Continuing our ramble down the street, we arrive, on the right, at the Church of S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami. It is built over part of
THE MAMERTINE PRISON,
erected, according to Livy (i. 33) by Ancus Martius. "In order to suppress the terror, the boldness which the vicious assumed from hence (A.U.C. 121),[1] and which gained ground continually, a prison was built in the middle of the city, adjoining the Forum." Servius Tullius added a lower cell, called the Tullianum, 6½ feet high and 19 feet by 9. Prisoners who were condemned to be strangled or to die of hunger were thrust down the aperture; hence the phrase, "to cast into prison." Sallust ("Catiline," lv.) thus describes it:—
"There is a place in the prison which is called the Tullianum Dungeon. It is about 12 feet deep in the ground when you have ascended a little to the left.[2] It is secured round the sides by walls, and over it is a vaulted roof, connected with stone arches; but its appearance is disgusting and horrible, by reason of the filth, the obscurity, and the stench. When Lentulus had been let down into this place, certain men, to whom orders had been given, strangled him with a cord."
The upper part of the Mamertine Prison was partly rebuilt in the time of Tiberius, as we know from an inscription remaining in the cornice over the flight of steps under the church.
C. VIBIUS . C. F. RUFINUS . M. COCCEIUS . NERVA . COS . EX . S. C. Consuls A.D. 23.
It seems to have been used exclusively for state prisoners. We have records of the following, amongst others, who were confined here:—
Manlius, who had defended the Capitol against the Gauls.—B.C. 382.
Quintus Pleminius, a prisoner for sedition.—B.C. 194.
Jugurtha, King of Numidia, who was starved to death B.C. 104. He exclaimed, when cast in, "By Hercules! how cold is this bath of yours!" (Plutarch, in "Caius Marius"), evidently speaking of the spring as existing in those days.