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ROMAN MOSAICS

OR

STUDIES IN ROME AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD

BY

HUGH MACMILLAN

D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E., F.S.A. Scot.

AUTHOR OF

'BIBLE TEACHINGS IN NATURE,' 'FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION,'
'HOLIDAYS IN HIGH LANDS,' 'THE RIVIERA,' ETC.

London

MACMILLAN AND CO.

AND NEW YORK

1888




PREFACE


The title of this book may seem fanciful. It may even be regarded as
misleading, creating the idea that it is a treatise like that of Mr.
Digby Wyatt on those peculiar works of art which decorate the old
palaces and churches of Rome. But notwithstanding these objections, no
title can more adequately describe the nature of the book. It is
applicable on account of the miscellaneous character of the chapters,
which have already appeared in some of our leading magazines and
reviews, and are now, with considerable changes and additions,
gathered together into a volume. There is a further suitableness in
the title, owing to the fact that most of the contents have no claim
to originality. As a Roman Mosaic is made up of small coloured cubes
joined together in such a manner as to form a picture, so my book may
be said to be made up of old facts gathered from many sources and
harmonised into a significant unity. So many thousands of volumes
have been written about Rome that it is impossible to say anything new
regarding it. Every feature of its topography and every incident of
its history have been described. Every sentiment appropriate to the
subject has been expressed. But Rome can be regarded from countless
points of view, and studied for endless objects. Each visitor's mind
is a different prism with angles of thought that break up the subject
into its own colours. And as is the case in a mosaic, old materials
can be brought into new combinations, and a new picture constructed
out of them. It is on this ground that I venture to add another book
to the bewildering pile of literature on Rome.

But I have another reason to offer. While the great mass of the
materials of the book is old and familiar, not a few things are
introduced that are comparatively novel. The late Dean Alford made the
remark how difficult it is to obtain in Rome those details of interest
which can be so easily got in other cities. Guide-books contain a vast
amount of information, but there are many points interesting to the
antiquarian and the historian which they overlook altogether. There is
no English book, for instance, like Ruffini's _Dizionario
Etimologico-Storico delle Strade, Piazze, Borghi e Vicoli della Citta
di Roma_, to tell one of the origin of the strange and bizarre names
of the streets of Rome, many of which involve most interesting
historical facts and most romantic associations of the past. There is
no English book on the ancient marbles of Rome like Corsi's _Pietre
Antiche_, which describes the mineralogy and source of the building
materials of the imperial city, and traces their history from the law
courts and temples of which they first formed part to the churches and
palaces in which they may now be seen. Every nook in London, with its
memories and points of interest, has been chronicled in a form that is
accessible to every one. But there is an immense amount of most
interesting antiquarian lore regarding out-of-the-way things in Rome
which is buried in the transactions of learned societies or in special
Italian monographs, and is therefore altogether beyond the reach of
the ordinary visitor. Science has lately shed its vivid light upon the
physical history of the Roman plain; and the researches of the
archaeologist have brought into the daylight of modern knowledge, and
by a wider comparison and induction have invested with a new
significance, the prehistoric objects, customs, and traditions which
make primeval Rome and the surrounding sites so fascinating to the
imagination. But these results are not to be found in the books which
the English visitor usually consults. In the following chapters I have
endeavoured to supply some of that curious knowledge; and it is to be
hoped that what is given--for it is no more than a slight sample out
of an almost boundless store--will create an interest in such
subjects, and induce the reader to go in search of fuller information.

Many of the points touched upon have provoked endless disputations
which are not likely soon to be settled. Indeed there is hardly any
line of study one can take up in connection with Rome which does not
bristle with controversies; and a feeling of perplexity and
uncertainty continually haunts one in regard to most of the subjects.
It is not only in the vague field of the early traditions of the city,
and of the medieval traditions of the Church, that this feeling
oppresses one; it exists everywhere, even in the more solid and
assured world of Roman art, literature, and history. Where it is so
difficult to arrive at settled convictions, I may be pardoned if I
have expressed views that are open to reconsideration.

