Walks in Rome

of Octavia-Tomb of the Scipios-Columbarium of the Vigna Codini-Arch of Drusus-Porta S. Sebastiano-Tombs of Geta and Priscilla-Church of Domine Quo Vadis (Vigna Marancia)-Catacombs

-Tomb of Cecilia Metella-Castle of the Caetani-Tombs of the Via Ap

ace, of whom he was the most remarkable representative." It was paved throughout, and during the first part of its course served as a kind of patrician cemetery, bein

teres arcus madi

he Pontine Marshes as far as Capua,

o, and which passes through the Valle Caffarelle, and falls into the Tiber near S. Paolo. This stream, however, which rises at the foot of the Alban Hills below the lake, divides into two parts about six miles from Rome, and its smaller division, after flowing close to the Porta San Giovanni, recedes again into the country, enters Rome near the Porta Metronia, a little behind the Church of S. Sisto, and passing th

historical buildings, of which no trace remains

festa est; quem

ect? Porta

Fast.

usion to this temple

tulero port?

salvo grata

iv. El

a little temple of

di porta qua

tris Almo qua

qua viret s

li fervet He

iii. E

tii,[192] with the temples of Honour and Virtue, vowed by Marcellus

curii port? v

rtis credere,

ctus tunicas me

, quam ferat,

aurus: lauro s

minos sunt ha

Fast.

a that the survivor of th

of the Curiatii, and his cloak, which she had wrought with her own hands, was borne on the shoulders of her brother; and she knew it, and cried aloud, and wept for him she had loved. At the sight of he

ected, we may remember that it was here that Cicero was received in triump

om the Coliseum beneath the arch of Constantine; the other, the street which com

the site of the Porta Capena was found. The remains discovered have been reburied, owing to the indifference or jealousy of t

Pseudo-Aventine to the Church of S

Numa Pompilius is described as having his mysterious meetings with the nymph Egeria. The locality of this fountain was verified when that of the Porta Capena was ascertained, as it was certain that it was in the immediate neighbourhood of that gate, from a passage in the 3d Satire of Juvenal, which describes, that when he was waiting at the Porta Capena with

ws was confined by Domitian, their furnitur

ntis nemus et

cophinus f?nu

, Sat.

th shrubs and flowers. These baths, which could accommodate 1600 bathers at once, were begun in A.D. 212, by Caracalla, continued by Heliogabalus, and finished under Alexander Severus. They covered a space of 2,625,000 square yards-a s

ers, to which, with considerable uncertainty, the names of Calida

f the decline and fall of Rome. Thousands of the Roman youth frittered away their hours in these magnificent halls, which were provi

medi

tent, sunt multi,

voci resonat

, Sat.

an granite was beautifully encrusted with the precious green marble of Numidia. The perpetual stream of hot water was poured into the capacious basons through so many wide mouths of bright and massy silver; and the meanest Roman could purchase, with a small copper coin, the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and luxury which might excite the envy of the kings of Asia. From

mong them the best of the Farnese collection of statues,-the Bull, the Hercules, and the Flora,-which were dug up in 1534, when Paul III. carried off all the still remaining marble dec

of the vast size of the ruins, as for the lovely views of the Campagna, which are obtained between the bushes of lentis

ended in ever-winding labyrinths upon its immense platforms and dizzy arches suspended in the air. The bright blue sky of Rome, and the effect of the vigorous awakening

e débris, baignés à midi par une ardente lumière ou se remplissant d'ombres à la tombée de la nuit, s'élan?ant, à une immense hauteur vers un ciel éblouissant, ou se dressant, mornes et mélancoliques, sous un ciel grisatre,-ou bien, lorsque, montant sur la plate-forme inégale, crevassée, couverte d'arbustes et tapissée de ga

s the fact that, "with a vanity which seems like mockery, Caracalla dared

ove it, is that of Guidi, the antiquity vendor, who has a small museum here of splendid fragments of marble and alabaster for sale. Opposite is the Vigna of Sig

nd Flavia Domitilla (members of the imperial family exiled to Pontia under Diocletian), having suffered martyrdom at Terracina, their bodies were transported here in 524 by John I., when the oratory was enlarged into a church, which was restored under Leo III., in 795. The church was rebuilt in the sixteenth century, by Cardinal Baronius, who

