It is probably in allusion to this temple that Propertius says:

"Armaque quum tulero portae votiva Capenae, Subscribam, salvo grata puella viro."

_Prop._ iv. _Eleg._ 3.

Martial alludes to a little temple of Hercules near this:

"Capena grandi porta qua pluit gutta, Phrygiaeque Matris Almo qua lavat ferrum, Horatiorum qua viret sacer campus, Et qua pusilli fervet Herculis fanum."

_Mart._ iii. _Ep._ 47.

Near the gate also stood the tomb of the murdered sister of the Horatii,[192] with the temples of Honour and Virtue, vowed by Marcellus and dedicated by his son,[193] and a fountain, dedicated to Mercury:

"Est aqua Mercurii portae vicina Capenae; Si juvat expertis credere, numen habet.

Huc venit incinctus tunicas mercator, et urna Purus suffita, quam ferat, haurit aquam.

Uda fit hinc laurus: lauro sparguntur ab uda Omnia, quae dominos sunt habitura novos."

_Ovid, Fast._ v. 673.

It was at the Porta Capena that the survivor of the Horatii met his sister.

"Horatius went home at the head of the army, bearing his triple spoils. But as they were drawing near to the Capenian gate, his sister came out to meet him. Now she had been betrothed in marriage to one of the Curiatii, and his cloak, which she had wrought with her own hands, was borne on the shoulders of her brother; and she knew it, and cried aloud, and wept for him she had loved. At the sight of her tears Horatius was so wrath that he drew his sword, and stabbed his sister to the heart; and he said, 'So perish the Roman maiden who shall weep for her country's enemy!'"--_Arnold's Hist. of Rome_, i. 16.

Among the many other historical scenes with which the Porta Capena is connected, we may remember that it was here that Cicero was received in triumph by the senate and people of Rome, upon his return from banishment B.C. 57.

Two roads lead to the Via S. Sebastiano, one the Via S. Gregorio, which comes from the Coliseum beneath the arch of Constantine; the other, the street which comes from the Ghetto, through the Circus Maximus, between the Palatine and Aventine.

The first gate on the left, after the junction of these roads, is that of the vineyard of the monks of S. Gregorio, in which the site of the Porta Capena was found. The remains discovered have been reburied, owing to the indifference or jealousy of the government; but the vineyard is worth entering on account of the picturesque view it possesses of the Palace of the Caesars.

On the right, a lane leads up the Pseudo-Aventine to the Church of Sta.

Balbina, described Chap. VIII.

On the left, where the Via Appia crosses the brook of the Almo, now called Maranna, the Via di San Sisto Vecchio leads to the back of the Clian behind S. Stefano Rotondo. Here, in the hollow, in the grounds of the Villa Mattei, under some picturesque farm-buildings, is a spring which modern archaeology has determined to be the true _Fountain of Egeria_, where Numa Pompilius is described as having his mysterious meetings with the nymph Egeria. The locality of this fountain was verified when that of the Porta Capena was ascertained, as it was certain that it was in the immediate neighbourhood of that gate, from a passage in the 3d Satire of Juvenal, which describes, that when he was waiting at the Porta Capena with Umbritius while the waggon was loading for his departure to Cumae, they rambled into the valley of Egeria, and Umbritius said, after speaking of his motives for leaving Rome, "I could add other reasons to these, but my beasts summon me to move on, and the sun is setting. I must be going, for the muleteer has long been summoning me by the cracking of his whip."

To this valley the oppressed race of the Jews was confined by Domitian, their furniture consisting of a basket and a wisp of hay:

"Nunc sacri fontis nemus et delubra locantur Judaeis, quorum cophinus fnumque supellex."

_Juvenal, Sat._ iii. 13.

On the right, are the _Baths of Caracalla_, the largest mass of ruins in Rome, except the Coliseum; consisting for the most part of huge shapeless walls of red and orange-coloured brickwork, framing vast strips of blue sky, and tufted with shrubs and flowers. These baths, which could accommodate 1600 bathers at once, were begun in A.D. 212, by Caracalla, continued by Heliogabalus, and finished under Alexander Severus. They covered a space of 2,625,000 square yards--a size which made Ammianus Marcellinus say that the Roman baths were like provinces--and they were supplied with water by the Antonine Aqueduct, which was brought hither for that especial purpose from the Claudian, over the Arch of Drusus.

Antiquaries have amused themselves by identifying different chambers, to which, with considerable uncertainty, the names of Calidarium, Laconicum, Tepidarium, Frigidarium, &c., have been affixed.

The habits of luxury and inertion which were introduced with the magnificent baths of the emperors were among the principal causes of the decline and fall of Rome. Thousands of the Roman youth frittered away their hours in these magnificent halls, which were provided with everything which could gratify the senses. Poets were wont to recite their verses to those who were reclining in the baths.

----"In medio qui Scripta foro recitent, sunt multi,--quique lavantes: Suave locus voci resonat conclusus."

_Horace, Sat._ i. 4.

