gregrorovius, ferdinand - rome in the middle ages i

7/14/2019 Gregrorovius, Ferdinand - Rome in the Middle Ages I

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GREGOROVIUS'HISTORY OF THE CITY OF ROME

IN THE MIDDLE AGES.VOL. I.


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GEORGE BELL & SONS,LONDON : YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.AND NEW YORK, 66, FIFTH AVENUE,CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.


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HISTORYOF

THE CITY OF ROMEIN THE

MIDDLE AGESEY

FERDINAND GREGOROVIUS

TRANSLATED FROM THE FOURTH GERMAN EDITIONBY

ANNIE HAMILTONVOL. I.

LONDONGEORGE BELL & SONS1894


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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

lSHALL nevei forget the pleasure with which, while

spending a winter in Rome fourteen years ago, I firstmade acquaintance with Gregorovius's History. Thebook seemed to open up a whole world of interest,and long centuries that had before been hid in dark-ness became suddenly peopled and alive with stirringscenes. The desire to translate the work and tomake it known to others of my compatriots, who hadnot the leisure, or perhaps the necessary acquaintancewith German to read it in the original, crossed mymind even then. But my friends did not encouragethe idea, and circumstances prevented me from follow-ing the promptings of ambition. The charm that thebook possessed for me fourteen years ago it possessesstill, and each successive visit to Italy but deepens mygratitude to the author whose work has revealed athousand years of its past, arid has served to link thememory of almost every town of the kingdom, no lessthan that of every corner of its capital, with somepicture of its history. Nearly four years ago I beganthe translation, of which the present volume is thefirst instalment. The work has suffered from manyinterruptions, and the publication of a fourth edition in


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vi translator's preface.Germany, of the appearance of which I was in thebeginning unaware, obh'ged me to go over a great partof the book a second time. But the pleasure that thework afforded, and the delight of living in thought atleast again in Romewhich, in spite of all the changesof recent years, exercises over me a fascination littleless than it exercised over the pilgrims of the MiddleAgesmade me regardless of hindrances, and over-came every consideration. It is only now, whilewatching the progress of these volumes through thepress, that a sense of my presumption in undertakingso ambitious a task has come home to me. In justiceto myself, however, I must remind the reader thatGregorovius's History has been allowed to remainuntranslated and practically unknown in England formore than thirty years ; and, judging from the natureand length of the work, it seemed little likely anyaccomplished scholar, such as those who have givenus Curtius or Mommsen, would come forward to giveus the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. Two quali-fications for the task also I at least possessedcommand of the necessary leisure, and an intenseinterest in the subject dealt with.The work might well have been undertaken by anabler hand. It could have been undertaken by noone to whom it would more truly have been a labourof love. Mrs Lecky, in her article on Gregorovius'sRoman Journal, in the present (October) number ofLongmans Magazine^ tells us that the historian him-self admitted that his style in the first chapters of thehistory was tendu, " uncertain and therefore laboured."It is, consequently, scarcely surprising that the opening


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TRANSLATORS PREFACE. Vllpages of each volume have baffled all my attempts tomake them read smoothly. That the defects of thetranslation are not, however, greater than they are, isdue to the help I have received from my kind friend,Dr Meissner, of the Queen's College, Belfast, who, atvarious stages of the work, has aided me with hisvaluable criticism and advice ; also to Mr G. F. Hill,of the British Museum, who, with infinite care andpatience, has revised the notes. To both thesegentlemen and to the other friends who, at differenttimes and in various ways, have ^iven me help, Idesire to express my sincere thanks.

A. H.October 1894.

I have been advised to add an index to the secondvolume. As the index is, however, only destined toserve for temporary needs, I have tried to make it asshort as possible, and only to include the names of theprincipal persons and places treated of in the text.But it is difficult, in such a case, to kndw where todraw the lineto decide what is to be given andwhat withheld, and with every desire to be brief, Imay, perhaps, have exceeded the necessary limits.


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CONTENTS.BOOK I.

From the Beginning of the Fifth Century to the FallOF THE Western Empire in 476.

CHAPTER I.PAGE

1. Plan of the WorkThe City of Rome in Ancient Times andin the Middle Ages, . . . . . i

2. General View of Rome in the latest period of the Empire, . 203. The Fourteen Regions of Rome, . . . .29

CHAPTER n.1. Condition of the Buildings in the Fifth CenturyExaggerated

Zeal of the Fathers in Overthrowing the StatuesClaudian's Description of RomeImperial Edicts ofProtectionAttempts of Julian to Restore the AncientFaith and their Consequences, . . . 57

2. Gratian's Attitude towards PaganismDispute concerningthe Altar of VictoryZeal of the Emperor Theodosiusagainst the Pagan Cult-The still Pagan Character of theCityDownfall of the Old Religion in the Time ofHonoriusThe Temples and StatuesAccounts of theirNumbers,....... 65

3. Transformation of Rome by Christianity The SevenEcclesiastical RegionsThe Oldest Churches before thetime of ConstantineArchitectural Form of the Churches, 80


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X CONTENTS.4. Churches of Constantine The Lateran Basilica The page

Original Church of S. Peter, . . . .885. The Ancient Basilica of S. PaulThe Worship of the SaintsS. Laurentius Extra Muros and in LucinaS. Agnes

S. Crux in Hierusalem S, Petrus and MarcellinusS. MarcusS. Maria MaggioreS. Maria in TrastevereS. ClemensAspect of Rome in the" Fifth CenturyContrasts in the City, ... . lOO

CHAPTER III.1. Entry of Honorius into Rome at the End of the Year 403

His Residence in the Palace of the CaesarsThe LastGladiatorial Contests in the AmphitheatreDeparture ofHonorius for RavennaIncursion and Defeat of the Bar-barians under RadagaisusFall of Stilicho, . .114

2. Alaric Advances against Rome, 408His DemonPresenti-ments of the Fall of RomeFirst SiegeThe Embassyof the Romans Tuscan Heathenism in RomeTheSiege is AvertedHonorius Rejects the PeaceAlaricAppears for the Second Time before Rome, 409TheAnti-Emperor Attains Alaric leaves for RavennaBesieges Rome for the Third Time, . . .123

3. The Nobility and People of Rome at this Date according tothe Accounts of Ammianus Marcellinus and S. JeromePagan and Christian SocietyPopulation of the City, . 137

CHAPTER IV.1. Alaric takes Possession of Rome, 24th August 410Sack of

the City Triumph of the Christian Religion For-bearance of the Goths Alaric Withdraws in ThreeDays, ....... 149

2. Forbearance of the Goths towards the MonumentsViewsof Authors on this Question, . . . .1583. Lamentations over the Fall of RomeS. JeromeS. Augus-

tineConsequences of the Capture of the City, . .163


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CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER V.PAGE

1. Death of Alaric in 410Athaulf becomes King of the Visi-goths He withdraws from Italy Count Heraclian'sEnterprise against RomeHonorius comes to Rome in417Restoration of the CityDeparture of Rutilius, . 170

2. Growth of the Roman ChurchSchism with regard to theEpiscopal ElectionPope BonifaceDeath of Honorius,423Valentinian the Third Emperor under the Guardian-ship of PlacidiaThe Vandals Conquer AfricaPopeSixtus the Third, 432Rebuilds Basilica of S. MariaMaggioreIts Mosaics and Consecrated GiftsSplendourof the Sacred Vessels, . . . . .176

3. Leo I., Pope, 440African Fugitives in RomeHeresiesDeath of Placidia, 450Her FortunesHer DaughterHonoriaAttila summoned by herBattle of the Cata-launian FieldAttila Invades North ItalyValentinianin RomeEmbassy of the Romans to the King of theHunsLeo before AttilaA Celebrated Legend^Attila'sRetreat and DeathStatues of the Capitoline Jupiterand the Peter of the Vatican, .... 189

CHAPTER VI.1. Fall of -(E^tiusA Romance of Court LifeMurder of Valen-

tinian the Third, 455 Maximus Emperor Eudoxiasummons Genseric, the Vandal King, . . 202

2. The Vandals Land at Portus Murder of Maximus LeoConfronts Genseric The Vandals Enter Rome, June455Fourteen Days' Sack of RomePillaging of thePalatine and the Temple of JupiterThe Ancient Spoilsof the Temple of JerusalemTheir FateMedievalLegends,....... 208

3. Withdrawal of the VandalsFate of the Empress Eudoxiaand her DaughtersS. Pietro in VincoliLegend ofS. Peter's ChainsThe Monuments Unhurt by the Van-dalsConsequences of the Sack, , . .214


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Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.PAGE

1. Avitus Emperor, 455Panegyric of Apollinaris Sidonius andthe Statue in liis Honour Deposition of Avitus byRicimer-Majorianus Emperor, 457 His Edict withRegard to the Monuments Beginnings of Vandalismamongst the RomansFall of Majorian, 461, . . 219

2. Death of Leo I., 461His Foundations in RomeThe FirstConvent beside S. Peter'sBasilica of S. Stephen on theVia Latina Its Discovery in 1857 Hilary PopeSeverus EmperorAnthemius EmperorHis Entry intoRomeOblations of Hilary, .... 228

3. Trial of ArvandusFruitless Undertakings against AfricaArrogance of Ricimer, and his Rupture with AnthemiusHe Besieges RomeThird Sack of the City, 472Olybrius EmperorDeath of RicimerHis Monumentin RomeS. Agatha in SuburraGlycerins and JuliusNepos EmperorsThe German Mercenaries RevoltOrestes causes his Son, Romulus Augustulus, to be Pro-claimed EmperorOdoacer Ruler of Italy, 476Extinc-tion of the Empire of the West, .... 236

BOOK II.From the Beginning of the Reign of Odoacer to theEstablishment of the Exarchate in Ravenna, 568.

