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LXXI.

gold, became the first prey of conquest or fanati- CHAP. cism, of the avarice of the Barbarians or the Christians. In the massy 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 brass or iron, nor had the eye of rapine

overlooked the value of the baser metals *: the vacant space 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 tradest. 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 t." In the modern system of war, a situation commanded by three E e 2 hills

Joseph Maria Suarés, a learned bishop, and the author of an history of Præneste, 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.) pronounces the rapine of the Barbarians to be the unam germanamque causam foraminum. + Donatus, Roma Vetus et Nova, p. 285.

Quamdiu stabit Colyseus, stabit et Roma; quanto cedet Colyseus, cadet Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus, (Beda in Excerptis seu Collectaneis apud Ducange Glossar. med. et infimæ 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 era of Bede's death; for 4 do not believe that our venerable monk ever passed the sta.

LXXI.

CHAP. hills would not be chosen for a fortress; but the strength of the walls and arches could resist the engines of assault; a numerous garrison might be lodged in the inclosure; and, while one faction occupied the Vatican and the Capitol, the other was entrenched in the Lateran and the Coliseum *.

Games of

Rome.

The abolition at Rome of the ancient games must be understood with some latitude; and the carnival sports of the Testacean mount and the Circus Agonalist, were regulated by the law or custom of the city. The senator presided with dignity and pomp to adjudge and distribute the prizes, the gold ring, or the pallium, as it was styled, of cloth or silk. A tribute on the Jews supplied the annual expence §; and the races, on

foot,

* I cannot recover, in Muratori's original Lives of the Popes, (Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i.), the passage that attests this hostile partition, which must be applied to the end of the xith or the beginning of the xiith century.

+ Although the structure of the Circus Agonalis be de stroyed, it still retains its form and name (Agona, Nagona, Navona) and the interior space 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 waggon-loads of live hogs for the diversion of the populace, (Statuta Urbis Romæ, p. 186.).

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 Testaceo are likewise mentioned in the Diary of Peter Antonius, from 1404 to 1417, (Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xxiv. p. 1124.).

The Palium, which Menage so foolishly derives from Pal marium, is an extension of the idea and the words, from the robe or cloak, to the materials, and from thence to their ap plication as a prize, (Muratori, dissert. xxxiii.).

For these expences, the Jews of Rome paid each year 1130 florins, of which the odd thirty represented the

pieces

LXXI.

A bull-
Coliseum,

feast in the

A. D.

1332,

foot, on horseback, or in chariots, were ennobled CHA P. 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 fashion of the Moors and Spaniards, was celebrated in the Coliseum itself; and the living manners are Sept. 3. painted in a diary of the times *. 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 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 ancle in the garden of Nero's tower. The lots of the champions were drawn

Ees

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).

*This extraordinary bull-feast in the Coliseum is described, from tradition rather than memory, by Ludovico Buonconte Monaldesco, in the most ancient fragments of Roman annals, (Muratori, Script. Rerum Italicarum, tom. xii. p. 535, 336.); and however fanciful they may seem, they are deeply marked with the colours of truth and nature.

LXXI

CHAP. 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, colours, and devices, of twenty of the most conspicuous knights. Several of the names are the most illustrious of Rome and the ecclesiastical state; Malatesta, Polenta, della Valle, Cafarello, Savelli, Capoccia, Conti, Annabaldi, Altieri, Corsi; the colours 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 passion; My faith is as pure," the motto of a white li very; "Who is stronger than myself?" of a lion's hide; " If I am drowned in blood, what a plea"sant 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

*

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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 bloody.

1

LXXI.

bloody. Every champion successively encountered CHA P. a wild bull; and the victory may be ascribed to the quadrupedes, 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 noblest 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 noble 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 *.

morse.

This use of the amphitheatre was a rare, per- Injuries haps a singular festival; the demand for the materials was a daily and continual want, which the citizens could gratify without restraint or reIn the fourteenth century, a scandalous act of concord secured to both factions the privilege of extracting stones from the free and common quarry of the Coliseumt; and Poggius laments, that the greater part of these stones had been burnt to lime by the folly of the RoE e 4

mans.

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

In a concise, but instructive memoir, the abbé Barthelemy (Memoirs de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 585.) has mentioned this agreement of the factions of the xivth century, de Tiburtino faciendo in the Coliseum, from an original act in the archives of Rome.

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