THE VATICAN GARDENS. ROME. 
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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. 
Even 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 v.vtic.vn gardens. 
out. lie distributed the expense so that every town in the ecclesiastical state, the convents and 
all the domains of the Church bore a part. 
'I'he walls were begun in 848 and finished in S52. 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 w'ere 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, w'ho sprinkled the walls with holy water. At each gate the 
procession halted, and each time the Pope invoked blessings on the new' quarter. 'I he circuit 
ended, he distributed gifts of gold and silver as well as of silken palliums among the nobles, the 
