Walks in Rome

lessio-The Priorato-Sta. Prisca-The V

rm, and is divided into two parts by a valley; one side, the higher, is crowned by the churches of Sta. Sabina, S. Alessio, and the Priorato, wh

s tree of ancient Rome, which grew there in abundance. Only one side of the hill, that towards the Tiber, now shows any of the natural cliff, bu

tiva; loco re

: pars bona men

his cave on the side of the Aventine had its origin in noxious sulphuric vapours emitted by the soil, as is still the case at t

y-built Rome, Romulus seated himself upon the Palatine to watch the auspices, but Remus upon the rock of the Pseudo-Aventine. Here Remus saw only six vultures, while Romulus saw twelve, but each interpreted the augury in his own favour, and Remus leapt across the boundary of the Palatine, whether in derision or war, and was slain by his brother,

alled Romoria, but at this time and for long afterwards, the higher part of the Aventine was held by the Sabines. Here the Sabine king Numa dedicated an altar

suberat niger

iso dicere,

n, muscoque ad

xo vena pe

Faunus Picusque

ds, and compelled them to tell him how he might learn from Jupiter the knowled

mb, then called Armilustrum, it was the custom, every year, in the month of October, to hold a feast for the purificat

been standing alone. The Aventine continued always to be the especial property and sanctuary of the plebs, the patricians avoiding it-in the first instance, it is supposed, from an impression that the hill was of evil omen, owing to the story of Remus. In B.C. 416, the tribune Icilius proposed and carried a law by which all the public lands of the Aventine were officially conferred upon the plebs, who forthwith began to cover its heights with houses, in which

ained. We still ascend the Aventine by the ancient Clivus Publicius, originally paved by two brothers Publicii, wh

ivum, qui tune

est, Publicium

of Luna, or Jana, in which Tatius had al

es; hujus quoqu

no Luna cole

tatue of the goddess, he implored that the people who had betrayed him might never be free. Close by, singularly enough, rose the Temple of Liberty, which his grandfather Sempronius Gracchus had built. Adjo

ctis patuerunt

s tangere pass

o go to Rome and inhabit a new temple, much as the modern queen of heaven is apt to do in modern times at Rome.[181] The Temples of Liberty and Juno were both rebuilt under Augustus; some imagine that they were under a common ro

um, ?ternam se

this group was a

nis, et Cancri

a Pallas in a

pany of scribes and actors. Another poet who lived upon the Aventine was Ennius, who is described as inh

jubes tibi me

um ter quater

ow almost extinct at Rome-on the site now occupied by Sta. Prisca, was a more important Temple of Diana, sometim

? qu?dam est vi

Mart

ropius magna c

n? vicinus Su

preserved the pillar of brass on w

she received the devotion of Julius C?sar, and in which her son Brutus is said to have conspired his murder, and to have been interrogated by his wife Portia as to the mystery, which he refused to rev

ith each succeeding generation it has become-partly owing to the ravages of malaria-more and more deserted, till now its sole inhabitants are monks, and the few ague-stricken contadini who look after the monastic vineyards. In wandering along its desolate lanes, hemmed in by hedges of elder, or by walls covered with parasitical plants, it is diffic

l, and centres around the story of St. Dominic, and the legends

a. Maria in Cosmedin, where the Via Sta. Sabina, once the Cl

fact, that they have, for a remuneration of four baiocchi, habitually given leave to their neighbours to discharge the contents of a rubbish cart into their cemetery, a permission of which the Romans ha

here his ministrations and popularity soon formed such an attraction, that the pope wisely abandoned his design of founding a new city which should commemorate himself, and left the field to St. Dominic,-to whom he made over the land on this side of the hill. Henceforward the convent of Sta. Sabina and its surroundings have become, more than any other spot, connected with the history of the Dominican Order,-there, all the great saints of the Order have received their first inspiration,-have resided,-or are buried; there St. Dominic himself received in a beatific vision the institution of the rosary; there he was ordered to p

