conduct of man upon earth.

Corinne interrupted the reverie of Oswald, and said to him, "You have
seen Gothic churches in England and in Germany; you must have remarked
that they have a much more gloomy effect than this church. There was
something mysterious in the Catholicism of the northern nations; ours
speaks to the imagination by external objects. Michael Angelo said on
beholding the cupola of the Pantheon, 'I will place it in the air;' and,
in effect, St Peter's is a temple built upon a church. There is some
connection between the ancient religions and Christianity, in the effect
which the interior of this edifice produces upon the imagination. I
often come and walk here to restore to my soul that serenity which it
sometimes loses: the sight of such a monument is like continual and
sustained music, which waits to do you good when you approach; and
certainly we must reckon among the claims of our nation to glory, the
patience, the courage and the disinterestedness of the heads of the
church, who have devoted one hundred and fifty years, so much money, and
so much labour, to the completion of an edifice which they who built it
could not expect to enjoy[10]. It is even a service rendered to the
public morals to present a nation with a monument which is the emblem of
so many noble and generous ideas." "Yes," answered Oswald; "here the
arts possess grandeur, and imagination and invention are full of genius;
but how is the dignity of man himself protected here! What
institutions! what feebleness in the greater part of the governments of
Italy! and, nevertheless, what subjugation in the mind!" "Other
nations," interrupted Corinne, "have borne the yoke the same as we, and
have lacked the imagination to dream of another fate.

'Servi siam sì, ma servi ognor frementi.'

'_Yes! we are slaves, but slaves ever quivering with hope,_'

says Alfieri, the most bold of our modern writers. There is so much soul
in our fine arts that perhaps one day our character will be equal to our
genius.

"Behold," continued Corinne, "those statues placed on the tombs, those
pictures in mosaic - patient and faithful copies of the masterpieces of
our great artists. I never examine St Peter's in detail, because I do
not wish to discover those multiplied beauties which disturb in some
degree the impression of the whole. But what a monument is that, where
the masterpieces of the human mind appear superfluous ornaments! This
temple is like a world by itself; it affords an asylum against heat and
cold; it has its own peculiar season - a perpetual spring, which the
external atmosphere can never change. A subterraneous church is built
beneath this temple; - the popes, and several foreign potentates, are
buried there: Christina after her abdication - the Stuarts since the
overthrow of their dynasty. Rome has long afforded an asylum to exiles
from every part of the world. Is not Rome herself dethroned? Her aspect
affords consolation to kings, fallen like herself.

'Cadono le citta, cadono i regni,
E l'uom, d'esser mortal, par che si sdegni.'

'_Cities fall. Empires disappear,
and yet man is angry at being mortal!_'

"Place yourself here," said Corinne to Lord Nelville, "near the altar
in the middle of the cupola; you will perceive through the iron grating,
the church of the dead, which is beneath our feet, and lifting up your
eyes, their ken will hardly reach the summit of the vault. This dome,
viewing it even from below, inspires us with a sentiment of terror; we
imagine that we see an abyss suspended over our head. All that is beyond
a certain proportion causes man, limited creature as he is, an
invincible dread. That which we know is as inexplicable as that which is
unknown, but then we are accustomed to our habitual darkness, whilst new
mysteries terrify us and disturb our faculties.

"All this church is ornamented with antique marble, and its stones know
more than we concerning the ages that are past. There is the statue of
Jupiter, which has been converted into St Peter, by adding the nimbus to
the head. The general expression of this temple perfectly characterises
the mixture of gloomy tenets with brilliant ceremonies; a depth of
sadness in ideas, but the softness and vivacity of the south in external
application; severe intentions, but mild interpretations; the Christian
theology, and the images of Paganism; in a word, the most admirable
union of splendour and majesty that man can infuse into his worship of
the deity.

