of the laws; and the factions of Italy alternately exercised a C H A P, blind and thoughtless vengeance on their adverfaries, whofe LXXI. houfes and cafties they razed to the ground (47). In comparing the days of foreign, with the ages of domestic, hoftility, we must pronounce, that the latter have been far more ruinous to the city, and our opinion is confirmed by the evidence of Petrarch. "Behold, fays the laureat," the re❝lics of Rome, the image of her priftine greatness ! nei"ther time nor the Barbarian can boaft the merit of this ftupendous deftruction: it was perpetrated by her own "citizens, by the moft illuftrious of her fons; and your ancestors (he writes to a noble Annibaldi) have done with "the battering-ram, what the Punic hero could not accomplish with the fword (48)." The influence of the two laft principles of decay muft in fome degree be multiplied by each other; fince the houses and towers, which were fubverted by civil war, required a new and perpetual supply from the monuments of antiquity.....

1

um or am-"

These general obfervations may be feparately applied to The Colifethe amphitheatre of Titus, which has obtained the name of phitheatre the COLISEUM (49), either from its magnitude or from of Titus. Nero's coloffal ftatue : au 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 feats, are difpofed to believe, that above the upper row of ftone steps, the amphitheatre was encircled and elevated with feveral stages of wooden galleries, which were repeatedly confumed by fire, and restored by the emperors. Whatever was precious, or portable or profane,

the

(47) The 6th law of the Visconti prohibits this common and mischievous practice; and strictly enjoins, that the houses of banished citizens fhould be preferved pro communi utilitate (Gualvaneus de la Fiamma, in Muratori, Script, Rerum Italicarum, tom. xii. p. 1041.)

(48) Petrarch thus addreffes his friend, who, with fhame and tears, had fhewn him the moenia, laceræ fpecimen miferabile Romæ, and declared his own intention of restoring them (Carmina Latina, 1. ij, epifi. Paulo Annibalenfi, xii. p. 97, 98.1;

Nec te parva manet fervatis fama ruinis

Quanta quod integræ fuit olim gloria Koma
Reliquiæ teftantur adhuc ; quas longior ætas
Frangere non valuit; non vis aut ira cruenti

Hoftis, ab egregiis franguntur civibus heu! heu !

(49) The fourth part of the Verona Illuftrata of the Marquis Maffei, profeffedly treats of amphitheatres, particularly thofe of Rome and Verona, of their dimensions, wooden galleries, &c. It is from magnitude that he de. rives the name of Coloseum, or Coliseum fince the fame appellation was ap❤ plied to the amphitheatre of Capua, without the aid of a coloffal ftatue; fince that of Nero was erected in the court (in atria) of his palace, and not in the Coliseum (P. iv. p. 15—19. l. i. c. 4.),

CHA P. the statues of gods and heroes, and the coftly ornaments of LXXI. fculpture, which were caft in brafs, or overfpread with leaves

of filver and gold, became the first prey of conqueft or fanaticism, of the avarice of the Barbarians or the Chriftians, In the maffy ftones of the Coliseum, many holes are difcerned; and the two most probable conje&tures represent the various accidents of its decay. These ftones were connected by folid links of brafs or iron, nor had the eye of rapine overlooked the value of the bafer metals (50): the vacant space was converted into a fair or market; the artifans of the Coliseum are mentioned in an ancient survey; and the chafms were perforated or enlarged to receive the poles that fupported 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 fublime proverbial expreffion, which is recorded in the eighth century, in the fragments of the venerable Bede : "As long as the Coliseum ftands, Rome "fhall ftand; when the Colifeum falls, Rome will fall;

when Rome falls, the world will fall (52)." In the modern fyftem of war, a fituation commanded by the three hills would not be chofen for a fortrefs; but the ftrength of the walls and arches could refift the engines of affault; a numerous garrifon 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). Games of The abolition at Rome of the ancient games must be understood with fome latitude; and the carnival sports, of the Teftacean mount and the Circus Agonalis (54), were regulated

Rome.

(50) Jofeph Maria Suarés, a learned bishop, and the author of an history of Prænefte, has compofed à separate differtation on the feven or eight pro bable caufes of thefe holes, which has been fince reprinted in the Roman Thefaurus of Sallengre. Montfaucon (Diarium, p. 233.) pronounces the rapine of the Barbarians to be the unam germanamque caufam foraminum. (1) Donatus, Roma Vetus et Nova, p. 235.

(52) Quamdiu ftabit Colyfeus, ftabit ct Roma; quando cadet Colyfeus, cadet Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus (Beda in Excerptis feu Collectaneis apud Ducange Gloffar, med, et infimæ Latinitatis, tom, ii, p. 407. edit. Bafil). This faying must be ascribed to the Anglo-Saxon pilgrims whọ visited Rome before the year 735, the æra of Bede's death 3 for I do not believe that our venerable monk ever paffed the fea.

