"It is not without its manifold uses to remember that, amidst the dim and wavering traditions of later times, one figure at least stands out clear and distinct and undoubted, and this figure is the Apostle Paul. He, whatever we may think concerning any other apostle or apostolic man in connection with Rome, he, beyond a shadow of doubt, appears in the New Testament as her great teacher.

No criticism or scepticism of modern times has ever questioned the perfect authenticity of that last chapter of the Acts, which gives the account of his journey, stage by stage, till he set foot within the walls of the city. However much we may be compelled to distrust any particular traditions concerning special localities of his life and death, we cannot doubt for a moment that his eye rested on the same general view of sky and plain and mountain; that his feet trod the pavement of the same Appian road; that his way lay through the same long avenue of ancient tombs on which we now look and wonder; that he entered (and there we have our last authentic glimpse of his progress) through the arch of Drusus, and then is lost to our view in the great Babylon of Rome."--_A. P. Stanley's Sermons._

"When St. Paul was approaching Rome, all the bases of the mountains were (as indeed they are partially now) clustered round with the villas and gardens of wealthy citizens. The Appian Way climbs and then descends along its southern slope. After passing Lanuvium it crossed a crater-like valley or immense substructions, which still remain. Here is Aricia, an easy stage from Rome. The town was above the road, and on the hillside swarms of beggars beset travellers as they passed. On the summit of the next rise, Paul of Tarsus would obtain his first view of Rome. There is no doubt that the prospect was, in many respects, very different from the view which is now obtained from the same spot. It is true that the natural features of the scene are unaltered. The long wall of blue Sabine mountains, with Soracte in the distance, closed in the Campagna, which stretched far across to the sea and round the base of the Alban hills. But ancient Rome was not, like modern Rome, impressive from its solitude, standing alone, with its one conspicuous cupola, in the midst of a desolate though beautiful waste. St. Paul would see a vast city, covering the Campagna, and almost continuously connected by its suburbs with the villas on the hill where he stood, and with the bright towns which clustered on the sides of the mountains opposite. Over all the intermediate space were the houses and gardens, through which aqueducts and roads might be traced in converging lines towards the confused mass of edifices which formed the city of Rome. Here no conspicuous building, elevated above the rest, attracted the eye or the imagination.

Ancient Rome had neither cupola nor campanile, still less had it any of those spires which give life to all the capitals of northern Christendom. It was a widespread aggregate of buildings, which, though separated by narrow streets and open spaces, appeared, when seen from near Aricia, blended into one indiscriminate mass: for distance concealed the contrasts which divided the crowded habitations of the poor and the dark haunts of filth and misery--from the theatres and colonnades, the baths, the temples, and palaces with gilded roofs, flashing back the sun.

"The road descended into the plain at Bovillae, six miles from Aricia: and thence it proceeded in a straight line, with the sepulchres of illustrious families on either hand. One of these was the burial-place of the Julian gens, with which the centurion who had charge of the prisoners was in some way connected. As they proceeded over the old pavement, among gardens and modern houses, and approached nearer the busy metropolis--the 'conflux issuing forth or entering in' in various costumes and on various errands,--vehicles, horsemen, and foot-passengers, soldiers and labourers, Romans and foreigners,--became more crowded and confusing. The houses grew closer. They were already in Rome. It was impossible to define the commencement of the city. Its populous portions extended far beyond the limits marked out by Servius. The ancient wall, with its once sacred pomrium, was rather an object for antiquarian interest, like the walls of York or Chester, than any protection against the enemies, who were kept far aloof by the legions on the frontier.

"Yet the Porta Capena is a spot which we can hardly leave without lingering for a moment. Under this arch--which was perpetually dripping with the water of the aqueduct that went over it--had passed all those who, since a remote period of the republic, had travelled by the Appian Way,--victorious generals with their legions, returning from foreign service,--emperors and courtiers, vagrant representatives of every form of heathenism, Greeks and Asiatics, Jews and Christians. From this point entering within the city, Julius and his prisoners moved on, with the Aventine on their left, close round the base of the Clian, and through the hollow ground which lay between this hill and the Palatine: thence over the low ridge called Velia, where afterwards was built the arch of Titus, to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem; and then descending, by the _Via Sacra_, into that space which was the centre of imperial power and imperial magnificence, and associated also with the most glorious recollections of the republic. The Forum was to Rome, what the Acropolis was to Athens, the heart of all the characteristic interest of the place. Here was the _Milliarium Aureum_, to which the roads of all the provinces converged. All around were the stately buildings, which were raised in the closing years of the republic, and by the earlier emperors.

In front was the Capitoline Hill, illustrious long before the invasion of the Gauls. Close on the left, covering that hill, whose name is associated in every modern European language with the notion of imperial splendour, were the vast ranges of the _palace_--the 'house of Caesar' (Philipp. iv. 22). Here were the household troops quartered in a _praetorium_ attached to the palace.

And here (unless, indeed, it was in the great Praetorian Camp outside the city wall) Julius gave up his prisoner to Burrus, the Praetorian Prefect, whose official duty it was to keep in custody all accused persons who were to be tried before the Emperor."--_Conybeare and Howson._

CHAPTER X.