"The tombs, decorated by the wonders of the fine arts, do not present
death under a formidable aspect. It is not altogether like the ancients,
who engraved dances and games upon their sarcophagi; but the mind is
abstracted from the contemplation of a coffin by the masterpieces of
genius. They recall immortality, even upon the altar of death; and the
imagination animated by the admiration which they inspire, does not
feel, as in the north, silence and cold, the immutable guardians of
sepulchres." "Without doubt," said Oswald, "we wish death to be
surrounded by sadness; and even before we were enlightened by
Christianity our ancient mythology, our Ossian, made lamentations and
dirges concomitants of the tomb. Here one wishes to forget and to enjoy.
I know not whether I should be desirous of such a benefit from your fine
sky." "Do not believe, however," replied Corinne, "that our character is
light, or our mind frivolous; it is only vanity that causes frivolity.
Indolence may introduce some intervals of sleep, or of forgetfulness
into our lives, but it neither wears out nor dries up the heart; and
unfortunately for us we may be aroused from this state by passions more
deep, and more terrible than those of souls habitually active."

In finishing these words, Corinne and Lord Nelville approached the door
of the church. "Another glance towards this immense sanctuary," said she
to Nelville: "See how little man appears in presence of religion, even
when we are reduced to consider only its material emblem! See what
immobility, what eternity, mortals can give to their works, whilst they
themselves pass away so rapidly, and only survive themselves by their
genius! This temple is an image of the infinite, and there is no limit
to the sentiments to which it gives birth - to the ideas which it
revives - to the immense quantity of years which it recalls to our
reflection, either of past or future ages; and on quitting its walls we
seem to pass from celestial thoughts to worldly interests, from the
eternity of religion to the atmosphere of time."

When they were outside the church Corinne pointed out to Nelville Ovid's
Metamorphoses, which were represented on the gates in basso-relievo. "We
are not scandalised in Rome," said she to him, "with the images of
Paganism when they have been consecrated by the fine arts. The wonders
of genius always make a religious impression on the soul, and we make an
offering to the Christian religion of all the masterpieces which other
modes of worship have inspired." Oswald smiled at this explanation.
"Believe me, my lord," continued Corinne, "there is much sincerity in
the sentiments of nations who possess a very lively imagination. But
to-morrow if you choose I will conduct you to the Capitol. I have, I
hope, many other walks to propose to you. When they are finished will
you go? Will you - " She stopped, fearing she had said too much. "No
Corinne," replied Oswald; "no, I will never renounce that gleam of
happiness which my guardian angel, perhaps, causes to shine upon me from
the height of heaven."

FOOTNOTES:

[7] A Frenchman in the late war, commanded the Castle of St Angelo; the
Neapolitan troops summoned him to capitulate; he answered that the
fortress should be surrendered when the Angel of Bronze should sheathe
his sword.

[8] These facts are to be found in the _History of the Italian Republics
of the Middle Ages_, by M. Simonde, of Geneva. This history will
certainly be considered as an authority; for we perceive, in reading it,
that its author is a man of profound sagacity, as conscientious as he is
energetic in his manner of relating and describing.

[9]
"Eine Welt zwar bist du o Rom; doch ohne die Liebe,
Wäre die Welt nicht die Welt, wäre denn Rom auch nicht Rom."

These two verses are from Goëthe, the German poet, the philosopher, the
man of letters, whose originality and imagination are most remarkable.

[10] The Church of St Peter is said to be one of the chief causes of the
Reformation, inasmuch as it cost the Popes so much money that they had
recourse to the multiplication of indulgences in order to build it.


Chapter iv.


The next day Oswald and Corinne set out with more confidence and
serenity. They were friends travelling together; - they began to say
_we_. Ah! how touching is that _we_ when pronounced by love! How
timidly, yet how vividly expressed, is the declaration which it
contains! "We will go to the Capitol then," said Corinne. "Yes, we will
go there," replied Oswald. Simplicity was in his words - softness and
tenderness in his accent. "From the height of the Capitol, such as it is
now," said Corinne, "we can easily perceive the seven hills; we will
survey them all, one after another; there is not one of them which does
not preserve in it some traces of history."

