from the satirist but that somewhere near the Porta Capena was a spot in which it was supposed Numa held nightly consultations with his nymph, and where there was a grove and a sacred fountain, and fanes once consecrated to the Muses; and that from this spot there was a descent into the valley of Egeria, where were several artificial caves. It is clear that the statues of the Muses made no part of the decoration which the satirist thought misplaced in these caves; for he expressly assigns other fanes (delubra) to these divinities above the valley, and moreover tells us that they had been ejected to make room for the Jews. In fact the little temple, now called that of Bacchus, was formerly thought to belong to the Muses, and Nardini* places them in a poplar grove, which was in his time above the valley. It is probable from the inscription and position, that the cave now shown may be one of the "artificial caverns," of which, in, deed, there is another a little way higher up the valley, under a tuft of alder bushes: but a single grotto of Egeria is a mere modern invention, grafted upon the application of the epithet Egerian to these nymphea in general, and which might send us to look for the haunts of Numa upon the banks of the Thames. Our English Juvenal was not seduced into mistranslation by his acquaintance with Pope: he carefully preserves the correct plural "Thence slowly winding down the vale, we view The valley abounds with springs,† and over these springs, which the Muses might haunt from their neighbouring groves, Egeria presided: hence she was said to supply them with water; and she was the nymph of the grottos through which the fountains were taught to flow. The whole of the monuments in the vicinity of the Egerian val. ley have received names at will, which have been changed at will. Venutit owns he can see no traces of the temples of Jove, Saturn, Juno, Venus, and Diana, which Nardini found, or hoped to find. The mutatorium of Caracalla's circus, the temple of Honour and Virtue, the temple of Bacchus, and, above all, the temple of the god Rediculus, are the antiquaries' despair. The circus of Caracalla depends upon a medal of that emperor cited by Fulvius Ursinus, of which the reverse shows a circus, supposed, however, by some to represent the Circus Maximus. It gives a very good idea of that place of exercise. The soil has been but little raised, if we may judge from the small cellular structure at the end of the Spina, which was probably the chapel of the god Consus. This cell is half beneath the soil, as it must have been in the circus itself, for Dionysius could not be persuaded to believe that this divinity was the Roman Neptune, because his altar was under ground. Dissimiles veris: quanto præstantius esset Numen aquæ, viridi si margine clauderet undas *Lib. iii. cap. iii. Sat. III +"Undique e solo aquæ scaturiunt." Nardini, lib. iii. cap. iii. Echinard, &c. Cic. cit. p. 297-298. Antiq. Rom. lib. ii. cap. xxxi. 57. Yet let us ponder boldly. Stanza cxxvii. line 1. At all events," says the author of the Academical Questions, "I trust, whatever may be the fate of my own speculations, that philosophy will regain that estimation which it ought to possess. The free and philosophic spirit of our nation has been the theme of admiration to the world. This was the proud distinction of Englishmen, and the luminous source of all their glory. Shall we then forget the manly and dignified sentiments of our ancestors, to prate in the language of the mother or the nurse about our good old prejudices? This is not the way to defend the cause of truth. It was not thus that our fathers maintained it in the brilliant periods of our history. Prejudice may be trusted to guard the outworks for a short space of time while reason slumbers in the citadel; but if the latter sink into a lethargy, the former will quickly erect a standard for herself. Philosophy, wisdom, and liberty, support each other; he who will not reason, is a bigot; he who cannot, is a fool; and he who dares not, is a slave." Preface, p. xiv. xv. vol. i. Here, where the ancient paid thee homage long. Stanza cxxxii. lines 2 and 3. We read in Suetonius that Augustus, from a warning received in a dream, counterfeited, once a year, the beggar, sitting before the gate of his palace with his hand hollowed and stretched out for charity. A statue formerly in the Villa Borghese, and which should be now at Paris, represents the Emperor in that posture of supplication. The object of this self degradation was the appeasement of Nemesis, the perpetual attendant on good fortune, of whose power the Roman conquerors were also reminded by certain symbols attached to their cars of triumph. The symbols were the whip and the crotalo, which were discovered in the Nemesis of the Vatican. The attitude of beggary made the above statue pass for that of Belisarius: and until the criticism of Winkelmannt had rectified the mistake, one fiction was called in to support another. It was the same fear