THE QUIRINAL AND VIMINAL.

Palazzo Barberini--Palazzo Albani--S. Carlo a Quattro Fontane--S.

Andrea a Monte Cavallo--Quirinal Palace--Palazzo della Consulta--Palazzo Rospigliosi--Colonna Gardens and Temple of the Sun--S. Silvestro a Monte Cavallo--Sta. Caterina di Siena--SS.

Domenico e Sisto--Sta. Agata dei Goti--Sta. Maria in Monte--S.

Lorenzo Pane e Perna--Sta. Pudenziana--S. Paolo Primo Eremita--S.

Dionisio--S. Vitale.

It is difficult to determine the exact limits of what in ancient times were regarded as the Quirinal and Viminal hills. They, like the Esquiline and Clian, are "in fact merely spurs or tongues of hill, projecting inwards from a common base, the broad table-land, which slopes on the other side almost imperceptibly into the Campagna."[224]

That, which is described in this chapter as belonging to these two hills, is chiefly the district to the right of the Via Quattro Fontane, and its continuations--which extend in a straight line to Sta. Maria Maggiore.

The Quirinal, like all the other hills, except the Palatine and the Clian, belonged to the Sabines in the early period of Roman history, and is full of records of their occupation. They had a Capitol here which is believed to have been long anterior to that on the Capitoline, and which was crowned by a temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. This Sabine capitol occupied the site of the present Palazzo Rospigliosi.

The name Quirinal is derived from the Sabine word _Quiris_--signifying a lance, which gave the Sabines their name of Quirites, or lance-bearers, and to their god the name Quirinus.[225] After his death Romulus received this title, and an important temple was raised to him on the Quirinal by Numa,[226] under this name, thus identifying him with Janus Quirinus, the national god. This temple was surrounded by a sacred grove mentioned by Ovid.[227] It was rebuilt by the consul L. Papirius Cursor, to commemorate his triumph after the third Samnite war, B.C. 293, when he adorned it with a sun-dial (_solarium horologium_), the first set up in Rome, which, however, not being constructed for the right latitude, did not show the time correctly. This defect was not remedied till nearly a century afterwards, when Q. Marcius Philippus set up a correct dial.[228] In front of this temple grew two celebrated myrtle-trees, one called _Patricia_, the other _Plebeia_, which shared the fortunes of their respective orders, as the orange-tree at Sta. Sabina now does that of the Dominicans. Thus, up to the fifth century, Patricia flourished gloriously, and Plebeia pined; but from the time when the plebeians completely gained the upper hand, Patricia withered away.[229] The temple was rebuilt by Augustus, and Dion Cassius states that the number of pillars by which it was surrounded accorded with that of the years of his life.[230]

Adjoining the temple was a portico:

"Vicini pete porticum Quirini: Turbam non habet otiosiorem Pompeius."

_Martial_, xi. Ep. i.

----"Officium cras Primo sole mihi peragendum in valle Quirini."

_Juvenal, Sat._ ii. 132.

Hard by was a temple of Fortuna Publica,

"Qui dicet, Quondam sacrata est colle Quirini Hac Fortuna die Publica; verus erit."

_Ovid, Fast._ iv. 375.

also an altar to Mamurius, an ancient Sabine divinity, probably identical with Mars, and a temple of Salus, or Health, which gave a name to the Porta Salutaria, which must have stood nearly on the site of the present Quattro Fontane, and near which, not inappropriately, was a temple of Fever, in the Via S. Vitale, where fever is still prevalent.

The site of the temple of Quirinus is ascertained to have been nearly that now occupied by S. Andrea a Monte Cavallo. On the opposite side of the street, where part of the papal palace now stands, was the temple of Semo-Sanctus, the reputed father of Sabinus. Between these two temples was the House of Pomponius Atticus (the friend and correspondent of Cicero), a situation which gave an opportunity for the witticism of Cicero when he said that Caesar would rather dwell with Quirinus than with Salus, meaning that he would rather be at war than be in good health.[231]

In the same neighbourhood lived Martial the epigrammatist, "on the third floor, in a narrow street," whence he had a view as far as the portico of Agrippa, near the Flaminian Way. Below, probably on the site now occupied by the Piazza Barberini, was a Circus of Flora.

"Mater, ades, florum, ludis celebranda jocosis: Distuleram partes mense priore tuas.

Incipis Aprili: transis in tempora Maii.

Alter te, fugiens; cum venit, alter habet.

Quum tua sint cedantque tibi confinia mensum, Convenit in laudes ille vel ille tuas.

Circus in hunc exit, clamataque palma theatris: Hoc quoque cum Circi munere carmen eat."

_Ovid, Fast._ v. 183.

Among the great families who lived on the Quirinal were the Cornelii, who had a street of their own, _Vicus Corneliorum_, probably on the slopes behind the present Colonna Palace; and the Flavii, who were of Sabine origin.[232] Domitian was born here in the house of the Flavii, afterwards consecrated by him as a temple, in which Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian himself were buried, and Julia the ugly daughter of Titus--well known from her statues in the Vatican.

