"Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.... Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."—2nd St. Peter.
That of St. Paul:—
"God hath not given us a spirit of fear.... Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.... I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things, for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.... I charge thee by God and by the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead ... preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine; ... watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."—2nd Timothy.
On July 4, the prisons are the scene of a picturesque solemnity, when they are visited at night by the religious confraternities, who first kneel and then prostrate themselves in silent devotion.
Above the Church of S. Pietro in Carcere, is that of S. Giuseppe del Falegnami, St. Joseph of the Carpenters.
"Pourquoi les guides et les antiquaires qui nous ont si souvent montré la voie triomphale qui mène au Capitale et nous en ont tant de fois énuméré les souvenirs; pourquoi aucun d'eux ne nous a-t-il jamais parlé de ce qui survint le jour du triomphe de Titus, là-bas, près des prisons Mamertines? Laisse-moi vous rappeler que ce jour-là le triomphateur, au moment de monter au temple, devant verser le sang d'une victime, s'arrêta à cette place, tandis que l'on détachait de son cortége un captif de plus haute taille et plus richement vêtu que les autres, et qu'on l'emmenait dans cette prison pour y achever son supplice avec le lacet même qu'il portait autour du cou. Ce ne fût qu'après cette immolation que le cortége reprit sa marche et acheva de monter jusqu'au Capitole! Ce captif dont on ne daigne nous parler, c'était Simon Bar-Gioras; c'était un des trois derniers défenseurs de Jérusalem; c'était un de ceux qui la défendirent jusqu'au bout, mais hélas! qui la défendirent comme des démons maîtres d'une âme de laquelle ils ne veulent pas se laisser chasser, et non point comme des champions héroïques d'une cause sacrée et perdue. Aussi cette grandeur que la seule infortune suffit souvent pour donner, elle manque à la calamité la plus grande que le monde ait vue, et les noms attachés à cette immense catastrophe ne demeurèrent pas même fameux! Jean de Giscala, Eléazar, Simon Bar-Gioras; qui pense à eux aujourd'hui? L'univers entier proclame et vénère les noms de deux pauvres juifs qui, quatre ans auparavant, dans cette même prison, avaient eux aussi attendu la supplice; mais le malheur, le courage, la mort tragique des autres, ne leur ont point donné la gloire, et un dédaigneux oubli les a effacés de la mémoire des hommes!"—(Anne Severin) Mrs. Augustus Craven.
"Along the sacred way
Hither the triumph came, and, winding round
With acclamation, and the martial clang
Of instruments, and cars laden with spoil,
Stopped at the sacred stair that then appeared,
Then thro' the darkness broke, ample, star-bright,
As tho' it led to heaven. 'Twas night; but now
A thousand torches, turning night to day,
Blazed, and the victor, springing from his seat,
Went up, and, kneeling as in fervent prayer,
Entered the Capitol. But what are they
Who at the foot withdraw, a mournful train
In fetters? And who, yet incredulous,
Now gazing wildly round, now on his sons,
On those so young, well pleased with all they see,
Staggers along, the last? They are the fallen,
Those who were spared to grace the chariot-wheels;
And there they parted, where the road divides,
The victor and the vanquished—there withdrew;
He to the festal board, and they to die.
"Well might the great, the mighty of the world,
They who were wont to fare deliciously
And war but for a kingdom more or less,
Shrink back, nor from their thrones endure to look,
To think that way! Well might they in their pomp
Humble themselves, and kneel and supplicate
To be delivered from a dream like this!"
Rogers' Italy.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FORUMS AND THE COLISEUM.
Forum of Trajan—(Sta. Maria di Loreto)—Temple of Mars Ultor—Forum of Augustus—Forum of Nerva—Forum of Julius Cæsar—(Academy of St. Luke)—Forum Romanum—Tribune—Comitium —Vulcanal—Temple of Concord—Temple of Vespasian—Temple of Saturn—Arch of Septimius Severus—Temple of Castor and Pollux—Pillar of Phocas—Temple of Antoninus and Faustina—Basilica of Constantine—(Sta. Martina—S. Adriano—Sta. Maria—Liberatrice, SS. Cosmo and Damian—Sta. Francesca Romana)—Temple of Venus and Rome—Arch of Titus—(Sta. Maria Pallara—S. Buonaventura)—Meta Sudans—Arch of Constantine—Coliseum.