 chapter 71 part 2 of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire volume 6 by Edward Gibbon chapter 71 part 2 for I have reserved for the last the most potent and forcible cause of destruction the domestic hostilities of the Romans themselves under the dominion of the Greek and French emperors the piece of the city was disturbed by accidental though frequent seditions and it is from the decline of the latter from the beginning of the 10th century that we may date the licentiousness of private war which violated with impunity the laws of the code and the gospel without respecting the majesty of the absent sovereign or the presence and person of the vicar of Christ in a dark period of 500 years Rome was perpetually afflicted by the sanguinary quarrels of the nobles and the people the Guelphs and the gibbalines the Colonna and the Orsini and if much has escaped the knowledge and much is unworthy of the notice of history I have exposed in the two preceding chapters the causes and effects of the public disorders at such a time when every quarrel was decided by the sword and none could trust their lives or properties to the impotence of law the powerful citizens were armed for safety or offense against the domestic enemies whom they feared or hated except Venice alone the same dangers and designs were common to all the free republics of Italy and the nobles usurp the prerogative of fortifying their houses and erecting strong towers that were capable of resisting a sudden attack the cities were filled with these hostile edifices and the example of Luca which contained 300 towers her law which can find their height to the measure of four score feet maybe extended with suitable attitude to the more opulent and populist states the first step of the senator broncaleoni in the establishment of peace and justice was to demolish as we have already seen 140 towers of Rome and in the last days of anarchy and discord as late as the reign of Martin the 5th 44 still stood in one of the 13 or 14 regions of the city to this mischievous purpose the remains of antiquity were most readily adapted the temples and arches afforded a broad and solid basis for the new structures of brick and stone and we can name the modern turrets which were raised on the triumphal monuments of Julius Caesar Titus in the Antonines with some slight alterations of theater and amphitheater a mausoleum was transformed into a strong and spacious Citadel I need not repeat that the mole of Hadrian had assumed the title and form of the castle of St. Angelo the septuzenium of Severus was capable of standing against a royal army and the sepulchre of Metella had sunk under its outworks the theaters of Pompeii and Marcellus were occupied by the civilly and ursini families and the rough fortress had been gradually softened to the splendor and elegance of an Italian palace even the churches were encompassed with arms and bulwarks and the military engines on the roof of St. Peter's were the terror of the Vatican and the scandal of the Christian world whatever is fortified will be attacked and whatever is attacked may be destroyed could the Romans have rested from the Pope's the castle of St. Angelo they had resolved by a public decree to annihilate that monument of servitude every building of defense was exposed to a siege and in every siege the arts and engines of destruction were laboriously employed after the death of Nicholas the fourth Rome without a sovereign or a Senate was abandoned six months to the fury of civil war the houses says a cardinal and poet of the time were crushed by the weight and velocity of enormous stones the walls were perforated by the strokes of the battering ram the towers were involved in fire and smoke and the assailants were stimulated by rapine and revenge the work was consummated by the tyranny of the laws and the factions of Italy alternately exercised a blind and thoughtless vengeance on their adversaries whose houses and castles they raised to the ground in comparing the days of foreign with the ages of domestic hostility we must pronounce that the latter has been far more ruinous to the city and our opinion is confirmed by the evidence of Petrarch. Behold says the Lauret the relics of Rome the image of her pristine greatness neither time nor the barbarian can boast the merit of this stupendous destruction it was perpetuated by her own citizens by the most illustrious of her sons and your ancestors he writes to the noble anabaldi have done with the battering ram with the punic hero cannot accomplish with the sword the influence of the two last principles of decay must in some degree be multiplied by each other since the houses and towers which were subverted by civil war required a new and perpetual supply from the monuments of antiquity these general observations may be separately applied to the amphitheater of Titus which had obtained the name of the Colosseum either from its magnitude or from Nero's colossal statue and edifice had been left to time and nature which might have perhaps have claimed an internal duration the curious antiquaries who have computed the numbers and seats are disposed to believe that above the upper row of stone steps the amphitheater was encircled and elevated