ROMAN CONSTRUCTION.

"A hint on the spot is worth a cart-load of recollections."—Gray.

The work of clearing the bed of the Tiber has at last commenced. It is proposed to clear away the accumulation of the mud at different parts, remove some of the old masonry that stands in the bed of the river, and widen it at certain points. We very much doubt if this will have any effect upon the floods, as during the republic and empire, when there was not all this accumulation, Rome was flooded several times. The valley of the Tiber, in which Rome stands, is very low, forming, as it were, a basin which is easily overflowed.It would be advisable if the authorities were to clean out the old drains, and put swing trap-doors over their mouths, so that the drainage might flow out, and the river prevented from flowing in. Every winter some part of the city is under water, which is caused by the river rushing up the drains into the city, and not by the overflow of the Tiber. This inpouring might easily be stopped.

Some people think that treasures will be found in the bed of the Tiber, but this is a delusion. Nothing of any value has ever been found in the river, and it is not likely that anything of value was thrown there. Small objects only have been found in the recent dredging. The story of the seven-branched candlestick being thrown into the river is a delusion, for we have direct evidence to the contrary. (Seep. 89.)

The piers of the bridges show that the actual bed of the river has not been much raised; indeed the stream flows so fast that everything is carried down to the sea.

Punchsays anticipations may be entertained of finding the footstool of Tullia, the jewels of Cornelia, the ivory-headed sceptre of the senator Papirius, and the golden manger of the horse of Caligula.

The length of the Tiber is 250 miles. It rises due east of Florence, in the same hills as the Arno. Its bed at the Ripetta in Rome is 5.20 metres above the sea, and it discharges at the rate of 280 cubic metres a second. The fall from Rome to the sea is 4.20 metres, or about thirteen feet, and it flows about five miles an hour.

"'Behold the Tiber!' the vain Roman cried,Viewing the ample Tay from Baiglie's side;But where's the Scot that would the vaunt repay,And hail the puny Tiber for the Tay?"Sir Walter Scott.

"'Behold the Tiber!' the vain Roman cried,

Viewing the ample Tay from Baiglie's side;

But where's the Scot that would the vaunt repay,

And hail the puny Tiber for the Tay?"

Sir Walter Scott.

The river was originally called the Albula, from its colour, and it was named Tiberis, from King Tiberinus of Alba Longa, who was drowned in it, and became the river-god (Dionysius, i. 71).

The ancient Romans looked upon their river with veneration; their poets sang its praises, its banks were lined with the villas of the wealthy, and its waters brought the produce of the world to Rome.

"The Goth, the Christian, time, war, flood, and fire,Have dealt upon the seven-hilled city's pride."

"The Goth, the Christian, time, war, flood, and fire,

Have dealt upon the seven-hilled city's pride."

Rome was founded in the year 753B.C., and it gradually increased, as we all know, till it became the capital of the world. By a summaryof dates we will endeavour to give an idea of the manner in which Rome became ruins.

In July 390B.C.it was devastated by fire. Up to 120B.C.it was subject to numerous raids by the Northerners, who, with the help of civil war, and a devouring fire in 50B.C., caused the destruction of several of its most splendid buildings. In 64A.D., during the reign of Nero, a terrible fire ravaged the city for six days; and again in 89A.D.another fire took place, lasting three days. In the reign of Commodus a third fire occurred, which consumed a large portion of the city. In 330A.D.Constantine took from Rome a number of monuments and works of art to embellish Constantinople. From 408 to 410A.D.Rome was three times besieged by the Goths, under Alaric, who plundered and fired the city; and in 455A.D.the Vandals took possession of Rome and plundered it. On June the 11th, 472A.D., the city was captured by the Germans, under Ricimer, and in 476A.D.the Roman Empire was broken up.