of the sudden termination of prosperity that made Amasis king of Egypt warn his friend Polycrates of Samos, that the gods loved those whose lives where chequered with good and evil fortunes. Nemesis was supposed to lie in wait particularly for the prudent; that is, for those whose caution rendered them accessible only to mere accidents: and her first altar was raised on the banks of the Phrygian Æsepus by Adrastus, probably the prince * Sueton. in vit. Augusti. cap. 91. Cassaubon, in the note, refers to Plutarch's Lives of Camillus and Æmilius Paulus, and also to his apothegms, for the character of this deity. The hollowed hand was reckoned the last degree of degradation: and when the dead body of the præfect Rufinus was borne about in triumph by the people, the indignity was increased by putting his hand in that position. +Storia delle arti, &c. lib. xii. cap. iii. tom. ii. p. 422. Visconti calls the statue, however, a cybele. It is given in the Museo Pio Clement, tom. i. par. 40. The Abate Fea (Spiegazoine dei Rami. Storia, &c. tom. iii. p. 513.) calls it a Chrisippus. of that name who killed the son of Croesus by mistake. Hence the goddess was called Adrastea.* The Roman Nemesis was sacred and august: there was a temple to her in the Palatine under the name of Rhamnusia ;† so great indeed was the propensity of the ancients to trust to the revolution of events, and to believe in the divinity of Fortune, that in the same Palatine there was a temple to the Fortune of the day.‡ This is the last superstition which retains its hold over the human heart; and from concentrating in one object the credulity so natu. ral to man, has always appeared strongest in those unembarrassed by other articles of belief. The antiquaries have supposed this goddess to be synonymous with fortune and with fate :§ but it was in her vindictive quality that she was worshipped under the name of Nemesis. 59. I see before me the Gladiator lie. Stanza cxl. line 1. Whether the wonderful statue which suggested this image be a laquearian gladiator, which in spite of Winkelmann's criticism has been stoutly maintained, or whether it be a Greek herald, as that great antiquary positively asserted, or whether it be thought a Spartan or barbarian shield-beared, according to the opinion of his Italian editor,** it must assuredly seem a copy of that masterpiece of Ctesilaus which represented "a wounded man dying who perfectly expressed what there remained of life in him."++ Mont p. 88, See Questiones Romanæ, &c. Ap. Græv. Antiq. Roman. tom. v. p. 942. See also Muratori. Nov. Thesaur. Inscrip. Vet. tom. i. 89, where are three Latin and one Greek inscription to Nemesis, and others to Fate. By the Abate Bracci, dissertazione supra un clipeo votivo, &c. Preface, page 7, who accounts for the cord round the neck, but not for the horn, which it does not appear the gladiators them selves ever used. Note A, Storia delle arti, tom. ii. p. 205. Either Polifontes, herald of Laius, killed by Edipus; or Ceperas, herald of Euritheus, killed by the Athenians when he endeavoured to drag the Hericladiæ from the altar of mercy, and in whose honour they instituted annual games, continued to the time of Hadrian; or Anthemocritus, the Athenian herald, killed by the Megarenses, who never recovered the impiety. See Storia, delle arti, &c. tom. ii. pag. 203, 204, 205, 206, 207. lib. ix. cap. ii. **Storia, &c. tom. ii. p. 207. Not. (A). ++"Vulneratum deficientum fecit in quo possit intellegi quan. tum restat anima." Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiv. cap. 8. faucon and Maffeit thought it the identical statue; but that statue was of bronze. The gladiator was once in the villa Ludovizi, and was bought by Clement XII. The right arm is an entire restoration of Michael Angelo.‡ 60. He, their sire, Butcher'd to make a Roman holiday. Stanza cxli. lines 6 and 7. Gladiators were of two kinds, compelled and voluntary; and were supplied from several conditions; from slaves sold for that purpose; from culprits; from barbarian captives either taken in war, and, after being led in triumph, set apart for the games, or those seized and condemned as rebels; also from free citizens, some fighting for hire (auctorati), others from a depraved ambition: at last even knights and senators were exhibited, a disgrace of which the first tyrant was naturaly the first inventor. In the end, dwarfs, and even women, fought; an enormity prohibited by Severus. Of these the most to be pitied undoubtedly were the barbarian captives; and to this species a Christian writer|| justly applies the epithet "innocent," to distinguish them from the professional gladiators. Aurelian and Claudius supplied great numbers of these unfortunate victims; the one after his triumph, and the other on the pretext of a rebellion. No war, says Lipsius,** was ever so destructive to the human race as these sports. In spite of the laws of Constantine and Constans, gladiatorial shows survived the old established religion more than seventy