with several stages of wooden galleries which were repeatedly consumed by fire and restored by the emperors whatever was precious or portable or profane the statues of gods and heroes and the costly ornaments of sculpture which were cast in brass or overspread with leaves of silver and gold became the first prey of conquest or fanaticism of the avarice of the barbarians or the Christians in the massy stones of the Colosseum many holes were discerned and the two most probable conjectures represent the various accidents of its decay these stones were connected by solid lengths of brass or iron nor had the eye of rapine overlooked the value of the baser metals the vacant space was converted into a fair or market the artisans of the Colosseum are mentioned in an ancient survey and the chasms were perforated or enlarge to receive the polls that supported the tents or shops of the mechanic trades reduced to its naked majesty the Flavian amphitheater was contemplated with awe and admiration by the pilgrims of the north and their rude enthusiasm broke forth in a sublime proverbial expression which is recorded in the eighth century in the fragments of the venerable Bade as long as the Colosseum stands Rome shall stand when the Colosseum falls Rome will fall when Rome falls the world will fall in the modern system of war a situation commanded by three hills would not be chosen for a fortress but the strength of the walls and arches could resist the engines of assault a numerous garrison might be lodged in the enclosure and while one faction occupied the Vatican and the capital the other was entrenched in the Lateran and the Colosseum the abolition at Rome of the ancient games must be understood with some latitude and the carnival sports of the testache and mound and the circus agnolias were regulated by the law or custom of the city the senator presided with dignity and pomp to have a judge and distribute the prizes the gold ring or the pallium which as it was styled of cloth or silk attribute on the Jews supplied the annual expense and the races on foot or horse back or in chariots were ennobled by a tilt in tournament of 72 of the Roman youth in the year 1332 a bull feast was celebrated in the Colosseum itself and the living manners were painted in a diary of the times a convenient order of benches was restored and a general proclamation as far as Rimini and Ravenna invited the nobles to exercise their skill and courage in this perilous adventure the Roman ladies were marshaled in three squadrons and seated in three balconies which on this day the 3rd of September were lined with scarlet cloth the fair Jacoba de Revoire led the matrons from beyond the Tiber a pure and native race who still represented the features and characters of antiquity the remainder of the city was divided as usual between the Colonna and the Orsini the two factions were proud of the number and beauty of their female bands and the charms of Civella Orsini were mentioned with praise and the Colonna regretted the absence of the youngest of their house who had sprained her ankle in the garden of Nero's tower the lots of the champions were drawn by an old and respectable citizen and they descended into the arena or pit to encounter the wild bulls on foot as it should seem with a single spear amidst the crowd our analyst has selected the names colors and devices of 20 of the most conspicuous nights several of the names are the most illustrious of Rome in the ecclesiastical state Malatesta, Palenta, De la Vale, Cafferello, Cervelli, Capoccio, Conti, Anabaldi, Altieri, Corsi. The colors were adapted to their taste and situation. The devices are expressive of hope or despair and breathe the spirit of gallantry and arms. I am alone, like the youngest of the Horeshii, the confidence of the intrepid stranger. I live disconsolate a weeping widower. I burn under the ashes, a discreet lover. I adore Lavinia or Lucretia, the ambiguous declaration of a modern passion. My faith is as pure the motto of a white livery, who is stronger than myself of a lion's hide. If I am drowned in blood, what a pleasant death, the wish of ferocious courage. The pride or prudence of the Horsini restrained them from the field, which was occupied by three of their hereditary rivals, whose inscriptions denoted the lofty greatness of the Colonna name. Though sad, I am strong. Strong as I am great. If I fall, addressing himself to the spectators, you fall with me. Intimating, says the contemporary writer, that while the other families were the subjects of the Vatican, they alone were the supporters of the capital. The combats of the amphitheater were dangerous and bloody. Every champion successively encountered a wild bole, and the victory may be ascribed to the quadrupeds, since no more than eleven were left on the field, with the loss of nine wounded and eighteen killed on the side of their adversaries. Some of the noblest families might mourn, but the pomp of the funerals in the churches of St. John Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore afforded a second holiday to the people. Doubtless it was not in such conflicts that the blood of the Romans should have been shed. Yet, in blaming their rashness, we are compelled to applaud their