"Quand on a établi un pont en fil de fer, on lui a donné pour base les piles du Ponte-Rotto, élevé au moyen âge sur les fondements du Pons Palatinus, qui fut achevé sous la censure de Scipion l'Africain. Scipion l'Africain et un pont en fil de fer, voilà de ces contrastes qu'on ne trouve qu'à Rome."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 209.
From this bridge is the best view of the Isola Tiberina and its bridges, and hence, also, the Temple of Vesta is seen to great advantage. Just below is the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima.
"Quand du Ponte-Rotto on considère le triple cintre de l'ouverture par laquelle la Cloaca Maxima se déchargeait dans le Tibre, on a devant les yeux un monument qui rappelle beaucoup de grandeur et beaucoup d'oppression. Ce monument extraordinaire est une page importante de l'histoire romaine. Il est à la fois la suprême expression de la puissance des rois étrusques et le signe avant-coureur de leur chute. L'on croit voir l'arc triomphal de la royauté par où devait entrer la république."—Ampère, Hist. Rom. ii. 233.
In the bed of the river a little lower down may be seen, at low water, some massive fragments of masonry. Here stood the Pons Sublicius, the oldest bridge in Rome, built by Ancus Martius (B.C. 639), on which Horatius Cocles and his two companions "kept the bridge" against the Etruscan army of Lars Porsenna, till—
"Back darted Spurius Lartius;
Herminius darted back:
And, as they passed, beneath their feet
They felt the timbers crack.
But when they turned their faces,
And on the farther shore
Saw brave Horatius stand alone,
They would have crossed once more.
"But with a crash like thunder
Fell every loosened beam,
And, like a dam, the mighty wreck
Lay right athwart the stream:
And a long shout of triumph
Rose from the walls of Rome,
As to the highest turret-tops
Was splashed the yellow foam."
Macaulay's Lays.
The name "Sublicius" came from the wooden beams of its construction, which enabled the Romans to cut it away. The bridge was rebuilt by Tiberius and again by Antoninus Pius, each time of beams, but upon stone piers, of which the present remains are fragments, the rest having been destroyed by an inundation in the time of Adrian I.
On the Trastevere bank, between these two bridges, half hidden in shrubs and ivy (but worth examination in a boat), are two gigantic Heads of Lions, to which in ancient times chains were fastened, and drawn across the river to prevent hostile vessels from passing.
Near this we enter the Via S. Giovanni Decollato, decorated with numerous heads of John the Baptist in the dish, let into the walls over the doors of the houses. The "Confraternità della Misericordia di S. Giovanni Decollato," founded in 1488, devote themselves to criminals condemned to death. They visit them in prison, accompany them to execution, receive their bodies, and offer masses for their souls in their little chapel. Vasari gives the highest praise to two pictures of Francesco Salviati in the Church of S. Giov. Decollato, "before which all Rome stood still in admiration,"—representing the appearance of the angel to Zacharias, and the meeting of the Virgin and Elizabeth.
On the left is the Hospital of Sta. Galla, commemorating the pious foundation of a Roman matron in the time of John I. (523—526), who attained such celebrity, that she is still commemorated in the Roman mass by the prayer—