About 590A.D.continual wars with the Lombardians devastated the Campagna. In 607A.D.the Bishop of Rome was made Pope. In 755A.D.the Lombards again desolated Rome; and up to 950A.D.it was held successively by the Emperor Louis II., Lambert Duke of Spoleto, the Saracens, the German king Armilph, and the Hungarians. In 1083 it was taken by Henry IV. of Germany; and in 1084 it was burned, from the Lateran to the Capitol, by Robert Guiscard. From the eleventh to the sixteenth century many of its buildings were turned into fortresses by the nobles, who made continual war upon each other; and during the "dark ages" the Romans themselves destroyed many monuments, in order to make lime for building their new palaces and houses.

Thus we see that when, in 55B.C., Julius Cæsar, with his "Veni, vidi, vici," conquered the little island now called Great Britain, Rome contained in ruins many evidences of past splendour, and whilst the Romans were overrunning the rest of Europe, their empire was hastening to decay. We, the savages of those days, have ever since been growing in strength and wisdom, laying the foundations of future empires, overturning others, but not with the idea of "universal conquest," but simply for a "balance of power." Ancient Rome, by the help of invaders, flood, fire, the Popes, and its inhabitants, was reduced to ruins, which have been in considerable part preserved by an immense accumulation of soil, which, again, caused them to be forgotten till recent explorations once more brought them to light.

Modern Rome stands thirty feet above the level of Ancient Rome, and is a strange mixture of narrow streets, open squares, churches, fountains, ruins, new palaces, and dirt. Built during the seventeenth century, the city is situated in a valley which formed part of the ancient city, and lies to the north of it, being divided from it by the Capitoline Hill, and offering to the visitor attractions which no other city can boast. The germ of the old Roman race which civilized the world is still alive, and is quickly rising to a new life—lifting itself, after twenty centuries of burial, from the tomb of ignorance and oppression. Here is the centre of art and of the world's past recollections; here is spoken in its purity the most beautiful of languages; here are a fine climate and a fine country; and here are being strengthened the power and the splendour of united Italy.

The city of Romulus, upon the Palatine Hill, was called from its shape Roma Quadrata. It occupied the half of what we know as the Palatine, and was surrounded by a wall built up from the base of the hill, and on the top of the scarped cliff: this wall can be still traced in part. It was formed of large blocks of tufa, hard stone, and must not be confounded with the remains of the Arcadian period, on the Palatine, composed of soft tufa.

"Romulus called the people to a place appointed, and described a quadrangular figure about the hill, tracing with a plough, drawn by a bull and a cow yoked together, one continued furrow" (Dionysius, i. 88).

"He began to mark out the limits of his city from the Forum Boarium, so as to comprise within its limits the Great Altar of Hercules. The wall was built with Etruscan rites, being marked out by a furrow, made by a plough drawn by a cow and a bull, the clods being carefully thrown inwards, the plough being lifted over the profane places necessary for the gates" (Tacitus, xii. 24).

When the Sabines were approaching to attack the Romans, in revenge for carrying off their women, Romulus strengthened the wall of Roma Quadrata, and the Capitoline Hill was occupied as an outpost.

"He raised the wall of the Palatine Hill by building higher works upon it, as a farther security to the inhabitants, and surrounded the adjacent hills—the Aventine, and that now called the Capitoline Hill—with ditches and strong palisades" (Dionysius, ii. 37).

"The city was difficult of access, having a strong garrison on the hill where the Capitol now stands" (Plutarch, "Romulus," 18).

This hill was taken by treachery, and was not previously occupied by the Sabines. It was called the Hill of Saturn, but after its capture the Tarpeian Hill.

"While the Sabines were passing at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, to view the place, and see whether any part of the hill could be taken by surprise or force, they were observed from the eminence by a virgin"—"Tarpeia, in execution of her promise, opened the gate agreed upon to the enemy, and calling up the garrison, desired they would save themselves"—"After the retreat of the garrison, the Sabines, finding the gates open and the place deserted, possessed themselves of it" (Dionysius, ii. 38, 39).

After peace was agreed upon, the two kings, Romulus and Titus Tatius, reigned jointly, and surrounded the Palatine and Capitoline Hills with a wall. The other hills, at this period, were not walled.

