"C'est à Pie V. que les frères de l'ordre de la Charité, institué par saint Jean de Dieu, durent leur premier établissement à Rome.
"Au milieu du cortége triomphal qui accompagnait don Juan d'Autriche (1571), lors de son retour de Lépante, on remarquait un pauvre homme misérablement vêtu et à l'attitude modeste. Il se nommait Sébastien Arias des frères de Jean de Dieu. Jean de Dieu était mort sans laisser d'autre règle à ses disciples que ces touchantes paroles qu'il répétait sans cesse, faites le bien, mes frères; et Sébastien d'Arias venait à Rome pour demander au pape l'autorisation de former des couvents et d'avoir des hospices où ils pussent suivre les exemples de dévouement que leur avait laissés Jean de Dieu. Or, Sébastien rencontra don Juan à Naples, et le vainqueur de Lépante le prit avec lui. Il se chargea même d'appuyer sa requête, et Pie V. s'empressa d'accorder aux frères non-seulement la bulle qu'ils désiraient, mais encore un monastère dans l'île du Tibre."—Gournerie, Rome Chrétienne, ii. 206.
A narrow lane near this leads to the other end of the island, where the temple of Jupiter stood. It is worth while to go thither for the sake of the view of the river and its bridges, which is to be obtained from a little quay leading to one of the numerous water-mills which exist near this. These floating Mills (which bear sacred monograms upon their gables) are interesting as having been invented by Belisarius in order to supply the people and garrison with bread, during the siege of Rome by Vitiges, when the Goths had cut the aqueducts, and thus rendered the mills on the Janiculan useless.
The bridge, of one large and two smaller arches, which connects the island with the Trastevere, is now called the Ponte S. Bartolomeo, but was anciently the Pons Cestius, or Gratianus, built A.U.C. 708, by the Prætor Lucius Cestius, who was probably father to the Caius Cestius buried near the Porta S. Paolo. It was restored A.D. 370 by the emperors Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian, as is seen from the fragments of a red letter inscription on the inside of the parapet, in which the title "Pontifex Maximus" is ascribed to each—"a tide accepted without hesitation," says Gibbon, "by seven Christian emperors, who were invested with more absolute authority over the religion they had deserted, than over that which they professed."
We now enter the Trastevere, the city "across the Tiber,"—the portion of Rome which is most unaltered from mediæval times, and whose narrow streets are still overlooked by many ancient towers, gothic windows, and curious fragments of sculpture. The inhabitants on this side differ in many respects from those on the other side of the Tiber. They pride themselves upon being born "Trasteverini," profess to be the direct descendants of the ancient Romans, seldom intermarry with their neighbours, and speak a dialect peculiarly their own. It is said that in their dispositions also they differ from the other Romans, that they are a far more hasty, passionate, and revengeful, as they are a stronger and more vigorous race. The proportion of murders (a crime far less common in Rome than in England) is larger in this than in any other part of the city. This, it is believed, is partly due to the extreme excitement which the Trasteverini display in the pursuit of their national games, especially that of Morrà:—
"Morrà is played by the men, and merely consists in holding up, in rapid succession, any number of fingers they please, calling out at the same time the number their antagonist shows. Nothing, seemingly, can be more simple or less interesting. Yet, to see them play, so violent are their gestures, that you would imagine them possessed by some diabolical passion. The eagerness and rapidity with which they carry it on render it very liable to mistake and altercation; then frenzy fires them, and too often furious disputes arise at this trivial play that end in murder. Morrà seems to differ in no respect from the Micare Digitis of the ancient Romans."—Eaton's Rome.
A house with gothic windows on the right, soon after passing the bridge, is pointed out as that once inhabited by the Fornarina, beloved of Raphael, and so well known to us from his portrait of her in the Tribune at Florence.
Crossing the Via Longarina, we find ourselves in the little piazza of S. Benedetto a Piscinuola, where there is a tiny church, with a good brick campanile intersected by terra-cotta mouldings, which occupies the site of the house inhabited by St. Benedict before his retreat to Subiaco. The exterior is uninviting, but the interior very curious; an atrium with antique columns opens to a vaulted chapel (of the same design as the Orto del Paradiso at Sta. Prassede), in which is a picture of the Virgin and Child, revered as that before which St. Benedict was wont to pray. Hence is entered the cell of the saint, of rough-hewn stones. His stone pillow is shown.
The church has ancient pillars, and a rich opus-alexandrinum pavement.
"Over the high altar is a picture—full-length—of St. Benedict, which Mabillon ('Iter Italicum') considers a genuine contemporary portrait—though Nibby and other critics suppose it less ancient. The figure on gold background is seated in a chair with gothic carvings, such as were in mediæval use; the black cowl is drawn over the head, the hair and beard are white; the aspect is serious and thoughtful, in one hand a crozier, in the other the book of rules drawn up by the Saint, displaying the words with which they begin: 'Ausculta fili precepta magistri."—Hemans' Ancient Sacred Art.