r merita horum martyrum, nihil demito, nihil minuito, nec mutato; restitutam

, in the semicircular choir, is an ancient episcopal throne, supported by lions, and ending in a gothic gable. Upon it part of the twenty-eighth homily of St. Gregory was engraved by Baronius, under the impression that it was delivered thence,-though it was really first read in the catacomb, whence the bodies of the saints were not yet removed. All these decoration

ey were first escorted in triumph to the Capitol, and made to pass under the imperial arches which bore as inscriptions: "The senate and the Roman people to Sta. Flavia Domitilla, for having brought more honour to Rome by h

to the Church of S. Sisto, with its celebrated

ns, who had been living hitherto under very lax discipline, and allowed to leave their convents, and reside in their own families. The nuns of Sta. Maria in Trastevere resisted the order, and only consented to remove on condition of bringing with them a Madonna pictu

rd Napoleon Orsini, nephew of the cardinal, had been thrown from his horse, and killed on the spot. The cardinal fell speechless into the arms of Dominic, and the women and others who were present were filled with grief and horror. They brought the body of the youth into the ch

mission of St. Dominic, forty nuns settled at S. Sis

rish Dominican convent, to which S. Sisto is now annexed. The three principal frescoes represent three miracles of St. Dominic-in each case of raising from the dead. One represents the resuscitation of a mason of the new monastery, who had fallen from a scaffold; another, that of a child in a wild and beautiful Italian landscape; the third, the r

ches off on the left to the Lateran, stands a small ?dicu

pit is one of the most exquisite specimens of church decoration in Rome, and is covered with the most delicate sculpture, interspersed with mosaic; the emblems of the Evangelists are introduced in the carving of the panels. The high altar is richly encrusted with mosaics, probably by the Cosmati

cenzo ed Anastasio was elected in 1145, as Eugenius III., and was immediately afterwards forced by the

of S. Cesareo remains in the adjoining ga

he city. It was used for learning to swim, but all trace of it had disappeared before the t

fugio: son

to: non lic

, iii.

he ancient Porta Latina (through which t

have been thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil (under Domitian), from which "he came forth as from a refreshing bath." It is the suffering in the burning oil which gav

S. Giovanni a Porta Latina,

esting on two granite columns. The entrance-door and the altar have the peculiar mosaic ribbon decoration of the Cosmati, of 1190. The frescoes are all modern; in the tribune, are the deluge and the baptism of Christ,-the type and antitype. Of the ten columns, eight are simple and of granite, two are flu

er cases, the heads of the great houses possessed whole columbaria for their families and their slaves. In the present instance the columbarium is more than usually decorated, and, though much smaller, it is far more worth seeing than the columbaria which it is the custom to visit immediately upon the Appian Way. One of the cippi, above the staircase, is beautifully decorated with shells and mos

the Scipios, a small catacomb in the tufa rock, discovered in 1780, from which the famous sarcophagu

tomb contain

pulchres li

heroic

de H

s and his son, the conqueror of Corsica; Aula Cornelia wife of Cneius Scipio Hispanis; a son of Scipio Africanus; Lucius Cornelius son of Scipio Asiaticus; Cornelius Scipio Hispanis and his son Lucius Cornelius. At the further end of these passages, and now, li

w towards Rome from the

custode), containing three interesting Columbaria. Two of these are large square vaults, supported by a centr

which Caracalla carried water to his baths. The arch once supported an equestria

was father of Germanicus and the emperor Claudius, and brother of Tiberius. He died during a campaign on the Rhine, B.C. 9, and was bro

eon, the most perfect existing monument of Augustan architecture. It is heavy, plain, and narrow,

n Way, and passing under that Arch of Drusus at the Porta S. Sebastiano, toiling up the Capitoline Hill past the Tabularium of the Capitol, dwelling in his hired house in the Via Lata or elsewher

g on a basement of marble blocks, probably plundered from the tombs on the Via Appia.

onio Colonna, after the victory of Lepanto in 1571. As in the processions of the old Roman generals, the children of the conquered prince were forced to ador

om the Via Capena by a portico, which must have rivalled in length the celebrated portico at Bologna extending to the church of the Madonna di S. Luca."[198] Near this, a temple was erected to Tempestas in B.C. 260, by L. Cornelius Scipio, to commemorate the narrow escape of his fleet from shipwreck off the coast of Sardinia.[199] Near this, also, the poet T

