MOUNT AVENTINE.

La poësie vient encore embellir ce séjour. Virgile a placé sur le Mont Aventin la caverne de Cacus; et les Romaines, si grands par leur histoire, le sont encore par les fictions heroiques, dont les poëtes ont orné leur origine fabuleuse.

DE STAEL.

IF, fatigued with the dry realities of history, the traveller, in his perambulation of Rome, is anxious to refresh himself by visiting the scenes consecrated by classical fiction, he will find ample gratification in exploring the boundaries of the Aventine Mount. The first object of his curious inquiry will be, of course, the den of Cacus, in the discovery of which it is probable that he will not be so fortunate as Hercules. Many an eager traveller has traversed the Aventine in search of the cave, till, like the demigod, he has found his anger excited by his failure;

ter totum fervidus ira

Lustrat Aventini montem; ter saxea tentat
Limina nequicquam: ter fessus valle resedit.

Certainly, the task of pulling up the steep ascent of the Aventine by their tails

Quatuor a stabulis præstante corpore tauros,

was a feat well worthy of the hero to whom it is ascribed. "The cave of Cacus," says a very intelligent traveller,

we are gravely informed, is still extant on the steep

side of the Aventine that overhangs the Tiber; and some of our active friends scrambled about in search of it among the thorns and brushwood that fringe its perpendicular bank, at the imminent peril of breaking their necks, and to the actual demolition of their clothes. But though they found holes in abundance, they never met with any that could contain a single ox, or that by any stretch of courtesy could be dignified with the name of a cave, so that the abode of Cacus, as far as I know, remains undiscovered to this day."

It was upon the Aventine Hill, also, that Numa met the rural gods Faunus and Picus, to whom he insidiously administered an undue quantity of wine and honey, and taking advantage of their intoxication, compelled them to reveal to him their celestial secrets.

The Aventine Hill was added to the city by Ancus Martius, and for a long period, during the early history of Rome, it appears to have been unbuilt upon. It was the scene of those popular nocturnal meetings which, in the infancy of the republic, led to the secession of the people, and, indeed, according to some authorities, the secession of war to Mount Aventine. A little later, the citizens who rose against the tyranny of the decemvirs established their camp upon this hill, and in more modern times Rienzi assembled upon its summit the hardy spirits who conspired to regenerate Rome-an attempt which has excited the genius of Petrarch and of Moore.

At dawn, in arms went forth the patriot band,
And as the breeze, fresh from the Tiber, fann'd
Their gilded gonfalons, all eyes could see

The palm-tree there, the sword, the keys of Heaven—

Types of the justice, peace, and liberty

That were to bless them when their chains were riven.

On to the Capitol the pageant moved,

While many a shade of other times that still
Around that grave of grandeur sighing roved
Hung o'er their footsteps up the sacred hill,
And heard its mournful echoes, as the last
High-minded heirs of the republic passed.

The Aventine was the site of the temple dedicated to Diana by Servius Tullius in imitation of the Ephesian temple. Of this magnificent fabric no trace whatever is now to be discovered; nor, indeed, are the ruins of the other temples which formerly crowned this hill—of Juno, of Liberty, and of the Bona Dea-now visible. Monasteries and churches have succeeded the heathen fanes, amongst the most conspicuous of which are the churches of Santa Maria del Priorato, of S. Alessio, and of Santa Sabina. It ought not to be forgotten, that when Rome was free, the Aventine was the residence of Ennius, and that in later days it was the site of the Palace of Trajan.

A considerable portion of the base of the Aventine is covered with the extensive and magnificent ruins of the baths of Caracalla. With the exception of the Colosseum, there is no remnant of ancient Rome which presents so perfect an idea of the magnitude and splendour of the edifices with which the imperial city was adorned. The length of the building, as measured from the ruins, was 1840 feet, and the breadth 1476. It is said that it was begun by Caracalla, that Heliogabalus added the porticos, and that the whole was completed by Alexander Severus. The number and size of the apartments, which

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were devoted to various amusements, strike the stranger with admiration. One of the rooms called the Cella Solearis, the length of which was 150 feet, was remarkable for its ceiling, being covered with a flat roof of stone, supported, it is supposed, by flat cross-bands of metal, a work said to have been executed by Egyptian artists. Amongst the ruins of these thermæ many singularly fine monuments of antiquity have been discovered; and it has been much regretted that the excavations have not been carried on with more vigour within these bounds. The celebrated Hercules Farnese was discovered in this place in 1540, but at first the legs were wanting. A sculptor was immediately ordered, under the direction of Michael Angelo, to supply this deficiency; and the result of his labour is still to be seen in the Farnese Palace at Rome. In the mean time the genuine limbs were discovered and came into the possession of the Prince Borghese, who was ultimately prevailed upon, with much difficulty, to resign them to the possessor of the body.

The traveller who ascends the Aventine hill must not neglect the prospect which is open to him from the Belvidere of Santa Maria del Priorata. On one side the Tiber rolls sluggishly along past the ruins of the Pons Sublicius; while on the opposite shore is seen the modern port of Rome, and beyond it Mount Janiculus, with the splendours of St. Peter's at its feet. On the right rise the Capitoline and Palatine hills; and on the opposite side extend the level meadows of the Prati del Popolo Romano, adorned with the tomb of Caius Cestius.

The present view of the Aventine is taken from near

the Ponte Rotto, one of the earliest bridges of ancient Rome. The piles of this bridge were laid during the consulate of Q. Fulvius and L. Manlius (U. C. 573), but it was not finished till the censorship of Scipio Africanus and L. Nummius (U. C. 611). Having been injured by a great inundation, it was restored by Gregory the Thirteenth in 1575. It suffered again from a similar cause in 1598, and has not since been repaired, a circumstance from which it has derived its present name. was formerly known by the name of the Pons Palatinus or Senatorius, and has sometimes been called the Ponte Santa Maria. At low water the entrance of the Cloaca Maxima may be seen from the spot where the Pons Palatinus formerly crossed the river. Near this bridge is the mansion in which Rienzi is said to have lived, and of which we shall say a few words in another place.

It

Between the Aventine and the Ripa Grande are seen the remains of the Pons Sublicius, so called from the sublices, or wooden piles, of which it was composed. For a long period this was the only bridge across the Tiber. It was built, according to Livy, in the reign of Ancus Martius; and it was upon this bridge that Horatius Cocles "insignis inter conspecta cedentium pugnæ terga, obversis cominus ad ineundum prælium armis, ipso miraculo obstupefecit hostes ;" and it was from this bridge that the hero cast himself into the stream with the invocation, "Tiberine pater te sancte precor, hæc arma et hunc militem propitio flumine accepias!" Livy, in relating the story, speaks of Cocles as rem ausus plus famæ habituram ad posteros quam fidei:" but it must not from this observation be concluded that the historian himself