In B.C. 189 the _Temple of Hercules Musagetes_ was built by the censor Fulvius Nobilior. It occupied a site on the north-west of the portico of Octavia.[292] Sylla restored it:--

"Altera pars Circi custode sub Hercule tuta est; Quod Deus Euboico carmine munus habet.

Muneris est tempus, qui Nonas Lucifer ante est: Si titulos quaeris; Sulla probavit opus."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ vi. 209.

This temple was rebuilt by L. Marcius Philippus, stepfather of Augustus, and surrounded by a portico called after him Porticus Philippi.[293]

"Vites censeo porticum Philippi, Si te viderit Hercules, peristi."

_Martial_, v. _Ep._ 50.[294]

The _Portico of Octavia_ itself was originally built by the praetor, Cn.

Octavius, in B.C. 167, and rebuilt by Augustus, who re-dedicated it in memory of his sister. Close adjoining was the _Porticus Metelli_, built B.C. 146, by Caecilius Metellus.[295] It contained two _Temples of Juno and Jupiter_.[296] Another _Temple of Juno_ stood between this and the theatre of Pompey, having been erected by M. aemilius Lepidus in B.C.

170, together with a _Temple of Diana_.[297] Near the same spot was a _Temple of Fortuna Equestris_, erected in consequence of a vow of Q.

Fulvius Flaccus when fighting against the Celtiberians in B.C. 176; a _Temple of Isis and Serapis_; and a _Temple of Mars_, erected by D.

Junius Brutus, for his victories over the Gallicians in B.C. 136;[298]

at this last-named temple the people, assembled in their centuries, voted the war against Philip of Macedon. In the same neighbourhood was the _Theatre of Balbus_, a general under Julius Caesar, occupying the site of the Piazza della Scuola.

The munificence of Pompey extended the public buildings much further into the Campus. He built, after his triumph, a _Temple of Minerva_ on the site now occupied by the Church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, on which the beautiful statue called "the Giustiniani Minerva" was found, and the _Theatre of Pompey_, surrounded by pillared porticoes and walks shaded with plane-trees.

"Scilicet umbrosis sordet Pompeia columnis Porticus aulaeis nobilis Attalicis: Et creber pariter platanis surgentibus ordo, Flumina sopito quaeque Marone cadunt."

_Propertius_, ii. _El._ 32.

"Tu modo Pompeia lentus spatiare sub umbra, Cum Sol Herculei terga leonis adit."

_Ovid_, _de Art. Am._ i. 67.

"Inde petit centum pendentia tecta columnis, Illinc Pompeii dona, nemusque duplex."

_Martial_, ii. _Ep._ 14.

Under the empire important buildings began to rise up further from the city. The _Amphitheatre of Statilius Taurus_, whose ruins are supposed to be the foundation of the Monte-Citorio, was built by a general under Augustus; the magnificent _Pantheon_, the _Baths of Agrippa_, and the _Diribitorium_--where the soldiers received their pay--whose huge and unsupported roof was one of the wonders of the city,[299] were due to his son-in-law. Agrippa also brought the _Aqua Virgo_ into the city to supply his baths, conveying it on pillars across the Flaminian Way, the future Corso.

"Qua vicina pluit Vipsanis porta columnis, Et madet assiduo lubricus imbre lapis, In jugulum pueri, qui roscida templa subibat, Decidit hiberno praegravis unda gelu."

_Martial_, iv. _Ep._ 18.

Near this aqueduct was a temple of Juturna;

"Te quoque lux eadem, Turni soror, aede recepit; Hic ubi Virginea campus obitur aqua."

_Ovid_, _Fast._ i. 463.

and another of Isis.

"A Meroe portabit aquas, ut spargat in aede Isidis, antiquo quae proxima surgit ovili."

_Juvenal_, _Sat._ vi. 528.

These were followed by the erection of the _Temple of Neptune_--by some ascribed to Agrippa, who is said to have built it in honour of his naval victories, by others to the time of the Antonines; by the great _Imperial Mausoleum_, then far out in the country; and by the _Baths of Nero_, on the site now occupied by S. Luigi and the neighbouring buildings.

" ... Quid Nerone pejus?

Quid thermis melius Neronianis?"

_Martial_, vii. _Ep._ 33.

" ... Fas sit componere magnis Parva, Neronea nec qui modo totus in unda Hic iterum sudare negat."

_Statius_, _Silv._ i. 5.

Besides these were an _Arch of Tiberius_, erected by Claudius; a _Temple of Hadrian_ and _Basilica of Matidia_, built by Antoninus Pius, in honour of his predecessors; the _Temple and Arch of Marcus Aurelius_, near the site of the present Palazzo Chigi; and an _Arch of Gratian, Valentinian II., and Theodosius_.

Of all these various buildings nothing remains except the Pantheon, a single arch of the Baths of Agrippa, some disfigured fragments of the Mausoleum, a range of columns belonging to the temple of Neptune, and a portion of the Portico of Octavia. The interest of the Campus Martius is almost entirely mediaeval or modern, and the objects worth visiting are scattered amid such a maze of dirty and intricate streets, that they are seldom sought out except by those who make a long stay in Rome, and care for everything connected with its history and architecture.

Following the line of streets which leads from the Piazza di Spagna to St. Peter's (Via Condotti, Via Fontanella Borghese), beyond the Borghese Palace, let us turn to the left by the Via della Scrofa,[300] at the entrance of which is the _Palazzo Galitzin_ on the right, and the _Palazzo Cardelli_ on the left.

