ledge made open discovery of the hollow and rotten basis upon which she stood. The unchristian doctrines and practices of Romanism were impugned at an early age; and the annals of martyrdom record the active zeal and the dying agonies of men who lifted up a testimony for the Truth, whilst the world around them was lying under Roman bondage. These were the bright and particular stars that shone forth from time to time in the long and dark night of superstition and error. The destruction of these heretics seemed for the time to confirm the power of the papacy; but these high examples of Christian heroism were not forgotten; in due time they came up as great precedents to urge on the argument of truth against falsehood. When the Reformation burst forth in resistless might through the instrumentality of Luther, The solitary monk that shook the world, then were the first martyrs appealed to as arbiters in the contest, as men who had skilfully set the battle in array, but fell before the victory was won. Pitiful were the shifts, desperate were the expedients, to which Romanism resorted to ward off the attacks of Luther; at one time endeavouring to intimidate by anathema, at another trying all the arts of jesuitical persuasion to turn the Reformer from his purpose. But the standard of Truth had been unfurled in God's appointed time: disaffection to the papacy spread; and the Roman pontiff, bewildered and perplexed, became almost a supplicant for his supremacy. The world beheld a great phenomenon. Papal supremacy was triumphantly resisted; and no mean section of christendom left the Roman communion for ever. From this shock the papacy has never recovered to the present hour She continued thereafter to maintain a certain influence, but as we shall presently see this was maintained, and still continues to exist, only by sufferance of the temporal powers in alliance with her. In her extremity, the papacy again employed the cunning which she seems in part to have laid aside in her days of palmy prosperity. She began to affect great moderation; ceased to obtrude her secular authority; and retired within the privacy of her spiritual functions. Since the days of the Reformation, the position of the Roman church has been-to compare great things with small -that of a fettered malefactor armed with a lash to scourge his fellows in bondage. It was only by stooping both her temporal and spiritual sovereignty to the secular powers, that a sufferance was accorded her of vending her delusions throughout the civilized world. Kings and emperors were once reduced to hold the stirrup of the Roman pontiff; the latter came in turn to be an obsequious dependant upon secular rulers. Of late years the temporal power of the papacy has been shaken to its very foundations; and but for the support afforded by the presence of French troops, the miserable and effete ecclesiastical government would long ere now have been supplanted, either by an independent commonwealth, or a constitutional sovereignty like that now established over the greater part of the Italian peninsula. The year 1848 witnessed the humiliating spectacle for papal christendom of the successor of St. Peter obliged to flee in the disguise of a lacquey, to avoid the vengeance of his infuriated subjects, and take refuge in the adjoining kingdom of Naples. Though enabled by foreign intervention to return again and resume his apostolic sway, his subsequent occupancy of St. Peter's chair has been productive of anything but increased reliance on the stability and beneficial results of the pontifical government. Already have the fairest provinces of the Papal States succeeded in shaking off the yoke and incorporating themselves with the Italian kingdom, and nothing now remains of the Church's patrimony but the city of Rome and 84 ROME. surrounding territory. Among many judicious Catholics the non-essentiality of temporal sovereignty to the dignity and spiritual power of the head of the church has come to be largely recognized. To this consummation the aspect of affairs at Rome is evidently inclining; and in the event of the death of Pius IX., it is not likely that the partizans of arbitrary government, whether civil or spiritual, will be able to force on the Roman people the renewal of a sway which has rested like a dead weight on their energies and progress for so many ages. It is undoubtedly a fearful thing in a religious point of view to behold a nation clinging to the blasphemous idolatries of the Roman church as the refuge of their future hopes. But never let it be imagined that the faded power of the papacy can be recovered. Let none fret themselves with anxiety lest any untoward revolution of affairs restore the supremacy of the Roman hierarch, and re-introduce into Protestant countries those fearful engines of wrath and destruction over which the dust of ages has been accumulating. The cell of the Inquisition, and the chamber of torture, are obsolete enormities, never again to be tolerated in countries where wholesome government has long prevailed, and where the people have acquired a knowledge of Christianity sufficient, at least, to teach them that captivity and torture are not its recognized means of conversion. Before the crusade can be preached, and a papal army make irruption into Protestant countries to win men back to Romanism, by the persuasive arguments of fire and sword, and all manner