We give it this title because it was built by the two kings jointly; considerable portions still remain on the Palatine, under S. Anastasia, and near the Forum of Augustus. The walls of Romulus and Tatius would naturally be of similar construction to the original wall of Romulus; there was but little difference in this short time.

"Romulus and Tatius immediately enlarged the city.... Romulus chose the Palatine and Cœlian Hills, and Tatius the Capitoline, which he had at first possessed himself of, and the Quirinal Hills" (Dionysius, ii. 50).

Numa erected the Temple of Vesta "between the Capitoline and Palatine Hills; for both these hills had already been encompassed with one wall; the Forum, in which this temple was built, lying between them" (Dionysius, ii. 66).

The other hills were inhabited, and surrounded at different times with walls, forming fortresses outside the city for the defence of the city proper.

Numa "enlarged the circuit of the city by the addition of the Quirinal Hill, for till that time it was not enclosed with a wall" (Dionysius, ii. 62).

Ancus Martius "made no small addition to the city by enclosing Mount Aventine within its walls, and encompassing it with a wall and a ditch. He also surrounded Mount Janiculum with a wall" (Dionysius, iii. 44).

Florus says: "He [Ancus Martius] encompassed the city with a wall." Again: "What kind of a king was the architect Ancus? how fitted to extend the city by means of a colony [Ostia], to unite it by a bridge [the Sublicius], and secure it by a wall?"

"The Quiritian trench also—no inconsiderable defence to those parts, which from their situation are of easy access—is a work of King Ancus" (Livy, i. 33).

These seem to have been commenced by Tarquinius Priscus, and completed by Servius Tullius, and so called by his name.

"He [Tarquinius Priscus] was the first who built the walls of the city [of which the structure was extemporary and mean] with stones, regularly squared, each being a ton weight" (Dionysius, iii. 68).

Tarquinius (616B.C.) "intended also to have surrounded the city with a stone wall, but a war with the Sabines interrupted his designs" (Livy, i. 36).

"He set about surrounding with a wall of stone those parts of the city which he had not already fortified, which work had been interrupted at the beginning by a war with the Sabines" (Livy, i. 38).

"He [Servius] surrounded the city with a rampart, trenches, and a wall, and thus extended the Pomœrium," 578B.C.(Livy, i. 44).

"As the Esquiline and Viminal Hills were both of easy access from without, a deep trench was dug outside them, and the earth thrown up on the inside, thus forming a terrace of six stadia in length along the inner side of the trench. This terrace Servius faced with a wall, flanked with towers, extending from the Colline to the Esquiline gate. Midway along the terrace is a third gate, named after the Viminal Hill" (Strabo, v. 3).

"Tullius had surrounded the seven hills with one wall" (Dionysius, iv. 14).

The seven hills were not surrounded, strictly speaking. Each hill formed a bastion, and aggers, or curtains of earth faced with stone, were built across the valleys, uniting these bastions. The Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal, being ridges jutting out of the table-land and not isolated hills, had one long agger built across their necks.

"Some parts of these walls, standing on hills, and being fortified by nature itself with steep rocks, required but few men to defend them, and others were defended by the Tiber.... The weakest part of the city is from the gate called Esquilina to that named Collina, which interval is rendered strong by art; for there is aditch sunk before it, one hundred feet in breadth where it is narrowest, and thirty in depth. On the edge of this ditch stands a wall, supported on the inside with so high and broad a rampart that it can neither be shaken by battering-rams nor thrown down by undermining the foundations. This rampart is about seven stadia in length and fifty feet in breadth" (Dionysius, ix. 68).

This grand agger can be traced almost in its entire extent, as also the smaller aggers. There seems to have been no wall—that is, stone or earth fortification—between the Aventine and Capitoline, the Tiber being considered a sufficient defence.

"The city, having no walls in that part next the river, was very near being taken by storm" (Dionysius, v. 23) when Lars Porsena advanced to attack the city, after having taken the Janiculum, intending to cross the river by the only bridge, which, as we know, was defended by Horatius Cocles, and broken down by the Romans in his rear.

