RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS. Monachorum incedunt agmina mille; Quid memorem vexilla, cruces, idolaque culta?-TH. NAUGER. THE descriptions of the religious processions of the heathens so nearly resemble what we see on every festival of the Virgin, or other Romish saint, that one can hardly help concluding that these pageants are still regulated by the old ceremonial of Pagan Rome. At these solemnities the chief magistrate used frequently to assist in robes of ceremony, attended by the priests in surplices, bearing wax candles in their hands, and carrying upon a "thensa" the images of their gods, dressed out in their best clothes. These were usually followed by the principal youth of the place, in white linen vestments, singing hymns in honour of the god whose festival they were celebrating; accompanied by crowds of all sorts, that were initiated in the same religion, all bearing flambeaux or wax candles in their hands. Such is the description which Apuleius gives of a pagan procession*-a description equally ap Antistites sacrorum candido linteamine-ad usque vestigia strictim injecti. Deûm proferebant insignes exuvias, quorum primus lucernam præmicantem claro porrigebat lumine, &c. Eas amoenus lectissimæ juventutis veste niveâ præænitens sequebatur chorus, carmen venustum iterantes. Magnus præterea sexûs utriusque numerus, lucernis, tædis, cercis, &c.-Apuleius. plicable to a Popish one. To give one instance out of a thousand, of the way in which the latter are conducted: "On the day of the Ascension," says Blunt, "I happened to be passing near the temple of Concord at Rome, when my ears were struck by the sound of distant music. Presently I saw a procession filing through the Forum towards the Capitol in the following order:―First, a few soldiers in very gay attire; then a priest carrying before him a relic of the Virgin, (a lock of her hair); then the Madonna herself, borne on the shoulders of several men, and encompassed with candles; next a numerous body of mendicants, walking in pairs; then a military band playing a waltz; then a banner, painted with figures of saints; finally a few more divisions of Franciscans, together with large crucifixes, and other sacred symbols. We have here the music, the tapers, the succession of images, and the companies of attendants, which distinguished the old Roman processions in the city and the circus. On such occasions, too, the streets through which the procession passes, are usually adorned with a profusion of hanging tapestry—a custom probably derived also from ancient Rome; at least, it is mentioned by Juvenal as taking place at the public festival of a marriage: Ornatas paulo ante fores, pendentia linquit Vela domûs, et adhuc virides in limine ramos.-SAT. vi. 227. She quits the nuptial roof, while yet are seen The boughs that graced her entrance, fresh and green; While yet the sheets of tapestry remain, Which waved their honours for the bridal train. The boughs, too, of which the poet here speaks, are still in fashion, festoons of them being carried sometimes across the street, and sometimes over the great entrance door of the church which lays claim to the honours of the day." Thus, as we find, from what Horace tells us*, the an * Te semper anteit sæva Necessitas: Clavos trabales et cuneos manu Gestans ahenâ; nec severus Uncus abest, liquidumque plumbum. Lib. i. 35. I used formerly to think, says Spence, that these were instruments for punishing criminals; but there are some things here that cannot be understood that way, and they may all be understood as signs of stability; and consequently are very proper attributes for "Necessitas." The "Clavi trabales" are so called because they were used to pin and fasten the great beams in their strongest buildings. The "cunei" were sometimes used to make things closer and firmer together; and thence, "cuneo" signifies to fasten with a wedge or pin. The Romans used no cement in their noblest buildings. The stones were very large; and were often fastened together by cramping-irons, and lead poured into the interstices. This answers very well to the "uncus" and "liquidum plumbum" in this passage. The "uncus" may be called "severus," because it was sometimes used in the execution of criminals; or, possibly, severus uncus," in this place, may signify something equivalent to our term, cramping-iron, in English. The expression "manu ahenâ" here, has something that still wants to be explained. This ode of Horace is a hymn, addressed to the great goddess of Fortune, at Antium; and he seems, in this part of it, to allude to some of the processions anciently used in honour of that goddess. The statue of Necessity seems to have been carried before the figure of the goddess herself "Te semper anteit sæva Necessitas." This statue was probably of brass; the known emblem of cient Romans used to carry the statue of the goddess Fortune with a great deal of pomp to some fixed place, and then back again to her shrine; so do their descendants now carry in procession the statues and pictures of the Virgin. "The object, too, of religious spectacles," as Blunt justly observes, "is now frequently the very same as it was heretofore. And as in seasons of drought the Virgin is carried in procession for rain, so did the Romans, under the like circumstances, parade about a certain stone, called the Lapis Manalis, which was kept in the temple of Mars, on the outside the Porta Capena." Middleton mentions a procession which took place during Lent, in which he witnessed the ridiculous penance of the Flagellantes, or self-whippers, who march with whips in their hands, and lash themselves as they go along on the bare back, till it is covered with blood;just as the fanatic priests of Bellona, or the Syrian goddess, as well as the votaries of Isis, used to slash and cut themselves of old, in order to please the goddess by the sacrifice of their own blood-a mad piece of discipline, which we find frequently mentioned, and as often ridiculed by the ancient writers. stability or firmness, of old. The ancient statuaries observed a certain propriety, even in the materials they worked upon, on such and such occasions; as might be proved from a number of instances in the statues still remaining to us.-Polymetis, p. 152. JOURNEY TO NAPLES. Appia longarum teritur regina viarum.-STAT. In this journey, sacred history unites with profane, truth conspires with fable, to amuse and interest the traveller. For several miles, indeed, the scenery betrays the character of desolation and neglect, which everywhere marks the vicinity of Rome. But the gigantic ruins of aqueducts, stretching across the plain till they find their level among the hills, the frequent masses of sepulchral monuments, Quandoquidem data sunt ipsis quoque fata sepulchris, united with the interesting recollections they recall, leave the traveller little time to regret the want of fertility as he traverses this part of the Campagna. Beyond the Torre di Mezza Via, near the foot of the hill which rises from the Campagna, the road joins the Appian Way, and, at the entrance of Albano, passes an ancient tomb, by the inhabitants called the tomb of Ascanius, by antiquaries that of Clodius. It has long been stripped of its ornaments and external coating, and has now no other claim to attention than its antiquity. Beyond Albano are those venerable cones which, in contradiction to Livy, usually pass for the tombs of the Horatii. Of these cones there were originally five, on a square basement, corresponding with the number of those |