Rome Of To-Day And Yesterday

Preface

Ir seems almost essential to explain in a few words why still another book should be added to the already long list of those which take Rome for their subject.

The writer has hoped to furnish to others something which he himself consciously needed, in his own early Roman days, —as well as at home, when his thoughts were first turning Rome-ward, — by bringing together in a volume of moderate dimensions the results of a rather wide range of special reading, and of a prolonged, leisurely examination of each one of those columns and masses of masonry and arches and ornaments and fragmentary pavements, which, collectively, are called “the ruins of ancient Rome.”

Rome is par excellence the great historic city, and in all this wrecked architecture stands written, for him who can read, the history of her eleven Pagan Centuries. Every one of them (except, perhaps, the fifth B.c., and that an exception for good historic cause} has left its fragments, or even its whole buildings, of perfectly authentic date. Now it is a pity that all these splendid records of the past should be, to any one, as hieroglyphics with undiscovered key. To explain, in some measure, what the Roman ruins mean, when and why these buildings were erected, enough about each building and each builder to vi PREFACE.

link the whole eleven centuries into one continuous story, is the object of this book. Being what she is, Rome cannot but interest and impress any intelligent person, however ignorant of history and archeology he may chance to be; at the same time it must be true that to get the very best of Rome, to feel her marvellous charm in the highest degree, it is not enough to gaze and to dream; one must “remember, and understand.”

And for those, also, to whom fate denies the opportunity of seeing all these things for themselves, it is hoped that the record of pleasant study and of personal impressions given here may have value and interest; and that it may render clearer to their minds the image of the great ruined city, the Rome of Yesterday, which stands, grand and most significant, —one may even say, dominant, —in the Rome of To-day.

For the quite indispensable aid of photography in carrying out the design of this volume, the author and publishers would express their sincere thanks to Signor Anderson of Rome, whose beautiful work has furnished very much the larger part of its illustrations; and also to Signor Brogi of Florence and Naples, and to Signor Tuminello of Rome, for a few interesting additions to the Anderson photographs.

CON Tas T's.

CHAPTER I. A Frsr Loox at Rome

PAGE Topography. — View from Montorio. — Geologic formation of the site of Rome.— Bersaglieri and carabiniert.— The Queen.—Views from the Janiculum. — The Tiber. — Inundations. — Island. — Bridges. — Source of the river. — Streets. — Street-cleaning. — Piazza di Trevi and Fountain. — Water supply. — Piazza del Popolo. — Pincio. — Piazza di Spagna - . . «ww «© « 1

CHAPTER IL Rome or THE Kies (753-509 B.c.).

A real, historic period. — The Palatine hill. — The wall of Romulus. — Pre-historie occupation of the Seven Hills. — Early populations. — The name Roma. — Sabines, Latins, and Etruscans. — Romulus. — Beginning of the Rome of history. — The three Sabine kings. — Mamertine Prison. — Period of Etruscan supremacy. — Capitoline hill. — Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

— Unifying measures. — Cloacae. — Circus Maximus. — Second wall of Rome. — Population of the city. — Remains of the SEEMING ee 8 Beet 5 ae viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER Il.

Rome or THE Repusuic (509-49 B.c.).

Pace Buildings of the Republican period. — The Forum Romanum. — Comitium. — Rostra. — Curia.— Temple of Saturn. — Temple of Janus. — Temple of Concord. — Temple of Vesta. — Regia. —Temple of Castor. — Domus Publica. — Arch. — Tabularium. — Scenes in the Forum. — Basilicas. — Forum Boariur.. — Temple of Fors Fortuna. — Gates. — Campus Martius. — Its temples. — Forum Olitorium. — Remains of three temples. — Flaminian Circus. — The porticus. — Porticus Octavii. — Porticus Metelli. — Pompey’s buildings: Temple of Minerva,

Theatre, Porticus, Senate-House. — “ Pompey’s statua.” — Appiau road. — The censorship. — Flaminian road. — Tombs. py Aqueducts . . e . . . . . . . . . . . 61

CHAPTER IV.