Passing, on the right, _St. Ivo of Brittany_, the national church of the Bretons, the second turn on the right, Via S. Antonio dei Portoguesi, shows a church dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua, and the fine mediaeval tower called _Torre della Scimia_.

In this tower once lived a man who had a favourite ape. One day this creature seized upon a baby, and rushing to the summit, was seen from below, by the agonized parents, perched upon the battlements, and balancing their child to and fro over the abyss. They made a vow in their terror that if the baby were restored in safety, they would make provision that a lamp should burn nightly for ever before an image of the Virgin on the summit. The monkey, without relaxing its hold of the infant, slid down the wall, and bounding and grimacing, laid the child at its mother's feet. Thus a lamp always burns upon the battlements before an image of the Madonna.

This building is better known, however, as "Hilda's Tower," a fictitious name which it has received from Hawthorne's mysterious novel.

"Taking her way through some of the intricacies of the city, Miriam entered what might be called either a widening of a street or a small piazza. The neighbourhood comprised a baker's oven, emitting the usual fragrance of sour bread; a shoe shop; a linendraper's shop; a pipe and cigar shop; a lottery office; a station for French soldiers, with a sentinel pacing in front; and a fruit stand, at which a Roman matron was selling the dried kernels of chesnuts, wretched little figs, and some bouquets of yesterday. A church, of course, was near at hand, the facade of which ascended into lofty pinnacles, whereon were perched two or three winged figures of stone, either angelic or allegorical, blowing stone trumpets in close vicinity to the upper windows of an old and shabby palace.

This palace was distinguished by a feature not very common in the architecture of Roman edifices; that is to say, a mediaeval tower, square, massive, lofty, and battlemented and machicolated at the summit.

"At one of the angles of the battlements stood a shrine of the Virgin, such as we see everywhere at the street-corners of Rome, but seldom or never, except in this solitary instance, at a height above the ordinary level of men's views and aspirations. Connected with this old tower and its lofty shrine, there is a legend; and for centuries a lamp has been burning before the Virgin's image at noon, at midnight, at all hours of the twenty-four, and must be kept burning for ever, as long as the tower shall stand; or else the tower itself, the palace, and whatever estate belongs to it, shall pass from its hereditary possessor, in accordance with an ancient vow, and become the property of the Church.

"As Miriam approached, she looked upward, and saw--not, indeed, the flame of the never-dying lamp, which was swallowed up in the broad sunlight that brightened the shrine--but a flock of white doves, shining, fluttering, and wheeling above the topmost height of the tower, their silver wings flashing in the pure transparency of the air. Several of them sat on the ledge of the upper window, pushing one another off by their eager struggle for this favourite station, and all tapping their beaks and flapping their wings tumultuously against the panes; some had alighted in the street, far below, but flew hastily upward, at the sound of the window being thrust ajar, and opening in the middle, on rusty hinges, as Roman windows do."--_Transformation._

The next street, on the right, leads to the _Church of S. Agostino_, built originally by Bacio Pintelli, in 1483, for Cardinal d'Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen and Legate in France (the vindicator of Joan of Arc), but altered in 1740 by Vanvitelli. The delicate work of the front, built of travertine robbed from the Coliseum, is much admired by those who do not seek for strength of light and shadow. This church--dedicated to her son--contains the remains of Sta. Monica, brought hither from Ostia, where she died. The chapel of St. Augustin, in the right transept, contains a gloomy picture by _Guercino_ of St.

Augustin between St. John Baptist and St. Paul the Hermit. The high altar, by Bernini, has an image of the Madonna brought from Sta. Sophia at Constantinople, and attributed to St. Luke. The second chapel in the left aisle has a group of the Virgin and Child with St. Anna, by _Andrea Sansovino_, 1512.

On the third pilaster, to the left of the nave, is a fresco of Isaiah by _Raphael_, painted in 1512, but retouched by Daniele de Volterra in the reign of Paul IV. The prophet holds a scroll with words from Isaiah xxvi. 2. Few will agree with the stricture of Kugler:--

"In a fresco, representing the prophet Isaiah and two angels, who hold a tablet, the comparison is unfavourable to Raphael. An effort to rival the powerful style of Michael-Angelo is very visible in this picture; an effort which, notwithstanding the excellence of the execution in parts, has produced only an exaggerated and affected figure."--_Kugler_, ii. 371.

The church overflows with silver hearts and other votive offerings, which are all addressed to the Madonna and Child of _Andrea Sansovino_, close to the west entrance, which is really a fine piece of sculpture--for an object of Roman Catholic idolatry.

"On the pedestal of the image is inscribed--'N. S. Pio VII. concede in perpetuo 100 giorni d'indulgenza da lucrarsi una volta al giorno da tutte quelle che divotamente toccheranno il piede di questa S.

Immagine recitando un Ave Maria per il bisogno di S. Chiesa. 7 Giug. MD.CCCXXII."

Around this statue are, or were a short time ago, a whole array of assassins' daggers hung up, strange instances of trespass-offering.

"The Church of S. Agostino is the Methodist meeting-house, so to speak, of Rome, where the extravagance of the enthusiasm of the lower orders is allowed the freest scope. Its Virgin and Child are covered, smothered, with jewels, votive offerings of those whose prayers the image had heard and answered. All round the image the walls are covered with votive offerings likewise; some of a similar kind--jewels, watches, valuables of different descriptions. Some offerings again consist of pictures, representing, generally in the rudest way, some sickness or accident, cured or averted by the appearance in the clouds of the Madonna, as seen in the image.

Almost the whole side of the church is covered, from pavement to roof, with these curious productions."--_Alford's Letters from Abroad._