one large mass into many small parts destroy all greatness of manner , and impair in no small degree the general grandeur and effect. Which of the two fronts is most defi- cient in this respect it is difficult to determine; on the defects of the Vatican I have expatiated above; those of St. Paul’s are the double gallery, the coupled pillars, and the composite cornice. The co- lonnade that surrounds the dome of St. Paul’s, though liable in its form, proportions, capitals, etc. to much criticism, is yet the no- blest ornament of the edifice, and considered by many as superior in appearance to the coupled columns that occupy a similar situa- tion in St. Peter’s. It happens however unfortunately, that the decoration which contributes so much to the majesty of the exte- rior should take away from the beauty of the interior, and by mask- ing the windows deprive the dome of the light requisite to shew off its concavity to advantage. Yet, be the defects of St. Paul’s even greater and more numerous than I have stated, is it on the whole a most extensive and stately edifice : it fixes the eye of the 250 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. spectator as be passes by, and challenges his admiration : and even as next to the Vatican, though longo proximum intervallo , 1 it claims superiority over all the transalpine churches, and furnishes a just subject of national pride and exultation. I take this opportunity of expressing the public indignation at the manner in which this cathedral is kept, the dirt collected on the pavement and on the statues, the penurious spirit, that while it leaves the decoration of the dome to rot and peel off through damp and negligence, stations guards at the doors to tax the curiosity of strangers. The church of Si. Genevieve at Paris was expected to surpass St. Paul’s and rival St. Peter’s, as the best French architects were employed, and many years were consumed in forming the plan and preparing the materials. But the expectations of the Parisian public had been raised too high, and were totally disap- pointed, when this edifice which was to have eclipsed the most splendid fabrics of modern times, and put French architecture upon a level with that of Greece and Rome, was cleared of the scaf- folding and exhibited to public view. Some of the defects attri- buted to the two great churches above-mentioned have been avoided, particularly in the portico which is built upon the model of that of the Pantheon, but very different from it in effect, as it wants boldness, mass, and elevation. The inside is in the shape of a Greek cross crowned with a dome in the centre. This figure is by many deemed the most perfect, because it expands better to the eye, and enables the spectator to take in its different parts at one view. However this advantage is wanting in St. Genevieve owing to the protrusion of the walls that support the dome, which pro- trusion, by detaching the parts from the centre, breaks the unity of the design, and gives the nave, choir, and transept, the appear- ance of so many great halls opening into a common area, rather than that of the component members of one great edifice. Besides, there are too many subdivisions, especially over the cornice, where apparently to support the great vault numberless little arches arise in forms so airy and unsubstantial as almost to border on ara- besque. To these and other minute defects which we pass over, we must add one of a much more important description, that is want of solidity ; a defect so extensively felt in the year 1802, as to excite serious apprehensions, and suspend, at least for a time, the works necessary for completing the building. When the traveller peruses the inscription that still remains on the frieze, Aux grands homines la Patrie reconnaissanle , 2 and recollects that the country here meant was the bloody faction of the jacobins, and the Great men alluded to were the writers who prepared, or the assassins who accomplished the revolution, Voltaire and Rousseau, Mirabeau 1 Though the next, yet far disjoin’d.— Dryden. 9 To great men, their grateful country. THROUGH ITALY. 257 Chap. XVI. A . and Marat , he will not regret that a church thus profaned and turned into a Pandaemonium should tumble to the ground, and crush in its fall the impure carcases that are still allowed to pu- trefy in its vaults. After all, in materials, in boldness of conception and in skill of execution, the cathedral of Florence is perhaps the edifice that bor- ders nearest upon St. Peter’s. It is also cased with marble, it is of the same form, and covered with a lofty dome of solid stone, and of such admirable construction, as to have furnished, if we may believe some authors, the idea and model of that of the Vati- can. It was indeed finished long before the latter was begun, and was justly considered during the fifteenth century as the noblest edifice of the kind in the world. But in beauty, in symmetry, and in graceful architecture, it is far inferior not to St. Peter’s only, but to numberless churches in Italy, and particularly in Rome, Venice, and Padua. Santa Sophia of Constantinople may be considered as forming a link between ancient and modern architecture. It is true that in pure and correct taste, the boast of the eastern capital has little in common with either; yet it was erected by a Roman emperor, and may be considered as the last effort of the art exerted under the influence of Roman greatness. Justinian, the founder of this church, is said to have been so proud of his work, that he thanked God in the exultation of his heart, for having enabled him to raise a temple more magnificent than that of Solomon, and far transcending in splendor all the fanes of the Gentile divinities . 1 This celebrated edifice, although stripped of its Christian ornaments and degraded into a Turkish mosque, still retains its original form and essential architectural features. The elevation of the dome is one hundred and eighty feet, the length of the church is two hundred and sixty- nine, and its breadth two hundred and forty-three. These dimen- sions bear no proportion, I will not say to the Vatican, but to se- veral other churches. The materials and ornaments seem indeed to have been splendid, but the want of taste in their application and arrangement, must have considerably diminished their effect. Before we leave Constantinople, whither we have been transported by our subject, we may be allowed to express a wish and even a hope, that the present generation may behold the cross restored to its ancient pre-eminence, the savage superstition of Mahomet banished from the verge of Christendom, and Santa Sophia restored to the pure worship of the Eternal Wisdom to whom it was origi- nally dedicated. The temple of Jerusalem as rebuilt by Herod, was without doubt one of the most noble edifices which the world has ever beheld. The Romans themselves, though accustomed to the wonders of 1 Gibbon, xl. I. 17 258 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVI. the imperial city, viewed it with astonishment, and Titus resolved to exempt its stately fabric from the general sentence of devastation. But man cannot save when God devotes to ruin ; and Titus and Ju- lian were the reluctant instruments employed by Providence, in fulfilling, to the letter, that dreadful prediction, a stone shall not be left upon a stone . Although the account given by Josephus * be obscure, and evi- dently influenced by the national and professional feelings of the writer, yet we may learn from it a sufficient number of circum- stances to ascertain, not indeed the precise form but the general grandeur of the edifice. According to this author, the platform on which it stood was a square of a stadium, or about six hundred and twenty feet in every directibn ; this platform was raised on immense substructions enclosing Mount Moria on all sides ; the court which surrounded the temple was adorned with a triple portico, each por- tico six hundred and twenty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifty high, excepting the middle portico, which with the same length had double the breadth and elevation of the other two : in fine, the front of the temple itself resembled a magnificent palace. From this statement we may conclude, that the substruction and colonnades were the principal and most striking features of this fabric. The former were of great elevation 1 2 as they rose from the bottom of the valley, and of prodigious solidity as they were formed of blocks of stone sixty feet long, nine thick, and ten broad . 3 The latter were supported by one hundred and sixty-two pillars, forty-five feet in height, between four and five in diameter, fluted Corinthian, and each of one single block of white marble. Of the rich furni- ture of the temple, of its gates, some of which were bronze and some covered with plates of gold, and of its ornaments in general, I make no mention as its architectural beauty and magnitude are the only objects of my present observations. Now the whole ex- tent of the platform on which the temple stood, with all its sur- rounding porticos, is scarcely equal to the space covered by the church of St. Peter itself, and inferior to the circular part alone of the portico before it, which is seven hundred and seventy feet in its greatest, and six hundred in its least diameter. It is supported by two hundred and eighty pillars, forty-five feet high, and with its entablature and statues it rises to the elevation of seventy. Thus in extent, height, and number of columns it surpasses the Jewish portico, which enclosed the temple and all its edifices. Now if we 1 Ant. Jud. lib. xv. cap. H.— De Bello Judaico, lib. vii. cap. 10. 2 Four hundred and fifty feet. 3 To these astonishing masses allusion seems to be made in the two first verses of the thirteenth chapter of St. Mark. “And as he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said unto him, Master, look what stones and what buildings! And Jesus answering said, Beholdest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left Stone upon stone that shall not be destroyed.” Chap. XVI. THROUGH ITALY. 259 consider that this colonnade is a part only of the portico of St. Pe- ter’s, and if we add to it the galleries that connect it with the church, and enclose a space of three hundred and thirty feet by three hun- dred and eighty, and if to this vast held of architectural grandeur we superadd the fountains and the pyramids, we shall find that the appendages to the temple of Jerusalem must yield in greatness to those of the Roman Basilica. As to the front of the temple itself, and its similitude to that of a palace; in this respect St. Peter’s unfortunately resembles it too much; but in extent it far exceeds it, as the former was scarcely one hundred and sixty feet in length, while the latter is four hundred. * Among pagan temples not one can be put in competition with the Vatican for grandeur and magnitude. The two most famous were the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and that of Jupiter Capito- linus. Pliny the Elder has given us the dimensions of the former. * According to him it was four hundred and twenty-five feet in length and two hundred and twenty in breadth ; it was supported by one hundred and twenty-seven pillars, sixty feet high ; the elevation of the edifice to the top of the pediment, was of course eighty feet. The number of columns, without doubt of the richest materials, as each was the present of a king, and also disposed in the best or- der, must have produced a very noble effect, but this edifice was in all its dimensions far inferior to the Roman Basilica. The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was nearly a square of two hundred feet, with a triple row of pillars in front, that is towards the Forum, and a double row on the sides. Here again, notwith- standing the splendor of such an assemblage of columns rising on such a site, the dimensions will admit of no comparison . 1 * 3 * 5 In fact, every edifice, whether inexistence or on record, of whatsoever denomination, falls far short, in some respect or other, of the Ba- silica Vaticana, the grand temple of the Christian church ; to render which as worthy as possible of its high destination, human inge- nuity seems to have strained its powers, and art to have exhausted its resources. 1 The learned reader will perceive that in the elevation of the pillars, I have fol- lowed not perhaps the very words of Josephus, which are evidently incorrect, but the regular proportion of the Corinthian order, which was a constant and almost invariable standard, at least in the reign of Herod, when it was the prevailing and favorite order. * Nat. Hist. lib. xxxvi. cap. 14. 5 The temple of Olympic Jupiter, at Agrigentum, the ruins of which still remain, was certainly on a gigantic scale, but inferior in dimensions to the temple of Ephesus, and consequently not comparable to the Yatican. (See Swinburne on this Temple.)— I quote this traveller with pleasure, because my own observations enable me to bear testimony of his accuracy. 360 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVII. j CHAPTER XVII. Pontifical Service— Papal Benediction— Ceremonies in the Holy Week— Observa- tions— Original form of Churches. After having thus given a general account of St. Peter’s, and endeavored to sketch out its extent and beauty, I may be expected to describe the magnificent ceremonies of w hich it is the theatre, and picture to the reader the pomp and circumstance of public worship , grand in all cathedrals, but peculiarly majestic in this first and no- blest of Christian temples. In fact, the same unwearied attention w r hich has regulated the most minute details of the architecture and decorations, extends itself to every part of divine service, and takes in even all the minutiae of ritual observance. The ancient Romans loved parade and public shews, and introduced processions, rich ha- bits, and stately ceremonies into all the branches of public adminis- tration, whether civil, military, or religious. This taste so natural and so useful, because calculated, while itfeasts the eye and the ima- gination, to cover the nakedness and littleness of man, and to clothe the individual with the dignity and the grandeur of the aggregate body, was infused into Christianity as soon as Christianity became the reli- gion of the empire, and with it has been transmitted unaltered to the moderns. Whenthereforea traveller enters a Roman church he must consider himself as transported back to ancient times, and expect to hear the language, and see the habits, and the stately manners of the Romans of the four first ce turies. Some may find fault with the ceremonies, and others may feel some surprise at the dresses ; but not to speak of the claim which their antiquity has to veneration, they both possess a grace and dignity that not unfre- quently command the respect and admiration even of the most in- different. The daily service of St. Peter’s is performed in a large and noble chapel, that might without impropriety be dignified with the appellation of a church, by a choir consisting of an archpriest, thirty-eight prebendaries, fifty minor canons or chaplains, besides clerks, choristers, and beadles. The grand altar under the dome is reserved for the use of the pontiff, who on such occasions is always attended by the college of cardinals with their chaplains, the pre- lates attached to the court, and the papal choir or musicians, who form what is called the pontiff’s chapel, or capella papale . As there is no regular chancel in St. Peter’s, a temporary one is fitted up for such occasions behind the altar, of a semicircular form, covered with purple and adorned with rich drapery. In the Chap. XVII. THROUGH ITALY. 2G1 middle raised on several steps stands the pontifical chair. The seats of the cardinals and prelates form a curve on each side. I must here observe, that the seat of the bishop in the ancient and patriarchal churches at Rome is raised very little above those of the clergy. That the bishops sometimes sat on a more elevated chair even at a very early period is clear from a canon of the fourth council ofCarthage, 1 which expressly orders that bishops in the church and in the assemblies of the clergy should enjoy that distinct ion; but that it was not a general custom is equally evident from the practice ofSt. Martin, and the offence which the introduction of it into Gaul gave to Sulpicius Severus. “ In ecelesia, ” says this historian speaking of St. Martin, “ nemo unquam ilium sedere conspexit ; sicut quemdam nuper (testor Dominum) non sine meo pudore vidi, sublimi solio quasi regio tribunali, ceisa sede residentem How- ever in spite of the example of St. Marlin and the censure of his disciple, the episcopal chair still continued to rise till it acquired the name, the elevation, and more than the usual splendor of a throne. It does not indeed seem to have reached its full magni- ficence till the middle of the last century, when it appears to have arrived at its acme, not in Rome, as the reader may naturally ima- gine, but in the cathedral of Durham, where the lord bishop sits enthroned in far more than papal eminence, and looks down upon the choir, the congregation, the altar, and the pulpit. When the pope celebrates divine service, as on Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, Whit Sunday, St. Peter, and St. Paul, etc. the great or middle doors of the church are thrown open at ten, and the procession formed of all the persons mentioned above, prece- ded by a beadle carrying the papal cross, and two others bearing lighted torches, enters and advances slowly in two long lines be- tween two ranks of soldiers up the nave. This majestic procession is closed by the pontiff himself seated in a chair of state supported by twenty valets half concealed in the drapery that falls in loose folds from the throne ; he is crowned with his tiara, and bestows his benediction on the crowds that kneel on all sides as he is borne along. When arrived at the foot of the altar he descends, resigns his tiara, kneels, and assuming the common mitre seats himself in the episcopal chair on the right side of the altar, and joins in the psalms and prayers that precede the solemn service. Towards the conclusion of these preparatory devotions his immediate attendants form a circle around him, clothe him in his pontifical robes, and place the tiara on his head : after which, accompanied by two dea- cons and two sub-deacons, he advances to the foot of the altar, * An. 390. 8 Dc Virt. B. Martini Dial. II.— “No one ever saw him sit in church; as I lately (I call the Lord to witness) saw, and was ashamed to see, a certain person sitting aloft on an exalted throne, like the tribunal of a king,” 262 CLASSICAL TOUR Cuap. XVIL and bowing reverently makes the usual confession. He then pro- ceeds in great pomp through the chancel and ascends the pontifi- cal throne, while the choir sing the IrUroitus or psalm of entrance, the Eyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy upon us), and Gloria in ex - celsis (Glory in the highest), when the pontiff lays aside his tiara and after having saluted the congregation in the usual form, the Lord be with you , reads the collect in an elevated tone of voice, with a degree of inflexion just sufficient to distinguish it from an ordinary lecture. The epistle is then read, first in Latin, then in Greek ; and after it some select verses from the psalms, intermingled with Alleluias, are sung to elevate the mind and prepare it for the gospel. The pontiff then rises, gives his benediction to the two deacons that kneel at his feet with the book of the gospels, and resigning his tiara, stands while the gospel is sung in Latin and in Greek ; after which he commences the Nicene creed which is continued in music by the choir. When the creed and the psalm that follows it are over, he descends from his throne, and approaching the altar with the same attendants and the same pomp as in the commence- ment of the service, he receives and offers up the usual oblations, fumes the altar with frankincense from a golden censer, and then washes his hands ; a ceremony implying purity of mind and body. He then turns to the people, and in an humble and affectionate ad- dress begs their prayers ; and shortly after commences that sublime form of adoration and praise called ‘‘the preface,” because it is an introduction to the most solemn part of the liturgy, and he chants it in a tone supposed to be borrowed from the ancient tragic declamation and very noble and impressive. The last words, “ Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of armies,” etc. are uttered in a posture of profound adoration, and sung by the choir in notes of deep and solemn intonation. All music then ceases, all sounds are hushed, and an awful silence reigns around, while in a low tone the pontiff recites that most ancient and venerable invocation which precedes, accompanies, and follows the consecration, and concludes with great propriety in the Lord’s prayer chanted with a few em- phatical inflections. Shortly after the conclusion of this prayer, the pontiff salutes the people in the ancient form, “ May the peace of the Lord be always with you,” and returns to his throne, while the choir sing thrice the devout address to the Saviour, taken from the gospel, “Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.” When he is seated, the two deacons bring the holy sacra- ment, which he first reveres humbly on his knees, and then receives in a sitting posture : 1 the deacons and sub-deacons then receive the * This is the only instance that exists, I believe, in the whole catholic church of receiving the holy sacrament sitting ; it is a remnant of the primitive custom, but Chap. XVII. THROUGH ITALY. 263 communion under both kinds, the anthem after communion is sung, a collect follows, and the deacon dismisses the assembly. The pope then offers up his devotions on his knees at the foot of the altar, and borne along in the same state as when he entered, passes down the nave of the church, and ascends by the Scala Re- gia to the grand gallery in the middle of the front of St. Peter’s, llis immediate attendants surround his person, the rest of the pro- cession draws up on each side. The immense area and colonnade before the church are lined with troops and crowded with thousands of spectators. All eyes are fixed on the gallery ; the chant of the choir is heard at a distance ; the blaze of numberless torches plays round the columns; and the pontiff appears elevated on his chair of state under the middle arch. Instantly the whole multitude below fall on their knees ; the cannons of St . Angelo give a ge- neral discharge, while rising slowly from his throne, he lifts his hands to heaven, stretches forih his arm, and thrice gives his bene- diction to the crowd, to the city, and to all mankind ; a solemn pause follows, another discharge is heard, the crowd rises, and the pomp gradually disappears. The ceremony is without doubt very grand, and considered by most travellers as a noble and becoming conclusion to the majestic service that precedes it. Every thing concurs to rehderit interest- ing; the venerable character of the pontiff himself, the first bishop of the Christian church, issuing from the sanctuary of the noblest temple in the world, bearing the holiness of the mysteries, which he has just participated, imprinted on his countenance, offering up his supplication in behalf of his flock, his subjects, his brethren, his fellow creatures, to the Father of all, through the Saviour and Mediator of all. Surely such a scene is both edifying and impressive. The chant or music used by the papal choir, and indeed in most catholic cathedrals and abbey churches, is, excepting in some instances, ancient. Gregory the Great, though not the author of it, collected it into a body and gave it the form in which it now appears. The chant of the psalms is simple and affecting, com- posed of Lydian, Phrygian, and other Greek and Roman tunes, without many notes, but with a sufficient inflexion to render them soft and plaintive or bold and animating. St. Augustin, who was a good judge of music, represents himself as melted into tears by the psalms as then sung in the church of Milan under the direction of St. Ambrose', and seems to apprehend that the emotions pro- duced by such harmonious airs might be too tender for the vigor- as that custom was suppressed at a very early period, perhaps even in the apostolic age itself, I see no reason for retaining it in one solitary occasion. Benedict XIII. could never he prevailed upon to conform to it, but always remained standing at the altar, according to the usual practice 264 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVII. ous and manly spirit of Christian devotion . 1 As the transition from song to ordinary reading is flat and insipid, it cannot but Jake off much of the effect of the lecture; and moreover, as the common tone of voice is inadequate to the purposes of divine service in a large church, the ancients introduced a few modulations into the prayers and lectures just sufficient to raise and support the voice, to extend its reach, and to soften its cadences. These were taken from the different species of Roman declamations, and vary in number and solemnity according to the nature and the impor- tance of the lecture. In the lessons and epistles, the interroga- tions, exclamations, and periods only are marked by a corres- ponding rise or fall : the gospel has its variations more numerous and more dignified : the preface is rich in full melodious and so- lemn swells borrowed, as it is supposed, from the stately accents of Roman tragedy. The psalms, or to use an expression more appropriate, the anthems that commence the service, precede the gospel, usher in the offertory and follow the communion, together with the Gloria in excelsis (Glory in the highest) and creed, were set to more complicated and more labored notes, but yet with all due regard to the sanctity of the place, the import of the words, and the capacity of the hearers who were accustomed to join the song and to accompany the choir. This ancient music, which has long been known by the name of the Gregorian chant, so well adapted to the gravity of divine ser- vice, has been much disfigured in process of time by the bad taste of the middle, and the false refinements of the latter ages. The first encumbered it with an endless succession of dull unmeaning notes, dragging their slow length along , and burthening the ear with a dead weight of sound; the other infected it with the melting airs, the labored execution, the effeminate graces of the orchestra, useless, to say the least, even in the theatre, but pro- fane and almost sacrilegious in the church. Some care seems to have been taken to avoid these defects in the papal choir. The general style and spirit of the ancient and primitive music have been retained, and some modern compositions of known and ac- knowledged merit, introduced on slated days and in certain cir- cumstances. Of musical instruments, the organ only is admitted into St. Peter’s, or rather into the papal chapel, and even that not always; voices alone are employed in general, and as those voices are numerous, perfect in their kind, and in thorough unison with each other, and as the singers themselves are concealed from view, the effect is enchanting, and brings to mind The celestial voices in full harmonic number joined, that sometimes reached the ears of our first parents in Paradise, and lifted their thoughts to heaven. Of all the Roman ceremonies the pontifical service at St. Peter’s ! Confess, lib. ix. cap. 6. 7. Lib. x. cap. 33. Chap. XVII. THROUGH ITALY. 265 is without doubt the most majestic; and if we add to it the pro- cession on Corpus Chrisli, in which the pope bears the holy sacra- ment in solemn pomp along the colonnade then hung according to the ancient fashion with tapestry and graced with garlands, we shall have mentioned the two most splendid exhibitions perhaps to be seen in the universe. But besides these there are others, particu- larly during the last week of Lent, which cannot fail to excite atten- tion and interest. The procession with palms, and the affecting chant of the Passion on Sunday; the evening service called TV nebrcc (Darkness) in the Sixtine Chapel on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; the morning service on the two latter days, particularly the Mandalum, so called from the first word of the anthem sung w hile the pope w ashes the feet of thirteen pilgrims, etc. are all rites which it is difficult to behold without edification and perhaps emotion. I must not pass over the well known exhibition that takes place in St. Peter’s on the night of Good Friday, when the hundred lamps that burn over the tomb of the apostle are extinguished, and a stupendous cross of light appears suspended from the dome, be- tween the altar and the nave, shedding over the whole edifice a soft lustre delightful to the eye and highly favorable to picturesque representations. This exhibition is supposed to have originated in the sublime imagination of Michael Angelo, and he who beholds it will acknowledge that it is not unworthy of the inventor. The mag- nitude of the cross hanging as if self-supported, and like a meteor streaming in the air ; the blaze that it pours forth; the mixture of light and shade cast on the pillars, arches, statues, and altars; the crowd of spectators placed in all the different attitudes of curiosity, wonder, and devotion ; the processions with their ban- ners and crosses gliding successively in silence along the nave and kneeling around the altar; the penitents of all nations and dresses collected in groups near the confessionals of their respective lan- guages; a cardinal occasionally advancing through the crowd, and as he kneels humbly bending his head to the pavement; in fine, the pontiff himself, without pomp or pageantry, prostrate before the altar, offering up his adorations in silence, form a scene sin- gularly striking by a happy mixture of tranquillity and animation, of darkness and light, of simplicity and majesty. All these ceremonies of the Roman church are set off by every concomitant circumstance that can contribute to their splendor or magnificence. As indeed no people are better acquainted with the mode of conducting and managing public exhibitions than the Ro- mans, they are performed with the utmost precision and dignity, with every attention to the effects of perspective, and to all the graces of drapery. Every person knows his place and the part he has to act in the solemnity : the dresses are adapted to the situa- tion as well as to the rank of the w earers, who, whether they be sitting, standing, or moving, contrive that they should fall into 266 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVII. easy and majestic folds. The persons themselves are the pope, the cardinals, the chief magistrates of the city, the principal officers of state, and various prelates, presidents, and judges of the prin- cipal tribunals, all men either of high birth or great talents, and venerable for their age, their virtues, or their dignity. The theatres moreover (if such an expression may be applied to such an object) in which these sacred pomps are exhibited, are either the vast and lofty halls of the Vatican palace adorned with all the wonders of painting; or else the church of St. Peter, whose immense area, while it affords ample room for the ceremony itself, can contain countless multitudes without press or disorder. If therefore, as Warburton observes, “it be difficult to attend at a high mass per- formed by a good choir in any great church without sentiments of awe, if not of devotion it is not surprising that the same sacred service performed by such persons, with such accompaniments, and amid such scenes of grandeur and holiness, should impress the same sentiments with double force and effect. These pompous offices at the Vatican only take place on the great festivals of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, to which we may add St. Peter’s day, and perhaps one or two more occasional solemnities. On the other Sundays, and during the far greater part of the year, the altar stands a grand but neglected object, and the dome rises in silent majesty, unaccustomed to re-echo with the voice of exultation and with the notes of praise. The service of the cathe- dral is performed in a distant chapel, and private masses, it is true, are said at the different altars around, but the great body of the church seems deserted by its ministers, and like Sion of old, to complain that none cometli to the solemnity. It may perhaps be a matter of just surprise to every thinking ob- server, that in the three noblest cathedrals existing, the service of the church should be performed, not in the regular choir, but in a side chapel, and that the pope should prefer the secrecy of his own oratory to the grand and majestic scenery of such noble temples. The pious Christian, as he ranges over these glorious fabrics, longs to see the genuine forms of the primitive church re- vived, and the spacious area filled with a crowded but orderly congregation ; the men on the right, the women on the left, the youth drawn up on each side of the altar ; the choir in double rows before it, with a pulpit for the readers on each side : behind it, the pontiff surrounded by his clergy, performing himself every Sunday the solemn duties of his station, presiding in person over the as- sembly, instructing his flock, like the Leos and the Gregorys of ancient times, with his own voice, and with his own hands admi- nistering to them the bread of life and the cup of salvation. Such was a Christian congregation during the early ages, and such the regularity of ancient times. How grand would such an assembly now be in a temple like the Vatican ! How awful and how affecting Chap. XVII. THROUGH ITALY. 2G7 such a spectacle ! How like an assembly of the blessed, and how conformable to the sublime description of the Revelations ! — Bar- barism, ignorance, and indifference have long since disturbed this admirable order, and in most places nearly erased its recollection; but the Roman pontiff, and he only, possesses influence sufficient to restore it, and to spread it over the Christian world. If in re- viving this part of primitive discipline, he would also exercise the power which the council of Trent has entrusted to him, and would admit, as I have hinted above, the laity to the cup (so solemn and impressive a part of the sacred rite); and if at the same time he would communicate to every nation the comfort of singing the praises of God in their own language, he would render to the church of Christ a most important and ever memorable service . 1 I would not be understood as meaning by this latter observation to censure the use of ancient idioms in the liturgy, or to recommend in lolo (entirely) the introduction of modern dialects. The two great ancient languages which contain not only the principles and models of science and literature, but what is still more valuable, the very title-deeds and proofs of divine revelation, owe their existence to the liturgies of the Greek and Latin churches, and however widely diffused they may appear to be at present, it is dif- ficult to say whether in the course of countless ages perhaps still to come, they may not again be indebted to the same means for their continuation. A deadly blow is now actually aimed at them by the pride or the policy of the French government; and extensive as the influence of that government is, it may succeed in its barbaric attempt, unless counteracted by the still more extensive and almost universal influence of the Catholic church. It is not my intention to interfere with the controversial part of this question. “ IJii mcliora pus;” 2 but I own I should be sorry to see the divine dia- lect of Plato and of St. Paul, the full, the majestic tones of Cicero and of St. Leo entirely banished from the altars, and replaced by the meaner sounds of Romaic or even by the more musical accents of Italian. 3 Nothing can be more delightful to the ear, and if I may judge from my own feelings, more impressive, than the Latin service when chanted in a full choir, supported, not by the organ only, but by the united voices of a crowded congregation, raised from every corner and re-echoed from every vault of an immense cathedral. But with all the respect due to the prescriptive pre-eminence of the two sacred dialects, hallowed by the writings of the Apostles, Fathers, and primitive martyrs, l may venture to recommend the i Cone. Trid. Sess. xxii. * Ye gods ! lo better fate good men dispose ! — Dry den. 3 If, as a well known proverb says, Spanish is from its gravity well adapted to prayer, how much better is the dignity of Latin calculated for that solemn duty? 268 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVII. use of modern languages at certain parts of the service, and the introduction of lectures and hymns adapted to the particular objects of the liturgy, when the officiating priest is occupied in silent ado- ration, and the ordinary chant of the choir is suspended. Such is the practice all over Catholic Germany, and throughout the vast extent of the Austrian dominions, where if the traveller enters into any parochial church during service, he finds it filled with a nu- merous congregation all joining in chorus with a zeal and ardor truly edifying. I was peculiarly struck with the good effects of this custom in the churches of Bohemia, where the people are re- markable for a just and musical ear, and sing with admirable pre- cision ; but still more so in the cathedral of Vienna, where the voices of some thousands chanting in full unison the celebrated * hymn, ‘‘Holy, holy, holy,” cannot fail to elevate the mind, and inflame the coldest heart with devotion. This practice, sanctioned by the authority of so considerable a portion of the catholic church, has many good effects, as it contributes to the comfort and edifi- cation of the people, who always delight in hymns and spiritual songs; as it amuses the ear with melody and attaches the hearers to the holy sentiments and doctrines which it conveys, and as it may thus act as a preservative from the infidelity of the times, not only by securing the assent, but by engaging the affections, on the side of religion. In fine, it tends to consecrate all languages to the praise of the Father Almighty, and to the propagation of the gospel of his adorable Son. “Nihil sublimius,” says Leo the Great, in an ancient preface for Whit Sunday, “collatum Ecclesue tuae exordiis, quam ut evangelii tui praeconia linguis omnium, cre- dentium ora loquerentur,... et vocum varietas aedificationi Eccle- siasticae non difficultatem faceret, sed augeret potius unitatem.” 1 Before I close this chapter, I think it necessary to make a few additional remarks for the information of my readers in general, little accustomed to the scenes described, and perhaps totally un- acquainted with many of the subjects alluded to. To such the following particulars may not be unacceptable. The mass is the communion service, or consecration and administration of the holy sacrament. High mass is the same service, accompanied by all the ceremonies which custom and authority have annexed to its celebration. These ceremonies are in general very ancient, and may be traced as far back as the second or third century. The language is that which prevailed at the period of the introduction of Chris- tianity; the dresses are nearly of the same era. The surplice, called in Latin alba, was probably borrowed from the linen ephod worn by 1 Nothing is more sublime, when considered in reference to the principles of thy Church, than that all the faithful should express w ith their tongues the pro- mulgation of thy Gospel,... and the variety of voices, so far from being an impedi- ment to ecclesiastical edification, w ould rather tend to the advancement of unity. Chap. XVII, THROUGH ITALY. 2G9 the Levites in their functions under the old law. The other vest- ments are Roman. The Stola , called originally Ovarium or Sudarium , was a long stripe of linen worn round the neck by persons of dis- tinction, and particularly by magistrates or public speakers ; it was intended, as its primitive name imports, for the same purposes as a handkerchief. The Manipulus or Mappula was a handkerchief to replace the Stola, when the latter in process of time had become an ornament only. The upper vestment, called Casibulum or Planeta, was originally a garment of a circular form, with an opening in the centre lor the head, so that, when put on it, hung down to the ground on all sides, and entirely covered the body. It was raised when the action of the arms was necessary, and sometimes tied up with ri- bands and tassels ; it is particularly appropriated to the bishop or priest who officiates at the altar, and is used at mass only. On other occasions, the bishop or priest who presides wears the Cope, the ancient Toga , bordered on each side by the Latus Clavus . This robe is the ordinary dress of the Pope in church, and on occasions of ceremony. The Dalmaiica and Tunica are the distinctive dresses of the deacon and sub-deacon. These garments, which naturally derive grace and beauty from their form and drapery, are enno- bled by their antiquity, and sanctified by their appropriation to the altar. They combine decency and majesty; they distinguish the public man from the individual : and like the robes of kings and of magis; rales they garnish the exercise of office, and teach the mi- nister to respect himself, and both the minister and the people to reverence the sacred charge of public function. The use of torches and of incense is supposed to have been in- troduced into the church in the third century ; it originated in the East, but soon became general ; it was founded on figurative rea- sons. The former were borne before the Book of the Gospels, and reminded the faithful of the light diffused over the universe by the promulgation of the sacred volume, and of that true light that en- lighleneth everg man that cometli into this world. 