The walls of Servius Tullius were strengthened at the time of the war with Gabii.

"Tarquinius Superbus was particularly active in taking these precautions, and employed a great number of workmen in strengthening those parts of the city walls that lay next to the town of Gabii, by widening the ditch, raising the walls, and increasing the number of the towers" (Dionysius, iv. 54).

"On the eastern side it is bounded by the Agger of Tarquinius Superbus, a work of surpassing grandeur; for he raised it so high as to be on a level with the walls on the side on which the city lay most exposed to attack from the neighbouring plains. On all the other sides it has been fortified either with lofty walls or steep or precipitous hills; but so it is that its buildings, increasing and extending beyond all bounds, have now united many other cities to it" (Pliny, iii. 9).

"After Camillus had driven out the Gauls, both the walls of the city and the streets were rebuilt within a year" (Plutarch, "Cam." 32).

"The legions being brought to Rome, the remainder of the year was spent in repairing the walls and the towers," 350B.C.(Livy, vii. 20).

"They received a charge from the senate to strengthen the walls and towers of the city," 217B.C.(Livy, xxii. 8).

After the republic was firmly established, and the boundaries of the state enlarged, the walls of the city became obsolete, and it was to all intents and purposes an open city until the time of Aurelian.

"All the inhabited parts around it [the city], which are many and large, are open, and without walls, and very much exposed to the invasion of an enemy. And whoever considers these buildings, and desires to examine the extent of Rome, will necessarily be misled, for want of a certain boundary that might distinguish the spot to which the city extends, and where it ends. So connected are the buildings within the walls to those without, that they appear to a spectator like a city of an immense extent" (Dionysius, iv. 13).

From the time of Servius to Aurelian the city, though much enlarged, had no new wall, though the boundaries had been extended. To continue our last quotation from Dionysius, who died 7B.C., this is evident.

"But if any one is desirous to measure the circumference of it by the wall—which, though hard to be discovered, by reason of the buildings that surround it in many places, yet preserves in several parts of it some traces of the ancient structure—and to compare it with the circumference of the city of Athens, the circuit of Rome will not appear much greater than that of the other" (Dionysius, iv. 13).

The Pomœrium, or city bounds, was enlarged, as we know, by several emperors, some of theircippi, or boundary-stones, being stillin situ; but there was no wall. Where the roads crossed the line of the Pomœrium, gates were built, between which there were no walls. The Romans considered the rivers Tigris, Euphrates, and Danube, the desert and the ocean, as the walls of Rome.

"When he [Aurelian] saw that it might happen what had occurred under Gallienus, having obtained the concurrence of the senate, he extended the walls of the city of Rome" (Vopiscus, in "Aur.," 21).

"Thus also Rome was surrounded by walls which ithad not before, and the wall begun by Aurelian was finished by Probus" (Zosimus, i. 49).

Other quotations might be given to show that Aurelian surrounded the Rome of the empire with walls which it had not before his time. He incorporated with his wall everything that stood in his way,—tombs, aqueducts, palaces, camps, and amphitheatre. It was commenced and finished in nine years, and had twenty-two gates, nineteen of which still remain.

These present walls have been in part rebuilt, repaired, and strengthened at different intervals, as occasion might require, fromthe time of Honorius, who improved and added to the existing gates, to that of Totila, who "resolved to raze Rome to the ground. So, of the circuit of the walls he threw down as much in different places as would amount to about a third part of the whole" (Procopius, "Bello Gothico," iii. 22).

Belisarius "made hasty repairs," after which the Popes stepped in and took up the tale, and put up inscriptions, so that there should be no mistake about it. Leo IV. built the walls of the Leonine city, to protect it from the Saracens, besides repairing the Aurelian walls. The Leonine walls can still be traced, the ruins standing boldly out in the landscape at the back of the Vatican.

The present wall on the Trastevere side was built by Innocent X. and Urban VIII. The complete circuit of the present walls is between twelve and thirteen miles; they contain twenty gates, ancient and modern, nine of which are closed.

