Volume 6 Part 41 (2/2)
Hoc dixisse sat est, Romam caruisee Senatu Mensibus exactis heu s.e.x; belloque vocatum (_vocatos_) In scelus, in socios fraternaque vulnera patres; Tormentis jecisse viros immania saxa; Perfodisse domus trabibus, fecisse ruinas Ignibus; incensas turres, obscuraque fumo Lumina vicino, quo sit spoliata supellex.]
[Footnote 46: Muratori (Dissertazione sopra le Antiquita Italiane, tom.
i. p. 427--431) finds that stone bullets of two or three hundred pounds'
weight were not uncommon; and they are sometimes computed at xii. or xviii _cantari_ of Genoa, each _cantaro_ weighing 150 pounds.]
[Footnote 47: The vith law of the Visconti prohibits this common and mischievous practice; and strictly enjoins, that the houses of banished citizens should be preserved pro communi utilitate, (Gualvancus de la Flamma in Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xii. p. 1041.)]
[Footnote 48: Petrarch thus addresses his friend, who, with shame and tears had shown him the mnia, lacerae specimen miserable Romae, and declared his own intention of restoring them, (Carmina Latina, l. ii.
epist. Paulo Annibalensi, xii. p. 97, 98.)
Nec te parva manet servatis fama ruinis Quanta quod integrae fuit olim gloria Romae Reliquiae testantur adhuc; quas longior aetas Frangere non valuit; non vis aut ira cruenti Hostis, ab egregiis franguntur civibus, heu! heu'
--------Quod _ille_ nequivit (_Hannibal_.) Perficit hic aries.]
[Footnote 481: Bunsen has shown that the hostile attacks of the emperor Henry the Fourth, but more particularly that of Robert Guiscard, who burned down whole districts, inflicted the worst damage on the ancient city Vol. i. p. 247.--M.]
Chapter LXXI: Prospect Of The Ruins Of Rome In The Fifteenth Century.--Part II
These general observations may be separately applied to the amphitheatre of t.i.tus, which has obtained the name of the Coliseum, [49] either from its magnitude, or from Nero's colossal statue; an edifice, had it been left to time and nature, which might perhaps have claimed an eternal duration. The curious antiquaries, who have computed the numbers and seats, are disposed to believe, that above the upper row of stone steps the amphitheatre was encircled and elevated with several stages of wooden galleries, which were repeatedly consumed by fire, and restored by the emperors. Whatever was precious, or portable, or profane, the statues of G.o.ds and heroes, and the costly ornaments of sculpture which were cast in bra.s.s, or overspread with leaves of silver and gold, became the first prey of conquest or fanaticism, of the avarice of the Barbarians or the Christians. In the ma.s.sy stones of the Coliseum, many holes are discerned; and the two most probable conjectures represent the various accidents of its decay. These stones were connected by solid links of bra.s.s or iron, nor had the eye of rapine overlooked the value of the baser metals; [50] the vacant s.p.a.ce was converted into a fair or market; the artisans of the Coliseum are mentioned in an ancient survey; and the chasms were perforated or enlarged to receive the poles that supported the shops or tents of the mechanic trades. [51] Reduced to its naked majesty, the Flavian amphitheatre was contemplated with awe and admiration by the pilgrims of the North; and their rude enthusiasm broke forth in a sublime proverbial expression, which is recorded in the eighth century, in the fragments of the venerable Bede: ”As long as the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome will fall; when Rome falls, the world will fall.” [52] In the modern system of war, a situation commanded by three hills would not be chosen for a fortress; but the strength of the walls and arches could resist the engines of a.s.sault; a numerous garrison might be lodged in the enclosure; and while one faction occupied the Vatican and the Capitol, the other was intrenched in the Lateran and the Coliseum. [53]
[Footnote 49: The fourth part of the Verona Ill.u.s.trata of the marquis Maffei professedly treats of amphitheatres, particularly those of Rome and Verona, of their dimensions, wooden galleries, &c. It is from magnitude that he derives the name of _Colosseum_, or _Coliseum_; since the same appellation was applied to the amphitheatre of Capua, without the aid of a colossal statue; since that of Nero was erected in the court (_in atrio_) of his palace, and not in the Coliseum, (P. iv. p.
15--19, l. i. c. 4.)]
[Footnote 50: Joseph Maria Suares, a learned bishop, and the author of a history of Praeneste, has composed a separate dissertation on the seven or eight probable causes of these holes, which has been since reprinted in the Roman Thesaurus of Sallengre. Montfaucon (Diarium, p. 233) p.r.o.nounces the rapine of the Barbarians to be the unam germanamque causam foraminum. * Note: The improbability of this theory is shown by Bunsen, vol. i. p. 239.--M.]
[Footnote 51: Donatus, Roma Vetus et Nova, p. 285.
Note: Gibbon has followed Donatus, who supposes that a silk manufactory was established in the xiith century in the Coliseum. The Bandonarii, or Bandererii, were the officers who carried the standards of their _school_ before the pope. Hobhouse, p. 269.--M.]
[Footnote 52: Quamdiu stabit Colyseus, stabit et Roma; quando cadet Coly seus, cadet Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus, (Beda in Excerptis seu Collectaneis apud Ducange Glossar. Med. et Infimae Latinitatis, tom. ii. p. 407, edit. Basil.) This saying must be ascribed to the Anglo-Saxon pilgrims who visited Rome before the year 735 the aera of Bede's death; for I do not believe that our venerable monk ever pa.s.sed the sea.]