urbem, qua prim

Italo gemitu

s jam non remi

io velatam m

x (nec enim f

ogi potuit pe

, Priscil

ib. v. Syl

ht, passing, after about two miles, the picturesque Vigna M

ining a copy of the celebrated footprint said to have been left

es from the gates, he was met by a vision of our Saviour travelling towards the city. Struck with amazement, he exclaimed, 'Lord, whither goest thou?' to which the Saviour, looking upon him with a mild sadness, replied, 'I go to Rome to be crucified a second time,' and vanished. Peter, taking this as a sign that he was

t is seldom that a story can be told by two figures, and these two figures placed in such grand and dramatic contrast;-Christ in His serene majesty, and radiant with all the joy of beatitude, yet with an expressi

farelle. Here, feeling an uncertainty which was the crossing where Our Saviour appeared to St. Peter,

a, divided into three chambers, but despoiled of its adornments. Oth

ir commonest parasite, the Pellitory-"herba parietina," calls to mind the nickname given to the Emperor Trajan in derision of his passion for inscribing his nam

ht) the entrance of the

at the office of the Cardinal-Vicar, 70 Via della Scrofa, before 12 A.M.; upon which a day (generally Sunday) is fixed, which must be adhered to. The Cat

rovided with "cerini," are quite imaginary. Neither does the visitor ever suffer from cold; the

ty, but in the actual length of their galleries; for these are often excavated on various levels, or piani, three, four, or even five-one above the other; and they cross and recross one another, sometimes at short intervals, on each of these levels; so that, on the whole, there are certainly not less than 350 miles of them; that is to say, if stretched out in one continuous line, they would extend the whole length of Italy itself. The galleries are from two to four feet in width, a

they were dug being the property of wealthy citizens who had embraced the faith of Christ, and devoted of their substance to His service. Hence their most ancient titles were taken merely from the names of their lawful owners, many of which still survive. Lucina, for example, who lived in the days of the Apostles, and others of the same family, or at least of the same name, who lived at various periods in the next two centuries; Priscilla, also a contemporary of the Apostles; Flavia Domitilla, niece of Vespasian; Commodilla, whose property lay on the Via Ostiensis; Cyriaca, on the Via Tiburtina; Pretextatus, on the Via Appia; Pon

mblies. Modern research has now placed it beyond a doubt, that they were also originally designed for this purpose and for no other: that they were not deserted sand-pits (arenari?) or quarries, adapted to Ch

hambers were freely decorated with paintings of a sacred character. But early in the third century, it became necessary to withdraw them as much as possible from the public eye; new and often difficult

of marble lying horizontally on the top. The niche over tombs of this kind was of the same length as the grave, and generally vaulted in a semicircular form, whence they were called arcosolia. Sometimes, however, the niche retained the rectangular form, in which case there was no special name for it, but for distinction's sake we may be allowed to call it a table-tomb. Those of the arcosolia, which were also the tomb of martyrs, were used on the anniversaries of their deaths (Natalitia, or birthdays) as altars whereon the holy mysteries were celebrated; hence, whilst some of the cubicula were only family-vaults, others were chapels, or places of public assembly. It is probable that the holy mysteries were celebrated also in the private vaults, on the anniversaries of the deaths of their occupants; and each one was sufficiently large in itself for use on these private occasions; but in order that as many as possible might assist at the public celebrations,

eneath the visible an invisible Rome-a population unheeded, unreckoned-thought of vaguely, vaguely spoken of, and with the familiarity and indifference that men feel who live on a volcano-yet a population strong-hearted, of quick impulses, nerved alike to suffer or to die, and in number, resolution, and physical force sufficient to have hurled their oppressors from the throne of the world, had they not deemed it their duty to kiss the rod, to love their enemies, to bless those that cursed them

y the Greek name C?meteria, sleeping-places. Almost all the catacombs are between the first and third mile-stones from the Aurelian wall, to which po

obably owing to the remembrance that our Lord was himself laid "in a new tomb hewn out of the rock," and perhaps also for this r

f Anatolia, daughter of the consul ?milianus; and of Sta. Soteris, "a virgin of the family to which St. Ambrose belonged in a later generation," and who was

in, supposed by Marangoni to have been the basilica which St. Damasus provided for his own burial and that of his mother and sister; which Padre Marchi believed to be the church of St. Mark and St. Marcellinus;-

pes, many of them martyrs-viz. St. Zephyrinus, (202-211); St Pontianus, who died in banishment in Sardinia, (231-236); St. Anteros, martyred under Maximian in the second month of his pontificate, (236); St. Fabian, martyred under Decius, (236-250); St. Lucius, martyred under Valerian, (253-255); St. Stephen I., martyred in his episcopal chair under Valerian, (255-257); St. Sixtus II., martyred in the catacombs of St. Pretextatus, (257-260); St. Dionysius, (260-271); St. Eutychianus, martyr,