I am aware of the disadvantages connected with thus collecting
together a number of separate papers, instead of writing a uniform
treatise upon one continuous subject. The picture formed by their
union must necessarily have much of the artificiality and clumsiness
of the mosaic as compared with the oil or water-colour painting. But
only in this form could I have brought together such a great variety
of important things. And though I cannot hope that the inherent defect
of the mosaic will be compensated by its permanence--for books of this
kind do not last--yet it will surely serve some good purpose to have
such a collocation of facts regarding a place whose interest is ever
varying and never dying.

The personal element is almost entirely confined to the first chapter,
which deals on that account with more familiar incidents than the
others. Twelve years have elapsed since my memorable sojourn in Rome;
and many changes have occurred in the Eternal City since then. I have
had no opportunity to repeat my visit and to add to or correct my
first impressions, desirable as it might be to have had such a
revision for the sake of this book. I duly drank of the water of Trevi
the night before I left; but the spell has been in abeyance all these
years. I live, however, in the hope that it has not altogether lost
its mystic power; and that some day, not too far off, I may be
privileged to go over the old scenes with other and larger eyes than
those with which I first reverently gazed upon them. It needs two
visits at least to form any true conception of Rome: a first visit to
acquire the personal interest in the city which will lead at home to
the eager search for knowledge regarding it from every source; and
then the second visit to bring the mind thus quickened and richly
stored with information to bear with new comprehension and increased
interest upon the study of its antiquities on the spot.

HUGH MACMILLAN.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER I

A WALK TO CHURCH IN ROME

A Walk to Church in Country--In the Town--Residence in Capo le
Case--Church of San Guiseppe--Propaganda--Pillar of Immaculate
Conception--Piazza di Spagna--Staircase--Models--Beggars--Church of
Trinita dei Monti--Flowers--Via Babuino--Piazza del Popolo--Flaminian
Obelisk--Pincian Hill--Porta del Popolo--Church of Santa Maria del
Popolo--Monastery of St. Augustine--Presbyterian Church--Villa
Borghese--Ponte Molle


CHAPTER II

THE APPIAN WAY

Formation of Appian Way--Tombs on Roman Roads--Loneliness of Country
outside Rome--Porta Capena--Restoration of Appian Way--Grove and
Fountain of Egeria--Baths of Caracalla--Church of Sts. Nereus and
Achilles--Tomb of Scipios--Columbaria--Arch of Drusus--Gate of St.
Sebastian--Almo--Tomb of Geta--Plants in Valley of Almo--Catacombs
of St. Calixtus--Catacomb of Pretextatus--Catacomb of Sts. Nereus
and Achilles--Church of St. Sebastian--Circus of Romulus--Tomb of
Caecilia Metella--Sadness of Appian Way--Imagines Clipeatae--Profusion
of Plant and Animal Life--Solitude--Villa of Seneca--Mounds of
Horatii and Curiatii--Villa of Quintilii--Tomb of Atticus--Casale
Rotondo--Frattocchie--Bovillae--Albano--St. Paul's Entrance into
Rome by Appian Way


CHAPTER III

THE CUMAEAN SIBYL

Promontory of Carmel--Westmost Point of Italy--Mode of reaching
Cumae--Few Relics of Ancient City--Uncertainty about Sibyl's
Cave--Loneliness of Site--Roman Legend of Sibylline Books--Mode
of Keeping Them--Sortes Sibyllinae--Different Sibyls--Apocalyptic
Literature--Existing Remains of Sibylline Books--Reverence paid
to Sibyl by Christian Writers--Church of Ara Coeli--Roof of Sistine
Chapel--Prospective Attitude of Sibyl--Retrospective Characteristic
of Greek and Roman Religion--Connection between Hebrew and Pagan
Prophecy--Pagan Oracles superseded by Living Oracles of the Gospel