Whilst the Romans considered the defences of the city to be the Tigris, Euphrates, Danube, desert, and ocean, their power was at its zenith; but when for the defence of their capital it was necessary to surround it with a wall, "the decline and fall of the Roman empire" had already begun.

In the third wall of Rome we learn from different authorities that there were in all eighteen gates, commencing from the northern point at the river bank,—Flumentana, Carmentalis or Scelerata, Catularia (afterwards Ratumena), Fontinalis, Sangualis, Salularis or Salutaris, Collina or Agonalis or Quirinalis, Viminalis, Esquilina, Mæcia or Metia, Querquetulana, Cœlimontana, Firentina, Capena, Lavernalis, Randuscula, Nævia, Trigeminia. The sites of most of these have been identified. These names are culled from various authors, no one author having given us a list of them.

Pliny gives us an account of the number of the gates in his time—thirty-seven in all—which has puzzled a great many writers; but, studying them on the spot, the description of Pliny is very plain and easily to be understood. He says (iii. 9):—

"When the Vespasians were emperors and censors, in the year from its building 827, the circumference of the Mœnia 'boundary' reckoned thirteen miles and two fifths. Surrounding as it does the seven hills, the city is divided into fourteen districts, with two hundred and sixty-five cross-roads, under the guardianship of the Lares. The space is such that if a line is drawn from the mile column placedat the head of the Forum to each of the gates, which are at present thirty-seven in number, so that by that way enumerating only once twelve gates, and to omit the seven old ones, which no longer exist, the result will be a straight line of twenty miles and seven hundred and sixty-five paces. But if we draw a straight line from the same mile column to the very last of the houses, including therein the Prætorian encampment, and follow throughout the line of all the streets, the result will then be something more than seventy miles."

The gates may thus be analyzed:—

Of the twelve gates in the outer boundary, eight still remaining are composed of work of an earlier date than the Wall of Aurelian. The twelve may thus be named: the four gates of the Prætorian camp (two of these partially remain, showing brick-work of Tiberius), Porta Chiusa or Viminalis, Tiburtina, Esquilina now Maggiore, Lateranensis, Latina, Appia, Ardeatina, Ostiensis.

Pliny (iii. 9) tells us that Tarquinius Superbus raised an outer agger on the eastern side of Rome. Traces of this still remain, and the tufa stones have been reused in Aurelian's work, whilst the Porta Chiusa is partly formed on the inside of these blocks, and was probably the work of the last of the Tarquins. The Porta S. Lorenzo, or Tiburtina, bears inscriptions of Augustus and Vespasian; Porta Maggiore, of Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus; whilst Porta Lateranensis and Porta Ardeatina were undoubtedly built, as the construction shows, by Nero; and the inner arch of the Porta S. Paolo, or Ostiensis, is of the time of Claudius.

Tacitus (xii. 23) says: "The limits of the city were enlarged by Claudius. The right of directing that business was, by ancient usage, vested in all such as extended the boundaries of the empire. The right, however, had not been exercised by any of the Roman commanders (Sylla and Augustus excepted), though remote and powerful nations had been subdued by their victorious arms."

"With regard to the enlargement made by Claudius, the curious may be easily satisfied, as the public records contain an exact description" (xii. 24).

When we speak of construction, we mean the material used in building and the way it is put together. The different historical periods of building are now classed into distinct dates, which have been arrived at by observing the material used, and the way it is used, in buildings of which there is no doubt as to the date of erection, and comparing it with others. The early Greek Period in Italy is marked by massive walls of masonry—walls built from the stone of the vicinity, the blocks being rough as hewn out of the quarry,—polygonal. The later Greek Period and the Etruscan are identical, being formed of square blocks of stone, headers, and stretchers. In the time of the kings of Rome the stones were squared, and were of tufa, lapis ruber, tophus. In the earliest walls they are close jointed; in the second period the edges are bevelled.

