The banditti now departed, directing them not to stir until they were off the ground, when they proceeded without farther interruption to Rome. The reason of Mr. L⸺ being called by his friends to be robbed, was this; that the banditti, fully aware of a fourth person having escaped, threatened to murder the whole of the three, unless he was produced, so that they found it necessary for their own safety to discover him. One of the gentlemen was slightly wounded in the hand by a stiletto, in his attempt to escape. On reaching Rome, they immediately repaired to the police, who expressed concern, but took the matter very cooly, and instead of sending out a party in pursuit, desired them to call again in the morning; and here the affair ended. Strong suspicion fell on the charcoal drivers, for they had passed many of their carts just before; and such persons, as well as the peasantry of this country, are notorious robbers, whenever a convenient opportunity offers.
I shall follow up the above anecdote, with an account of another occurrence of the same nature, that took place about this time.
A French ship of war having put into Civita Vecchia, the captain, with his surgeon and another officer, engaged a carriage to take them to Rome; at one o’clock they stopped to dine at a small village, and set off again at three; soon after this they all fell into a sleep, from which they were roused by four peasant-like fellows, armed with muskets, who made them get out of the coach, and lie on the ground upon their faces, one man standing sentry over each officer, while the fourth plundered the carriage; while this was proceeding, the captain ventured to propose to his companions, in French, which the banditti did not understand, that each should spring up, at a signal, and seize his guard by surprise, expressing his belief that he could overpower his man before the one from the coach could get to assist him, in which case he should be ready for his reception; the proposal was acceded to; the word given, and the attack made; after a severe struggle they succeeded in disarming the whole four, who scampered off, the Frenchmen firing after them in their retreat, and wounding one of them; they then entered Rome with the captured muskets in triumph.
On the following day, after delivering letters and arranging some private business, I visited Monte Cavallo, so named from two colossal statues representing Castor and Pollux, each holding a horse. The figures of these gods are remarkably fine antiques, the one supposed to be the production of Phidias, the other of Praxiteles, and once adorned Athens. The horses are very inferior, and of modern workmanship. Afterward I returned to dinner at my hotel, and had the pleasure of meeting there Count K⸺, whom I had known at Nice. Two English ladies also dined to-day at our table d’hôte; and some American naval officers belonging to the Peacock sloop, who had been cruizing off the coast of Barbary; these gentlemen, from the similarity of their uniform, were, by some of the English, mistaken for British officers.
As I proposed to spend at least a month in Rome, and found the bustle of an hotel unpleasant, Dr. Clark did me the favour to procure me comfortable lodgings in the Piazza di Spagnia, and within a very short distance of his own residence. I cannot too strongly acknowledge the kindness of this gentleman and his lady, during my residence in this city.
On Wednesday, the fourth of April, I began, in company with two friends, to examine the remains of antiquity which abound in this city. We first directed our steps to Trajan’s pillar, in our way to which we passed a parade of his holiness’s soldiers; they were fine bodied men, but their state of discipline evidenced the degeneracy of the warriors of modern Rome.
We now ascended the pillar of Trajan, by a spiral staircase of one hundred and eighty-three steps, cut out of solid marble, twenty-three blocks of which, placed horizontally one over the other, compose the column; from the summit, which is surrounded by an iron railing, there is a fine view of the city. This beautiful pillar had formerly a gilded bronze statue of the emperor Trajan placed on its summit, with a globe in his hand, containing his own ashes, which was, by Pope Sextus the Fifth, exchanged for one of St. Peter. At its lower extremity the pillar is twelve feet in diameter, gradually diminishing as it ascends to ten; the height, from the base to the top of the statue, is one hundred and thirty-three feet; the outside of the column is beautifully ornamented in basso relievo, with a representation of the Dacian war, admirably wrought on a continued spiral line from the bottom of the column to its top, as a memorial of his success in which, the Roman senate erected and dedicated this noble structure to the emperor, whose name it still bears. The spot, on which it stands, was formerly the centre of the forum of Trajan.
After this we walked over what was once the celebrated Forum Romanum, originally built by Romulus, and where the courts of justice were held. This once important square, now known by the name of the Campo Vaccino, was supposed to have been seven hundred and fifty feet in length and five hundred broad.
From hence we extended our walk to the Palatine-hill, passing near the Via Sacra, which lay about eight or ten feet below us, and from which the rubbish had been cleared to make it visible; we then pursued our way to the baths of Livy; the Coliseum; and the tomb of Cestius, which is a pyramidal structure, one hundred and twenty feet in height, and ninety square at its base; it is situated adjoining to the wall of the city, very near the burial ground for foreigners, amongst the various tombs of which my companions noticed several with English inscriptions.
We now passed on to Monte Testaccio, which has derived its existence and name, from the quantities of broken vases, mixed with rubbish, which have been deposited upon its site. The top of this mound is surmounted by a cross.