(53) I cannot recover in Muratori's original Lives of the Popes (Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i.) the paffage that attefts this hoftile partition, which must be applied to the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century.

(54) Although the ftructure of the Circus Agonalis be deftroyed, it ftill retains its form and name (Agona, Nagona, Navona) and the interior space affords a fufficient level for the purpose of racing. But the Monte Teftaceo, that ftrange pile of broken pottery, feems only adapted for the annual prac tice of hurling from top to bottom fome waggon-loads of live hogs for the diverfion of the populace (Statuta Urbis Roma, p. 186.).

18

regulated by the law (55) or custom of the city. The fe. CHA P.
nator prefided with dignity and pomp to adjudge and dif. LXXI.
tribute the prizes, the gold ring, or the pallium (56), as it
was ftyled, of cloth or filk. A tribute on the Jews fupplied
the annual expence (57); and the races, on foot, on horse-
back, or in chariots, were ennobled by a tilt and tourna
ment of seventy-two of the Roman youth. In the year one
thousand three hundred and thirty-two, a bull-feast, after
the fashion 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 nobles to exercise their skill and
courage in this perilous adventure. The Roman ladies
were marshalled in three fquadrons, and feated in three bal-
conies, 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 ufual between the
Colonna and Urfini: the two factions were proud of the
number and beauty of their female bands: the charms of
Savella Urfini are mentioned with praife; and the Colon-
nja regretted the abfence of the youngest of their house, who
had fprained her ancle in the garden of Nero's tower. The
lots of the champions were drawn by an old and respectable
citizen; and they defcended into the arena, or pit, to en-
counter the wild-bulls, on foot as it should seem, with a fin-
gle fpear. Amidst the crowd, our annalist has felected the
names, colours, and devices, of twenty of the most con-
fpicuous knights. Several of the names are the most illuf-
trious of Rome and the ecclefiaftical state; Malatesta, Po-
lenta, della Valle, Cafarello, Savelli, Capocio, Conti, An-
nibaldi, Altieri, Corfi; the colours were adapted to their
taste and fituation; the devices are expreffive of hope or

despair

(55) See the Statuta Urbis Romæ, 1. iii. c. 87, 88, 89, p. 185, 186. I have already given an idea of this municipal code. The races of Nagona and Monte Teftaceo are likewise mentioned in the Diary of Peter Antonius from 1404 to 1417 (Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xxiv. p. 1124.).

(56) Pallium, which Menage fo foolishly derives from Palmarium, is an easy extenfion of the idea and the words, from the robe or cloak, to the materials, and from thence to their application as a prize (Muratori, differt, xxxiii.).

(57) For thefe expences, the Jews of Rome paid each year 1130 florins, of
which the odd thirty reprefented the piece of filver for which Judas had be-
trayed his master to their ancestors. There was a foot-race of Jewish, as well
as of Chriftian youths (Statuta Urbis, ibidem).

(58) This extraordinary buil feaft in the Coliseum, is described from tra-
'dition, rather than memory, by Ludovico Buonconte Monaldefco, in the
moft ancient fragments of Roman annals (Muratori, Script. Rerum Itali-
carum, tom. xii. p. 535, 536.): and however fanciful they may seem they
are deeply marked with the colours of truth and nature.

CHA P. despair, and breathe the spirit of gallantry and arms.

LXXI.

Injuries.

" I "am alone, like the youngest of the Horatii," the confidence of an intrepid ftranger: "I live difconfolate," a weeping widower: I burn under the afhes," a discreet lover: 66 I adore Lavinia, or Lucretia," the ambiguous declaration of a modern paffion : "My faith is as pure," the motto of a white livery: "Who is ftronger than my"felf?" of a lion's hide : "If I am drowned in blood, "what a pleafant death," the wifh of ferocious courage. The pride or prudence of the Urfini reftrained them from the field, which was occupied by three of their hereditary rivals, whofe infcriptions denoted the lofty greatness of the Colonna name : Though fad, I am ftrong:" "Strong " as I am great:" "If I fall," addreffing himself to the fpe&tators, you fall with me:"-intimating (fays the contemporary writer) that while the other families were the fubjects of the Vatican, they alone were the fupporters of the Capitol. The combats of the amphitheatre were dangerous and bloody. Every champion fucceffively encountered a wild bull; and the victory may be afcribed to the quadrupedes, fince no more than eleven were left on the field, with the lofs of nine wounded and eighteen killed on the fide of their adverfaries. Some of the nobleft families might mourn, but the pomp of the funerals, in the churches of St. John Lateran and St. Maria Maggiore, afforded a fecond holiday to the people. Doubtless it was not in fuch conflicts that the blood of the Romans should have been fhed; yet in blaming their rafhnefs, we are compelled to applaud their gallantry; and the noble volunteers, who difplay their magnificence, and risk their lives, under the balconies of the fair, excite a more generous fympathy than the thoufands of captives and malefactors who were reluctantly dragged to the fcene of flaughter (59).