Rome or THE Emperors (49 B.c.-330 A.D.).

Character and work of Caesar. —The Julian Forum. — Septa Julia. — Rostra. — Domus Publica. — Regia. — Temple of Caesar. — Youth of Octavius. — His early career. — Temple of Apollo. — Domus Augustana. — Porticus Octaviae. — ‘Triumph. — Obelisks. —Mausoleum.— Theatre of Marcellus. — The name Augustus. — Basilica Julia. — Use of colored marbles. — Giallo. — Africano. — Pavonazetto. — White marbles. — Augustan Forum. —Temple of Mars Ultor.— Temple of Hercules. — Domestic misfortunes of Augustus. — Temples rebuilt by Tiberius. — Amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus. — Agrippa. — His Pantheon. — Thermae. — Naumachia. — Aqueduct. — Increased water-supply. — Gardens of Agrippa. — Porticus of the Argonauts. — Maecenas. — His villa. — Ancient gardens. — House of Germanicus. — Crypto-porticus. — Fire-brigade station in Trastevere. —Columbaria. —Tomb of Caecilia Metella. — Pyramid of Cestius « + © © © s+ © © = © # =? 114

CONTENTS. 1x Pace Accession of Tiberius. — Temple of Augustus. — Domus Tiberiana. — Praetorian Camp. — Praetorian Amphitheatre . . . . . 175 Accession of Caligula. — — — Palace. — Circus. — Ohelisk:. aoa.» coe eee BR Accession of Claudius. — Aieeaduiing — Obelisks pete ye 288 Accession of Nero. — The Golden House. — Branch of the Claudian Aqueduct. — Use of concrete. — Arches in the Wolkonski Garden. — The Sette Sale. — Triumphal Arch. — Thermae. — Nero’s career and death. — End of the Julian line . . . . 192

CHAPTER V.

Rome oF THE Emperors (49 B.c.-330 A.D.) (Continued).

Buildings of the Flavian dynasty. — Character of the Flavii. — The Colosseum. — Forum and Temple of Peace. — Villa of rer ERS: reel kan Re eae me MS c . 218 Accession of Titus. — Palace sed ites _~ Tes of spindle. — Modern discoveries of ancient quarries. — Red porphyry in Mame Oe es fa ee ws ‘ - 232 Accession of Domitian. — Penge of iiss: aad Senipiss — Obelisks. — Arch of Titus. — Temple of Vespasian. — Comte de Tournon’s work in Rome. — Palace of the Palatine. —- Character and career of Domitian. — End of the Flavian line. . . 241 Accession of Nerva.— His choice of a succéssor. — Forum. —

Its ruins, the Colonnacce . . . . ae Accession of Trajan. — His reign the Golden ioe of Bios: — Personal appearance and character. — The Circus Maximus.

— Aqueduct. — Conquest of Dacia. — Forum. — Column. — Basilica Ulpia. — Libraries. — Reliefs of the Forum. —

JD ech] eee) eee ae Cees - 258 Accession of Hadrian. — a ee ‘of dea, — Niiiglk of oo and Rome. — Roman spoliation of Rome. — Palace and Stadium of the Palatine. — Pantheon. — Brick-stamps. — Mausoleum. — House of the Vestals. — Statues of Chief Vestals. — BME RSE PUUMUOUC Me te xe ty we ewe we ee ke BS x CONTENTS. ; PAGE Accession of Antoninus Pius. — Temple of Faustina. — Roman Grafiti. 2 ss wire (ae . - 290

Accession of Marcus Aurelius. — The younger Faustina. — Temple and Column of Antoninus Pius. — Column of Mareus Aurelius. — Equestrian statue. — Panels from Arch. — Last of the adopted Emperors. — Reign of Commodus. — Year of Three Emperors 20606 0 ee oc

CHAPTER VI.