During the Republic the stones were also squared, but the material was of peperino. Lapis Albanus and other forms of working up the material were introduced. Pieces of stone, fixed together with cement, gave a new kind of wall calledopus incertum. This was improved upon by facing the outside of the small pieces of stone and making them of one uniform size—small polygonal. Then the stones were cut into wedge shapes: the point being inwards, and being laid in regular rows it has the appearance of network, and is calledopus reticulatum. This work, introduced in the last years of the Republic, went out of fashion after the time of Tiberius, but was revived by Hadrian, who always set his reticulated work in bands of brick like a picture frame, thus distinguishing his from the earlier work, the inside of the walls in those cases being concrete. The earliest brick building which we have is the Pantheon. Thus it was under Augustus that brick was first used by the Romans. It was his boast that he found Rome of brick, and left it marble; which is only true in a certain sense, for he did not build of solid marble, but cased veneering marble on to the brickwork.

One period of Roman brickwork can easily be distinguished from the others by measuring the number of bricks in a foot, and noticing their uniformity of size. This, of course, does not refer to ornamental brickwork. The brickwork of Nero is the best in the world—thin narrow bricks, tiles, with very little mortar between them. Before his time it was not quite so good; but after, it gradually declined till the cement is as thick as the bricks.

The stone used during the Empire was travertine,lapis Tiburtinus, but brick was the material generally used then. They are of two colours, red and yellow, according to the clay from which they were made. The walls were not of solid brick all through; but the interior was made of pieces—rubble-work—the outside course being entire brick, whilst at every four or five feet all through the construction were laid the great tie-bricks to keep the rubble-work from shifting. The brickwork was calledopus lateritium. The great tie-bricks are usually stamped with the names of the consul or emperor and the maker, and these date the walls by measuring the number of bricks there are in a foot. In the fourth century another system—opera decadence—came into vogue, and walls were built with layers of brick and pieces of tufa-stone a little larger than our English bricks. This work continued down to the thirteenth century, whenopera Saracenesca—tufa-stones without the bricks between—came into use. In the stone walls no cement was used; one stone was simply placed upon another, its weight keeping it in its place, and clamps were inserted to keep it from shifting. In the walls of Roma Quadrata we know of no clamps having been found; but in the wall of the two kings wooden clamps were found. In the walls of Servius Tullius iron clamps were found; and in the Colosseum clamps can still be seen in several places where pieces of the facing of the stone have been split off.

Tufa is found all over the Campagna, and is of volcanic origin. When the Alban Hills were active volcanoes, the ashes and scoriæ thrown up fell into the sea, now the Campagna. The pressure of water on it formed it into stone: where there has been a great pressure, it is very hard; where little pressure, it is softer; and where there was no pressure, it still remains a sort of sand—this mixed with live lime is the celebrated Roman cement. The softer tufa was used by the Greek colonists, and the hard stone by the kings of Rome. Some tufa from the neighbourhood of Gabii is dark gray, the other is brown and reddish. Peperino is also volcanic. It was ejected in the shape of hot mud from the volcano, and on cooling formed agood stone: this comes from the Alban hills, and was used in the time of the Republic.

Travertine comes from Tivoli, and is a petrifaction formed by the action of lime and sulphur on vegetable decay. This was not used as a building material to any great extent before the time of Cæsar. It is white, and becomes yellow on exposure. Silex is another volcanic stone very little used for building, but entirely for paving the roads both ancient and modern. This came out of the volcano as a red-hot stream of lava, and on cooling down became a capital paving material. The bed of the road was first properly prepared, and then it was paved with polygonal blocks of blue basalt called silex. The stones fitted close to one another. Many of the roads are in a good condition to this day; the best specimen is opposite the Temple of Saturn in the Forum,B.C.175. This stone is used foropus reticulatumin some of the tombs on the Appian Way and at the Temple of Hercules; also for concrete.

PLAN OF ANCIENT ROMEView larger image.

