"The mosaics of S. Marco, executed under Pope Gregory IV. (A.D. 827—844), with all their splendour, exhibit the utmost poverty of expression. Above the tribune, in circular compartments, is the portrait of Christ between the symbols of the Evangelists, and further below SS. Peter and Paul (or two prophets) with scroils; within the tribune, beneath a hand extended with a wreath, is the standing figure of Christ with an open book, and on either side, S. Angelo and Pope Gregory IV. Further on, but still belonging to the dome, are the thirteen lambs, forming a second and quite uneven circle round the figures. The execution is here especially rude, and of true Byzantine rigidity, while, as if the artist knew that his long lean figures were anything but secure upon their feet, he has given them each a separate little pedestal. The lines of the drapery are chiefly straight and parallel, while, with all this rudeness, a certain play of colour has been contrived by the introduction of high lights of another colour."—Kugler.

This church is said to have been originally founded in honour of the Evangelist in 337 by Pope Marco, but this pope, being himself canonized, is also honoured here, and is buried under the high altar. On April 25th, St. Mark's Day, a grand procession of clergy starts from this church. It was for the most part rebuilt under Gregory IV. in 838.

Behind the Palazzo Venezia is the vast Church of Il Gesù, begun in 1568 by the celebrated Vignola, but the cupola and façade completed in 1575 by his scholar Giacomo della Porta. In the interior is the monument of Cardinal Bellarmin, and various pictures representing events in the lives or deaths of the Jesuit saints,-that of the death of St. Francis Xavier is by Carlo Maratta. The high altar, by Giacomo della Porta, has fine columns of giallo-antico. The altar of St. Ignatius at the end of the left transept is of gaudy magnificence. It was designed by Padre Pozzi, the group of the Trinity being by Bernardino Ludovisi; the globe in the hand of the Almighty is said to

be the largest piece of lapis-lazuli in existence. Beneath. this altar, and his silver statue, lies the body of St. Ignatius Loyola, in an urn of gilt bronze, adorned with precious stones. A great ceremony takes place in this church on July 31st, the feast of St. Ignatius, and on December 31st a Te Deum is sung here for the mercies of the past year, in the presence of the pope, cardinals, and the people of Rome, -a really solemn and impressive service.

The Convent of the Gesù is the residence of the General of the Jesuits("His Paternity"), and the centre of religious life in their Order. The rooms in which St. Ignatius lived and died are of the deepest historic interest. They consist of four chambers. The first, now a chapel, is that in which he wrote his "Constitutions." The second, also a chapel, is that in which he died. It contains the altar at which he daily celebrated mass, and the autograph engagement to live under the same laws of obedience, poverty, and chastity, signed by Laynez, Francis Xavier, and Ignatius Loyola. On its walls are two portraits of Ignatius Loyola, one as a young knight, the other as a Jesuit father, and portraits of S. Carlo Borromeo and S. Filippo Neri. It was in this chamber also that St. Francis Borgia died. The third room was that of the attendant monk of St. Ignatius; the fourth is now a kind of museum of relics containing portions of his robes and small articles which belonged to him and to other saints of the Order.

Facing the Church of the Gesù is the Palazzo Altieri, built by Cardinal Altieri in 1670, from designs of Giov. Antonio Rossi.

“Quand le palais Altieri fut achevé, les Altieri, neveux de Clément X., invitèrent leur oncle à le venir voir. Il s'y fit porter, et d'aussi loin

qu'il aperçut la magnificence et l'étendue de cette superbe fabrique, il reboussa chemin le cœur serré, sans dire un seul mot, et mourut peu après."-De Brosses.

"On the staircase of the Palazzo Altieri, is an ancient colossal marble finger, of such extraordinary size, that it is really worth a visit.”— Eaton's Rome.

This palace was the residence of the late noble-hearted vicar-general, Cardinal Altieri, who died a martyr to his devotion to his flock (as Bishop of Albano) during the terrible visitation of cholera at Albano in 1867.

The Piazza del Gesù is considered to be the most draughty place in Rome. The legend runs that the devil and the wind were one day taking a walk together. When they came to this square, the devil, who seemed to be very devout, said to the wind, "Just wait a minute, mio caro, while I go into this church." So the wind promised, and the devil went into the Gesù, and has never come out again—and the wind is blowing about in the Piazza del Gesù to this day.

CHAPTER III

THE CAPITOLINE.

The Story of the Hill-Piazza del Campidoglio-Palace of the Senator -View from the Capitol Tower-The Tabularium-The Museo Capitolino-Gallery of Statues-Palace of the Conservators-Gallery of Pictures-Palazzo Caffarelli-Tarpeian Rock-Convent and Church of Ara-Cœli-Mamertine Prisons.

THE Capitoline was the hill of the kings and the republic, as the Palatine was of the empire.

Entirely composed of tufa, its sides, now concealed by buildings or by the accumulated rubbish of ages, were abrupt and precipitous, as are still the sides of the neighbouring citadels of Corneto and Cervetri. It was united to the Quirinal by an isthmus of land cut away by Trajan, but in every other direction was isolated by its perpendicular cliffs :

"Arduus in valles et fora clivus erat."

Ovid, Fast. i. 264.

Up to the time of the Tarquins, it bore the name of Mons Saturnus, from the mythical king Saturn, who is reported to have come to Italy in the reign of Janus, and to have made a settlement here. His name was derived from sowing, and he was looked upon as the introducer of civilization and social order, both of which are inseparably connected with

Varro, De Ling. Lat. v. 42.

agriculture. His reign here was thus considered to be the golden age of Italy. His wife was Ops, the representative of plenty.*

"C'est la tradition d'un âge de paix représenté par le règne paisible de Saturne; avant qu'il y eut une Roma, ville de la force, il y eut une Saturnia, ville de la paix.”—Ampère, Hist. Rom. i. 86.

Virgil represents Evander, the mythical king of the Palatine, as exhibiting Saturnia, already in ruins, to Æneas.

"Hæc duo præterea disjectis oppida muris,

Reliquias veterumque vides monumenta virorum.
Hanc Janus pater, hanc Saturnus condidit arcem:
Janiculum huic, illi fuerat Saturnia nomen.”

Æn. viii. 356.

When Romulus had fixed his settlement upon the Palatine, he opened an asylum for fugitive slaves upon the then deserted Saturnus, and here, at a sacred oak, he is said to have offered up the spoils of the Cæcinenses, and their king Acron, who had made a war of reprisal upon him, after the rape of their women in the Campus Martius; here also he vowed to build a temple to Jupiter Feretrius, where spoils should always be offered. But in the mean time, the Sabines, under Titius Tatus, besieged and took the hill, having a gate of its fortress (said to have been on the ascent above the spot where the arch of Severus now stands) opened to them by Tarpeia, who gazed with longing upon the golden bracelets of the warriors, and, obtaining a promise to receive that which they wore upon their arms, was crushed by their shields as they entered. Some authorities, however, maintain that she asked and obtained the hand of king Tatius. From this time the hill was completely occupied by the

Smith's Roman Mythology.