CHAPTER I.I. Reign of OdoacerSimplicius Pope (468-483)Building ofNew Churches S. Stefano Rotondo S. Bibiana

Odoacer Commands the Election of Felix the ThirdTheodoric enters Italy with the OstrogothsOverthrowof Odoacer's RuleTheodoric becomes King of Italy,491, -..... 253


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CONTENTS. xili2. Dispute in Rome concerning the Pagan Festival of the page

Lupercal Its Abolition Schism on the Election ofSymmachus, or LaurentiusSynod of Symmachus in499, ....... 2613. The Titular Basilicas of Rome about the Year 499, . . 2674. Local Character of the Saints to whom these Churches wereDedicatedTheir Local DistributionTheir Titles inthe Time of Gregory the Great, about 594 a.d.TheirNature The Cardinals The ''Seven Churches" ofRome, ....... 276

CHAPTER IL1. Theodoric's Attitude towards the RomansHis Arrival in

Rome, 500His Speech to the PeopleThe AbbotFulgentiusThe Rescripts in CassiodorusCondition ofthe Public BuildingsTheodoric's Care for their Preser-vationCloacaeAqueductsThe Theatre of PompeyThe Palace of the PinciiPalace of the CsesarsForumof TrajanThe Capitol,..... 2832. The Amphitheatre of Titus Spectacles and Passion forSpectacles among the Romans Animal-hunts TheCircus, its Games and Factions, .... 298

3. Theodoric's care for the Roman PeopleRoma FelixTolerance towards the Catholic ChurchThe Jews inRomeTheir oldest SynagogueOutbreak of the Popu-lace against the Jews, ..... 308

4. Fresh Schism in the Church Synodus Palmaris PartyStruggles in RomeSymmachus Decorates S. Peter'sBuilds the Round Chapel of S. Andreas, the Basilica ofS. Martinus, the Church of S. PancratiusHormisdasPope, 514^John the First PopeRupture of Theodoricwith the Catholic Church, . . . -317

5. Trial and Execution of the Senators Bcethiusand SymmachusPope John undertakes an Embassy to Constantinopleand dies in RavennaTheodoric Commands the Electionof Felix the FourthDeath of the King in 526Legendsconnected with it, .... 323


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xiv CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.PAGE

1. Regency of AmalasunthaHer GeniusEncouragement ofLearningHer Conciliatory GovernmentGrowing Im-portance of the Bishop of RomeFelix the Fourth Buildsthe Church of SS. Cosma and DamianoIts MosaicsOrigin of the Worship of these Saints, . . . 334

2. Boniface the Second Pope, 530Schism between Bonifaceand DioscorusJohn the SecondDecree of the Senateagainst Simony-Education and Death of AthalaricTheodatus Co-regentFate of Queen AmalasunthaJustinian's Aims and ViewsThe Western ConsulshipExpires in 535, ..... -346

3. Negotiations of Theodatus with ByzantiumLetter of theSenate to JustinianExcitement in Rome'The Romansrefuse to receive Gothic TroopsPope Agapitus under-takes an Embassy to ByzantiumHis DeathNegotia-tions for Peace broken off, .... 356

4. Belisarius comes to ItalyFall of NaplesThe Goths electVitiges KingEnd of TheodatusThe Goths withdrawto RavennaBelisarius enters Rome, Dec. 9, 536, . 363

CHAPTER IV.1. Belisarius prepares for the Defence of RomeVitiges ad-

vances with the Gothic Army against the CityFirstAssaultPreparations for the SiegeGothic Intrench-ments Counter Fortifications of Belisarius Vitigesdestroys the AqueductsFloating Mills on the TiberDespair of the RomansThe Goths demand a SurrenderPreparations for Storming the City, . . - Zl^

2. General Assault Attack on the Prasnestine Gate TheMurus RuptusHadrian's Tomb Destruction of hisStatues by the Greeks'Failure of the Assault at allpoints, ....... 3803. Continuation of the SiegeProphecies regarding the Issue ofthe WarPagan ReminiscencesThe Temple of JanusThe Tria FataTwo Latin Songs of the TimePre-cautions taken by Belisarius for the Defence of the City, . 388


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CONTENTS. XV4. Exile of Pope SilveriusFamine in RomeHumanity of the page

GothsVitiges occupies the Roman Harbours, Portusand OstiaArrival of Reinforcements in RomeTheGoths repulse a SortieIncreasing Distress in the CityThe Gothic and Hunnish Entrenchments, . . 395

5. Distress of the GothsTheir Embassy to BehsariusNe-gotiationsArrival of Troops and Provisions in RomeTruceIts RuptureDiscouragement of the GothsTheir withdrawal from Rome, March 538, . . 405

CHAPTER V.1. Belisarius in RavennaHis Faithless Conduct towards theGothsTotila becomes King, 541His rapid SuccessesHis Expedition to the SouthHe Conquers Naples

Writes to the RomansDeparts for RomeConquersTiburSecond Gothic Siege of Rome in the Summer of545Belisarius returns to ItalyThe Harbour of PortusThe Gothic Camp, ..... 412

2. Vigilius is summoned to ByzantiumThe Goths Seize theSicilian Corn VesselsDistress in RomeThe DeaconPela^ius goes as Ambassador to the Gothic CampTheRomans in Despair Appeal to BessasTerrible Conditionof the CityArrival of Belisarius at PortusUnsuccessfulAttempt to Relieve RomeEntry of Totila, Dec. 17,546Aspect of the Deserted CitySack RusticianaTotila's Clemency, ..... 424

3. Totila's Address to the GothsHe Assembles the SenateThreatens to Destroy RomeLetter of BelisariusSenseless Legend of the Destruction of the City byTotilaBenedict's Prophecies respecting RomeTotilaSurrenders the CityIts utter Desolation, . . 436

CHAPTER VI.1. Belisarius enters RomeRestores the WallsSecond Defence

of the City, 547 ^Totila withdraws to Tibur Johnremoves the Roman Senators in CapuaRapid Marchof Totila to Southern ItalyBelisarius leaves Rome:Memorials of Belisarius in the City, . . . 443


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xvi CONTENTS.2. Belisarius's Wanderings in Southern Italy ; his Return to page

ConstantinopleTotila advances to Rome for the ThirdTime, 549Condition of the CityEntrance of theGothsThe Greeks in Hadrian's MausoleumRomeRepopulated The last Games in the Circus Totilaleaves the CityThe Goths at SeaNarses takes Com-mand of the WarA Roman OmenContemporaryRemarks on some of the MonumentsThe Forum ofPeaceMyron's CowThe Statue of DomitianTheShip of ^neasNarses advances to the Foot of theApenninesFall of Totila at Taginas, 552, . . 45

3. Tejas last King of the GothsNarses takes Rome by stormCapitulation of Hadrian's MausoleumRuin of theRoman Senate Capture of the Gothic FortressesNarses advances to CampaniaHeroic Death of Tejas inthe Spring of 553Capitulation of the Goths on theBattlefield of VesuviusRetreat of the Thousand Gothsunder Indulfas Survey of Gothic Rule in ItalyIgnorance of the Romans with Respect to the Gothsand the History of Roman Antiquities, . .461

CHAPTER VII.I. Descent into Italy of Barbarian Hordes under Bucelin and

Leutharis and their OverthrowTriumph of Narses inRomeThe Goths Capitulate in CompsaCondition ofRome and Italy after the War^Justinian's PragmaticSanctionIncreased Importance of the Roman BishopThe Senate Public Buildings Death of VigiliusPelagius Pope, 555Oath of Purgation, . .476

z. Pelagius and John the Third build the Church of SS.Apostoli in the Region Via LataRuin of the City-Two InscriptionsMemorials of Narses, . . 489

3. Narses Falls into Disgrace He goes to Naples and isbrought back by Pope John His Death in 567Opinions concerning the Cause of the Lombard InvasionAlboin founds the Lombard Kingdom, 568Originof the ExarchateThe Greek Provinces of ItalyTheAdministration of Rome, . . . . 40'?


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BOOK FIRST.FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH

CENTURY TO THE FALL OF THEWESTERN EMPIRE IN 476.


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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF ROMEIN THE MIDDLE AGES.

CHAPTER I.I. Plan of the Work The City of Rome in

Ancient Times and in the Middle Ages.The aim of these volumes is to present a compre-hensive history of the City of Rome in the MiddleAges ; a subject which, apart from its connectionwith the Papacy and the Empire, has not hithertobeen dealt with. The Romans themselves, uponwhom the task of writing it should more especiallyhave fallen, have been withheld by a variety of causesfrom making the attempt, and have only contributeda quantity of valuable material towards so trulynational a work. Will it therefore be consideredpresumptuous in one not of the Latin race, but aGerman, to venture on this arduous undertaking ? I donot fear the imputation ; not only because the domainof knowledge is free territory, but also because, nextto the Romans and Italians, no other people in theMiddle Ages had relations with Rome so close and

VOL. I. A


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2 HISTORY OF ROMESO international as the Germans. Since the Gothsof Theodoric, who first subjugated Rome and thenreverently upheld her ; since the Franks of Pepin andCharles, who freed the city from the yoke of theLombards and Byzantines and again restored her toprosperity, Germany has for centuries, through theGermanised Roman Empire, stood in no ordinaryrelations to Rome, To the German nation Rome isan imperishable title of glory, and the mediaevalhistory of the city has become an element inseparablefrom that of Germany.When first conceiving the thought of writing thiswork, I determined to avail myself of the materialfurnished by all extant histories, added to theknowledge which I had long possessed of themonuments and topography of the city. It will,accordingly, be my aim to write the history of Romefrom the time of its subjection by the VisigothAlaric, A.D. 410, to the final conquest by Charles theFifth, when, at the beginning of the Reformation,the ancient alliance between Germany and Romewas for ever sundered.