1 The latter had been expressly commanded in the Old Law, and was considered in the New as a fit accompaniment to be offered with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar before the throne . 2 The most solemn part of the service is recited in a low tone, au- dible only to those who surround the altar : a circumstance which surprises Protestants, and has frequently been censured with seve- rity. However, this custom is almost coeval with the liturgy itself, and seems to have commenced almost immediately after the apos- tolic age. It was in all probability a measure of precaution. One of the most sacred rites of Christianity, that of baptism, had been exposed to public ridicule on the stage, and to prevent the recur- rence of a similar profanation, in a more awful institution, it was St. John, i. 2 Rev. viii. 270 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIl thought prudent to confine the knowledge of the Eucharistic prayer to the clerical order. When a custom is once established reasons are never wanting to justify its continuance ; and the secrecy which the fear of profanation rendered necessary in times of persecution was continued from motives of respect in the days of Christian prosperity. Every person acquainted with ecclesiastical antiquity knows with what extreme delicacy the Fathers of the fourth century speak of the mysteries, and of course will not wonder that the Roman church, which glories in its adherence to antiquity, should continue the same practice. Besides, it is considered as more con- formable to the nature of the mysterious institution, and more favorable to the indulgence of devotion, both in the priest and in the congregation, than the most emphatic and solemn recitation. Impressed with this idea, the Greeks have from time immemorial drawn curtains, and in later ages raised a screen before the altar, that conceals the priest from public view, and environs him as the High Priest of old when he entered the Holy of Holies, with the awful solitude of the sanctuary . 1 The rites which I have described are pure and holy; they in- spire sentiments of order and decency; they detach the mind from the ordinary pursuits of life, and by raising it above its ordinary level, they qualify it to appear with due humility and recollection before the Throne of the Lamb , — the Mercy Seat of Jehovah! The Roman Basilicce , excepting St. Peter’s, are the most ancient now existing, and erected as they were in the earliest ages of Chris- tianity, give us a clear and precise idea of the notions of the Chris- tians of that period with regard to the form and the arrangement of churches. In the first place, as not one of these churches bears any resemblance to a cross, we may conclude that Mr. Gibbon was mistaken, when he attributed to the first Christians a partiality to that figure in the construction of their oratories, and an unwilling- ness to convert pagan temples into churches, because not erected in that form. Many temples from their narrow limits were, as I have already remarked, totally incapable of holding a Christian congregation. Several of greater magnitude were actually con- verted into churches, and are to this day used as such ; and if Constantine could in prudence, at a lime when the Roman senate was still pagan, have offered the splendid seat of pagan worship to the bishop of Rome, the offer would have been readily accepted, and the temple of Jupiter Gapitolinus, though not in the form of a cross , would like the Pantheon have been sanctified by Christian rites, and might probably still have remained a noble monument of ancient magnificence. It is difficult to determine at what precise period the figure of the cross was introduced, but it seems to have * The laity at present lose nothing by this silence, as they have the form of con- secration, and indeed the whole service translated in their prayer-books. Chap. XYII. THROUGH ITALY. 271 been about the end of the fifth century, as the church of St. Sophia, erected in tho sixth, is in that form; but, whenever introduced, its adoption need not be regretted, as it very happily combines variety with unity, and beauty with convenience. We cannot pass the same encomium upon those partitions, called screens, which divide the chancel from the nave, and by concealing the most ornamented part of the church from the view, and veil- ing the principal object, the altar, break the perspective, deprive the edifice of a proper termination, and apparently reduce its di- mensions to half its real magnitude. When and why these screens ■were introduced it may be difficult to determine, but as they are only found in Saxon and Gothic churches we may suppose that they are coeval with those buildings, and were from the beginning con- sidered as constituent parts of them. Their utility is not very per- ceptible. Some suppose them necessary in northern climates, in order to shelter the congregation from the cold winds that pene- trate and chill the open parts of such vast edifices as cathedrals ; but this reason, which may appear satisfactory when confined to countries in which the congregation is seldom so numerous as to fill the choir of a cathedral, is totally inapplicable to places where service is attended by the populace, and where the congregations are regularly sufficient to crowd every part of the church, not excepting even the aisles and transepts. I am therefore inclined to suspect, that the propensity of the northern nations to mystic allusions, and perhaps a wish to increase the reverence due to the altar, by removing it to a greater distance from the laity, might have sug- gested the idea of a screen to the architects of the middle ages. There is, it must be admitted, something very impressive in the distant view of a Gothic altar, seen from the arched entrance of the choir, through a long and double line of clergy in surplice, faintly lighted by the beams that drop from the painted windows above, or by the lamps and tapers that gleam around, encircled by minis- tering priests, and half lost in clouds of incense ; there is, I say, something in such solemn scenery that seizes the imagination, and excites emotions of awe and religious melancholy . 1 But although * How far the altar ought to be ornamented is a question which has been debated with much warmth since the reformation. The Latins, Greeks, and even the Lutherans are accustomed to adorn it with more or less splendor or gaudiness, according to their taste and opulence. The church of England, when not overawed by the clamors of the sectaries that assail her on all sides, is inclined to favor this practice; while the Calvinistic school of Geneva, hostile to every thing that delights the eye or flatters the feelings of a polished mind, have either cast the table of the Lord out of the church, or stripped it of all its decent accompaniments, and aban- doned it in a corner to dust and cobwebs. Rut whatever a man’s opinion may be upon this subject, he must be very morose indeed if he find much to blame in the Roman altars; I mean those of the Basilicce; w hich unencumbered with taber- nacles, reliquaries, statues, or flower-pots, support a cross and six candlesticks; furniture, which is sufficient without doubt for all the purposes of solemnity, and 272 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIII. these dispositions are good and suitable to the place and occasion, yet the means employed to produce them, the dim perspective, and the artificial gloom border upon theatrical illusion, and seem better adapted to the sullen superstition of the Druids than to the plain and majestic forms of Christian worship. How different the ef- fects of arrangement in a Roman Basilica , where, in a semicircle be- hind the altar, the bishop and his clergy form a venerable tribunal; where the people before, ranged according to sex and age, exhibit an orderly multitude; and the altar itself in the middle displays in full light the sacred volume and the emblems of redemption? An assembly thus combining simplicity, order, and dignity, naturally elevates the soul, and inspires sentiments not of terror but of ad- miration, not of fictitiousness but of real solid devotion. It recalls to mind the glorious vision of the Revelations, 1 and almost brings before our eyes the elders sitting clothed in while , the lamps burning before the throne , the lamb standing as if slain , and the multitudes which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people and tongues. CHAPTER XVIII. Villas — the Tiber — the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella — Egerian Grotto and Foun- tain — Church of St. Constantia — Mons Sacer. The various villas that encircle Modern Rome form one of its characteristic beauties, as well as one of the principal features of its resemblance to the ancient city, which seems to have been en- vironed with gardens, and almost studded with groves and shady retirements. Thus Julius Caesar had a spacious garden on the banksof theTiber, at the foot of the Janiculum, which he bequeathed to the Roman people : Maecenas enclosed and converted into a plea- sure ground a considerable part of the Esquiline Hill, which before had been the common burial place of the lower classes, and the resort of thieves and vagabonds ; an alteration which Horace mentions with complacency in his eighth satire. To these we may add the Horti Lucullani and Serviliani , * incidentlv mentioned by yet may be endured even by a puritan. The other ornaments, or rather super- fluities which are too often observed to load the altars of catholic churches, owe their introduction to the fond devotion of nuns or nun-like friars, and may be to- lerated in their conventual oratories, as the toys and playthings of that harmless race, but ought never to be allowed to disfigure the simplicity of parochial churches and cathedrals. 1 Chap. iv. v. 7. a The gardens of Lucullus and those of Servilius. Chap. XVIII. THROUGH ITALY. m Tacitus, and particularly the celebrated retreat of the historian Sal- lust, adorned with so much magnificence and luxury that it became the favorite resort of successive Efhperors. This garden occupied the extremities of the Viminal and Pincian Hills and enclosed in its precincts, a palace, a temple, and a circus. The palace was con- sumed by fire on the fatal night when Alaric entered the city: the temple of singular beauty, sacred to Venus ( Vcncri Feiici Sacrum) •was discovered about the middle of the sixteenth century, and de- stroyed for the sale of the materials ; of the circus little remains but masses of walls that merely indicate its site, while statues and marbles found occasionally continue to furnish proofs of its mag- nificence. The gardens of Lucullus are supposed to have bordered on those of Sallust, and with several other delicious retreats, which covered the summit and brow of the Pincian Mount, gave it its ancient ap- pellation of Collis Horlulorum (the hill of gardens). To the inter- mingled graces of town and country that adorned these fashionable mansions of the rich and luxurious Romans, Horace alludes when addressing Fuscus Aristius, he says Nempe inter varias nutritur sylya columnas— * as in the verse immediately following, Laudaturque domus longos quae prospiclt agros.* Hor. Ep. i. 10. he evidently hints at the extensive views which might be enjoyed from the lofty apartments, erected expressly for the purpose of commanding a wide range of country. The villas of Modern Rome often occupy the same ground, share some portion of the splendor, and enjoy all the picturesque advan- tages of the gardens of the ancient city. In point of perspective beauty, Rome has, indeed, at all times possessed peculiar felicities. It covers a considerable extent of country, encloses several hills within its ramparts, and affords a great variety of views, sometimes con- fined to its interior, and sometimes extending to the surrounding country and the distant mountains. It is true that the ancient Ro- man might Contemplate from his garden, towering in near or dis- tant perspective, one or more of those stupendous edifices which then adorned the city, and were deservedly ranked among the won- ders of the world ; but I know not whether, in the melancholy spectacle of the same majestic edifices now scattered on the ground and overgrown with cypresses, the modern villa does not exhibit * Among your columns, rich with various dyes, Unnat'ral woods with awkward art arise.— Francis. You praise the house, whose situation yields An open prospect to the distant fields.— Francis. *8 i 274 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIII. a sight more awful and more affecting. If the traveller wishes to be convinced of the truth of this remark, let him from the terrace of the Villa Bor ghese, fix his eyes on the dome of St. Peter's, ex- panded in all its splendor and all its perfection before him ; and then let him ascend the Palatine Mount, and from the cypress groves of the Villa Far nesiana look down upon the shattered mass of the Coliseum spread beneath him in broken pomp, half covered with weeds and brambles. O champs de l’ltalie , 6 campagnes de Rome, Ou dans tout son orgueil git le n&mt de I’homme ! C’est la que des aspects fameux par de grands noms, Pleins de grands souvenirs et de hautes lemons, Vous oH'rent ces objets, tresors dcs paysages. Voyez de toutes parts comment le cours des &ges Dispersant, d^chirant de precieux lambeaux, Jelant temple sur temple, et tombeaux sur tombeaux De Rome £tale au loin la ruine immortelle;... Ces portiques, ces arcs , oil la pierre fidele Garde du peuple roi les exploits eclatants : Leur masse indestructible a fatigue le temps. Des fleuves suspendus ici mugissait l’onde ; Sous ces portes passaient les depouilles du monde; Partout confus^ment dans la poussiere dpars, Les thermes, les palais, les tombeaux des C^sars! » Abbe Delille , Jardins. Chant iv. t * \ * , No villa presents a greater number of the local felicities , immortal ruins , divine remains , big with grand recollections and awful instruc- tion , so well described in these verses as the Orti Farnesu The gardens cover the greater part of the Palatine Mount, and spread over the vast substructions and scattered vestiges of the imperial palace. They front the Capitol, command the Forum, and look down upon the neighboring Coliseum ; thus exhibiting in different points of view, and successively, the noblest remains of Roman magnificence now existing. They were formerly cultivated with care, and adorned with a great variety of antique vases, busts, and statues ; ;but having unfortunately fallen by inheritance to the royal * O fields of Italy I 0 Roman plains ! Where lies man's nothingness in all its pride I There the rich landscape offers to the view Scenes made illustrious by great names of old Big with great recollections, lessons deep. See how on ev’ry side the lapse of time, Scatt'ring the rended fragments, glorious still. Temple on temple hurling, tomb on tomb. Makes great display of Rome s immortal ruins These pompous porticos, these arches tall. Where still the marble, faithful to its trust, Preserves the sov’reign people's great exploits— Their mass, that bids defiance to destruction. Has wearied Time and mock'd bis blunted scythe. Here roar’d the waters of the pendent Hood ; Beneath these gates the world's rich plunder pass'd ; Scatter’d confus'dly lu the dust around. Baths, princely domes, and tombs of Emp’rors lie. Chap. XVIII. THROUGH ITALY. 275 I family of Naples, the ancient ornaments have been transported to that capital, and the place, notwithstanding its exquisite beauties, has been entirely neglected. The Villa Spada , or Brunati (for these villas change their names with their proprietors) occupies, on a much smaller scale, a part of the Palatine Hill and of the imperial palace, and enjoys some of the advantages of the Orli Farnesiani. The ruins of the palace cover the greater part of it, and on one side look down on the valley that separates the Palatine from the Aventine Mount ; from a gallery in a recess still remaining, the emperor might behold the games of the Circus Maximus , which occupied the greater part of that valley. On the summit of Mount Celius stands the Villa Mattliei, once fa- mous for the beauty and number of its antiques, and though now like the Orli Farnesi , forsaken and neglected, it is still interesting for its groves, its verdure, its prospects, and its solitudes. Villa Negroni, once the favorite retreat of Sixtus Quintus, en- closes an immense space of ground on the Esquiline and Viminal Hills, covered with groves, and opening upon various beautiful prospects. It contains two handsome ’and spacious buildings. Its numerous antiquities have been removed. The celebrated Acjqer Tarquinii , or rampart, raised by Tarquinius Priscus, intersects this garden, and claims the attention due to its age and origin. The Villa Aldobrandini is small and ill furnished, but celebrated for one remarkable object, the Nozze Aldobrandine , an ancient painting, which represents, as every reader knows, the nuptial ce- remony in graceful figures, easy drapery, and charming groups. The Villa Ludovizi is a part only of the gardens of Sallust, and as it stands on the summit of the Pincian Hill, it necessarily com- mands some very beautiful prospects. Its delicious walks are shaded with ilex, cypress, and bay, of the noblest growth, and of the most luxuriant foliage ; and it has the singular advantage of being en- closed in a great degree by the venerable walls of the city. The elevated Casino, or summer-house in the centre, affords from its battlements an extensive view of the Campayna, and the mountains that form its boundaries, particularly of those of Alb ano and Sabina . On a ceiling in this Casino is the Aurora of Guercino , much ad- mired by all connoisseurs, and by those of the French school pre- ferred to that of Guido. It certainly has more contrast, and more bustle ; but what can equal the grace, the freshness, the celestial glory of that matchless performance, which combines in one splendid vision all the beautiful features and accompaniments ascribed to the morning by the poets ; Homer and Virgil seem to have presided over the work, and Ovid and Tasso given the picture its finishing touches. The Strada Pinciana separates this villa from the gardens of the Villa Medici, once the residence of the cardinal of that family, and 270 CLASSICAL TOUR CHap. XVIIL from its lofty situation, superb collection of statues, pillars, and marbles, as well as from the beauty of its gardens, well entitled to the attention and favor of those patrons of the arts. But it has the misfortune to belong now to a sovereign ; its antiquities have there- fore been transported to his capital, Florence ; its noblest apart- ments are neglected, and its gardens alone remain the resort and the delight of every serious traveller. The Orli Barberirii rises to the south of the court of St. Peter’s, and while it commands from its terrace a full view of one side of the colonnade, it presents to the eye of those who are coming towards the Vatican a beautiful back ground for the other side, and spreads its pines and cypresses in such a manner as to form in appearance an aerial garden suspended over the pillars, and shading the statues. The gardens belonging to the Corsini palace have acquired some celebrity from the meetings of the Academy of the Quirini. A si- milar circumstance throws a still greater lustre over the Bosco Par - rhasio, a rural theatre where the Arcadians meet to hear and ex- amine the poetical effusions of their associates. The Arcadian Aca- demy is known to be one of the principal literary societies in Rome, instituted towards the end of the seventeenth century, for the pro- motion of classical knowledge, and composed of some of the first scholars in that capital, and indeed in all Europe . 1 One of its principal objects was to correct the bad taste then prevalent, and to turn the attention of youth from the glare, conceit, and over refinements of false, to the ease, and unaffected graces of true wit. They took their name from a people celebrated for the simplicity of their manners and as the love of rural scenery is inseparable from true taste, they chose a grove for the place of their assembly, and gave it the name of Parrhasian. The Bosco Parrliasio is si- tuated on the side of the Janiculum. All the gardens and villas hitherto mentioned, are within the ancient walls of the city, and may be considered as constituent parts of it, contributing much to its beauty, its coolness, and its magni- ficence : but besides these, many others lie in the suburbs and neighborhood, and give the immediate environs of Rome an un- common share of amenity and interest. To begin by the Porta S. Pancrasio , that nearest the Janiculum, anciently the Porta Aurelia ; proceeding along the Via Aurelia about a mile from the gate, we arrive at the Villa Pamfili or Belres- p'tro. This country seat, which now belongs to the Prince Dorm , is supposed to occupy the same ground as the gardens of the Em- peror Galba, and is remarkable for its edifices, its waters, its woods, its antiquities of every description, its great extent, and its general * The French have degraded this academy by the absurd appellation of the arcades, which some English translators have wisely converted into arches. Chap. XVIII. THROUGH ITALY. 277 magnificence. It is moreover well supported both with regard to the house, the ornamental buildings, and the gardens. The dispo- sition and arrangement of the plantations, as well as the form and destination of the water, are stiff and formal, according to the ob- solete mode of French gardening yet the growth and luxuriancy of the one, and the extent and profusion of the other, almost hide the defect and catch and delight the eye, in spite of unnatural art and misplaced symmetry. One of the most conspicuous objects in the immediate neigh- borhood of Rome is the Monte Mario , anciently Clivus Cinnse, a bold eminence lying about a mile north-west from the Porta Ange~ lica> clothed with vineyards and crowned with groves of cypress and poplar. On its summit rises the Villa Mellini, remarkable for the noble view that lies expanded under its terrace. The Tiber in- tersecting the city and winding though rich meadows ; the Praia Quintia and Praia Mutia , fields still bearing in their names the tro- phies of Roman virtue and Roman heroism : the Pons Milvius with its tower, and the plainsconsecrated by the victory of Constantine ; the Vatican palace with its courts and gardens ; the Basilica of St. Peter with its portico, its obelisk, and its fountains; the Campus Marlius covered with the churches, squares, and palaces, of the modern city ; the seven hills strewed with the ruins of the ancient ; the walls with their towers and galleries ; the desert Campagna, with Mount Soracte rising apparently in the centre ; and the semi- circular sweep of mountains tinged with blue or purple, now bright with the sun, now dark in the shade, and generally gleaming with snow — such is the varied and magnificent scene spread before the traveller, while reposing on the shaded terrace of the Villa Mellini. The same prospect may be enjoyed, but with less advantage, from the Villa Madama, which lies further on the side of the hill towards Ponte Milvio . In the gardens of this Villa is a rural theatre formed by the natural winding of a little dell, and shaded by a whole forest of beautiful evergreens. In the golden days of the Medici (for this villa was erected and its gardens were laid out by a cardinal of that family) this sylvan scene was crowded by the po- lished Romans of the times, assembled to listen to the composi- tions of rival poets, and to decide the priority of contesting orators. After this literary exhibition the spectators were regaled in lofty halls planned by Raffaello and painted by Giulio Romano , with all the delicacies of the orchard, and with all the charms of music and conversation. But these days are now no more; the Medicean * I might with greater propriety have said Italian gardening, as the French, in this respect as in most others, only copied the Italians. The latter again imitated their ancestors. — See Pliny’s well-known Description of hi§ Lavrentin and Tuscan villas. Lib. ii. Ep. 17. v. Ep. 6. 278 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIII. line is extinct; and ancient fame and surviving beauty, and the ar- chitecture of Raffaello and the pencil of Giulio plead in vain in behalf of this superb villa. It belongs to the king of Naples and is, as it has long been, entirely neglected. On the opposite side of the city, a little way from the Porta Sa- lara stands the Villa Albania till lately one of the best supported and best furnished seats in the neighborhood of Rome, or indeed in Europe. The palace is magnificent, and was adorned, as were the gardens, with a considerable and chosen collection of antiqui- ties, to the number nearly it is said of eight hundred. To these may be added two hundred and sixty pillars of granite, porphyry, and marble, which supported and adorned the villa and the galle- ries ; a species of grandeur that exists only in Rome and its vicinity. Rut the Alban villa has been stript of all its ornaments. The car- dinal Albani, its proprietor, had the misfortune to incur the dis- pleasure of the French, by the zeal and activity with which he op- posed the intrigues of their agents previous to the invasion of the ecclesiastical state, and was punished on their entrance' into the city by the pillage and devastation of his palaces and gardens. We shall now proceed to the Villa Borqhese, or Villa Pinciana , (so called from the proximity of the Porta Pinciana ' now shut up) which, from the space it occupies, (supposed to be about four miles in circumference) its noble vistas, frequent fountains, ornamental buildings, superb palace, and almost innumerable antiquities, is justly considered as the first of the Roman villas, and worthy of being put into competition with the splendid retreats of Sallust or Lucullus. It stands upon a continuation of the Pincian Hill, at a little distance from the walls of the city, about half a mile from the Porta Flaminia or del Popoto . 2 It covers the brow of the hill, and from the terrace has a noble view of the city, and of the Va- tican. The gardens are laid out with some regard both for the new and for the old system ; for though symmetry prevails in ge- neral, and long alleys appear intersecting each other, lined with statues and refreshed by cascades, yet here and there a winding path aliures you into a wilderness formed of plants abandoned to their native luxuriancy, and watered by streamlets murmuring through their own artless channels. The ornamental buildings are, as usually happens to such, edifices, deficient in correctness and purity of architecture. The temple of Diana is encumbered with too many ornaments. The Ionic temple in the little island is indeed graceful, but rather too narrow for its elevation, a defect increased by the statues placed upon the pediment. One of these ornamental buildings contains a considerable collection of statues, etc. found on the site of Gabii , (for ruins there are none) the territory of which now belongs to this family. The Pincian Gale The TJaininian Gate, or the Gate of the People. Chap. XVIII. THROUGH ITALY. 279 The Casino or palace itself is of great extent, but though erected on the plans and under the inspection of the principal architects of the age, and though built of the finest stone, yet it neither as- tonishes nor pleases. The reason of this failure of effect is evi- dent; the ornaments are so numerous and the parts so subdivided as to distract the eye, and to leave no room for any one predo- minant impression. The basso relievos, and statues scattered with such prodigality over the exterior of this Casino are sufficient if disposed with judgment and effect, to adorn the three largest pa- laces in Europe. The interior consists of several large saloons and apartments, and a gallery; all of which, particularly the latter, are lined and inlaid with the richest marbles, and supported by the noblest pillars, intermingled with bronze and gilding, and adorned with the best specimens of ancient art in sculpture and in painting. Such indeed is the value of this collection, and such the splendor of the apartments in which it is displayed, that no sovereign in Europe can boast of so rich a gallery or of a residence so truly imperial. This villa with its valuable collection and furniture es- caped undamaged during the French invasion, owing to the ap- parent partiality which one of the princes of the family is supposed to have manifested towards the republican system . 1 Its gardens are always open to the public, who, in a Latin in- scription by no means inelegant, are welcomed or rather invited to the free enjoyment of all the beauties of the place, and at the same time intreated to spare the shrubs and flowers, and to respect the more valuable ornaments, the urns, statues, and marbles. The Romans accordingly profit by the invitation, and resort in crowds to the Villa Borghese, particularly on Sundays ; when the walks present a very lively and varied scene, composed of persons of all descriptions and ranks, moving in all directions through the groves and alleys, or reposing in groups in the temples or near the fountains. This liberal mode of indulging the public in free access to palaces and gardens, and thus sharing with them, in some degree, the ad- vantages and pleasures of luxury, a mode so common in Italy, merits much praise, and may be recommended as an example that deserves to be imitated by the proprietors of parks and pleasure grounds particularly in the neighborhood of great towns and cities. The reader will perceive that, out of the many villas that adorn Rome and its vicinity, I have selected a few only, as fully suf- ficient to give him a satisfactory idea of the nature and the deco- rations of these celebrated suburban retirements. Howsoever indeed they may differ in extent and magnificence, their principal features are nearly the same ; the same with regard to artificial 1 This prince has since married a sister of Ronaparte, and made over to him. Uis unparalleled collection; he has, in return, obtained his contempt 280 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIII, ornaments as well as natural graces. Some ancient remains are to be found in all, and several in most, and they are all adorned with the same evergreens, and present upon a greater or less scale the same Italian and ancient scenery. They are in general, it is true, much neglected, but for that reason the more rural. The plants now abandoned to their native forms cover the walks with a luxuriant shade, break the long straight vistas by their fantastic branches, and turn the alleys and quincunxes into devious paths and tangled thickets. They furnish a delightful variety of rides and walks; and as they are interspersed throughout the an- cient city and round its suburbs, they give the traveller fatigued with his researches, or oppressed with the summer heats, a frequent opportunity of reposing himself on the margin of a fountain under the classical shade of the ilex, the pine, and the poplar. Qua pinus ingens, albaque populus Umbram hospitalem consociare amant Ramis, et objiquo laborat Lyrnpha fugax trepidare rivo. r Hor. Carnt. lib. ii. Od. 3. From the villas we pass by a very natural transition to the grand or beautiful objects that lie in the neighborhood of the city, and within the compass of a walk from its gates. To specify all these objects would bean undertaking too extensive for the bounds of the present work ; I shall therefore confine myself to a few only, and point out to the reader such excursions as appear most interesting. The banks of the Tiber cannot fail to attract the frequent steps of the classic traveller ; the Tiber, Deo gratissinius amnis * a river more distinguished in the history of mankind than the Nile or the Thames, the Rhine or the Danube. Hence some travellers measuring its mass of waters by its bulk of fame, and finding its appearance in- ferior to their preconceptions, have represented it as a mere rill, a petty and insignificant streamlet. However, though far inferior in breadth to all the great rivers, yet, as it is generally from a few miles above Rome to the sea about three hundred feet wide upon an average, it cannot with justice be considered as a contemptible rill. Above and a little below the city it runs through groves and gardens, and waters the villas and retreats of the richer Romans ; but beyond Ponte Mollc it rolls through a long tract of plains and hills, fertile and green, but uncultivated and deserted. Yet these • / ’■ Where lhe pale poplar and the pine Dxpel the sun's iutemp rate beam ; In hospitable shades their branches twine, Aud winds with toil, though swift, the trem'lous stream.— Fiancis, a ■■■ among the rolling floods Henowtt'd im earth, esteem’d auiQug the god s,—Dnj4en. THROUGH ITALY. 281 Chap. XVIII. very banks, now all silence and solitude, were once, like those of the Thames, covered with life, activity, and rural beauty, lined with villages, and not unfrequently decorated with palaces. “ Piuribus prope solus ” says Pliny, “ quam ceteri in omnibus terris amnes y ac - coliiur, aspicilurque villis.” 1 Such was the glory of the Tiber, not only in the golden days of Augustus and Trajan, but even in the iron age of Valentinian and Honorius, after Italy had long been the seat of civil war, and more than once the theatre of barbarian fury, and of Gothic devasiation . 2 Below the city, when it has passed the Villa Mallianu , once the seat of Leo and of the Latin muses , 3 it falls again into a wilderness, and through the desert plain Winds its waste stores, and sullen sweeps along. Thomson’s Liberty, p. 1. The traveller may commence his next excursion from the Capitol, and crossing part of the Forum, turn towards the Palatine Mount. On his left he will notice the solid wall of the Rostra; the temple of Romulus raised on the spot where the twin brothers were ex- posed ; and a spring, called by some antiquaries the fountain of Juturna, bursting from a deep cleft in the rock. On his right he will observe the Cloaca Maxima with its solid arches, a stupendous work of Tarquinius Priscus. He will next pass under the arch of Janus, cross a corner of the Forum Boarium, and turning to the left advance along the Palatine on one side, and the Circus Maximus on the other. He then enters the street that leads with a gentle sweep between the Clivus Scauri and Mount Celius on the left, and on the right the Thermae Antonini and Mount Aventine, to the Porta Capena. As he proceeds on the Via Appia he will pass the ancient Basilica of St. Sebastian, and shortly after come to the Circus of CaracaNa. This circus, about two miles from the gates of Rome, presents such remnants of its ancient walls as enable us to form a clear no- tion of the different parts and arrangements of a circus. A consi- derable portion of the exterior, and in many places the vault that * It is alone adorned by, and serves as a prospect to, more villas, than almost all the other rivers in the world — Lib. iii. 5. a “The Gaul,” says Claudian, “may erect new mansions on the banks of the Rhine.” et saevura genlibus amnem Tibridis in morem domibus praevallet amoenls. be Cons. Slilich . Lib. ii. 189, ; And savage Rhine, with villas fair adorn'd, Be taught to rival Tiber’s classic stream. 3 Strada lays at this villa the scene of the beautiful allegory in which he desig- nates the character of the different Latin poets by their occupation in the machi- nery of an artificial mountain. An allegory introduced by Addison into the Guardian. 282 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIII. supported the seats, remain. The foundation of the two obelisks that terminated the spina (a sort of separation that ran lengthways through the circus) and formed the goals, still exists. Near the principal goal on one side, behind the benches, stands a sort of tower where the judges sat. One of the extremities supported a gallery which contained a band of musicians, and is flanked by two towers, whence the signal for starting was given. Its length is one thousand six hundred and two feet, its breadth two hundred and sixty : the length of the spina is nine hundred and twenty-two. The distance from the career or end whence they started to the first meta or goal was five hundred and fifty feet. There were seven ranges of seats, which contained about twenty-seven thousand spectators. As jostling and every exertion of skill, strength, or cunning w r ere allowed, the chariots were occasionally overturned, and as the drivers had the reins tied round their bodies, several melancholy accidents took place. To remove the bodies of charioteers bruised or killed in such exertions, a large gate was open in the side of the circus near the first meta, where such accidents were likeliest to take place on account of the narrowness of the space ; and this pre- caution was necessary, as the ancients deemed it a most portentous omen to go through a gate defiled by the passage of a dead body. On the end opposite the career was a triumphal arch, or grand gate, through which the victorious charioteer drove amidst the shouts and acclamations of the spectators. There were originally four sets of drivers, named from the colors which they wor e,Albati (White), Bussati (Red), Prasini (Green), and Veneti (Blue). To these four Domitian added two more, Aurei (Yellow), and Purpurei (Purple ). 1 Each color drove five rounds with fresh horses. There are stables, therefore, close to the circus ; and in the centre of these stables a circular fabric of at least seventy-two feet diameter, with an open space around enclosed by a high wall. This building was probably a riding school, and is supposed to have been crowned with a temple. Indeed, such is the solidity of the walls and vault that they seem calculated to support a higher edifice than the mere roof ; and such, at the same time, was the magnificence of the Romans, that they seldom left a public edifice without a becoming termination ; be- sides, some very beautiful blocks of marble, forming part of a Co- rinthian cornice with other fragments found on the spot, authorize this conjecture, and give it a great degree of probability. A little beyond the circus of Caracalla, and in full view from it, rises the mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, a beautiful circular edifice, built by Crassus, in honor of that Roman matron his wife, and daughter to Quintus Metellus Creticus. It is of considerable height and great thickness : in the centre is a hollow space reaching from the pavement to the top of the building. In this concavity was Suet. Domit. 7. Chap. XVIII. THROUGH ITALY. 283 deposited the body in a marble sarcophagus, which in the time of Paul III. was removed to the court of the Farnesian palace. The solidity and simplicity of this monument are worthy of the repub- lican era in which it was erected, and have enabled it to resist the incidents and survive the lapse of two thousand years. A celebrated antiquary attributes to the architectural formation of this edifice, the singular effect of re-echoing clearly and dis- tinctly such words as were uttered within a certain distance of its circumference ; so that at the funeral of Metella the cries and la- mentations of the attendants were repeated so often, and in such soft and plaintive accents, that the spirits of the dead, and even the infernal divinities themselves, seemed to partake the general sorrow, and to murmur back the sighs and groans of the mourn- ers. As this fiction is poetical, and does some credit to the au- thor, it is but fair to present it to the reader in his own words. “ Quodque in eo maxime mirandum est, artificio tarn singulari composita est ea moles, ut Echo loquentium voces seplies et octies distincte et articulate referat; ut in exequiis et funere quod Crassus uxori solemniter celebrabat, ejulatus plorantium multiplicaretur in immensum, non secus ac si Dii Manes et omnes inferorum animge fa turn Caeciliae illius commiserati ex imo "terrae continuis plangerent ploratibus, suumque dolorem testarentur communem, quern la- chrymis viventium conjunctum esse vellent.” 1 — Contiguous to this mausoleum rise the remains of ramparts, houses, and churches erected in the middle .ages, and presenting in their actual state a melancholy scene of utter desolation. 2 The traveller on his return may traverse the circus ofCaracalla, now a luxuriant meadow, pass under its time-worn gate, and cross- ing the road, descend into a pleasant dell, where he will find a grotto and a fountain with a few trees scattered around them. The grotto is covered with a solid arch and lined with walls. The niches on both sides were probably occupied in ancient times by the divinities of the place; over the fountain a statue rather disfi- gured by time appears in a reclining posture. Various evergreen shrubs /hang over the fountain, play around the statue, and wind and flourish through the grotto and over its entrance. The statue 1 The most wonderful thing is, that the building is constructed with such singular artifice, that Echo gives back seven or eight times, distinctly and articulately, the voices of those who speak; so^ that at the funeral solemnities which Crassus cele- brated in honor of his wife, the wailings of the mourners were infinitely mul- tiplied, just as if the infernal gods, and all the souls that inhabit the shades below, had, in commiseration of the fate of the deceased Caecilia, bewailed, her from beneath the earth with continued lamentations, and testified their common grief, which they were desirous to combine with the tears of the living. — Boissard. 