as high as the turning of the arch. stone laid without cement. like the character of the old Romans in the age, when its eternal foundations were planted. A stream sufficiently large to turn a papermill gurgles through the obstructed passage, and at this point is joined by the silver waters of the Argentaria, a copious fountain coming in from the direction of the Aventine, at which tradition says the steeds of Castor and Pollux once drank. The Emperor of Austria, in his late visit to Rome, also took a sip. Indeed the crystal stream, contrasted with the impurities in which it is soon lost, offers many temptations to the spectator. It is built of tremendous blocks of The masonry is coarse but substantial, In the vicinity of this opening in the Cloaca Maxima, are the remains of the four-fronted Arch of Janus, constructed of huge blocks of Greek marble, in rather a rude state, and supposed to have been a part of an Exchange, or Market, several of which were in this quarter, between the Forum and the Tiber. The small triumphal arch of Severus, at the distance of a few paces, resembles the one already described, erected in honour of the same Emperor. Returning to the bank of the river, the visitant finds, near the end of the Ponte Rotto, the ruins of the temple of Fortuna Virilis, consisting of several fluted Ionic pillars and a cornice, now woven into a little church. Here also is the house in which Pontius Pilate is said to have lived, before his departure for transalpine Gaul. But this must be a hoax, as the building is comparatively modern. The cicerone, however, reckons it as one of his strong points. Not far hence are likewise the fragments of the temple of Modesty, incorporated into a modern church, one of whose officers took us into the gallery, to see the capitals of ancient pillars. The shrine is as rich as ever, exhibiting its mosaic pavement, composed of porphyry and other costly materials. A colossal stone mask, four or five feet in diameter, and supposed to have belonged to a fountain, is deposited in the vestibule. Tradition says that its marble lips once uttered oracles, and it is hence denominated the Mouth of Truth, (Bocca della Verita.) Pursuing our course down the Tiber, twenty rods below the Cloaca Maxima, we found the temple of Vesta, a beautiful edifice nearly entire. It is a small Rotunda, one story high, with a dome like the Pantheon, (though not open at top,) and surrounded with a colonnade consisting of nineteen Corinthian Pillars of Parian marble, exquisitely finished. The number of columns was originally twenty; but some barbarian has cut away one of them, which was probably tumbled into the river. This temple, like all its fellows, has been converted into a chapel, and the undying taper at the altar is now substituted in place of the eternal fire of the Vestals, the custom of keeping alive the holy flame probably having a common origin. The position of the edifice corresponds exactly with the temple of Vesta, described in the graphic lines of Horace ;* and the poet and his subject in this instance furnish a mutual commentary on each other. A short distance below was the Pons Sublicius, the first bridge ever thrown across the Tiber. It was built of wood by Ancus Martius, to connect Mount Janiculum with the city, and was soon immortalized by the well known feats of Horatius Cocles, in resisting the passage of Porsenna. The ruins are still seen, rising in dark masses just above the level of the water. It should have been mentioned, that the Pons Triumphalis, a little below St. Angelo, is in the same ruinous condition so that only three out of the six bridges, which at different times have connected the two sections of the city are now standing, and to none of them is Rome much indebted for her grandeur. Although the Tiber is infinitely superior to the Arno, its borders within the walls are mean in comparison with the magnificent quays and ranges of palaces at Pisa and Florence. The navigation of the river is next to nothing; and though the form of a custom-house is kept up, and the papal flag is seen flying upon the masts of the small craft lying in the ancient harbour, the importations seem to be confined to a few heavy articles, such as marbles and statues from Carrara, which cannot conveniently be transported by land from Civita Vecchia, the nearest seaport. "Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis A commentator on Horace, now before me, in expounding the words marked in Italics, learnedly remarks-" Undis repulsis a littore Etrusco, vel a Tyrrheno mari, in quod Tiberis influit”—thus bringing the tides of the Mediterranean for the first time up to Rome, against the headlong and impetuous current of the Tiber: whereas the phrase expresses the rebound of the river from the foot of Mount Janiculum, on the Etrurian shore, to the temple of Vesta on the left bank-exactly true in point of fact. LETTER LIX. ROME CONTINUED-CAPITOLINE HILL-TARPEIAN ROCK-MAMERTINE PRISON-TEMPLE OF JUPITER FERETRIUS-CHURCH OF ARACELI STATUE OF AURELIUS-SENATOR'S HOUSE-MUSEUM. April, 1826. In the foregoing letters, I have attempted, in as concise and intelligible a manner as possible, to sketch the outlines of the view presented from the Tower on the Capitoline Hill, together with some of the groups of objects which fell in our way, endeavouring at the same time as far as was practicable, to dwell on the antiquities of Rome. The other relics of the ancient city are scarcely susceptible of generalization, or reducible to any principle of association either of time or place. They are scattered over a wide space, and require separate excursions of several miles. Let us therefore descend, (if amidst so many episodes, and in threading the mazes of the city, the reader has not forgotten where we are,) and first examine the objects worthy of attention upon the Capitoline Hill. Few, very few traces of that once proud and glorious eminence, crowned with the citadel of Rome and with the temples of the gods, are now to be found. The researches of antiquaries have been unable to settle even the site of an edifice which once covered four acres of ground; was adorned in front with triple, and on the other sides with double, ranges of columns, displaying to the dazzled eye its brazen portals and its roof of gold. It is said to have stood upon the Tarpeian Rock,* approached by a hundred steps. But even the rock itself, the immovable