the city, and the other for those who went out. These twin gates were very useful, and often saved time to travellers. When Pliny wrote, there seems to have been twelve of them; but which, in numbering the gates, he reckoned as single ones. For what other reasonable interpretation can we give to his words?" ad singulas portas quæ sunt hodie numero XXXVII. ita ut XII. portæ semel numerentur."* Thus the ancient Carmental gate was double, and from the right hand side marched out the Fabii." Infelici via dextro jano portæ Carmentalis profecti ad Cremeram flumen perveniunt."+-This jano was not the temple of the god Janus, but one of the double gates of the city. Hence we learn, that those who went out of the city took the right hand gate. Nardini has given an example of these twin gates in that of the Porta Portese, erected by Stilico, in the time of Arcadius and Honorius, and removed by Urban the VIIIth in the 1643. Of the same kind is the gate of Verona, known by the name of Porta de' Borsari, which has been erroneously taken for a triumphal arch. § Hist. Nat. 1. 3. c. 5.-This text of Pliny-" ita ut duodecim portæ semel numerentur"-is no doubt obscure, and has perplexed the commentators. It has probably arisen from the carelessness of the transcribers. Pliny perhaps considered the twin gates as two, and that 12 of them were equal to 24 single gates. But if we could suppose the text to have been originally 11. (dua) in place of XII. (duodecim), and that each two was reckoned as one; in that case there might have been 18 double gates, and a single one, which would complete Pliny's number of thirty-seven. + Livius, l. 2. c. 49 Nardini, Roma Antica, l. 1. c. 9. § "Verona illustrata" dell' Marchese Scipio Maffei. Part 3. c. 2.-And "Fabriche antiche e moderne di Verona, dell' Valesi," Tab. VI. each gate. At each gate a statue of brass, of some tutelar god, seems A statue at to have been placed; whose right hand passengers kissed— "boni ominis causa." None of these now remain. Nor do I remember that this superstitious custom is taken notice of by any author but Lucretius. The philosophic poet mentioning the imperceptible but real diminution of every thing by use, says that the right hands of these statues were worn, by being frequently kissed :— "Tum portas propter ahena Signa manus dextras ostendunt attenuari Sæpe salutantum tactu, præterque meantum."* ed. The trouble of guarding so many gates seems to have en- Number of gaged the Romans of the middle age to have lessened their gates lessennumber. Thus the ancient gates of Praneste and Labicum were built up in the thirteenth century; and between the two a new gate was formed out of one of the arches of the castellum of the Claudian aqueduct. It is called the Porta Maggiore. There are twelve gates in the walls, as extended by Aure- At present lian; ; some of which, indeed, have been opened, and others of sixteen gates. them rebuilt since his time. And there are four And there are four gates in the Città Leonina, added by the Popes. * Lucr. l. 1. v. 318. The same cause has produced the same effect in modern Rome. Thus, among other examples, the foot of the elegant marble statue of Christ, by Michel' Angelo Buonaroti, at the Minerva, having been defaced, by devotees kissing and rubbing their foreheads on it, was afterwards covered with brass; and which last is now very considerably worn. Rome di vided into regiones. After what I have said, perhaps it is unnecessary to observe, that the walls of Rome are partly built by Aurelian, partly rebuilt by Belisarius, on the same foundation, and partly by the Popes. But from time to time, the whole have been repaired. Rome was early divided into four quarters, or what were called regiones. These divisions were useful for regulating its police. But as the city had greatly increased, Augustus judged it necessary to divide it into fourteen regiones. Publius Victor and Sextus Rufus have described them; and Panvinius has made some additions.* But as Nardini, from these authors, and from the Nolitia Imperii Romani, has published lists of them, and the various buildings and places each contained, with further additions of his own, I beg leave to refer to him. Nardini, indeed, has described Rome according to these regiones. But, as the city has undergone many and great changes, since that division was made by Augustus, I think it is now impossible to trace their contour with any degree of accuracy; nor the streets of ancient Rome, several of whose names are mentioned by the Roman writers. Disputes about jurisdictions, and the police of the city, engaged Pope Benedict XIV. to divide modern Rome likewise into fourteen quarters, or what are now called rioni. But the contours of these rioni are not the same that Augustus gave to his regiones. * "Onuphrii Panvinii reipublicæ Romanæ commentariorum libri tres." +"Roma Antica." "Descrizione del nuovo ripartimento de' Rioni di Roma, del Conte Bernardino Bernardini." To render the survey of Rome more clear, and to methodize my remarks, I shall—1st, examine the gates, and the most remarkable antiquities to be seen on the roads which lead from them. I shall, 2dly, enter the city, and examine the seven hills, and afterwards the plains. To which I shall add, by way of Appendix, some letters and remarks, descriptive of some of the most renowned places and antiquities in the neighbourhood of Rome. I begin with the gates. Arrangethese re ment of marks. |