2 At the lawless period when the Roman nobles defied the feeble authority of the Popes, and the ivU^dowy privileges of the people, and passed their days in per- petual warfare with each other, the family of the Gaietani turned this sepulchre into a fortress, and erected the battlements that still disfigure its summit. m CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIII. represents the Nymph Egeria; and the grotto, the fountain, and the grove that once shaded it, were consecrated by Numa to the same nymph and to the muses. “ Lucus erat, ” says Titus Livius, “quern medium ex opaco specu fons perenni rigabat aqu&, quo quia se persaepe Numa sine arbitris, velut ad congressum deae, in- ferebat, Camoenis eum lucum sacravit ; quod earum ibi consilia cum conjuge sua Egeria essent .” 1 A streamlet, pure, limpid, and whole- some, flows from the fountain and waters the little valley. Juvenal complains of the marble ornaments and artificial decorations of this fountain, and wishes that it had been abandoned to its ancient simplicity, to its grassy margin and to its native rock . 2 His wishes are now nearly accomplished; the vault indeed remains, but the marble lining, the pillars, the statues have disappeared and pro- bably lie buried under the mud that covers the pavement of the grotto. The mendicant crowd that frequented the grove in that poet’s day are also vanished, and the solitude of the place is as deep and undisturbed as when it was the nightly resort of the Ro- man legislator. Conjuge qui felix nympha ducibusque Camaenis Sacrifices docuit ritus ; gentemque feroci Assuetam bello, pacis traduxit ad artes. 3 Ovid. Met. xv. 483. On the brow of the hill that borders the Egerian valley on the south stands the little church of St. Urban, formerly a temple of Bacchus, or, as it is with more appearance of truth denominated by others, the temple of the Muses, looking down upon the valley * There was a grove, through the midst of which flowed a perennial fountain, issuing from a shady grotto; this grove, because he often resorted thither without witnesses, as to a conference with a goddess, Numa consecrated to the muses, that they might there hold counsel with his wife Egeria. — 1 . 21. * In vallem Egeriee desecndlmus et speluncas Dissimiles veris. Quanto praeslantius esset Nuraen aquae, vii idi si margine clauderet undas Derba, nec ingenuum violarent marmora tophura ? Juv. Lib. i. Sat. iii. 17, Down to Egeria's vale we took our way. Where spoil'd by art ber formal grottoes lay, H;)vv much more honor d had the goddess been, Were the clear fountain edgd with living green; Through uo vain marble oid the waters run. But only murmur o'er a bed of stone.— Hodgson's Translation. The metamorphosis of Egeria into a fountain, so prettily related by Ovid, took place in the vale of Aricia. Nam conjux urbe rellcta Vallls Arlcinae deosls latet abdita sylvis.— Ovid. Met. xv, 487, His wire the town forsook. And in the woods that clothe Aricia’s Yale Lies hid. 3 Sage Numa, happy in his mystic bride, The muse his fav rlte, and the muse his guide, Taught sacred riles, a savage race reclaim'd Aud from war's bloody trade to gentle peace reclaim'd. Chap. XVIII. THROUGH ITALY, 285 and the groves sacred to these goddesses. As the portico was taken in to enlarge the cella, and adapt it better for the purposes of a church, the four marble pillars of fluted Corinthian are now in- cased in the wall. A little further on is a brick temple, small indeed, but well- proportioned and adorned with pilasters and a regular cornice. Antiquarians differ with regard to its appellation. Some suppose it to be sacred to the God Rediculus, who prompted Annibal, when encamped there, to return and withdraw from the city. But as Annibal was encamped, not on this but on the opposite side of the city, beyond the Anio and three miles from the Porta Collina, and as Livius makes no mention of any such temple, this opinion seems to be ill-grounded. Others suppose it to be the temple erected to Fortuna Muliebris on the retreat of Coriolanus. Such a temple was indeed erected and perhaps on this spot, though Coriolanus was not encamped here, but three or four miles further from the city at the Fossae Cluilise.* At all events, a temple erected by public authority, even in that age of simplicity, would probably have been built not of brick, but of stone, so that after all it may possibly have been one of the many sepulchres which bordered the Via La- tina, and almost covered the space between it and the Via Appia . 1 The traveller then turns again towards the Via Appia, re-crosses the river A\mo (Lubricus Almo 2 ) and re-enters by the Porta Capena. Upon another day the traveller may go out by the Porta Nomen- tana (now Pia) and proceeding about a mile, visit the church of St. Agnes remarkable for its antiquity, (having been erected by Constantine) for the double row of marble pillars one above the other that support its roof, and for the porphyry and alabaster columns which adorn its aliar and its tabernacle. Its form is the same as that of other churches of the same era. Near this edifice stands the church of St. Constantia (the daughter of Constantine) formerly her mausoleum, and supposed to have been at a still earlier period, a temple of Bacchus. It is of a circular form, supported by a row of coupled columns and crowned with a dome. Behind the pillars runs a gallery, the vaulted roof of which is incrusted with ancient mosaics, representing little genii playing with clusters of grapes amidst the curling tendrils of the vine. I have spoken elsewhere of the saint, a vast porphyry vase orna- * Experlar quid coDcedatur in illos Quorum Flamlnia tegilur ciuis atque Latina.— Juv. Sat. i. 170. I'll point my satire at the noxious clay Iieneatb the Latin and Fiamioian way .-Hodgson's Translation. Cui per mediam nolis occurrere noctcm Clivos® veheris dum per mooumcnta Latinae.— Sat. v. 51. Whom should st thou meet where sleep the silent dead, On the lone hllUTwith midnight clouds o'erspread, Cold through thy veins would creep a quiv’iing dread.— Ibid. 9 The swiftly-gliding Almo. 286 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XVIII. merited with various figures, and, observed that as the body had been deposited many years ago under the altar, the sarcophagus was transported to the museum of the Vatican. About two miles farther the traveller will find the Ponte Lamen- tana , anciently Pons Nomentanus, a bridge over the Anio; and a little beyond it, he may ascend the Mons Sacer, twice dignified by the retreat, and by the temperate but determined resistance, of an oppressed and generous people. This hiil although of no great elevation is sleep and in the form of a rampart 1 towards the river, and it runs along decreasing as it advances towards the Ponte Salaro. It is now a lonely eminence, covered with luxuriant grass, but destitute of shade, ornament, or memorial. Yet few places seem better entitled to distinction, as few incidents are re- corded in history more honorable to the Roman people than the transactions which took place on the Mons Sacer , where they dis- played in such a conspicuous manner the three grand virtues that constitute the Roman character — firmness, moderation, and magna- nimity. About two miles northward of the Pons Nomentanus is the Pons Salarius (Ponte Salaro) remarkable for the well known combat between Manlius Torquatus and the gigantic Gaul; as also for the neighboring encampment of Annibal, when he approached the city, and by threatening Rome itself hoped to terrify the Consuls and induce them to raise the siege of Capua. The traveller may then return by the Via Salaria and re-enter the city by the gate of the same name. Besides these walks, as it is not my intention to specify all, it will be sufficient to observe that every gate possesses its attractions, presenting on the roads and paths which it opens to the steps of the traveller, its views of rural beauty or its remains of ancient grandeur ; its churches sanctified by the memory of the Good, its fields consecrated by the struggles of the Brave, and its sepulchres ennobled by the ashes of the Great. Wheresoever he directs his observation he finds himself surrounded by the wonders of modern art, and by the monuments of ancient splendor; so that his eye is gratified by noble exhibitions, and his mind elevated by grand and awful recollections. A certain inexpressible solemnity peculiar to the place reigns all around : the genius of Rome and the spirits of the illustrious dead still seem to hover over the ruins, to guard the walls, and superintend the destinies of the “ Eternal City.” « This form it probably owes to the occasion : — Vallo, fossaque communitis cas- tris. — “ Having fortified the camp with a rampart and a ditch.” — Liv. lib. ii. 32. Chap. XIX. THROUGH ITALY. 287 CHAPTER XIX. 4 % ' , i , • . , 4 # % l ' Tibar— Horace’s Villa. After having passed five delightful weeks in a first and rapid survey of the ancient ruins and of the modern magnificence of Rome, we turned our attention to the neighboring country, and hastened to visit some of the classical retreats of the Sabine and Alban mountains. Accordingly on Thursday the thirteenth of May, we made an excursion to Tivoli , the ancient Tibur, and proceeding along the Via Tiburtina, again visited the ancient patriarchal Basi- lica of St. Laurence, about one mile from the gate. This is not the only church that bears the title of St. Laurence, as there are three others at least in Rome that enjoy it also ; but it is the most ancient, and at the same time it has the honor of possessing the martyr’s remains. As I approached his shrine with reverence I recollected the beautiful lines of Vida. Adveniet lustris mundo labentibus setas Quum domus iEneae praestans Romana propago Insonti juveni extrema sequuto Centum aras, centum magnis penetralia templis Eriget, et tumulo divinum imponet honorem. 1 About two miles further on we passed the Ponte Mamolo over the Anio or Teverone. This bridge is said to have been built by Mam- mea, mother of Alexander Severus. The Campagnci , extending thence to the mountains of Sabina, is flat but fertile and covered either with rich grass or promising corn. Woods surrounding distant villas or farms appeared here and there covering the summits of little hills. About eight miles from the above-mentioned bridge we crossed the little green streamlet, called from its sulphureous exhalations the Solfatara. The lake or pool from which it rises is about a short mile from the road, somewhat less than a mile in circumfe- rence, and near two hundred feet deep. Its waters are of an iron grey, and its surface is frequently spotted with a bituminous matter, which mixing with weeds and vegetable substances gradually coa- gulates, and forms what may be called a floating island. There * As circling years revolve, the day shall come. When Troy's great progeny, imperial Rome, To the blest youth, who, fill'd with holy pride, Tyrants, and (lames, and bitter death defied. Shall build full many an altar, many a shrine, And grace bis sepulchre with rites divine. 288 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIX. were ten Or twelve of these little green masses when we visited the lake, and being carried by the wind to the side, they remained united and motionless till we separated and set some of them afloat. As they continually increase in number, so they gradually diminish the surface of the lake, and will probably in time cover it over entirely. It was formerly much larger than it is at present, and used occasionally to overflow the neighboring plains ; to prevent this inconvenience the little canal which intersects the road was cut by the orders of the Cardinal d'Esie , to give an outlet to the increasing waters and carry them to the Anio. This lake was in high repute among the ancients, and much frequented on account of the oracle of Faunus, whose temple surrounded by a sacred grove stood on its bank. Hence Virgil, who consecrates the usages established in his time by referring them to remote antiquity, or by ascribing their origin to the interference of the gods, repre- sents Latinus as consulting the oracle of Faunus on this spot, and as receiving during the night a mysterious answer. The sulphu- reous exhalations of the lake, the celebrity of the temple, and the singular method of consulting the oracle, are all finely described in these lines. At rex sollicitus monstris, oracula Faun! Fatidici genitoris adit, lucosquc sub alta Consulit Albunea, nemoruin quae maxima sacro Fonte sonat, saevumque exhalat opaea mephiiim. Ilinc Italae gentes, omnisque OEnotria tellus. In dubiis responsa petunt. Hue dona sacerdos Quum tulit, et caesarum ovium sub node silenti Pellibus incubuit stratis, somnosque petivit ; Mulla modis simulacra videt volilantia miris, Et varias audit voces, fruiturquc Deorum Colloquio, atque imis Acheronta adfatur Avernis.i— JEn. vii. 81. At present the oracle is forgotten; the sacred grove whence the voices issued has been long rooted up; and the very situation of the temple itself is a matter of mere conjecture. Bituminous exha- lations indeed still impregnate the air to a considerable distance, and the lake exists, though its extent is much diminished. The sur- face of the surrounding fields is an incrustation gradually formed over the water, and the hollow sound which it yields to the tread of horses evidently betrays the existence of an abyss beneath. 1 I.alinus, frighted with this dire portent. For counsel to his father Faunus went. And sought the shades renown d for prophecy, 1 » Which near Albunea’s sulph rous fountain lie, To those the Latian and the Sabine land Fly when distress'd, and thence relief demand. The priest on shins of orfrings takes his ease And nightly visions in bis slumbers sees; A swarm of thin aerial shapes appears, And flutt'ring round his temples, deafs bis cars : These be consults, the future fates to know. From pow’rs above, and from the flends below .— Dry den. Chap. XIX. THROUGH ITALY. 289 The Ponte Lugano , a bridge over the Anio, presents itself about a mile and a half farther on. This bridge is said to have taken its name from the Lucanians, who were here defeated by the Romans ; it is remarkable for a tomb of the Plautian family, a round tower built of large blocks of Tiburtine stone, resembling the sepulchre of Cecilia Metella, both in its original form and its subsequent appro- priation. It was employed as a military station during the middle ages, and surmounted by a battlement; a circumstance barbarous in point of taste, yet not to be regretted in the present instance, as it preserved the remains of these two monuments. About two miles farther a road turns off to the villa of Adrian. This imperial residence stood on a hill, with the extensive vale of Latium on one side, and a little deep-glade called Tempo on the other. It commanded a delightful view of the Sabine mountains with Tibur here, and there a prospect of the Alban hills with their towers and forests; behind, the vale lost itself in distant mountains; in front, appeared Rome itself extended over its seven hills, and reflecting from all its palaces the beams of an evening sun. The sides of the hill are every where rather steep, and the rock itself aided a little by art forms an excellent barrier, enclosing a long narrow space of at least seven miles in circumference. As we are assured by an an- cient author that Adrian, after having travelled over the whole em- pire, determined to collect around him on this spot the most remark- able edifices that lay dispersed over the Roman world, the reader will no longer wonder at the number of buildings constituting this villa, nor feel any unusual astonishment in perusing a catalogue em- bracing the following objects : the imperial palace ; quarters for the legionary soldiers, cavalry and infantry, and others for the invalids; three theatres; a naumachia; a hippodrome; temples of Apollo and the Muses, of Diana, of Venus, ofSerapis ; halls and habitations for the different sects of philosophers ; a library ; a Paecile, resembling that at Athens ; and porticos almost without number, together with va- rious edifices, the’names and objects of which are now undiscover- able. Statues, columns, and marbles of the rarest kinds, have been, and are continually discovered when excavations are made amidst the ruins of these amazing fabrics 5 while briars and brambles fill the halls and stuccoed apartments, and a mixed confusion of or- chards and gardens, forest and fruit trees, vineyards and corn waving over them, present a strange and melancholy contrast. Reluming to the road, we began and continued for some time to ascend the high hill on which Tivoli stands, passing through groves of olives till we reached the summit; when after having exa- mined the noble site of the house of the Jesuits, and the Villa de Santa Croce , we entered Tivoli . This town, the Tibur of the an- cients, boasts of high antiquity, and what is much better, still pos- sesses a considerable population, amounting, it is said, to ten thou- sand inhabitants. The town itself is not handsome, though it contains 1. Ip 290 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIX. some very fine houses and stands in a delightful situation, sheltered on one side by Monie Catili, and a semicircular range of Sabine moun- tains, and commanding on the other an extensive view over the Campacfna bounded by the sea, Rome, Mount Soracte, and the py- ramidal hills of Monlicelli and Manic Rolando , the ancient Eretum. But the pride and ornament*of Tivoli are still, as anciently, the fall and the windings of the Anio, now Teverone. This river having meandered from its source through the vales of Sabina, glides gently through Tivoli till coming to the brink of a rock it precipitates itself in one mass down the steep, and then boiling for an instant in its narrow channel rushes headlong through a chasm in the rock into the caverns below. The first fall may be seen from the windows of the inn or from the temple; but it appears to the greatest advantage from the bridge thrown over the narrow channel a little below it. From this bridge also you may look down into the shattered rock, and observe far beneath the writhings and agitation of the stream struggling through its rocky prison. To view the second fall, or descent into the ca- vern, we went down through a garden by a winding path into the narrow dell, through which the river flows after the cascade, and placing ourselves in front of the cavern beheld the Anio in two immense sheets tumbling through two different apertures, shaking the mountain in its fall, and filling all the cavities around with spray and uproar. Though the rock rises to the height of two hundred feet in a narrow semicircular form, clothed on one side with shrubs and foliage, yet a sufficient light breaks upon the cavern to shew its pendent rocks, agitated waters, and craggy borders. Such is the residence of the Naiad : Domus Albunecc resonanth ; pendentia pumice tecta . 1 About a hundred paces from the grotto, a natural bridge, form- ed by the water working through the rock, enables the spectator to pass the river, and to take another view of the cascade, less dis- tinct with regard to the cavern, but more enlarged, as it includes a greater portion of the superincumbent rock in front, with the shagged banks on both sides. The rock immediately above and on the left is perpendicular and crowned with houses, while from an aperture in its side at a considerable height gushes a rill, too small to add either by its sound or size to the magnificence of the sce- nery. The bank on the opposite side is steep and shaggy, but leaves room for little gardens and vineyards. On its summit stands the celebrated temple commonly called of the Sybil, though by many antiquarians supposed to belong to Yesta. This beautiful pile is so well known that it is almost unnecessary to inform the reader that Pure Albuuea's far resoundiug source. — Francis, TUe vaulted roofs of ponj ston c.-Dryden, Chap. XIX. THROUGH ITALY. 291 it is circular (as all the temples of Vesta) of the Corinthian order, built in the reign of Augustus, and admired not for its size, but for its proportions and situation. It stands in the court of the inn, exposed to the weather without any roof or covering ; but its own solidity seems to be a sufficient protection. Of its eighteen pillars ten only remain with their entablature. An English nobleman, well known in Italy for his numberless purchases, is reported to have offered a considerable sum for this ruin, with an intention of trans- porting it to England, and re-erecting it in his park. The propo- sal, it is said, was accepted by the innkeeper, on whose property it stands ; but fortunately, before the work of devastation was begun, a prohibition was issued by government, grounded upon a decla- ration that ruins are public property, and of course not to be de- faced or removed without express permission, which as it tended to strip the country of the monuments of its ancient glory, and consequently of its most valuable ornaments, the government could not and would not give. This attempt to transplant the temple of Vesta from Italy to England may perhaps do honour to the late Lord Bristol’s patriotism or to his magnificence ; but it cannot be considered as an indication of either taste or judgment. The temple of Tivoli derives, it is true, much intrinsic merit from its size and proportions, but it is not architectural merit alone which gives it its principal interest. Placed on the verge of a rocky bank, it is suspended over the prceceps Anio, 1 and the echoing abode of the Naiads ; it has beheld Augustus and Maecenas, Virgil and Ho- race, repose under itsxolumns ; it has survived the empire and even the language of its founders; and after eighteen hundred years of storms and tempests, of revolutions and barbarism, it still exhibits its fair proportioned form to the eye of the traveller, and claims at once his applause and his veneration. Near the temple of Vesta, stand the remains of another temple supposed to be that of the Sybil, consisting of four pillars, and now forming a part of the wall of the parish church of St. George. Be- sides these, scarce any other vestige remains of ancient Tibur though considering its antiquity, its population, and its salubrity, it must have possessed a considerable share of magnificence. But if its artificial ornaments have perished, and if its temples and its villas have long since crumbled into dust, the unalterable graces which nature has conferred upon it still remain, and its orchards, its gardens, and its cool recesses bloom and flourish in unfading beauty. If Horace, who so often and so fondly celebrates the charms of Tibur, were to revive, he would still find the grove , the irriguous garden , the ever-varying rill f the genial soil; in short, all the well-known features of his beloved retreat. To enjoy this de- licious scenery to advantage, the traveller must cross the bridge * Rapid Anio, headlong in his course,— Francis* 292 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIX. and follow the road which runs at the foot of the classic Monte Catillo , and winds along the banks of the Anio, rolling after its fall through the valley in a deep dell. As he advances, he will have on his left the steep banks covered with trees, shrubs, and gar- dens; and on his right, the bold but varying swells of the hills shaded with groves of olives. These sunny declivities were an- ciently interspersed with splendid villas, the favorite abodes of the most luxurious and the most refined Romans. They are now re- placed by two solitary convents, lifting each its white tower above the dark green mass of olives. Their site, often conjectural or traditionary, is sometimes marked by some scanty vestiges of ruin, and now and then by the more probable resemblance of a name. Thus several subterraneous apartments and galleries near San An- tonio are supposed to be the remains of the seat of Vopiscus, cele- brated by Statius. That of Propertius, Candida qua geminas ostendunt culmina turres Et cadit in palulos lympha Aniena lacus , 1 is supposed to have stood on the site of the other convent St. Angelo ; while the villa of Quintilius Varus, or rather its foundations still retain the kindred appellation of Quintiliolo. But the house of Vo- piscus, as must appear evident to any reader who thinks proper to consult the poet alluded to, must have been in the dell, and have actually hung over the river, as it occupied both the banks and saw its surrounding shades reflected from the surface of the water . 2 The fond attachment of Horace to Tibur, united to the testimony of Suetonius, has induced many antiquaries to imagine, that at some period or other of his life he possessed a little villa in its neighborhood, and tradition accordingly ennobles a few scattered fragments of walls and arches with the interesting appellation of Horace’s villa. The site is indeed worthy the poet, where, de- fended by a semicircular range of wooded mountains from every cold blustering wind, he might look down on the playful windings of the Anio below, discover numerous rills gleaming through the * Where two white turrets rear their lofty heads, And Anio in a lake-like surface spreads. a — — Nemora alia citatis Incubuere vatiis, fallax responsat imago Frondibus, et lougaseadeni fugil undo per umbras Littus utrumque domi : nec le mitissimus amnis Dlvidit, altcrnas servant praeloria ripas, Non externa sibi, (luviumve obstare queruntur.-S/af/ws Syl. i, 3. O'er the swift tide the nodding groves impend, And ev ry leaf is seen reflected there, A* through conlinuous shade the waters glide . . , , To ihee each shore belongs ; nor does the stream | f A lovely stream ) divide thee from thyself ; On either bank tby well-wrought mansions stand, And each with each domestic union owns, Hoc pi tUv Interposing \\m complains. CtlAP. XIX. THROUGH ITALY. 203 thickets as they glided down the opposite bank, enjoy a full view of the splendid mansion of his friend Maecenas rising directly before him, and catch a distant perspective of Aurea Roma (Golden Home), of the golden towers of the Capitol soaring majestic on its distant mount. But whatever his wishes might be, it is not probable that his moderate income permitted him to enjoy such a luxurious resi- dence in a place so much frequented, and consequently so very expensive ; and indeed the very manner in which those wishes are expressed seems to imply but slight hopes of ever being able to realize them. “ Tibur , etc. sit — utinam — Unde si — Parcae prohibent iniquce .” 1 If Horace actually possessed a villa there, the wish was unnecessary, as the event lay in his own power. The authority of Suetonius seems indeed positive, but it is possible that the same place may be alluded to under the double appellation of his Sabine orTiburtine seat. 2 The poet, it is true, often represents himself as meditating his compositions while he wandered along the plains and through the groves of Tibur : Circa nemus, uvidique Tiburis ripas operosa parvus Carmina fingo.5 But as he was probably a frequent companion of Maecenas in his excursions to his villa at Tibur , he may in those lines allude to his solitary rambles and poetical reveries. Catullus, a Roman knight, had fortune sufficient to indulge himself in such an expensive resi- dence, and accordingly speaks with much complacency of his Ti- burtine retreat, which, on account of its proximity to the town, he calls suburbana. Munatius Plancus also possessed a villa at Tibur, apparently of great beauty. To this the poet alludes in that ode 4 where, in enlarging on the charms of the place, he recommends in- directly and with much delicacy to his friend, who in a moment of despondency had resolved upon a voluntary exile, his delightful O that Tibur ..... But should the partial fates refuse.— F rancis. 2 That villas in the vicinity of Tibur sometimes took their name from the town, and sometimes from the territory, is evident from Catullus : O Funde nostcr, seu Sabine, seu Tiburs, Nam te esse Tiburtem autumant quibus non cst Cordi Cdtullum laedere : at quibus cordi est Quovls Sabinmn plgnore esse cpntendunt. "0 my Farm, whether Sabine, or Tiburtine (for those who do not wish to annoy Catullus call you Sabine ; but those who do wish it, insist at all hazards that you are Tiburtine.) So I, weak bard, round Tibur's lucid spring. Of humbler strain laborious verses siug.— Francif, L Seu te fulgentla signis Castfa tenent, seu densa tenebit Tiburis umbra tul. Carm, Lib i. Od. 7. Whether the camp with banners bright display’d, Or Tibur hold thes iu its thick-wrought shade,— FrawcrV 294 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIX. seat at Tibur as a retirement far preferable to Rhodes and Mitylene, places in those times much frequented by disaffected or banished Romans. But to abandon these aerial charms, spread indeed like flitting shades over every grove and every meadow, but perceptible only to the eye of imagination, let us turn to the visible beauties that line our walk and appear in new forms at every turning. As the traveller, following the bend of the hill, comes to the side of the road opposite to the town, he catches first a side glimpse, and shortly after a full view of the Cciscatelli , or lesser cascades, infe- rior in mass and grandeur, but equal in beauty to the great fall in the town. They are formed by a branch of the Anio turned off from the main body of the river, before it reaches the precipice, for the uses of the inhabitants, and after it has crossed the town bursting from a wood on the summit of the hill, and then tumbling from its brow in one great and several lesser streams, first down one and then another declivity, through thickets and brambles, spangled with dew drops or lighted up with a rainbow. The eleva- tion and mass of these cascades ; the colors and broken masses of the rocks down which they tumble; the shrubs, plants, and brambles that hang over the channel and sometimes bathe themselves in the current ; the river below fretting through a narrow pass under a natural arch ; the olives that shade that arch, and the vines that wave around it ; the bold bendings and easy sweeps of the sur- rounding mountains ; and the towers of the town rising on the top of the hill beyond the cascade, with the ruins of Maecena’s villa on its shelving side, form one of the most delicious pictures for soft- ness and beauty, wildness and animation, that can be imagined. The traveller is usually conducted by his guide to a sort of natural stage, formed by the rock projecting boldy over the river, just op- posite the cascade. Here he may seat himself on the grass under the shade of a tufted olive-tree, enjoy at leisure the delightful sight, nor wonder that Horace, when surrounded by such scenery, should feel the full influence of inspiration. Qua? Tibur aquae fertile praefluunt Et spissae nemorum coma? Fingent iEolio carmine nobiIem.*-—iv. Od. 3. However, a side view is considered as the best, because it augments the apparent mass of waters, and this we enjoyed as we continued our walk along the road ; while before us the opening valley exhi- bited a distant perspective over the Campagna to the seven hills But him, the streams which warbling flow llicli Tibur’s fertile vales along, And shady groves, his haunts, shall know The master of th' ASolian song .— Francis Chap. XIX. THROUGH ITALY. 295 and the towers of Rome, and the Mediterranean closing or rather bordering the picture with a gleam of purple. We passed Quintiliolo , and the pond once probably the recep- tacle of those favorite fish which, as Cicero sarcastically observes, seem to have occupied so much of the time and thoughts of their indolent proprietors. At the foot of the hill in a meadow called Carhpo Limpido , near the road, springs a fountain which sometra-* vellers have thought proper to dignify with the appellation of Ban- Anna : but though its source be abundant, its waters pure, and its appearance picturesque, yet it is far remote from the classical foun- tain of that denomination. After having passed the bridge, and ascended part of the declivity towards the town, we entered a field, in order to visit a circular edifice of brick with a vaulted roof, resembling, though of a smaller size, the temple of Minerva Medica , 1 supposed by some to be the Fanum Tussis , 2 by others a sepulchre ; the situation seems more appropriate to the latter, the form better calculated for the former. It has several niches for statues, is of excellent proportions, and though stripped long since of all its ornaments, is yet in good preservation . 3 Maecenas’s villa stands at the extremity of the town on the brow of the hill, and hangs over several streamlets which fall down the steep. It commands a noble view of the Anio and its vale beneath, the hills of Albano and Monticelli, the Campagna , and Rome itself rising on the borders of the horizon. It still presents several traces of its former magnificence, such as a triple row of arches, seventeen be- low and fourteen above, forming a suite of apartments spacious enough for all the purposes of private luxury. The active cardinal Ruffo during the reign of the late pontiff, turned it into a foundery, after having stripped the walls and the roof of the ivy, and effaced the venerable marks of ruin which the hand of time had shed over them. A branch of the river pours through the arched gallery and vaulted cellars, and shaking the edifice as it passes along, rushes in several sheets down the declivity. The ancient magnificence of this villa is probably equalled by that of the modern Villa Estense, erected by a cardinal of that name in the sixteenth century, in a lofty situa- tion, surrounded with terraces, water-falls, groves of cedars, cy- presses, and orange trees, and adorned with statues, vases, and marbles. The gardens are laid out in the old style, and not con- formable to our ideas of rural beauty, and the whole is in a most lamentable state of decay. Very different was its condition when described by Strada, who lays the scene of two of his Prolusions in its gardens. 1 The Healing Minerva. 3 The Temple of the Goddess of Coughing. 3 So*ie antiquaries are of opinion, that it was a bath; but its situation on a de- clivity ai ( ] at a distance from the town, seems unfavorable to such a destination. 29G CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIX. There are in the town or immediate neighborhood of Tivoli , other villas of great extent and some magnificence, enjoying in pro- portion similar advantages of situation and of prospect, and perhaps no spot in the universe affords more of either ; but unfortunately the modern Romans, like the Italians and the continental nations in general, are not partial to country residence. They may enjoy the /lescription, or commend the representation of rural scenes, and occupations in books and pictures, but they feel not the beauties of nature, and cannot relish the calm, the solitary charms of a country life. Hence the delicious retreats of Tibur, and the rival beauties of the Alban Mount, scenes that delighted the philosopher and en- chanted the poet in ancient days, are now beheld with indifference, and perhaps honored once a year, during the Villeggiatura , 1 * with a short and impatient visit. Englishmen who. are generally educated in the country, and are attached by all the ties of custom and of inclination to rural scenery, may appreciate the* beauties of Tibur, and do justice to the description of the poet. While they behold the hills, the woods, the streams, Etpraeceps Anio, etTiburni lucus, etuda Mobilibus pomaria rivis, 3 — Lib. i. Od. 7. which so often inspired the Roman Lyrist ; they may conceive, and even share his enthusiasm; and did not a better sentiment suppress the wish, they might exclaim with him, Tibur Argeo positum cotono. Sit me® sedes utinam senect® Sit modus lasso maris et viarum Militi®que. 3 Hor. Carm. Lib. ii. Od. G. May 15th. We rose about three in the morning, and although the weather appeared rather lowering, we mounted at four, and forming a party of nine, proceeded on our road towards the Sa- bine xnountains, in order to visit Horace’s villa. The Via Valeria (the Valerian Way), is without doubt, the short- est road to Vico Varo, but we took one which, though very bad and somewhat longer, gave us an opportunity of seeing more of the country. As we were winding along the hills, we saw the 1 The season of country diversions. And rapid Anio, headlong in his course, Or Tibur, fenc'd by groves from solar beams. And fruitful orchards bath d by ductile streams.— Francis, 3 May Tibur to my latest hours Alford a kind and calm retreat ; Tibur, beneath whose lorty tow'rs The Grecians fix d their blissful seat ; There may my labors end, my wand’rings cease, There all my toils of warfare rest in peace.— Francis, Citap. XIX. THROUGH ITALY. 297 river meandering beneath us through a beautiful dell, and forming a variety of pleasing scenes, especially near a spot where the ruins of two aqueducts throw their arches over the road, and form a sort of frame for the towers of Tivoli and its neighboring moun- tains. An artist who was in company with us took a sketch on the spot, and has since made a very fine draw ing of it. The aqueducts frequently re-appeared during the course of the day, sometimes rising like masses of brown rock on the hills, and sometimes sweep- ing in a succession of lofty arches over the plains. The face of the country w r as here wooded and there naked, but always bold, and in general very fertile. Its most striking features were, a ruined castle on the bank of the river, distant towns lodged in the high recesses of the mountains, particularly 5. Polo far on the left, and Casiel Maclama just opposite. The latter is said to be extremely healthy on account of its airy situation ; it affords a fine view of the valley, of the river, and of the mountains, with their various hamlets. From the side of the hill we looked down upon Vico Varo , whose churches and walls of white stone appeared to much advantage. This town nearly retains its ancient name, and is the Variae mentioned by Horace, as the principal municipality w here, it seems, representatives from the circumjacent villages used to meet. Quinque bonos solitum Variam demittere patres. Lib- i. Epist. U. It stands on a hill close to the Anio, has considerable remains of its wall, composed of vast stones, like those employed in the Coliseum, and though not large, must have been opulent, if we may judge from such a magnificent rampart. From Vico Varo we proceeded along the river about two miles, to a bridge remarkable for the remains of a lofty arch, formed to conduct the Claudian aqueduct over the Anio. Only a small part of the arch is standing, while the channel opened through the rock on the opposite side, near a mill, is still perfect. The banks here are extremely bold, particularly on the northern side of the river, where they rise to a great elevation, and seem to hang over the mill and the stream. The rock is hollowed out by nature into a variety of grottos, said to have been for some time the retreat of St. Benedict, the patriarch of the western monks. On the top of the rock stands the Franciscan convent of S. Cosimato , a neat and convenient building, with a very clean church. Hither we repaired in order to take shelter from a very heavy shower, and were re- ceived by the good fathers with cordiality, and treated in a very hospitable and polite manner. About one o’clock we sallied forth, and returning back some little way, took a path leading directly 1 Five worthy fathers sent, One from each house, to Yaria's parliament.— Francis. 298 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XIX. northward. I must observe, that from the convent, and indeed some little time before you reach it, you discover towards the north two villages beautifully situated on the summit of a woody and well cultivated hill supported by a range of mountains behind ; one of these villages is called Cania Lubo, the other Bardela. The latter is Mandela , which, on account of its high situation, Horace repre- sents as suffering much from the effects of the cold. Rugosus frigore pagus.* Lib. i. Epist. xviii. 105. As we advanced, we found ourselves in a fine valley, with beau- tiful hills rising close on our left, while on our right, in the midst of fertile meadows bounded on the opposite side by the hill of Mandela , and a ridge of successive mountains, glided the Licenza , anciently the Digentia, the favorite stream of Horace. Me quoties refecit gelidus Digentia rivus.* Epist. xviii. 101. Its bed is wide, stony, and shallow in summer. We had not proceeded far, when to the left, on the brow of a craggy steep, we perceived the Fanum Vacunae (Temple of Vacuna) 3 , whence the poet dated one of his philosophic epistles ; it was almost in ruins in his time, and probably sunk under the pressure of age not long after : a village has risen upon its site, and assumed the name of Rocca Giovane. Near the path which leads up to this village issues a spring, called by some writers, the fountain of Bandusia. The road then ran at the foot of Mount Lucretilis, and a more beautiful mountain has rarely been discovered by a traveller or celebrated by a poet, it rises in a gentle but irregular swell, form- ing several hills of different shapes as it ascends, and leading the eye through several easy gradations to its summit. Rocks and precipices frequently break its lines, and open various caverns and grottos in its sides and on its declivities. Its lower regions are divided into corn fields and vineyards; groves of olives and of chesnuts interspersed with forest trees thrown negligently about, sometimes single sometimes in clumps, and now and then in woods wave round its middle : its upper parts are heathy pasture, and in * A district contracted with cold. * As oft as the cool stream of Digentia refreshes me. 3 Doc tibi dictabam post tempium putre Vacuo*.