BULL-FIGHTS. 
225 
liseura itself ; and the living manners are painted in 
a diary of the times.* A convenient order of benches 
was restored ; and a gencrfd proclamation, as far as 
Rimini and Ravenna, invited the nobles to exercise 
their skill and courage in this perilous adventure. 
The Roman ladies were marshalled in three squad- 
rons, and seated in three balconies, which, on this 
day, the 3d of September, were lined with scarlet 
cloth. The fair Jacova di Rovere, led the matrons 
from bej^ond the Tiber, a pure and native race, who 
still represent the features and character of antiquity. 
The remainder of the city was divided as usual be- 
tween the Colonna and Ursini. The two factions 
were proud of the number and beauty of their female 
bands. The charms of Savella Ursini are mentioned 
W’ith praise ; and the Colonna regretted the absence 
of the youngest of their house, who had sprained her 
ancle 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 annalist 
bas selected the names, colours and devices of twenty 
of the most conspicuous knights. Several of the 
Oames are the most illustrious of Rome and the ec- 
* This extraordinary bull feast in the Coliseum, is de- 
scribed from tradition rather than memory, by Ludovico 
Buonconte Monaldesco, in the most ancient fragments of 
hoinan Annals (Muratori, Script. Ilerum Italicarum, tom. 
p. 535^ 53 (j) ; and however fanciful they may seem, they 
®re deeply marked with the colours of truth and nature. 
VOL. IV. 
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