self" (pauperibus locuples, sibi pauper), as we read by the mosaic inscription inside the principal entrance. St. Gregory the Great read two of his homilies here. The church was rebuilt in 824, and restored and recons

of the Byzantine influence upon art. Its panels are covered with carvings from the Old and New Testament, referred by Mamachi to the seventh, by Agincourt to the thirteenth century. Some of the subjects have been destroyed; among those which remain are the Annunciation, the Angels appearing to the Shepherds, the Angel and Zachariah in the Temple, the Magi, Moses turning the rods into serpents, the ascent of Elijah, Christ before Pilate, the denial of Peter, and the Ascension. Within the entrance are the only remains of the magnificent

pavement near the altar, is a very curious mosaic figure over the grave of Munoz de Zamora, a General of the Dominican Order, who died in 1300. Nearer the west door are interesting incised slabs representing a German bishop and a lady, benefactors of this church, and (on the left) a slab with arms in mosaic, to a lady of the Savelli family. In the left ais

e of Sassoferrato, called "La Madonna del Rosario," commemorates the vision of St.

our is turned towards her, and with one hand he crowns her with thorns, with the other he presents the rosary. This is

ion than the "vain repetition" of the worship of the Rosa

t une même parole. Celui qui est éclairé d'une meilleure lumière comprend que

sed slabs. At the other end of this aisle is a marble slab, on which St. Dominic is said to have been wont to lie prostrate in prayer. One day while he was lying thus, the Devil in his rage is said to have hurled a huge stone (a round black marble, pietra di paragone,) at hi

lic of Tuscany-very rich in precious marbles. The

father? are you come to see if the college of cardinals is disposed to elect you as pope?" "I come to Rome," replied the pilgrim Michele Ghislieri, "because the interests of the Church require it, and I shall leave as soon as my task is accomplished; meanwhile I implore you to give me a brief hospitality and a little hay for my mule." Sixteen years afterwards Ghislieri mounted the papal throne as Pius V., and proved, during a troubled reign, the most rigid follower and eager defender of the institutions of St. Dominic. One day as Ghislieri was about to kiss his crucifix in the eagerness of prayer, "the image of Christ," says the legend, retired of its own accord from his touch, for it had been poisoned by

hey should seat themselves in the refectory, and, taking his place at the head of the table, he pronounced the usual blessing: and behold! two beautiful youths clad in white and shining garments appeared amongst them; one carried a basket of bread, and the other a pitcher of wine, which they distributed to the brethren: then they

f the Premonstratensians (ob. 1134), and St. Raymond de Penaforte (ob. 1275), who

at once within the convent, and all the rest taking flight except Cardinal Savelli, who would not desert his paternal home, and survived by keeping

d white mosaic, and some fine fragments of the wall of Servius Tullius, formed of gigantic blocks of peperino. In the chambers which were found decorated in stucco with remnants of painting in figures and arabesque ornaments, "one little group represented a sacrifice before the statue of a god, in an ?dicula. Some rudely scratched Latin lines

ains already discovered have been for the most part earthed up again. A nympheu

fled on the same evening from his home, and was given up as lost. Worn out and utterly changed he returned many years afterwards to be near those who were dear to him, and remained, unrecognised, as a poor beggar, under the stairs which led to his father's house. Seventeen years passed away, when a mysterious voice suddenly echoed through the Roman churches, crying, "Seek ye out the man of God, that he may pray for Rome." The crowd was stricken with amazement,-when the same voice continued, "Seek in the house of Euphemian." Then, pope, emperor, and senators ru

entered throug

Roman houses, on the site of which they were probably built. This style of building, says Tacitus, was generally introduced

case over his head. Not far from this is the ancient well of his father's house. In a chapel which opens out of a passage leading to the sacristy is the fine tomb of Cardinal Guido di Balneo, of the time of Leo X. He is represented sitting, with one hand resting on the ground-the delicate execution of his lace in marble is much admired. The mosaic roof of this chapel was burst open by a cannon-ball during the French bombardment of 1849, but the figure was uninjured. The baldacchino (well known from Macphe

