The lower church was filled up with soil till 1864, when restorations were ordered here. These were entrusted to Count Vespignani, and have been better carried out than most church alterations in Rome; but an interesting portico, with mosaics by one of the famous Cosmati family, has been destroyed to make room for some miserable arrangements connected with the modern cemetery.

It was in this basilica that Peter Courtenay, Count of Auxerre, with Yolande his wife, received the imperial crown of Constantinople from Honorius III. in 1217.

Adjoining the church is the very picturesque _Cloister of the Monastery_, built in 1190, for Cistercian monks, but assigned as a residence for any Patriarchs of Jerusalem who might visit Rome. Here are preserved many ancient inscriptions, and other fragments from the neighbouring catacombs.

The basilica is now almost engulfed in the Cemetery of S. Lorenzo, the great modern burial-ground of Rome. It was opened in 1837, but has been much enlarged in the last ten years. Hither wend the numerous funerals which are seen passing through the streets after Ave-Maria, with a procession of monks bearing candles. A frightful gate, with a laudatory inscription to Pius IX., and a hideous modern chapel, have been erected.

There are very few fine monuments. The best are those in imitation of the cinque-cento tombs of which there are so many in the Roman churches.

That by Podesti, the painter, to his wife, in the right corridor of the cloister, is touching. The higher ground to the left, behind the church, is occupied by the tombs of the rich. Those of the poor are indiscriminately scattered over a wide plain. A range of cliffs on the left were perforated by the catacombs of Sta. Cyriaca, which, with the bad taste so constantly displayed in Rome, have been wantonly and shamefully broken up. Those who do not wish to descend into a catacomb, may here see (from without) all their arrangements--in the passages lined with sepulchres, and even some small chapels, lined with rude frescoes, laid open to the air, where the cliff has been cut away.

A Roman funeral is a most sad sight, and strikes one with an unutterable sense of desolation.

"After a death the body is entirely abandoned to the priests, who take possession of it, watch over it, and prepare it for burial; while the family, if they can find refuge anywhere else, abandon the house and remain away a week.... The body is not ordinarily allowed to remain in the house more than twelve hours, except on condition that it is sealed up in lead or zinc. At nightfall a sad procession of _becchini_ and _frati_ may be seen coming down the street, and stopping before the house of the dead. The _becchini_ are taken from the lowest classes of the people, and hired to carry the corpse on the bier and to accompany it to the church and cemetery. They are dressed in shabby black _cappe_, covering their head and face as well as their body, and having two large holes cut in front of the eyes to enable them to see. These _cappe_ are girdled round the waist, and the dirty trousers and worn-out shoes are miserably manifest under the skirts of their dress--showing plainly that their duty is occasional. All the _frati_ and _becchini_, except the four who carry the bier, are furnished with wax candles, for no one is buried in Rome without a candle. You may know the rank of the person to be buried by the lateness of the hour and the number of the _frati_. If it be the funeral of a person of wealth or a noble, it takes place at a late hour, the procession of _frati_ is long, and the bier elegant. If it be a state-funeral, as of a prince, carriages accompany it in mourning, the coachman and lackeys are bedizened in their richest liveries, and the state hammer-cloths are spread on the boxes, with the family arms embossed on them in gold. But if it be a pauper's funeral, there are only _becchini_ enough to carry the bier to the grave, and two _frati_, each with a little candle; and the sunshine is yet on the streets when they come to take away the corpse.

"You will see this procession stop before the house where the corpse is lying. Some of the _becchini_ go up-stairs, and some keep guard below. Scores of shabby men and boys are gathered round the _frati_; some attracted simply by curiosity, and some for the purpose of catching the wax, which gutters down from the candles as they are blown by the wind. The latter may be known by the great horns of paper which they carry in their hands. While this crowd waits for the corpse, the _frati_ light their candles, and talk, laugh, and take snuff together. Finally comes the body, borne down by four of the _becchini_. It is in a common rough deal coffin, more like an ill-made packing-case than anything else. No care or expense has been laid out upon it to make it elegant, for it is only to be seen for a moment. Then it is slid upon the bier, and over it is drawn the black velvet pall with golden trimmings, on which a cross, death's head, and bones are embroidered. Four of the _becchini_ hoist it on their shoulders, the _frati_ break forth into their hoarse chaunt, and the procession sets out for the church. Little and big boys and shabby men follow along, holding up their paper horns against the sloping candles to catch the dripping wax. Every one takes off his hat, or makes the sign of the cross, or mutters a prayer, as the body passes; and with a dull, sad, monotonous chaunt, the candles gleaming and flaring, and casting around them a yellow flickering glow, the funeral winds along through the narrow streets, and under the sombre palaces and buildings, where the shadows of night are deepening every moment.