— Jlor. Lib. L Epist. x. 49. These lines behind Vacuna’s fane 1 penn’d.— Francis. Vacuna was the Minerva, or perhaps the Victory of the Sabines. The temple here alluded to, or one to Victory on the same site, was repaired by V espasian. .This goddess had another temple or at least a grove, near llcate and the Velinus. Plin . lib. iii. cap. 12. Chap. XIX. THROUGH ITALY. 299 many places covered with brambles, shrubs, and forests. Herds may be seen ranging through the meadows, and flocks of goats spread over the wilds and browsing on the precipices. Arcadia itself could scarcely have exhibited more beautiful scenes, or opened more delightful recesses; so that Lucretilis, without being indebted to poetical exaggeration for the compliment, might easily be supposed to have attracted the attention of the rural divinities, and allured them to its delicious wilderness. 1 About a mile and a half beyond the road which leads to Rocca Giovane we turned up a pathway, and crossing a vineyard found ourselves on the spot where Horace’s villa is supposed to have stood. A part of a wall rising in the middle of brambles, and some mosaic pavements, are the only traces that now remain of the poet’s mansion. It was probably remarkable neither for its size nor its decorations ; 2 neatness and convenience it must have pos- sessed. Mundceque parvo sub lare Coerne.* Its situation is ex- tremely beautiful. Placed in a little plain or valley in the wind- ings of Mount Lucretilis, it is sheltered on the north side by hills rising gradually but very boldly ; while towards the south a long hillock covered with a grove, protects it from the scorching blasts of that quarter. Being opened to the east and west it gives a full view of Rocca Giovane , formerly Fanum Vacunae, on one side : on the other, two towns, the nearest of which is Digentia the farthest Civitella , perched each on the pointed summit of a hill present themselves to view ; below, and forming a sort of basis to these eminences, Ustica, speckled with olives and spangled with little shining rocks, stretches its recumbent form. 4 Behind the house is a path leading through a grove of olives and rows of vines, conducts to an abundant rill descending from Fonte Bello (perhaps anciently the Bandusia ) a fountain in the higher re- * Velox amoenum saepe Lucretilem Mutat Lyceo Faunus, et igneaiu Defendit aestatem capellis Usque meis piuviosque ventos. Uor. Cam. Lib. i. Od. 17. Tan from Arcadia's hills descends To visit oft my Sabine seat. And here my tender goats defends From rainy winds, and summer’s fiery heat.— Francis. Non ebur, neque aureum Mea renidet in domo lacunar,— lb. lib. ii. 18. No walls with ivory inlaid. Adorn my house ; Nor rich with gold my deling flames.— Francis. 3 And a cleanly supper in an unambitious house. Utcunqae dulci, Tyndari, fistula Valles et Ustica : cubanti i LevtOi personuere saxa.— Lib. i. Od. 17. Vyhene'er the vales wide-spreading round, The sloping hills and polish d rocks With his harmonious pipe resound .— Francis r 300 CLASSICAL TOUR CnkV. XIX. gions of the mountain. It is collected in its fall from an artificial cascade into a sort of basin whence it escapes, pours down the hill and glides through the valley, under the name of Digentia, now Licenza . This rill, if I may judge by its freshness, still possesses the good qualities Horace ascribed to it and still seems to flow so cool and so clear. • Ut ncc Frigidior Thracam nec purior ainbiat Hebrus. 1 Lib. i. Epist. xvi. 13. I must indeed here observe, that the whole tract of country which we have just traversed corresponds in every particular with the description which Horace gave of it two thousand years ago. Not only the grand and characteristic features a — the continued chain of mountains — the shady valley — the winding dell — the abundant fountain — the savage rocks features which a general convulsion of nature only can totally efface, not these alone" remain, but the less and more perishable beauties — the little rills — the moss-lined stones — the frequent groves — the arbutus half concealed in the thickets — the occasional pine — the oak and the ilex suspended over the grotto — these meet the traveller at every turn, and rise around him as so many monuments of the judgment and of the accuracy of the poet . 3 Cooler and purer than a Thracian stream.— Francis. Conlinui monies nisi dissocienlur opaca Valle . . .—Lib. i. Epist. xvi. 5. A chain of mountains with a vale divide.— Ibid. Hie in reducta valle caniculse Vitabis aestus .— Carm. Lib. i. Od. xvii. 7. Beneath a shady mountain's brow . . Far from the burning Dog-star's rage.— Francis. Fons etiam rivo dare nomen Idoneus ... * iobospita tesqua . Lib. i. Epist. xiv. it). A fountain to a rivulet gives its name. Inhospitable and uncultivated grounds.— Francis. Ruris amoeni Rivos et musco circumlita saxa, nemusque. Impune tutuni per netnus arbutos Qua?runt latenles— Lib. i. Od. xvii. 5. The rural mead The brook, the mossy rock, and woody glade.— Francis.' In safety, through the woody brake The latent shrubs and tbjme explore.— Ibid. Quid si rubicunda benigne Coma vepres et pruna ferunt, si quercus ct ilex Multa fruge pecus, multa doruinum juvat umbra— Lib i. Epist. xvi. 8. now mild the climes, w here sloes luxurious grow r . And blushing cornels on the haw thorn glow ! My cattle are with plenteous acorns fed, Which various oaks around their master spread — Francis. Jmminens villae pinus . . .~-Carm. Lib. iii. Od. xxii. 5. The pine. That nodding waves my villa round.— Francis, Ciiap. XX. THROUGH ITALY 301 AVe were less fortunate in this our poetical pilgrimage than usual, as a heavy rain began about twelve o’clock in the day, and accom- panied by strong gusts of wind continued pouring in an incessant torrent till twelve at night. It soon penetrated our clothes ; the tardiness of our mules gave it full time to operate ; so that not- withstanding our enthusiasm and a few occasional bursts of mer- riment we paced slowly along the Via Valeria (the Valerian Way), wet and benighted till we reached Tivoli about ten o’clock. Thus we learned by experience, that Horace had some reason to thank the rural divinities for protecting his flocks from the inclemencies of the mountains, and from the rainy winds , whose effects he seems to have felt and dreaded. The wind continued high and chill during the whole of the following day (Sunday). On Monday the weather resumed its usual serenity, and we returned to Rome. CHAPTER XX. The Alban Mount and Lake— Tusculum and Cicero’s Villa — Aricia, and the Grove and Temple of Diana — The Lake of Nemi, and Palace of Trajan— Antium —Forests and Plains of Laurentum— Ostia — Mouth of the Tiber. The Alban Mount, which forms such a conspicuous and majestic feature of Roman landscape, and presents itself so often to the reader’s notice in Roman history and literature, next attracted our attention and furnished an object for a second excursion. The road Cavis impositum ilicem Sails* . . . . — Lib. iii. Od. xiii. 14. The oak, that spreads thy rocks around— Francis. Cluverius concludes that Horace had a view of Mount Soracte from his Sabine villa, because he commences an ode with the words, Vides ut alta stet nive condidum Soracte. Lib. i. Od. is. Behold Soracte’s airy height. See how it stauds a heap of snow. — Francis . But this is no* the case, as Mount Lucretilis interposes in that direction and ob- structs all view, excepting that of its own varied ridge. The ode alluded to was probably composed at Rome, as the amusements which Horace recommends in the last stanza but one, were peculiar to the city, nunc et campus et arece, etc.* The learned geographer also insists upon Ustica’s being a valley, on account of the epithet cubantis, which he maintains could not be ascribed to a hill. Most of my readers will probably think otherwise, and conceive that such an epithet is appli- cable to hills only, and this opinion is continued by the name which a hill in the neighborhood of Mount Lucretilis still bears. Its form is long and rises gradually, as that of a person leaning on his elbow : its surface is marked by a number of white smooth stones; and it is always pointed out as the Uslica alluded to by Horace, The public walks, the public park.— freweis, 302 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XX. to it is the Via Appia (the Appian Way), which begins at the Porta Capena (the Capenian Gate), crosses the Almone flowing near the walls ; and as it traverses the Campagna presents aqueducts and sepulchres that border its sides with ruins. Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris. 1 * The Fossa Cluillia, Iloratiorum qua viret sacer campus : a Mart. Lib. iii. Epist. 4.7. the theatre of the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii lies be- tween five and six miles from the gate on the right. Several tombs stand on the side of the hillock that borders these fields, but no one in particular is pointed out as belonging to the unhappy champions. Their monuments however existed in the time of Titus Livius, 3 and as their forms and materials were probably very plain and very solid, they must have remained for many ages after, and may be some of the many mounds that still stand in clusters about the very place where they fell. The multiplicity of the tombs that line the road is so great, that when entire, and surrounded, as se- veral of them anciently were, with cypresses and ornamental en- closures, they must have almost touched each other, and formed a funereal street. This circumstance affords a strong argument, that the environs of the city, at least on this side, could not have been so thickly inhabited as is usually imagined. Besides Cicero, in one of his Epistles, alludes to the danger of being robbed in broad day on the road to Albano ,4 a circumstance which implies solitude, and gives the plain extending at the foot of the Alban Mount, a reputa- tion similar to that attached not long ago to the predatory districts of Blackheath or Hounslow. On the side of the hill, on or near the site of the ancient Bovillae, stands a tavern, the very same if we may credit tradition into which Clodius retired when wounded, and from which he was after- wards dragged by Milo’s attendants. Near the gate of Albano on the side of the road rises an ancient tomb, the sepulchre (as it is called by the people) of Ascanius ; but in the opinion of antiqua- ries that of Clodius himself. It is entirely stripped o£ its orna- ments and external coating, and has no other claim to the traveller’s attention than its antiquity. The town of Albano consists almost totally of one long street, in general well built and airy ; but its chief advantage is its lofty situa- tion ; and its ornaments are the beautiful country houses and walks that surround it on all sides. The principal villa belongs to a Roman 1 For even sepulchres themselves have their fated hour. a Where lies the sacred field of the Horatii. 3 Lib. i. 25. 4 Ad. Alt. Yii. 3. Chap, XX, THROUGH ITALY. 302 Duke, and occupies part of the site of Pompey’s Albanum, and its gardens laid out in the best modern style, wind delightfully amidst the ruins. Its views open on the sea coast, and command the whole of that classic ground which Virgil has made the scene of the last six books of the Eneid ; the seven hills and the humble capital of Evander ; the mouth of the Tiber where Eneas landed ; Laurenti- num with its surrounding forests; the Lake of Turnus ; the Vada Sacra Numici,' and all the Rutilian territory. A fine road shaded with double rows of ilex leads from Albano to Castcl Gamlolfo and the Alban Lake. This well-known lake is seven miles in circumference, and surrounded with a high shelving shore, which is covered with gardens and orchards. The immediate bor- ders of the lake are lined with trees that bathe their branches in its waters. It is clear as crystal, is said to be almost unfathomable in some places, and is supposed to be contained in the crater of an extinguished volcano. An emissarius or outlet was formed at so early a period as the year of Rome 358, to prevent the sudden and mischievous swells of the lake which had then recently occasioned considerable alarm. The immediate occasion of this undertaking was a command of the Delphic oracle. The work still remains a singular instance of the industry and superstition of the Romans. It is bored through the body of the mountain or rather through the solid rock, and runs somewhat more than a mile under ground : going out of the lake it first passes through a court or apartment formed of huge masses of Tiburtine stone, shaded above by a large and spreading ilex : it then enters the narrow channel which dimi- nishes in height as it advances, but in all places leaves room for the purposes of repairing and cleansing. a On the highest, that is, the southern bank of the lake, stood Alba Longa, a city known only in Roman story, for not a vestige of it remains ; dignified while it stood by its contest with infant Rome, and when it fell, by the short but eloquent description which Titus Livius gives of its destruction. 1 Nothing can be more delightful than the walks around the lake, sometimes approaching the edge of the steep banks and looking down upon the glassy surface extended below, and at other times traversing the thickets and woods that rise all around, and refresh the traveller as he passes under their i vast conliguitg of shade. Another umbrageous alley, partly through woods, leads to Marino , a very pretty town : the approach to it with the rocky dell, the fountain in the midst, the town on the * Where Numicus opes his holy source.— Dry den. * Vide Liv. 1. v. c. 16. Cic. De Div. lib. i. H. Yal. Max. lib. i. cap. vi. 3. This work was finished in less than a year. The Emperor Claudius began a similar emissarius to let out the waters of the Lacus Eucinus, and employed in it thirty thousand men for eleven years. 3 Lib. i, 29. 304 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XX. eminence above, the woods below and on the side of the road, might furnish an excellent subject for a landscape/ The same alley continues to Grotta Ferrata, once the favorite villa of Cicero, and now an abbey of Greek monks. It stands on one of the Tumuli or beautiful hills grouped together in the Alban Mount. Jt is bounded on the south by a deep dell, with a streamlet that falls from the rock, and having turned a mill meanders through the re- cess and disappears in its windings : this stream, now the Marana; was anciently called Aqua Crabra, and is alluded to by Cicero. Eastward rises a lofty eminence once crowned with Tusculum ; westward the view descends, and passing over the Campagna, fixes on Rome and the distant mountains beyond it: on the south, a gentle swell presents a succession of vineyards and orchards, and behind it, towers the summit of the Alban Mount once crowned with the temple of Jupiter Latiaris. Thus Cicero, from his portico, enjoyed the noblest and most interesting view that could be ima- gined to a Roman and a Consul ; the temple of the tutelary divinity of the empire, the seat of victory and of triumph, and the theatre of his glorious labors, the capital of the world, Rerum pulcherrima Roma ! a Vir. Georg, ii. 531. That Cicero’s Tusculum was extensive, highly finished, and rich- ly adorned with columns, marbles, and statues, there can be no doubt, as he had both the desire and the means of fitting it up ac- cording to his own taste and the luxury of the times. That all his villas were remarkable for their beauty we may learn from one of his epistles, where he calls them the brightest ornaments or rather the very eyes of Italy, and it is highly probable that Tusculum sur- passed them all in magnificence, as it was his favorite retreat, owing to its proximity to Rome, which enabled him to enjoy the leisure and liberty of solitude without removing to too great a distance from the business and engagements of the city. Moreover, this villa had belonged to Sylla the Dictator who was not inclined to spare any expense in its embellishments, and it had been purchased by Cicero at an enormous price, and by him enlarged and furnished with additional ornaments. Among the statues we find, that his li- brary was adorned with those of the muses, and his academy with an hermathena; as he expresses a particular partiality for pictures we may conclude that such decorations were not wanting. Annexed to it were alyceum, a portico, a gymnasium, a palaestra, a library, and an academy for literary discourses and philosophic declama- * The fountain is supposed to be the source of the Aqua Fcrentina, and Marino the Caput Aquaj Ferentinae, so often mentioned in Roman history. 2 Rorae ; the fairest and the noblest object that the world can boast. Chap. XX. THROUGH ITALY. 305 tions during the winter ; the thick groves which surrounded it, af- forded the orator and his learned friends a cooler and more rural retreat during the heats of summer. The scenes of several of his philosophical dialogues, as for instance, of that De Divinatione, and of his Tusculan Questions, are laid, as every reader knows, on this classic spot, and their recollection connected with the memory of our early years naturally increases the interest and reverence with which we tread this sacred ground : 1 * Rura nemusque sacrum dilectaque jugera musis.' The reader will probably expect a description of the ruins of this villa, which Dr. Middleton and Mr. Melmoth represent as still exist- ing ; but in opposition to such respectable authorities, I am sorry to observe, that not even a trace of ruins is now discoverable. The principal, perhaps, the whole of the buildings, still stood at the end of the tenth century, when St. Nilus, a Greek monk from Calabria, fixed himself on the spot, and after having demolished what remained of the villa, erected on its site, and probably with its materials, his monastery, which in process of time became a rich abbey, and as it was first founded, so it is still inhabited by Greek monks of the order of St. Basil. At each end of the portico is fixed in the wall a fragment of basso relievo ; one represents a philoso- pher sitting with a scroll in his hand, in a thinking posture ; in the other, are fpur figures supporting the feet of a fifth of a colossal size supposed to represent Ajax. These, with the beautiful pillars that support the church, are the only remnants of the decorations and furniture of the ancient villa. Conjiciant , says an inscription, qme el quanla fuerint . 3 1 I am well aware that some antiquaries of reputation maintain that Cicero s villa was seated on the very ridge of the mountain, and ground their opinion not only on some Roman bricks inscribed with his name, found in that site, but on the positive statement of an old commentator on Horace. Rut in the first place, in the plunder of Cicero’s villa, which took place in consequence of his exile, the bricks and materials might have been carried off as well as the trees and plants themselves; and in the second place the name and age of the commentator, as well as tue sources of his information, are all unknown, and consequently his authority cannot be very great. The statues which I have mentioned above, of the muses and the hermathena, were found at Grotta Ferrata, though the discovery of those statues. Or of any others, can afford but little strength to an opinion, as such ar- ticles seldom remain very long in the same place, and are so easily transferable. The principal argument in favor of the common opinion is the constant tradition of the country down to the beginning of the eleventh century, when, as it is related by contemporary writers, St. Xilus erected his monastery on the ruins of Cicero's Tusculanum. a The sacred grove, The fields and meadows that the muses love. 3 It may be guessed what they formerly were. The church contains little remarkable excepting the chapel of St. Xilus, painted by Domemchino in a masterly style. The wall is separated into compartments, arid I. 20 30*> CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XX. The plane-tree, which Cicero in the person of Scaevola notices with so much complacency in the introduction to the first book De Oratore, still seems to love the soil, and blooms and flourishes in peculiar perfection all around. 1 One in particular, bending over an abundant fountain, spreads such a luxuriancy of foliage, and forms a shade so thick and impenetrable as would have justified Plato’s partiality and Scaevola’ s encomiums. From Grotla F errata we proceeded to the hills that hang over Frascati, the summit of which was once crowned with Tusculum, whose elevation and edifices of white stone made it a beautiful and striking object in Roman landscape,* and communicated its name to all the rural retreats (and there were many ) in its neighborhood. This town survived the hostilities of the barbarians, and was doom- ed to fall in a civil contest by the hands of the Romans them- selves, about the year 1190. Its ruins remain scattered in long lines of wall, and of shattered arches intermingled with shrubs and bushes, over the summit and along the sides of the mountain. The view is extensive in every direction, but particularly interesting to- wards the north-east, where immediately under the eye appear Monte Catone (the hill of Cato) and the Praia Porcia (the Portian meadows) once the property of Cato, whose family name they still bear; farther on, the Lake Regillus well known for the apparition of Castor and Pollux; a little towards the south, Mount Algidus, and the whole Latin vale extended below ; Preneste seated on a lofty eminence; and Tib ur embosomed in the distant mountains. The modern town of Frascati stands on the side of the hill much lower down than the ancient city, but yet in an elevated and airy situation. Tt is surrounded with villas, many of which are of great beauty and magnificence. Its interior contains nothing remarkable. The next day we bent our course southward. The first object that struck us out of the gate was the ancient tomb, called by the in each compartment is represented one of the principal actions of the patron saint. The Demoniac boy near the altar, and St. IS’ilus praying near the end of the chapel, are supposed to be the two best. 1 Me haec tua platanus admonuit, quae non minus ad opacandum hunc locum patulis est diffusa ramis. quam ilia cujus umbram secutus est Socrates, quae mihi videtur non tam ipsa aquula qua; describitur, quam Platonis oratione crevisse. — l)e Orat. i. 7. “I have been put in mind of these matters by your plane-tree, which oversha- dows this spot w ith its spreading boughs, in the same manner as that, of w hose shade Socrates was so fond, which seems to me to have been so very flourishing rather in consequence of the declamation of Plato, than of the little brook, of which a description is given.” The scene of these Dialogues is laid in Crassus’s Tusculan villa, the same, if I mistake not, which was afterwards Sylla’s and then Cicero’s. ■ Superni villa candens Tusculi.— Hor. Ep. Lib. iv. Od. i. 29. The white villa of the elevated Tusculum. Horace here appropriates to the villa of his friend a quality, which it possessed jn common with the town, and all the great buildings in the same situation. Chap. XX. THROUGH ITALY. 307 people the sepulchre of the Horatii and Curiatii. This monument is of great magnitude, and of a bold and striking form. It was ori- ginally adorned with five obelisks ; of which two only remain. A variety of shrubs grow from its crevices, wave in garlands round its shattered pyramids, and hang in long wreaths to the ground. The melancholy interest which such an appearance awakens will be increased, when the traveller learns that the venerable pile before him may possibly cover the remains of Cneius Pompeius, mobile nec victum fails caput. 1 I say possibly , and am willing to adopt this opinion, which is not without authority ; yet if it really were true, as Plutarch relates, that Cornelia had her husband’s ashes conveyed to Italy, and deposited in his Alban villa ( which it is to be recol- lected had been seized by Antony ) how are we to explain the in- dignant complaint of Lucan : ^ Tu quoque cum saevo dedcras jam templa tyranno, Nondum Pompeii cineres, O Roma, petisti Exul adhuc jacet umbra ducis!*— Lib. viii. 8,35. We may at least infer that no such event had taken place before Lucan’s time, or that it was then unknown, and of course that no mausoleum had been raised on the occasion. If therefore this mo- nument be in honor of that celebrated Roman, it must have been a mere cenotaph erected at a later period. About a mile farther on at the end of a finely shaded avenue stands Aricia, where Horace passed the first night of his journey to Brundusium. Egressum magna me excepit Aricia Rom& Hospitio modico * — Lib. i. Sat. v. 1. Whatever mode of travelling the poet employed, whether he walked, rode, or drove, he could not have fatigued himself with the length of his stages, as that of the first day was only fourteen miles, and those of the following days very nearly in the same proportion. He has reason therefore to use the word repimus (we crept). But of this classic tour more perhaps hereafter. The application of the modern article, and a consequent mistake in the spelling very common in the beginning of Italian names, has changed the ancient appellation of this little town into La liiccia. It is extremely well built and pretty, particularly about the square, which is adorned with a handsome church on one side, and on the 1 A hero whom even the fates could not subdue.— Lucan, vii. 713. 4 And thou, 0 Borne, by whose forgetful hand Altars and temples, rear'd to tyrants, stand, Caust thou neglect to call thy hero home. And leave bis ghost in banishment to roam ?—Rowe. 3 leaving imperial Rome, my course 1 steer To poor Aricia, and its mod'rate cheer. -Francis, 308 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XX. other, with a palace or rather a villa. It stands on the summit of a hill and is surrounded with groves and gardens. Of the ancient town situated at the foot of the same hill in the valley, there re- main only some arches, a circular edifice once perhaps a temple, and a few scattered substructions. The immense foundations of the Via Appia formed of blocks of stone, rising from the old town up the side of the hill, in general about twenty-four feet in breadth and sometimes almost sixty feet in elevation, are perhaps one of the most striking monuments that now remain of Roman enter- prise and workmanship. This ascent was called Clivus Virbii 1 from IJippolytus, who assumed that name when restored to life by Diana. At Trivia Hippolytum secretis alma recondit Sedibus et nymphae Egeriaj, nemorique relegat; Solus ubi in sylvis Italis ignobilis aevum Exigeret, versoque ubi nomine Yirbius esset. 5 Virgil. JEn. vii. 774. About a mile farther, on an eminence stands a church called Madonna di Galloro, a very picturesque object at a little distance; and two miles thence rises the town of Gensano, beautiful in its regular streets, in its woody environs, and in the neighboring lake of Nemi . This lake derives its modern name from the Nemus Diana; (the grove of Diana), the sacred groves that shaded its banks : like that of Albano it occupies a deep hollow in the mountain, but it is much inferior to it in extent, and fills only a part of the amphitheatre formed by the crater. The remaining part with the high banks is - covered with gardens and orchards well fenced and thickly planted, forming an enchanting scene of fertility and cultivation. The castle and the town of Nemi stand on the eastern side, on a high rock hanging over the water. The upper terrace of the Capucins gives the best view. Opposite to it lies Gensano stretched along a wooded bank, shelving gently to the verge of the lake; behind rises Monlc Giove (MonsJovis, the hill of Jupiter) and beyond extend the plains and woods that border the sea shore : towards the south-east rises the Monte Avlemisio (the hill of Diana), derived as every reader knows from Diana, whose temple anciently formed a conspicuous feature in the scenery and the history of this territory. Diana was a divinity of mixed character, more inclined however to cruelly than to tenderness; and though she delighted principally in the slaughter of wild beasts, yet she now and then betrayed a latent , \ . / 7 ‘ This place is alluded to by Juvenal and Persius as famous for beggars, full as common and as troublesome in ancient as in modern Italy. — Pers. Sat. vi. 55. a But Trivia kept in secret shades alone Her care, Hippolytus, to fate unknown, And call'd him Yirbius in th’ Egerian grove, Where there lie liv'd obscure, but safe from love.— Dryden, THROUGH ITALY. 309 Ciiap. XX. i partiality for human victims. Hence, though Roman manners would not allow the goddess to indulge her taste freely, yet she contrived by the mode established in the appointment of her priests to catch an occasional repast. That mode was singular. The priest was always a fugitive, perhaps an outlaw or a criminal; he obtained the honor by attacking and slaying his predecessor, and kept it by the same tenure, that is, till another ruffian stronger or more active dispossessed him in the same manner. Rcgna tenent manibus fortes, pedibusque fugaces Et perit exemplo postmodo quisque suo. 1 * a Ovid. Fast. iii. 271. This priest enjoyed the title of Rex Nemorensis and always appeared in public brandishing a drawn sword, in order to repel a sudden attack. Yet such a cruel goddess and such a bloody priest seem ill placed in a scene so soft and so lovely, destined by nature for the abode of health and pleasure, for the haunt of Fauns and Dryads, with all the sportive band of rural divinities. The fable of the restoration of ilippolytus and his concealment in this forest is much better adapted to its scenery : Vallis Aricin® sylva procinclus opacH Est lacus antiqua rdigione sacer, llic latet Hippolytus, funis direptus equorum. 3 Ovid. Fast. iii. 263. From the base of the rock on which the town of JScmi stands, gushes the fountain ofEgeria 3 (for this nymph had a fountain and a grove here as well as at Rome) alluded to by Ovid in the fol- lowing verses ; Defluit incerto lapidosus murrnure rivus 1 S®pe sed cxiguis haustibus inde bibes : 1 The valiant by their courage reign, The fugitives by swiftness gain Their honors brief ; by turns they die, Eacn by the precedent themselves supply. Deep in Al icia's vale, and girt around Witb shady woods, a sacred iake is found ; Uere Theseus' son in safe concealment lay, When hurried by the madd'niug steeds away . . . 3 I need not remind the reader of the transformation of the nymph into this very fountain, and Ovid’s pretty account of it. Montisque jacens radfeibus imis Liqui'ur in lacrunins- doutc pielate dolenlis Mota soror Fhft-bi, geildum do corpore fonteni Fecit et aeternas arius tcnuuvil in uudas.— Ovid. Met. xv. 548. There at the mountain's base, all drown'd in (ears She lay— till cbasle Diaua on her woo Compassion took ; her alter'd form became A limpid fount ; her beauteous limbs dissolv'd, And in perennial waters inett a* ay. 310 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XX. Egeria est quse praebet aquas, Dea grata Camamis Ule Numae conjux, consiliumque fuit. x Ovid Fast. iii. 273. < # f . * ' :k ^ The fountain is abundant and is one of the sources of the lake. The woods still remain and give the whole scene an inexpressible freshness and beauty in the eye of a traveller fainting under the heat of July, and panting for the coolness of the forest. The Roman emperors delighted as may naturally be supposed in this delicious spot, and Trajan in particular, who erected in the centre of the lake a palace (for it can scarce be called a ship) of very singular form and construction. This edifice was more than five hundred feet in length, about two hundred and seventy in breadih, and sixty in height, or perhaps more correctly in depth. It was built of the most solid wood fastened with brass and iron nails, and covered with plates of lead which were double in places exposed to the action of the water. Within, it was lined and paved with marble, or a composition resembling marble; its ceilings were supported by beams of brass; and the whole was adorned and fitted up in a style truly imperial. It was supplied by pipes with abundance of the purest water from the fountain of Egeria, not only for the use of the table, but even for the ornament of the courts and apartments. This wonderful vessel was moored in the centre of the lake, which thus encircled it like a wide moat round a Gothic, I might almost say, an enchanted castle; and to prevent the swelling of the water an outlet was opened through the mountain like that of the Alban Lake/ of less magnificence indeed, but of greater length. On the borders of the lake various walks were traced out, and alleys opened, not only as beautiful accompani- ments to the edifice, but as accommodations for the curious who might flock to sec such a singularly splendid exhibition. When this watery palace sunk we know not, but it is „ robable that it was neglected, and had disappeared before the invasion of the barbarians, as may be conjectured from the quantity of brass that remained in it according to the account of Marchi , a learned and ingenious Roman, who in the year 1535 descended in a diving machine, and made such observations as enabled him to give a long and satisfactory description, from whence the particulars stated above have been extracted. 3 It is much to be lamented, that some method has not been taken to raise this singular fabric, as it would probably contribute from its structure and furniture to give us a much greater insight into the state of the arts at that period than any remnant of antiquity which has hitherto been discovered. 1 O’er their rough bed hoarse-murmuring waters move ; A pure, but scanty draught is there supplied ; Egeria’s fount — whom all the Muses love, Sage Numa's counsellor, his friend, and bride. x See Brotler’s Tacitus, Supp. App. and IVotes on Trajan. Chap. XX. THROUGH ITALY. 311 The traveller returning may wind through the delightful woods that flourish between the two lakes and enter Albano by the abbey of S. Paolo , or rather by the fine avenue of Castle Gandolfo. On the following day we ascended the highest pinnacle of the Alban Mount. The road which we took (for there are several) leads along the Alban Lake, and climbs up the declivity to a little town or rather village called Rocca del Papa (the Pope’s fortress). Above that village extends a plain called Campo d' Annibale (the plain of Annibal), because that general is said, I know not upon what authority, to have been encamped there for some days. The hol- low sweep formed in the mountain beyond this plain has given it its modern appellation of Monte Cavo (the hollow mountain). Above this plain we proceeded through the woods that clothe the upper region of the mountain, “ Albani tumuli atque lucV * (the Alban hills and groves), and sometimes on the ancient pave- ment of the Via Triumphalis (the Triumphal Way) that led to its summit. From this grove came the Voice that commanded the con- tinuation of the Alban rites; and on this summit stood the temple of Jupiter Latiaris, where all the Latin tribes with the Romans at their head used to assemble once a year, and offer common sacri- fice to the tutelar deity of the nation. Hither the Roman generals were wont to repair at the head of their armies after a triumph; and here in the midst of military pomp and splendor they pre- sented their grateful acknowledgments to the Latin Jupiter. To this temple Cicero turned his eyes and raised his hand, when he burst forth in that noble apostrophe, “ Tuque ex tuo edito Monte Latiaris Sancle Jupiter cujus ille lacus neniora finesque ,” etc . 1 We may safely conclude that a temple of such repute and such impor- tance must have been magnificent; and accordingly we find that Augustus appointed a regular corps of troops to guard it and its treasures. The effect of this superb edifice raised on such a lofty pedestal, and towering above the sacred groves, must have been unusually grand, not only in the towns and villages at the foot of the mountain, but in Rome itself, and over all the surrounding country. The view, as may be supposed, is extensive and varied, taking in the two lakes with all the towns around them, and in the various recesses of the mountain; the hills and tow T n of Tusculum, Mount Algidus, and the Alban Vale; the Campagna, with Soracte and Rome; the sea coast, with Ostia, Antium, Nettuno; the woods and plains that border the coast, and the island of Pontia (the pri- son of so many illustrious exiles) rising like a mist out of the waters. But the most interesting object by far in this prospect is the truly classic plain expanded immediately below, the theatre of the 1 And thou, holy Latian Jupiter, who presidest over the lake, the grove, and the whole territory, from thy lofty hill, etc.—Cie. pro Milon. 3!. 312 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XX. last six books of the Eneid, and once adorned with Ardea, Lavi- nium, and Laurentum. The forest in which Virgil laid the scene of the achievemenis and of the fall of the two youthful heroes Euryalus and Nisus; the Tiber winding through the plain, and the groves that shade its banks and delighted the Trojan hero on his arrival; all these are displayed clear and distinct beneath the traveller, who, while seated on the substructions of the temple, may consider them at leisure and compare them with the description of the poet. The Alban Mount is, indeed, in the Eneid what Mount Ida is in the Iliad, the commanding station whence the superintending divinities contemplated the armies, the city, the camp, and all the motions and vicissitudes of the war. At Juno ex sumrao qui nunc Albanus habetur (Turn neque nomen erat neque honos aut gloria raonti) Prospieiens tumulo, campum spectabat et ambas Laurentum Troumque acies, urbemque Latini.' JEn. xii. 131. Of the temple nothing remains but parts of the foundations, too insignificant to enable the observer to form any conjecture of the extent or form of the superstructure. The ground is now occupied by a church and a convent, remarkable for nothing but the situa- tion ; but it is highly probable that some vestiges of the temple, some pillars or fragments of pillars, of friezes and cornices might with very little trouble be discovered; and the capital of one pillar would be sufficient to fix the elevation of the whole structure. The air on the Alban and Tusculan hills is always pure and wholesome ; the soil is extremely fertile, and in some places re- markable, as it was anciently, for excellent wine. The best now bears the name, as it grows in the neighborhood, of Gensano, an- ciently Ciinthiammi . ANTIUM. As Albano is not above ten miles distant from the coast, we took an opportunity of making an excursion thither and visiting Antium, the capital of the Volsci, often mentioned in Roman annals. The road to it runs along the Alban hills, then over the Campagna, and through a forest bordering the sea coast for many miles. It contains some very fine trees, though the far greater part were cut down and sold to the French some time before the revolution. The fall of so much wood, though at the distance of thirty miles from Rome, is said to have affected the air of that city, by expos- 1 Meantime the Queen of ITeav'n beheld the sight With eyes unplcas'd, from Mount Albano's height : (Since call d Albano by succeeding fame. But then an empty bill, without a name.) she thence survey’d the Held, the Trojan pow'rs, The Lalian squadrons, and Laureutine tow’rs.— Bryden. Ciiap. XX. THROUGH ITALY. 313 ing it to the winds that blow from the marshes on the shore, and thus rendered some of the hills formerly remarkably salubrious, now subject to agues and fevers. The wood consists of young oak, ilex, myrtle, and box, and is peculiarly refreshing, not by its shade only but by the perfumes that exhale on all sides from its odoriferous shrubs. This pleasure however is considerably dimi- nished by the apprehension of robbers ; an apprehension not alto- gether ill-grounded, as all the criminals who escape from Rome and its neighborhood betake themselves to this forest, and lurk for years in its recesses. Its extent is great, as with little interrup- tion it runs along the coast sometimes five, sometimes ten miles in breadth, from the mouth of the Tiber to Circe’s promontory. The ground it covers is low and occasionally swampy. Aniium was once a considerable port, improved, augmented, and embellished by Nero, and much resorted to by the higher classes of the Romans, who adorned it with many magnificent villas ; it was however more remarkable for the Temple of Fortune alluded to by Horace, and for a long time in high celebrity . 1 * 3 Of this temple, and of the structures raised by Nero, nothing now remains but subterraneous arches and vast foundations. The port lias been repaired and fortified by some of the late pontiffs, but though ca- pable of admitting large vessels it is totally unfrequented. 3 A few straggling houses alone remain of the town, though some handsome villas shew that the beauty and coolness of the situation deserve more attention and a better fate, 3 Aniium, situated on the point 1 O Diva gratum quae regis Aniium.— Lib. i. Od. xxxv. Goddess, whom Aniium, beauteous town, obeys.