it was to rediscover the tombs which had been blocked up for concealment under Diocletian, to remove the earth, widen the p

jacet qu?ris s

um retinent ven

as rapuit sib

ti portant qui

erum servat qui

ga vixit qui in

es sancti quo

erique, senes,

neum placuit re

asus volui mea

imui sanctos

ow, lie heaped togethe

lchres inclose the

the palace of he

f Xystus, who bear away t

elders which guards

priest who lived

fessors who came

oys, old men and thei

eir virgini

wished to hav

rb the holy ashes o

re (see Chap. XVII.) A.D. 224, and where it was discovered in 820 by Pope Paschal I. (to whom its resting-place had been revealed in a dream), "fresh and perfect as whe

surface of the wall, is a figure of St. Urban (the friend of Cecilia, who laid her body here) in full pontifical robes, with his name inscribed." Higher on the wall are figures of three saints, "executed apparently in the fourth, or perhaps even the fifth century"-Polycamus, an unknown martyr, with a palm branch; Sebastianus; and Curinus, a bishop (Quirinus bishop of Siscia-buried at St. S

points are of historic interest. 1. The roof-shaped tomb of Pope St. Melchiades, who lived long in peace and died A.D. 313. 2. The Cubiculum of Pope St. Eusebius, in the middle of

ng fury began sedition, slaughter, fighting, discord, and strife. Straightway both (the pope and the heretic) were banished by the cruelty of the tyrant, although the po

m of the tablet is t

fecit Eusebio epi

which hands down to us the name of the scu

lus scripsit Damasis pap

er (314) who bore the name of any noble Roman family, and whose epitaph, (perhaps in consequence) is in Latin, while those of the other popes are in Greek. The tomb has no chapel of its own, but is a mere grave in a ga

su extructo ten

nta vides tumu

ti Damasi pr?

sus melior, po

i, et valeas s

amasus melior c

amor, tenuit ma

mplished, sick as he is, in order that the approach might be better, and the aid of the saint might be made convenient for the people; and that, if you will pour for

t. Cornelius. Therefore also, on the right of the grave, are two figures of bishops with inscriptions declaring them to be St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian. Each holds the book of the Gospels in his hands and is clothed in pontifical robes, "including the pallium, which had not yet been confined as a mark of distinction to metrop

ed to him in various ways, according to the tendencies of his guide. The paintings may be considered to consist of three classes, sy

ently introduced on an

pressive of ho

ristian soul released from its

id the pastures and deserts of earthly life. Ps. cxi

d," emblematical of etern

y the initial letters of the titles of Our Lord-Ιησο?? Χριστ?

ch militant, sometimes seen ca

basket on its back, sometimes with it on a table-in a

ng, an "Orante"-in al

on to the Church. Ps.

nch, as a si

ign of victory and ma

nd Biblical R

m the importance which is given to it and its frequent int

lmost invariably painted on the central space of the dome or cupola, subjects of minor interest being disposed around

in a few instances, in the oldest catacombs, he is introduced in the character of Orpheus, surrounded by wild beasts enrapt by the melody of his lyre,-Orpheus being then supposed to have been a prophet or precursor of the Messiah. The background usually exhibits a landscape or meadow, sometimes planted with olive-trees, doves resting on thei

ts original more nearly in the few instances where Our Saviour is represented carrying a goat, emblematical of the scapegoat of the wilderness. Singularly enough, though of Greek parentage, and recommended to the Byzantines b

word, represented on every species of Christian monument that has come down to us. Of course, amid such a multitude of examples, there is considerable variety of treatment. We cannot, however, appreciate the suggestion of Kügler, that this frequent repetition of the subject is probably to be attributed to the capabilities which it possessed in an artistic point of view. Rather, it was selected because it expressed the whole sum and substance of the Christian dispensation. In the language even of the Old Testament, the acti