This ufe of the amphitheatre was a rare, perhaps a fingular, festival: the demand for the materials was a daily and continual want, which the citizens could gratify without restraint or remorfe. In the fourteenth century, a fcandalous act of concord fecured to both factions the pri vilege of extra&ing ftones from the free and common quarry of the Coliseum (60); and Poggius laments that the greater part of these stones had been burnt to lime by the folly of the Romans (6). To check this abufe, and to prevent

the

(59) Muratori has given a separate differtation (the xxixth) to the games of the Italians in the middle ages.

(60) In a concile but inftructive memoir, the abbé Barthelemy (Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom, xxviii. p. 585.) hás mentioned this agreement of the factions of the xivth century, de Tiburtino faciendo in the Colifeum, from an original af in the archives of Rome.

the nocturnal crimes that might be perpetrated in the vast СНАР. and gloomy recefs, Eugenius the fourth furrounded it with LXXI. a wall; and, by a charter long extant, granted both the ground and edifice to the monks of an adjacent convent (62). After his death, the wall was overthrown in a tùmult of the people; and had they themselves respected the noblest monument of their fathers, they might have justified the refolve that it should never be degraded to private property. The infide was damaged; but in the middle of the fixteenth century, an æra of taste and learning, the exterior circumference of one thousand fix hundred and twelve. feet was ftill entire and inviolate; a triple elevation of fourscore arches, which rofe to the height of one hundred and eight feet. Of the present ruin, the nephews of Paul the third are the guilty agents; and every traveller who views the Farnese palace may curfe the facrilege and luxury of thefe upstart princes (63). A fimilar reproach is applied to the Barberini; and the repetition of injury might be dreaded from every reign, till the Colifeum was placed under the fafeguard of religion,by the most liberal of the pontiffs, Benedi&t the fourteenth, who confecrated a fpot which perfecution and fable had ftained with the blood of fo many Chriftian martyrs (64). Ignorance When Petrarch firft gratified his eyes with a view of thofe monuments, whofe fcattered fragments fo far furpafs rifm of the the most eloquent defcriptions, he was aftonished at the Romans. fupine indifference (65) of the Romans themselves (66); he was humbled rather than elated by the difcovery, that, except his friend Rienzi and one of the Colonna, a stranger

(61) Coliseum.... ob ftultitiam Romanorum majori ex parte ad calcem deletum, fays the indignant Poggius (p. 17.); but his expreffion, too strong for the prefent age, must be very tenderly applied to the xvth century.

(62) Of the Olivetan monks, Montfaucon (p. 142.) affirms this fact from the memorials of Flaminius Vacca (No. 72.). They still hoped, on fome future occafion, to revive and vindicate their grant.

(63) After measuring the prifcus amphitheatri gyrus, Montfaucon (p. 172.) only adds, that it was entire under Paul III. tacendo clamat. Muratori (Annali d'Italia, tom. xiv. p. 371.) more freely reports the guilt of the Farnefe pope, and the indignation of the Roman people. Againft the nephews of Urban VIII. I have no other evidence than the vulgar saying, "Quod non fecerun Barbari, fecêre Barbarini," which was perhaps fuggef ted by the resemblance of the words.

(64) As an antiquarian and a priest, Montfaucon thus deprecates the ruin of the Coliseum : Quôd fi non fuopte merito atque pulchritudine dignum fuiffet quod improbas arceret manus, indigna res utique in locum tot martyrum cruore facrum tantopere fævitum effe.

(65) Yet the Statutes of Rome (1. iii. c. 81. p. 182.) impofe a fine of 500 aurei on whofoever shall demolish any ancient edifice, ne ruinis civitas deformetur, et ut antiqua ædificia decorem urbis perpetuò reprefentent.

(66) In his firft vifit to Rome (A. D. 1237. See Mémoires fur Pétrar. que, tom. i. p. 322, &c.), Petrarch is ftruck mute miracula rerum tantarum, et ftuporis mole obrutus... Præfentia vero, mirum dictû, nihil imminuit: vere major fuit Roma majore que funt reliquiæ quam rebar. jam non orbem ab hâc urbe domitum, fed tam fero domitum, miror (Opp. F. 6o5. Familiares, ii. 14. Joanni Columnæ),

and barba