years; but they owed their final extinction to the courage of a Christian. In the year 404, on the kalends of January, they were exhibiting the shows in the Flavian amphitheatre before the usual immense concourse of people. Almachius or Telemachus, an eastern monk, who had travelled to Rome intent on his holy purpose, rushed into the midst of the arena, and endeavoured to separate the combatants. The prætor Aly. pius, a person incredibly attached to these games, gave instant orders to the gladiators to slay him; and Telemachus gained the crown of martyrdom, and the title of saint, which surely has never either before or since been awarded for a more noble exploit. Honorius immediately abolished the shows, which were never afterwards revived. The story is told by Theodoret‡‡ and Cassiodorus,§§ and seems worthy of credit notwithstanding its place in the Roman A *Antiq. tom. iii. par. 2. tab. 155. Racc. stat. tab. 64. Mus. Capital. tom. iii. p. 154. edit. 1755. Julius Caesar, who rose by the fall of the aristocracy, brought Furius Leptinus and A. Calenus upon the arena. Tertullian," certe quidem et innocentes gladiatores in ludum veniunt, at voluptatis publicæ hostiæ fiant." Just. Lips. Saturn. Sermon. lib. ii, cap. iii. Vopiscus, in vit. Aurel, and, in vit. Claud. ibid. **"Credo imò scio nullum bellum tantam cladem vastitiemque generi humano intulisse, quam hos ad voluptatem ludos." Just. Lips. ibid. lib. i. cap. xii. ++ Augustinus, (lib. vi. confess. cap. viii.) "Alypium suum gladiatrii spectaculi inhiatu incredibiliter abreptum," scribit. ib. lib. 1. cap. xii. #Hist. Eccles. cap. xxvi. lib. v. Cassiod. Tripartita, 1. x. c. xi, Saturn, ib, ib. martyrology. Besides the torrents of blood which flowed at the fu nerals, in the amphitheatres, the circus, the forums and other public places, gladiators were introduced at feasts, and tore each other to pieces amidst the supper tables, to the great delight and applause of the guests. Yet Lipsius permits himself to suppose the loss of courage, and the evident degeneracy of mankind, to be nearly connected with the abolition of these bloody spectacles.† 61. Here, where the Roman million's blame or praise Was death or life, the playthings of a crowd. When one gladiator wounded another, he shouted, "he has it," "hoc habet," or "habet." The wounded combatant dropped his weapon, and advancing to the edge of the arena, supplicated the spectators. If he had fought well, the people saved him; if other wise, or as they happened to be inclined, they turned down their thumbs, and he was slain. They were occasionally so savage that they were impatient if a combat lasted longer than ordinary without wounds or death. The emperor's presence generally saved the vanquished: and it is recorded as an instance of Caracalla's ferocity, that he sent those who supplicated him for life, in a spectacle at Nicomedia, to ask the people; in other words, handed them over to be slain. A similar ceremony is observed at the Spanish bullfights. The magistrate presides; and after the horsemen and piccadores have fought the bull. the matadore steps forward and bows to him for permission to kill the animal. If the bull has done his duty by killing two or three horses, or a man, which last is rare, the people interfere with shouts, the ladies wave their handkerchiefs, and the animal is saved. The wounds and death of the horses are accompanied with the loudest acclamations, and many gestures of delight, especially from the female portion of the audience, including those of the gentlest blood. Every thing depends on habit. The author of Childe Harold, the writer of this note, and one or two other Englishmen, who have certainly in other days borne the sight of a pitched battle, were, during the summer of 1809, in the governor's box at the great amphitheatre of Santa Maria, opposite to Cadiz. The death of one or two horses completely satisfied their curiosity. A gentleman present, observing them shudder and look pale, noticed that unusual reception of so delightful a sport to some young ladies, who stared and smiled, and continued their applauses as another horse fell bleeding to the ground. One bull killed three horses off his own horns. He was saved by acclamations which were redoubled when it was known he belonged to a priest. An Englishman who can be much pleased with seeing two men beat themselves to pieces, cannot bear to look at a horse galloping *Baronius. ad. ann. et in notis ad Martyrol. Rom. 1. Jan. See -Marangoni delle memorie saere e profane dell' Anfiteatro Flavio, p. 25. edit. 1746. + Quod non tu Lipsi momentum aliquod habuisse censes ad virtutem? Magnum. Tempora nostra, nosque ipsos videamus. Oppidum ecce unum alterumve captum, direptum est; tumultus circa nos, non in nobis: et tamen concidimus et turbamur. Ubi robur, ubi tot per annos meditata sapientiæ studia? ubi ille animus qui possit discere, si fractus illabatur orbis?" &c. ibid. lib. ii. cap. xxv. The prototype of Mr. Windham's panegyric on bull-baiting. |