rock of the Capitol, is nearly buried in ruins, and for some time eluded our search. At length, in traversing a street full of filth and beggars, extending along the very summit of the hill, we observed upon the front of an old house a label inscribed with the words "Alla Rocca Tarpeia ;" and following the directions, as well as half a dozen ragged urchins who had volunteered their services as guides, we passed through the second story of the building into a gar "Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem et Capitolia ducit, The contrast expressed in the last line has been reversed; and what was once "golden" has again become horrible, if not with brambles, with something infinitely worse. A den in the rear, and after so much labour, reached the cliff, whence criminals were thrown into the Forum. The precipice was formerly eighty or a hundred feet; but is now less than half that height. female cicerone, the tenant of the house, and now the sole executioner, took her station by the balustrade of the garden, (shaded with the fig-tree and pomegranate,) and discoursed with great volubility of" Romulo e Remulo," pointing out the localities in the vicinity. We had the curiosity to descend by a circuitous path to the foot of the rock, which is shelving and cannot be well seen from the top. The base is cavernous, and seems to have been rudely scooped out for a dwelling. It is a dark and gloomy retreat, fit only for another den of Cacus. The floor was covered with straw, on which sat a sun-burnt fisherman packing herring. He looked as if he might have just rained down from the cliff. On the eastern end of the Capitoline Hill are several objects of some interest, the first of which are the remains of the Mamertine Prison, built by Aneus Martius. Its position exactly corresponds with Livy's description-"media urbe, imminens Foro"-in the midst of the city, overhanging the Forum. A little church is now erected above it, called San Pietro in Carcere, (St. Peter in Prison,) which is one of the most popular shrines in Rome, being at all hours of the day thronged with devotees. One of the canons of the church, a very courteous but superstitious man, in this instance acted as our cicerone, although at the moment of our visit on Sunday morning, he was just in the act of putting on his sacerdotal robes, to officiate at the altar. Five wax-tapers were lighted, and each of us bearing one in his hand, we descended like spirits into the dismal regions below, under the protection of a priest, who could exorcise any spectres that might intrude into the holy precincts. On his way down the blind stairway, he gravely pointed to an indentation in the solid rock out of which the prison was hewn, and an inscription, informed us that it was the print of St. Peter's head, which was thrust against the wall, in a scuffle with the gaoler! The rock yielded to the occiput of the Apostle, and thus was he preserved by a miracle-to endure the horrors of a dungeon, and afterwards to be crucified with his head downwards. But it was not deemed worth while to disturb the faith of our guide, or to cavil about the authenticity of such an incident. The Mamertine Prison is small in its dimensions, consisting of two rooms, one above the other, and communicating by a trapdoor, through which the prisoners used to be let down. Near the wall in the lower story or dungeon, stands a stone pillar, covered with an iron grate, to which Peter and Paul are said to have been chained; and within a few feet of it, is a living fountain of pure water, which, as a tablet tells the visitant, miraculously gushed out all at once, and from which the two persecuted Apostles baptized forty-seven converts to christianity, during their imprisonment. Our clerical guide certified to the truth of the inscription. Through the wall on one side of the dungeon is a secret passage, now closed by a rusty iron door, communicating with the catacombs, which once extended for many miles beneath the city. It was in this confined and dark abode, that Jugurtha was left to starve, and Cethegus and Lentulus, accomplices in the conspiracy of Cataline, were strangled to death. On returning to the upper air, our obliging cicerone accepted a paul* or two for his services, resumed his ecclesiastical costume, and hastened to his sacred functions. It is supposed that the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, the oldest at Rome, and instituted by the founder of the city himself, stood upon the opposite brow of the hill. Its dimensions, however, were so contracted, that it might have been crowded into a corner. It was only ten feet in length and five in breadth-a striking illustration of the simplicity of the age, and of the remark of the historian, that never did so great an empire spring from an origin so humble. In his animated account of the foundation of this temple, Livy states that it was soon filled with the trophies of vanquished nations, and that it was subsequently increased to double its size :—“ bina postea, intra tot annos, tot bella, opima parta sunt spolia." The site is at present occupied by the modern church of Santa Maria d' Aracœli, to which the ascent is by a flight of 124 steps of marble, said to be from the ruins of the temple of Quirinal Jove. Twenty-two ancient columns of Egyptian granite separate the nave of the church from the aisles; and near the sacristy is an octagonal, antique altar of white marble, which Augustus is said to have erected and dedicated to "the first-born God," at the birth of our Saviour. The name of Ara Cœli (Altar of Heaven,) is derived from this circumstance. As anticipations of the approach of a new era were common all over the East, previous to the advent of the Saviour, and as the Romans had frequent intercourse with Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor, who can say that the above mentioned tradition is not founded in truth, and that the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil might not have been written at the dedication of this very altar, deriving its exalted images from the Hebrew prophets, instead of *The paulo, ten of which makes a scudo or Roman dollar, is equal to about ten cents American currency. Both of these coins are silver, bearing the impress of the papal arms, with a female figure upon the reverse. The lesser coins are of copper, called biocchi, answering very nearly to the cents of our country. |