The Torre di Conti, on the right, is a massive tower of the middle ages, built as a fortress, and supposed to stand on the site of the Temple of the Earth. "Lenæus, the grammarian, opened a school in the Carinæ, near the Temple of the Earth, where stood the house of the Pompeys" (Suetonius, "Grammarians," xv.). "Tiberius removed from Pompey's house in the Carinæ" (Suetonius, "Tiberius," xv.). "The house of Cassius was demolished; and to this day the place remains void, except that part on which they afterwards built the Temple of the Earth, which stands in the street leading to the Carinæ" (Dionysius, viii. 79).
Going up that street, we come to some old steps, on our right, at the top of which is the lane that led down from the Carinæ to the Vicus Cyprius, across which was the Sister's Yoke (Dionysius, iii. 22).
The house at the top of the steps was the
HOUSE OF LUCREZIA BORGIA.
Here Cæsar Borgia, Francesco, Duke of Gandia, and Lucrezia, supped with their mother Vanozza, on the evening that Cæsar assassinated the duke, and had his body thrown into the Tiber, where it was afterwards found by a fisherman, pierced with nine wounds. The dark archway leads to the
CHURCH OF S. PETER IN VINCOLI.
(The Chains of Peter.)
It has three aisles, with twenty Doric columns of Greek marble, and two of granite, which support the middle arch. On the first altar, to the right, there is S. Augustin, by Guercino. On the right of the high altar is the famous statue of Moses, by Michael Angelo, rendered hideous by two horns sticking out from the forehead. Although we read that Moses was a horny man, it does not follow that he had horns, but that his flesh was hard like horn. The S. Margherita, in the adjacent chapel, is by Guercino; the tribune of the high altar was painted by I. Coppi. The new confessional, built by Pius IX., contains the tomb of the seven Maccabees. Here also are preserved the chains of S. Peter. The last altar but one of the other aisle has a S. Sebastian, a mosaic of the seventh century. In the sacristy there are the Liberation of S. Peter, by Domenichino; a Holy Family and Faith, of the school of G. Romano. Guido Reni's Hope was in this church, but it has been replaced by a copy, the original having been sold to an Irish gentleman.
From the front of the church a lane on our left, Via della Polveriera, leads, left (carriage right), to the Via Labicane, a short distance up which is the entrance to