Throughout the long space of more than elevenhundred years, Rome is to the historian as a loftywatch-tower, whence he can survey the movementsof the mediaeval world, so far as that world derivesfrom her its impulse or stands in active relation toher. For she is endowed with a twofold naturemunicipal and cosmopolitan, neither of which isentirely separable from the other. Thus it was inancient times, and thus it remained throughout theMiddle Ages.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 3Three cities shine conspicuous in the history of Jerusalem,

mankind, by reason of the universal influence whichthey exercised upon it Jerusalem, Athens andRome. In the course of the life of the world, allthree are factors working with and through eachother for human civilisation. Jerusalem, the capitalof the small and impotent Jewish race, was the centreof that enigmatic theocracy from which Christianityemerged, and therefore the metropolis of the religionof the world. Long after its fall it maintained asecond historical existence, by the side of, and inrelation to, Rome. The Romans had destroyed it inancient times ; its people were scattered over theworld ; its sanctity had passed away to Rome ; but inthe eleventh century it again revived, and during theperiod of the Crusades was the goal of Christianpilgrims and the object of the great struggle betweenthe nations of Europe and Asia. Then, togetherwith the ideas of which it had been the symbol, itsank again into silence and obscurity.

Beside the city of the One Jehovah, polytheistic Athens.Athens shines on another summit of history, as thefirst centre of Western genius, of its science, itsphilosophy and its beautiful ideals. Then arisesmighty Rome, the law-giver of the political world.Athens and Rome are indissolubly united, andcorrespond to each other, as mind to will andthought to deed. In them are embodied the classicforms of life. The intellectual power of Athensexcites the enthusiastic love, the practical greatnessof Rome the reverent admiration of mankind. Allthe creative work of thought and imagination was


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4 HISTORY OF ROMEcollected in the capital of Hellenic genius ; and thelittle Republic of Pallas Athene exercised an idealdominion over the human race which still endures,and will for ever endure, in the universal civilisationof mankind.

Rome. The universal sovereignty of Rome, on the otherhand, a unique, incontrovertible fact of history, restson quite other foundations. Anyone who considersthe existence of this wonderful city only from theoutside, may assert that, with unparalleled militaryskill, and with no less unparalleled political genius,she subjugated the world, and robbed, or destroyed,the flower of nations nobler than herself. In contrastto free and genial Athens, he sees only slavery anddespotism. In Rome he discovers poverty in creativeideas of civilisation ; he sees only a great politicalimpulse towards conquest, a great practical intellectwith its accompanying wants, and the marvellousand gigantic structure of the political system ofjustice and of civil law. But everything which tendsto raise the intellectual spirit to the higher regionsof thought he finds either not cultivated at all, oronly acclimatised from other lands. Even thewealth of noble works of art which beautify the cityonly seems to him the spoils of Tyranny, behindwhose triumphal car the captive Muses follow, forcedto serve the prosaic Queen of the World.

This fact is undeniably true, but it is not the wholetruth. The origin of Rome from her myth-shroudedgerm, her growth, and finally her unrivalled supre-macy, will, next to the rise and dominion ofChristianity, ever be one of the deepest mysteries of


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 5history. And Christianity, which sprang up withinthe narrow confines of Jewish nationality, thoughcosmopolitan in its essence, was drawn to Rome, thecapital of the world, as to a seat already prepared forit by history, where, from out the ruins of a politicalmonarchy, it was destined to raise up a moralmonarchy in the giant form of the Church. Themarvellous power by which one city obtaineddominion in language, customs and intellect over somany different nations cannot be explained. Itsdevelopment can only be followed in a long chain ofevents, whilst the inner law, which governs the factand which is called Rome, remains inexplicable tous.

It was not by the educating power of the intellectwhich emanated from the Acropolis of Athens thatthe world was conquered and governed, but, throughstreams of blood, by the all-devouring Jupiter of theCapitol. The city of Romulus, on the banks of theTiber, inherited the treasure and the work of threeparts of the world, in the midst of which she wasbuilt in the fairest country on earth. In herself shehad no creative genius either for religion or scienceshe incorporated and made them her own, and shewas in the highest degree adapted to spread civilisa-tion abroad, and to give form and language to thespirit by which it was animated.

Political power makes its appearance with Rome, TheIt becomes a system which embraces in a uni- ""P^"^*"-versal order all that had hitherto been developedand formed in the ancient world ; which throwsdown the narrow confines of nationalities, and


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6 HISTORY OF ROMEunites tribes and peoples under a central govern-ment as members of one great family. It is thisprinciple which, when brought to bear on mankind,exalts it above the individualism which was theideal of Greece. It is, in a word, the idea of the"Imperium/' or of the State, which originated inRome and gave its form to the world. It is the ideawhich has ruled the West as an inherent principledown to our own times. Its power and continuityhave only been approached by the Church, and theChurch in its visible shape is only the religious formof the ancient idea of the State.

Before the Romans the idea of the " Imperium"does not appear in history. The principle, however,that the moral world is a legitimate monarchy isinvolved in monotheistic Judaism. In the " chosenpeople " of Israel, and in their prophets, lies the firstconsciousness of a universal mission, and there thecosmopolitan idea of Christianity had its origin.Among the Greeks no religious ideas of the kindare to be found. The Greek ideal rests in theuniversal culture of the free, all-searching intellect.The Kosmos of the spirit was created by the Greeks,but politically it was only represented in a scatteredcolonial system, whilst the Hellenic State is an indi-vidual State or confederation. Beyond Hellas therewas only the despised barbarian, just as beyond theMosaic theocracy there was only the despised heathen.Even to Aristotle the non-Hellenic races were outsidethe law and destined by nature to servitude. If Alex-ander, who, in opposition to Greek ideas, wished torealise the idea of a universal Hellenic kingdom


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 7embracing the barbarian races, had turned his plansto the West, the course of the world's political systemwould have suffered no other change than that whichfollowed in the Hellenised East. For, with the deathof this enlightened ruler fell to pieces the universalempire which he had founded.Rome at length achieved what Greece, fortunatelyfor the complete development of her own genius, didnot achieve ; in the form of the Empire she embracedcivilisation in a universal organism. The Empirewas the civilised world of an epoch, for which Greecehad created intellectual culture, Rome had con-structed civic laws, and Judaism had provided theuniversal religion. Virgil has expressed the fullconsciousness of the monarchical mission of theRomans in the imperishable verses :

" Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento :Hae tibi erunt artes, pacisque imponere morem,Parcere subjectis at debellare superbos."

This high-sounding dictum, which so completely The dogmaexpresses the character and mission of Rome, sovereigntyimpressed itself deeply on mankind; and theo^^orne.mediaeval motto, ''Roma Caput Mundi Regit OrhisFrena Rotundil^ is nothing more than its echo.From Augustus downwards the belief was firmlyrooted that the Romans were the nation elected touniversal supremacy, and that the Roman Empirewas the Empire of the world, even as among theJews the belief remained, that their nation was adivine nation, and their religion the religion of theworld.The line of demarcation which Greece and her


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8 HISTORY OF ROMEgreatest thinkers had drawn between herself and thebarbarians, as Israel had done between herself andthe heathen, disappeared in the cosmopolitan Empireof the Romans, under which all forms of civilisa-tion were accepted, all religions enjoyed freedom ofworship, and all nations rights of citizenship. Thus,in the Roman Republic was represented the unity ofcivilised mankind, of which the elected head was theEmperor, and the capital " Rome, the Eternal," themiracle of the inhabited earth, the product andmonument of the history of the world.

Gradual The majestic city grew, waxed old, and sank sidethe^city. ^Y Side with the Empire, and its dissolution is a

process even more remarkable than was its growthas vast an effort of time being necessary to destroyand lay low this colossus of laws and administration,of political institutions, of traditions and monumentsof past centuries, as had been required to build it up.There is no spectacle in human history alike so tragicand so thrilling as the fall and final extinction ofmighty Rome. Seven years before the incursion ofthe Western Goths, the last poet of the Romansstood on the Palatine ; filled with enthusiasm by thesight of the still unconquered city, he celebrated theindescribable splendour of ancient imperial Rome,her golden-roofed temples, her triumphal arches, herpillars, her monuments, and the gigantic buildingswhere human art had outrivalled nature.^ Scarcelytwo hundred years after Claudian, Bishop Gregory

^ Claudian, Panegyric on the Sixth Consulate ofHonorius, w. 39-52.The poet apostrophises the universal character of Roman supremacyin pompous terms : De cons. Siilickonis, iii., v. 130, &c.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 9stood in the Chancel of S. Peter's, and sorrowfully-likened the once immeasurable city to a brokenearthen vessel, and the once sovereign people to aneagle, which, bereft of its plumage and enfeebledwith age, droops dying on the Tiber's shore. Eightcenturies after Gregory, Poggio BracciojinL stoodamidst the ruins of the Capitol. Of ancient Romehe saw nothing but the remains of two ruinedtemples, overthrown architraves, rent arches andfragments of the splendours of the Forum, over theburied surface of which cattle now grazed. He wrotehis book on The Changes of Fortune, the doomwhich all that is great must inevitably undergo.^The same sight three hundred years later inspiredthe English Gibbon with the idea of writing thehistory of Rome's ruin, an idea which he subsequentlydeveloped in his immortal work, The Decline andFall of the Roman Empire. Though actuated bysimilar feelings, it is needless to say that I do not fora moment aspire to rival such men as these. Deeplystirred by the sight of Rome, I resolved not only todepict the ruin of the city, but to follow it on inits reawakening to a new world-governing power.Rome alone amongst all the cities of the world hasbeen honoured with the divine title of " Eternal," andthe prophecy of the poet, " hnperium sine fine dedi"in her attains reality.^

^ Hzsiorics de Varietate Fortune Ubri quatuor. Poggio wrote thisbook shortly before the death of Martin the Fifth ; and from thismelancholy survey of the ruins of the citydates the rise of Romanarcheology.

