ITALY 



661 



hornet is his prophet." It was probably some pillage of the crusades. But heathen relics 

 have always been converted to the uses of the sanctuary, and many classic observances are now 

 repeated as rites of the church. The Melamorplioses of Ovid are represented on the doors 

 of St. Peter's ; and the bronze image of tlie Saint within, wliose toe the devotees have kissed 

 away, received, eighteen centuries before, the incense of heathen priests, as a statue of Jupi- 

 ter. An Englishman once took off his hat to it, not as St. Peter but as Jupiter ; and re- 

 quested of him, that, should he ever recover his power, he would reward the only individual that 

 ever bowed to him in his adversity. Other images have been converted ; Apollo has become 

 David, and Minerva, .Judith, while antique vases are used as baptismal fonts. 



The Italian sailors, like the Grecian, put themselves under the protection of the Virgin 

 Mary ; and ships have the images of saints at the bows. In storms, they trust as much to 

 prayer as to exertion or skill, and in calms, if impatient for a wind, do not fail to abuse St. An- 

 thony and others in the calendar. This, however, is more frequent among the Spanish sailors. 



Marriages in Italy are seldom arranged by those the most interested. Young females are se- 

 cluded in convents, or at home, till a match is agreed upon by the parents, when the marriage 

 is celebrated with considerable show. The funerals at Rome are attended with long proces- 

 sions, and the dead are buried in churches. At Naples, ihe deceased is carried to the grave 

 in an open carriage, splendidly dressed, and with the faded color restored by paints. At the 

 grave, the finery is stripped off, and the corpse tumbled in the general tomb without ceremony 

 or decency. There are 365 pits in the Campo Marzo, of which one is opened every day, and 

 then shut and sealed till the year brings round the day for it to be open. All who die are 

 thrown promiscuously into these pits. Perhaps no people are so indifferent as to the fate of 

 their own bodies or those of their friends, as the Neapolitans. Burking could never exist at 

 Naples ; and the abundance of subjects has much advanced the science of surgery there. 



20. Laws. The Institutes of Justinian, found at Amalfi, in the 12th century, and still pre- 

 served at Florence with great care, form the foundation of the Italian laws. In Tuscany, the 

 code is extremely mild ; the punishment of death is at present unknown, and all crimes are 

 rare. But in few of the States of Italy are the laws so well administered, that the subject can 

 appeal to them with much confidence of obtaining justice. 



21. Jlnliquilies . " The ruins of Italy," it has been said, "are the field of battle, where 

 Time has fought against Genius, and those mutilated limbs attest its victory and our losses." 

 Of the Roman antiquities, we can mention but few ; the most interesting are at Rome, where 

 there are still many yet undiscovered ; for the government employs only a few galley slaves in 

 excavating ; and although foreigners are allowed to search, they are not permitted to carry any 

 sculpture away. Many of the best ancient sculptures wei-e found under the ruins of the edi- 

 fices where they stood, or imbedded in the accumulation of earth, that now^ lies above the level of 

 the ancient city. The Roman Forum is 15 or 20 feet above the ancient surface, and else- 

 where the difference may be from 12 to 30 feet ; the hills have been sunk, and the valleys 

 raised. In many places where this accumulation has been examined, valuable antiquities have 

 been found ; and the earth of Rome yet contains mines richer than those of gold. That the 

 city which received the wealth of the world was profuse in all ornaments of elegance and taste, 



is apparent iVom the numbers of those that 

 remain, and from the quantity found even 

 in the distant towns of Pompeii and Her- 

 culaneum . 



The bed of the Tiber is supposed to 

 contain treasures of art, as well as of 

 wealth, as the inhabitants, when an enemy 

 was at hand, would naturally throw their 

 valuables into the river. The Jews of- 

 fered to divert the stream from the chan- 

 nel, if they might be allowed to possesr 

 what they should find. 



The temples aie in various states of 

 preservation ; some arc indistinct ruins, 

 others have a few pillars standing, and 

 others still retain their original form. The 

 most perfect, and )jerliaps the most beai- 



