"Standing beneath the arch of Titus, and amid so much ancient dust, it is difficult to forbear the commonplaces of enthusiasm, on which hundreds of tourists have already insisted. Over the half-worn pavement, and beneath this arch, the Roman armies had trodden in their outward march, to fight battles, a world's width away. Returning victorious, with royal captives, and inestimable spoil, a Roman triumph, that most gorgeous pageant of earthly pride, has streamed and flaunted in hundred-fold succession over these same flagstones, and through this yet stalwart archway. It is politic, however, to make few allusions to such a past; nor is it wise to suggest how Cicero's feet may have stepped on yonder stone, or how Horace was wont to stroll near by, making his footsteps chime with the measure of the ode that was ringing in his mind. The very ghosts of that massive and stately epoch have so much density that the people of to-day seem the thinner of the two, and stand more ghost-like by the arches and columns, letting the rich sculpture be discerned through their ill-compacted substance."—Hawthorne, Transformation.
"We passed on to the arch of Titus. Amongst the reliefs there is the figure of a man bearing the golden candlestick from the Temple at Jerusalem, as one of the spoils of the triumph. Yet He who abandoned His visible and local temple to the hands of the heathen for the sins of His nominal worshippers, has taken to Him His great power, and has gotten Him glory by destroying the idols of Rome as He had done the idols of Babylon; and the golden candlestick burns and shall burn with an everlasting light, while the enemies of His holy name, Babylon, Rome, or the carcass of sin in every land, which the eagles of His wrath will surely find out, perish for ever from before Him."—Arnold's Journal.
"The Jewish trophies are sculptured in bas-relief on the inside of the arch beneath the vaulting. Opposite to these is another bas-relief representing Titus in the quadriga, the reins borne by the goddess Roma. In the centre of the arch, Titus is borne to heaven by an eagle. It may be conjectured that these ornaments to his glory were designed after the death of Vespasian, and completed after his own. … These witnesses to the truth of history are scanned at this day by Christians passing to and fro between the Coliseum and the Forum; and at this day the Jew refuses to walk beneath them, and creeps stealthily by the side, with downcast eyes, or countenance averted."—Merivale, Romans under the Empire, vii. 250.
"The restoration of the arch of Titus reflects the greatest credit on the commission appointed by Pius VII. for the restoration of ancient edifices. This, not only beautiful, but precious monument, had been made the nucleus of a hideous castellated fort by the Frangipani family. Its masonry, however, embraced and held together, as well as crushed, the marble arch; so that on freeing it from its rude buttresses there was fear of its collapsing, and it had first to be well bound together by props and bracing beams, a process in which the Roman architects are unrivalled. The simple expedient was then adopted by the architect Stern of completing the arch in stone; for its sides had been removed. Thus increased in solid structure, which continued all the architectural lines, and renewed its proportions to the mutilated centre, the arch was both completely secured and almost restored to its pristine elegance."—Wiseman's Life of Pius VII.
The processions of the popes going to the Lateran for their solemn installation, used to halt beside the arch of Titus while a Jew presented a copy of the Pentateuch, with a humble oath of fealty. This humiliating ceremony was omitted for the first time at the installation of Pius IX.
At this point it may not be inappropriate to notice two other buildings, which, though situated on the Palatine, are totally disconnected with the other objects occupying that hill.
A lane runs up to the right from the arch of Titus. On the left is a gateway, surmounted by a faded fresco of St. Sebastian. Here is the entrance to a wild and beautiful garden, possessing most lovely views of the various ruins, occupying the site of the gardens of Adonis. This is the place where St. Sebastian underwent his (so-called) martyrdom, and will call to mind the many fine pictures, scattered over Europe, of the youthful and beautiful saint, bound to a tree, and pierced with arrows. The finest of these are the Domenichino, in Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and the Sodoma at Florence. He is sometimes represented as bound to an orange tree, and sometimes, as in the Guido at Bologna, to a cypress, like those we still see on this spot. Here was an important Benedictine Convent, where Pope Boniface IV. was a monk before his election to the papacy, and where the famous abbots of Monte Casino had their Roman residence. Here, in 1118, fifty-one cardinals took refuge, and elected Gelasius II. as Pope. The only building remaining is the Church of Sta. Maria Pallara or S. Sebastiano, containing some curious inscriptions relating to events which have occurred here, and—in the tribune, frescoes, of the Saviour in benediction with four saints, and below, two other groups representing the Virgin with saints and angels, placed, as we learn by the inscription beneath, by one Benedict—probably an abbot.
Further up the lane a "Via Crucis" leads to the Church of S. Buonaventura, "the seraphic doctor" (Cardinal and Bishop of Albano, ob. July 14, 1274), who in childhood was raised from the point of death (1221) by the prayers of St. Francis, who was so surprised when he came to life, that he involuntarily exclaimed, "O buona ventura"—("what a happy chance")—whence the name by which he was afterwards known.[67]
The little church contains several good modern monuments. Beneath the altar is shown the body of the Blessed Leonardo of Porto-Maurizio (ob. 1751), who arranged the Via Crucis in the Coliseum, and who is much revered by the ultra-Romanists for having prophesied the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The crucifix and the picture of the Madonna which he carried with him in his missions, are preserved in niches on either side of the tribune, and many other relics of him are shown in his cell in the adjoining convent of Minor Franciscans. Entered through the convent is a lovely little garden, whence there is a grand view of the Coliseum, and where a little fountain is shaded by two tall palm trees.
"Oswald went next to the monastery of S. Buenaventura, built on the ruins of Nero's palace. There, where so many crimes had reigned remorselessly, poor friars, tormented by conscientious scruples, doom themselves to fasts and stripes for the least omission of duty. 'Our only hope,' said one, 'is that when we die, our faults will not have exceeded our penances.' Nevill, as he entered, stumbled over a trap, and asked its purpose. 'It is through that we are interred,' answered one of the youngest, already a prey to the bad air. The natives of the south fear death so much that it is wondrous to find there these perpetual mementoes; yet nature is often fascinated by what she dreads, and such an intoxication fills the soul exclusively. The antique sarcophagus of a child serves as the fountain of this institution. The boasted palm of Rome is the only tree of its garden."—Madame de Staël, Corinne.
The arch of Titus is spoken of as being "in summa Via Sacra," as the street was called which led from the southern gate of Rome to the Capitol, and by which the victorious generals passed in their triumphant processions to the temple of Jupiter. Between the arch of Titus and the Coliseum, the ancient pavement of this famous road, composed of huge polygonal blocks of lava, has been allowed to remain. Here we may imagine Horace taking his favourite walk.
"Ibam forte Via Sacrâ, sicut meus est mos,
Nescio quid meditans nugarum, et totus in illis."
Sat. i. 9.
It appears to have been the favourite resort of the flaneurs of the day:
"Videsne, Sacram metiente te viam
Cum bis ter ulnarum togâ,
Ut ora vertat huc et huc euntium
Liberrima indignatio?"