THE VATICAN GARDENS, ROME. 23 



superstitious and licentious rites carried on there, and from its generally evil reputation. In 

 848, when Leo IV was Pope, the dreaded Saracens appeared for the second time at Ostia, when 

 a battle and a great storm led to their confusion and defeat, and numbers of slaves were brought 

 to Rome and set to labour at restoring the walls. Leo's most celebrated undertaking was the 

 fortification of the Vatican district, an event in the history of the city, for out of this fortification 

 the Civitas Leonina, or Leonine City, arose, a new quarter of Rome, and a new fortress destined 

 to be of great importance in later centuries. 



Hven after the building of St. Peter's, and after convents, hospitals and dwellings had grown 

 up round it, the necessity for building walls for its protection had not occurred to any Pope till 

 the time of Leo III. He began to build, and had he carried out his idea, the sack of the basilica 

 by the Saracens could never have taken place. The work had been suspended, and the 

 materials of the partially constructed walls had been carried off again for other purposes. 

 Leo IV revived the project, and, with the help of the Emperor Lothar, worked hard to carry it 



32. ST. PETER S FROM THE VATICAN GARDENS. 



out. He distributed the expense so that every town in the ecclesiastical state, the convents and 

 all the domains of the Church bore a part. 



The walls were begun in 848 and finished in 852. They stretched from Hadrian's 

 Mausoleum, up the Vatican hill, then making a bend, crossed the hill and came straight down 

 the other side. They were nearly forty feet in height, and defended by forty-four strong 

 towers. One of these strong round corner towers still stands on the top of the Vatican hill, 

 and is called the Saracens' Tower. The line of Leo's walls may still be traced along almost 

 their entire route. For centuries Rome had witnessed no such festival as that which on 

 June 27th, 852, celebrated the dedication of the Leonine City. The entire clergy, barefoot, 

 their heads strewn with ashes, walked in procession, singing round the walls. Before them went 

 the seven Cardinal-Bishops, who sprinkled the walls with holy water. At each gate the 

 procession halted, and each time the Pope invoked blessings on the new quarter. The circuit 

 ended, he distributed gifts of gold and silver as well as of silken palliums among the nobles, the 