2 Rome is called ** Urbs seterna " as early as the time of Hadrian ;(see coins in Cohen, vol. ii. u. 1299 seqq., n. 1303. The idea is''


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lO HISTORY OF ROME

Romerises toa new life.

Throughthe instru-mentalityof theEmpireand theChurch.

The Roman Empire, sunk in the decrepitude ofage, fell under the onslaughts of the vigorous Germantribes. The majestic city of the Caesars fell of itselfwhen the Roman State and its ancient vvperished. The Christian religion destroyectransformed the Pagan city of the ancient Romano,but she rose again from out the catacombs, hersubterranean arsenal, a new Rome, veiled again inmyth ; and, as Romulus and Remus had been thefounders of ancient Rome, so now were two holyApostles, Peter and Paul, the mystic creators of thenew city. This also grew slowly and amidst terriblechanges, until, under a system unrivalled in history,it once more became the capital of the world. Andsince it was Rome that gave form to that greatperiod In the life of the human race which we callthe Middle Ages, just as she had already givenform to Antiquity, we shall do well to investigatethe elements which combined to invest the city,after so great a fall, with a second supremacy.Unlike the origin of her ancient dominion, this newbirth of Rome presents no difficult enigma, beingfully explained by the idea of the Empire, which,always inherent in the West, now became boundexpressed in the official title given to Rome in the Cod. Theodosianus,Edict A 364 of the Emperors Valentinian and Valens to the PrefectSymmachus : Intra urbem Romam aternam (lib. xv. tit. i. 11. 11).In other edicts Rome is spoken of as venerabilis and indyta.Attrea Roma^ a, very common phrase in the Middle Ages, is used byPrudentius :

AgnoscatJudaa legens, et Gmcia nortt,Et venerata Deum percenseat aurea Roma.Apotheos.y V. 385, ed. Dressel, i860.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. IIup with Christianity and embodied in a visibleChurch.That the Christian religion arose simultaneously

with the foundation of the Empire ofthe Caesars, is oneof those great historic facts which we are accustomedto call providential. Having conquered the ancientEmpire, Christendom proceeded to assimilate it asembodying that universal sovereignty to which itaspired. Constantine recognised this ; the newChurch adopted the administrative organisation ofthe Empire ; she extended over the bishoprics anddistricts a network of administration which corre-sponded to the constitution of dioceses as fixed byConstantine.^ She was in her outward form a Latincreation, having the Empire for her type. Graduallyshe developed into a spiritual power, but remainedenclosed within the State, and was held in honourby the Empire so long as it endured. From thetime^of Constantine onward, the universal Emperor

^ From the time of Constantine onwards the Imperial Church wasdivided into the three great Apostolic Patriarchates of Rome, Alexandriaand Antioch ; this was confirmed by the Sixth Canon of Nicea. Bythe side of these were formed the later (non-apostolic) Patriarchates ofJerusalem and Constantinople, and the Second CEcumenical Councilhad already (381) acknowledged the rank of the Bishop of Constanti-nople as second only to that of the Bishop of Rome. The latter soonclaimed spiritual authority not only over the Prefecture of Italy (thepolitical dioceses of Rome, Italy, lUyricum Occidentale and Africa),but also over the Prsefectura Galliarum, that is, over the entire West.The ecclesiastical Patriarchates therefore corresponded, according tothe Imperial hierarchy in the time of Constantine, to the PrsefectiPrsetorio, the Bishops of the dioceses to the Vicarii and Rectores ofthe provinces.Plank, Gesch. der christl. Kirchl, GeseUschaftsver-fassungy Band i ; and Gieseler, Kirchengeschichte^ Band i.


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12 HISTORY OF ROMEwas also the head of the_Universal (Catholic) Church,inTwHich no bishop had precedence over another,whilst the CEcumenical Councils, summoned underthe Imperial authority, gave it unity.As soon as the Germans had overthrown the

Western Empire, the Roman Church, in her essencea still purely spiritual phenomenon, and, as such,unsusceptible of injury at barbarian hands, cast asideher wrappings and appeared as the universal authorityin the West. She here usurped the place of Imperialpower, the principle of which she preserved as a lawin her Ark of the Covenant. Latinity and theancient civilisation which had passed over to heror rather, the remnant of which she had taken intoher keepingwere both saved. And here she stoodthe only bulwark against which broke the surgingdeluge of Barbarism. That she was already an im- 'movable organisation when the ancient Empire fell,is one of the most important facts in history, for onthe firm foundation of the Church the whole life ofEurope was established anew.The Church, however, which had arisen from theunion of Christianity with the Empire, drew from the

latter its system of centralisation and the treasures ofan ancient culture and language. But the peoplewere so hopelessly degenerate that, far from beingable to provide the living material needful for thedevelopment of Christian thought, they actually per-verted Christianity, inoculating with Paganism thescarcely established system. Taking advantage ofhistoric ties to ally herself with Germanism, theChurch now reached her second period in universal


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 1history. The native tribes of Germany possessed Theonly a religion of nature, which offered no such and^theopposition to Christianity as did the political system, Germans.literature, and culture of the deeply-rooted Paganismof the classic nations during its thousand years'supremacy. The Germans were, for the most part,already Christians when they conquered the Westand even while actually overthrowing the Empire,they retained the deepest reverence for the RomanChurch, as well as for the Roman ideal of the Statethese traditions having become the political dogmaof the world. The Church itself, in its essence theguardian of unity of thought, or of the Christianrepublic, inculcated these Latin ideas, and soughtto Romanise mankind. The religious creed of theGermans, their hierarchy, the language of theirreligion, their festivals, their apostles, their saintswere all Roman, or derived from a Roman source.Thus eventually it came to pass that the Germans, Thethe rulers of the Latin race, with which they be- R^'ma^""came intermingled on a classic soil, restored the Empire.Empire they had previously destroyed. But eventhis restoration was essentially the work of the RomanChurch, which required the re-establishment of herprototype as a necessary element of her internationalcharacter, and a guarantee of the universal religion.

For this great achievement, the alliance of the oldwith the new, of the Latin with the German, world,the continued existence of Rome was essential.Rome, in truth, rose like an Ararat of human civili-sation amid the universal deluge of barbarism whichfollowed on the overthrow of the Western Empire.


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14 HISTORY OF ROMEThe ancient capital of the world remained, or became,the moral centre of the transformation of the WestBut after the power and splendour of the politicalEmpire had faded away, she could no longer haveretained this position, had not the bishops, who hadtaken up their seat within her, acquired supremacyover every other episcopate. They attained to thehigh priesthood of Christianity. They made Romethe Delphi or Jerusalem of the new Confederation,and united to the original imperial idea the Jewishconception of a City of God. The supremacy towhich, with Roman arrogance, they laid claim, couldfind no foundation either in the unpolitical teachingof the Saviour, or in the lives of the Apostles, whowere all priests and members of a community, oreven in the earlier period of the Roman episcopate,since the Churches of Jerusalem, Ephesus, Corinth

Rome and and Antioch were all older than that of Rome. ButS Peter the claims of the Roman Church gave to the con-secrated tradition of the foundation of the bishopricby Peter a victorious power, and in the first centurythis Apostle was already esteemed Head of theChurch, and the immediate vassal and vicar of Christhimself^ For to him the Saviour had said, " ThouMt is scarcely possible to believe in the actual foundation of theRoman Church by Peter. Even did the Apostle teach and meet his

death in the city, yet he had found there, on his arrival, a Christiancommunity already in existence, and, like S. Paul, worked in it as anapostle, without, however, being invested with any episcopal office. TheRoman Church cannot point with certainty to any definite founder.It arose out of the numerous body of Jews established in the city, re-inforced by converts from Paganism.Karl Hase, Kirchengesch,^ 1885,i. 168.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 1art Peter, and on this rock will I build my Church.''On these words, which are to be found in only oneof the four Evangelists, rests the origin of Papaldomination. They are still to be read in hugeletters round the frieze of the great cupola of S.Peter's, and they have been to the Roman Church

|what those of Virgil were to the Empire.^Not only was the doubtful, because unauthenticated,

foundation of the Church by Peter disputed by thejealous East, but the consequences of her supremacy,which followed on the acceptance of the legend, werealso contested. In the West the tradition grew withtime firm as an article of faith, and the Bishops ofRome called themselves the successors of Peter, theVicars of Christ, and therefore the Heads of theCatholic Church.^ If the power of a venerable

^ '* Tu es Petrus, et super hanc Petram (Edificabo Ecclesiam meant, etporta Inferi non pr(Evalebunt adversus earn" Matth. xvi. 18. TheEast contested the conclusions drawn from these phrases, and Origenremarks with reference to the subject : Xlerpa yap iras 6 Xpia-rovfiaO-qr^skoI iirl traaav t^v roia-uTTjv irerpav oiKoSofieirai 6 eKK\7)(riatr-TiKhs iras \6yoSi Kal q Kar avrhv '7ro\iria.Et 5e 7ri Thv '4vcl eKe7uovTleTpov vojilêis virh tov eou oiKodo/j.e7a6ai tû jrao'av cKKXTjcriav }i6vov,t\ hv 4*i\(Tais irepX Îcadvvov rod rrjs ^povTTJs vlovj }) eKacrou ruv'Airoa-rSxcav (Ad Matth. xvi. 18 ; Comment., T. xii. 275 et Huet, inGieseler I. i. 209).