Corinne and Lord Nelville took what was formerly called the _Via Sacra_
or Triumphal Way. "'Tis this way that your car passed," said Oswald to
Corinne. "Yes," answered she; "this ancient dust might be astonished at
bearing such a car; but since the Roman republic, so many criminal
traces have been imprinted on it that the sentiment of respect which it
inspires is much weakened." They then arrived at the foot of the steps
of the present Capitol. The entrance to the ancient Capitol was through
the Forum. "I could wish," said Corinne, "that these steps were the same
that Scipio mounted, when, repelling calumny by glory, he entered the
temple to return thanks to the gods for the victories which he had
gained. But these new steps, this new Capitol, has been built upon the
ruins of the old, in order to receive the peaceable magistrate who bears
in himself alone the immense title of Roman Senator, formerly an object
of respect to the whole universe. Here we have no longer any thing but
names; yet their harmony, their ancient dignity, inspire us with a
pleasing sensation, mingled with regret. I asked a poor woman, whom I
met the other day, where she lived? '_At the Tarpeian Rock_,' answered
she. This word, however stripped of the ideas which formerly attached to
it, still vibrates upon the imagination."

Oswald and Corinne stopped to contemplate the two lions of basalt at the
foot of the steps[11]. They came from Egypt. The Egyptian sculptors were
more happy in seizing the figure of animals than that of man. These
lions of the Capitol are nobly peaceful, and their physiognomy is the
true image of tranquillity in strength.

"A guisa di leon, quando si posa."
DANTE.

"_In the manner of the lion, when he reposes._"

Not far from these lions is a statue of Rome, mutilated, which the
modern Romans have placed there, without thinking that they were thus
giving the most perfect emblem of their city as it now is. This statue
has neither head nor feet, but the body and the drapery which still
remain have something of their ancient beauty. At the top of the steps
are two colossal figures which represent as it is believed Castor and
Pollux; then the trophies of Marius; then two milliary columns which
served for the admeasurement of the Roman universe; and the equestrian
statue of Marcus Aurelius, noble and calm in the midst of these several
recollections. Thus, the whole Roman history is here emblematically
represented: The heroic age by the Dioscuri; the republic by the lions;
the civil wars by Marius; and the golden age of the emperors by Marcus
Aurelius.

Advancing towards the modern Capitol, we see to the right and to the
left two churches, built on the ruins of the temples of the Feretrian
and Capitoline Jupiter. Before the vestibule is a fountain, over which
preside two rivers, the Nile and the Tiber, with the she-wolf of
Romulus. The name of the Tiber is not pronounced like that of inglorious
rivers; it is one of the pleasures of the Romans, to say, "_Conduct me
to the borders of the Tiber; let us cross the Tiber._" In pronouncing
these words they seem to invoke history and to re-animate the dead. In
going to the Capitol, by way of the Forum, we find, to the right, the
Mamertine prisons. - These prisons were at first constructed by Ancus
Martius, and were then employed for ordinary criminals. But Servius
Tullius caused more horrid ones to be dug under ground for state
criminals, as if such prisoners were not those who deserve most
consideration, since their errors might be united with sincerity.
Jugurtha and the accomplices of Cataline perished in these prisons. It
is also said that St Peter and St Paul have been incarcerated in them.
On the other side of the Capitol is the Tarpeian Rock, and at the foot
of this rock we find at the present time a hospital, called The Hospital
of Consolation. It seems that thus in Rome the severe spirit of
antiquity and the mildness of Christianity meet each other throughout
the ages, and present themselves to our sight as well as to our
reflection.

When Oswald and Corinne had reached the top of the tower of the Capitol,
she showed him the Seven Hills; the city of Rome bounded at first by
Mount Palatine, then by the walls of Servius Tullius, which enclose the
Seven Hills; lastly by the walls of Aurelian, which still serve as an
enclosure to the greatest part of Rome. Corinne recalled to mind the
verses of Tibullus and Propertius[12], who are proud of the weak
beginnings whence has sprung the mistress of the world. Mount Palatine
was in itself the whole of Rome for some time, but afterwards the palace
of the Emperors filled the space which had before sufficed for a nation.
A poet, in the time of Nero, made the following epigram upon this
occasion.[13] _Rome will soon be only a palace. Go to Veii Romans, if
this palace does not now occupy Veii itself._

The Seven Hills are infinitely less elevated than formerly when they
deserved the name of the Steep Mountains. Modern Rome is raised forty
feet above the ancient city. The valleys which separated the hills are
almost filled up by time with the ruins of edifices; but what is more
singular yet, a heap of broken vases has raised two new hills;[14] and
we almost discover an image of modern times, in this progress, or rather
this wreck of civilisation, levelling mountains with valleys, effacing
in the moral as well as the physical world all those beautiful
inequalities produced by nature.