— Francis. % The town of Nettuno, near Antium, seems to he the remains of its ancient port. 3 There is no inn at Nettuno , and we sat down to a cold recast under the shade of a spreading ilex near the sea ; in the mean time we sent a servant to the town to procure lodgings for the night, which was approaching, lie returned very soon, and having fortunately met Mr. Fagan, a gentleman to whom most English tra- vellers who were at Rome about the same period have to acknowledge obligations, brought from him a present of two flaggons of excellent Albano wine, and at the same time an assurance that lodgings should be provided for us without delay. After having enjoyed the coolness of the evening on the beach we proceeded to the town, and were conducted first to the shop, and then to the house of an hospitable apothecary. The house was large, and appeared in some parts totally uninha- bited ; but there were two rooms, one of which was very spacious, fitted up with tolerable convenience, considering the climate and the customs of the country. Into these we were introduced. The supper was served up late : it was abundant, and though cooked in the Italian style, to which we were not partial, supplied a very good meal to persons not absurdly fastidious. The master and mistress of the house now made their appearance, and were prevailed upon with great difficulty to sit down. Their behaviour was easy, unaffected, I might almost say, graceful. They were very young, and both of expressive and animated countenances; the woman was beautiful, and united, as the younger part of the sex are supposed to do in Antium and its vicinity, the dark eyes and hair of the country with the fresh- ness and the bloom of more northern regions. One of the party noticed their 314 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XX. of a little promontory, sheltered by woods behind and washed by the sea before, and commanding an extensive view of the Roman coast to Oslia and the mouth of the Tiber on one side, and to Astura and Circe’s promontory on the other, might attract the eye of a man of taste and opulence. Astura is an island and promontory about six miles by sea from Aniium ; it once belonged to Cicero, and seems to have been a favorite retreat; he hastened to it from his Tusculan villa with his brother on receiving intelligence of the proscription, arid sailed from it to his Formian. He passed a considerable part of his time here while mourning the death of his daughter Tullia, and seems to have fixed upon it as the site of the temple which he had resolved to erect to her memory. “ Est liic” says he, “ quuiem locus amoenus et in mart ipso , qui el Anlio el Circceis aspici possit ,” * and expresses a wish to secure that monument of his parental tenderness against the consequences of a change of proprietors, and the vicis- situdes of all succeeding ages. Fond wishes! vain precautions! Wherever the intended temple may have been erected it has long since disappeared, without leaving a single vestige behind to enable even the inquisitive traveller to trace its existence. Some doubt indeed may be entertained about its erection : though as Cicero had seen and approved a plan, and even authorized Atticus to enter into an agreement with a Chian artist for the pillars, it is highly probable that it was erected ; and if we may judge from the expression above quoted, at Astura , where I have no doubt some remains might, if properly sought for, be discovered. The next day we again amused ourselves in ranging through the groves that overshadow the ruins of Pompey’s villa, and the woods that border the lakes, and flourish in the middle regions of the mountain. OSTIA. A few days after our return to Rome, we determined to visit Oslia, once the port of that capital, and great mart of the Mediterranean. It is fifteen miles from it; the road at first runs through two ridges youth, and hinted some surprise at an union which appeared almost premature : upon which the husband gave us their history ; spoke of the intimacy of their re- spective parents ; of their own early and fond attachment ; of the opposition of their families on account of their youth ; of their clandestine marriage, and of the misery occasioned by the resentment of their fathers. He added, that the latter had at length relented, and had received them a few weeks before with all the in- dulgence of tender and affectionate parents; and that as God had also blessed their industry, they now hoped to pass a long and happy life in each other’s embraces. This interesting narrative was given with the utmost frankness, and at the same time with great feeling; and was not a little improved by the fond and approving smiles which the young lady cast occasionally at her husband. 1 This is indeed a pleasant spot, in the very midst of the sea, and can be seen both from Antium and Circaeii.— Ad Att. xii. 19. Chap. XX. THROUGH ITALY. 315 of hills, and afterwards over a fertile plain bounded by the same ridges, and forming a sort of wide verdant amphitheatre, inter- sected by the Tiber. The face of the country the whole way is fer- tile and green, and varied by several gentle swells, but deficient in wood, and consequently in beauty. The sea coast, however, even at the distance of four or five miles, is bordered with a wood of ilex , and various shrubs intermixed with large trees, and entangled with underwood , forming a forest which lies, poetically speaking, near the spot where the unfortunate Euryalus bewildered himself ; it accurately answers the description of it given by Virgil. Sylva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra Horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes; Rara per occultos lucebat semita calles. Euryalum tenebr® ramorum onerosaque praeda Impediunt, fallitque timor regione viarum : Nisus abit ; jamque imprudens evaserat hostes Atque locos qui post Alb® de nomine dicti Albani; turn rex stabula alta Latinus habebat.* Lib. ix. 381. I have said poetically speaking, as it will appear to the most negli- gent reader that Virgil did not mean to adhere to the letter in his topographical descriptions ; otherwise we shall be reduced to the necessity of supposing, that in the space of a few minutes, or of an hour at the utmost, Nisus left his friend not far from the camp on the banks of the Tiber , reached the Alban hill and lake fifteen miles off, and returned back again. In this forest are several large shallow pools, whose stagnant waters are supposed to infect the air, and contribute not a little to its unwholesomeness. The Tiber is rapid and muddy; its banks are shaded with a variety of shrubs and flowery plants, and are perhaps beautiful enough to justify the description of Virgil : Atque hie iEneas ingentem ex ®quore lucum Prospieit. Ilunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amoeno Vorticibns rapidis el mulla flavus a rend In mare prorumpit. Vari* circumque supraque Adsuet® ripis volucres, et flumims aiveo JEthera mulcebant cantu, lucoque volabant.* JEn. vii. 33. The stream, though divided into branches, is yet considerable. 1 Black was the forest thick with beech it stood ; Horrid « itb Fern, and intricate with thorn ; Few paths of human feet or tracks of beasts were worn. The darkness of the shades, his heavy prey. And fear, misled the younger from his way. But Nisus hit the turns with happier hasle. And thoughtless of his friend, the forest pass'd. And Alban plains, from Alba's name so call'd. Where Tving Latinus then his oxeu stall’d . — Dry den. The Trojan from (lie main beheld a wood, Which thick with shades and a brown horror stood . 310 CLASSICAL TOUK Chap. XX. The southern branch into which yEneas entered is not navi- gable. Laevus inaccessis fluvias vitalur arenis Hospilis iEneae gloria sola inanct.*— Rutil. The largest is called Fiumeciho : on its northern bank stands Porto , the ancient Portus Romanus, projected by Julius Caesar, begun by Augustus, finished by Claudius, and repaired by Trajan. To form a solid foundation for part of the mole, Claudius ordered the ship, or raft, constructed under his predecessor Caligula, in order to convey the Vatican obelisk from Egypt to Rome, to be sunk. Such was its vast bulk, that it occupied nearly one side of the port. Of this port, scarce a trace remains : the town is insignificant, though a bishopric. The island formed by the two branches of the river was called Insula Sacra. The present town of Ostia is a miserable fortified village, con- taining scarcely fifty sickly inhabitants. Such is the badness of the air, real or supposed, that none but malefactors and banditti will inhabit it. The ancient town lay nearer the sea, as appears by the inside or brick walls of some temples, vaults, or baths, mosaics, etc. Excavations have been made, and statues, pillars, and the most precious marbles found in abundance, and many more will pro- bably be discovered if the excavations be continued. One of the party, while looking for pieces of marble amidst the heaps of rubbish found a small Torso of the Venus of Medicis , about four inches in length. It was white and fresh, as if just come from the hands of the artist. This town was anciently of considerable size and impor- tance. It seems to have been three or four miles in circumference, and the residence of opulence and luxury, if we may judge by the number of temples and aqueducts (one of which lines the road from Rome) and by the rich materials found among its ruins. From the account which I have given of the country bordering on the coast, it will be found to present nearly the same features as in the time of Pliny, who thus describes the view along the road that crossed it in one of his letters; — “ Varia hxnc el in'de facies. Nam modo occiirrcntibus sglvis via coarctalur , modo latissimis pralis dif- funditur el patescil : multi greges ovium, multa ibi equorum boumque armenta This appearance of the country extends all along the coast, and even over the Pompline marshes. Betwixt the trees the Tiber took his course, With w hirlpools dimpled ; and with downward force That drove the sand along, he took his way, And roll'd his yeliow billows to the seal. About him, and above, and round the wood. The birds that haunt the borders of his flood, That bath'd withkn, or bask’d upon bis side, To tuneful songs their narrow throats applied.— Drydcn. 1 Though sands obstruct the southern stream, its fame Mill lives, ennobled by .Tineas’ name. < • 3 Its appearance is different in different directions. For sometimes the road is Chap. XX. THROUGH ITALY. 317 Laurenlum, the superb capital, turrcs et tecta Latini Ardua, 1 stood on the coast, about six miles IVom Ostia , on the spot now occupied by a village, or rather a solitary tower, called Paterno . No vestiges remain of its former magnificence, excepting an aque- duct; a circumstance not surprising, as it probably owed all that magnificence to the imagination of the poet. A little higher up, and nearer the Alban hills, rises Prallica , the old Lavinium. Be- tween these towns flows, from the Lacus Tumi (the lake of Turnus), a streamlet that still bears the hero’s name, and is called Rivo di Torno. Arden , the capital of the RulUians , is still farther on, on the banks of the Numicus . The forest around was called the Laurcn- tia Sylva (the Laurentian wood), as also Laurentia Palm (the Laurcn- tian marsh), from the many pools interspersed about it, as I have al- ready remarked, and then, as now, the resort of swine, though that breed seems considerably diminished. Ac veluti ille canum morsu de montibus alti$ Actus aper, multos Yesulus quern pinifcr annos Defendit, multosque palus Laurentia sylva Pastus ai;undinea. 3 JEn. x. The whole of this coast, now so lonely and abandoned, was anciently covered with seats, resembling villages, or rather little towns forming an almost uninterrupted line along the shore, and covering it with life, animation, and beauty. “ Littus ornant varic- tate gratissima, nunc continua, nunc inter missa tecta villarum qiuv pree- slant muitarum urbium faciem , ” 3 says Pliny in the letter already cited. It seems even to have been considered as healthy, for Ile- rodian informs us that during the plague which ravaged Rome and the empire under Commodus, the Emperor retired to Laurentum f as the sea air, perfumed by the odor of the numerous laurels that flourished along the coast, was considered as a powerful antidote against the effects of the pestilential vapors. 4 confined by meeting woods, sometimes it spreads out into meadows of wide extent • many flocks of sheep are there met with, many herds of oxen, and droves of horses. — Lib. 2 Epist. 17. i The towers and lofty palaces of Latinus. a Andas a boar, upon the mountains bred Of Vesulus. and fatten'd many a year In wide Laurentum’s reed-envelop d marsh, At length driv'n downward from his native bills By sharp-ioolh'd dogs, etc. 3 Villas, superior to many cities in appearance, adorn the shore with a delightful variety, sometimes in a continued, sometimes in a broken line. 4 Herodian, lib. i. cap. 12. 318 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXL CHAPTER XXL Journey to Naples— Velletri — Pomptine Marshes — Feronia— Terracina, Anxur — Fondi and its Lake — Mount C seen bus — Gaieta— Cicero’s Villa and Tomb — Liris — Mount Massicus— Falernus Ager— Naples. • /, Shortly after our return from the coast, we prepared for our journey to Naples, and set out accordingly on Friday the twenty- seventh of May, about three o’clock in the afternoon. The clouds had been gathering the whole morning, and we had scarcely lime to pass the Porta Capena, when the storm burst over us with tre- mendous fury; it was the first we had experienced in Italy, and remarkable for the livid glare of the lightning, and the iudden and rapid peals of thunder, resembling the explosion of artillery. The re-echo from the mountains round, gradually losing itself in the Apennines, added much to the grand effect. On the Campagna there was no shelter; our drivers therefore only hastened their pace, and whirled us along with amazing rapidity. However, the storm was as short as it was violent; it had diminished when we reached the stage called the Torre de Mezzavia , anciently Ad Mediam (Half-way), and after changing horses, we drove on to Albano. From Albano the road winds at present, or at least winded when we passed it, round the beautiful little valley of Aricia , formed by some of the lower ramifications of the Alban Mount, and presented on the left a fine view of Albano, Aricia , Galaura, Monte Giove , Gensano , all glided by the rays of the sun, just then bursting from the skirls of the storm, and taking his farewell sweet. These glow- ing tints were set off to great advantage by the dark back ground, formed by the groves and evergreen forests that clothe the higher regions of the mountain. Night shortly after closed upon us, and deprived us of several interesting views which we might ha\e en- joyed from the lofty situation of the road, that still continued to run along the side of the hill. Among other objects, we lost on our left the view of Lavinia , anciently Lanuvium , so often men- tioned by Cicero as connected with Milo, 1 and alluded to by Ho- race as infested by wolves. * We arrived about twelve o’clock at Velletri, an ancient town of the Volsci , that still retains its former name and consideration. It became a Roman colony at a very early period, and was the seat of ab agro Rava decurrens lupa Lunuvino — Lib. iii. Od. 27. 2. Or wolf from steep I.unuvian rocks.— Franco, 1 Cic. Pro Mil. Chap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. 319 the Octavian family and the birth-place of Augustus. Though it con- tains some considerable edifices, particularly palaces, yet it ap- pears ill built and gloomy. Its situation however is very fine. Placed on the southern extremity of the Alban hills, it commands on one side, over a deep valley, a view of Cora a id the Yolscian mountains ; and on the other, of a fertile plain, late the Pomptine marshes, bounded by the sea and Circe’s promontory. The coun- try through the two next stages is extremely green, and fertile, presenting rich meadows adorned with forest scenery whose mild beauties form a striking contrast with the harsh features of the bor- dering mountains. The village of Cisterna, probably on the site of the Tres Tabernce, is lively and pleasing. At Torre tie tre Ponti, the ancient Tripuntium , several military stones, columns, etc. dug up on the Appian road when repaired by the late pope, will attract the attention oi the traveller. Near it stood Forum Appii, built at the time the road was made, and inhabited by innkeepers and the boatmen who plied on the canal that crossed the marshes.' Here commence the famous Pomptine marshes, and at the same time the excellent road formed through them on the substructions of the Appian by the same pontiff. This road runs on an exact level, and in a straight line for thirty miles. It is bordered on both sides by a canal, and shaded by double rows of elms and poplars. It is crossed by two rivers, the Ufens and the Amasenus , which still retain their ancient appellations, and remind the traveller of some beautiful descriptions, and particularly of the affecting adventure of Metabus, so well told by Virgil. The Pomptince Paludes (Pomptine Marshes), derive their appel- lation from Pometium, a considerable town of the Volsci. Though this city was so opulent as to enable Tarquin to build the Capitol with its plunder, yet it had totally disappeared even before the time of Pliny. It is difficult to discover the precise date of the origin of these marshes. Homer, and after him Virgil, represent the abode of Circe as an island, and Pliny alluding to Homer quotes this opinion, and confirms it by the testimony of Theophrastus, who, in the year of Rome 440, gives this island a circumference of eighty stadia or about ten miles. It is not improbable that this vast plain, even now so little raised above the level of the sea, may, like the territory of Ravenna on the eastern coast, have once been covered by the waves. Whatever may have been its state in fabulous times, the same Pliny relates, on the authority of a more ancient Latin writer, that at an early period of the Roman republic, the tract of country afterwards included in the marshes contained thirty- three cities, all of which gradually disappeared before the ravages of war, or the still more destructive influence of the increasing 1 Differtum nautis, oauponibus atque malignis.— Uor. Lib. i. Sat. y. 4. a place Staff'd w itb rank boatmen, and with vintuers base.— Francis, 320 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. fens. These fens are occasioned by the quantity of water carried into the plain by numberless streams that rise at the foot of the neighboring mountains, and for want of sufficient declivity creep sluggishly over the level space, and sometimes stagnate in pools, or lose themselves in the sands. The principal of these streams are, the Astura , the Nymfa, the Teppia , th^ Aqua Puzza , in the upper; and the Amasenus and Ufens in the lower marshes. 1 The pools or lakes line the coast, and extend from the neighborhood of the mouth of the Astura to the promontory of Circe. The flat and swampy tract spread from these lakes to the foot of the Yolscian mountains, and covered an extent of eight miles in breadth and thirty in length, with mud and infection. The loss of so much fer- tile land, and the exhalations arising from such a vast tract of swamp, carried not unfrequently to the Capital itself by southerly winds, must have attracted the attention of a people so active and industrious as the ancient Romans. Appius Claudius about three hundred years before the Christian era, when employed in carrying his celebrated road across these marshes, made the first attempt to drain them, and his example was, at long intervals, followed by various consuls, emperors, and kings, down to the Gothic Theodoric inclusively. The wars that followed the death of this prince, the devastation of Italy, and the weakness and unsettled state of the Roman government, withdrew its attention from cultivation and left the waters of the Putudcs (Marshes) to their natural operation. The popes, however, when their sovereignty was established and their attention no longer dis- tracted by the piratical visits of distant or the inroads of neighbor- ing barbarians, turned their thoughts to the amelioration of the inundated territory; and we find accordingly that from Boni- face VIII. down to the late pontiff Pius VI. no less than fifteen popes have attempted this grand undertaking. Most of these efforts were attended with partial, none with full success. Whether the failure is to be ascribed to the deficiency of the means em- ployed at the beginning, or to the neglect of repairs and the want of continual attention afterwards, it is difficult to determine ; though considering the skill and opulence of the Romans, it is more natural to attribute the defect either to the nature of the evil in itself ir- remediable, or to the distracting circumstances of the intervening times. Of the methods employed by Appius, and afterwards by the consul Cethegus, we know little ; though not the road only, but the traces of certain channels dug to draw the water from it, and mounds raised to protect it from sudden swells of water, are tra- j Qua Satura* jacet atra pains, gelidusque per imas Queer it iter vatles, alque iu mare coudiiur Ufens. — Virg< £n. Vii. 801. , Where Ufens glides along the lowly lands, Or the hlack water of ruuiplina stands.— Dryden. Ciiap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. 321 ditionally ascribed to the former. Julius Caesar is said to have revolved in his mighty mind a design worthy of himself, of turn- ing the course of the Tiber from Oslia , and carrying it through the Pomptine territory and marshes to the sea at Terracina. This grand project which existed only in the mind of the dictator perished with him, and gave way to the more moderate but more prac- ticable plan of Augustus, who endeavored to carry off the super- fluous waters by opening a canal all along the Via Appia from Forum Appii to the grove of Feronia. It was customary to embark on this canal at night time, as Strabo relates and Horace practised ; 1 because the vapors that arise from the swamps are less noxious during the coolness of the night than in the heat of the day. Many of the inconveniences of the marshes still continued to be felt, as appears from Horace’s complaints, 2 and from the epithet applied by Lucan to the Via Appia. Et qua Pomptinas Via dividit Uda paludes. 3 — Lib. iii. 85. However the canal opened by Augustus still remains and is called the Cavata. The luxury and the improvident policy of the immediate suc- cessors of Augustus, and the civil wars that raged under Galba, Otho, Vitcllius, and Vespasian, diverted their attention from works of peace and improvement ; so that the marshes again increased and the waters swelled, so as to render the Via Appia nearly im- passable. 4 At length Nerva resumed the task, and his glorious successor Trajan carried it on during ten years and with so much activity that the whole extent of country from Treponti to Terracina was drained, and the Via Appia completely restored, in the third consulate of that emperor. This event is commemorated in three inscriptions, one of which may be seen on a marble slab at the 1 Horace embarked in the evening, and arrived at Feronia about ten o’clock next morning ; having travelled about seven-and-twenty miles in sixteen hours. The muleteer seems to have been as slow and as sleepy as modern German drivers. Aqua . . . teterrima mali culices, rana?que palustres.— Lib. i. Sat. v. 7— 14. The water here was of so foul a stream .... The fenny frogs with croakings hoarse and deep. And gnats, loud buzzing. Francis. 3 Where the wet road the Pomptine marsh divides. 4 Silius Italicus, who flourished in this interval, appears to have given an accurate description of them as they were in his time, though he is speaking of the age of Annibal : Et quos pestifera Pomptini uligine cam pi ; Quo saturae nebulosa palus restagnat, et atro Liventes coeno per squalida turbidus arva Cogit aquas Ufens atque infleit aequora lirao.— Si7. Ital. lib, yiii. 379. The youth that till th' unwholesome Pomptine lands, Where Satura's marsh, with vapors crested, stands, And through the squalid plains his turbid flood Black liens rolls, and dyes the sea with mud. J. 21 322 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. village of Treponii; another more explicit was found near the forty- second mile-stone on the Via Appia ; and the third exists on a stone in one of the angles of the wall of the cathedral at Terracina. During the convulsions of the following centuries the marshes were again overflowed, and again drained by Cecilius Decius in the reign of Theodoric. The commencement of this work is announced in an epistle drawn up in the declamatory style of the times, and addressed by the Gothic prince to the senate. Its success is stated in another to Decius, containing a grant of the lands drained by him free from taxes for ever. Of the different popes who have revived this useful enterprise, Boniface II., Martin V., and Sixtus Quintus carried it on with a vi- gor adequate to its importance, and with a magnificence worthy of the ancient Romans. But the short reigns of these benevolent and enterprising sovereigns did not permit them to accomplish their grand designs; and their successors of less genius or less activity contented themselves with issuing briefs and imposing obligations on the communities and proprietors to support and repair the drains. The glory of finally terminating this grand undertaking, so often attempted and so often frustrated , was reserved for the late pontiff Pius VI. who immediately on his elevation to the papal ihrone turned his attention to the Pomptine marshes. The level was taken with precision, the depth of the different canals and outlets sounded, the degree of declivity in the beds of the rivers ascertained, and at length the work was begun in the year 1778. It was carried on with incredible ardor and vast expense for the space of ten years ; and at length it was crowned with complete success and closed in the year 1788. The impartial reader will readily acknowledge, that much praise is due to the pontiff, who in spite of every difficulty (and many oc- curred not only from the nature of the work, but from the petty interests, intrigues, and manoeuvres of the parties concerned) had the courage to commence, and the perseverance to complete, an undertaking of such magnitude. The unproductive marsh forced to bear the plough and maintain the neighboring cities; the river re- strained from inundations and taught a better course, are considered by Horace 1 as the most glorious of Augustus’s achievements, and with reason, if glory be the result of utility. Yet Augustus had the immense resources of the Roman empire at his command; he had idle legions to employ instead of laborers, and his success was partial only and temporary. In truth the draining of the Pompline marshes is one of the most useful as well as most difficult works ever executed, and reflects more lustre on the reign of Pius VI. than the dome of the Vatican, all glorious as it is, can confer on the memory of Sixtus Quintus. 2 * Art. Poet. 61—68. P It is fortunate for the pope, and indeed for catholics in general, that there is Chap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. 323 I have said that the success was complete ; this however must be understood upon the supposition that the canals of communica- tion be kept open and the beds of the streams be cleared . 1 The difference between the latter and all preceding attempts is this : on former occasions the level was not taken in all parts with suffi- cient accuracy, and of course the declivity necessary for the flow of the waters not every where equally secured. This essential defect has been carefully guarded against on the late occasion, and the emissarii or great drains so conducted as to insure a constant cur- rent. The principal fault at present is said to be in the distribution of the land drained, the greater part of which having been pur- chased by the Camera Apostolica (the Apostolic Chamber) was given over to the Duke of Braschi. Roman noblemen have never been remarkable for their attention lo agriculture, and the duke, content probably with the present profit, is not likely to lay out much in repairs, particularly in times so distressing as the present. Had the land been divided into lesser portions and given to industrious families, it might have been cultivated better, and the drains cleansed and preserved with more attention. The government indeed ought to have charged itself with that concern ; but in go- vernments where the people have no influence, public interests are seldom attended to with zeal, constancy, and effect. When we crossed the Pomptine marshes, fine crops of corn co- vered the country on our left, and seemed to wave to the very foot of the mountains ; while on the right numerous herds of cattle and horses grazed in extensive and luxuriant pastures. Nor indeed is the reader to imagine, that when the marshes were in their worst state they presented in every direction a dreary and forbidding aspect to the traveller or the sportsman who ranged over them. On the side towards the sea they are covered with extensive forests, that enclose and shade the lakes which border the coasts. These forests extend with little interruption from Ostia to the promontory of Circe , 1 and consist of oak, ilex, bay, and numberless flowering shrubs. To the north rises Monte Albano with all its tumuli, and all the towns and cities glittering on their summits. To the south, towers the promontory of Circe on one side, and the shining rock of Anxur on the other ; while the Yolscian mountains, sweeping from north td south in a boid semicircle, close the view to the east. On their sides the traveller beholds Cora , Sezza , Piper no, like aerial palaces shining in contrast with the brown rugged rock that such clear and frequent mention of the Pomptine marshes in ancient aulh< rs ,* otherwise these destructive swamps would undoubtedly have been attributed by such travellers as Burnet, Addison, Misson, etc. to the genius of the papal govern- ment, and to the nature of the catholic religion, to indolence, superstition, igno- rance, etc. 1 It is reported that since the last French invasion these necessary precautions have been neglected, and that the waters begin to stagnate again, CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. supports them. These towns are all ancient, and nearly retain their ancient names. The wall and two Doric temples still attest the magnificence of Cora. Setia is characteristically described in the well known lines of Martial, which point out at once both its situa- tion and principal advantage : The town is still, as anciently, little, but it no longer possesses the delicate and wholesome wines which it anciently boasted ; for al- though vineyards cover the hills around, and spread even over the plains below, yet the grape is supposed to have lost much of its flavor. Piperno is the Priverni Antiqua urbs (the ancient city of Privernum) of Virgil, whence the father of Camilla was expelled. The road from Rome to Naples passed through these towns be- fore the late restoration of the Via Appia, and the draining of the marshes. The post-house called Mesa , was the ancient Admedias Paludes (the mid-marshes). At the extremity of the marshes we crossed the Amasenus, now united with the Ufens, and falling with it into the canal on the right. The bridge is handsome and graced with an inscription, in a very classical style, relative to the change made in the bed of the former river. It runs as follows : Qua leni resonans prius susurro Molli flumine sesc agebat O ufens Nunc rapax Amasenus it lubens : et Yias dedidicisse ait priores Ut Sexto gereret Pio jubenti Morem, neu sibi ut ante jure possit Viator male dicere aut colonus. a The Amasenus is indeed here a deep and rapid stream, and was when we passed it clear, though it carried with it such a mass of water from the marshes. The scenery around the bridge is wooded, cool, and was to us particularly refreshing. The stream was full and rapid as when Metabus reached its banks : Quae paludes delicata Pomptinas Ex arce clivi spectat uva Setini.’ Marl. lib. x. epist. 74. Ecce fugae medio summis Amasenus abundans Spumabat ripis; tantus se nubibus imber Ruperat. 3 Virgil. sEn. xi. 547. Where the rich vine, the pride of Setia's town, Looks o'er the Ponaptine marshes proudly dovvu. Where once, with gentle waves and slow. Soft-whispering Liens lov'd to How, ISow.rapid Amaseunsruns; Ask why his former bed he shuns? ’Tis that his waters may obey The holy Pontiffs honor'd sway. And that no trav'ller now, nor swain, May justly rail at him again. 5 The banks of Amasone at length he gains ; Chap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. 325 The woods and thickets around seem to present the same scenery as anciently, and correspond well with the rest of the history, the solitary education and the half-savage life of Camilla. We were now about to emerge from the Paludi, the only marshes ever digni- fied by classic celebrity. They have at lengih laid aside their hor- rors, and appeared to us clothed with harvest, and likely again to become what they were in the early ages of the Roman republic, the granary of Latium. Titus Livius relates that the Romans under the apprehension of scarcity had recourse to the Pomptine terri- tory for corn. Now the hilly part of that territory produced much wine indeed, but little corn ; the latter must therefore have grown in the plains which have since become the marshes . 1 They still retain their forests, the haunt now, as anciently, of wild boars, of stags, and sometimes of robbers ; 2 and their numerous streams, the resort of various kinds of excellent fish ; hence they are still much fre- quented by fishermen, and indeed by sportsmen of all descrip- tions. Between two and three miles from Terracina, a few paces from the road, a little ancient bridge crosses a streamlet 3 issuing from the fountain of Feronia. Viridi gaudens Feronia luco.4 — Virg. vii. 800. The grove in which this goddess was supposed to delight has long since fallen ; one only solitary ilex hangs over the fountain. The temple has sunk into the dust, not even a stone remains ! Yet she had a better title to the veneration of the benevolent than all the other goddesses united. She delighted in freedom, and took de- serving slaves under her protection. They received their liberty by being seated on a chair in her temple, inscribed with these words, Bcnc merili servi seclcant .* surgatit liberi . 5 The rocky eminence of Anxur now rose full before us, seemed to advance towards the sea, and as we approached presented to our view a variety of steep cliffs. On the side of one of these craggy hills stands the old town of Terracina :, looking towards the marshes (prom in paludes) : the new town descends gradually towards the beach and lines the shore ; it was considerably augmented by the late Pope, who built a palace, and resided here during the spring The raging flood his farther flight restrains. Rais'd o'er the borders with unusual rain s.—Dryden. 1 Liv. iv. 25. * Juvenal, Sat. iii. 3 The streamlet is mentioned by Horace : Ora mbnusque tu3 lavlmus peronia lympha. —Z/or. lib. i. sat. v. 21. At ten, Feronia, we thy fountain gain ; There land and bathe. Francis. 4 And where Feronia’s grove and temple stands.— Drydcn. 5 Let slaves who have conducted themselves well, sit down here, and rise up free.— See Serviu s, quoted by Lluverius, 10H. 326 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. and autumn, in order to urge on his favorite undertaking. On the ridge of the mountain stood the ancient Anxur, and on the summit, immediately over the sea, rose the temple of Jupiter, on a con- spicuous and commanding site, whence he was supposed to pre- side over all the circumjacent country, * and to regulate the destiny of its inhabitants. On this pinnacle still remain two vast squares, consisting each of a number of arches, and forming probably the substruction of the temple of Jupiter and that of Apollo. The co- lonnades of these two temples, the color of the rock which sup- ported them, and the lofty walls and towers of the city which en- closed them and crowned the cliff, gave Anxur the splendor and majesty so often alluded to by the poets : » Jmpositum saxis late candentibus Anxur. 1 * 3 4 5 — Hor. lib. i. sat. v. 26. Superbus Anxur. 3 — Mart. lib. vi. epig. 42. Arcesque superbi Anxuris.* — Statius. The situation of Terracina reclining on the side of the mountain, and stretched along the shore, is very picturesque; its long lines of white edifices, and particularly the facade of the Pope’s palace, give it a general appearance of magnificence. However it possesses few objects of curiosity. The cathedral is a dark and dismal pile; it contains some antique pillars and monuments, and suffered much from the French. Some slight traces of the ancient port repaired by Antoninus, are still visible. This town seems to have been ris- ing rapidly into consideration by its increasing commerce, till the late invasion of the French checked its growth and threw it back into insignificance ; and indeed few places seem better calculated for bathing and public resort than Terracina; its beach is flat ; its sands are level and solid ; the fcea is tranquil ; a river bathes its walls; and the scenery around is rich, bold, and variegated. Hence, in ancient times, it was a place much frequented during the summer, and noticed and celebrated by the poets. O Nemus, O fontes, solidumque madentis arenae Littus, et ajquoreis splendidus Anxur aquis; Et non uni us spectator leclulus undas Qui videt hinc puppes fluminis, inde maris.s Martial, lib. x. epig. 51. 1 Quels Jupiter Anxurus arvis Presldet .... Tbe plains over which Anxurlan Jupiter presides. * climb the rocky steep Whence Anxur .shines. 3 Haughty Anxur. 4 The towers of haughty Anxur. 5 le Knives, ye fountains and thou sea-wash'd strand, And Anxur. glllt ring In the glassy tide, WhoDce tbo tall barks are view d on either hand, rtr cm th« salt wave, or rivar smooth that fUd«! Ciiap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. 327 Martial elsewhere alludes to the salubrity of the place, and its waters ; as when speaking of several deligthful retreats along the same coast he mentions the two points that close on each side the bay of Terracina. Seu placet iEneia nutrix, seu filia solis, Sive salutiferis candidus Anxur aquis. 1 Lib. v. epig. 1. If the traveller can spare a day he may hire a boat, and sail along the coast to the promontory of Circe, which forms so con- spicuous a figure in his prospect and appears from Terracina , as Homer and Virgil poetically describe it, a real island. As he ranges over its lofty cliffs he will recollect the splendid fictions of the one, and the harmonious lines of the other. He may traverse the un- frequented groves; but instead of the palace of Circe he will dis- cover the lonely village of Santa Felicila , a few solitary towers hanging over the sea, and perhaps some faint traces of the ancient Circeia f covered with bushes and overgrown with shrubs. Nearly opposite Terracina and the promontory of Circe, but visible only from the hills, lie a cluster of islands, the principal of which, Ponza now, anciently Pontia , was little noticed under the republic, but ennobled under the Cmsars by the exile and death of several illus- trious victims of imperial tyranny. Five or six miles from Terracina , at the foot of a high hill, in a defile with the rock on one side and the sea on the other, called Passo (li Portetta, 9 stands a tower with a gate, forming the barrier between the Roman and Neapolitan territories. It is called Torre del Epitaffio , 3 and is 'Occupied by a few Neapolitan troops, the com- mander of which examines the passports. We had now entered the tertitory of the Aurunci or Ausonians, a people who under the latter appellation gave their name to all Italy. Their territory however was not extensive, nor was their power ever great. ATiule' beyond the tower, the mountains seem to recede, the country opens and gradually expands into the fertile valley of Fondi.\ the ViaAppia (Appian Way) intersects it nearly in the middle. On the right be- tween the road and the sea we beheld a fine expanse of water, the Lacus Fumlanus or AnujclanusS formed by several streams which, falling from the mountains, cross the plain and emply4liemselves in its bosom. Its borders, towards the road, .are covered with myr- tle, poplars, luxuriant shrubs, and flowers. Jkich was also its ancient dress. 5 It is separated from the sea by forest ; and indeed the -* , >* - - > Whether Caiela's shore. Or Circe's please thee iifore, Or Auxur white, (or healthful streams renownd. The pass of the little gate 1 The tower of the epitaph. Still Lutfodi Fond* > Flin. Nat. Hist. xiv. t». 328 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. whole vale is beautifully adorned with orange and citron trees, in- terspersed with cypress and poplars. Fondi is a little town, consisting of one street on the Via Appia , which is here in its ancient form, that is, composed of large flags, fitted together with wonderful art, although in their natural shape, and without cement. With regard to the appearance of the town, 1 1 must observe, that two circumstances must necessarily give almost all southern towns a gloomy appearance ; in the first place, the streets are generally narrow ; and in the second the windows are seldom glazed. These deformities, for such they are in our eyes, are the natural consequences of the climate, and prevailed in an- cient as well as in modern Italy and Greece. In Rome itself, even when embellished by Augustus, the streets were narrow, and re- mained so till the city was rebuilt by Nero after the conflagration. 