"These _Thermae_ of Caracalla, which were one mile in circumference, and open at stated hours for the indiscriminate service of the senators and the people, contained above sixteen hundred seats of marble. The walls of the lofty apartments were covered with curious mosaics that imitated the art of the pencil in elegance of design and in the variety of their colours. The Egyptian granite was beautifully encrusted with the precious green marble of Numidia.

The perpetual stream of hot water was poured into the capacious basons through so many wide mouths of bright and massy silver; and the meanest Roman could purchase, with a small copper coin, the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and luxury which might excite the envy of the kings of Asia. From these stately palaces issued forth a swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians, without shoes and without mantle; who loitered away whole days in the street or Forum, to hear news and to hold disputes; who dissipated, in extravagant gaming, the miserable pittance of their wives and children; and spent the hours of the night in the indulgence of gross and vulgar sensuality."--_Gibbon._

In the first great hall was found, in 1824, the immense mosaic pavement of the pugilists, now in the Lateran museum. Endless works of art have been discovered here from time to time, among them the best of the Farnese collection of statues,--the Bull, the Hercules, and the Flora,--which were dug up in 1534, when Paul III. carried off all the still remaining marble decorations of the baths to use for the Farnese Palace. The last of the pillars to be removed from hence is that which supports the statue of Justice in the Piazza Sta. Trinita at Florence.

A winding stair leads to the top of the walls, which are worth ascending, as well for the idea which you there receive of the vast size of the ruins, as for the lovely views of the Campagna, which are obtained between the bushes of lentiscus and phillyrea with which they are fringed. It was seated on these walls that Shelley wrote his "Prometheus Unbound."

"This poem was chiefly written upon the mountainous ruins of the baths of Caracalla, among the flowery glades and thickets of odoriferous blossoming trees which are extended in ever-winding labyrinths upon its immense platforms and dizzy arches suspended in the air. The bright blue sky of Rome, and the effect of the vigorous awakening spring in that divinest climate, and the new life with which it drenches the spirits even to intoxication, were the inspiration of the drama."--_Preface to the Prometheus._

"Maintenant les murailles sont nues, sauf quelques fragments de chapiteaux oublies par la destruction; mais elles conservent ce que seules des mains de geant pourraient leur oter, leur masse ecrasante, la grandeur de leurs aspects, la sublimite de leurs ruines. On ne regrette rien quand on contemple ces enormes et pittoresque debris, baignes a midi par une ardente lumiere ou se remplissant d'ombres a la tombee de la nuit, s'elancant, a une immense hauteur vers un ciel eblouissant, ou se dressant, mornes et melancoliques, sous un ciel grisatre,--ou bien, lorsque, montant sur la plate-forme inegale, crevassee, couverte d'arbustes et tapissee de gazon, on voit, comme du haut d'une colline, d'un cote se derouler la campagne romaine et le merveilleux horizon de montagnes qui la termine, de l'autre apparaitre, ainsi qu'une montagne de plus, le dome de Saint-Pierre, la seule des uvres d'homme qui ait quelque chose de la grandeur des uvres de Dieu."--_Ampere, Emp._ ii. 286.

The name of the lane which leads to the baths (_Via all' Antoniana_) recalls the fact that, "with a vanity which seems like mockery, Caracalla dared to bear the name of Antoninus," which was always dear to the Roman people.

Passing under the wall of the government-garden for raising shrubs for the public walks, a door on the left of the Via Appia, with a sculptured marble frieze above it, is that of Guidi, the antiquity vendor, who has a small museum here of splendid fragments of marble and alabaster for sale. Opposite is the Vigna of Signor Guidi, who has unearthed a splendid mosaic pavement of Tritons riding on dolphins, and who has here also a collection of antique fragments to be disposed of.

On the right, is _SS. Nereo ed Achilleo_, a most interesting little church. The tradition runs that St. Peter, going to execution, let drop here one of the bandages of his wounds, and that the spot was marked by the early Christians with an oratory, which bore the name of Fasciola.

Nereus and Achilles, eunuchs in the service of Clemens Flavius and Flavia Domitilla (members of the imperial family exiled to Pontia under Diocletian), having suffered martyrdom at Terracina, their bodies were transported here in 524 by John I., when the oratory was enlarged into a church, which was restored under Leo III., in 795. The church was rebuilt in the sixteenth century, by Cardinal Baronius, who took his title from hence. In his work he desired that the ancient basilica character should be carefully carried out, and all the ancient ornaments of the church were preserved and re-erected. His anxiety that his successors should not meddle with or injure these objects of antiquity is shown by, the inscription on a marble slab in the tribune:

"Presbyter, Card. Successor quisquis fueris, rogo te, per gloriam Dei, et per merita horum martyrum, nihil demito, nihil minuito, nec mutato; restitutam antiquitatem pie servato; sic Deus martyrum suorum precibus semper adjuvet!"