of torments,-there must first come over all christendom a mental and a moral darkness, such as the world has never yet known; the human mind must stoop to a degradation too revolting to be contemplated; and even the pulse of freedom, which has hitherto beat, however faintly, in the veins of the veriest slave, must become motionless and extinct. The Dark Ages with all their barbarian ignorance, the feudal system with all its degrading oppressions, could these return again, they would be unequal to the task of restoring Roman supremacy in Protestant lands. That supremacy, it is true, arose under their auspices; but men knew not the power they nursed and fostered. A superstitious and ignorant people regarded with awe and veneration the sanctity and austerity which veiled the ultimate designs of the Roman church; but could they have penetrated into her secret purposes, they would not have so laboured to build up a tyranny that was to crush their posterity. Whatever temporal changes, therefore, shall come in future times upon Protestant nations, even though they should extend to the return of barbarism and ignorance, they will offer no facilities for the restoration of papal supremacy. Men would have to forget the character of Romanism before they could be again deceived. We hear, indeed, in the present day, somewhat too much of the conversion of individuals, both lay and clerical, to the communion of the Roman church. So far as these individuals themselves are concerned, we must deplore their secession from the Protestant faith; but it is little less than ridiculous to give these desertions the weight of a great national calamity. Many motives may be assigned for this falling away; any motive, save that of love for a system of religion so full of manifest error, and so debased by crime. The laic may be one whose heart has ever remained unimpressed by the simple ritual of a reformed church, and who has therefore sought in Roman worship for that false excitement which can alone render religion tolerable to him. The cleric may be one who has vacillated and wavered between the extreme limits of the outward and visible form of Christianity; changing his creed like his coat, "To one thing constant never." Or, he may be one who made ill choice of a profession, when he took his vow of ordination as a minister of Christ, yet so little understood the nature of the service upon which he had entered as to deem it merely a patent for supremacy of place. If there is a church professing to be reformed, that exhibits Romish tendencies, and evinces an anxiety to fraternize with the papacy, we cannot deny that this is a great national calamity: still we may over estimate the calamity of a relapsing church. The evil to be deplored rests mainly in this: that the people will be left churchless; no fear ought to be entertained lest they follow their pastors into Romanism. When the laity secede to Rome, it is for license or excitement; when the clergy move thither, it is to recover somewhat of that supremacy which the churches of the Reformation denied to Rome, and claimed not for themselves. Hence, the clergy and the laity will never be seen travelling to Rome in company with each other. The truth of this general proposition is not affected by the isolated exceptions which the present day affords. ROME can be appreciated only by educated minds. To nine out of every ten tourists who toil their weary way thither, in obedience to the dictates of wealth and fashion, the city of the seven hills presents an exterior of some beauty, but of much less interest than is generally supposed. Without their classical and historical associations, the remains of ancient Rome, with few exceptions, are masses of ruin and desolation, upon which the tourist may cast a passing glance, and marvel that such heaps of rubbish are suffered to lie undisturbed. In the department of art, educational preparatives are not less necessary; for to what purpose is it, to look upon paintings and statues with an eye that can appreciate only colossal size or brilliancy of colour? And with regard to the people of Italy, their manners and customs, their institutions, their church ceremonies,-in short, everything that distinguishes Italy and the Italians from any other country and people,-how little is to be rightly observed or understood by those whose minds are not imbued with liberal learning, and stored with a well-digested knowledge of Roman history from the building of the city to the extinction of the empire, and thence through countless vicissitudes to the present aspect and condition of modern Rome. That the majority of visitants to the eternal city are utterly incompetent to form any just estimate of what is there presented before them, is abundantly evident from the vapid dulness of their reports when they return home. And amongst those who favour the world with their Recollections of Rome, how few record anything beyond the merest common-place,—shreds and patches of information gathered from ignorant ciceroni, interwoven with a sickly sentimentalism, so ineffably ridiculous that it touches only the risible faculties. Byron has said, truly and beautifully Rome is as the desert, where we steer In one sense or other, all find the desert, but few comparatively stumble over a recollection worth recollecting. The antiquities of Rome refer for the most part to the times of the empire. Of