^ In the absence of any contemporary information, such as places S.Paul's sojourn in the city beyond a doubt, the foundation of the RomanSee by Peter has been the subject of passionate dispute since the time ofthe Reformation. The statements of Irenseus, Tertullian and Caius onlypoint to an ancient tradition. Jerome estimated the duration of S. Peter'stenure of office in Rome at twenty-five years. (F. Pagi, BreviarhimGestor. Pontif. Rom., on S. Peter.) During the Reformation, UlrichVelenus wrote his "Tractatus quod Petrus Apost. nunq. Romse fuerit"(vol. iii. of the Monarchia of Goldast). After him, this was shownby Flacius and Fr. Spanheim [Dejictaprofectione Petri Ap. in urbem


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l6 HISTORY OF ROMEtradition resting on the conviction of centuries appearsstrange, we must remember that, in every successfulform of religion, tradition and myth constitute thebasis of practical operations, and, so soon as the latterhave been recognised by the world, are accepted asfacts. This particular tradition would, however, haveremained ineffectual with regard to any other city.Neither the sanctity of Jerusalem, where Christ livedand died, nor the undoubted foundation of the Churchof Antioch by Peter gave these cities any claim toecclesiastical precedence. But the Bishops in theLateran, who did not recognise the political import-ance of Constantinople as a measure of the positionof the patriarchs there, successfully asserted the claimswhich the ancient capital of the world possessedto the reverence and obedience of nations.^ TheRomam). An instructive treatment of the question may be found inArchimbald Brower's Unparteiische Historie der roni. Pdpste. n. I.The Roman legend concerning S. Peter is fully treated from a Romanstandpoint by Gregory Cortesius, De Romano itinere gestisque principisApostolorum, libri ii., Rome, 1770. The question has been revived inour own time. M. Viennet, Hist, de la Ptdssance Pontijicale^ Paris,1866, vol. i. p. S ff- ^' Lipsius, Chronologic der r'oin. Bisck. biszur Mitte des dfjahrh,^ Kiel, 1869; Die Quellen der rmn. Petrussage^Kiel, 1872 ; E. Renan, VAntichrist^ Paris, 1873, 2. Cap. and App.holds the presence of Peter in Rome to be probable, and believesthat the Apostle here suffered martyrdom shortly after his arrival(a.d. 64). The question was again considered in Rome itself, evidentlywith the sanction of Pius the Ninth, without a solution being arrivedat in favour of either party. " Resoconto autentico della disputaawenuta in Roma, 9. e 10. Feb. 1872, fra Sacerdoti Cattolici e MinistriEvangelici intorno alia venuta di S. Pietro in Roma."^ The primacy of the Roman Church was founded by the promulga-tion of the dogma of the supreme Apostleship of S. Peter by Leo theFirst ; a dogma incessantly disputed by the Easterns, who, in the^g^nodof Chalcedon, succeeded in obtaining a decree which conceded to the


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 1/nimbus of Eternal Rome reappeared, this time sur-rounding her priestly heads ; they were the heirs ofthe Spirit, the discipline and ambitious instincts ofancient Rome reincarnate ; and although the Empirefell, its great, if lifeless, machinery still lived on. Theprovinces still bear the deep impress of the govern-ment and administration of Rome, and the rule ofthe ecclesiastical city soon began to flow through thechannels which pagan Rome had traced.The Roman Church gradually changed into the The Papacy.Papacy the Imperialism by which she had attained

her development as a hierarchical creation. Theorganisation of the Empire was transformed into anecclesiastical system, with the Pope as its head. Theold Imperial Senate, in the form of Cardinals andBishops, surrounded this elective spiritual monarch,in whose case, as in the case of the Emperors, raceand nationality were indifferent ; but the constitu-tional principle which the Caesars had never recog-nised, was, on the score of the democratic theory ofthe equality of the priesthood, introduced in Councilsand Synods, to which the provinces sent representa-tives to the universal Senate-house, the Lateran.The lieutenants of these ecclesiastical provinces werethe bishops consecrated and controlled by the Pope.The monasteries, scattered over all countries, re-sembled the ancient Roman colonies, and werestrongholds or stations of the spiritual dominion ofRome, as well as of civilisation ; and, after the heathenChurch of Constantinople (New Rome) the same privileges as werepossessed by that of Old Rome, and which thus ordained that thepolitical importance of the city should decide the rank of its Church.

VOL. I. B


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1 HISTORY OF ROMEor heretic barbarians in Britain and Germany, in Gauland Spain, had been overcome by the bloodlessweapons of Rome, the Eternal City again ruled andgave laws to the fairest portion of the ancient world.However we may regard the new centralisationwhich found its place in Rome, it was based on theweakness or on the wants of mankind ; and thesupremacy of Rome was necessary for rude andlawless centuries, since it alone upheld the unity ofChristendom. Without an absolute Church, withoutthe Roman spirit of the Bishops, who, in the provincessuppressed, with the power of a Scipio or a Marius,every rebellious tendency to fall away from theorthodox faith, national imagination and traditionswould have given birth to a hundred forms of faith.History repeated itself in the fate of Rome and theworld ; and in the end it was again the Germans,who, a thousand years after the fall of the ancientEmpire, destroyed the universal supremacy of thesecond Rome, and by a great and creative revolution,won freedom of faith and knowledge for mankind

During the Middle Ages the reverence of mankindfor the city was unbounded.^ In her, as in the greatArk of the Covenant of ancient as of Christian culture,they saw united the laws, the charter, the symbols of

Sanctity Christianity. They saw the city of the Martyrs andfmportance ^^ ^^^ Princes among the Apostles, the treasure-ofRome house of supernatural erraces. Here was the centrein the T . ....Middle of the divme administration of the human family,^^^" and in it the high priest of the new covenant which

^ Arturo Graf, Roma nella memorta e nelle immaginazioni del medioevo (Turin, 1882), vol. i. c. i.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. IQclaimed to represent Christ on earth. All greatspiritual and worldly powers received their consecra-tion in Rome ; the sources of the priestly power, thepower to bind and to loose, the fount of ImperialMajesty, finally, civilisation itself, seemed to springfrom the hills of Rome, and, hke the streams ofParadise, flow to fertilise the four quarters of theworld. All the institutions of mankind had originallysprung from this majestic city. Bishoprics, monas-teries, missions, schools, libraries were all colonies ofRome. Their monks and priests had been, asformerly, praetors and consuls sent forth to theprovinces, and had converted them to the faith ofRome. The remains of Roman martyrs were rever-ently brought over sea and land to be buried assacred relics under the distant altars of Britain andGermany. The language of the faith, the schools ofthe barbarians, were derived from Rome, as were allliterature, sacred or profane, music, mathematics,grammar, the arts of painting and architecture.Men in the obscurest borders of the north and westhad all heard of Rome, and when the sacred name,which had already thrilled mankind through countlesscenturies, fell upon their ears, they were seized witha mystic longing, and their excited imaginationpictured, in the form of the Eternal City, an Edenof beauty where the gates of Heaven opened orclosed. There were long centuries in the MiddleAges in which Rome was truly the law-giver, theinstructress and the mother of nations, encircling herchildren with a threefold ring of unityspiritual inthe Papacy, temporal in the Empire, the crown of


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20 HISTORY OF ROMEwhich German kings came to receive in S. Peter's,and the unity of that general civilisation which wasthe bequest of Rome to all the world.

This should be sufficient to show the stature towhich Rome had attained in the Middle Ages, as thedominating power in the Christian Commonwealth ofnations. The recollection of the mighty task, which,for the second time in the world's history, Rome tookupon herself, should serve to soften the bitterness ofthe memory of those long centuries of suffering, duringwhich the human race struggled to free itself from sub-jection to Rome, opposing to her discipline the lightof that knowledge to which it had attained. The sinsof the ancient despot must be weighed against thegreat ideas of universal citizenship which she repre-sented, and by which she rescued Europe from chaoticbarbarism and made it capable of receiving a commonfreedom and culture.

2. General view of Rome in the latest period ofTHE Empire.

We have attempted to give an idea of Rome inancient and mediaeval times in order to arrive at acorrect understanding of the Middle Ages. Let usnow sketch an outline of the most characteristicfeatures of Imperial Rome as she appeared shortlybefore the conquest of the Visigoths.

Topo- Under the Republic, Rome, in her unassuming^^mne^of "^^j^sty, was adorned less by her public monuments ofthe city in religion and the state than by the virtues of her strongtimesr and simple citizens; but when freedom declined,


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 21.an era of outward splendour set in^^ accompanied byinward decay. When Augustus took possession of thecity, it was a chaos of houses and streets, which coveredsome hills and their intermediate valleys. He firsthad it divided into fourteen regions, and in conjunctionvvith AgrippaThe so^dorned these regions that he wasable to say he had found a city of bricks and left oneof marble. Rome, during the first three centuriesof Imperial rule, advanced with gigantic strides, andbecame filled with temples, porticoes, baths, places ofamusement of every kind, and with such an infinitenumber of statues that it seemed to contain a secondpopulation in marble. In the time of Honorius thecity covered almost the same area as it does to-day,and was surrounded by almost the same lines of walls.The Tiber flowed through it in a twofold bend, so thaton the left, orXatinj^ide lay thirteeiL of the divisionsof the city, while on the right, or Tuscan, side was thefourteenth division, wh.i^h^camprised the^Vatican,Janiculum, and Trastevere. The city proper stretchednorth, east and south over eight hills, on whichmarble temples, fortresses, palaces, gardens andvillas formed a scene of surpassing beauty. It em-braced the Hill of the Gardens, the Quirinal, Viminal,Esquiline and Coelian, which, branching from onecommon root, stretched towards the centre of the city,with intervening valleys. It further embraced theAventine, Palatine and Capitol, which had been in-habited from the remotest times. Skirting the Tiberstretched a broad, low plain divided by the ViaFlaminia, with its triumphal arches, and the continua-tion of the Flaminia, the Via Lata. Here stood many


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22 HISTORY OF ROMEof the splendid buildings of the Emperors, but theplain, the chief part of which was called the CampusMartius, served the populace rather for pleasure thanfor habitation, though in later times under the Papacy,after some of the ancient quarters on the hills hadbeen forsaken, the native population crowded into itThe city had organically developed from a centre.