The chancel is raised and surrounded by an inlaid marble screen. Instead of ambones there are two plain marble reading-desks for the epistle and gospel. The altar is inlaid, and has "transennae," or a marble grating, through which the tomb of the saints Nereus and Achilles may be seen, and through which the faithful might pass their handkerchiefs to touch it. Behind, in the semicircular choir, is an ancient episcopal throne, supported by lions, and ending in a gothic gable. Upon it part of the twenty-eighth homily of St. Gregory was engraved by Baronius, under the impression that it was delivered thence,--though it was really first read in the catacomb, whence the bodies of the saints were not yet removed. All these decorations are of the restoration under Leo III., in the eighth century. Of the same period are the mosaics on the arch of the tribune (partly painted over in later times), representing, in the centre, the Transfiguration (the earliest instance of the subject being treated in art), with the Annunciation on one side, and the Madonna and Child attended by angels on the other.

It is worth while remarking that when the relics of Flavia Domitilla (who was niece of Vespasian) and of Nereus and Achilles were brought hither from the catacomb on the Via Ardeatina, which bears the name of the latter, they were first escorted in triumph to the Capitol, and made to pass under the imperial arches which bore as inscriptions: "The senate and the Roman people to Sta. Flavia Domitilla, for having brought more honour to Rome by her death than her illustrious relations by their works." ... "To Sta. Flavia Domitilla, and to the Saints Nereus and Achilles, the excellent citizens who gained peace for the Christian republic at the price of their blood."

Opposite, on the left, is a courtyard leading to the _Church of S.

Sisto_, with its celebrated convent, long deserted on account of malaria.

It was here that St. Dominic first resided in Rome, and collected one hundred monks under his rule, before he was removed to Sta. Sabina by Honorius III. After he went to the Aventine, it was decided to utilize this convent by collecting here the various Dominican nuns, who had been living hitherto under very lax discipline, and allowed to leave their convents, and reside in their own families. The nuns of Sta. Maria in Trastevere resisted the order, and only consented to remove on condition of bringing with them a Madonna picture attributed to St. Luke, hoping that the Trasteverini would refuse to part with their most cherished treasure. St. Dominic obviated the difficulty by going to fetch the picture himself at night, attended by two cardinals, and a bare-footed, torch-bearing multitude.

"On Ash-Wednesday, 1218, the abbess and some of her nuns went to take possession of their new monastery, and being in the chapter-house with St. Dominic and Cardinal Stefano di Fossa Nuova, suddenly there came in one tearing his hair, and making great outcries, for the young Lord Napoleon Orsini, nephew of the cardinal, had been thrown from his horse, and killed on the spot.

The cardinal fell speechless into the arms of Dominic, and the women and others who were present were filled with grief and horror. They brought the body of the youth into the chapter-house, and laid it before the altar; and Dominic, having prayed, turned to it, saying, 'O adolescens Napoleo, in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi tibi dico surge,' and thereupon he arose sound and whole, to the unspeakable wonder of all present."--_Jameson's Monastic Orders._

After being convinced by this miracle of the divine mission of St.

Dominic, forty nuns settled at S. Sisto, promising never more to cross its threshold.[194]

There is very little remaining of the ancient S. Sisto, except the campanile, which is of 1500. But the vaulted _Chapter-House_, now dedicated to St. Dominic, is well worth visiting. It has recently been covered with frescoes by the Padre Besson,--himself a Dominican monk,--who received his commission from Father Mullooly, Prior of S.

Clemente, the Irish Dominican convent, to which S. Sisto is now annexed.

The three principal frescoes represent three miracles of St. Dominic--in each case of raising from the dead. One represents the resuscitation of a mason of the new monastery, who had fallen from a scaffold; another, that of a child in a wild and beautiful Italian landscape; the third, the restoration of Napoleone Orsini on this spot,--the mesmeric upspringing of the lifeless youth being most powerfully represented. The whole chapel is highly picturesque, and effective in colour. Of two inscriptions, one commemorates the raising of Orsini; the other, a prophecy of St. Dominic, as to the evil end of two monks who deserted their convent.

Just beyond S. Sisto, where the Via della Ferratella branches off on the left to the Lateran, stands a small aediculum, or _Shrine of the Lares_, with brick niches for statues.

Further, on the right, standing back from a kind of piazza, adorned with an ancient granite column, is the _Church of S. Cesareo_, which already existed in the time of St. Gregory the Great, but was modernized under Clement VII. (1523--34). Its interior retains many of its ancient features. The pulpit is one of the most exquisite specimens of church decoration in Rome, and is covered with the most delicate sculpture, interspersed with mosaic; the emblems of the Evangelists are introduced in the carving of the panels. The high altar is richly encrusted with mosaics, probably by the Cosmati family; tiny owls form part of the decorations of the capitals of its pillars. Beneath is a "confession,"

where two angels are drawing curtains over the tomb of the saint. The chancel has an inlaid marble screen. In the tribune is an ancient episcopal throne, once richly ornamented with mosaics.

In this church St. Sergius was elected to the papal throne, in 687; and here, also, an Abbot of SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio was elected in 1145, as Eugenius III., and was immediately afterwards forced by the opposing senate to fly to Montecelli, and then to the Abbey of Farfa, where his consecration took place.