Rome oF THE Emperors (49 B.c.-330 4.D.) (Concluded).

Decline of Rome. — Three African Emperors. — Septimius Severus and Caracalla. — Arch in the Forum. — Arch of the Silversmiths. — Janus of the Velabrum. — Many rebuildings and restorations. — Templum Sacrae Urbis. — Marble plan of Rome. — Erasures on two Arches. — Palace on the Palatine. — Remains of earlier buildings on the Palatine. — Worship of Oriental divinities. — Condition of Rome at this epoch. — Marmoratum. — Baths of Caracalla. — Reigns of two cousins of Caracalla. — Their characters. — Influence of four Syrian women in Rome. — Reservoir. — Ruins on the Esquiline. — Opus Alexandrinum. — Arch of Gallienus. — Hall of Thermae of Gallienus. — Character of Gallienus. — Wall of Aurelian. — Monte Testaccio. — A corner of old Rome. — Accession of Diocletian. — His colleagues. — Baths of the Six Emperors. — New Archeological Museum. — Hostilities among the colleague Emperors. — Constantine becomes sole Emperor. — oe Three Monuments of Maxentius’ reign. — Basilica. — Temple — = of Romulus. — Circus of Romulus. ~ Thermae of Constantine. — Its cornice in the garden of the Colonna Palace. — Arch of Her

Constantine. — Transference of the capital from Rome to oH

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ROME OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY.

CHAPTER I.

A Frrst Loox at Rome.

Aw afternoon in February, when there is only a soft summer wind and the sun feels like May, is an ideal moment for a first look at Rome from the Janiculan Hill.

The general direction of the Tiber, as it traverses Rome, is from north to south, and nearly the whole of the city lies eastward of it. On the west is only the ridge of the Janicu-

lum, nearly parallel to the river valley for about a mile, then

sinking abruptly at its northern extremity to the low ground where stands 8. Peter’s and the Vatican palace, and rising again, under the name of the Vatican hill, in the gardens of the palace, and so on northward to the picturesque crest of Monte Mario with its cypresses and villas. Between the Janiculum and the river is a strip of low ground, very narrow at the north, then widening, as it follows the retreating curve of the river, to a breadth of three quarters of a mile, which is the Trastevere, a region where hot tempers and picturesque types of dress and grand statuesque figures and a. vast deal of poverty characterise the population.

Just at the southern extremity of the ridge a fine broad plateau is thrown out like a bastion commanding the city, a point of view and also a strategic point, of importance

1 1

D ROME OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY.

from the time of Ancus Marcius seven centuries before the Christian era to that of the French siege not quite fifty years ago. Tyadition also holds the ground, declaring that here S. Peter suffered martyrdom, Accordingly, here stands a church, supposed to be founded by Constantine ; but the present building was erected by the Spanish Ferdinand and Isabella, in some year not remote from the famous fourteen hundred ninety-two. ‘There are a few good pictures in the church; and adjacent, a little circular building by Bramante, which is greatly admired, and was formerly thought to mark the exact spot where stood 8, Peter’s cross. Another time one might admit these various claims upon the attention, and might ponder long and profitably on this unchanged contemporary, 50 to speak, of the discovery of a continent; but with great Rome lying below, San Pietro in Montorio has but a petty interest ; nothing beneath a roof, were it S. Peter’s itself, can, for an instant, draw one’s eyes and thoughts from this great view which lies before us, roofed over by the infinite blue dome _ of heaven.

The city lies below, a mass of buildings closely packed, and distinctly separated from the undulating Campagna in which it lies. Its general aspect is extremely uniform; this City of Seven Hills scarcely shows the slighte elevation of one point above another; this City of Father Tiber is not lighted up with one gleam of water, so low the river lies in its bed, and so shut in is it by buildings adjacent. In its general colour this mass of buildings is of soft yellow and grey tones in infinite variety, with very rarely a touch of dull orange. Here and there a mass of dark foliage marks some one of the great palace gardens. And this is Rome! Vainly the eye strives to find it either picturesque or stately. The great dome of 8. Peter’s does not make part of this view, lying far to the northwest behind the terrace of Montorio; and the lesser domes and towers are not of size or in position to be conspicuous.