Even in the time of the Republic, this centre was theForum and the Capitol which towered above it. If,drawing an irregular line round both, we embrace thePalatine, Ccelian, Esquiline and Quirinal, we find en-closed a by no means wide territory on the left sideof the Tiber, in which, during Republican, as wellas in Imperial, times, lay the heart of Rome. All theabove-mentioned hills inclined from different directionstowards the Forum. This Forum was at the sametime the dwelling of the free population, and the seatof the life of the republican state; the Capitol aboveit was the fortress of the city, the abode of its godsand the home of its laws. Public amusements hadalso their consecrated site in the neighbourhood, forthe Circus Maximus, the embodiment of its mostsolemn games, lay under the Palatine. Hence theForum, the Capitol and the Circus were the threecharacteristic marks of the state under the Republic.The Emperors added a fourth monument, theirown residence, the Imperial castle on the Palatine.Although Augustus and his successors jealouslycared for and beautified the old sanctuaries of thestate, they added few new buildings. They adornedthe Capitol with statues, and surrounded its basetowards the Forum with their magnificent buildings.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 23Entirely losing its political importance under theEmperors, it became only the great public " piazza "of the people, hallowed by traditions and monumentsof the republican past. To this (the original) theCaesars added other public places magnificently laidout. These were the Imperial Forums of Caesar, otAugustus, of Nerva, ofDomitian, and lastly, the Forumof Trajan. In this the Imperial city attained thesummit of her magnificence, never afterwards pro-ducing anything more perfect. Trajan^ under whomthe Empire of the Caesars reached its zenith, com-pleted the Circus Maximus ; and Vespasian and Titusbefore hirn had erected a huge amphitheatre, thatColosseum which is the most expressive monumentof the world-subduing, war-like and cruel character ofthe Roman people. Passing along the Via Sacra,under the Arch of Titus, past the Palatine, throughthe Forum of the People, beyond the Capitol, throughthe adjacent Imperial Forums, the traveller has anentire and almost overpowering view of the chieffeatures of Imperial Rome. After Hadrian haderected the greatest temple of them all, that of Venusand Rome, close to the Via Sacra, scarcely a spotavailable for building remained in the heart of theancient city. There rose a thickly-packed mass oftemples, basilicas and colonnades, of triumphal archesand statues ; and above this labyrinth of buildingstowered here the Flavian Amphitheatre, there theImperial fortress, further on the Capitol, and at agreater distance a second Capitol, the Temple ofQuirinus on the Quirinal.Beyond this central district Imperial Rome grew


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24 HISTORY OF ROMEon all sides, north, east and south over the longhills ; north-west over the plain of the Tiber, and inthe Vatican and Trasteverine quarter on each side ofthe river. The hills, such as the Aventine, alreadymuch built over during the Republic, offered greatopportunities for the passion for building which set inwith Augustus. The Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinalwere soon covered with palatial streets and pleasure-gardens, as well as provision markets and baths.Further along the hollow which stretched from theCapitol by the river rose new buildings, such as theTheatre of Marcellus, the Flaminian Circus, theTheatre of Pompey, with its vast and varied pleasure-grounds ; the stately Pantheon of Agrippa, with itsbaths ; the grand pile of buildings of the Antonines,with the columns of Marcus Aurelius ; the greatStadium of Domitian ; and lastly, a huge tomb,beautified with trees, the dwelling of the deadEmperorsthe Mausoleum of Augustus. Answer-ing to this on the other side of the Tiber rose a secondtomb of the Caesars, the wondrous work of Hadrian,leading to the Vatican district, and finally, to theless beautiful quarter of the Trastevere, over whichtowered the ancient stronghold of the Janiculum.

The walls Rome, the embodiment in stone and metal of theof Aurehan. ^Qj-j^^'g history, was surrounded by walls worthy of

her greatness, the work of Aurelian. When the seaof houses had far overflowed the Servian fortifications,t]iat Emperor set in these walls a boundary to hergrowth, which formed at the same time a defenceagainst the constant inroads of the barbarians. Tothese celebrated walls Rome owed her preservation


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 2$during centuries of terror long after the fall of theEmpire. Without them the history of the Churchand Papacy would have assumed an altogetherdifferent form. With the exception of a part of theTrastevere and of the Vatican territory, these walls,guarded by round or square towers, encompassed theentire city with grim and warlike solemnity, " beauti-fying," as Claudian expressed it, " her venerablecountenance." Their dark and time-worn masses, sooften stormed, overthrown and renewed, yet continu-ing substantially on the same lines, still inspire thebeholder with awe and admiration. Centuries haveengraved upon them the names of consuls, of emperors,of popes, and associated them with a thousandmemories. Arcadius and Honorius restored themin fear of the Goths in 402, and seven years later,according to the reckoning of a geometer, theircircumference was 21 Roman miles.^-

Sixteen gates led through these walls into thecountry,2 and twenty-eight_broad roads, paved with

^ Ammon, at the time of the Visigothic siege, as Olympiodorus{apud Photium, 198) says : Ef/coffi koX kphs fiiXiov. In opposition tothis is the account of Vopiscus, which estimates them at 50 miles incircumference. Piale {Delle mura Aureliane di Roma) places theirutmost limits at 13 miles. Nibby, Le Mura di Roma ; Canina, Indica-zione Topografica di Roma antica, p. 19, &c. ; Platner's and Bunsen'sStadtbeschreibung, i. 646, &c. ; Jordan, Topogr. der Stadt Rom., I.,i. 340 f. Inscriptions over the Tiburtine, Prsenestine and PortuensianGates inform us of the restoration of the walls under Arcadius andHonorius. Corp. Inscr. Latin., vi. 1188-1190; where we find:Suggestione V.C. Et Inlustris Comitis et Magistri Utriusq. MilitiaStilickonis.

2 Porta Flaminia, Pinciana, Salara, Nomentana, Tiburtina, Prsenes-tina, Labicana, Asinaria, Metronis or Metronia, Latina, Appia,


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26 HISTORY OF ROMEpolygonal blocks of basalt (not reckoning the smallerconnecting roads), united Rome with the provinces.In traversing the environs, these roads were lined withtombs in the various forms of temples, round towers,pyramids and lofty sarcophagi.The Campagna, here bright with verdure, there

parched by the sun, surrounded the citya plain ofsublime majesty unrivalled by anything the worldcould show. Upon it stood countless monuments,tombs, temples, chapels, country-houses of emperorsand senators ; and intersecting it were the marvellousaqueducts, a sight of impressive grandeur, as theirexisting ruins still testify. Stretching for miles andmiles across the plains until they reached the city,they bore on their mighty arches those imprisonedwaters, which, discharging themselves within thewalls, supplied the populace through innumerablefountains of marble and bronze, provided the nau-machice, served the gardens and villas, and finally,filled the luxurious baths.^Ostiensis, Portuensis, Janiculensis (Aurelia), Septimiana, Aureliaopposite Hadrian's Bridge. Two of these, the Metronia and Latina,are now walled up, the Aurelia opposite the Bridge of S. Angelo hasperished. The Breviarium enumerates thirty-seven gates. The surplusis made up by the gates in the Servian walls and other exits.

^ According to Procopius, there were fourteen aqueducts {De belloGoth. J i. 19). There is no doubt as to the nine quoted by Frontinus : theAppiUj Anio vetuSy Marcia^ Tepula^ Julia ^ Alsietina^ Virgo ^ Clattdia^Anio novus. In addition to these were the Trajana and the Alex-mtdrina of Alex. Severus. These aqueducts, eleven in number, werethe aqueducts of the city, properly speaking. Besides these, Augustusreinforced the Marcia by the Augusta^ the Antoniniana had been addedby Caracalla, the Jovia, as a branch of the Marcia^ by Diocletian.The summary of the Notitia, therefore, enumerates nineteen aqueducts!


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES, 2/Such was the city in the zenith of her outward

completeness, at the beginning of the fourth centurybut, on reaching that period of maturity when stag-nation and old age begin, she remained, on accountof her greatness, for nearly two hundred years ina condition of scarcely perceptible decline. Thisperiod began under Constantine, and we can fix thedate with exactitude, for it was that of the buildingof the new capital on the shores of the Bosphorus, toadorn and populate which the Emperor robbed Romeof many works of art, as well as of many patricianfamilies. Christianity, now the declared public re-ligion, dealt another blow to the pagan splendour ofRome, and as her monumental history is brought to aclose with the Arch of Constantine, the history of herruin is ushered in with the building of the Basilica ofSTPetevwhich rose out of the material of the ruinedCircus of Caligula, and probably out of that of othermonuments as well. Yet, although she had beendeserted by the C^sars, and her splendour dimmedby advancing Christianity, Rome remained so awe-inspiring that, even in the time of Gratian, the rhe-torician Themistius exclaimed, " Rome, the nobleand world-famed Rome, is immeasurable, a sea ofAt the present day, Rome possesses but four, the Acqua di Trevi, awretched restoration of thfe A. Virgo, the A. Felice^ the A. Paola^ tosupply which Paul the Fifth employed the waters of the Trajana^ andthe A. Marcia, the restoration of which was begun in 1866. Withregard to the ancient aqueducts, see : R. Lanciani, /. commentarii diFrontino intorno le acque e gli acquedotti ; Atti della R. A. dei Lincei,ser. iii- vol. 4, 1880. With respect to the more modern : Cavallieri,Sulle acque della modema Roma, Rome, 1859 ; Blumenstihl, Brevinotizie suir acqua Pia, Rome, 1872.