gallantry, and the noble volunteers who display their magnificence and risk their lives under the balconies of the fair excite a more generous sympathy than the thousands of captives and malefactors who were reluctantly dragged to the scene of slaughter. This use of the amphitheater was a rare and perhaps singular festival. The demand for the materials was a daily and continual want, which the citizens could gratify without restraint or remorse. In the fourteenth century a scandalous act of concord secured to both factions the privilege of extracting stones from the free and common quarry of the Colosseum, and pogeous laments that the greater part of these stones had been burnt to lime by the folly of the Romans. To check this abuse and to prevent the nocturnal crimes that might be perpetuated in the vast and gloomy recess, Eugenius the Fourth surrounded it with a wall, and by a charter, long extant, granted both the ground and edifice to the monks of an adjacent convent. After his death the wall was overthrown in a tumult of the people, and had they themselves respected the noblest monuments of their fathers, they might have justified the resolve that it should never be degraded to private property. The inside was damaged, but in the middle of the sixteenth century, an era of taste and learning, the exterior circumference of one thousand six hundred and twelve feet, was it still entire and inviolate. A triple elevation of four score arches which rose to the height of one hundred and eight feet. Of the present ruin the nephews of Paul the Third are the guilty agents, and every traveler who views the Farnesee palace may curse the sacrilege and luxury of these upstart princes. A similar approach is applied to the Barbarini, and the repetition of injury might be dreaded from every reign till the Colosseum was placed under the safeguard of religion by the most liberal of the Pontiffs, Benedict XIV, who consecrated a spot which persecution and fable had stained with the blood of so many Christian martyrs. When Petrarch first gratified his eyes with the view of those monuments, whose scattered fragments so far surpassed the most eloquent descriptions, he was astonished at the supine indifference of the Romans themselves. He was humbled rather than elated by the discovery that, except for his friend Razzini and one of the Colonna, a stranger of the Rhon was more conversant with these antiquities than the nobles and natives of the Metropolis. The ignorance and credulity of the Romans are elaborately displayed in the old survey of the city which was composed about the beginning of the thirteenth century, and without dwelling on the manifold heirs of name and place, the legend of the capital may provoke a smile of contempt and indignation. The capital, says the anonymous writer, is so named as being the head of the world where the consuls and senators formally resided for the government of the city and the globe. The strong and lofty walls were covered with glass and gold and crowned with the roof of the richest and most curious carving. Below the citadel stood a palace of gold for the greatest part, decorated with precious stones, and whose value might be esteemed at one third of the world itself. The statues of all the provinces were arranged in order, each with a small bell suspended from its neck, and such was the contrivance of art magic that, if the province were belled against Rome, the statue turned round to that quarter of the heavens, the bell rang, and the prophet of the citadel reported the prodigy, and the senate was admonished of the impending danger. A second example of less importance, though of equal absurdity, may be drawn from the two marble houses, led by two naked youths, which have long been transported from the baths of Constantine to the Quirinal Hill. The groundless application of the names of Phidias and Proxitiles may perhaps be excused, but these Gretian sculptures should not have been removed above four hundred years from the age of Pericles to that of Tiberius. They should not have been transformed into two philosophers or magicians, whose nakedness was the symbol of truth and knowledge, who revealed to the emperor his most secret actions, and, after refusing all pecuniary recompense, solicited the honor of leaving this internal monument of themselves. Thus, awake to the power of magic, the Romans were insensible to the beauties of art. No more than five statues were visible to the eyes of Pogius, and the multitudes which chance or design had buried under the ruins, the resurrection was fortunately delayed till safer and more enlightened age. The Nile, which now adorns the Vatican, had been explored by some laborers in digging a vineyard near the temple or convent of the Minerva. But the impatient proprietor, who was tormented by some visits of curiosity, restored the unprofitable marble to its former grave. The discovery of a statue of Pompeii, ten feet in length, was the occasion of a lawsuit. It had been found under a partitioned wall. The equitable judge had pronounced that the head should be separated from the body to satisfy the claims of the contiguous owners. And the sentence would have been executed if the intercession of a cardinal and the liberality of