CHAPTER III

Rome.—Pope Gregory and the Faithful.—The walls,—The Tiber,—
CaSile of St, Angelo.—The Vatican,—Old St, Peter's,—St, John
Lateran.—Right of Sanduary,—Sand a Sandorum.—Statue of
Marcus Aurelius.—The Colosseum.—Imperial buildings on the
Palatine.—S, Maria Nuova.—S, Croce in Gerusalemme.—
S. SilveSlro in Capite.—S. Maria Rotonda.—Trajan's column,—
Triumphal arches.—S, Maria in Ara Coeli.—S. Maria Maggiore.—
S, Prassede.—S. Pietro in VincoH.—S, AnaSiasio alle Tre Fon¬
tane.—The miserable condition of the city.—The inhabitants,—
Wild beaSts within the walls.

! I STAYED at Rome-^ during the whole of Lent, visiting
the sanftuaries and ancient buildings, which appeared
to me to be very wonderfully made, but not only am
I unable to describe them, but I doubt whether I could
appreciate them as they deserved. Therefore I may
be pardoned, such is the grandeur and magnificence
of Rome, if I fall short in my account, for I am not
equal to so great an undertaking in view of the extent
to which these ancient buildings have been deftroyed
and changed, and are decayed. Nevertheless, to all
who behold them it is clear that they were once very
magnificent, in spite of the tumults which they witnessed
after the beginning of the downfall of Rome, in the
discords between the princes who were her citizens,
the deftruftion wrought by powerful kings who fought
againft her, and the hand of time which consumes
everything. Moreover, Pope St. Gregory, seeing how
the faithful flocked to Rome for the salvation of their
souls, but that they were so aftounded at the magnifi¬
cence of the ancient buildings that they spent much
time in admiring them, and neglefted the sacred objeft
of their visit, the Pope, I say, sent orders to deftroy all
or the majority of the antiquities which had survived

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