Testament (those of Noah, Moses, Daniel, a

this, "Our Saviour (as the representative of the Deity) stands between them, condemning them, and offering a lamb to Eve and

hey present a lamb and sheaf of cor

ne that "the faithful having obtained remission of their sins through baptism, have received from the Holy Spirit the gift of

ifice o

ge of th

receiving

water from the r

ting to the p

p to heaven in th

e fiery furnace;-very common

re with hands extended, and a lion on either side; m

the whale, represented as

isgorged by

rd; or, according to th

ting for the de

perhaps as encouragement to the Christians suffering from the wickedn

m the New Te

y-the ox and t

atedly placed in juxtaposition wi

r turning wat

nversing with the

paralytic man-who takes up

ing the woman with

ultiplying the l

ing the daughter of

ur healing t

position with a picture of Moses striking the rock. "These two subjects may be intended to represent the beginning and end of the Christian course, 'the fountain of water springing up to life everlastin

s triumphal entr

iving the keys to

predicting the

denial o

viour befo

ter taken

ects are only repre

are said to have reference to the sacrament of baptism. Pictures of the paralytic carrying his bed are identified by some Roman Catholic authorities with the sacrament of penance. (!) Bosio believed that

Urbano) is the Catacomb of St. Pretextatus, interesting as being the known burial-place of several ma

introduced visiting their young in nests), and the last or highest, of leaves of laurel or the bay-tree. Of course these severally represent the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The last is a well-known figure or symbol of death; and probably the laurel, as the token of victory, was intended to represent the new and Christian idea of the everlasting reward of a blessed immortality. Below these bands is another border, more indistinct, in which reapers are gathering in the corn; and at the back of the arch is a rural scene, of which the central figure is the Good Shepherd carrying a sheep upon his shoulders. This, however, has been destroyed by graves pierced through the wall and the rock behind it, from the eager desire to bury the dead of a later generation as near as possible to the tombs of the martyrs. As De Rossi proceeded to examin

Agapitus and St. Felicissimus were deacons of Pope Sixtus II., who were martyred together with him and St. Pretex

he Catacomb of Calixtus, near the tomb of Co

adius secuit pi

ctor c?lestia

o, rapiunt qui

is, populi tun

vit senior qui

umque caput pri

tas posset ne

stus reddit q

m, numerum greg

soldiers being sent in, the people gave their necks (to the slaughter). Soon the old man saw who was willing to bear away the palm from himself, and was the first to offer himself and hi

ate from A.D. 130, is believed to b

ed in honour of St. Zeno; and of Tiburtius, Valerian,

fine while marble sarcophagus, and decorated with a painting of the seven-branched candlestick. A side passage leads to other cubicula, and to an open space which seems to have been an actual arenarium. A winding passage at the end of the larger gallery leads to the graves in the floor divided into different cells for corpses, and called Cocim by Rabbinical writ

them Flavius Clemens the consul, although he was his nephew, and although he had Flavia Domitilla for his wife, who was also related to the emperor. They were both accused of atheism, on which charge many others also had been condemned, going after the manners and customs of the Jew; and some of them were put to death, and others had their goods confiscated; but Domitilla was only banished to Pandataria."[219] This Flavia Domitilla is frequently confused with her niece of the same name,[220] whose banishment is mentioned by Eusebius, when he says:-"The teaching of our faith had by this time shone so far and wide, that even pagan historians did not refuse to insert in their narratives some account of the persecution and the martyrdoms that were suffered in it. Some, too, have marked the time accurately,

ldest Christian cemetery in existence. Its galleries were widened and strengthened by John I.

he staircase and the luminare just mentioned, as also from the greater width of the adjacent galleries and other similar tokens." Here then St. Gregory the Great delivered his twenty-eighth homily (which Baronius erroneously supposes to have been delivered in the C

and in one or two instances Latin words are written in Greek characters. Many of these monuments are of the deepest importance both in an antiquarian and religious point of view; in archaeology, as showing the practice of private Christians in the first ages to make the subterranean chambers at their own expense and for their own u

e, surrounded by birds and beasts who are charmed with his music; Elijah ascen

ly disappointed. Kügler supposed it to be the oldest portrait of Our Blessed Saviour in existence, but we doubt if there is sufficient authority for such a statement. He describes it in these words:-'The face is oval, with a straight nose, arched eyebrows, a smooth and rather high forehead, the expression serious and mild; the hair, parted on the forehead, flows in l

hill-side is a sepulchral chamber, which De Rossi cons

ise the transition from the use of the sarcophagus to that of the common loculus; for the first two or three graves on either side, though really mere shelves in the wall, are so disguised by painting on the outside as to present to passers-by the complete outward appearance of a sarcophagus. Some few of these graves are marked with the names of the dead, written in black on the largest tiles, and the inscriptions on the other graves are all of the simplest and oldest form. Lastly, the whole of the vaulted roof is covered with the most exquisitely graceful designs, of branches of the vine (with birds and winged genii among them) trailing with all the freedom of nature over the