There is, no doubt, a moment’s disappointment ; but soon one begins to detect the Palatine ruins, huge masses of brickwork among the ilex and cypress-trees to the right of the closely crowded roofs; and then the three great arches of Constantine’s Basilica, yawning wide like the mouth of a cavern; and then the ragged crest of the Colosseum; and then the enormous globe of the Pantheon, coming up among the roofs, as some strange unlighted moon might surge above the horizon. And so, Rome takes possession of the soul: it is not the poet’s “ Rome most beautiful”; there is nothing left of that “city of marble,” which was the pride of Augustus; but still it is Rome, the centre of the world’s history ; and, just as much to-day as ever, the mistress of the world, and the mistress of our hearts.

Outside the city the ground rises in soft green slopes, with here and there the light walls and square turrets of some villa. On the horizon is the long, irregular line of the Sabine and Umbrian Apennines, extending from north to south, —the Alban Hills lie southward and nearer; and isolated, on the north, is the Soracte of Horace. In the _ sunshine of the early afternoon these are little more than misty outlines, but as the hours go by they assume great clearness of contour against the blue; the high, snowy ridges grow whiter; beautiful violet and grey tones mark the ravines; and the scattered towns on the lower slopes glitter, groups of white specks against the dark-green forest background.

Again the eye reverts to the city lying beneath us, and seeks in vain to detect the Seven Hills on which it is built. Aided by the map we remark the great loop to the west that the river makes in traversing the city, giving to the eastern side the broad, irregular space at the foot of the hills, which was once the Campus Martius and in media. val and modern times has been the city’s most densely populated area. Southward from this level ground rise three isolated hillocks, — the Capitoline, the Palatine, the Aventine,—the early Three Hills of Rome. East and northeast of these three elevations are thrown out from the higher ground behind the city four irregular spurs, the Caelian, the Esquiline, the Viminal, and the Quirinal, — completing the mystic number. Further to the north, the long ridge of the Pincian had, however, for centuries been part of the city, “the hill of gardens ” (collis hortorum), before Aurelian enclosed it with his wall; and the Janicuium, where we stand, had also long been part of Rome; so that the City of the Seven Hills might, since the Empire, have been more appropriately called the City of the Nine, and, for the last four centuries, the City of the Ten, Hills, since the great Basilica of S. Peter’s and all the splendours of the papal palace have brought the once insignificant Mons Vaticanus to the level of her proudest sisters. a

Marvellous is the record that history gives us of this little portion of the earth’s surface, and geology has a no~ less wonderful story to tell. What the forces of nature — have wrought here is a fitting prelude to the great human drama that followed. Let us give it a thought as we look across, this sunny afternoon, to the snow-wreathed Sabine — Mountains, forty miles away, which at their highest summits, i are five thousand feet above the sea. There was a time when _ from Soracte, thirty miles northward of Rome, to Mont Gennaro, thirty miles due south, the quiet blue waters the Mediterranean lay in a broad and placid bay over all this region on which we look, to the very foot of the Sabine Mountains. Their slopes were clad in a sub-tropical veg tation then; the orange, the cactus, and the aloe growing luxuriantly beside the trees of the present period, — oaks, plane-trees and poplars; and there were the great pachyderms, the elephant, mastodon, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, together with the lesser animals that compose the fauna of to-day.

