The Aventine, which is perhaps the highest, and now--from its coronet of convents--the most picturesque of all the Roman hills, is of irregular form, 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, which together form "the Capitol of the Aventine;" the other, known as the Pseudo-Aventine, is marked by the churches of S. Sabba and Sta.

Balbina.

Virgil and Ovid allude repeatedly to the thick woods which once clothed the Aventine.[169] Dionysius speaks of the laurels or bays, an indigenous 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, but it was once remarkable for its rocks, and the Pseudo-Aventine obtained the name of Saxum from a huge solitary mass of stone which surmounted it.

"Est moles nativa; loco res nomina fecit Appellant Saxum: pars bona mentis ea est."[170]

The upper portion of the hill is of volcanic formation, and it is supposed that the legend of Cacus vomiting forth flames from 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 the Solfatara on the way to Tivoli. The demi-god Faunus, who had an oracle at the Solfatara, had also an oracle on this hill.[171]

Some derive the name of Aventine from Aventinus-Silvius, king of Alba, who was buried here;[172] others from Avens, a Sabine river; while others say that the name simply means "the hill of birds," and connect it with the story of the foundation of the city. For when it became necessary to decide whether Romulus or Remus was to rule over the newly-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, or by Celer, one of his followers. He was brought back and buried upon the Aventine, and the stone whence he had watched the vultures was thenceforth called the Sacred Rock. Ancient tradition places the tomb of Remus on the Pseudo-Aventine, but in the middle ages the tomb of Caius Cestus was believed--even by Petrarch--to be the monument of Remus.

Some authorities consider that when Remus was watching the vultures on the Pseudo-Aventine, that part of the hill was already occupied by a Pelasgic fortress called 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 to Jupiter Elicius,[173]

and the Sabine god Consus had also an altar here. Hither Numa came to visit the forest-gods Faunus and Picus at their sacred fountain:

Lucus Aventino suberat niger ilicis umbra, Quo posses viso dicere, numen inest.

In medio gramen, muscoque adoperta virenti Manabat saxo vena perennis aquae.

Inde fere soli Faunus Picusque bibebant.[174]

By mingling wine and honey with the waters of their spring, Numa snared the gods, and compelled them to tell him how he might learn from Jupiter the knowledge of his will, and to reveal to him a charm against thunder and lightning.[175]

The Sabine king Tatius, the rival of Romulus, was buried on the Aventine "in a great grove of laurels," and, at his tomb, then called Armilustrum, it was the custom, every year, in the month of October, to hold a feast for the purification of arms, accompanied by martial dances. A horse was at the same time sacrificed to Janus, the Sabine war-god.[176]

Ancus Martius surrounded the Aventine by a wall,[177] and settled there many thousands of the inhabitants of Latin towns which he had subdued.

This was the origin of the plebs, who were soon to become such formidable opponents of the first colonists of the Palatine, who took rank as patricians, and who at first found in them an important counterpoise to the power of the original Sabine inhabitants, against whom the little Latin colony of Romulus had hitherto 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 each family of the people had a right in one floor,--a custom which still prevails at Rome. At this time, also, the Aventine was included for the first time within the pomrium or religious boundary of the city. Owing to its being the "hill of the people," the commons henceforth held their comitia and elected their tribunes here; and here, after the murder of Virginia, to whom the tribune Icilius had been betrothed, the army assembled against Appius Claudius.

Very little remains of the numerous temples which once adorned the hill, but their sites are tolerably well ascertained. We still ascend the Aventine by the ancient Clivus Publicius, originally paved by two brothers Publicii, who were aediles at the same time, and had embezzled a public sum of money, which they were compelled to expend thus--

Parte locant clivum, qui tune erat ardua rupes: Utile nunc iter est, Publiciumque vocant.[178]

At the foot of this road was the temple of Luna, or Jana, in which Tatius had also erected an altar to Janus or the Sun.

Luna regit menses; hujus quoque tempora mensis Finit Aventino Luna colenda jugo.[179]

It was up this road that Caius Gracchus, a few hours before his death, fled to take refuge in a small Temple of Diana, which stood somewhere near the present site of S. Alessio, where, kneeling before the statue 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. Adjoining this temple was a hall where the archives of the censors were kept, and where they transacted business; this was rebuilt by Asinius Pollio, who added to it the first public library established in Rome.