CHAPTER IV

FOOTPRINTS IN ROME

Footprints of our Lord in Church of Domine quo Vadis--Slabs
with Footprints in Kircherian Museum--St. Christina's Footprints
at Bolsena--Significance of Footmarks--Votive Offerings--Footprint
of Mahomet at Jerusalem--Footprint of Christ on Mount of
Olives--Footprints of Abraham at Mecca--Drusic Footprints--Phrabat,
or Sacred Foot of Buddha--Famous Footprint on Summit of Adam's Peak
in Ceylon--Footprints at Gaya--Footprints of Vishnu--Jain
Temples--Prehistoric Footprints--Tanist Stones--Dun Add in
Argyleshire--Mary's Step in Wales--Footmarks in Ireland, Norway,
Denmark, and Brittany--Classical Examples--Footprints in America
and Africa--Connection with Primitive Worship


CHAPTER V

THE ROMAN FORUM

Geological History--Volcanic Origin--Early Legends--Cloaca
Maxima--Work of Excavation--AErarium--Capitol--Temple of Concord--Temple
of Jupiter--Arch of Septimius Severus--Milliarium Aureum--Mamertine
Prison--Pillar of Phocas--Suovetaurilia--Curia Hostilia--Comitium--Curia
of Diocletian--Basilica Julia--Vicus Tuscus--Temple of Castor and
Pollux--Atrium Vestae--Temple of Vesta--Temple of Antoninus Pius
and Faustina--Church of SS. Cosma e Damiano--Colosseum--Conflagration
in Forum


CHAPTER VI

THE EGYPTIAN OBELISKS

Number of Obelisks in Rome--Sun Worship--Symbolism of Obelisk--Obelisk
of Nebuchadnezzar--Original position of Obelisks--Egyptian
Propylons--Changes connected with Obelisks in Egypt--Transportation
of Obelisks to Rome and other places--Obelisk of Heliopolis--Obelisk
of Luxor--Karnac--Lateran Obelisk--Obelisk in Square of St.
Peter's--Obelisk of Piazza del Popolo--Association of Fountains with
Obelisks--Obelisk of Monte Citorio--Esquiline and Quirinal
Obelisks--Obelisk of Trinita dei Monti--Pamphilian Obelisk--Obelisks
near Pantheon--Superiority of Oldest Obelisks--Obelisk of
Paris--Cleopatra's Needles in London and New York--Religious Devotion
of Ancient Egyptians


CHAPTER VII

THE PAINTED TOMB AT VEII

Excursions in neighbourhood of Rome--History of Veii--Uncertainty
of its Site--Journey to Isola Farnese--Village of Isola--Romantic
Scenery--Desolate Downs--Roman Municipium--Old Gateway--Ponte
Sodo--Necropolis of Veii--Painted Tomb--Archaic Frescoes--Objects in
Inner Chamber--Etruscan Tombs imitative of Homes of the Living--Worship
of the Dead--Cellae Memoriae--Antiquity of Tomb at Veii--Mysterious
character of Etruscan Language and History


CHAPTER VIII

HOLED STONES AND MARTYR WEIGHTS

Bocca della Verita--Primitive Worship of Clefts in Rocks and
Holes in Stones--Cromlechs--Passing through beneath Cromlechs and
Gates--Tigillum Sororium--Pillars in Aksa Mosque at Jerusalem--"Threading
the Needle" in Ripon Cathedral--Standing Stones of Stennis and Oath
of Odin--Cremave--Jewish Covenant--Martyr Stones--Originally Roman
Measures of Weight--Made of Jade or Nephrite--Remarkable History of
Jade--Prehistoric Glimpses--Relics of Stone Age in Rome--Conservation
of things connected with Religion