the kingly period a few remains may be traced by the industrious antiquary: viz. the Mamertine Prisons, begun by Ancus Martius, and enlarged by Servius Tullius; the Cloaca Maxima of Tarquinius Priscus; and a portion of the celebrated rampart of Servius Tullius. The monuments of the republican era are likewise few. This period was not favourable to the erection of great public edifices: the Romans were continually engaged in wars that allowed few intervals of rest; and moreover the nature of the consular government was too transient for the accomplishment of such works as were afterwards designed and consummated by the emperors. The boast of Augustus, to which we have before referred, that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble, is a strong testimony that the city, during the republican period, contained few erections remarkable for magnificence. Nearly at the close of this period several public works were constructed, whose remains form nearly all the relics that can certainly be identified with consular Rome. The most considerable of these were the military ways paved with large blocks of lava; and the magnificent Via Appia, constructed by Appius Claudius, which still remains perfect through a great portion of its course. Of the ancient republican temples, that of Fortuna Virilis, now the church of Santa Maria Egizziaca, is the only one existing; if we except some substructions below the walls of San Nicolo in Carcere, and four columns of the temple of Hercules Custos in the cloisters of the Sommaschi. The remains of the Marcian Aqueduct, of the Theatre of Pompey, and of several bridges, refer to the age of the Republic. But the most remarkable memorials of this period are the tombs on the Appian Way, many of which are commemorative of men whose names are identified with the glory of Rome. Under Augustus Rome assumed a magnificence she had never known before. It was the aim of this emperor to extend the limits of the city, and to embellish it with works of splendour and luxury. The palace of the Cæsars on the Palatine; and the temples, arcades, theatres, and innumerable buildings of the Campus Martius, were amongst the works of Augustus. The existing relics of this reign are the remains of a Forum, in which are three columns of the Temple of Saturn; three beautiful columns at the angle of the Palatine, supposed to be ruins of a Temple of Minerva; the mausoleum of the emperor between the Corso and the Tiber; and a few others. Agrippa, the friend and favourite of Augustus, erected the Pantheon, which remains to this day the most perfect monument of ancient Rome: Pantheon Pride of Rome ! Relic of nobler days, and noblest arts! Tiberius began the Prætorian Camp; built the Temple of Ceres and Proserpine, some remnants of which still exist in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin at the Bocca di Verita; and added considerably to the palace on Mount Palatine. Claudius constructed the magnificent aqueduct which continues to be an object of admiration to the world. When the palace of the Cæsars was destroyed in the general conflagration of Rome, Nero raised in its place his famous Golden House, whose extent was not less remarkable than its amazing splendour. This emperor rebuilt a large portion of the city; and completed the circus of Caligula, wherein the first Christians were "butchered to make a Roman holiday." The Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Coliseum, (so named from the colossal statue of Neroplaced in it) was begun by Vespasian and finished by Titus. It is said to have been erected by the compulsory labour of twelve thousand Jews and Christians. It contained, during the public shows, one hundred and ten thousand spectators, of whom above ninety thousand were seated. This vast building is supported by three rows of columns, of which the lowest is of the Doric, the second of the Ionic, and the highest of the Corinthian order. The inclosures for the wild animals are still standing. This structure is regarded as the noblest ruin in existence. Domitian constructed the beautiful arch commemorative of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. The Mausoleum of Hadrian is now the Castle of St. Angelo, and the Bridge of St. Angelo was formerly the Pons Ælius leading to the tomb of this emperor. The baths of Caracalla are remarkable from the extent of their existing ruins, and also as being the depository whence the Farnese Hercules, the Toro Farnese, the Torso of the Belvidere, and other celebrated statues of antiquity were taken. The preceding are a few of the most striking remains of antiquity in Rome. It is matter of wonder that so many remains exist to the present day. The barbarian conquerors of Rome sought to efface all memory of its magnificence; and the vestiges they spared were afterwards subjected to a more systematic spoliation by the ecclesiastical power which became dominant after the time of Constantine. Not only were the ruins seized upon as ready material for the construction of new edifices, but even the Coliseum and other noble structures were regarded as quarries for the use of the papal architects. Notwithstanding this wholesale pillage and destruction, enough remains to form the mausoleum of the Roman empire. We shall confine our further notices of the city, to the descriptions of the scenes and objects which form the subjects of our illustrations. |