2 The wines of this territory, and indeed of this coast, were anciently in high repute, and still enjoy some reputation. The mountain which the traveller beholds in front as he is going out of Fondi , or rather a little to the right, is Mount Ccecubus. I must observe that the exhalations which arise from the lake, and from the marshes which it occasions when it overflows, still con- tinue as in ancient times to render the fertile valley of Fondi un- healthy. At a little distance from it we began to ascend the hills ( Formiani Colles , the Formian Hills), the ramifications of Mount Ccecubus , and found the country improve, if possible, in beauty, as we advanced winding up the steep. The castle of Itri is, when seen at a distance, picturesque, and a mausoleum near it remarkable. The town itself is ugly, and its name unknown to antiquity. When we had reached the summit of the hills that continue to rise beyond Itri , we were entertained with the new and magnificent views, that opened upon us at every turn, of the town and bay of Gaieta and its bounding promontories. The ground we trod is truly poeti- cal. We were descending Mount Ccecubus , one of the Formian hills celebrated by Horace ; beneath lay Mola di Gaieta , once Formice , the seat of the .Laestrygons, and the theatre of one of the greatest disasters of Ulysses. Before us, over the bay at a considerable distance, rose Prochyia, and towering ^ Inarime, Jovis imperiis iraposta Typhoeo.’* — jEn. ix. 716. On our right stood the mausoleum of Munatius Plancus, Horace's * The most remarkable event perhaps in the history of Fondi is an assault made upon it by a Turkish force, for the purpose of carrying off its countess, Julia di Gonzaga, the most beautiful princess of her age. The town was taken by surprise, and plundered ; but the reader will learn with pleasure that the Lady escaped. » Tac. Annal. xv. 43. 3 Inarime, by ruighty Jove’s command Laid on Typhous. Chap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. 329 friend, and beyond it ascended the bold promontory intrusted with the fame and the ashes of Gaieta. Et nunc servat honos sedcm tuus, ossaque nomen Hesperia in magna (si qua est ea gloria) signat. 1 * — JEn. vii. 4. We continued to roll over the broad flags of the Via Appia , and descending a steep from Castellone entered Mula ( Formice ) a in the evening. The town is in itself little and insignificant, but it derives interest, if not grandeur, from its beautiful site, poetical scenery, and classic recollections. It consists of one street, formed by the Via Appia on the sea side, at the foot of a range of broken pictu- resque hills and mountains, covered with corn, vines, and olive- trees, and topped with rocks, churches, and towers. The waters # that stream from these hills unite and gush forth in a fountain close to the town. This fountain is said to be the fair flowing Artacia described by Homer ; if so, we may conclude that the town of the Lcesinjgons lay a little higher on the hills, since the daughter of An- tiphatcs is described as coming down from it . 3 The most conspicuous and striking object from the town of Mold is the fortress of Gaieta , crowning the rocky promontory of the same name with its white ramparts, and presenting to the eye, one above the other, its stages of angles and batteries. The town itself is spread along the shore, and extends nearly from the centre of the bay to the point of the promontory. The harbor so well de- scribed by Homer is that of Gaieta , and whoever ranges over it will find all the features painted by the poet — the towering rocks, the prominent shores, the narrow entrance, and the hollow port. It is about four miles by land and two by water from Mala. There is some difficulty in procuring admittance, as it is a fortress, and not aware of this circumstance we presented ourselves at the gate with- out our passports : but after a few observations, we were as English- men allowed to enter, conducted to the governor then at church, received very po!itely t and permitted to visit every part of the for- tress without further ceremony. The cathedral, though not large nor highly decorated, is well pro- portioned, well lighted, and by the elevation of the choir admira- bly calculated or public worship. The font is a fine antique vase of white marble, with basso relievos, representing Athamas, Ino with a child in her arms, and a group of Bacchantes. The sculptor was an Athenian; but such a vase is better calculated for a gallery of antiques than for the place where it now stands. Opposite the 1 Here rest thy bones in rich nesperia’s plains; Thy name (Tis all a ghost can have) remains.— Dry den. » Close to the road on both sides were scattered the ruins of the Formian villa, and the mausoleum of Cicero. 3 Odyss. x. 107. 330 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. great portal of the cathedral rises an antique column marked with the names of the Winds in Greek and Latin. The streets of the town are neatly built and well paved, its general appearance is lively within, and without extremely picturesque. I have already said that the fortress crowns the point or head of the promontory, or rather peninsula of Gaiela. On the narrow neck that unites it to the main-land, but on a bold eminence, stands the tomb of Muna- tius Plancus. It is round like that of Hadrian, like it stripped of its marble casing, and turned into a battlemented tower, called, one might suppose from the romantic hero of Ariosto, Torre d' Or- lando. But neither the mausoleum of Plancus, nor the towers of Gaieta; t either the wondrous tales of Homer, nor the majestic verses of Virgil, shed so much glory and interest on these coasts as the For- mian villa and the tomb of Cicero. That Cicero had a villa here, and that it lay about a mile from the shore, history informs us ; and at that very distance on the left of the road the attentive traveller will observe the remains of ancient walls scattered over the fields, and half covered with vines, olives, and hedges. These shapeless heaps tradition points to as the ruins of Cicero’s Formian villa. Again, history assures us that he was overtaken and beheaded in the walks of a grove that lay between his villa and the sea. On the opposite side of the road rises, stripped of its decorations and in- deed of its very shape, a sort of obelisk in two stories, and this dis- figured pile the same tradition reveres as his mausoleum, raised on the very spot where he was butchered, and where his faithful at- tendants immediately interred his headless trunk. Lower down and near the sea, or rather hanging over its waves, are shewn several vaults and galleries which are supposed to have been part of the Villa Inferior (the Lower Villa), as that which I have described above was called Villa Superior ( the Upper Villa ). It is a pity that excavations are not made (and with what success might they not be made all along this interesting coast) to give curiosity some chance of acquiring greater evidence. Of the fate of Cicero’s remains we know nothing, as history is silent with regard to his obsequies and sepulchre. It does not seem probable that during Antony’s life, the most zealous friend would have dared to erect a monument to the memory of his most active and deadly enemy ; and after that Triumvir’s death, Augustus seems to have concealed his sentiments, if favorable to Cicero, with so much care and success that his very nephews did not venture to read that illustrious Roman’s works in his presence. Before the death of Augustus the personal and affectionate interest inspired by affinity or friendship had probably subsided ; few survived that Emperor who could possibly have enjoyed the happiness of an in- timate and familiar acquaintance with Cicero, and fewer still could have had any particular and urgent motive to step forward from the Chap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. 331 crowd, and to pay due honors to his long neglected memory. But notwithstanding these reasons and the silence of history on the subject, yet as his son escaped the proscription, and as ho was re- stored to his country and his rank when the rage of civil war had given way to the tranquil domination of Augustus, it is possible that he then might have raised a monument to the memory of a father so affectionate to him, and so illustrious in the eyes of the public. As long therefore as popular belief, or tradition however uncertain, attaches the name of Cicero to these ruins; and as long as even credulity can believe that the one has been his residence and the other his tomb ; so long will every traveller who values liberty and reveres genius, visit them with interest, and hang over them, though nearly reduced to a heap of rubbish, with delight. 1 cannot turn from this subject without observing, that many authors have related, but that Plutarch alone has painted, the last tragical scene of Cice- ro’s life. About twelve o’clock, too late indeed for the distance we had to go, we set out from Mola. The road runs over a fine plain, bor- dered on the left by distant mountains ; and on the right by the sea. About three miles from the Liris ( Garigliano ) an aqueduct, erected to convey water to Miniurnce , passes the road ; it is now in ruins, but the remaining arches, at least a hundred, lofty and solid, give a melancholy magnificence to the plain which they seem to be- stride. On the bank of the Liris and to the right of the road extend the ruins of Miniurnce, spread over a considerable space of ground, exhibiting substructions, arches, gateways, and shattered walls, now utterly forsaken by human inhabitants, and abandoned to owls, foxes, and serpents. Many beautiful shafts, bases, and capitals of marble have been found here and on the banks of the river, and more might possibly be discovered if the ruins were removed. The delay occasioned by the ferry affords the traveller lime enough to range over the site and the remains of Miniurnce. This city is four miles from the sea ; the space between was covered by the sacred groves of the nymph Marica, sometimes called the Lallan Venus , the mother of Latinus ; and by the well-known marshes, which, though they infected the air with noxious exhalations, have acquired some celebrity from ihe adventure of Marius. Happy had it been for Rome and for humanity if the swamp had swallowed up for ever the withered carcase and vengeful heart of that ruthless chief. These marshes have lost something of their ancient malig- nity, and are become a rich cultivated plain. A tower stands on the bank to defend the passage over the river; its first story or lower part is ancient, and built with great solidity and beautiful proportion. The Liris forms the southern border ol Latium , and separates it from Campania; as we glided slowly over its surface we endeavored in vain to conjecture the origin of its modern 332 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. name . 1 * May it not possibly be from its original appellation Giants , joined to its Roman name Liris , with an Italian termination, thus Glaniliriano , afterwards altered in the Italian manner for euphony into Ganiliriano , and finally Garigliano? Having crossed the river we entered Campania, * and as we drove over the plain beyond, we had a full view of the Liris , a wide and noble river winding under the shadow of poplarsvthrough a lovely vale, and then gliding gently towards the sea. The river still re- tains its characteristic silence and tranquillity, while the regions through which it flows still enjoy the beauty and fertility which distinguished them of old. These are, the Umbrosce Regna Maricce , 3 * Rura quae Liris quicta Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.4 Hor. Carm. lib. i. od. xxxi. 7. Some rugged mountains appeared at a distance, but they only served as a magnificent frame to set off by contrast the rich scenery that adorned the hills and the plains that border the stream. Though the ground rises gradually from the Liris to the next stage, yet the space between is called from its comparative flatness the Plain of Sessa , and few indeed are the plains that can vie with it in beauiy and fertility. In front or a little to the right rises a bold and lofty mountain, extending on that side to the sea; it is Mount Massicus, once so famous for its wines, and it still retains its an- cient name . 5 On the left falling a little backwards to the north is Monte Ofellio, and on the side swells Monte Aurunco , perpetuating in its original name the memory of a very ancient people. On its side, covered with its forests behind, and before open to the beauties of the valley and to the breezes of the sea, is seated Sessa , once Suessa Aurunca . The whole scene is finely diversified by oaks . rising sometimes single, and sometimes in clumps in the middle of 1 The reader who delights in classical appellations will learn w ith pleasure, that this river still bears its ancient name till it passes the city of Sora. That the Fi- brenus (still so called) falls into it a little below that city, and continues to encircle the little island in which Cicero lays the scene of the second dialogue De Legibus, and which he describes with so much eloquence. I must add, that Arpinum also, in the vicinity of the Fibrenus, still retains its name, ennobled by the birth of that most illustrious Roman. a Hinc felix ilia Campania est. Ah hoc sinu incipiunt vitiferi colles, et temulen- tia nobilis succoper omnes terras inclyto, atque, ut vetercs dixere, summum Liberi patris cum Cerere certarnen. — C. Plin. Nat. Hist. iii. 5. “Henceforward is the happy Campania. From this bay begin the vine-covered hills, and the wine renowned throughout the w hole w orld, the ultimate contest, as the ancients expressed it, of father Bacchus w ith Ceres.” 3 The domains of the shady Marica. ^ ... The rich fields that Lli is laves, And eats away with silent waves. — Francis. 5 Cluverius mistakes when he says, it is called Mondragonc, which is the name of a village or fortress at its base near the sea. Chap. XXI. THROUGH ITALY. , 333 I *•- ‘ s • i corn-fields or vineyards ; woods girding the sides of the hills and waving on their summits ; large villages with their towers shining in the middle of orchards and thickets, forming altogether a view unusually rich and delightful. Beyond St. Agatha the country becomes more hilly and is shaded with thicker and larger woods. A romantic dell, with a streamlet tumbling through it, forms a pretty diversity in the view. We were now engaged in the defiles of Mount Massicus, which communicate with those of the CaUicula, a mountain covered with forests and crowned with Calvi , the ancient Cedes. From these defiles we emerged by a road cut through the rock above Franco - iisi, and as we looked down we beheld the plains of Campania spread before us, bordered by th e Apennines, with the craggy point of Ischia towering to the sky on one side, and in the centre Vesu- vius , calmly lifting his double summit wreathed with smoke. Even- ing now far advapeed, shed a purple tint over the sides and the summits of the mountains, that gave at once a softness and a richness to the picture, and contrasted finely with the darkness of the plains below, and the light colors of a few thin clouds flitting above. From Francolisi we traversed the Falernus Ager (Falernian ter- ritory), which is the tract enclosed between the sea, Mount Massicus, CaUicula , and the river Vuliurnus; a territory so much celebrated by the ancient poets, and so well known to the modern reader for its delicious wines. It has often been asked, why Italy does not now produce wines so excellent, and in such variety as anciently; and it has been as often answered, either that the climate has changed, or that the cultivation of the grape has been neglected, and the vines allowed to degenerate for want of skill and attention. As for the first of these reasons, we find nothing in ancient authors that can furnish the least reason to suppose that any such revolution has happened. The productions of the soil are the same, and ap- 1 pear at the same stated periods ; the seasons correspond exactly with the descriptions of the poets; the air is in general genial and serene, though chilled occasionally (at least in many provinces) with hard wintry frosts, and sometimes disturbed by sudden un- seasonable storms full as grand and as mischievous as that described by Virgil . 1 Neglect and ignorance are reasons more plausible, but will not perhaps on examination be found much more satisfac- tory. Arts essential to the existence of man, when once known, are never forgotten, and articles so necessary as bread and wine cannot possibly be entirely neglected. The science of tillage passes from father to son, and cannot be obliterated unless the whole po- pulation of a country be at once destroyed, and a link struck out of the chain of human generation. Moreover the mode of gather- 1 Georg, i. 448.-457. 334 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXL ing and pressing the grape, of boiling and storing the wine, is nearly the same now as ancientiy. Beside, from the reasons given above it would follow, that the culture of the vine was tost all over Italy, Greece, and Sicily, and that the vine itself had degenerated in all the countries that lie south of the Alps, however favored in other respects by nature. Very few indeed of the numberless wines produced in these auspicious climates are palatable to an English or a French traveller, who is apt to find in them either a lusciousness or a raciness, or an inexpressible something that disgusts him, and is not always removed even by familiarity. Nor ought this circumstance to surprise us. Accustomed from our in- fancy to hear the wines of Italy and Greece extolled by the ancient poets, we expect to find them singularly delicious : while we forget that the goodness of wine depends upon taste, and that our taste has been formed, I had nearly said vitiated, by wines of a flavor very different from that of the classic grape. If the Italian wines therefore are not in so much repute now as they were formerly, it is to be attributed not so much to the degeneracy of the vine, as to the change of taste not only in transalpine countries, but even in Italy itself. The modern Italians are extremely sober; they drink wine as Englishmen drink small beer, not to flatter the palate but to quench the thirst; provided it be neither new, flat, nor unwholesome, it answers their purpose, and they require from it nothing more. In the cultivation of the vine very little attention is therefore paid to the quality or perfection, but merely to the quantity of the pro- duce. Not so the ancients : they were fond of convivial enjoy- ments : they loved wine, and considered it not only as a gratification to the palate, but as a means of intellectual enjoyment, and a vehicle of conversation. To heighten its flavor therefore, to bring it to full maturity by age, in short, to improve it by every method imagi- nable, was with them an object of primary importance ; nor can it occasion surprise that in circumstances so favorable, the vine should flourish. Yet with all this encouragement the two most celebrated wines in Italy, the Caecuban and the Falernian, had lost much of their excellency and reputation in Pliny’s time; the for- mer in consequence of a canal drawn across the vale of Amyclae by the Emperor Nero; and the latter from its very celebrity, which occasioned so great a demand, that the cultivators, unable to resist the temptation, turned their attention from the quality to the quan- tity. This cause of decline is indeed considered as common to both these species of wine ; but in the former it was only an accessary, in the latter a principal agent. The canal alluded to, was one of the extravagant whims of Nero, who had resolved to open an inland communication between Ostia and the Lake Avernus, by a navigable canal which might afford all the pleasures without any of the inconveniences of a voyage in the Chap. XXL THROUGH ITALY. 335 usual manner. This work was begun but never finished ; and it is probable that the Lcigo Funddno or Amyclano, which was to have formed part of the projected canal, was lengthened and extended across the little plain to the very foot of Mount Ccecuhus ; thus depriving the flats of a considerable part of that moisture which perhaps caused their fertility. The Caecuban wine so much celebrated was produced, according to Pliny, in the poplar groves that rose in the marshes on the bay of Amyclse. The same author gives a long list of Italian wines, all good though of very different degrees of excellence ; and I have no doubt that modern Italy, if the cultivation of the vine had the same encouragement now as anciently, would furnish a catalogue equal to it both in excellence and in variety. As it is not intended to expand a few cursory remarks into a dissertation, it may finally be observed that several of the wines celebrated in ancient times still retain, at least, some share of their ancient reputation. Thus a wine produced in the very extremity of the Adriatic Gulph, on the banks of the Timavus, 1 and in the vicinity of Aquileia , is still in as great request at Trieste as it was formerly in Rome; as is the Rhelian wine, so much extolled by Virgil, at Venice and Verona. The wines of Luna and Florence are even now much esteemed all over the north of Italy, as are those of the Alban Mount , includ- ing Frascati and Gensano t in Rome. The vines that flourish on the sides and around the base of Vesuvius still continue to furnish a rich and delicious wine, well known to all travellers and to most readers under the appellation of Lachryma Christi. To conclude, Horace has comprised with his usual neatness the four principal wines of Italy, all the produce of the coast which we have just tra- versed, in the following stanza : Caecubum et prelo domitam Caleno Tu bibes uvam, mea nec Falernae Temperant vites, neque Formiani Pocula colies. 2 Carm. lib. i. od. xx. 10. Before we arrived at Capua night had set in, but it was night in all its charms ; bright, serene, and odoriferous. The only object that could then strike our eyes or excite our curiosity were the luciole 9 bright insects, many of which were flying about in every direction like sparks of fire, casting a vivid light around them, and seeming to threaten the waving corn over which they flitted, with 1 This wine was called Pucinum. The place now bears the name of Castel Duino, and corresponds with the description given of it by Pliny, saxeo colle, maritimo a(flatu.-~A rocky hill exposed to the sea-breezes.— Nat. Hist. Lib. xiv. cap. vi. 2 From the Cfecublan vintage prest For you shall flow the racy wine; But ah! my meagre cup's unblest With the rich Formian or Falerniaa wine.— Fraucii, 336 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXI. a conflagration. We entered Naples at a late hour, and drove to the Gran Brelagna, an excellent inn on the sea shore, and close to the royal garden. Few scenes surpass in beauty that which burst full upon me when I awoke next morning. In front and under my windows, the bay of Naples spread its azure surface smooth as glass, while a thousand boats glided in different directions over its shining bosom : on the right the town extended along the semicircular shore, and Posilipo rose close behind it, with churches and villas, vineyards and pines scattered in confusion along its sides and on its ridge, till, sloping as it advanced, the bold hill terminated in a craggy promontory. On the left at the end of a walk that forms the quay and skirls the sea, the Castel del Uovo standing on an insu- lated rock caught the eye for a moment; while beyond it over a vast expanse of water, a rugged line of mountains stretched for- ward, and softening its features as it projected, presented towns, villages, and convents, lodged amidst its forests and precipices, and at length terminated in the cape of Minerva now of Surrentum. Opposite, and full in front rose the island of Caprece with its white cliffs and ridgy summit, placed as a barrier to check the tempest and protect the interior of the bay from its fury. This scene illu- minated by a sun that never shines so bright on the less favored regions beyond the Alps, is justly considered as the most splendid and beautiful exhibition which nature perhaps presents to the human eye, and cannot but excite in the spectator, when beheld for the first time emotions of delight and admiration, that border on en- thusiasm. 1 Nor are the charms of recollection, that are capable of improv- ing even the loveliest features of nature, here wanting to complete the enchantment. Naples and its coasts have never been, it is true, the theatre of heroic achievements, or the stage of grand and unusual incidents; but they have been the residence of the great and of the wise; they have aided the meditation of the sage, and have awakened the raptures of the poet ; and as long as the Latin muses continue to instruct mankind, so long will travellers visit with delight the academy of Cicero, the tomb of Virgil, and the birth-place of Tasso. 1 The bay of Leucadia, bounded by the bold coasts of that island on one side, and of Acarnania on the other, and interspersed with the Teleboides Insulat (the islands of Telebous) rising in every shape imaginable around, is, I think, more beautiful ; but it is now a desert, peopled only by recollections! Chap. XXII. THROUGH ITALY. 337 CHAPTER XXII. Naples— Its History— Public Buildings— Churches— Hospitals— Stale of Literature at Naples. Naples occupies the site of both PaUepolis and Neapolis in an- cient times, though it inherits the name of the latter. It is of Grecian origin, and is first mentioned by Titus Livius as having in conjunction with PaUepolis joined the Sammies in a confederacy against the Romans . 1 PaUepolis was taken two years after, and Naples must have shared its fate. The latter seems indeed to have been of little consideration at that time, though it continued to increase rapidly, and in the course of not many years eclipsed the splendor, usurped the territory, and gradually obliterated the very name of the former. It seems to have attached itself closely to the Roman interest, in little mqrc than a century from the above- mentioned period, and to have acquired under the protection of the Roman republic no small degree of prosperity and importance. It remained faithful to its allies even after the carnage of Cannce and the revolt of the Campanians ; and such was the strength of its ramparts that Annibal himself shrunk from the difficulties of an attack . 2 The generous offer which they had previously made to the Roman senate must naturally inspire a very favorable idea of the opulence, and, which is infinitely more honorable, of the mag- nanimity of this city . 3 This attachment to the Roman cause ex- cited the resentment of the Carthaginian, who ravaged the Neapo- litan territory with more than his usual ferocity. From this period little or no mention is made of Naples for a. long series of years, during which it seems to have enjoyed in un- disturbed tranquillity its original laws and language, and all the advantages of its fertile soil and unrivalled situation. Its coasts during this interval became the winter retreats of the luxurious Romans, and there were few among tho illustrious characters which distinguished the fall of the republic and the birth of the monarchy, who had not a villa on its shores or amid the romantic recesses of its mountains. The presence of Horace, Virgil, and his imitator Silius Italicus, and their fond attachment to its delightful scenery were lasting and honorable distinctions; while the foul indulgences of Tiberius, and the wild and cruel freaks of Caligula were its scandal and its scourge. The first recorded eruption of Vesuvius 4 interrupted its enjoy- 1 An. U. C. 127, 8 Liv. xxiii. 1 . 3 xxii. 32. 4 A. D. 79. I. 22 338 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXII. merits and wasted its coasts, and the civil wars and barbaric in- cursions that succeeded each other so rapidly during the ensuing centuries, involved it in the general calamities of Italy and of the empire. However it seems to have suffered less than most other cities during this disastrous era, as it retained longer its legitimate sovereign, the emperor of Constantinople, and with him its lan- guage and many of its ancient laws, and by his power or rather by the veneration still attached to his name, it was not unfrequently protected from the ravages and insults of contending barbarians. * When the eastern empire sunk into a state of irretrievable weak- ness and insignificance, Naples was threatened, harassed, and plundered successively by the Lombards, the Saracens, and the Normans, who in their turn became the prey of the Germans, the French, and the Spaniards. The latter at length remained its ac- knowledged masters, governed it for many years by viceroys, and at length gave it a king in the person of the present sovereign Charles IV. Of all these different tribes many traces may be dis- covered in the language, the manners, and the appearance of its inhabitants. Greek, its original language, remained the prevailing dialect long after its submission to the power of Rome ; as appears from various circumstances, but particularly from that of Greek manuscripts only being discovered at Herculaneum. Jt may indeed be doubted whether pure Latin ever was the vulgar language at Naples; at present there are more Greek words intermingled with the common dialect than are to be found in any other part of Italy. French pronunciation has communicated some share of its infec- tion, and Saracenic left considerable alloy behind. No vestiges remain of the ancient beauty or magnificence of this city. Its temples, its theatres, its basilicae have been levelled by earthquakes, or destroyed by barbarians. Its modern edifices, whether churches or palaces, are less remarkable for their taste than for their magnitude and riches. It is however highly probable that Naples is at present more opulent, more populous, and in every respect more flourishing than she has ever before been even in the most brilliant periods of her history. Naples, seated in the bosom of a capacious haven, spreads her greatness and her population along its shore, and covers its shelv- ing coasts and bordering mountains with her villas, her gardens, and her retreats. Containing within her own walls more than four hundred thousand inhabitants, she sees one hundred thousand more enliven her suburbs, that stretch in a magnificent and most extensive sweep from Porrici to the promontory of Misenus, and fill a spacious line of sixteen miles along the shore with life and » It was taken by the Goths under Theodoric, but retaken and restored to the Grecian empire by Belisarius. It seems to have been attached to its Gothic rulers, and when assailed by the Roman general made a vigorous but useless resistance. Chap. XXIL THROUGH ITALY. 339 activity. In size and number of inhabitants she ranks as the third city in Europe, and from her situation and superb show, she may justly be considered as the Queen of the Mediterranean. * The in- ternal appearance of Naples is in general pleasing; the edifices are lofty and solid ; the streets as wide as in any continental city ; the Straila Toledo is a mile in length, and with the quay, which is very extensive and well-built, forms the grand and distinguishing fea- ture of the city. In fact, the Chiaia, with the royal garden, Mergcllina and St. Lucia , which spread along the coast for so considerable a space, and present such an immense line of lofty edifices, are sufficient to give an appearance of grandeur to any city. As for architectural magnificence Naples possesses a very small share ; the prevailing taste, if a series of absurd fashions deserve that appellation, has always been bad. Moresco, Spanish, and Roman, corrupted and intermingled together, destroy all appear- ance of unity and symmetry, and form a monstrous jumble of discordance. The magnificence therefore of the churches and pa- laces consists first in their magnitude, and then in paintings, marbles, and decorations in general ; which however are seldom disposed with judgment, and when best disposed, are scattered around with a profusion that destroys their effect. To describe the public edifices of Naples would be to compose a guide. I shall therefore content myself with a few observations on some remarkable objects in them, or connected with them. Several churches are supposed to occupy the sites of ancient temples, the names and memory of which have been preserved by this circumstance. Thus the cathedral is said to stand on the sub- structions of a temple of Apollo; that of the Santi Aposioli rises on the ruins of a temple of Mercury. St. Maria Maggiore was originally a temple of Diana, etc. Of these churches some are adorned with the pillars and the marbles of the temples to which they have succeeded. Thus the cathedral is supported by more than a hundred columns of granite, which belonged to the edifice over which it is erected ; as did the forty or more pillars that de- corated the treasury, or rather the chapel of St. Januarius . The church itself was built by an Angevin prince, and when scattered or rather destroyed by earthquakes, it was rebuilt by a Spanish sovereign. It is Gothic, but strangely disfigured by ornaments and reparations in different styles. In the subterraneous chapel under the choir is deposited the body of St. Januarius. Ilis sup- posed blood is kept in a vial in the Tesoro (treasury), and is con- sidered as the most valuable of its deposits, and indeed as the 1 It is impossible not to smile in perusing Thomson’s description of the loneli- ness and devastation of this very coast, once swarming with inhabitants, now, as he represents it, turned into a desert. But some allowance must be made even for exaggeration, w hen the subject is so intoxicating,— See Liberty, i. 280, 340 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXII glory and the ornament of the cathedral and of the city itself. Into the truth of the supposition little inquiry is made; and in this respect the Neapolitans seem to have adopted the maxim of the ancient Germans, “Sancihis ac reverentius de Diis credere qaam scire." 1 The blood of St. Stephen in the church of St. Gaudioso belonging to the Benedictine Nuns, is said to liquefy in the same manner; but only once a year on the festival of the martyr. 2 The Santi Apostoli is in its origin perhaps the most ancient church in Naples, and was, if we may credit tradition, erected by Con- stantine upon the ruins of a temple of Mercury ; it has however been rebuilt partially more than once, and finally with great mag- nificence. The church of St. Paul occupies the site of a temple of Castor and Pollux; the front of this temple, consisting of eight Corinthian pillars, was destroyed by the earthquake of 1688. Two only were restored, and now form part of the frontispiece of the church. The interior is spacious, well proportioned, and finely in- crusted with marble. The chancel is very extensive, and all sup- ported by antique pillars ; it is supposed to stand over the theatre where Nero first disgraced himself by appearing as a public singer: some vestiges of this theatre may still be traced by an ob- serving antiquary. The church of St. Filippo Neri is remarkable for the number of ancient pillars that support its triple row of aisles on both sides of the nave. St. Lorenzo , belonging to a con- vent founded by Charles of Anjou , is a monument of the hatred which that prince bore to popular representation. It stands on the site of the Basilica Augusta, a noble and magnificent hall, which at the period of the first entrance of the French was the place of public assembly where the senate and people of Naples met in council. Charles suppressed the assemblies, demolished the hall, and in the year 1266 erected the church which now occupies its place. The establishment of a free and just government would have been a work more agreeable to the will, and more confor- mable to the attributes of the common Father of all, than the erection of a temple on the ruins of public property, and in defiance of justice. Of all the Neapolitan churches, that De Spirito Santo in the Strada Toledo is the most worthy of notice in my opinion, because the purest and simplest in architecture. The exterior is indifferent, or rather, it was never finished, or at least decorated. The interior is large, well proportioned, adorned with Corinthian pilasters, and ' It is more holy and more reverent to believe things that appertain to the gods, than to know them. — Tac. de Mor. Germ. 3i. * The Author has been accused of a want of candor, in not having expressed in a more explicit manner his opinion of the miracle alluded to; few readers, he conceives, will he at a loss to discover it ; hut if a more open declaration can give any satisfaction, he now declares, that he does not believe the liquefying substance to be the blood of St. Januarius. Ciiap. XXII. THROUGH ITALY. 341 a regular entablature and cornice. It is well lighted, perhaps in- deed too much so, on account of the whiteness of its walls and vault. It is not, however, entirely exempt from the usual defect, a superabundance of ornaments, and it wants a softer and mellower color to please the eye. The chapel of St. John the Evangelist was erected by the cele- brated Pontanus, and is remarkable for the Latin sentences, moral and political, engraved on its front. They are misplaced and os- tentatious, though solid, and in language not inelegant. The epitaph, composed by Pontanus himselF, has the merit of originality; but his best and most durable epitaph is the tribute paid to him by Sannazarius '. In the cloister of the canons regular attached to the parochial church of St. Aniello , stands the tomb of the poet Marini, orna- mented with a bronze statue ; the whole erected at the request of the celebrated Manso, the friend of Tasso and of Milton, who left by will a sum of money to defray the expense. The sepulchral chapel of the family San Severo deserves to be mentioned, not so much on account of its architecture, or even of its decorations, or of the order with which the monuments are disposed (though all these are worthy of notice) as on account of three particular statues, two of which display the patient skill, the third, the genius of the sculptor. The first is a representation of Modesty (Pudor) covered from head to foot with a veil : but so delicate, so apparently transparent is the veil, that through its tex- ture the spectator fancies he can trace not only the general outlines of the figure, but the very features and expression of the coun- tenance. It has been asserted, that the ancients never veiled the whole countenance of their statues, and that the art of making the form appear as it were through the foldings, is a modern improve- ment. However, there are antique statues even to the north of the Alps, in which the same effect is visible, and every traveller who has visited the gallery at Dresden, will immediately recollect some female figures (Vestals, I think), where the knee, the arm, the breast, appear as if visible through the beautiful drapery thrown over them. It must, however, be acknowledged, that in the art of producing this illusion, the moderns equal the ancients ; and of their skill in this respect, no better instances can be produced than the above-mentioned statue ; a most beautiful one of St. Cecilia, in Rome ; and a third in the chapel which [ am now describing. It represents our Saviour extended in the sepulchre; it is covered like the preceding with a veil, and like it exhibits the form which it infolds, with all its features majestic and almost divine even in death. This is, indeed, an exquisite piece of workmanship ; it displays not only as much art and patience as that of Modesty, but 342 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXII. the very soul, the genius, the sublime conceptions of the sculptor. It is generally attributed to Corradmi , as is the latter, and suffices alone to establish his reputation, and rank him among the first of artists. But the Neapolitans, who are a little jealous of the merit of strangers, ascribe it and the two others to Giuseppe San il/ar- lino , their countryman, whom they represent as the best sculptor of the times. The attention of strangers is generally directed to another statue or group in the same chapel, representing a man entangled in a net, and endeavoring, with the aid of a genius, to disengage himself. It is called 11 Disinganato (the Undeceived), and is supposed to represent, under this allegorical symbol, the conversion of one of the princes of the family to which the chapel belongs. The allegory is forced ; and the execution of the work shews only the patience and nicety with which the sculptor managed the chisel. To this catalogue one church more must be added, though it is inferior to most in Naples, in size, materials, and decorations. But it has a more powerful claim to our attention than either mar- ble or architecture can give it ; it has the genius of Sannazarius to recommend it, and its name is interwoven with the title of one of the most beautiful poems 1 which have appeared in the Latin lan- * The poem opens with the following magnificent proemium : Virginei partus, magnoque aequaeva parenti Progenies, superas caeli quae missa per auras Antiquam generis labem mortalibus aegris Abluit, obstructique viam palefecit oiyrapi. Sit mihi, Caelicolae, primus labor : hoc mihi primuru Surgat opus : vos auditas ab origine causas Et tanti seriem, si fas, evolvite fact!. The virgin-born, coeval with his sire. Who left the mansions of celestial bliss. To wash away from fainting man the stain Of sin original, and open’d wide The long-obstructed way to light and Heav’n— Be he my earliest theme; with him, my Muse, Begin. Ye Pow'rs above, if nought forbid My pious task, unfold the hidden cause And all the progress of a scheme so great 1 In the following verses, the poet describes the situation and the object of the church which he had erected : they are inserted not only on account of their con- nexion with the subject and their rich poetical coloring, but because, with the pre- ceding passage, they afford a very fair specimen of the style and the manner of the author. Tuque odeo spes fida hominura, spes Dda Deorum, Alma parens, qnam mille acies, quaeque aethcris alti Militia est, totidem currus, lot ;-igna tubaeque. Tot litui comitantur, ovaniique agmina gyro Adglomerant : niveis tibi si solennia templis Serla damus : si munsuras tibi ponimus aras Exciso in scopulo, fluetus unde aurea cauos Despiciens, celso sc culmine Mergyllina Adtollit, nautisque procul venienlibus offert : Si laudes de more tuas, si sacra, diemqhe, Ac coctus late insignes, ritusque dicamus, Annua felicis colimus dum gaudia partus : Tu vatem ignarumque viae, insuetumque labori, l>iva, inone, et puvidis jam laeta Sdlabere coeptis. Celestial queen ! 