"The Italian climate, moreover, robs age of its reverence, and makes it look nearer than it is. Not the Coliseum, nor the tombs of the Appian Way, nor the oldest pillar in the Forum, nor any other Roman ruin, be it as dilapidated as it may, ever give the impression of venerable antiquity which we gather, along with the ivy, from the grey walls of an English abbey or castle. And yet every brick and stone, which we pick up among the former, had fallen, ages before the foundation of the latter was begun."—Hawthorne, Transformation.
"A Rome, vous marchez sur les pierres qui ont été les dieux de César et de Pompée: vous considérez la ruine de ces grands ouvrages, dont la vieillesse est encore belle, et vous vous promènerez tous les jours parmi les histoires et les fables.... Il n'y à que Rome où la vie soit agréable, où le corps trouve ses plaisirs et l'esprit les siens, où l'on est à la source des belles choses. Rome est cause que vous n'êtes plus barbares, elle vous a appris la civilité et la religion.... Il est certain que je ne monte jamais au Palatin ni au Capitole que je n'y change d'esprit, et qu'il ne me vienne d'autres pensées que les miennes ordinaires. Cet air m'inspire quelque chose de grand et de généreux que je n'avais point auparavant: si je rêve deux heures au bord du Tibre, je suis aussi savant que si j'avais étudié huit jours."—Balzac.
Before leaving the Forum we must turn from its classical to its mediæval remains, and examine the very interesting group of churches which have sprung up amid its ruins.
Almost opposite the Mamertine Prisons, surmounted by a handsome dome, is the Church of Sta. Martina, which contains the original model, bequeathed by the sculptor Thorwaldsen, of his Copenhagen statue of Christ in the act of benediction. The opposite transept contains a very inferior statue of Religion by Canova. The figure of Sta. Martina by Guerini reposes beneath the high altar. The subterranean church is well worth visiting. An ante-chapel adorned with statues of four virgin martyrs leads to a chapel erected at the cost and from the designs of Pietro da Cortona, whose tomb stands near its entrance, with a fine bust by Bernini. In the centre of the inner chapel lamps are burning round the magnificent bronze altar which covers the shrine of Sta. Martina, and beneath it, you can discover the martyr's tomb by the light of a torch which a monk lets down through a hole. In the tribune is an ancient throne. A side chapel contains the grave in which the body of the virgin saint, with three other martyrs, her companions, was found in 1634: it is adorned with a fine bas-relief by Algardi.
"At the foot of the Capitoline hill, on the left hand as we descend from the Ara Cœli into the Forum, there stood in very ancient times a small chapel dedicated to Sta. Martina, a Roman virgin, who was martyred in the persecution under Alexander Severus. The veneration paid to her was of very early date, and the Roman people were accustomed to assemble there on the first day of the year. This observance was, however, confined to the people, and not very general till 1634; an era which connects her in rather an interesting manner with the history of art. In this year, as they were about to repair her chapel, they discovered, walled into the foundations, a sarcophagus of terra-cotta, in which was the body of a young female, whose severed head reposed in a separate casket. These remains were very naturally supposed to be those of the saint who had been so long venerated on that spot. The discovery was hailed with the utmost exultation, not by the people only, but by those who led the minds and consciences of the people. The pope himself, Urban VIII., composed hymns in her praise; and Cardinal Francesco Barberini undertook to rebuild her church. Amongst those who shared the general enthusiasm was the painter, Pietro da Cortona, who was at Rome at the time, who very earnestly dedicated himself and his powers to the glorification of Sta. Martina. Her church had already been given to the Academy of Painters, and consecrated to St. Luke, their patron saint. It is now 'San Luca and Santa Martina.' Pietro da Cortona erected at his own cost, the chapel of Sta. Martina, and when he died, endowed it with his whole fortune. He painted for the altarpiece his best picture, in which the saint is represented as triumphing over the idols, while the temple in which she has been led to sacrifice, is struck by lightning from heaven, and falls in ruins around her. In a votive picture of Sta. Martina kneeling at the feet of the Virgin and Child, she is represented as very young and lovely; near her, a horrid instrument of torture, a two-pronged fork with barbed extremities, and the lictor's axe, signifying the manner of her death."—Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art.
The feast of the saint is observed here on Jan. 30, with much solemnity. Then in all the Roman churches is sung the Hymn of Sta. Martina—
"Martinæ celebri plaudite nomini,
Cives Romulei, plaudite gloriæ;
Insignem mentis dicite virginem,
Christi dicite martyrem.
Hæc dum conspicuis orta parentibus
Inter delicias, inter amabiles
Luxus illecebras, ditibus affluit
Faustæ muneribus domus.
Vitæ despiciens commoda, dedicat
Se rerum Domino, et munifica manu
Christi pauperibus distribuens opes
Quærit præmia cœlitum.