Nec me, quae doctis patuerunt prima libellis Atria, Libertas tangere passa sua est.[180]

In the same group stood the famous sanctuary of Juno Regina, vowed by Camillus during the siege of Veii, and to which the Juno of the captured city was removed after she had given a verbal consent when asked whether she wished to 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 roof. If they were distinct buildings, nothing of the former remains; some beautiful columns built into the church of Sta. Sabina are all that remain of the temple of Juno, though Livy thought that her reign here would be eternal--

... in Aventinum, aeternam sedem suam.[182]

Also belonging to this group was a Temple of Minerva.

Sol abit a Geminis, et Cancri signa rubescunt: Cpit Aventina Pallas in arce coli.[183]

Here the dramatist Livius Andronicus, who lived upon the Aventine, was honoured after his death by a company of scribes and actors. Another poet who lived upon the Aventine was Ennius, who is described as inhabiting a humble dwelling, and being attended by a single female slave. The poet Gallus also lived here.

Totis, Galle, jubes tibi me servire diebus, Et per Aventinum ter quater ire tuum![184]

On the other side of the Aventine (above the Circus Maximus), which was originally covered with myrtle--a shrub now almost extinct at Rome--on the site now occupied by Sta. Prisca, was a more important Temple of Diana, sometimes called by the Sabine name of Murcia,--built in imitation of the temple of Diana at Ephesus. Propertius writes--

Phyllis Aventinae quaedam est vicina Dianae;[185]

and Martial--

Quique videt propius magna certamina Circi Laudat Aventinae vicinus Sura Dianae.[186]

Here till the time of Dionysius was preserved the pillar of brass on which was engraved the law of Icilius.

Near this were the groves of Simila, the retreat of the infamous association discovered and terribly punished at the time of the Greek wars; and--in the time of the empire--the gardens of Servilia, where she received the devotion of Julius Caesar, 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 reveal to her, fearing her weakness under torture, until, by the concealment of a terrible wound which she had given to herself, she had proved to him that the daughter of Cato could suffer and be silent.

The Aventine continued to be inhabited, and even populous, until the sixth century, from which period its prosperity began to decline. In the eleventh century it was occupied by the camp of Henry IV. of Germany, when he came in war against Gregory VII. In the thirteenth century Honorius III. made a final effort to re-establish its popularity; but with 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 difficult to realize the time when it was so thickly populated; and except in the quantities of coloured marbles with which its fields and vineyards are strewn, there is nothing to remind one of the 16 aediculae, 64 baths, 25 granaries, 88 fountains, 130 of the larger houses called _domus_, and 2487 of the poorer houses called _insulae_, which occupied this site.

The present interest of the hill is almost wholly ecclesiastical, and centres around the story of St. Dominic, and the legends of the saints and martyrs connected with its different churches.

The best approach to the Aventine is behind the Church of Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, where the _Via Sta. Sabina_, once the Clivus Publicius (available for carriages), turns up the hill.

A lane on the left leads to the Jewish burial-ground, used as a place of sepulture for the Ghetto for many centuries. A curious instance of the cupidity attributed to the Jewish race may be seen in the 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 have so abundantly availed themselves, that the level of the soil has been raised by many yards, and whole sets of older monuments have been completely swallowed up, and new ones erected over their heads.

After we turn the corner at the hill top, with its fine view over the Palatine, and cross the trench of fortification formed during the fear of a Garibaldian invasion in 1867, we skirt what appears to be part of a city wall. This is in fact the wall of the Honorian city, built by Pope Honorius III., of the great family of Savelli, whose idea was to render the Aventine once more the populous and favourite portion of the city, and who began great works for this purpose. Before his arrangements were completed St. Dominic arrived in Rome, and was appointed master of the papal household, and abbot of the convent of Sta. Sabina, where 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 plant the famous orange-tree, which, being then unknown in Rome, he brought from his native Spain as the only present which it was suitable for the gratitude of a poor monk to offer to his patron Honorius, who was himself one of the great botanists of his time,--an orange-tree which still lives, and which is firmly believed by the monks to flourish or fail with the fortunes of the Order, so that it has lately been greatly the worse for the suppression of the convents in Northern Italy, though the residence of Pere Lacordaire within the convent proved exceedingly beneficial to it, and his visit even caused a new sucker to sprout.

The _Church of Sta. Sabina_ was built on the site of the house of the saint--in which she suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Hadrian,[187]

in A.D. 423--by Peter, a priest of Illyria, "rich for the poor, and poor for himself" _(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 reconsecrated by Gregory IX. in 1238. Much of its interest,--ancient pavements, mosaics, &c.,--was destroyed in 1587 by Sixtus V., who took the credit of discovering the relics of the martyrs who are buried beneath the altar.