1 hou, on whom men below and saints above Chap. XXII. THROUGH ITALY. 313 guage, since the revival of letters. The church is called, from the poem, Del Parlo (of the Parturition) ; it was erected, with the little convent annexed to it, on the site of his favorite Villa Mergyllina, and was endowed by the poet. It took its name from the quarter in which it stood, which is still called Mergyllina , occupying the brow and side of a hill that slopes gently to the bay. Its situation is delicious, and the view from it as extensive, as varied, and as beautiful as the eye of a poet, in fine plirenzy rolling, can contem- plate. Its value was moreover enhanced by the dignity of the donor ; and in the eyes of the poet, without doubt, the smiles of the royal patron added new lustre to the native beauties of the sce- nery. He accordingly frequently alludes to his beloved retreat of Mergyllina in his different poems, and devotes one entire ode to its charms *. This villa was destroyed by the Prince of Orange, who commanded the garrison during the celebrated siege of Na- ples by the French. Whether this act of destruction was necessary or not, it is impossible for us to determine ; but it is not probable that it was, or could be intended as a personal injury. However the indignant poet resented it as such, and conceived an unrelenting hatred towards that general. On the ruins of the villa, the church of which we now speak was erected, and dedicated Virgini paricnti, It is neither large, nor remarkable for its archi- Their hopes repose ! on whom the banner’d hosts Of Iieav'n attend— ten thousand squadrons arm’d. Ten thousand cars self-mov d, the clarion shrill, The trumpet's voice— while round, In martial pomp, Orb within orb the thronging seraphs wheel ;— If on thy fane, of snow-white marble rear’d, I offer yearly garlands; if I raise Enduring altars in the hollow’d rock, Where Mergyllina, lifting her tall head. Looks down upon the foamy waves beneath, A sea-mark to the passing sailor's eye ;— If with due rev'rence to thy name, I pay The solemn rites; the sacrificial pomp. When each returning year we celebrate The wond’rous myst’ry of the birth divine,— Do thou assist thy feeble bard, unus'd To tasks so great, and wand’ring on his way,— Guide thou my efforts, and inspire my song. Rupis 0 sacra;, pelaglque custos Villa, nymphurum domus, et propinqu® Doridos, regum decus una quondam Deliciaeque Tu mihi solos nemorum recessus Das, et haerentes per opaca laurus Saxa ; tu fontes, Aganippidumque Antra reclusls ! My villa fair ! that seem’st to reign O'er the tall rooks, the sparkling main ! Where Doris and her sister-nymphs resort, Where once proud monarcbs dwelt, and held their joyful court. There many a cool recess is found. There laurels shade the sacred ground ; In fancy there I drink Castalia s well. And, to my fancy, there the tuneful Muses dwell. a To the paiturient Virgin, or Of the Paituritian. or De Parlu . 2 344 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXII. tecture or ornaments. The sole object of curiosity in it is the tomb of the founder, adorned with statues and basso relievos, repre- senting the subject of his poems ; the materials are rich, and the execution good; but figures representing pagan divinities, satyrs, and nymphs, are ornaments ill adapted to the tomb of a Christian poet, and strangely misplaced in a Christian church. It is impos- sible, however, not to smile at the awkward attempt of the good fathers to remedy this incongruity, by inscribing the name of David under the statue of Apollo, and that of Judith under Minerva. The epitaph was composed by Bembo : Da sacro cineri flores. Hie ille Maroni Sincerus musa proximus ut tumulo. 1 In one of the little chapels there is a picture of St. Michael tram- pling on Satan. It is observable, that the latter is represented with the face of a beautiful female, and the reason given is whimsical enough. The countenance of the devil is the picture of a very beau- tiful lady, who unfortunately fell in love with Diomedes Caraffa , Bishop of Ariano, who, to shew his abhorrence of her sacrilegious passion, when fitting up this chapel for his mausoleum, ordered the painter to degrade her into the infernal spirit, and place her pro- strate under the spear of the archangel. For the satisfaction of the ladies, I must add, that this ungallant prelate has not been cano- nized. A Last Supper in another chapel is supposed to be a master- piece, though the name of the painter is not known. I must observe, in closing these few cursory observations on the churches of Naples, that notwithstanding the bad taste which pre- vails very generally in the architecture and the decorations of these edifices, the traveller will find in most of them something that merits observation. In paintings in particular the Neapolitan churches are very rich, and there are few among them that cannot boast of one or more exquisite specimens of this art. But if the churches do no credit to the taste of the Neapolitans, the hospitals reflect much honor on their charity. These establish- ments are very numerous, and adapted to every species of distress to which man is subject in mind or body. Many of them are richly endowed, and all clean, well attended, and well regulated. One circumstance almost peculiar to Italian hospitals and charitable foun- dations, contributes essentially to their splendor and prosperity; it is, that they are not only attended by persons who devote them- selves entirely and without any interested views to the relief of suf- fering humanity; but that they are governed and inspected not no- minally, but really, by persons of the first rank and education, who manage the interests of the establishments with a prudence and * Upon the sacred dust be flow'rels spread : tie sung Hfce Maro once; be rests by Maro, dead, Chap. XXII. THROUGH ITALY. 3*5 assiduity which they seldom perhaps display in their own domestic $ economy. Besides, to almost every hospital is attached one and sometimes more confraternities, or pious associations, formed for the purpose of relieving some particular species of distress, or of averting or remedying some evil. These confraternities, though founded upon the basis of equality, and of course open to all ranks, generally contain a very Considerable proportion of noble persons, who make it a point to fulfil the duties of the association with an exactness as honorable to themselves, as it is exemplary and be- neficial to the public. These persons visit the respective hospitals almost daily, inquire into the situation and circumstances of every patient, and oftentimes attend on them personally, and render them the most humble services. They perform these duties in disguise, and generally in the dress or uniform worn by the confraternity, for the express purpose of diverting public attention from the in- dividuals, and fixing it on the object only of the association. In- stead of description, which would be here misplaced, I shall insert a few observations. Of charitable foundations in Naples, the number is above sixty. Of these seven are hospitals properly so called : thirty at least are conservatories or receptacles for helpless orphans, foundlings, etc.: five are banks for the relief of such industrious poor as are dis- tressed by the occasional want of small sums of money; the others are either schools or confraternities. The incomes of most of these establishments, particularly of the hospitals, are in general very considerable, but seldom equal to the expenditure. The annual deficiency, how great soever it may be, is abundantly supplied by donations, most of which come from unknown benefactors. The two principal hospitals are that called Degli Incurabili (of the Incurable), which notwithstanding its title is open to sick per- sons of all descriptions, and constantly relieves more than eighteen hundred; and that Della Sma. Annunziala, which is immensely rich, and destined to receive foundlings, penitent females, etc. and said sometimes to harbor two thousand. To each belong in the first place a villa, and in the second a cemetery. The villa of the first is situated at Torre del Greco , and is destined for the be- nefit of convalescents, and such as labor under distempers that re- quire free air and exercise. A similar rural retreat ought to belong to every great hospital established in large cities, where half the distempers to which the poorer classes are liable, arise from con- stant confinement, and the want of pure air. The cemetery is in a different way, of at least equal advantage to public health. It was apprehended, and not without reason, that so many bodies as must be carried out from an hospital, especially in unhealthy sea- sons, might if deposited in any church or church-yard, within the city, infect the air and produce or propagate contagious diseases. To prevent such evils, the sum of forty-eight thousand five hum* 346 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXII. dred ducats, raised by voluntary contribution, was laid out in purchasing and fitting up for the purpose a field about half a mile from the walls of the city on a rising ground. A little neat church is annexed to it, with apartments for the officiating clergy, and the persons attached to the service of the cemetery, and the road that winds up the hill to it is lined with cypresses. The burial ground is divided into three hundred and sixty-six large and deep vaults, one of which is opened every day in the year, and the bodies to be interred deposited in order. These vaults are covered with flags of lava that fit exactly, and completely close every aperture. The bodies are carried out at night time, by persons appointed for the purpose, and every precaution taken to prevent even the slight- est chance of infection. All is done gratis and the expenses re- quisite supplied by public charity. It is to be regretted that this method of burying the dead has not been adopted in every hospital and parish in Naples, and in- deed in every town and city not in Italy only but all over Europe. It is really lamentable that a practice so disgusting, not to say so pernicious, as that of heaping up putrid carcases in churches, where the air is necessarily confined, and in church-yards in cities, where it cannot have a very free circulation, should be so long and so ob- stinately retained. It would be difficult to discover one single ar- gument drawn either from the principles of religion or from the dictates of reason in its favor, while its inconveniencies and mis- chiefs are visible and almost tangible. In the early ages of Christianity the honor of being deposited in the church was reserved to martyrs ; and the Emperor Constantine only requested to be allowed to lie in the porch of the Basilica of the apostles, which he himself had erected in Constantinople. Hence the eloquent Chrysostom, when speaking of the triumph of Christia- nity, exultingly observes, that the Caesars, subdued by the humble fishermen whom they had persecuted, now appeared as suppliants before them, and gloried in occupying the place of porters at the doors of their sepulchres. Bishops and priests distinguished by their learning, zeal, and sanctity, were gradually permitted to share the honors of martyrs, and to repose with them in the sanctuary itself. A pious wish in some to be deposited in the neighborhood of such holy persons, and to rest under the shadow of the altars ; and in others an absurd love of distinction even beyond the grave; to which may be added, I fear, the avarice of the clergy, who by making such a distinction expensive, rendered it enviable; by de- grees broke through all the wholesome restrictions of antiquity, and at length converted the noblest of public edifices, the Basilicae, the temples of the Eternal, the seats of hotness and purity, into so many dormitories of the dead, receptacles of putridity, and vast infected charnel houses. Notwithstanding the decrees of synods and the representations Chap. XXII. THROUGH ITALY. 347 of the faculty ; notwithstanding the dictates of reason and the in- terests of health, this abuse w'enfron increasing andcontinued for ages in force and fashion. The first attempt I believe to check or rather to remove it entirely, was made by the Emperor Joseph, who pro- hibited by edict the interment of bodies not in churches only, but even in towns and their suburbs. This edict still prevails in the Low Countries, and if I mistake not in the Austrian territories in general, though certain clauses gave considerable offence, and sus- pended for some time its full effect. The Emperor, who in his zeal for reformation often forgot that opinion will not always bend even to power, conceived, it seems, that the sooner the carcase was reduced to dust the belter 5 he therefore proscribed the use of coffins, as calculated to prolong the state of putrefaction, and or- dered lime to be strewed over the corpse to accelerate its dissolu- tion. This regulation excited universal disgust, not only because unusual and contrary to the natural feelings, or which is nearly the same thing, to the universal practice of mankind ; but because very opposite to that tenderness and respect even for the ruins of the human form, which if not enforced by the precepts, has at all times been inspired by the genius of Christianity. Not perhaps with- out reason. That divine religion is ever intent on the grand object of raising, aggrandising, and perfecting our nature ; while it teaches us to consider ourselves as destined to act in a much higher and more glorious sphere than our present state, it naturally prompts us to look with some degree of veneration even on our own bo- dies,* which, though doomed to death and putrefaction, shall yet one day shake off the dust of the tomb, and though corruptible put on incorruption , and though mortal put on immortality . The offensive clause was therefore suppressed, and the useful and laudable pro- visions of the decree carried very generally into execution. Some regulation of the same kind was I think made in France, but it was not so comprehensive. To bury in churches was pro- hibited, but vaults were allowed, provided they did not open into the church, or into any covered court or building. This was a par- tial remedy to the evil, but still better than none; and it cannot but appear surprising that the example of two such preponderant Powers as France and Austria should not have been more generally imitated. It is still more astonishing that in a country governed by public reason and guided by public interest as England is (excepting in a few instances when the influence of the court or the spirit of party may accidentally bias the legislature), no attempts have been made to put an end to a practice so absurd and prejudicial ; espe- cially as this practice is more ev idently dangerous in Protestant than in Catholic countries ; as in the former, churches in general are 1 lionoro in cineribus seruina aeiermtaUs, says St. Ambrose. “1 honor in our ashes the seeds of eternity. ” Chap. XXII. 348 CLASSICAL TOUR M only,opened for a few hours on one %y in the week; while in the latter they are never shut, and have "the additional advantage of being fumigated with incense and sprinkled with holy water . 1 It cannot but appear strange that a people so dull and unenlight- ened as the Turks, should in this respect show more sense and even more taste than nations in every other respect their superiors. Their cemeteries are in general out of the precincts of their cities, most commonly on a rising ground, and always planted with cedars, evpresses, and odoriferous shrubs, whose deep verdure and grace- ful forms bending to every breeze, give a melancholy beauty to the place, and inspire sentiments very congenial to its destination. I have seen some Christian cemeteries (as at Brussels for instance) situate and laid out in the same advantageous and picturesque man- ner, with some additional precautions in the division, so as to preclude the possibility of heaping bodies on each other, or of crowding them indecently together. But even this arrangement is open to improvements ; and it is to be hoped that such improve- ments will ere long be made by the wisdom of a British legislature. One remark more upon the Neapolitan hospitals and I drop the subject. When a patient has recovered his health and strength, and is about to return to his usual occupations, he receives from the establishment a sum of money sufficient to compensate for the loss of time and labor unavoidable during his illness ; a most benevolent custom and highly worthy of imitation. A long illness or dangerous accident deprives a poor laborer or artisan so long of his ordinary wages, and throws him so far back in his little economy, that he cannot without great difficulty recover himself and regain a state of comfort. From this inconvenience the small sum granted by the charity of the hospital relieves him, and restores him to his trade in health, strength, and spirits. The Conservator'll are schools opened for poor children of both sexes, where they are educated, led, and taught some handicraft or other. Some are in the nature of working houses and employ a prodigious number of indigent persons of both sexes in separate buildings, while others are devoted entirely to children educated principally for music. These latter institutions have produced some or rather most of the great performers and masters of the art, who have figured in the churches or on the stages of the different capi- tals of Europe for the last hundred years. Paesiello , Caffarelli, and Pergolesewere formed in those seminaries. And indeed Naples is to Italy, what Italy is to the world at large, the great school of music, where that fascinating art is cultivated with the greatest ardor ; an ardor oftentimes carried to an extreme and productive of con- sequences highly mischievous and degrading to humanity. It is true s As holy water has always a considerable quantity of salt mixed with U, iis effect when sprinkled about a church or room must be salubrious Chap. XXII. THROUGH ITALY. 340 that the castration of boys ts* rigorously prohibited by the laws both of church and state ; but as long as the fashionable classes in London and Paris think proper to encourage and reward by enor- mous wages such performers ; so long venal parents in Naples will find means to evade the laws, and still continue to sacrifice their unfortunate children to the hopes, or rather the certainty of profit. But this practice is on the decline even here ; arid in justice to the Neapolitans I must observe, that, if we may believe them, the^ operation alluded to is not permitted, nor indeed ever practised in their schools ; but such unhappy children when sent from other places are not excluded. Of the numberless confraternities 1 shall only specify such as have some unusual and very singular object : such as that whose motto is Succurrere Miseris, 1 the members of which make it their duty to visit condemned criminals, to prepare them for death, to accompany them to execution, and to give them a decent burial. They carry their charitable attentions still farther and provide for the widows and children of these unhappy wretches. This society was originally composed of some of the first nobility of the city ; but the tyrant Philip, influenced it seems by motives of political suspicion, forbade the nobles to enter into such associations, and in particular confined the one we are speaking of to the clergy. The congregation De S. Ivone consists of lawyers, who under- take to plead the causes of the poor gratis, and to furnish all the expenses necessary to carry their suits through the courts with effect. To be entitled to the assistance and support of this associ- ation, no recommendation or introduction is required ; the person applying has only to disclose his poverty, and to give a full and fair statement of his case. Coucjrecjcizione della Croce 3 is composed principally of nobility, and its object is to relieve the poor, and imprisoned; and particularly to bury the bodies of such distressed and forsaken persons when dead. The congregation Della Sla. Trinila Dei Pellegrini 3 is destined, as its name imports, more particularly for the relief of strangers, and is composed of persons of all classes who meet in its assemblies and fulfil its duties without distinction, ft is governed by five per- sons, one of whom presides and is generally a prelate or high of- ficer of state ; the others are a nobleman, a citizen, a lawyer, and an artisan. All the members attend the hospital in rotation, each for a week, during which they receive strangers, wash their feet, attend them at table, and serve them with the humility and with more than the assiduity of menials. The congregation of Nobles for the relief of the bashful poor : the object of this association is to discover and to relieve such in- To succor the unfortunate. a The Association of the Cross. s Of the Holy Trinity of Strangers. 350 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXII. dustrious persons as are reduced to poverty by misfortune and have too much spirit, or too much modesty to solicit public assist- ance. The members of this association, it is said, discharge its be- nevolent duties with a zeal, a sagacity, and what is still more necessary for the accomplishment of their object, with a delicacy and kindness truly admirable. Ail these confraternities have halls, churches, and hospitals, more ^or less grand and extensive as their object may require, or their means allow. I need not enlarge further upon this subject, as the institutions already mentioned are suflicient to give the reader an idea of these confraternities, and to shew at the same time the ex- tent and the activity of Neapolitan benevolence. Much has been said, and, though exaggerations are not uncommon on this subject, much more may be said against the voluptuousness and debauchery of the inhabitants of this city ; yet it must at the same time be con- fessed, that in the first and most useful of virtues, the grand cha- racteristic quality of the Christian, in charity, she surpasses many, and yields to no city in the world . 1 Of the royal palaces, and those of the nobility, the same may be said as of the churches ; that the style of architecture is not pure, nor of course majestic ; that they are in general too much encum- bered with ornaments, though in several the apartments are on a grand scale, and ornamented with many fine paintings. In the garden of one, the Palazzo Bcrrio , is a group representing Venus and Adonis by Canova of exquisite workmanship and beauties. The collection of pictures formerly at the Capo di Monte had been removed on the approach of the French and not replaced. This edifice is a royal palace of great extent, and in a delightful situa- tion, commanding a fine view of the town, and of the bay with all its islands and surrounding scenery. It was never finished, and is not inhabited. Its apartments were employed as picture galleries, and the collection is numerous and rich in masterpieces. But as the access to this palace is inconvenient on account of its elevation, it is the intention, of government to transport the whole to the Studii or University, a very spacious edifice, where is already a noble collection of statues. Among these the celebrated Hercules by Gly- con is the most remarkable. All these statues and monuments once adorned the Farnesian palace in Rome, and were transported 1 Even in the very respect in which Naples is supposed to be most deficient, I mean in regard to chastity, there are instances of attention to morality not to be equalled in any transalpine capital. For instance, there are more retreats open to repentant females, and more means employed to secure the innocence of girls ex- posed to the dangers of seduction by their age, their poverty, or by the loss, the neglect, or the wickedness of their parents, than are to be found in London, Paris, Vienna, and Petersburgh united. Of this latter description there are four hundred educated in one conservatorio, and not only educated, but when fit for marriage, portioned out according to their talents. Chap. XXII. THROUGH ITALY. 351 thence by the king of Naples, who succeeded to the rich inheritance of the Farnesian family. The library of the Studii contains more than fifty thousand volumes and some valuable manuscripts. Neither this library nor the collection of statues suffered much from the ra- pacity of the French during their late invasion. This establishment is planned on a vast scale, and intended to contain all the royal museums and libraries, and to comprise the instruments and ap- paratus of all the arts and sciences. Naples is very well supplied with the means of instruction as far as depends upon public establishments. It has four public libra- ries, the University which I have just mentioned, and six colleges, besides schools and conservatorii beyond number. The advantages arising from so many literary establishments are accordingly very perceptible, and the number of learned men produced by Naples is equal perhaps to that of any city of the same population. Some Neapolitan authors carry their pretensions so far as to place the number and merit of their writers upon a level with those of Paris, and from the list of publications which they produce, an impartial man would find it difficult to decide against them. The Parisian rivals object, that even the names of their authors, not to say their works, have scarcely passed the Alps, and are not known even in Italy, beyond the narrow circle of academicians, while the names of Voltaire , Marmontel, etc. are celebrated in every capital of Eu- rope, and their works perused in every circle. To this observa- tion the Neapolitans reply, that the superior fame of French authors is owing to the prevalence of the French language, and that that prevalence is certainly not to be ascribed either to its intrinsic merit, or to the superior excellence of its literature, but to the pre- ponderance of French power. Thus, say they, the French dress has been generally adopted at courts, and was during a consider- able part of the last century the dress of Europe ; but nobody surely can be so absurd as to pretend that it owed its universality either to its gracefulness or its convenience. The literature there- fore, like the fashions of France, was recommended first by power and afterwards by custom; and when we add to its intrinsic merits, a great deal of intrigue, of trick, and of noise, we shall discover the real causes of its ill-acquired superiority. In truth, Frenchmen of every description are never wanting in the praise of every thing French, and whatever their differences in other respects may be, all agree in asserting their national preten- sions to universal superiority. The Italians are more modest be- cause they have more solidity ; they write to please their own taste and that of those who choose to read them : they employ no jour- nals to puff off their compositions, send no emissaries to spread their fame over distant countries, and pay no agents in foreign courts. They leave their language and their works to their own native merit, and rest their claim to glory on the undisputed excel- .352 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXII. lence of their predecessors. As for the present reputation of French literature, our Neapolitans consider it as the fashion of the day, the delirium of the times, and doubt not that it will ere long subside in contempt and indifference. Such indeed has been the fate of that absurd fondness for French dress which disgraced our ancestors ; and as we now smile at their want of taste in giving the preference to garments so stiff, graceless, and unnatural ; so our descendants may possibly contemplate with equal ridicule and surprise, the pre- posterous partiality which the presentage has shewn to the frippery and the tinsel of French literature. Injustice to the Neapolitans it must be admitted, that the progress of French literature has been considerably advanced by the spirit and intrigue of the philosophic party. The French language was the medium by which they were to disseminate their opinions ; no expense therefore was spared, no exertion was wanting to extend its use and influence. Teachers were hired and sent to the most distant towns to disseminate its principles, and to facilitate its acquisition. Attempts were made to undermine, at least secretly to lessen the respect paid to the ancient languages, particularly Latin ; and the Gallic idiom with its lumber of auxiliaries, its nasal dissonance, and truncated syllables was compared, nay almost preferred to the sim- plicity, harmony, and fulness of that divine dialect. But indepen- dent of language, the Neapolitans certainly have the advantage in point of science and of ancient literature, particularly Greek, a lan- guage much neglected in France, and indeed in most continental uni- versities. * But whatever may be our opinion of the claims of our Neapolitan literati to precedence on this occasion, we must acknow- ledge, that there exist in this capital a vast mass of information, a great activity of mind, and a wonderful aptitude, fostered by the 1 The writer happened to be present in a large party when the conversation turned upon modern literature a discussion arose between two persons about the comparative merit of Italian and French literature. One, a gentleman of very general information and a traveller, well acquainted with the scenery and anti- quities of Italy, expressed however great contempt for its literature, and seemed astonished that his opponent could even think of putting it in competition with the masterpieces with which the French language abounded. This brought on a com- parison of poets, historians, essayists, etc. etc. in which the Italians must always have the advantage, both in numbers and excellence. Some months after the two disputants happened accidentally to meefagain, when the same subject being slightly hinted, it appeared that the champion for French literature had entirely changed his opinion. The truth, it seems, was, that he had devoted his time and attention to the French language, and had imbibed among that vain people a con- tempt for their more learned and more modest neighbors. He had never heard the names, nor even suspected the existence of three-fourths of the Italian writers, and was surprised when he turned his attention that way to find a mine so rich and inexhaustible. The situation of this gentleman is perhaps that of many readers well acquainted with French writers, but total strangers to the Italian. Yet these latter have been, as Voltaire very candidly acknowledges, their masters, and have imparted to them that share of taste, science, and refinement, in which they glory, and vainly affect to equal their teachers. Chap. XXIII. THROUGH ITALY. 353 serenity of the climate, to excellence in every branch of science and composition. Few cities stand in less need of architectural magnificence or internal attractions than Naples ; had it even fewer artificial recom- mendations, it would still be a most desirable residence. So beau- tiful is its neighborhood ! so delicious its climate ! Before it spreads the sea, with its bays, promontories, and islands ; behind it rise mountains and rocks in every fantastic form, and always clothed with verdure ; on each side swell hills and hillocks covered with groves, and gardens, and orchards blooming with fruits and flow- ers. Every morning, a gale springing from the sea brings vigor and coolness with it, and tempers the greatest heats of summer with its freshness. Every evening, a breeze blowing from the hills and sweeping all the perfumes of the country before it, fills the nightly atmosphere with fragrance. It is not surprising therefore, that to such a country and such a climate the appellation of Felix should have been so often given ; that its sweets should be supposed to have enervated an army of barbarians ; that the Romans covered its coasts with their villas ; and that so many poets should have made tke delicious Parthenope their theme and their retreat. Nunc molles urbi ritus atquc hospita musis Otia, et exemptum curis gravioribus aevum. Sirenum dedit una, suum ct memorabile nomen Parthenope * Sil. Ital. lib. xii. 31. CHAPTER XXIII. ' Virgil’s Tomb— Grotto of Posilipo— Lago d’Agnano— Grotto del Cane — Astroni— Nisida— Pozzuoli— Cicero’s Academia and Cuman Villa. Under our windows and bordering on the beach is the royal garden, laid out in parterres, and walks shaded by rows of orange trees. In the middle stands the Toro Farnese, the celebrated Far- nesian bull, a group representing Amphion, and Zethus binding Dirce to the horns of a bull. It was discovered in the midst of a heap of rubbish in one of the halls of the baths of Caracalla at Rome, first deposited in the Farnesian palace, and thence trans- Now learned ease, by every muse adorn’d. And customs mild, aud social manners grace Her happy walls, and free from gnawing cares,) The tide of life there glides serenely on. To her Parthenope the Siren lent Her memorable name.- ^ 354 . CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIII. ported to Naples. The bull is considered as the finest sculptured quadruped in existence ; a part of the other figures are modern. This group was found very much broken, but the greater por- tion is ancient. It was restored by Guglielmo della Porta. This garden has not the luxuriance of shade that promises coolness during the sultry hours of the day ; but in the evening it affords a delicious retreat to the traveller, who, as he reclines over the waves that bathe the terrace wall, enjoys at once their freshness and their murmurs. Proceeding westward along the Chiaia and keeping towards the beach, we came to the quarter called Mergijllina. To ascend the hill of Positipo over whose sides this quarter spreads, we turned to the right, and followed a street winding as a staircase up the steep, and terminating at a garden gate. Having entered, we pursued a path through a vineyard, and descending a little we came to a small square building, flat-roofed, placed on a sort of platform on the brow of a precipice on one side, and on the other sheltered by a superincumbent rock. An aged ilex spreading from the sides of the rock, and bending over the edifice, covers the roof with its ever verdant foliage. Numberless shrubs spring around, and inter- woven with ivy clothe the walls, and hang in festoons over the pre- cipice. The edifice before us was an ancient tomb — the tomb of Yirgil ! We entered ; a vaulted cell and tw o modern w indows alone present themselves to view ; the poet’s name is the only ornament of the place. No sarcophagus, no urn, and even no inscription to feed the devotion of the classical pilgrim. The epitaph, which though not genuine is yet ancient, was inscribed by order of the Duke of Pescoiangiano , then proprietor of the place, on a marble slab placed in the side of the rock opposite the entrance of the tomb, where it still remains. Every body is acquainted with it— Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope; cecini pascua, rura, duces.* An Italian author, I think Pietro de Steffano , assures us that he himself had seen, about the year 1526, the urn supposed to contain the poet’s ashes, standing in the middle of the sepulchre supported by nine little marble pillars, with the inscription just quoted on the frieze. He adds that Robert of Anjou , apprehensive lest such a precious relic should be carried off or destroyed during the wars then raging in the kingdom, took the urn and the pillars from the tomb and deposited them in the Casiel Nuovo., This extreme pre- caution had an effect very different from that intended, and oc- casioned the loss it was meant to prevent; for notwithstanding the most laborious search and the frequent inquiries made by the a In Mantua born, but In Calabria bred. Fair Naples owns me now ; the past’ral charge, And agricult'ral toils, and arms I sung. Chap. XXIlI. TIIROUGn ITALY. 355 orders of Alphonso of Arragon, they were never more discovered. 1 The story is related in a different manner by Alplionsus Heredia , Bishop of Ariano. According to this author, the urn, the pillars, and some little statues that adorned the sepulchre were presented by the Neapolitan government to the cardinal of Mantua, who, proceeding homewards by sea, was taken ill and died at Genoa. Of the urn and pillars no further mention is made. Perhaps indeed they never existed ; their number and their size seem in- consistent with the plain and simple style prevalent in the time of Augustus ; besides, if they had been the original ornaments of the place, they would scarce have survived so many centuries of war and devastation, or escaped the rage of so many barbarous invaders, indifferent to the glory, and frequently unacquainted even with the very name of Virgil. But there are authors who go still further, and venture to assert, that the tomb of which we are now speaking is not the sepulchre of Virgil. Of this number are the classic Addison and the laborious and accurate Gluverius. The authority of two such eminent per- sons, without doubt, carries great weight with it, but that weight is upon this occasion considerably lessened by the weakness of the arguments on which their opinion is grounded. These arguments may be found in Gluverius, as Addison merely expresses his opi- nion without entering into any discussion. They are drawn from a few verses of Statius, which I cite the more willingly as they de- scribe the surrounding scenery. 3 En egomet soranum et genialc secutus Littus, ubi Ausonio se condidit hospita portu Parthenope, tenues ignavo pollice chordas Pulso, Maroneique sedens in margine templi Sumo animum, ct magni tumulis adcanto magistri." And farther on. Hoc ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam Littoribus, fractas ubi Yesbius egerit iras, iEniula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis.4 Stat. Sil. lib. iv. 4. 1 One Eugenio , an author of 1625, informs us, upon what authority I know not, that a stone was found in a neighboring villa, inscribed with these words : Siste, viator, pauca legito: Die Maro situs est. Stop, traveller, and read a few words— Here lies Maro. a Syl. iy. Carm. 4. 3 \ Lo ! idly wand’ring on the sea-beat strand Where the fam'd Siren on Ausonia’s land First moor’d her bark, I strike the sounding string; At Virgil’s honor’d tomb I sit and sing; Warm'd by the hallow'd spot, my Muse takes Arc, And sweeps with bolder hand my humble lyre. These strains, Marcellus, on the Chalcian shores 356 : CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIII. According to the geographer, Statius here asserts, that Virgil’s tomb stood on the beach, and at the foot of Vesuvius. lie who follows the shore, says Cluverius, cannot be supposed to ascend the hills, and yet by following the shore, Statius arrives at the temple (or tomb of Maro) and reclines within its precincts. Again, the poet, when within the verge itself of the temple of Maro, says that he wrote there, “ ubi Vesbius egerit iras ,” etc. therefore Virgil’s tomb must have been at the foot of Vesuvius. In the first place, the word secutus is here taken in a figurative sense, as is evident from the word somnum , and means following the genius, or in other words yielding to the influence of the coast. This mode of reasoning, drawn from the strict sense or rather the sound of the words, is barely admissible even in logical and metaphysical dis- cussions ; it is not certainly conformable to the latitude allowed in ordinary description, whether in conversation or writing; much less is it applicable to the boldness of poetical composition. The expressions alluded to seem evidently to describe the general fea- tures of the country, and not the par ticular spot where stood the tomb of Virgil. Besides, the word litlus does not mean the beach only, but extends to the immediate neighborhood of the sea; now the road to Virgil’s tomb runs actually along the beach, and though it turns from it in ascending the hills, yet it is always within sight of it, and in reality never deviates half a quarter of a mile from it, even when it terminates in the sepulchre itself. In following such a road a poet may literally say that he traverses the beach, and always remains on the shore itself. Surely, a sepulchre standing upon an eminence a quarter of a mile from the sea, and looking down upon it, may be said to be upon the coast. The argument drawn from the neighborhood of Vesuvius has less foundation than even the explanation given to the word litlus; the conjunction ubi is very different from the preposition sub, which the geographer substitutes as synonymous ; as the latter marks an immediate vicinity and almost contiguity, while the for- mer, unless restricted by an additional word or circumstance, merely implies a general neighborhood, as in the same country or district. Thus Sub tegmine fagi — Forte sub arguta — Hinc alia sub rupe , etc.