Three other hills,[15] not comprised in the seven famous ones, give
something picturesque to the city of Rome, which perhaps is the only
city that of itself, and in its own boundaries, offers the most
magnificent points of observation. It presents such a remarkable mixture
of ruins, edifices, fields and deserts, that we may contemplate Rome on
all sides, and always find a striking picture in the opposite
perspective.

Oswald could never feel tired of viewing the traces of ancient Rome from
the elevated point of the Capitol to which Corinne had conducted him.
The reading of history, and the reflections which it excites, produce a
less powerful effect upon the soul than those heaps of stones, those
ruins mingled with new habitations. So strongly do our eyes carry
conviction to the mind, that after having beheld these ruins of Rome we
believe the history of the ancient Romans as if we had been cotemporary
with them. The recollections of the mind are acquired by study; the
recollections of the imagination are born of a more immediate and
intimate impression, which gives body to thought, and renders us, if I
may so express it, witnesses of what we have learnt. Undoubtedly one is
vexed sometimes at those modern buildings which intrude themselves among
the venerable spoils of antiquity. But a portico by the side of a humble
cottage, pillars, between which appear the little windows of a church, a
tomb affording an asylum to a whole rustic family, produce an
indescribable mixture of great and simple ideas, a newly-discovered
pleasure which inspires a continual interest. The greater part of our
European cities have externally a common and prosaic appearance; and
Rome, oftener than any other, presents the melancholy aspect of misery
and degradation; but all of a sudden a broken column, a bas-relief
half-destroyed, stones knit together in the indestructible manner of the
ancient architects, remind us that there is in man an eternal power, a
divine spark, which he must never cease to excite in himself and revive
in others.

This Forum, whose enclosure is so narrow in compass, and which has
witnessed so many astonishing things, is a striking proof of the moral
greatness of man. When the universe, in the latter times of Rome, was
subjected to inglorious masters, we find whole centuries, of which
history has scarcely preserved any events; and this Forum, this little
space in the centre of a city, at that time very circumscribed, whose
inhabitants were fighting all around them for their territory, has it
not occupied by the memories which it recalls, the most sublime geniuses
of every age! Honour then, eternal honour, to nations, courageous and
free, since they thus captivate the admiration of posterity!

Corinne observed to Lord Nelville that there were very few remains of
the Republican age to be found at Rome. The aqueducts, the canals formed
under ground, for the distribution of water, were the only luxury of the
Republic and the kings who preceded it. They have only left us useful
edifices: tombs raised to the memory of their great men, and some
temples of brick, which still subsist. It was not until after the
conquest of Sicily that the Romans for the first time made use of marble
for their monuments; but it is sufficient to behold places where great
actions have occurred, to experience an indefinable emotion. It is to
this disposition of the soul that we must attribute the religious power
of pilgrimages. Celebrated countries of every kind, even when stripped
of their great men and of their monuments, preserve their effect upon
the imagination. What struck our sight no longer exists, but the charm
of recollection remains.

This Forum no longer presents us with any trace of that famous Tribune,
from which the Roman people were governed by eloquence. Three pillars
remain of a temple, raised by Augustus in honour of Jupiter Tonans, when
the thunderbolt fell at his feet without striking him, and an arch
which the senate raised to Septimus Severus in reward of his exploits.
The names of his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, were inscribed on the
fronton of the arch; but when Caracalla had assassinated Geta he caused
his name to be erased, and some traces of the cancelled letters are
still to be seen. At some distance is a temple to Faustina, a monument
of the blind weakness of Marcus Aurelius; a temple to Venus which, in
the time of the republic, was consecrated to Pallas - and farther on, the
ruins of a temple dedicated to the Sun and Moon, built by the Emperor
Adrian, who was jealous of Apollodorus, the famous Grecian architect,
and put him to death for having found fault with the proportions of his
edifice.