CHAPTER IX

ST. ONOFRIO AND TASSO

Church of St. Onofrio--Monastery--Garden--Tasso's Oak--Grand View of
Rome and Neighbourhood--Tasso's Birthplace at Sorrento--Remarkable
Epoch--Bernardo Tasso--Prince of Salerno--Youth of Tasso--Visit
to Rome--Sojourn at Venice--Student of Law at Padua--First Poem
_Rinaldo_--University of Bologna--House of Este--Leonora--Composition
of _Gerusalemme Liberata_--Death of Tasso's Father--Visit to
France--_Aminta_ and Pastoral Drama--Publication of _Gerusalemme
Liberata_--Della Cruscan Academy--Ariosto--Cold Treatment of Tasso
by Alfonso--Confinement in Hospital of St. Anne--Story of Hapless
Love--Alleged Madness--Hospital of St. Anne--_Torrismondo_--Release
of Tasso--Pilgrimage to Loretto--Residence at Naples--Connection with
Milton--_Gerusalemme Conquistata_--Universal Recognition of Poet--Better
Days--Closing Scenes of Life at St. Onofrio--Proposed Coronation at
Capitol--Too Late--Death--Estimate of Life and Work


CHAPTER X

THE MARBLES OF ANCIENT ROME

Pleasures of Marble Hunting in Rome and Neighbourhood--Artistic
and Educational Uses of Marble Fragments--Geological Formation of
Rome--Building Materials of Ancient Rome--Marbles of Conquered
Countries introduced into Rome--Christian Churches made up of Remains
of Pagan Temples--Parian Marble--Porine and Pentelic Marbles--Hymettian
Marble--Thasian, Lesbian and Tyrian Marbles--Marble of Carrara--Apollo
Belvedere--Colouring of Ancient Statues and Buildings--Gibson's
Colour-creed--Time's Hues on Dying Gladiator--Cipollino--Giallo
Antico--Africano--Porta Santa--Fior di Persico--Pavonazzetto--Rosso
Antico--Sedia Forata--Faun--Black Marbles--Lumachella Marbles--Column of
Trajan--Breccias--Alabasters--Verde Antique--Subterranean Church of San
Clemente--Ophite and Opus Alexandrinum--Jaspers--Murrhine Cups--Lapis
Lazuli--Church of Jesuits--Abundance of Marbles in Ancient Rome


CHAPTER XI

THE VATICAN CODEX

Vatican Library--Origin and History--Monastery of Bobbio--Splendour
and Charm of Library--Contents of two Principal Cabinets--Letters
of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn--Vatican Codex--Freshness of
Appearance--Continuity of Writing--Vacant Space at end of St. Mark's
Gospel--A Palimpsest--Origin of Vatican Codex--Sinaitic and Alexandrine
Codices--History of Vatican Codex--Edition of Cardinal Mai--Edition
of Tischendorf--Disappearance of all Previous Manuscripts--Faults and
Deficiencies of Vatican Codex--Vatican Codex used in Revised Version
of New Testament--Formation of Sacred Canon


CHAPTER XII

ST. PAUL AT PUTEOLI

Landing of St. Paul in Ship _Castor and Pollux_ at Puteoli--Loveliness of
Bay of Naples--Crowded Population and Splendour of Villas--Dissoluteness
of Inhabitants--Worship of Roman Emperors--St. Paul's Grief and
Anxiety--Encouragement from Brethren--Christians in Tyrian Quarter at
Puteoli and at Pompeii--Southern Italy Greek in Blood and Language--Quay
at Puteoli--Temples of Neptune and Serapis--Changes of Level in Sea and
Land--Monte Nuovo--Destruction of Village of Tripergola--Filling up of
Leucrine Lake--Lake of Avernus--Sibyl's Cave--Lough Dearg and Purgatory
of St. Patrick--Death Quarter among Prehistoric People in the
West--Phlegraean Fields--Scene of Wars of Gods and Giants--Elysian
Fields--Pagan Heaven and Hell--Via Cumana and St. Paul--Amphitheatre
of Nero--Solfatara--Relics of Volcanic Fires and Ancient Civilisation
mixed together--Volcanic Fires and Landscape Beauty--Completion of Gospel
in St. Paul's Journey from Jerusalem to Rome