, but considered by modern antiquaries as a temple of Ceres and Proserpine. This building has been comparatively saved from the destruction which has befallen its neighbours by having been consecrated as a church in A.D. 82

in which St. Urban baptized and celebrated mass. A curious fr

al of Cecilia by Pope Urban in the Catacombs of Calixtus, and the story of the martyred Urban I. In the picture of the Crucifixion, the thieves have their names, "Calpurnius and Longinus." The frescoes were altered in the sevent

ver-god, which was called "the Grotto of Egeria," till a few years ago, when the discovery of the true site of the Porta Capena fixed that of

et creation

mortal restin

l breast; wha

young Auror

psy of some

be, a beauty

ore than comm

ing; whatsoe'

ful thought, and s

thy fountain st

ysian water-d

ded spring, with

eek-eyed geniu

ild margin now

must the delica

rble, bubbling

statue, with

and round, fern, flo

y tangled; th

early blossoms,

lizard rustle

ds sing welco

n hue, and many

sing step, and

soft breeze i

f the violet's

of heaven, seems co

Childe

Triopio, of Herodes Atticus, whose romantic story is handed down to us through two Greek inscriptions in th

questing his orders as to what he was to do with the treasure. Nerva replied, that he was welcome to keep it, and use it as he pleased. Not yet satisfied or feeling sufficiently sure of the protection of the emperor, Atticus again applied to him, saying that the treasure was far too vast for the use of a person in a private station of life, and asking how he was to use it. The emperor again replied that the treasure was

A.D. 143. Soon after his arrival he fell in love with Annia Regilla, a beautiful and wealthy heiress, and in spite of the violent opposition of her brother, Annius Attilius Braduas, who, belonging to the Julian family, and claimin

from his first anguish by his brother-in-law Annius Braduas, who had never laid aside his resentment at the marriage, and who now accused him of having poisoned his wife. Herodes demanded a public trial, and was acquitted. Filostratus records that the intense grief he showed and the depth of the mour

within those sacred limits. A statue was also erected to Regilla in the Triopian temple of Ceres and Proserpine, which is now supposed to be the same with that usually called the temple of Bacchus. Not only did Herodes hang his house with black in his affliction, but all gaily colour

ngraved on slabs of Pentelic marble-and Philostratus and Pausanias narrate that the quarries of this ma

of Divus Rediculus, and formerly described as having been built to commemorate the retreat of Hannibal, who came thus far in his intended attack upon Rome. The temple erected

g Romans, to whom he would bid good day as he sate perched upon the rostra. At length he became quite a public character, and the indignation was so great when his master killed him with his hammer in a fit of rage at his spoiling some new leather, that they slew the cobbler and decreed a public funeral

ed the house and garden of the matron Lucina, in which she had buried the body of Sebastian, after his (second) martyrdom under Diocletian. The basilica contains nothing ancient, but the six granite columns in the portico. The

he association of arrows with his form and story that St. Sebastian has been regarded from the first ages of Christianity as the protecting saint against plague and pestilence; Apollo was the deity wh

nt in the Domine Quo Vadis

is the descent into the cata

et? jacet celebrans summus Pontifex S. Gregorius Magnus vidit angelum Dei candidiorem nive, sibi in tremendo sacrificio ministrantem ac dicentem, 'Hic est locus sacratissimus in quo est divina promissio et o

qu? sunt in purgatorio pro quibus sacrificium offertur plenariam indulgentiam, et omnium suorum

ause they can always be seen on application to the monks attached to the ch

ithout value. Its only interest consists in its religious associations: here St. Bridget was wont to kneel, rapt in contemplation; here St. Charles Borromeo spent whol

n thee the

me down upon

y heart, a

earthly dros

n Philip w

e image o

issolves am

s round the

e wise, none

light to

accents fi

fire, now so

Newman

gradually blocked up, and by lapse of time their very entrances were forgotten. In the fourteenth century very few were still open. In the fifteenth century

ibuted to Pope Liberius (352-355), and afterwards adorned by Pope Damasus, who b

prius sanctos

Petri pariter P

ns misit, quod

tum Christumque p

iere sinus et

ius meruit de

stras referat

reely acknowledge. For the merit of their blood they followed Christ to the stars, and sought the heavenly home and the kingdom