Presently, with submarine voleanoes under this quiet bay, Nature began her great preparations for the Rome that was to be. The Seven Hills were to be made ready and the building materials with which they should be covered; and all this was flung out from the fiery centre of the earth. How tremendous were the forces then set at work, and with what elemental tumult the earlier quiet was broken up, we cannot know. Sights like these no human eye has seen; only results remain, and testify to the great cosmic spectacle that once took place. There was no volcano visible, but suddenly out of the sea were thrown high in air enormous quantities of scoriae, ashes, pumice, fragments of lava, and every form of volcanic detritus. This all fell back again under the water, remaining for an unknown geologic period subjected to the action of the waves, until finally it had been beaten together into a sort of conglomerate, extremely hard, dark red in colour, here and there spotted with orange, containing water-worn pebbles and fragments of limestone, and showing evident marks of stratification. This is the stony tufa (tufa litoide) with which began the foundation of the hills of Rome, and of which her early walls and sewers and temples were made. The beds were of enormous thickness, and by these deposits, as well as by the general process of uplifting which characterised the period, gradually the whole region came near the surface of the sea, by degrees appearing above it, — first, perhaps, the Pincian hill as an island, and then the Janiculum, with its beds of yellow sand and bluish clay, a deposit of the pre-voleanic period, and also some of the other hills, notably the Palatine, which presently was covered with a dense forest.

Then, after an interval of unknown duration, ensued another series of eruptions from voleanoes probably not now submarine. Materials of the same kind were thrown out as — those of the earlier period; but they were now subjected to different elemental forces, and different formations resulted. The voleanic detritus that fell under water encountered a much shallower sea, hence capable of exerting only a com- — paratively feeble action upon it. Another kind of tufa was * formed, much lighter in colour than the litoide, much less r cohesive, showing no stratification, and no admixture of other _ than igneous products. On the Palatine, the hot ashes and scoriae, falling in enormous quantities, buried the growing © forest as in a vast coal kiln, where the wood was converted into those huge lumps of charcoal which abound everywhere in the Palatine tufa. ;

To the second period of eruption is ascribed the form: tion of the great beds of pozzolana which lie all about Rome, This is simply volcanic material falling upon groun already lifted above the sea, and hence undergoing n change. Itisa reddish dust, nearly half of it being oxide of iron; the other constituents are silex, alum, chalk, and magnesia. It was very early discovered that this material being mixed with lime, formed with water a strong hydraulic cement, and from this discovery came in the end — all that use of concrete by which the Roman builders wer able to construct the enormous domes and vaults of whic! Caracalla’s Baths give such marvellous examples, and walls of a strength which resisted better than any stone, — however hard, the effects of time and of all destructiv = agencies.

Then another element furnished supplies for the future Rome, With the final elevation of all this region above the sea came a period of fresh-water lakes, and a river Tibe of great width and depth. The water was heavily loaded — with carbonic acid gas, and deposited a perfectly pure carbonate of lime, in immense beds along the valleys and on the slopes of the hills; this was the travertine which has been the great building stone of Rome from the Imperial era down to the present day.

Once again, and for the third time, the igneous activity ‘of the region was resumed, and the two volcanic groups, the Alban Hills south of Rome and those of Bracciano on the north, were the scene of tremendous eruptions. In every direction streams of lava ran down over the plain, — with frightful devastation to the primeval inhabitants who already, it is believed, occupied the region, but for the endless profit of the future Rome. These beds of lava, one of which lies along the side of the Appian Way to within about three miles of the city, have furnished ever since the time of the kings that wonderful paving-stone which has no equal in the world.

The earliest eruptions of the Alban volcanoes threw out lava and sperone, a yellowish granular rock which readily disintegrates in the air, but has been used in interiors of buildings. Later, however, these volcanoes added one more and an extremely valuable building material to the supply already prepared for Rome; this was peperino, a rock found nowhere else in the world. It occurs in two forms, the Alban and the Gabine, the former quarried to this day in the Alban Hills, the latter obtained near the old city of Gabii, about twenty miles eastward. The Gabine stone is much the harder of the two; both are conglomerates of voleanic ashes, gravel, and fragments of stone and lava, the latter material predominating in the Gabine peperino. The name is derived from the appearance of the rock, as if full of pepper-corns, which are black scoriae, crystals of augite. An ingenious conjecture as to its origin supposes that the ejection of the material from the iy y

Alban crater was accompanied by an enormous libs of aqueous vapour which fell in torrents of hot water gling with it, and reducing it to a mud, which through a large admixture of carbonic acid became cemented into a mass of extreme tenacity. he fire-resisting qualities of peperino made it very valuable, and Roman legislation, at differe times, required its use in house building.