— are instances of the one, while the following verse suffi- ciently points out the sense given to the other. Ad terrain Hesperiam venies, ubi Lydius arva Inter opiraa virum leni fluit agmine Tybris. * JEneid. ii. 781. .. I penn’d, where great Vesuvius smokes and roars, And from his crater ruddy llames expires. With fury scarce surpass'd by /Etna s tires. * On Latium's happy shore you shall be cast : Where gentle Tiber from his bed beholds The flowery meadows, and the feeding folds.— Dry den. A Chap. XXIII, THROUGH ITALY. 857 The poet therefore here alludes to the general and most striking features of the country, and not to the particular site of Virgil’s tomb, as must appear evident to any reader, who peruses the passage above cited with a mind unbiassed by previous opinions ; especially as Statius positively says, that he was on the hills when at Virgil’s tomb, mcigni tumulis adcanto magistri. As for the two epigrams of Martial, quoted by Cluverius, they only seem to insinuate that Silius Italicus was proprietor both of the tomb of Virgil and of the villa of Cicero ; a circumstance very immaterial to the present discussion, but rather favorable than contrary to the common opinion ; for we know that Cicero’s villa lay on the same side of Naples as Posilipo , and as Virgil’s tomb belonged to the same master as the villa, it may be supposed that they were not very distant from each other. In fine, in opposition to these arguments, or rather conjectures founded upon the vague expression of a single poet (a poet often censured for his obscu- rity), we have the constant and uninterrupted tradition of the country supported by the authority of a numerous host of learned and in- genious antiquaries; and upon such grounds we may still continue to cherish the conviction, that we have visited the tomb of Virgil, and hailed his sacred shade on the spot where his ashes long re- posed . 1 The laurel which (it is said) sprung up at the base, and covered the roof with its luxuriant branches, now flourishes only in the verses of youthful bards, or in the descriptions of early travellers; myrtle, ivy, and ilex, plants equally adapted to the genius of the place and to the themes of the poet, now supply the absence of the withered bay, and encircle the tomb with verdure and perfume. The sepulchre of Virgil, it may be imagined, must have long remained an object of interest and veneration, especially as his works had excited universal admiration even in his life-time, and were very soon after his death put into the hands of children, and made with Homer a part of the rudiments of early education . 2 Yet * The reader will observe, that in this discussion, neither the testimony of Do- natus, nor that of St. Jerome in the Chronicle of Eusebius, has been produced; as the life of Virgil, bearing the name of that grammarian, is generally rejected as spurious, and the chronicle is considered at best as suspicious, and the passage alluding to Virgil supposed to be an interpolation. The learned German editor of Virgil, Heyne, accuses the monks of this double imposition, and represents them as employing all their accustomed machinery of magic and miracles to raise and emblazon the fame of the Roman poet. Alas ! the charge is too complimentary. The poor monks, I fear, employed very little of their time or talents upon either the works or the reputation of Virgil. They perhaps transcribed him as they found him ; the rest was probably the invention of the grammarians of the fifth and sixth centuries, with some additions and improvements by those of the fourteenth, fif-^ teenth, and sixteenth. 1 The reason given by Quintilian is honorable to both these exalted Poets Caetera admonitionc magna egent ; in prirnis ut tener® mentes, tracturceque altius quicquid rudibus et omnium ignaris insederit, non modo qu® diserta, sed vej 358 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIII. Martial declares that it had been neglected in his time, and that Silius Italicus alone restored its long forgotten honors. Jam prope, desertos cineres, et sancta Maronis Numina qui coleret, pauper et unus erat. Silius Andino tandem succurrit agello, Silius et vatem, non minor ipse, colit. 1 Lib. xi. Epig. 51. This negligence in an age of so much refinement cannot but ap- pear astonishing, even though we are informed that the same age had been terrified by the cruelties of four successive tyrants, and distracted by two most destructive wars raging in the very heart of Italy. Our surprise however may cease when we recollect, that in the present most polished and enlightened century, in less than sixty years after Pope’s death, at a time when his works were in the hands of every child, and had been translated into every language, his house was levelled with the ground, his grotto defaced, the trees planted by his own hand rooted up, and his whole retreat, the seat of genius and of the British muse, ravaged and stript of the very ornaments which endeared them to the public, because they were the creation of the poet’s fancy, and still seemed to bear the impression of his mind. Houses and gardens, grottos and se- pulchres, are, it is true, the most perishable of monuments, and magis qu® honesta sunt, discant. Ideoque optimc institutum cst ut ab Homero atque Yirgilio lectio inciperet ; quanquam ad intelligendas eorum virtutes firmiore judicio opus esset. Sed huic rei superest tempus ; nec enim semtl lcgentur. In- terim et sublimitatc hcroici carminis animus assurgat, et ex magnitudinc rerum spiritum ducat, et optimis imbuatur. — Quintil. Lib. 1. 5. “ In other respects, much advice is necessary ; in the first place that the tender minds of youth, upon which, as being unskilful and ignorant, every thing that is ingrafted will make a deeper impression, should not only learn what is eloquent, but rather what is virtuous. It has therefore been wisely instituted that their reading should begin with Homer and Virgil ; though to understand the virtues in- culcated by those writers, a firmer judgment might be necessary. Eut for this there is ample time, for they will not be confined to a single perusal. In the mean time the mind may both be elevated by the sublimity of heroic poetry, and from the greatness of the events may derive a nobler spirit, and become imbued with the most honorable principles. 1 To honor Maro's dust, and sacred shade, One swain remain'd, deserted, poor, alone, Till Silius came, his pious toils to aid. In homage to a name, scarce greater than his own. This honorable testimony to the judgment and the taste of Silius is confirmed by Pliny, “Virgflii (imaginem venerabatur ) ante omnes, cujus natalem religiosius quam suam celebrabat Neapoli maxime, ubi monumentum ejusadire, uttemplum, solebat.* Lib. iii. Ep. 7.— The custom of honoring Virgil’s birth-day does not seem to have been peculiar to this poet, as Martial alludes to it more than once, if 1 do not mistake. * Above all others, he venerated the image of Virgil, whose birth-day he kept more religiously than brs own, for the most part at Naples, where he used to visit bis tomb, as he would a temple. Cuap. XXIII. THROUGH ITALY. 359 the Hero and the Poet must finally rest their hopes of fame on their virtues and on their talents, the sole memorial cere perennius (more durable than brass), superior to time and barbarism. Yet the longer even such frail monuments as the former are preserved the better ; the attention paid to their conservation is a tribute to genius, and a proof of the influence of the arts, and of the preva- lence of information, .honorable to the country itself . 1 The reader will learn with regret that Virgil's tomb, consecrated as it ought to be to genius and to meditation, is sometimes con- verted into the retreat of assassins, or the lurking place of Sbirri. Such at least it was the last time we visited it, when wandering that way about sun-set, we found it filled with armed men. We were surprised on both sides, and on our’s not very agreeably at the unexpected rencounter; so lonely the place and so threatening the aspects of these strangers. Their manners however were cour- teous ; and on inquiry we were informed that they were Sbirri, lying in wait for a murderer, who was supposed to make that spot his nightly asylum. It would be unjust to accuse the Neapolitans of indifference towards this or any other monument of antiquity; but it is incumbent on the proprietor or the public, to secure them against such profanation. On the whole, few places are in themselves more picturesque. Ah ! si dans vos travail* est ton jours respecUi Le lien par un grand bomme autrefois habits, Combien doit 1 etre un sol embelli par lul-meme ! Dans ses sites fatneux c’ est leur mallre qu'on airuc. . . . Loin done l’audacieux qui, pour le corriger, Profane un lieu cOlebre en voulant le changer : Le grand liomme au tombeau se plaint de cet outrage, Et les ans seuls ont droit d'embellir son ouvrage. Gardez done d’attenter & ces lieux reveres; Leurs debris sont divins, leurs dCfauts sont sacrlrf. Conserves leurs enclos, leurs jardics, leurs murailles. . . Tel j'ai ru ce Twickenham, dont Pope est createur; Le goflt le defendit d’un art profanateur, Et ses mailres nouveaux, rdvdrant sa mdmoirc, Dans 1' oeuvre de ses mains ont respectO sa gloire. Ciell avec quel transport j'ai visits ce lieu Dont Mendip est le maitre, et dont Pope est Ie dicu I 1 Abbe Delille , Jarilins , lii. If on those roofs respect and honor wait, beneath whose shelter liv'd the truly great, More dear the gv>und embellish’d by tbeir hands ; ’Tis there the inaster’ls self our love commands. . . . Far be th’ improving hand, that, bold and vain, Scenes thus renown'd would alter, and profane. Such outrage in their tombs the great bemoan ; Their works should be reform'd by Time alone. Touch not these spots revere the hallow'd shrine ; Sacred their faults, their ruins are divine. Each garden, fence, and wall, preserve with care. . . Such spot is Twick'nam, Pope’s admir’d domain ; Taste there forbade th attacks of art profane. Twick' 'Dam’s new lords rever'd the poet's name, Marr'd not hi9 works, but sacred held his fame. Ileav’ns! with what joy I view’d that fair abode, Whose master Mendip is, and l'opc its God ! This passage will, I suppose, be expunged in the next edition. 360 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIII. and from the recollection inseparably interwoven with it, no spot is more interesting than the tomb of Virgil. Tune sacrum felix aluisti, Terra, Maronem? Tune pio celas ossa beata sinu? Anne etiam, ut fama est, Yatis placidissima saepe Inter odoratum cernitur umbra nemus ? 1 * Flaminius. In truth, the hill or mountain of Posilipo, 3 on which the sepul- chre stands, is beautiful in the extreme, and is justly honored with its appellation, for no scene is better calculated to banish melan- choly and exhilarate the mind. On the second of June after dinner we made an excursion to the Lago d'Agnano : the road is along the Chiaia, and the Slrada Poz - zuolana (Via Puteolana ), through the grotto of the same name. Doubt and obscurity hang over the origin and the author of this celebrated excavation : some have ascribed it to Lucullus, who indeed opened a communication between his fish-ponds and the sea, but differing widely both in form and direction from the grotto. Strabo attributes it to Cocceius, who is supposed by a learned Italian (Pontanus) to be the same who was appointed to superintend the Roman aqueducts, and was in high repute for his skill in that species of architecture. It is probable, that it was ori- ginally opened as a quarry, like many similar excavations in its immediate neighborhood, and under the very same mountain, and when considerably advanced it might have been continued and com- pleted by public authority, as a road well calculated to facilitate the communication between Naples and the towns that lay eastward on one side, and Puteoli, Baiae, and Cumae on the other. It was at first, and seems long to have remained, a dark, dusty, and in- convenient passage. “ Nihil ,' ” says Seneca, “illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus obscurius, quae nobis praestant, non ut per tene- bras videamus, sed ut ipsas ,” 3 that is, in the language of Milton, it rendered darkness visible. Great allowance must be made for the turgid style of this declaimer, as Strabo, a plain unaffected author, prior to Seneca, does not speak of these inconveniencies. How- ever, we may fairly suppose it to have been at that time both gloomy and narrow, as it owes its present breadth and elevation 1 Say, on thy soil did sacred Maro dwell ? And dost thou still his honor'd ashes hide? And does his peaceful shade, as legends tell, Oft mid thy perfum'd groves delight to giide? a It'took its name from a villa of Vedius Pollio, erected in the time of Augustus, and called Pausilypum, from the effect which its beauty was supposed to produce in suspending sorrow and anxiety. 3 Nothing can be more tedious than this prison-like passage, nothing more gloomy than the entrance, which enables us to see the darkness, but not to see through it. Chap. XXIII. THROUGH ITALY. 3G1 to modern labor. Alphonsus I. began, and Charles V. completed its improvement, and converted it into a wide and convenient pas- sage. Its length is nearly three quarters of a mile, its breadth is about twenty-four feet, its height is unequal, as the entrance at each end is extremely lofty to admit the light, while the vault lowers as it advances towards the middle, where it is about twenty-five feet from the ground. It is paved with large flags of lava, and in many places lined, and, I believe, vaulted with stone-work. During the day, two circular apertures bored through the mountain admit a dim glimmering light from above ; and at night a lamp burning be- fore an image of the blessed Virgin placed in a recess in the middle, casts a feeble gleam over the gloomiest part of the passage. Such, however, is the obscurity towards evening that nobody ventures to go through it without a torch, and even with a torch one feels a sort of joy on escaping from these subterraneous horrors. This grotto is, on the whole, a very singular and striking object; and the approach to it on both sides between two walls of solid rock, and its lofty entrances like the gates into the regions of the dead, and the shrubs and tufts of wild flowers that wave in loose festoons from the top of the precipice as if to soften the terrors of the chasm beneath, form altogether a picturesque and extraordinary combination. No prospect can be more truly Elysian than that which presented itself, when we emerged from the grotto and passed the little suburb beyond it. The road runs in a straight line to the sea through a valley formed by two branches of Monte Posilipo. On both sides rise groves of poplars and mulberry-trees, united by vines interwoven in thick clustering garlands, suspended over rich harvests of wheat and maize all waving to the sea breeze. On the right a road turns off and leads through a dell to iheLagod’Agnano. A hill on one side, and a mountain on the other, shaded with pop- lars, give freshness and verdure to the walk. The lake, though it is a fine expanse of water of a circular form, about two miles in circumference, yet derives its greatest beauty from the verdure that borders its margin, and from the noble hills that rise around it and crown its basin. As there is no mention made of this lake among the ancients, we may be allowed to sup- pose that it is an artificial hollow, and perhaps the celebrated fish- pond sunk by Lucullus. His villa stood in the neighborhood or rather close to the lake, and the communication which he opened between his ponds and the sea is still discernible. The situation corresponds with the account, and the extent is by no means too considerable, as Pliny the Elder assures us, that the ponds were more expensive than the villa itself, and must consequently have been prodigious sheets of water . 1 The silence of the ancients with • ix. 54, 362 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIII. regard to this lake is not, it must be acknowledged, a sufficient proof that it was originally a fish-pond; it may have been produced since by natural causes, and in a country so agitated by the work- ing of subterraneous fires, such changes may be supposed, with- out improbability, to have occurred. But if such a phenomenon had taken place, it would have been recorded, like the origin of Monte JSuovo , in the annals or at least in the traditions of the times. Now, no mention is made, no memorial occurs, of any such revolu- tion ; while of the pond of Lucullus, so often alluded to by the ancients, not the least trace is to be found, ifwe except the vestiges of its com- munication with the sea. It is not therefore unreasonable to conjec- ture, that the lake of Agnano may be the pond of Lucullus, as it occupies nearly the same site, and in magnitude corresponds with the grandeur and the opulence of that luxurious Roman. As the traveller advances, he finds on his right, a few paces from the borders of the lake, the Grotto del Cane (the dog’s grotto), a small aperture in the side of the mountain, remarkable for a deadly vapor that rises from its bottom, and for the perpetual experiment of its efficacy on dogs. If we may credit Gluverius, the force of this exhalation has not been felt by dogs only, but sometimes tried with a result more destructive upon Turkish captives and con- demned criminals. Sometimes however it is said to have failed on the human species. The effects seem to vary perhaps with the weather and the season, and perhaps with the working of the sub- terraneous ingredients from which it rises. It existed in the same neighborhood and perhaps in the same place in ancient times ; it is alluded to by the elder Pliny, and the spots that emit it are called by him in his lofty manner Charonece scrobes, 1 and spiracula Ditis . 2 Turning to the left the traveller will observe an edifice intended for the purpose of vapor baths ; the vapor rises hot from the earth, and when confined to a room, very soon throws the person exposed to its action into a violent perspiration. It is supposed to be of peculiar efficacy in rheumatic and gouty complaints. The air in the vicinity of this lake is considered as extremely insalubrious during the heats of summer ; but this dangerous quality is ascribed not so much to the nature of the place itself, or to the exhalations that arise from the soil, as to the stench occasioned by the quantity of flax put into the water to steep at that season ; a circumstance that will astonish the reader not a little, as it is natural to suppose that the government would prohibit a practice which even in cold countries is offensive, and which in hot climates must be pesti- lential. From the baths we proceeded between two rows of trees, for J Infernal vents. Plin. ii. 93. a The breathing-place of Pluto. V?here Pluto pants for breath fiom out bis cell.— Dryden. Chap. XXIII. THROUGH ITALY. 363 some time along the margin of the lake, and then up a steep hill to A stroni, once the crater of a volcano, now a royal chase or forest. The sides and bottom of this vast oHfice are covered with large trees, and form a scene very refreshing and beautiful. The circumference above may be about two miles and a half, and the descent a quarter of a mile. It is enclosed by a stone wall, and reserved for royal amusement. It is said to be well stocked with game of every kind. These objects furnished entertainment for a long and delightful afternoon : we returned by the same road, and entered Naples in the dusk of the evening. On the third of June we set out on an excursion to Puteoli, Baise, etc. We took the same road as in our last excursion, but instead of turning off to Agnano, proceeded to the shore. When we arrived there, another view opened upon us, varied, rich, and beautiful : on our left, the rocky promontory of Posilipo, and the little island of Nisida rising steep from the waves; on our right the road ran along steep precipices formed of lava, and terminated in Pozzuolo. Before us appeared in succession the high coast and the castle of Bciice, the promontory of Misenus, and the peak of Inarimne (Ischia). This union of islands, promontories, rocks, or castles, forms the enchanting bay of Pozzuolo. The point of the promontory of Posilipo is naturally broken, and wrought into va- rious bays, islands, and caverns, and these again are hollowed by art into grottos, baths, and recesses, forming a scene singular, grotesque, and resembling the work of enchantment. Hence the Neapolitans call it the Scuola di Virgilio , and ascribe it to the ma- gical powers of the poet. We may with more probability attribute it in part to Vedius Pollio, whose villa, so famed for its ponds, stood on the hill behind at a little distance; and to Augustus, who inherited it after the death of Pollio. Lucullus may have had his share in the work, as well as numberless other Romans of equal opulence, who successively inhabited this delicious coast. The island of Nisida , that lies at a little distance from the pro- montory, was anciently Nesis , and is represented as enveloped in noxious steams, and emitting pestilential exhalations. Nesis Emittit stygium nebulosis aera saxis, Antraque lethiferi rabiem Typhonis anhelant. 1 Lucan, vi. 90. Its situation and modern appearance, however, are such as to give an idea of coolness and salubrity, and accordingly it enjoys a better reputation, and is at present made the seat of the Lazaretto. 1 From Neses such, the Stygian vapors rise, And with contagion taint (he purer skies; • Such do Tvpboeus' steamy coves convey. And breathe blue poisons on the golden day.— Rwje. v': . 364 CLASSICAL TOUR Cuap. XXIII. . ,-.y mS t Thence proceeding along the coast we entered Pozzuolo, an- ciently Puteoli , a town of Greek origin, and first called Dicceardiia. It was erected by the inhabitants of Cumae as a sea-port, and is by some supposed to have derived its original appellation from the excellence of its government, an advantage which few colonies have ever enjoyed. However, it owes its present name, and indeed its fame and prosperity to the Romans, who about two centuries before the Christian era fortified it, and made it the emporium of the com- merce of the east. Its situation as a sea-port is indeed unrivalled. It stands on a point that juts out a little into the sea, nearly in the centre of a fine bay, called from it Puteolano or Puzzolano. Its prominence forms a natural port, if a port can be wanting in a bay so well covered by the surrounding coasts, and divided into so many creeks and harbors. It is easy to guess what the animation and splendor of Puteoli must have been at the time when the riches of the east were poured into its bosom, and when its climate, baths, and beauty, allured the most opulent Romans to its vicinity. Commerce has long since forsaken it; the attraction of its climate and its situation still remain, but operate very feebly on the feelings of a people little given to rural enjoyments. Its population, which formerly spread over the neighboring hills, and covered them with public and private edi- fices, is now confined to the little prominent point which formed the ancient port : and all the magnificence of antiquity has either been undermined by time, demolished by barbarism, or levelled in the dust by earthquakes. Vestiges however remain, shapeless in- deed and deformed, but numerous and vast enough to give some idea of its former extent and grandeur. In the square stands a beautiful marble pedestal with basso relievos on its pannels, re- presenting the fourteen cities of Asia Minor, which had been de- stroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt by Tiberius. It supported a statue of that emperor, erected by the same cities as a monument of their gratitude. Each city is represented by a figure bearing in its hand some characteristic emblem. The cathedral is supposed to stand on the ruins of a temple, and is undoubtedly built in a great degree of ancient materials, as appears by the blocks of marble which in many places form its walls. On the hill behind the town are the remains of an amphitheatre, called after that at Rome the Coliseum ; it was of considerable magnitude, but not comparable to that whose name it assumes. The gates and a large portion of the vaults and under apartments remain. One of these apartments, or rather dungeons, in which St. Januarius, the patron of Naples, is said to have been confined, is now turned into a damp and gloomy chapel ; the arena is a garden: vines, fig-trees, and pomegranates have gradually crept up the circumference, and now cover the steps and wave over the ruins — a melancholy vet pleasing picture ! Close to the amphitheatre are Chap. XXIII. THROUGH ITALY. 3G5 other vast fragments, probably of the baths that stood in this neigh- borhood. But the most striking monuments of Puteoli ^re the remains of the temple of Jupiter Serapis, and those of the mole that formed the port ; the former stands in the precincts of the town, partly in a garden and partly in the barracks, but surrounded and almost concealed by petty uninteresting buildings. The form of this edi- fice was nearly square, of about one hundred and thirty feet in length, and somewhat less in breadth. It was enclosed in a court divided into small apartments, several of which still exist. Of the four columns of the portico three are standing, the fourth lies ex- tended on the pavement ; they are of marble, forty feet high, and Corinthian ; the building in the centre was round, and its roof sup- ported by sixteen pillars; the pedestals remain ; the shafts were transported to the palace of Caserla, and form, I believe, the beau- tiful vestibule of the chapel. The marble pavement of the court is nearly entire, but covered with mud and stagnant water. The va- pors that rise from this infected pool during the heats of summer are not unfrequently fatal to the soldiers in the neighboring bar- racks. Yet a few laborers could remove the mud in one day, and a pump might carry off the water ! Some beautiful statues have been found buried in the earth or under the ruins, and many fine fragments of capitals, cornices, and sculptured friezes still remain scattered around in the midst of dirt and rubbish. The Mole was a work of inferior beauty, but of far greater diffi- culty ; several of its piles still stand unshaken : they are sunk in deep water, and once supported arches, parts of which remain sus- pended in shattered grandeur over the waves. This method of form- ing a mole like a bridge of arches instead of solid wall is much cheaper, and equally useful, and deserves to be imitated in similar works. When this yast mass was first erected, or by whom, it is difficult to determine. Seneca speaks of a mole under the name of pilae , 1 and Strabo mentions walls carried out into the sea to en- able ships of burden to unload with convenience. But whoever built it, we know from an inscription at Pozzuolo that Antoninus repaired it when damaged or thrown down by the fury of the waves. Its solidity and durability is owing, in a great degree, to the quality of the cement, made of Pozzolano sand, which hardens un- der water, and acquires the strength and consistency of marble. These arches bear at present the name of Caligula, and are sup- posed by the people at Pozzuolo to be the remains of the bridge which that prince, in one of his fils of phrenzy, threw over the bay from Puteoli to Baice or Baulis . But the learned reader need not be in- formed, that Caligula’s bridge was like that of Xerxes, whom he intende'd to imitate, a temporary bridge erected upon boats, formed i Ep. 77, 366 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIII. principally of wood, and carried from the extremity of the mole to the opposite coast. In length, solidity, and decoration, it probably surpassed its model, as it did also in extravagance and inutility . 1 On the road that leads along the coast from Pozzuolo to the Lu - crine lake stood Cicero’s villa, called by him Puleolanum and Aca- demia Pliny relates that it was on the shore, and adorned with a grove, and a portico, which seems to have been remarkable for its beauty ; he adds, that Cicero erected here a monument, and that shortly after his death a fountain of warm water, very wholesome for the eyes, burst forth, and gave occasion to an epigram, which the philosopher quotes with applause . 2 The portico is fallen, the groves are withered, the fountain dried up, and not a vestige of the Academic retreat left behind to mark its situation. The verses re- main, and perpetuate at once the glory of the orator, the fame of the fountain, the beauty of the villa, and what is more honora- ble than all united, the gratitude of the writer Laurea Tullius, Cice- ro’s freed-man. It appears from various passages in Cicero’s letters that he had two villas on this coast, the one which I have just mentioned, on the shore; the other, on the hills beyond the Lucrine lake, called the Cumanum, as lying towards that city, and nearer to it than to Puieoli . Perhaps the latter was a mere lodge or summer-house, of course on a much smaller scale. Of these villas one stood on the hills, and commanded the Campi Phlegrcei (the Phlegraean fields), the bay of Puieoli with its islands Misenus and Baice ; the other on the beach enjoyed the breezes and murmurs of the sea, so delight- ful to a contemplative mind ; Cicero knew not which of the two he preferred, but complained that the crowd of visitors that inter- rupted his leisure in these retreats contributed not a little to counter- balance their attractions. Cicero’s Academics do not however take their name from his Academia , but from the subject itself; as the dialogue which the first book relates took place at the villa of Varro, somewhere in the neighborhood, and within the distance of a walk. The scene of the two first books, De Finibus, is laid in the Cuman villa. The dialogue De F ato took place in the Academia. The spot, the subject, the speakers both fated to perish in so short a time during the contest which they both foresaw, and endeavored in vain to avert, were circumstances which give a peculiar interest to this dialogue, and increase our regret that it has not reached us in a less mutilated state. 1 Suet. Caligula, 19; and for a fuller description of the bridge, and the exhi- bitions displayed upon it, see Dio. lviii. and Brotier’s Tacitus, supplement viii. Snnal. cum Nolis. * Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxi. cap. 2. 4 . Chap. XXIV. THROUGH ITALY. 3G7 - i • • CHAPTER XXIV. Portus Julius— Lacus Lucrinns— Avernus, Observations on its original State— Bay and Castle of Baiae— Port ofMisenus— Mare Morte— Ely sian Fields— Promontory and Town of Misenus— Solfatara— Liternum, Scipio’s Retreat— Cumu>— Grotto of the Sybil. It is usual to take a boat at Pczzuolo , and row across the bay to the Lucrine lake. Passing near the shore our guide shewed us the remains of a mole, which is still called Lantcrna di Porto Giulio , 1 and is the only monument of the walls or substructions erected by Agrippa to form a harbor in the Lucrine lake, and of the name which it received when finished. I need not observe, that both Horace and Virgil have celebrated this magnificent undertaking, the one turning it as if incidentally mentioned into a delicate compli- ment ; the other describing it in all the splendor of poetry, as one of the distinguishing features of Italy. This work, on the one side, opened a communication between the lakes Avernus and Lucrinus; and on the other, seems to have enclosed a certain space of the bay itself to add to the last-mentioned lake and form it into a capa- cious harbor. Before this undertaking, the Lucrinus was protect- ed by a mole of such antiquity that ft was attributed to Hercules. It bordered on the beach, and formed a road as well as a mole. Of the Lucrine lake a small part only remains, now a muddy pool half covered with reeds and bull-rushes. The centre, though re- markable for its depth, was in one short night changed into a co- nical mountain. 1 The mountain is a vast mass of cinders, black and barren, and is called Monte Nuovo (the New mountain). The pool, however diminished in its size and appearance, still retains the name and honors of the Lucrine lake. We landed on its banks, and following a path that winded through a vineyard came to the borders of the lake Avernus. This lake is a circular sheet of water, of about a mile and a half in circumfe- rence, and of immense depth ; surrounded with ground on one side low, on the other high but not steep, cultivated all around, but not much wooded, a scene on the whole, light, airy, and exhilarating. How unlike the abodes of the Cimmerians, the darkened lake, the gloomy forests , the blasts exhaled from the infernal regions, the fune- real cypress , the feeble screams, the flitting ghosts / — Does Avernus then owe all its horrors to poetical fiction? or is the face of nature entirely altered since the time of Homer ? To both these causes much is to be attributed. * The light-house of the Julian harbor, * An. 1538, 3G8 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIV. The Greeks in Homer's time knew but little of Italy, and what little they knew bordered greatly on the marvellous. They had heard perhaps of its numerous islands, its rocky coasts, and above all, of its volcanos possibly at an earlier period very numerous and destructive in their eruptions. Some exaggerated account of the wonders of the Campi Phlegrcei had reached their e&rs, and while their sulphureous vapors and agitated surface seemed to them to announce the vicinity of hell, their caverns could not but appear as so many avenues to that region of horror. Such an opinion, how- ever absurd it may appear to us, is still very natural. A volcano is the most tremendous phenomenon presented to the eyes of mor- tals. All the agitation of earthquakes, all the crash of thunder, all the horrors of darkness, all the blaze of lightning, and all the rage of conflagration, are united and armed with tenfold terror in an eruption. Its appearance and effects seem not to announce the arm of the Almighty extended from heaven to chastise and to correct at the same time ; but resemble the rage of demons broke loose from their prison, armed with the flames of hell to disfigure nature and to ravage the creation. Hence in an age far more refined, and among a well informed people, there were found several who, at the first celebrated eruption of Vesuvius, 1 imagined that the whole frame of nature was in the act of dissolution, and that both gods and men were about to perish in one common ruin . 1 Even in modern times, when enlightened by the rays of the gospel, and better ac- quainted with the destiny of man both here and hereafter, the com- mon people feel a propensity to suppose that a volcano is a sort of inlet into hell, through which demons move to and fro when com- missioned to execute the decrees of divine justice. No wonder therefore that the Greeks, ignorant and half barbarous as they then were, should have believed. Or that poets should have feigned, that a region of which such terrific tales were told, was the vestibule of hell, alri janua Bills (the gate of gloomy Pluto). To this we may add, that the Avernus, which probably occupies the crater of an extinguished volcano, might at that period and long after, merely cover the lower part of the abyss, while the steep rocky banks towering to a prodigious elevation above it, were shaded with shrubs, and its orifice was almost closed with a whole forest of trees hanging over the precipice and increasing its gloom. At the same time, in a place so impregnated with fire, it is probable that various sulphureous steams rising from the bottom or bursting from the sides of the cavern, might fiil the vast hollow, and un- disturbed by the action of the air brood in pestilential clouds over its surface. Such may have been the original state of the lake Avernus, cor- responding sufficiently with the description given by the poets, and * An. 79. a Plin. Jun. lib. vi. Ep. 20. Ciiap. XXIV. THROUGH ITALY. 360 when accompanied by the supernumerary horrors which the su- perstition of the times threw around it, an object in a very high degree awful and terrific. Afterwards, the water may have in- creased (and in the neighborhood of the Lucrine lake, and so near the sea it may easily be supposed to increase) and have approached nearer the margin ; at the same time, the woods may have been diminished by the growing population of the towns of Cumcc, Puieoli , and Misenus , and of course the Avernus must have gra- dually lost much of its horrors and its malignity. The impression however had been made, temples had been built, priests established, and the worship of the infernal deities, religio dira loci, 1 2 still continued to attract crowds to the banks of the Avernus. This fashion was prevalent enough even in Annibal’s time to afford that crafty Carthaginian an opportunity of reconnoitring the ramparts of Puteoli, under pretext of offering sacrifice on the banks of Avernus.* At length in the reign of Augustus the formation of the Portus Julius dispelled the few horrors that continued to brood over the infernal lake ; 3 the sacred groves that still shaded its banks and hung over its margin were cut down ; the barrier that separated it from the Lucrinus was removed, and not only the waters of the latter but the waves of the neighboring sea were admitted into the stag- nant gulph of Avernus. This enterprise however was contemplated with some awe and apprehension : and the agitation of the waters, occasioned probably by the descent of those of the former lake into the lower basin of the latter, was magnified into a tempest, and ascribed to the anger of the infernal divinities. The statue of one shewed by a profuse sweat either its fear or its indignation ; that of another leaped, it was said, from its pedestal ; and recourse was had as usual to sacrifices, in order to appease the irritated Manes. In the mean time, the port was finished; the Avernus was stripped of its infernal horrors, and ever after ranked among ordinary lakes. Stagna inter celebrem nunc mitia. * — Sil. Jtal. xii. 121. On the southern bank stands a large and lofty octagonal edifice, 1 The terrific religion of the place. * Tit. Liv. xxiv. 12. 3 Speaking of this lake Silius says, Turn tristi nemore, otque umbris nigrantibus horrens Et formidatus volucri, lelhale vomebat Suffuso virus coelo, Stygiaque per urbes Religione sacer saevum retinebat honorem Sit. ital. Lib. xii. Wi. Bane of Ibe feather’d race, its sulph'rous womb Shot forth foul-steaming poison ; black with gloom, And sbagg'd with dismal woods, the tribes around Rever’d it with religious awe profound. 4 I may now celebrate thee among pleasant lakes. I. 2 4 370 CLASSICAL TOUR Chap. XXIV. with niches in the walls, and with halls adjoining. It is vaulted, and of brick, and is supposed by some to be the temple of Pro- serpine, by others, that of Avernus itself, whose statue, as appears from the circumstance mentioned above, stood in the immediate vicinity of the lake. This building was probably intrusted with marble, and decorated with pillars ; it is now surrounded by a vineyard, and pleases the eye by its magnitude, site, and propor- tions. It would not be difficult to repair it, if the government or proprietors were disposed so to do. Many antiquaries imagine it to have been a bath ; but though its form be well adapted to such an object, we do not find that the waters of the Avernus were em- ployed for that purpose. On the opposite side of the lake, under a steep overhung with shrubs and brambles, is the opening of a subterraneous gallery, called by the guides, and indeed by the people, the Grotto della Sibilla. The first gallery runs under the Monte Grillo , and its di- rection is towards Baiae, but it opens into another on the right tending towards Cuma ; after some progress in this second passage we came to a piece of water now called the bath of the Sybil, and were transported over it on the backs of our guides. On the op- posite side the ground rises rapidly, and all further progress is precluded by the fallen walls. The situation and appearance of this cavern correspond exactly with the description of Virgil, and are sufficient to authorize us in supposing it to be the same to which he alludes, if he had any real object in view, and not merely a general imitation of Homer ; Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immanis hiatu Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro, nemorumque tenebris . 1 jJL'ix. vi. 237. It probably branched out into several other galleries, and may have communicated with many large caverns, as well as with the various vales and lakes that lie so thick on this peninsula, and once perhaps formed the whole scenery of the infernal regions, so beau- tifully colored by Virgil. In this case, the stream which we passed might possibly have represented the Acheron ; and indeed the black surface of the water ; the feeble glimmering of the torches, and their red smouldering flames half lost in their own smoke and in the vapors of the place ; the craggy vaults closing over us and losing themselves in darkness ; the squalid forms of our guides and attendants, appearing and disappearing with their torches, as they carried us over one by one, all seemed well adapted to infernal scenery, and were appropriate appendages of the entrance into the regions of the dead. Deep was the cave, and downward os it went From the wide mouth, a rocky rough descent ; And here th’ access a gloomy grove defends’. And here th’ unnavigable lake extends .— Dry den. I Chap. XXIY. THROUGH ITALY. 371 Per speluncas, saxis structas asperis, pendenlibus, Maximis; ubi rigida constat crassa caligo inferum. * Enn. op. Cic. Tusc. 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