RAMBLES IN ROME

PIAZZA DEL POPOLO—THE OBELISK—S. MARIA DEL POPOLO—THE CORSO—S. LORENZO IN LUCINA—POST OFFICE—ENGLISH CHURCH—COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS—MONTE CITORIO—PARLIAMENT HOUSE—OBELISK—TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE—S. MARIA IN VIA LATA—THE SEPTA—THE DORIA GALLERY—TOMBS OF ATTIA CLAUDIA AND BIBULUS—THE MAMERTINE PRISON—THE FORUM OF JULIUS CÆSAR—THE ROMAN FORUM AND ITS RUINS—THE VIA SACRA—TEMPLES OF ROMULUS, VENUS AND ROMA—TEMPLE OF THE PENATES—HOUSE OF JULIUS CÆSAR—BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE—S. FRANCISCA ROMANA—THE PALATINE HILL AND THE PALACE OF THE CÆSARS—ARCH OF TITUS—THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN—THE FORUM OF CUPID—PEDESTAL OF NERO'S COLOSSUS—META SUDANS—ARCH OF CONSTANTINE—THE COLOSSEUM.

THE CENTRE OF ROME.

PIAZZA DEL POPOLO.View larger image.

is a circular open space, adorned with fountains, and surrounded with foliage. From this circle Rome spreads itself out like a fan southwards. The four principal lines of thoroughfare diverge from this spot—the Pincio, the Via Sistina, and the Via Quattro Fontane, leading to the Esquiline, on the extreme left, along the hills; the Via Babuino, leading into the Piazza di Spagna, on the left; the Corso, leading into the Forum, in the centre; and the Via Ripetta, leading into the oldest part of the present city, on the right: at the corners of the three latter are the twin churchesS. Maria in MonteSanto, andS. Maria dei Miracoli, with domes and vestibules designed by Rinaldi, and completed by Bernini and Fontana. In the centre of the Piazza is an Egyptian obelisk, supported by a fountain with four lionesses at the corners spouting water.On the right, under the Terraces of the Pincio, are the statue of Rome by Ceccarini, of Neptune between two Tritons, and statues of Spring and Summer, by Laboureur.On the leftare the statues of Autumn, by Stocchi, and Winter, by Baini.

of the Piazza del Popolo was brought to Rome by Augustus, and erected in the Circus Maximus. It is 78 feet 6 inches high, and was erected on its present site by Pope Sixtus V. in 1589. This was the first obelisk erected in Rome, having been brought by Augustus after the death of Antony and Cleopatra. Pliny (xxxvi. 16) says:—

"But the most difficult enterprise of all was the carriage of these obelisks by sea to Rome, in vessels which excited the greatest admiration. Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus consecrated the one which brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting memorial of this marvellous undertaking, in the docks at Puteoli; but it was destroyed by fire.

"And then, besides, there was the necessity of constructing other vessels to carry these obelisks up the Tiber; by which it became practically ascertained that the depth of water in that river is not less than that of the river Nile.

"The one that he erected in the Campus Martius is nine feet less in height, and was originally made by order of Sesothis. They are both of them covered with inscriptions which interpret the operations of Nature according to the philosophy of the Egyptians."

This has the name of two kings upon it: Seti, who went blind, and his son Rameses, who succeeded him. It stood before the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, and was placed by Augustus on the Spina of the Circus Maximus, and re-dedicated, 10B.C., to the Sun, as the inscription informs us: IMP. CAES. DIVI. F.—AUGUSTUS—PONTIFEX MAXIMUS—IMP. XII. COS. XI. TRIB. POT.—POPULI ROMANI REDACTA.—SOLI DONUM DEDIT.

Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 4) supplies us with the following information relative to obelisks:—

"In this city of Thebes, among many works of art and different structures recording the tales relating to the Egyptian deities, we saw several obelisks in their places, and others which had beenthrown down and broken, which the ancient kings, when elated at some victory or at the general prosperity of their affairs, had caused to be hewn out of mountains in distant parts of the world, and erected in honour of the gods, to whom they solemnly consecrated them.