As some fragments remain of the two buildings erected on the Quirinal during the later empire, Aurelian's Temple of the Sun, and the Baths of Constantine, they will be noticed in the regular course.

On the ascent of the hill, just above the Piazza del Tritone, is the noble _Barberini Palace_, built by Urban VIII. from designs of Carlo Maderno, continued by Borromini, and finished by Bernini, in 1640. It is screened from the street by a magnificent railing between columns, erected 1865--67, and if this railing could be continued, and the block of houses towards the piazza removed, it would be far the most splendid private palace in Rome.

This immense building is a memorial of the magnificence and ambition of Urban VIII. Its size is enormous, the smallest apartment in the palace containing forty rooms. The Prince at present inhabits the right wing; with him lives his elder brother the Duke, who abdicated the family honours in his favour. In the left wing--occupied in the beginning of this century by the ex-king (Charles VII.) and queen of Spain, and the "Prince of Peace"--is the huge apartment of the late Cardinal Barberini, now uninhabited. On this side is the grand staircase, upon which is placed a lion in high relief, found on the family property at Palestrina. It is before this lion that Canova is said to have lain for hours upon the pavement, studying for his tomb of Clement XIII. in St.

Peter's. The _guarda-roba_, badly kept, contains many curious relics of family grandeur; amongst them is a sedan-chair, painted by Titian.

The _Library_ (open on Thursdays from nine to two) contains a most valuable collection of MSS., about 7000 in number, brought together by Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Urban VIII. They include collections of letters of Galileo, Bembo, and Bellarmine; the official reports to Urban VIII., relating to the state of Catholicism in England in the time of Charles I.; a copy of the Bible in the Samaritan character; a Bible of the fourth century; several MSS. copies of Dante; a missal illuminated by Ghirlandajo; and a book of sketches of ancient Roman edifices, of 1465, by Giuliano de Sangallo,--most interesting to the antiquarian and architect, as preserving the forms of many public buildings which have disappeared since that date. Among the 50,000 printed books is a Hebrew Bible of 1788, one of the twelve known copies of the complete edition of Soncino; a Latin Plato, by Ficino, with marginal notes by Tasso and his father Bernardo; a Dante of 1477, with notes by Bembo, &c.

In the right wing is a huge _Hall_ (adorned with second-rate statues), with a grand ceiling by _Pietro da Cortona_ (1596--1669), representing "Il Trionfo della Gloria," the Forge of Vulcan, Minerva annihilating the Titans, and other mythological subjects--much admired by Lanzi, and considered by Kugler to be the most important work of the artist. Four vast frescoes of the Fathers of the Church are preserved here, having been removed from the dome of St. Peter's, where they were replaced with mosaics by Urban VIII. Below are other frescoes by _Pietro da Cortona_, a portrait of Urban VIII., and some tapestries illustrative of the events of his reign and of his own intense self-esteem--thus the Virgin and Angels are represented bringing in the ornaments of the papacy at his coronation, &c. But the conceit of Pope Urban reaches its climax in a room at the top of the house, which exhibits a number of the Barberini bees (the family crest) flocking against the sun, and eclipsing it--to typify the splendour of the family. The Will of Pope Urban VIII. is a very curious document, providing against the extinction of the family in every apparent contingency; this, however, now seems likely to take place; the heir is a Sciarra. The pillars in front of the palace, and all the surrounding buildings, teem with the bees of the Barberini, which may also be seen on the Propaganda and many other great Roman edifices, and which are creeping up the robe of Urban VIII. in St.

Peter's.

"The Barberini were the last papal nephews who aspired to independent principalities. Urban VIII., though he enriched them enormously, appears to have been but little satisfied with them. He used to complain that he had four relations who were fit for nothing, the first, Cardinal Francesco, was a saint, and worked no miracles: the second, Cardinal Antonio, was a monk, and had no patience: the third, Cardinal Antonio the younger, was an orator (_i.e._ an ambassador), and did not know how to speak: and the fourth was a general, who could not draw a sword."--_Goethe, Romische Briefe._

On the right, on entering the palace, is the small _Collection of Pictures_ (open when the custode chooses to be there), indifferently lodged for a building so magnificent. We may notice:--

_2nd Room._--

34. Urban VIII.: _Andrea Sacchi_.

35. A Cardinal: _Titian_.

48. Madonna and Child, St. John, and St Jerome: _Francia_.

54. Madonna and Child: _Sodoma_.

58. Madonna and Child: _Giovanni Bellini_.

63. Daughter of Raphael Mengs: _Mengs_.

67. Portrait of himself: _Masaccio_.

74. Adam and Eve: _Domenichino_.

_3rd Room._--

73. The "Schiava:" _Palma Vecchio_.

"The so-called Slave (a totally unmeaning name) is probably a mere school picture, of grand beauty, but with too clumsy a style of drapery, too cold an expression, and too brown a carnation for Titian--to whom it is attributed."--_Kugler._