On the other side of the square we behold the ruins of some monuments
consecrated to nobler and purer aims. The pillars of a temple which is
believed to have been that of Jupiter Stator, who prevented the Romans
from ever flying before their enemies. A pillar remaining of the Temple
of Jupiter Guardian, placed, we are told, not far from the abyss into
which Curtius precipitated himself. Pillars also of a temple, raised,
some say, to Concord, others to Victory. Perhaps these two ideas are
confounded by conquering nations, who probably think no real peace can
exist till they have subdued the universe! At the extremity of Mount
Palatine is a beautiful triumphal arch, dedicated to Titus, for the
conquest of Jerusalem. We are informed that the Jews who are at Rome
never pass under this arch, and a little path is shewn which they take
to avoid it. It is to be wished, for the honour of the Jews, that this
anecdote may be true; long recollections suit long misfortunes.

Not far from thence is the arch of Constantine, embellished with some
bas-reliefs taken away from the forum of Trajan, by the Christians, who
wished to adorn the monument consecrated to the _founder of repose_; so
they called Constantine. The arts at this epoch were already on the
decline, and they stripped the past to honour new exploits. These
triumphal gates, which are seen at Rome, give perpetuity as much as man
can give it, to the honours paid to glory. There was a place upon their
summits destined for flute and trumpet players, in order that the victor
when passing might be intoxicated at the same time by music and praise,
and taste at the same moment all the most exalted emotions.

Facing these triumphal arches are the ruins of the temple of Peace built
by Vespasian; it was so decorated with brass and with gold, internally,
that when consumed by fire, the streams of burning metal that flowed
from it extended even to the Forum. Lastly, the Coliseum, the most
beautiful ruin of Rome, terminates this noble enclosure, which embraces
all history in its compass. This superb edifice, of which only the
stones remain, stript of the gold and the marble, served as an
amphitheatre for the combats of the gladiators, with wild beasts. It was
thus that the Roman people were amused and deceived by strong emotions,
when natural sentiments could no longer soar. The entrance to the
Coliseum is by two doors, one consecrated to the victors, and by the
other were carried out the dead: strange contempt for the human race,
which made the life or death of man dependent upon the pastime of a
public spectacle! Titus, the best of emperors, dedicated the Coliseum to
the Roman people, - and these admirable ruins bear such fine traits of
magnificence and genius, that we are led into an illusion on the subject
of true greatness, and tempted to grant that admiration to the
masterpieces of art, which is only the due of monuments consecrated to
generous institutions.

Oswald did not indulge in that admiration which Corinne felt in
contemplating these four galleries; these four edifices, rising one
upon another; this medley of pomp and barbarism, which at once inspires
respect and compassion. He beheld in these scenes nothing but the luxury
of the master, and the blood of the slaves, and felt indignant at the
arts which, regardless of their aim, lavish their gifts upon whatever
object they may be destined for. Corinne endeavoured to combat this
disposition: - "Do not," said she, to Lord Nelville, "carry the rigour of
your principles of morality and justice into the contemplation of the
Italian monuments; they, for the most part, recall, as I have told you,
rather the splendour, the elegance of taste of ancient forms, than the
glorious epoch of Roman virtue. But do you not find some traces of the
moral greatness possessed by the first ages, in the gigantic luxury of
the monuments which have succeeded them? Even the degradation of the
Roman people still commands respect: the mourning of her liberty covers
the world with wonders, and the genius of ideal beauty seeks to console
man for the true and real dignity which he has lost. Behold those
immense baths, open to all those who were willing to taste oriental
voluptuousness - those circuses destined for the elephants which were
brought there to combat with tigers, and those aqueducts which in a
moment converted the amphitheatre into a lake, where galleys too fought
in their turn, and crocodiles appeared where lions were seen
before: - such was the luxury of the Romans when luxury was their pride!
Those obelisks which were brought from Egypt, stolen from African
shades, in order to adorn the Roman sepulchres; that population of
statues which formerly existed in Rome cannot be looked upon in the same
light as the useless pageantry of the Asiatic despots: it is the Roman
genius which conquered the world, and to which the arts have given an
external form. There is something supernatural in this magnificence,
and its poetical splendour makes us forget its origin and its aim."

The eloquence of Corinne excited the admiration of Oswald without