CHAPTER I

A WALK TO CHURCH IN ROME


I know nothing more delightful than a walk to a country church on a
fine day at the end of summer. All the lovely promises of spring have
been fulfilled; the woods are clothed with their darkest foliage, and
not another leaflet is to come anywhere. The lingering plumes of the
meadow-sweet in the fields, and the golden trumpets of the wild
honeysuckle in the hedges, make the warm air a luxury to breathe; and
the presence of a few tufts of bluebells by the wayside gives the
landscape the last finishing touch of perfection, which is suggestive
of decay, and has such an indescribable pathos about it. Nature pauses
to admire her own handiwork; she ceases from her labours, and enjoys
an interval of rest. It is the sabbath of the year. At such a time
every object is associated with its spiritual idea, as it is with its
natural shadow. The beauty of nature suggests thoughts of the beauty
of holiness; and the calm rest of creation speaks to us of the deeper
rest of the soul in God. On the shadowed path that leads up to the
house of prayer, with mind and senses quickened to perceive the
loveliness and significance of the smallest object, the fern on the
bank and the lichen on the wall, we feel indeed that heaven is not so
much a yonder, towards which we are to move, as a here and a now,
which we are to realise.

A walk to church in town is a different thing. Man's works are all
around us, and God's excluded; all but the strip of blue sky that
looks down between the tall houses, and suggests thoughts of heaven to
those who work and weep; all but the stunted trees and the green grass
that struggle to grow in the hard streets and squares, and whisper of
the far-off scenes of the country, where life is natural and simple.
But even in town a walk to church is pleasant, especially when the
streets are quiet, before the crowd of worshippers have begun to
assemble, and there is nothing to distract the thoughts. If we can say
of the country walk, "This is holy ground," seeing that every bush and
tree are aflame with God, we can say of the walk through the city,
"Surely the Lord hath been here, this is a dreadful place." And as the
rude rough stones lying on the mountain top shaped themselves in the
patriarch's dream into a staircase leading up to God, so the streets
and houses around become to the musing spirit suggestive of the
Father's many mansions, and the glories of the City whose streets are
of pure gold, in which man's hopes and aspirations after a city of
rest, which are baffled here, will be realised. I have many pleasing
associations connected with walks to church in town. Many precious
thoughts have come to me then, which would not have occurred at other
times; glimpses of the wonder of life, and revelations of inscrutable
mysteries covered by the dream-woven tissue of this visible world. The
subjects with which my mind was filled found new illustrations in the
most unexpected quarters; and every familiar sight and sound furnished
the most appropriate examples. During that half-hour of meditation,
with my blood quickened by the exercise, and my mind inspired by the
thoughts of the service in which I was about to engage, I have lived
an intenser life and enjoyed a keener happiness than during all the
rest of the week. It was the hour of insight that struck the keynote
of all the others.