The spectacle seen from a distance, and especially when looked down upon from a window, is very effective; but it loses much of its solemnity as you approach it; for the _frati_ are so vulgar, dirty, and stupid, and seem so utterly indifferent and heartless, as they mechanically croak out their psalms, that all other emotions yield to a feeling of disgust."--_Story's Roba di Roma._

"Ces rapprochements soudains de l'antiquite et des temps modernes, provoques par la vue d'un monument dont la destinee se lie a l'une et aux autres, sont tres-frequents a Rome. L'histoire poetique d'enee aurait pu m'en fournir plusieurs. Ainsi dans l'eneide, aux funerailles de Pallas, une longue procession s'avance, portant des flambeaux funebres, suivant l'usage antique, dit Virgile. En effet, on se souvient que l'usage des cierges remontait a l'abolition des sacrifices humains, accompli dans les temps heroques par le dieu pelasgique Hercule. La description que fait Virgile des funerailles de Pallas pourrait convenir a un de ces enterrements romains ou l'on voit de longues files de capucins marchant processionnellement en portant des cierges.

... 'Lucet via longo Ordine flammarum.'"

_aen._ xi. 143.

--_Ampere_, i. 217.

On the other side of the road from S. Lorenzo is the _Catacomb of St.

Hippolytus_, interesting as described by the Christian poet Prudentius, who wrote at the end of the fourth century.

"Not far from the city walls, among the well-trimmed orchards, there lies a crypt buried in darksome pits. Into its secret recesses a steep path in the winding stairs directs one, even though the turnings shut out the light. The light of day, indeed, comes in through the doorway, as far as the surface of the opening, and illuminates the threshold of the portico; and when, as you advance further, the darkness as of night seems to get more and more obscure throughout the mazes of the cavern, there occur at intervals apertures cut in the roof which convey the bright rays of the sun upon the cave. Although the recesses, twisting at random this way and that, form narrow chambers with darksome galleries, yet a considerable quantity of light finds its way through the pierced vaulting down into the hollow bowels of the mountain. And thus throughout the subterranean crypt it is possible to perceive the brightness and enjoy the light of the absent sun. To such secret places is the body of Hippolytus conveyed, near to the spot where now stands the altar dedicated to God. That same altar-slab (mensa) gives the sacrament, and is the faithful guardian of its martyrs' bones, which it keeps laid up there in expectation of the Eternal Judge, while it feeds the dwellers by the Tiber with holy food. Wondrous is the sanctity of the place! The altar is at hand for those who pray, and it assists the hopes of men by mercifully granting what they need. Here have I, when sick with ills both of soul and body, oftentimes prostrated myself in prayer and found relief.... Early in the morning men come to salute (Hippolytus): all the youth of the place worship here: they come and go until the setting of the sun. Love of religion collects together into one dense crowd both Latins and foreigners; they imprint their kisses on the shining silver; they pour out their sweet balsams; they bedew their faces with tears."--See _Roma Sotterranea_, p. 98.

CHAPTER XIV.

IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS.

S. Antonio dei Portoguesi--Torre della Scimia--S. Agostino--S.

Apollinare--Palazzo Altemps--Sta. Maria dell' Anima--Sta. Maria della Pace--Palazzo del Governo Vecchio--Monte Giordano and Palazzo Gabrielli--Sta. Maria Nuova--Sta. Maria di Monserrato--S. Girolamo della Carita--Sta. Brigitta--S. Tommaso degl' Inglese--Palazzo Farnese--Sta. Maria della Morte--Palazzo Falconieri--Campo di Fiore--Palazzo Cancelleria--SS. Lorenzo e Damaso--Palazzo Linote--Palazzo Spada--Trinita dei Pellegrini--Sta. Maria in Monticelli--Palazzo Santa Croce--S. Carlo a Catinari--Theatre of Pompey--S. Andrea della Valle--Palazzo Vidoni--Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne--S. Pantaleone--Palazzo Braschi--Statue of Pasquin--Sant'

Agnese--Piazza Navona--Palazzo Pamfili--S. Giacomo degli Spagnuoli--Palazzo Madama--S. Luigi dei Francesi--The Sapienza--S.

Eustachio--Pantheon--Sta. Maria sopra Minerva--Il Pie die Marmo.

