JOTTINGS FROM A TRAVELLER’S JOURNAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1249, 9 May 1884, Page 3

JOTTINGS FROM A TRAVELLER’S JOURNAL.

SPECIALLY WHITTEN FOR “ THE ASHBURTON GUARDIAN.”] CHAPTER XXIX. 1 Ah Unsavory Tpo^ouohfabb—An Ancient Structure The Conscript Fathers—A Refuge for Suicides— The Island of Tiber—A LegendModest Monks. After inspecting the house reputed to have been the residence of St Paul during the two years he spent in Rome, we threaded the Via di S. Bartolomeo dei Tacoinari —what a name for a narrow street!— and noticed some remain of the theatre of Balbus in the shape of columns, built into a common dwelling-house. The ruins of this ancient theatre are to be aeen beneath many of the surrounding houses. In a straight line from this is iho Via della Fiumara, a thoroughfare anything hut sweet and savory, as ita name' implies. Indescribable compound odours impregnate the atmosphere. Walking along this dirtiest street in the Ghetto, the pedestrian should carry a pocket handkerchief moistened with eau de colongne or toilet vinegar. By holding it occasionally to his nose as he proceeds, he may survive the ordeal. At the end of this stench-breeding street we came upon the Tiber, and the Ponte dei Quattro Capl The present name of the bridge, for ita name has been changed more than once; at one time it was called the Pons Tarpeios, and at another Pons Judseorum Is derived from the four-headed effigies that, aliall I say adorn, or disfigure, its Wlnatradas These scu’ptues are said to have been taken from the temple of Janus..' The bridge is an ancient structure; it was bailt by Fabricius in the year 733.. He was Curotor Yiarum, or as we moderns say, an Inspector of roads and bridges There is an inscription to his honor still partially legible. L,. fab- I haiOICBC F CUR VIVE. FACUNDOM CURAVIT EtpEMQ . .. FROBAVIX-Q LEPJDUS , . M. P. M. LOUJUS M F COS EX SC PROBAVBEUNT. The Conscript Fathers of those days moat have been very leisurely, methodical old. gentlemen, and deliberate in their proceedings They did not hastily ‘pass jiudgment on. public works, j t appears • 4W many years elapsed after the completion 61 the bridge before they recorded their, approbation of the work. As 1 Btopd on this ancient structure I remem- . 1 . bered that Horace alludes to it as the favorite resort of unhappy beings who were weary of life, and thought a plunge into ' the Tiber would terminate their sorrows and sufferings. In all ages human nature is the same. In old Rome there we e miserable suicides who thought it better to put an end to their existence than bravely endure, or endeavor to remedy, the burdens and disasters of life ; and it seems this bridge was frequently the chosen spot. Some of my readers may not have lorgotten the lines of the poet — Unde ego mira Jiesciipsi docilis piecepta hac tempore quo me Solatus jussit sapientem pascire barbam Atque a Fabricius non tristim ponte reverti. The bridge leads to the island of the Tiber, called by Plutarch inter duos pontes ■ In all probability this island was formed the gradual accumulation of natural deposits, but it seems almost a pity to destroy the mythical halo thrown around « its origin by tradition. I give the modern version of the story The Tarquins had sacrilegiously appropriated the best part of the Campus Martins to their own v use. When they wore expelled by the infuriated people it happened to be harvest time, and countless sheaves lay upon the ground. But as it was consecrated no use could be made of the produce ; it was all thrown into the river. The trees were also cut down and cast into the stream, and the ground left entirely with ont fruit or produce for the service of the god. The large quantity of material thus thrown into the river was carried no further by the current than to the shallows, where the fruit heaps had stopped E very thing there and b; came firnti, the mad washed down by the river adding to the mass and serving to cement it. And thus in process of time the island was formed and dedicated to sacred uses, and temple* and porticoes built upon it. ” Afterwards, the island was cut artificially into the shape of a ship, and faced with masonry; this was done to commemorate the vessel by which the statnr of £bcalapius was brought to Rome; some remains of the vast blocks of travestone used on the work may still be T-. the garden of a monastery on the island. The monks of this establishment are so - excessively modest that ladies are not admitted within the sacred precincts of thoir - retreat. Hot far off stands the house of Rienzi. H ig of medieval date and ornamented ■ lavishly with sculpture, but no particular ' interest attaches to the building beyond that of its having been the residence of the' 4 * Last of the Tribunes.” (To be continued.)