At last volcanic activity, on any great scale, ceased amon these hills. Then human activity began. There was first the long prologue of pre-historic nomadic life, and then | peaceful era of agriculture, the Golden Age, the reign Saturn, which the Latin poets delighted to recall; and the: began, with Roma Quadrata on the Palatine, the gr drama in many acts, which is very far from being ende yet.

And, in fact, it is the present, in its most alert form, wh suddenly breaks in upon the afternoon’s reflections. Thez is a rapid tramp round the corner of the church, and company of sharp-shooters arrive for drill. These & sagliert are small of stature, wiry, and extremely acti They make a most lively picture at this moment, drawn in two lines, executing their lieutenant’s orders with grea precision. They wear stiff black hats cocked over right ear, and on that side of the hat is an enormo bunch of cock’s plumes, flying in every direction in light breeze. Very much more sedate are the two ha some slender carabinieri who have also arrived on th plateau, and stand idly looking about them. Their uniform is black, with silver trimmings, relieved only by a red strip down the trousers, and when the weather is cold, t wear long black cloaks, which, together with their co hats, give them a supernaturally dignified appearance. whole force of carabineers numbers about twenty-five thot sand men; of these, twenty-one thousand are foot soldi i:

and the remainder serve on horseback. To them, as a body, is entrusted the maintenance of public peace and order throughout the kingdom. The carabineer corps is composed of soldiers who, in their three years of obligatory service, have not incurred even the slightest military punishment. Thus organised, the corps has many special advantages, —pay, rations, and lodgings are greatly superior to those of the other troops, and the hundred men of the king’s guard are always selected from their number. The foot carabineers are scattered through all the cities of the peninsula, and the mounted soldiers of this corps protect the country. They have done a wonderful work, it is said, in repressing brigandage and crime throughout the kingdom. The contadini regard them with affection and confidence, and they are familiarly known as “the guardian angels.” By night and day they patrol the roads, always two together, and the sound of their horses’ hoofs is welcome to the solitary traveller and the inmates of lonesome country houses. In all soldierly and moral qualities they stand very high, and it is said that their dispersal in no way impairs their esprit de corps. Certainly in the streets of Rome their intelligent faces and their quiet demeanour make them extremely noticeable.

Meantime, the bersagliert have finished their drill and gone away. Suddenly a new interest attracts all eyes. On the road far below, among the trees, there is a glimpse of scarlet liveries, and a carriage comes up the slope, drawn by a pair of superb Roman horses. All the loiterers on the terrace are suddenly alert; the strangers who are looking at their maps and studying the position of the buildings, shut their guide-books; the vendors of pictures cease their attempts to persuade; the two carabineers no longer lounge against the parapet; an Italian mother who has her little child in leading-strings picks up the baby, — gma everybody comes forward to where the road enters the terrace; a little group stands, enthusiastic and respectful ; all hats are lifted as the carriage comes up. ‘Two ladies and a young man are in the landau; two footmen in scarlet — are perched high at the back, and there is a stout scarlet coachman on the box. An aged crone in the group is: 30° eager that no forestiere should fail to recognise the graceful woman, who bows, and bows again, from the right-hand — seat of the carriage, that she exclaims in a kind of ecstasy, « Ecco! ecco la nostra regina!” and will not be pacified, till one answers: “Si, si/” Beautiful and always gracious, Queen Margherita is received with perpetual enthusiasm in the Roman streets.