On the west is a covered corridor containing several ancient inscriptions. It is supported on one side by ancient spiral columns of pavonazzetto, on the other these have been plundered and replaced by granite. Hence, through a window, ladies are allowed to gaze upon the celebrated orange-tree, 665 years old, which they cannot approach; a rude figure of St. Dominic is sculptured upon the low wall which surrounds it. The west door, of the twelfth century, in a richly sculptured frame, is cited by Kugler as an instance of the extinction 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 mosaic, erected in 431, under Celestine I., which entirely covered the west wall till the time of Sixtus V., consisting of an inscription in large letters, with a female figure on either side, that on the left bearing the name "Ecclesia cum circumcisione," that on the right, "Ecclesia ex gentibus."

Among the parts destroyed were the four beasts typical of the Evangelists, and St. Peter and St. Paul. The church was thus gorgeously decorated, because in the time of the Savelli popes, it was what the Sistine is now, the Chiesa Apostolica.

The nave is lined by twenty-four Corinthian columns of white marble, relics of the temple of Juno Regina, which once stood here. Above, is an inlaid frieze of pietradura, of A.D. 431, which once extended up to the windows, but was destroyed by Sixtus V., who at the same time built up the windows which till then existed over each pier. In the middle of the 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 aisle is another monument of 1312, commemorating a warrior of the imperial house of Germany. The high altar covers the remains of Sabina and Seraphia, Alexander the Pope, Eventius and Theodulus, all martyrs.

In the chapel beneath St. Dominic is said to have flagellated himself three times nightly, "perche uno colpo solo non abbastava per mortificare la carne."

At the end of the right aisle is the Chapel of the Rosary, where a beautiful picture of Sassoferrato, called "La Madonna del Rosario,"

commemorates the vision of St. Dominic on that spot, in which he received the rosary from the hands of the Virgin.

"St. Catherine of Siena kneels with St. Dominic before the throne of the Madonna; the lily at her feet. The Infant Saviour is turned towards her, and with one hand he crowns her with thorns, with the other he presents the rosary. This is the master-piece of the painter, with all his usual elegance, without his usual insipidity."--_Jameson's Monastic Orders._

Few Roman Catholic practices have excited more animadversion than the "vain repetition" of the worship of the Rosary. The Pere Lacordaire (a Dominican) defended it, saying--

"Le rationaliste sourit en voyant passer de longues files de gens qui redisent une meme parole. Celui qui est eclaire d'une meilleure lumiere comprend que l'amour n'a qu'un mot, et qu'en le disant toujours, il ne le repete jamais."

Grouped around this chapel are three beautiful tombs,--a cardinal, a bishop, and a priest of the end of the fifteenth century. That of the cardinal (which is of the well-known Roman type of the time), is inscribed "Ut moriens viveret, vixit est moriturus;" the others are incised 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 him, which missed the saint, who left the attack entirely unnoticed. The devil was frantic with disappointment, and the stone, remaining as a relic, is preserved on a low pillar in the nave. A small gothic ciborium, richly inlaid with mosaic, remains on the left of the tribune.

Opening from the left aisle is a chapel built by Elic of Tuscany--very rich in precious marbles. The frame of the panel on the left is said to be unique.

It was in this church, in 1218, that St. Hyacinth, struck by the preaching of St. Dominic, and by the recollection of the barbarism, heathenism, and ignorance which prevailed in many parts of his native land of Silesia, offered himself as its missionary, and took the vows of the Dominican Order, together with his cousin St. Ceslas. Hither fled to the monastic life St. Thomas Aquinas, pursued to the very door of the convent by the tears and outcries of his mother, who vainly implored him to return to her. One evening, a pilgrim, worn out with travel and fatigue, arrived at the door of this convent mounted upon a wretched mule, and implored admittance. The prior in mockery asked, "What are you come for, my 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 an enemy, and a kiss would have been death. This crucifix is now preserved as a precious relic in the convent, where the cells both of St. Dominic and of St. Pius V. are preserved, though, like most historical chambers of Roman saints, their interest is lessened by their having been beautified and changed into chapels. In the cell of St. Dominic is a portrait by _Bazzani_, founded on the records of his personal appearance; the lily lies by his side,--the glory hovers over his head,--he is, as the chronicler describes him, "of amazing beauty."

In this cell he is said frequently to have passed the night in prayer with his rival St. Francis of Assisi. The refectory is connected with another story of St. Dominic:--