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28 HISTORY OF ROMEbeauty baffling all description." ^ Her splendour andthe number of her monuments were extolled byAmmianus Marcellinus, Claudian, Rutilius, andOlympiodorus with the greatest enthusiasm.

The According to the system of Augustus, Rome re-re^onTof Hiained for centuries divided into fourteen civicAugustus, regions, with their quarters or " Vici," their divisional

magistrates, and their cohorts of guards. They wereas follows : I, Porta Capena ; 2, Ccelimontium ; 3,Isis and Serapis ; 4, Templum Pacis ; 5, Esquiliae ;6, Alta Semita ; 7, Via Lata ; 8, Forum RomanumMagnum; 9, Circus Flaminius ; 10, Palatium; 11,Circus Maximus ; 12, Piscina Publica; 13, Aventinus ;14, Transtiberim. These are the names, which, asit appears, were derived not from official, but frompopular, custom, and which are handed down to usthrough the so-called Curiosum Urbis and theNotitia. These are two topographic registers takenfrom the archives of the City Prefecture, one be-longing to the time of Constantine, the other to thatof Honorius, or Theodosius the Younger. Theydescribe the fourteen regions of Rome, and, as a rule,define the extent of the buildings to be found withintheir limits ; while at the end they gWo a short surveyof the libraries, obelisks, bridges, hills, fields, forums,basilicas, baths, aqueducts and roads of Rome, towhich in general a short statistic is appended. Their

^ Indyta ac Celebris Roma immensum est^ atque omni oratione niajuspelagus ^Ichritudinis : Themist, Orat, i-^ amat. in Gratian.^ p. 177.See Carlo Fea's Dissert, sulle Rovine di Roma, the first fundamentalattempt at a history of the ruins of Rome up to the time of Sixtus theFifth. (In the third vol. of his translation of Winckelmann's Geschichteder Kunst^ Rome, 17S4.)


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 29statements, although often doubtful and obscure, areinvaluable as the only authentic information wepossess regarding the outward aspect of Rome in thefourth and fifth centuries. And here the reader may-follow them in brief, in order that he may understandthe most important points in the topography andmonuments of Rome throughout the Middle Ages.^

3. The Fourteen Regions of Rome.The first region of Rome, the Porta Capena, i. Region

stretched from the ancient Servian gate either to the capena.Aurelian wall, or beyond it to the Porta Appia, nowS. Sebastian ; divided by the Appian and Latin Way,it turned citywards until it reached the Coelian. Inthis district lay the celebrated Vale of Egeria, withits grove, its sanctuary of the Camenae, and the sacredTemple of Mars ; and in its neighbourhood was thebrook Almo, to which these registers give especialprominence, and the recollection of which was pre-served by the worship of Cybele. Three triumphalarches spanned the Appian Way within the walls, andwere dedicated to Drusus, Verus and Trajan. An

^ On the Curiosum Urbis and the Notitiaj Sarti, Bunsen and Prellerhave been the first to throw light. I have followed the text of thelast-named authority {Die Regionen der Stadt Rom^ Jena, 1846), andam acquainted with the texts of Panciroli, Labbe, Bianchini andMuratori. The oldest official document on which the Curiosum isbased belongs, in Preller's opinion, to the time of Constantine, and toa date earlier than that of the erection of his triumphal arch. TheCuriosum he holds to have been compiled between the reigns ofConstantine and Theodosius the Younger, the Notitia in that of thelatter. The latest researches are those of H. Jordan, Topographie derStadt Rom im Altertum, Berlin, 1871, Band ii.


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30 HISTORY OF ROMEarch which still remains inside the gate of S. Sebastian,and which formed part of an aqueduct, has erroneouslybeen held to be that of Drusus. On the further sideof the wall were found the Circus of Maxentius andthe Tomb of Cecilia Metella. Both buildings stoodintact at the time of Honorius ; the circus, the lastbuilding of its kind, no longer in use ; the tomb stillentire, faced with its squared stones, and ornamentedwith its frieze, and as yet far removed from theperiod which transformed it into a fortress. In thisdistrict the dead of Pagan and Christian Rome restedside by side, for in the midst of the tombs of the ViaAppia was, and still exists, the entrance to the cata-combs of S. Calixtus, where, in long and narrowcorridors, and in layers of from three to five stages,Christianity undermined Rome, until the edict ofConstantine summoned the Church from the darkcells of martyrdom into the light of day. As earlyas the sixth century a district on the Via Appia wasnamed " Ad Catacumbas.'* ^ The numerous Jews inRome had also one of their subterranean burial-placesalong the same road, and in the immediate neighbour-hood of the Christian catacombs. The Notitiafinally conducts us in the same region to the Baths

^ S. Gregory, E. III. 30, 568 : ad secundum urbis milliarium in loco,qui dicitur ad Catacumbas. This word, which does not appear beforethe end of the third century, was used to denote a particular Christianburial-ground, that of S. Sebastian, and was later also applied to otherChristian cemeteries. It is to be explained, with Ducange, from theword Kii/xj8os (depth or excavation), or better, with De Rossi, fromcubare ; in which case cata cumbas would be equivalent to cata accu-bitoria ; that is to say, ad ccemeteria christianorum.Roma sotterraneacristiana^ iii. p. 427.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 3of Severus and Commodus, and to the mysteriousMutatorium Csesaris.i

Coelimontium was the second region. It embraced ii. Regionthe whole Coelian Hill. The Notitia there mentions ll^'"'''the Temple of Claudius, the Macellum Magnum orGreat Market, the station of the Fifth Cohort ofGuards, the Castra Peregrina, where in later timesthe foreign legions were quartered, the Caput Africa,a street which will be frequently mentioned in thelatest Middle Ages.The Amphitheatre of Titus, not yet called in. RegionColisaeus, is noticed in the third region of Isis and seraphs!Serapis. The Emperor Philip celebrated in it theloooth anniversary of the Foundation of Romewith the most magnificent secular games, shortlyafter it had been restored by Alexander Severus.In the time of Honorius this wonderful buildingstood unimpaired with its four tiers and all itsarcades, its columns, its statues, and its seats, thelatter, according to our plan, numbering no less than87,000. The region received its name of Isis and

^ The ancient Porta Capena lay below the present Villa Mattel.(Canina's Roma Antica, on this region.) The boundaries of Region I.are not exactly ascertained. The name of the Almo (now Acquataccio),has given rise to the opinion that it extended beyond the wall ofAurelian. The ancient Temple of Mars, the most celebrated sanctuaryof this region, undoubtedly stood extra portam Capenam,

^ The Anonymus of Einsiedeln of the eighth century says : ArcusConstantini. Meta sttdante. Caput Africa. Quatuor Coronati, TheCaput AfriccB is mentioned in inscriptions of Imperial times, the mostancient of which belongs to the year 198, C. I. and VI. 1052. Thevicus Capitis Africm received its name from an immense building,apparently the Psedagogium of the Imperial pages. Giuseppe Gatti,Del Caput Afrtc


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32 HISTORY OF ROME^ Serapis from its most important temple,^ of which,however, there remained no more trace than of theMoneta, the Imperial mint in the same quarter,the Ludus Magnus and Ludus Dacicus, gymnasiaof the gladiators, the Camp of the Marines fromMisenum {Castra Misenatuni), and the Portico ofLivia.2 We only recognise from their ruins theBaths of Titus and Trajan, which the registers placeclose by. It is, however, uncertain whether thesemagnificent baths, first built by Titus over a part ofthe Golden House of Nero and afterwards continuedby Trajan, were still in use in the time of Honorius,when people were accustomed to frequent the Bathsof Diocletian, Constantine and Caracalla. Meanwhile,the Roman could wander in the most luxuriousapartments, he could admire the group of theLaocoon in its original position, and enjoy theexquisite paintings which relieved the gloomy severityof the halls and baths with the cheerful light ofimagination.^

IV. Region The fourth region adjoined the amphitheatre, andPads!^""^ stretched as far as the Roman Forum, to the Forumof the Emperors, and, over the street of the Suburra,

to the Carinae. This region first took its name from^ An attempt has been made to discover the site of the temple by

the present church of S. Pietro e Marcellino, Preller, Die RegionenRom's, V. 124 ; Fea, MiscelL, i. 222.

2 A further fragment of marble belonging to the celebrated Capitolineplan of the city, bearing the words PORTICUS. LIVI^, wasdiscovered beside S. Cosma and Damiano in the summer of 1867.

^ The ThermEe Titianse et Traianse occupy the space extending fromthe Colosseum to S. Martino ai Monti, and to them also belonged thehuge ruin named " Sette Sale."