The Campus Martius, now an intricate labyrinth of streets, occupying the wide space between the Corso and the Tiber, was not included within the walls of ancient Rome, but even to late imperial times continued to be covered with gardens and pleasure-grounds, interspersed with open spaces, which were used for the public exercises and amusements of the Roman youth.

"Tunc ego me memini ludos in gramine Campi Aspicere, et didici, lubrice Tibri, tuos."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 237.

"Tot jam abiere dies, cum me, nec cura theatri, Nec tetigit Campi, nec mea musa juvat."

_Propert._ ii. _El._ 13.

The vicinity of the Tiber afforded opportunities for practice in swimming.

"Quamvis non alius flectere equum sciens aeque conspicitur gramine Martio."

_Hor._ iii. _Od._ 7.

"Altera gramineo spectabis Equiria campo, Quem Tiberis curvis in latus urget aquis."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ iii. 519.

"Once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, Caesar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood, And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, And bade him follow,--so, indeed, he did: The torrent roared; and we did buffet it With lusty sinews; throwing it aside, And stemming it with hearts of controversy."

_Shakspeare_, _Julius Caesar_.

It was only near the foot of the Capitol that any buildings were erected under the republic, and these only public offices; under the empire a few magnificent edifices were scattered here and there over the plain.

In the time of Cicero, the Campus was quite uninhabited; it is supposed that the population were first attracted here when the aqueducts were cut during the Lombard invasion, which drove the inhabitants from the hills, and obliged them to seek a site where they could avail themselves of the Tiber.

The hills, which were crowded by a dense population in ancient Rome, are now for the most part deserted; the plain, which was deserted in ancient Rome, is now thickly covered with inhabitants.

The plain was bounded on two sides by the Quirinal and Capitoline hills, which were both in the hands of the Sabines, but it had no connection with the Latin hill of the Palatine. Thus it was dedicated to the Sabine god, Mamers or Mars, either before the time of Servius Tullius, as is implied by Dionysius, or after the time of the Tarquins, as stated by Livy.

Tarquinius Superbus had appropriated the Campus Martius to his own use, and planted it with corn. After he was expelled, and his crops cut down and thrown into the Tiber, the land was restored to the people. Here the tribunes used to hold the assemblies of the plebs in the Prata Flaminia at the foot of the Capitol, before any buildings were erected as their meeting-place.

The earliest building in the Campus Martius of which there is any record, is the Temple of Apollo, built by the consul C. Julius, in B.C.

430. Under the censor C. Flaminius, in B.C. 220, a group of important edifices arose on a site which is ascertained to be nearly that occupied by the Palazzo Caetani, Palazzo Mattei, and Sta. Caterina dei Funari.

The most important was the Circus Flaminius, where the plebeian games were celebrated under the care of the plebeian aediles, and which in later times was flooded by Augustus, when thirty-six crocodiles were killed there for the amusement of the people.[288]

Close to this Circus was the _Villa Publica_, erected B.C. 438, for taking the census, levying troops, and such other public business as could not be transacted within the city.

Here, also, foreign ambassadors were received before their entrance into the city, as afterwards at the Villa Papa Giulio, and here victorious generals awaited the decree which allowed them a triumph.[289] It was in the Villa Publica that Sylla cruelly massacred three thousand partisans of Marius, after he had promised them their lives.

"Tunc flos Hesperiae, Latii jam sola juventus, Concidit, et miserae maculavit ovilia Romae."

_Lucan_, ii. 196.

The cries of these dying men were heard by the senate who were assembled at the time in the _Temple of Bellona_ (restored by Appius Claudius Caecus in the Samnite War), which stood hard by, and in front of which at the extremity of the Circus Flaminius, where the Piazza Paganica now is, stood the _Columna Bellica_, where the Ferialis, when war was declared, flung a lance into a piece of ground, supposed to represent the enemy's country, when it was not possible to do it at the hostile frontier itself. Julius Caesar flung the spear here when war was declared against Cleopatra.[290]

"Prospicit a templo summum brevis area Circum.

Est ibi non parvae parva columna notae.

Hinc solet hasta manu, belli praenuncia, mitti; In regem et gentes, cum placet arma capi."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 205.

Almost adjoining the Villa Publica was the Septa, where the Comitia Centuriata of the plebs assembled for the election of their tribunes.

The other name of this place of assembly, Ovilia, or the sheepfolds, bears witness to its primitive construction, when it was surrounded by a wooden barrier. In later times the Ovilia was more richly adorned; Pliny describes it as containing two groups of sculpture--Pan and the young Olympus, and Chiron and the young Achilles--for which the keepers were responsible with their lives;[291] and under the empire it was enclosed in magnificent buildings.