trees. There are only six Hieronymite brethren here now. The convent was at one time pur

churches. Entering the garden (which can always be visited) we find ourselves in a beautiful avenue of old bay-trees framing the distant St. Peter's. A terrace overhanging the Tiber has an enchanting view over the river and town. In the garden is an old pepper-tree, and in a little court a picturesque palm-tree and well. From hence we can enter the church, sometimes called S. Basilio, sometimes Sta. Maria Av

ssive cornice in these grounds is one of the few architectural fragments of ancient Rome existing on the Aventine. It may perhaps have belonged to the smaller temple of Diana in which Caius Gracchus took refuge, and in escaping from which, down the s

the supposed site of the cave of t

Caci detecta a

os? penitus pa

i qua penitus v

ret sedes, et

visa; superque

dentque immisso

, lib

en he concealed them in his cavern, and barred the entrance with a rock. Hercules sought the stolen oxen everywhere, and when he could not find them, he was going away with the remainder. But as he drove them along the valley near the Tiber one of his oxen lowed, and when the stolen oxen in the cave heard that, the

s patres du voisinage dont il volait les troupeaux quand ils allaient pa?tre dans les prés situés au bord du Tibre et boire l'eau du fleuve. Les hauts faits de Cacus lui avaient donné cette célébrité qui, parmi les paysans romains, s'attache encore à ses pareils, et surtout le stratagème employé par lui probablement plus d'une fois pour dérou

un demi-dieu, mais par un certain Recaranus, patre vigoureux et de grande taille. A ces récits de bergers, qui allaient toujours exagérant les hor

y modernised by Cardinal Giustiniani from designs of Carlo Lombardi, who encased its fine granite columns in miserable stucco pilasters. Over the high altar is a picture by Passignano of the baptism of the saint, which is said

loggia with a peculiar and beautiful view. In the

whose remains being afterwards placed in the church, it has since borne her name. According to the legend, she was a Roman virgin of illustrious birth, who, at the age of thirteen, was exposed in the amphitheatre. A fierce lion was let loose upon her, but her youth and innocence disarmed the fury of the savage beast, which, instead of tearing her to pieces, humbly licked her feet;-t

iful views towards the Alban mountains, and to the Pseudo-Aventine with its fortress-like convents. The ground is littered with fragments of marbles and alabaster, which lie unheeded among the vegetables, relics of unknown edifices which once existed here. Just where the path in the vineyard descends a slight decli

ach, on the side of the Pseudo-Aventine, the Church of S. Sabba, which is supposed to mark the site of the Porta Randusculana o

ory the Great, and to have been one of the fourteen privileged abbacies of Rome. Its p

ong monuments of the thirteenth century. From its origin a Greek monastery, it was assigned by Lucius II., in 1141, to the Benedictines of the Cluny rule. An epigraph near the

s, approached by a solitary lane between hedgerows, this now deserted sanctuary has a certain affecting character in its forlornness. Save on Thursdays, when the German students are

the C?lian. Within that court formerly stood the cloistral buildings, of which little now remains. The fa?ade is remarkable for its atrium in two stories: the upper with a pillared arcade, probably of the fifteenth century; the lower formerly supported by six porphyry columns, removed by Pius VI. to adorn the Vatican library, where they still stand. The por

tar, and an ancient sarcophagus. The tribune has rude paintings of the fourteenth century-the Saviour between St. Andrew and St. Sabbas the Abbot; and below the C

ius Vacca describes the discovery of a mysterious chamber without door or window, whose pavement was

a feature, as seen against the long soft lines of the flat Campagna, in so many Roman views. It was erected in memory of Sta. Balbina, a virgin martyr (buried in Sta. Maria in Domenica), who suffered under Hadrian, A.D. 132. It contains the remai

e of correction for youthful offenders, to avert the moral r