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 33the Via Sacra, then from the Temple of Peace ; butthe plans no longer mention this celebrated buildingof Vespasian. Burnt by lightning in 240, it everafterwards remained in ruins. Close to the amphi-theatre rose Domitian's fountain, the Meta Sudans,the brick base of which still stands erect in the formof a cone ; also the renowned Colossus of Zenodorus,once dedicated to Nero, and placed by Hadrianbeneath his great twofold Temple of Roma andVenus. This sumptuous building, with its immenseCorinthian pillars and gilt roof, was ever counted oneof the chief ornaments of Rome. The fourth regiondisplayed a rare magnificence of buildings, con-spicuous above all in the freshness of its splendouron the Via Sacra being the Basilica Nova, built byMaxentius, but inaugurated by Constantine, themighty ruins of which were long erroneously supposedto be those of the Temple of Peace. The registersname the Temple of Jupiter Stator, the Temple ofFaustina, the Basilica of Paul, the Forum Transi-torium. Of this last-named Forum, the beautifulremains of one of the halls dedicated to Minerva arestill standing,! 'pj^e registers also speak of theTemple of Tellus, the street of the Suburra, even theTigillum Sororium on the Vicus Cyprius, that monu-

^ Vespasian had dedicated the Templum Pacis after the Jewish War.In the time of Procopius its remains were still to be seen beside theBasiUca of Maxentius. The surrounding space was known as Forumpacis : ^y ^opou "Elp-^vrjs Ka\ov(Ti'PQ}fia7oi' iuravda yap ttt) 6 ttjs Elpiij/ijsvahs Kepavv6^\7}TOS yev6fAUos ^K TraKatov KeTraiDe Bello Gotk.,iv. 21, 570 (Bonner's edition). The Notitia cites in good order:^dem Jovis Statoris, Viam Sacram, Basihcam Constantinianam,Templum Faustinse, Basilicam Pauli, Forum Transitorium.

VOL. I. C


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34 HISTORY OF ROMEment to the memory of Horatius and the sisterwhom he murdered, which the Romans then guardedas jealously as they did the sacred House of Romuluson the Palatine, and the fabulous Boat of ^neas onthe bank of the river by the Aventine.

V. Region In the fifth region we are led to the Esquiline andEsqum^. p^^^ ^^ ^^^ Viminal hill with the Lake Orphei, areservoir of water adorned with the statue ofOrpheus ; ^the Macellum Livianum, a great provision market forthe necessaries of the people laid out by Augustus ; ^and the Nyraphseum of Alexander, a huge fountainwith a magnificent fagade erected by AlexanderSeverus.^ Beyond the station of the Second Cohortof Guards are the Gardens of Pallas, the well-knownfreedman of Claudius ; the SuUan Temple of Hercules,the Castrensian Amphitheatre, the Campus Viminalis,the Temple of Minerva Medica, and a sanctuary toIsis Patricia. This last must have stood on themost beautiful street of the quarter, the VicusPatricius, where also were situated the Thermae ofNovatus, mentioned in the history of the first centuryof Christian Rome. The whole district of theEsquiline, Viminal and part of the Quirinal wasmainly inhabited by a population of the lowest class,for whom the Emperors in later times providedpleasure-grounds and baths. The registers do not

^ From the fact that S. Lucia in Selce also bore the surname inOrfeo, we may infer that the fountain stood in the neighbourhood ofthe church.2 Where S. Maria Maggiore and S. Vito now stand.

The Nymphreum Alexandri stood, as it appears, in the neighbour-hood of the Trofei di Mario. (Pump-room of the Aqua Julia). TheAnon, of Einsiedeln says : Saizctus Vitus. Nympheum. Sancta Biviana.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 35mention the Thermae of Oiympias on the Viminalover the Suburra, but the martyrologies transfer tothem the death of S. Lawrence, and tradition assertsthat on their site the ancient church of S. Lorenzoin Panisperna was erected.The last baths of Rome are found in the sixth vi. Regionr^on, Alta Semita. They bore the name of a street semita,supposed to have led from the Quirinal to the PortaNomentana In this region the registers also give

the ancient and beautiful Temple of Salus on theQuirinal, and the Temple of Flora near the Capito-lium Antiquum. This was the first of the Capitols,namely, the renowned temple ascribed to Numa onthe summit of the hill, in the triple cellae of whichstood the statues of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.That this, the original prototype of the later TarpeianCapitol, remained standing in the fifth century, is oneof the most remarkable facts recorded in the Notitia,The Temple of Quirinus is further represented asintact. This was one of the most beautiful sanctuariesof the city, magnifi^cently restored by Augustus.Doubtless the Colonnade of Quirinus was still in use,as there is an epigram of Martial in its honour, andthe leaden statue of Mamurus Veturius seems to havebeen preserved not far from the temple which was thework of this metal-smith, the artist of the Ancilianshields.! -phe registers then lead us between theTemple of Quirinus and the Thermse of Constantine.

^ ThQ LiberPimtificaiis^ " VitaInnocenti,"n. 58, speak&ofa^c/fiM???juxta templum Mamtiri and clwum Mamuri (probably beside S.Susanna, near the Gardens of Sallust) ; whence Becker and Prellerconclude that there the Statua Mamuri must have also stood.


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36 HISTORY OF ROMEThese immense baths were, however, the last whicharose in Pagan Romethe last great building in thespirit of antiquityand with it closes the long list ofworks dedicated by the Emperors to the use of thepopulace. In the time of Honorius and his successorsthe celebrated twin Colossi of Horse-tamers stood infront of these baths. The building itself must havebeen in a ruinous condition,^ damaged probably inl^^j, during the revolt against the Prefect Lampadius,whose palace was close by. It was, however, restoredby Perpenna in 443.

In the same region, on a still larger scale, were theThermae of Diocletian on the Viminal, the largest incircumference of any baths in Rome, and, exceptthose of Caracalla, the most frequented. They werestanding in undisturbed splendour in the time ofHonorius, but even then were regarded by theChristians of Rome with pious aversion, from the factthat Diocletian had employed many thousands ofChristian prisoners in their construction. They werenevertheless in use, and universally admired becauseof their lavish decoration in marble and painting,their costly colonnades and halls adorned withmosaics. Olympiodorus reckons about 2400 placesfor baths in the chambers.^

^ The reader will find in the third vol. of the present history thelegend of the Equi, or Caballi Martnorei, which gave their nameto a district. The church of S. Agatha was also known as in EquoMarmoreo.

2 According to Olympiodorus {apud Photium, 198), the AntonineBaths possessed 1200 marble seats, those of Diocletian almost doublethe number. The topographers place the latter baths now on theViminal, now on the Esquiline, or Quirinal. The truth is that all


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. ^JNo less celebrated were the Gardens of Sallust,

which extended from the Quirinal to the grounds ofthe Pincio, and to the Salarian Gate. These gardenswere a favourite resort of the Emperors Nerva andAurelian, and contained not only lovely pleasure-grounds, but a circus, baths, temples, and colonnades.The Notitia speaks of them : they were the firstbuildings of Rome which were destroyed five yearsafter the triumph of Honorius. In the neighbourhoodof these gardens the Malum Punicum and the so-called Gens Flavia seem to have stood. The nameof this quarter, " Pomegranate,'' may have been takenfrom some statue or tree, and here Domitian trans-formed his house into a temple and a mausoleum forthe Flavian family.^As the Gardens of Sallust formed the boundary of

the sixth region towards the Pincian Gate, so theCastra Pretoria marks its confines towards the PortaSalara and Porta Nomentana. The Curiosum doesnot mention the Camp of the Pretorians on the Tiber,for it had already been destroyed by Constantine.^With the seventh region we descend into the valley yn.

towards the Field of Mars. It was called the Via \^^^^^Lata from the street which corresponds to the lowerthree hills joined each other on the spot on which these baths werebuilt. A church to S. Ciriacus had early been constructed withinthem ; Ciriacus and Sisinnius having been among the number ofChristians who laboured in their construction. Since the pontificateof Pius the Fourth, the beautiful church of S. Maria degli Angeli hasstood within the Baths.^ The site of the Temple of the Gens Flavia was that on whichstands the present palace of the Ministry of Finance.

^ The Notitia only mentions this camp as a landmark.


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38 HISTORY OF ROMEpart of the present Corso. The Notitia here mentionsa triumphal arch, " Arcus Novus," which appears tohave been erected by Diocletian, and to have stoodat the point where the Via Lata changes into theFlaminian Way. But the greatest ornament of thisregion was Aurelian's Temple of the Sun, on theslope of the Quirinal hill, a gigantic building ofeastern magnificence, which must then have beenintact, but which was destroyed as early as the sixthcentury.1 Beneath it lay the Field of Agrippa, aspace adorned with halls and pleasure-grounds.Other porticos (Gypsiani and Constantini), theForum Suarium or Pig Market, and Gardens (theHorti Largiani) show that this low-lying quartermust have been an animated resort of the populace.

VIII. The eighth and most famous region, called theFomm Forum Romanum, represents the true centre ofRomanum. Roman history ; in it the greatness of the Empire

is reflected in innumerable monuments, temples,columns, statues, triumphal arches, rostra andbasilicas.

Upon the Capitol, the buildings of which theNotitia does not mention by name, but only collec-tively under the head Capitolium, stood enthronedthe sanctuary of Rome, namely, the Temple of Jupiter.

^ To this building belong the colossal ruins in the Colonna Gardens.Fea, Sulle Rovine di Roma, p. 302, remarks that this temple was inruins as early as the sixth century, that eight of its porphyry columnshad fallen by inheritance to a widow, who presented them to theEmperor Justinian for the new church of S. Sophia in Constantinople,Codinus, De orig. Const. ^ p. 65; and Anon., "De structura temp,magnse Dei Eccl. S. Sophise " in P. Combefis, Origin, rerumq. Con-stantin.^ p. 244.


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IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 39It is this building that confers upon the Capitol itstitle of " the golden," and from which is apparently-derived the appellation, " Aurea Urbs/' still in use inthe Middle Ages. Its roof was covered with giltmetal tiles, the bases and capitals of its columnswere gilt, and it was adorned with gilt statues andmonuments. The gates also were of gilt bronze.That the temple was still perfect in the time ofHonorius, Claudian himself informs us, and Procopiusconclusively establishes the fact.^ The Capitol, thehoary head of Rome, however, must already have worna bare and neglected aspect after Christianity had pro-scribed the temples and sanctuaries of her religion.

Descending by the Clivus Capitolinus, the path ofthe Triumphators towards the Forumwe are dealingwith the time of Hon

gregrorovius, ferdinand - rome in the middle ages i

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