have been more beneficial to Rome, to Italy, and to Europe, than all the others united. The design I allude to was no less than a confederation of all the states, and an union of all the forces and means of Italy in order to protect the common country against a French invasion*. The infatuation of the different governments defeated the patriotic efforts of the Pontiff; they were annihilated, and he was dragged into exile. These disasters have for the present time and probably for many years to come, checked all public exertions, and suspended the numberless projects which had been formed for improving and beautifying the city. * The attitude and feelings of the Italian sovereigns is not inelegantly expressed in the following lines of the poet Monti. Spumava la Tirrena onda suggetta Taciturno ed umil volgea l'arena Solo il Tebro levava alto la testa; E divina querriera in corta gonna, This poetical representation of Rome is a description of the famous statue in the Capitol. VOL. II. How long the destructive influence of France may last, it is difficult even to conjecture, but this we may affirm, that if it should extend to many years, it will half dispeople Rome, open its deserted palaces and temples to the rains and tempests, and bequeath the Vatican itself, shaken and dismantled, to the wonder and regret of posterity. Immortale nihil mundi compage tenetur Non orbis, non regna hominum, non aurea Roma! CHAP. IV. OBSERVATIONS ON ANCIENT NAMES-ON ROMAN ARCHITECTURE -DEFECTS OF THE MODERN STYLE-PROGRESS OF THE ART -PAPAL GOVERNMENT-ITS CHARACTER-CONSEQUENCES OF THE FRENCH INVASION AND PREPONDERANCE ON THE PRESENT AND FUTURE STATE OF ROME. I NOW proceed to state various observations as they occurred during my solitary walks, without order or connection with each other, prompted sometimes by the scenery before me, sometimes by the recollections of the past, and not unfrequently by the precarious state of the present times. As the principal charm and attraction of Rome is its connection with antiquity, I have often wondered that more care has not been taken to preserve or restore the ancient names of the streets and public buildings. The turbulence of the middle ages may serve as a justification, or at least may plead as an excuse for former negligence; but what can have prevented the government during the two last centuries of peace and tranquillity, from turning its attention to this object? All the members of this government are literary men, and in no capital are the knowledge and love of antiquity more prevalent. What more easy than to change Strada into Via, the ancient general appellation of street, still in use at Florence, Naples, Milan, and Palermo. Via Lata is as pure Italian and sounds better than Il Corso; Capitolio has the same advantages over the barbarian Campidoglio; and Foro Romano is surely in sound, in sense, and in dignity preferable to Campo Vaccino. I will not criticise the name of the river, because the ancient Romans, like the modern Greeks, may very possibly have pronounced the b as we now do the v, so that the difference may be very slight; but the Porta del Popolo, the Porta Pia, the Porta San Sebastiano, San Pancrazio, San Lorenzo, might with much advantage both to sound and recollection, be restored to their ancient appellations of Porta Flaminia, Nomentana, Capena, Aurelia, and Esquilina. The Porta del Popolo may be ancient, as it derives its name not from the people, as many have imagined, but from the poplar grove that surrounded the mausoleum of Augustus, and long formed the most conspicuous feature in its neighborhood. The Piazza though derived from Platea might be replaced by the ancient Foro, and in some cases by the Circo, and euphony at least would not suffer from the change of Piazza Navona and Piazza di San Pietro into Circo Agonale and Foro Vaticano*. * Some German writers insist that Piazza comes from Platz: I cannot agree with them. The Germans were unacquainted with the thing signified by the word Platea, and of course with the word itself, till in some degree civi The seven hills still retain their ancient appellations, except the Quirinal, which is more frequently called Monte Cavallo by the common people*, in allusion to the two celebrated horses, which however, notwithstanding their beauty, ought not to be put in competition with the founder of the city, Quirinus himself. Next to the restoration of the ancient names, which would awaken so many delightful recollections, and greatly increase the reverence of the classic traveller, I should propose the reparation of some at least of the ancient edifices: and here it is impossible not to express once more both surprise and indignation at the miserable manner in which many of the noblest monuments of antiquity have been disfigured by modern barbarism. I speak not of the depredations made upon such edifices for the lized by their intercourse with the Romans. They had no towns originally, and consequently neither streets nor squares. "Nullas Germanorum populis," says Tacitus, “urbes habitari, satis notum est: ne pati quidem inter se junctas sedes. Colunt discreti ac diversi ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus placuit," &c. This custom of living in separate hovels remained long after their acquaintance with the Romans, as Ammianus Marcellinus, in his account of the Roman wars in Germany three hundred years after the time of Tacitus, makes no mention of towns. The German nation was then as now slow in improvement. At last they adopted the more commodious mode of dwelling in use among their neighbors, and with it they probably borrowed the names annexed to it, giving them as usual a rougher sound and harsher termination. Thus Platea barbarized became Platz. * In all papal briefs or letters, written from the palace of Monte Cavallo, the ancient name is preserved. * Tacitus Germania XVI. |