С НА Г.

LXXI.

The Coli

feum or am❤ phitheatre of Titus.

Thefe general obfervations may be feparately applied to the amphitheatre of Titus, which has obtained the name of the COLISEUM ", either from its magnitude or from Nero's coloffal ftatue: 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 feats, are difpofed to believe, that above the upper row of ftone fteps, the amphitheatre was encircled and elevated with several stages of wooden galleries, which were repeatedly confumed by fire, and restored by the emperors. Whatever was precious, or portable, or profane, the statues of gods and heroes, and the coftly ornaments of sculpture, which were caft in brafs, or overfpread with leaves of filver and gold, became the firft prey of conqueft or fanaticifm, 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 conjectures represent the various accidents of its decay. These ftones were connected by folid links of brass or iron, nor had the eye of rapine overlooked the value of the bafer metals": the vacant space was converted into a fair or market; the artifans of the Colifeum are mentioned in an ancient furvey; and the chafms were perforated or enlarged to receive the poles that fupported the fhops or tents of the mechanic trades". Reduced to its naked majesty, the Flavian amphitheatre was contemplated with awe and admiration by the pilgrims of the North;

LXXI.

and their rude enthufiafm broke forth in a fublime c H A P. 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"." In the modern fyftem of war, a fituation commanded by 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 ".

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Games of

Rome.

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 ", were regulated by the law" or custom of the city. The fenator prefided with dignity and pomp to adjudge and diftribute the prizes, the gold ring, or the pallium ". as it was ftyled, of cloth or filk. A tribute on the Jews supplied the annual expence "; and the races, on foot, on horseback, or in chariots, were ennobled by a tilt and tournament of seventy-two of the Roman youth. In the year one thousand A bull-feaft three hundred and thirty-two, a bull-feaft, after the fashion of the Moors and Spaniards, was ce- A. D. 1332, lebrated in the Coliseum itfelf; and the living September 3. manners are painted in a diary of the times "* A convenient order of benches was reftored; and a general proclamation, as far as Rimini and.

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in the Coli. feum,

LXXI.

HA P. Ravenna, invited the nobles to exercise their fkill and courage in this perilous adventure. The Roman ladies were marfhalled in three fquadrons, and feated in three balconies, which on this day, the third of September, were lined with fcarlet cloth. The fair Jacova di Rovere led the matrons from beyond the Tyber, a pure and native race, who ftill reprefent 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 Colonna regretted the absence 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 descended into the arena, or pit, to encounter the wild-bulls, on foot as it should feem, with a fingle fpear. Amidst the crowd, our annalist has felected the names, colours, and devices, of twenty of the most confpicuous knights. Several of the names are the most illuftrious of Rome and the ecclefiaftical state; Malatesta, Polenta, della Valle, Cafarello, Savelli, Capoccio, Conti, Annibaldi, Altieri, Corfi; the colours were adapted to their taste and fituation; the devices are expreffive of hope or despair, and breathe the fpirit of gallantry and arms. "I am

alone, like the youngest of the Horatii," the confidence of an intrepid ftranger: "I live difconfolate a weeping widower: "I burn,

"

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"under the afhes," a difçreet lover: "I adore c H A P. "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 myfelf?" of a lion's hide: "If I am "drowned in blood, what a pleafant death, the wish 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 greatnefs of the Colonna name: "Though "fad, I am ftrong:" "Strong as I am great: " "If I fall," addreffing himself to the fpectators, 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 ascribed 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 adversaries. 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. Doubtlefs it was not in fuch conflicts that the blood of the Romans fhould have been shed; yet in blaming their rashness, we are compelled to applaud their gallantry; and the noble volunteers, who display their magnificence, and rifk their lives, under

LXXI.

CHAP. the balconies of the fair, excite a more generous fympathy than the thousands of captives and malefactors who were reluctantly dragged to the fcene of flaughter ".

Injuries,

This ufe of the amphitheatre was a rare, perhaps a fingular, feftival: the demand for the materials was a daily and continual want, which the citizens could gratify without restraint or remorse. In the fourteenth century, a fcandalous act of concord fecured to both factions the privilege of extracting ftones from the free and common quarry of the Colifeum"; and Poggius laments that the greater part of these ftones had been burnt to lime by the folly of the Romans". To check this abuse, and to prevent the nocturnal crimes that might be perpetrated in the vast and gloomy recefs, Eugenius the fourth furrounded it with a wall; and, by a charter long extant, granted both the ground and edifice to the monks of an adjacent convent After his death, the wall was overthrown in a tumult of the people; and had they themselves refpected the nobleft monument of their fathers, they might have juftified 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

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