Here they rested for a while, to make all things ready for their journey, or, according to another account, were detained by a thunderstorm of extraordinary violence, which delay, however occasioned, was sufficient to enable the Christians of Rome to overtake them and recover their lost treasure. These Roman Christians then buried the bodies, with the utmost secrecy, in a deep pit, which they dug on the very spot where they were. Soon, indeed, they were restored to their original places of sepulture, as we know from contemporary authorities, and there seems reason to believe the old ecclesiastical tradition to be correct, which states the

upon the faithful to venerate here the tombs of Sta. Cecilia and of many of the martyred popes, who are buried elsewhere.

enter are full of the bodies of the dead, and the whole place is so dark, that one seems almost to see the fulfilment of those words of the prophet, 'Let them go down alive into Hades.' Here and there a little light, admitted from above, suffices to give a momentary

martyrs' graves: passing great subterranean vaulted roads, diverging in all directions, and choked up with heaps of stones, that thieves and murderers may not take refuge there, and form a population under Rome, even worse than that which lives between it and the sun. Graves, graves, graves; graves of men, of women, of little children, who ran crying to the persecutors, 'We are Christians! we are Christians!' that they might be murdered with their parents; graves with the

ought how Christian men have dealt with one another; how, perverting our most merciful religion, they have hunted down and tortured, burnt and beheaded, strangled, slaughtered, and oppressed each other; I pictured to myself an agony surpassing any that this Dust had suffered with the breath of life yet lingering in it, and how t

chaunted hymns of triumph, and held communion with Him for whom they died. In that church I spend hours. I have no wish to descend into those sacred sepulchres, and pry among the graves the res

dered why the wicked triumph, and sighed to God, 'H

ice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was sai

et broad, and was capable of containing 15,000 spectators, yet it is a miniature compared with the Circus Maximus, though very interesting as retaining in

tie inférieure se voit encore, et le cirque lui-même fut peut-être une dépendance de ce temple funèbre, car les courses de chars étai

by the peaks of the Sabine range, which i

feet in diameter. The bulls' heads on the frieze gave it the popular name of Capo di Bove. The marble coating of the basement was carried off by Urb

mbs. But, whatever might be the cause, it is in a far better state of preservation than they. On its broad summit rise the battlements of a medi?val fortress, out of the midst of which (so long since had time begun to crumble the supplemental structure, and cover it with soil, by means of wayside dust) grow trees, bushes, and

ern round towe

ress, with its

y's baffled st

half its bat

thousand year

of eternit

s over all by t

wer of strength?

so lock'd, so hi

she, the lady

lace? Was she

g's-or more-

hiefs and hero

of her beautie

oved-how died s

and conspicu

relics must n

morate a more t

died in youth:

eavier than the

pon her gentle

o'er her beau

eye, prophet

favourites-earl

rm around he

ght, the Hespe

cheek the autum

e died in age

, children-with

esses, which m

ill a somethi

braided, and

were envied, p

ither would Co

one we know-

an's wife: Behold

de H

the ruins of a Gothic

ns des Ca?tani, et autour du chateau s'était formé un village avec son ég

erge from the walls which have hitherto shut in the road on either side, and enjoy uninterrupted views over the Latin

found on the Via Appia bear witness to the grief of the living for the dead, but never to the hope of reunion. On a great number of sarcophagi or the friezes of tombs may be seen the dead sitting or lying as if they were alive, some seem to be praying. Many heads have great individuality of character. Sometimes a white marble figure, beautifully draped, projects from these heaps of ruins, but without head or hands; sometimes a hand is stretched out, or a portion of a figure rises from the tomb. It is a street through monuments of the dead, acros

s almost to exclude a view of the surrounding country. The houses are of the most uninviting aspect, neither picturesque, nor homelike and social; they have seldom or never a door opening on the wayside, but are accessible only from the rear, and frown inhospitably upon the traveller through iron-g

nd indestructible as if each tomb were composed of a single boulder of granite. When first erected, they were cased externally, no doubt, with slabs of polished marble, artfully wrought, bas-reliefs, and all such suitable adornments, and were rend

rms a precipice of fifty feet in depth on each of the four sides. There is a house on that funeral mound, where generations of children have been born, and successive lives have been spent, undisturbed by the ghost of the stern Roman whose ashes were so preposterously burdened. Other sepulchres wear a crown of grass, shrubbery, and forest-trees, which throw out a broad sweep of branches, having had tim

