Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER IV.

WANDERINGS AMONG ROMAN RUINS.

The Arch of Titus - The Colosseum - The Meta Sudans- Arch of Constantine - Ruins of Nero's Golden House - Baths of Caracalla-Baths of Titus-Temple of Minerva Medica-Baths of Diocletian - Forum Boarium - Arch of Janus - Forum of Nerva -Trajan's Forum - Column of Trajan-Temple of Vesta.

PASSING beyond the limits of the Roman Forum, a few steps from its southern line, and on your left as you approach the Arch of Titus - massive fragments of walls— broken columns, and sculptured cornices, lie scattered about in all directions. Above these shattered relics, three huge arches seventy-five feet in the span each, darken the earth with their shadow. These colossal arches have long served as a model to architects for all the larger Churches in Rome. They passed for a long period, and by some are still called the Ruins of the Temple of Peace; but they are the last remains of the Basilica erected by Maxentius, completed and partially rebuilt by Constantine, and now called the Basilica of Constantine. A small portion of the original building only remains; but these parts of it are on a prodigious scale. If one would form a perfect conception of the original splendor of this structure, let him go and view the vast and elegant proportions of the column that stands in front of the Church of St. Maria Maggiore. It once formed one of the eight pillars which supported the central arches of this ancient Basilica. Canina calculates the entire length of this Temple or Basilica, to have been over three hundred feet, while its width exceeded two hundred. It once no doubt was the

most magnificent structure of the age in which it was reared. But now, with its bosom thrown open to the winds, it gathers in its deep coffers the driving dust and chaff-while the sparrow and the linnet nestle in the spring of its tremendous arches.

Continuing on, along the Sacra Via, that passes by this Basilica, in a few moments you find yourself beneath the Arch of Titus. It stands at the foot of the Palatine Hill, on the road leading from the Forum to the Colosseum. It was just falling to ruin, when in the beginning of this century an outside casing of white marble restored it to its original proportions, and has been the means of preserving the interior of the Arch, and the interesting sculptures that adorn it. This Arch was erected by the Senate and People of Rome, to commemorate the triumph which followed the taking of Jerusalem by Titus. You read the old Roman inscription,

"Senatus Popvlusqve Romanvs
Divo Tito. Divi Vespasiani F.
Vespasiano Augusto."

as distinctly as if it had been only carved yesterday. From the expression Divo Tito, it appears that it was not erected until after his death, which the apotheosis of the Emperor, still represented on the roof of the arch would also seem to indicate. The inside of the arch is elaborately decorated with sunk square pannelings. On one of the interior walls is a bas-relief, representing this Emperor celebrating his triumph over the Jews. He is in a chariot drawn by four horses abreast, attended by a group of Senators, and accompanied by a figure of Victory, who holds a wreath over his head. On the opposite side of the Arch, are the famous reliefs, representing the sacred vessels

taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, and carried in the triumphal procession by the victorious Romans. First is a standard bearer leading the way under a triumphal arch. Eight Romans follow, with wreaths around their brows, bearing the table of the shew bread-the golden candlestick, the vessel of incense, and the two trumpets, used to proclaim the year of jubilee. The seven-branched candlestick, is represented as very richly embossed. Judging from the size of the men, this candlestick must have been some six feet in height. The lower parts of the human figures are very much mutilated and defaced, but the upper parts are in a wonderful state of preservation. The sacred vessels themselves, from which the ancient artist copied these interesting reliefs, have long since disappeared. Their history can be traced down to a late period; but what finally became of them, perhaps can never be satisfactorily ascertained. Josephus says, that the Books of the Law, were placed in the Palace at Rome, and the candlestick and other spoils were kept in the Temple of Peace, which stood originally very near, and almost in a line with the present Arch. When the Temple of Peace was burnt in the reign of Commodus, these treasures it is said, were not destroyed, but carried off by Genseric the Goth, into Africa, after which no traces of them can be had. It is true that the Romish Church professes to preserve the Ark of the Covenant in the Church of St. John Lateran; but as Josephus says it was never brought to Rome, it may be that they sent a special messenger after it in the time of Constantine, when the Scala Santa, the portions of the true Cross, and other equally veritable relics found their way, through the zeal of Helena, to the Eternal City.

The Sacred Temple of the Jews, from which these vessels were torn, and of which the bas-reliefs are no doubt accurate representations, has been overthrown and is trodden under foot of the Gentiles. Looking at that representation of the triumphal procession, bearing along in sad array God's chosen people, the mind instinctively recalls the sound and utterance of that dread voice from Mount Necho:."when ye do evil in the sight of the Lord, he shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall send you." The Roman general was blind to the great results he was accomplishing, when he left not one stone upon another of the magnificent Jewish Temple. Nor did he discern the hand leading his captives, as the triumphal procession swept up the very path, now spanned by the graceful Arch. The descendants of these very captive Jews may still be seen in Rome, a despised, and a degraded race. But who doubts, that the promise is still theirs, and their habitation an appointed one.

Having emerged from the shade of the Arch of Titus, and passing down the pathway leading along the base of the Palatine Mount, through which, above the earth, like the bones of an emaciated figure peeping through the flesh, are to be seen the fragments of the Palace of the Cæsars; the immense mass of the Colosseum startles you by its magnitude. It was first bathed with the tears of captive Jews, who assisted in laying its massive foundations, while its arena has been stained with the blood of martyrs, gladiators, and wild beasts. It covers an area whose circumference is nearly two thousand feet. The wall encompassing its ellipse towers to the astonishing elevation of one hundred and sixty-five feet. It is constructed of

Y

huge blocks of travertine, some of which are fully six feet long, five and a half broad, and nearly three feet thick. Upon the marble seats that once adorned its sides, eightyseven thousand people could be comfortably seated, while twenty thousand more could find room above. Comparing the present appearance of this structure with what it must have been formerly, it will be found, that immense as it is, two thirds of the stone that composed it, is actually gone. It is said to have suffered by earthquakes, and for a long while was a vast stone quarry for some of the builders of modern Rome. The Palazzo Farnese, that of Venice, and the Cancellaria, as well as the Porto di Ripetta, and the Churches of S. Lorenzo, and S. Agostino, are known to have been built from it. In the fury of the civil contentions that deluged Rome with blood during the middle ages, the leaders of the different factions, found in this. colossal structure a number of strong fortresses. Soon after the civil wars its materials were used to make lime, and so in one way or the other, the Vandals of modern times have endeavored by pillage, by leaguer and storm to mutilate and destroy; and earthquakes too have spent their fruitless rage upon it—and yet it stands, and seems likely to confer upon the famous saying of the venerable Bede, the dignity of a prophecy. The pillage is now at an end, and the whole consecrated by the ungainly looking cross, which erected in the centre of the arena, holds out for every kiss, an indulgence of two hundred days. The innermost circle of the arena, is very much marred by the sacred stations, in which the different events in the passion of our Saviour, are painted most vilely.

Never did human art present to the eye a fabric so well calculated by its form and size, to surprise and delight. Viewed as an abstract mass, it tells of the masters of the

« PreviousContinue »