But far above even these precious memories, I must rank my walks to
church in Rome. What one feels elsewhere is deepened there; and the
wonderful associations of the place give a more vivid interest to all
one's experiences. I lived in the Capo le Case, a steep street on the
slope between the Pincian and Quirinal hills, situated about
three-quarters of a mile from the church outside the Porta del Popolo.
This distance I had to traverse every Sunday morning; and I love
frequently to shut my eyes and picture the streets through which I
passed, and the old well-known look of the houses and monuments. There
is not a more delightful walk in the world than that; and I know not
where within such a narrow compass could be found so many objects of
the most thrilling interest. For three months, from the beginning of
February to the end of April, twice, and sometimes four times, every
Sunday, I passed that way, going to or returning from church, until I
became perfectly familiar with every object; and associations of my
own moods of mind and heart mingled with the grander associations
which every stone recalled, and are now inextricably bound up with
them. With one solitary exception, when the weather in its chill winds
and gloomy clouds reminded me of my native climate, all the Sundays
were beautiful, the sun shining down with genial warmth, and the sky
overhead exhibiting the deep violet hue which belongs especially to
Italy. The house in which I lived had on either side of the entrance a
picture-shop; and this was always closed, as well as most of the other
places of business along the route. The streets were remarkably quiet;
and all the circumstances were most favourable for a meditative walk
amid such magnificent memories. The inhabitants of Rome pay respect to
the Sunday so far as abstaining from labour is concerned; but they
make up for this by throwing open their museums and places of interest
on that day, which indeed is the only day in which they are free to
the public; and they take a large amount of recreation for doing a
small amount of penance in the interests of religion. Still there is
very little bustle or traffic in the streets, especially in the
morning; and one meets with no more disagreeable and incongruous
interruptions on the way to church in the Eternal City than he does at
home. At the head of the Capo le Case is a small church, beside an old
ruinous-looking wall of tufa, covered with shaggy pellitory and other
plants, which might well have been one of the ramparts of ancient
Rome. It is called San Guiseppe, and has a faded fresco painting on
the gable, representing the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt,
supposed to be by Frederico Zuccari, whose own house--similarly
decorated on the outside with frescoes--was in the immediate vicinity.
From the windows of my rooms, I could see at the foot of the street
the fantastic cupola and bell-turret of the church of St. Andrea delle
Fratte, which belonged to the Scottish Catholics before the
Reformation, and is now frequented by our Catholic countrymen during
Lent, when sermons are preached to them in English. It is the parish
church of the Piazza di Spagna, and the so-called English quarter. The
present edifice was only built at the end of the sixteenth century,
and, strange to say, with the proceeds of the sale of Cardinal
Gonsalvi's valuable collection of snuff-boxes; but its name, derived
from the Italian word _Fratta_, "thorn-bush," would seem to imply that
the church is of much greater antiquity, going back to a far-off time
when the ground on which it stands was an uncultivated waste. A
miracle is said to have happened in one of the side chapels in 1842,
which received the sanction of the Pope. A young French Jew of the
name of Alfonse Ratisbonne was discovered in an ecstasy before the
altar; which he accounted for by saying, when he revived, that the
Virgin Mary had actually appeared to him, and saluted him in this
place, while he was wandering aimlessly, and with a smile of
incredulity, through the church. This supernatural vision led to his
conversion, and he was publicly baptized and presented to the Pope by
his godfather, the general of the Jesuits; receiving on the occasion,
in commemoration of the miracle, a crucifix, to which special
indulgences were attached.

At the foot of the Capo le Case is the College of the Propaganda,
whose vast size and plain massive architecture, as well as its
historical associations, powerfully impress the imagination. It was
begun by Gregory XV., in 1622, and completed by his successor, Urban
VIII., and his brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, from the plans
partly of Bernini and Borromini. On the most prominent parts of the
edifice are sculptured bees, which are the well-known armorial
bearings of the Barberini family. The Propaganda used to divide with
the Vatican the administration of the whole Roman Catholic world. It
was compared by the Abbe Raynal to a sword, of which the handle
remains in Rome, and the point reaches everywhere. The Vatican takes
cognisance of what may be called the domestic affairs of the Church
throughout Europe; the College of the Propaganda superintends the
foreign policy of the Church, and makes its influence felt in the
remotest regions of the earth. It is essentially, as its name implies,
a missionary institution, founded for the promotion and guidance of
missions throughout the world. Nearly two hundred youths from various
countries are constantly educated here, in order that they may go back
as ordained priests to their native land, and diffuse the Roman
Catholic faith among their countrymen. The average number ordained
every year is about fifty. No one is admitted who is over twenty years
of age; and they all wear a uniform dress, consisting of a long black
cassock, edged with red, and bound with a red girdle, with two bands,
representing leading-strings, hanging from the shoulders behind. The
cost of their education and support while in Rome, and the expenses of
their journey from their native land and back again, are defrayed by
the institution. Every visitor to Rome must be familiar with the
appearance of the students, as they walk through the streets in groups
of three or four, eagerly conversing with each other, with many
expressive gesticulations. For the most part they are a fine set of
young men, of whom any Church might well be proud, full of zeal and
energy, and well fitted to encounter, by their physical as well as
their mental training, the hard-ships of an isolated life, frequently
among savage races.

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