m oblivion. Ambitious of everlasting remembrance as they were, the slumberers might just as well have gone quietly to rest, each in his pigeon-hole of a columbarium, or under his little gree

ef of the death of Atys, killed by Adrastus, a short distance beyond this, has been suggested as part of the tomb of Seneca, who

eft, are some small remains, suppos

er; of Caius Licinius; the Doric tomb of the tax-gatherer Claudius Philippanus, inscribed "Tito. Claudio. Secundo. Philippiano. Coactori. Flavia. Irene. Vxori Indulgentissimo;

with basements of peperino, were considered by C

popular epithet of Roma Vecchia. Here was the favourite villa of the Emperor Commodus, where he was residing, when the people, excited by a sudden impulse during the games of the Circus, rose and poured out of Rome against him-as the inhabitants of Paris to Versailles-and refused to depart, till, terrified into action by the entreaties of his concubine Mar

r pour sauver sa vie. Sextus, après avoir bu sang du lièvre, monta à cheval, se laissa tomber, vomit le sang qu'il avait pris et qui parut être son propre sang. On mit dans sa bière le corps d'un bélier qui passa pour son cadavre, et il disparut. Depuis ce temps, il erra sons divers déguisements; mais on sut qu'il avait échappé, et on se mit à sa recherche. Beaucoup furent tués parce-qu'ils lui ressemblaient ou parce-qu'ils étaient soup?onnés de lui avoir donné asile. Il n'est pas bien s?r qu'il ait été atteint, que sa tête se trouvat parmi celles qu'on apporta à Rome et qu'on dit être la sienne. Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'après la mort de Comm

Sergius Demetrius, a wine merchant; of Lucius Arrius; of Septimia Gallia; and of one of the C?cilii, in whose sepulchre, according to Eutropius, was buried Pompon

that name being found there inscribed on a stone, but generally attributed to Messala Corvinus, the poet, and

urba non ausim

men, pr?sid

st.

ilia Metella, and was turned into a fortre

h legion; Marcus Julius, steward of Claudius; Publius Decumius Philomusus (with a

a hominis boni misericordis amantis pauperis." Near the eighth milestone are ruins attributed to the temples of Silvanus and of Hercules,-of which the latter is mentioned in Martial's Epigrams, beyond which were the villas of Bassus an

mbs. At the Osteria delle Frattocchie it joins the Via Appia Nuova. Close to the gate of Albano, it passes on the left the tall tomb at

ius tumulo jace

lo: quis put

oli, "in a gilt litter, with royal ornaments, trumpets before him, and horsemen behind;"[223] and the funeral of Augustus, who dying at Nola (A.D. 14), was brought to

great Christian interest of this world-famous road,

e went to

me to meet us as far as Appii-forum, and the Three Taver

rs to the captain of the guard; but Paul was suffered to dwell

ticism or scepticism of modern times has ever questioned the perfect authenticity of that last chapter of the Acts, which gives the account of his journey, stage by stage, till he set foot within the walls of the city. However much we may be compelled to distrust any particular traditions concerning special localities of his life and death, we cannot doubt for a moment that his eye rested on t

s of the scene are unaltered. The long wall of blue Sabine mountains, with Soracte in the distance, closed in the Campagna, which stretched far across to the sea and round the base of the Alban hills. But ancient Rome was not, like modern Rome, impressive from its solitude, standing alone, with its one conspicuous cupola, in the midst of a desolate though beautiful waste. St. Paul would see a vast city, covering the Campagna, and almost continuously connected by its suburbs with the villas on the hill where he stood, and with the bright towns which clustered on the sides of the mountains opposite. Over all the intermediate space were the houses and gardens, through which aqueducts and roads might be traced in converging

t, among gardens and modern houses, and approached nearer the busy metropolis-the 'conflux issuing forth or entering in' in various costumes and on various errands,-vehicles, horsemen, and foot-passengers, soldiers and labourers, Romans and foreigners,-became more crowded and confusing. The houses grew closer. They were already in Rome. It was impo

en this hill and the Palatine: thence over the low ridge called Velia, where afterwards was built the arch of Titus, to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem; and then descending, by the Via Sacra, into that space which was the centre of imperial power and imperial magnificence, and associated also with the most glorious recollections of the republic. The Forum was to Rome, what the Acropolis was to Athens, the heart of all the characteristic interest of the place. Here was the Milliarium Aureum, to which the roads of all the provinces converged. All around were the stately buildings, which were raised in the closing years of the republic, and by the earl