[Footnote 53: I cannot recover, in Muratori's original Lives of the Popes, (Script Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i.,) the pa.s.sage that attests this hostile part.i.tion, which must be applied to the end of the xiith or the beginning of the xiith century. * Note: ”The division is mentioned in Vit. Innocent. Pap. II. ex Cardinale Aragonio, (Script.
Rer. Ital. vol. iii. P. i. p. 435,) and Gibbon might have found frequent other records of it at other dates.” Hobhouse's Ill.u.s.trations of Childe Harold. p. 130.--M.]
The abolition at Rome of the ancient games must be understood with some lat.i.tude; and the carnival sports, of the Testacean mount and the Circus Agonalis, [54] were regulated by the law [55] or custom of the city. The senator presided with dignity and pomp to adjudge and distribute the prizes, the gold ring, or the _pallium_, [56] as it was styled, of cloth or silk. A tribute on the Jews supplied the annual expense; [57] and the races, on foot, on horseback, or in chariots, were enn.o.bled by a tilt and tournament of seventy-two of the Roman youth. In the year one thousand three hundred and thirty-two, a bull-feast, after the fas.h.i.+on of the Moors and Spaniards, was celebrated in the Coliseum itself; and the living manners are painted in a diary of the times. [58] A convenient order of benches was restored; and a general proclamation, as far as Rimini and Ravenna, invited the n.o.bles to exercise their skill and courage in this perilous adventure. The Roman ladies were marshalled in three squadrons, and seated in three balconies, which, on this day, the third of September, were lined with scarlet cloth. The fair Jacova di Rovere led the matrons from beyond the Tyber, a pure and native race, who still represent the features and character of antiquity. The remainder of the city was divided as usual between the Colonna and Ursini: the two factions were proud of the number and beauty of their female bands: the charms of Savella Ursini are mentioned with praise; and the Colonna regretted the absence of the youngest of their house, who had sprained her ankle in the garden of Nero's tower. The lots of the champions were drawn by an old and respectable citizen; and they descended into the arena, or pit, to encounter the wild bulls, on foot as it should seem, with a single spear. Amidst the crowd, our annalist has selected the names, colors, and devices, of twenty of the most conspicuous knights. Several of the names are the most ill.u.s.trious of Rome and the ecclesiastical state: Malatesta, Polenta, della Valle, Cafarello, Savelli, Capoccio, Conti, Annibaldi, Altieri, Corsi: the colors were adapted to their taste and situation; the devices are expressive of hope or despair, and breathe the spirit of gallantry and arms. ”I am alone, like the youngest of the Horatii,” the confidence of an intrepid stranger: ”I live disconsolate,” a weeping widower: ”I burn under the ashes,” a discreet lover: ”I adore Lavinia, or Lucretia,” the ambiguous declaration of a modern pa.s.sion: ”My faith is as pure,” the motto of a white livery: ”Who is stronger than myself?” of a lion's hide: ”If am drowned in blood, what a pleasant death!” the wish of ferocious courage. The pride or prudence of the Ursini restrained them from the field, which was occupied by three of their hereditary rivals, whose inscriptions denoted the lofty greatness of the Colonna name: ”Though sad, I am strong:” ”Strong as I am great:” ”If I fall,”
addressing himself to the spectators, ”you fall with me;”--intimating (says the contemporary writer) that while the other families were the subjects of the Vatican, they alone were the supporters of the Capitol.
The combats of the amphitheatre were dangerous and b.l.o.o.d.y. Every champion successively encountered a wild bull; and the victory may be ascribed to the quadrupeds, since no more than eleven were left on the field, with the loss of nine wounded and eighteen killed on the side of their adversaries. Some of the n.o.blest families might mourn, but the pomp of the funerals, in the churches of St. John Lateran and St. Maria Maggiore, afforded a second holiday to the people. Doubtless it was not in such conflicts that the blood of the Romans should have been shed; yet, in blaming their rashness, we are compelled to applaud their gallantry; and the n.o.ble volunteers, who display their magnificence, and risk their lives, under the balconies of the fair, excite a more generous sympathy than the thousands of captives and malefactors who were reluctantly dragged to the scene of slaughter. [59]
[Footnote 54: Although the structure of the circus Agonalis be destroyed, it still retains its form and name, (Agona, Nagona, Navona;) and the interior s.p.a.ce affords a sufficient level for the purpose of racing. But the Monte Testaceo, that strange pile of broken pottery, seems only adapted for the annual practice of hurling from top to bottom some wagon-loads of live hogs for the diversion of the populace, (Statuta Urbis Romae, p. 186.)]
[Footnote 55: See the Statuta Urbis Romae, l. iii. c. 87, 88, 89, p. 185, 186. I have already given an idea of this munic.i.p.al code. The races of Nagona and Monte Testaceo are likewise mentioned in the Diary of Peter Antonius from 1404 to 1417, (Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom.
xxiv. p. 1124.)]
[Footnote 56: The _Pallium_, which Menage so foolishly derives from _Palmarius_, is an easy extension of the idea and the words, from the robe or cloak, to the materials, and from thence to their application as a prize, (Muratori, dissert. x.x.xiii.)]
[Footnote 57: For these expenses, the Jews of Rome paid each year 1130 florins, of which the odd thirty represented the pieces of silver for which Judas had betrayed his Master to their ancestors. There was a foot-race of Jewish as well as of Christian youths, (Statuta Urbis, ibidem.)]
[Footnote 58: This extraordinary bull-feast in the Coliseum is described, from tradition rather than memory, by Ludovico Buonconte Monaldesco, on the most ancient fragments of Roman annals, (Muratori, Script Rerum Italicarum, tom. xii. p. 535, 536;) and however fanciful they may seem, they are deeply marked with the colors of truth and nature.]
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