"Now, an obelisk is a rough stone, rising to a great height, shaped like a pillar in the stadium; and it tapers upwards in imitation of a sunbeam, keeping its quadrilateral shape, till it rises almost to a point, being made smooth by the hand of a sculptor.

"On these obelisks the ancient authority of elementary wisdom has caused innumerable marks of strange forms all over them, which are called hieroglyphics.

"For the workmen, carving many kinds of birds and beasts, some even such as must belong to another world, in order that the recollection of the exploits which the obelisk was designed to commemorate might reach to subsequent ages, showed by them the accomplishment of vows which the kings had made.

"For it was not the case then, as it is now, that the established number of letters can distinctly express whatever the human mind conceives; nor did the ancient Egyptians write in such a manner, but each separate character served for a separate noun or verb, and sometimes even for an entire sentence.

"Of which fact the two following may for the present be sufficient instances:—By the figure of a vulture they indicate the name of nature; because naturalists declare that no males are found in this class of bird. And by the figure of a bee making honey they indicate a king; showing by such a sign that stings as well as sweetness are the characteristics of a ruler. And there are many similar emblems."

To the right of the Porta del Popolo is the

founded by Paschal II. in 1099. Its interior consists of nave, aisles, transept, and octagonal dome lavishly decorated by Bernini.

In the first chapel, to the right, the picture over the altar, the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and the frescoes of the lunettes are by Pinturicchio. The second chapel is that of the Cibo family—rich in marbles, and adorned with forty-six columns of Sicilian jasper. The picture of the Conception is by Maratta. The third chapel is painted by Pinturicchio. In the fourth chapel is an interesting bas-relief of the fifteenth century. The painting of the Virgin, on the high altar, is one of those attributed to S. Luke; the paintings of the vault in thechoir are by Pinturicchio. The two monuments in marble ornamented by statues are by Contucci da S. Savino. The last chapel but one, in the small nave, is that of the Chigi family, and is one of the most celebrated in Rome. Raphael gave the design for the dome, for the paintings of the frieze, and for the picture of the altar, which was commenced by Sebastiano del Piombo, and terminated by Francesco Salviati. The statues of Daniel and Habakkuk were executed by Bernini. The front of the altar and the statues of Elias and Jonah are by Lorenzetti; but the design of the last is by Raphael.

Starting on our first ramble, we will take the line of the principal street, the Corso, which takes its name from the races held during the Carnival. It is on the line of the old Via Flaminia, the great highroad which ran through the Campus Martius to the north. Many handsome churches and palaces face the street, which is rather narrow compared with our modern requirements. The Corso is the principal promenade of the Romans, and possesses many points of interest. At No. 18,on the left, lived Goethe; just beyond,on the right, in the short Via S. Giacomo, was Canova's studio.On the right, further down, is the Church of S. Carlo; passing by which, crossing the line of the Via Condotti,on our rightopens out the small square of S. Lorenzo, in which is the

containing the grand work of Guido Reni, "The Crucifixion." It is said that, being absorbed in his subject, he crucified his model. The church contains a monument to Poussin, the relief being a copy of his landscape of the tomb of Sappho in Arcadia. Opposite this church is the English Baptist Chapel, under the Rev. James Wall, founded for Romans.

Turning to the right, down the Corso, on the left, the Via Convertite leads to

in the Piazza S. Silvestro,on the left. It is a new building, recently opened, and is fitted up with every modern appliance. The garden in the centre, and the surrounding arcade with its frescoes, present a refreshing appearance, and give a good idea of what the court of a palace should be.

Opposite, in the right corner of the square, is

being the first Protestant church erected in Rome. It is in the form of a basilica without aisles, and was designed by the late architect Cipolla.

Regaining the Corso, we soon arrive at the Piazza Colonna, in which is

On the spot where the Palazzo Chigi now stands (on our right) a temple was erected to M. Aurelius, in front of which was placed a splendid pillar, with a spiral frieze winding up the shaft, and representing the chief incidents of the war against the Marcomanni (A.D.174).

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