a pope had not rescued the Roman hero from the hands of his barbarous countrymen. But the clouds of barbarism were gradually dispelled, and the peaceful authority of Martin V and his successors restored the ornaments of the city, as well as the order of the ecclesiastical state. The improvements of Rome, since the 15th century, have not been the spontaneous produce of freedom and industry. The first and most natural route of a great city is the labor and populousness of the adjacent country, which supplies the materials of subsidence, of manufacturers, and of foreign trade. But the greater part of the Campania of Rome is reduced to a jury and desolate wilderness. The overgrown estates of the princes and the clergy are cultivated by the lazy hands of indigent and hopeless vassals, and the scanty harvests are confined or exported for the benefit of a monopoly. A second and more artificial cause of the growth of a metropolis is the residence of a monarch, the expense of a luxurious court, and the tributes of dependent provinces. Those provinces and tributes have been lost in the fall of the empire, and, if some streams of the silver of Peru and the gold of Brazil have been attracted by the Vatican, the revenues of the cardinals, the fees of office, the oblations of pilgrims and clients, and the remnant of ecclesiastical taxes, afford a poor and precarious supply, which maintains, however, the idleness of the court and city. The population of Rome, far below the measure of the great capitals of Europe, does not exceed 170,000 inhabitants, and within the spacious enclosure of the walls the largest portion of the seven hills is overspread with vineyards and ruins. The beauty and splendor of the modern city may be ascribed to the abuses of the government, to the influence of superstition. Each reign, the exceptions are rare, has been marked by the rapid elevation of a new family enriched by the childless pontiff at the expense of the church and country. The palaces of these fortunate nephews are the most costly monuments of elegance and servitude. The perfect arts of architecture, painting, and sculpture have been prostituted in their service, and their galleries and gardens are decorated with the most precious works of antiquity, which taste or vanity has prompted them to collect. The ecclesiastical revenues were more decently employed by the popes themselves in the pomp of the Catholic worship. But it is superfluous to enumerate their pious foundations of altars, chapels, and churches, since these lesser stars are eclipsed by the sun of the Vatican, by the dome of St. Peter, the most glorious structure that has ever been applied to the use of religion. The fame of Julius II, Leo X and Sixtus V, is accompanied by the superior merit of Bramatti and Fontana, of Raphael, and Michelangelo, and the same unificence, which had been displayed in palaces and temples, was directed with equal zeal to revive and emulate the labors of antiquity. Prostrate obelisks were raised from the ground and erected in the most conspicuous places. Of the eleven aqueducts of the Caesars and Consoles, three were restored. The artificial rivers were conducted over a long series of old or of new arches to discharge in a marble basins a flood of salubrious and refreshing waters. And the spectator, impatient to ascend the steps of St. Peter's, is detained by a column of Egyptian granite, which rises between two lofty and perpetual fountains to the height of 120 feet. The map, the description, the monuments of ancient Rome have been elucidated by the diligence of the antiquarian and the student, and the footsteps of heroes, the relics not of superstition but of empire, are devoutly visited by a new race of pilgrims from the remote and once savage countries of the north. Of these pilgrims, and of every reader, the attentions will be excited by a history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the greatest perhaps, and most awful scene in the history of mankind. The various causes and progressive effects are connected with many of the events most interesting in human annals, the artful policy of the Caesars, who long maintain the name and image of a free Republic, the disorders of military despotism, the rise, establishment, and sex of Christianity, the foundation of Constantinople, the division of the monarchy, the invasion and settlements of the barbarians of Germany and Scythia, the institutions of the civil law, the character and religion of Muhammad, the temporal sovereignty of the Popes, the restoration and decay of the western empire of Shalaman, the crusades of the Latins and the East, the conquest of the Saracens and Turks, the ruin of the Greek Empire, the state and revolutions of Rome in the Middle Age. The historian may applaud the importance and variety of his subject, but while he is conscious of his own imperfections, he must often accuse the deficiency of his materials. It was among the ruins of the capital that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life, and which, however inadequate to my own wishes, I finally deliver to the curiosity and candor of the public. Luson, June 27th, 1787, end of chapter 71, and end of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, volume six.