We come now to three of the most remarkable inundations of modern times, those of 1530, 1557, and 1598. Of these we possess full and authentic details. Printing had been invented ninety years before the first, and the particulars are given by persons who lived at the time, or derived their information from contemporary authorities. The consternation and devastation caused by the first inundation of the three, which rose seven feet higher than that of 1870, may be gathered from the inscription* on the tablet affixed to the walls of the convent of the Minerva: To this point the Tiber rose, and now all Rome would have been overthrown Had not the Virgin brought it speedy aid. * Huc Tiber ascendit, jamque obruta tota fuisset INUNDATION OF 1530. The hordes led by the Constable de Bourbon to the sack of Rome had long evacuated the Eternal City, and Clement VII. was recovered from the effects of his six months' imprisonment in the castle of St. Angelo. The position of the contending parties had undergone a change, and brighter prospects appeared to be opening before the Pope. "But his joy was destined soon to be turned into the deepest sorrow, by reason of a calamity which in the present year burst upon the downtrodden city of Rome; for, while scarcely beginning to breatshe after the heaviest misfortunes, it found itself plunged into adversity no less gloomy than before."* "Clement had gone to Ostia for recreation, when lo! the floodgates of heaven were opened, and there fell during several days a rain so heavy and continuous that all the rivers in those parts, and especially the Tiber, were swollen above measure, and overflowed their banks." So sudden was the rise of the water that many persons were unable to escape, and bridges with the strongest buildings were in a few hours overwhelmed and washed away. All the warehouses, shops, and underground magazines, were invaded by the flood, and countless merchandise and cattle were destroyed. Never before had such losses been caused by the rise of the Tiber, so that the damage was believed to be no less than that which had been sustained at the sack of Rome.† The Pope having gone, as I said, to Ostia, was imprisoned by the waters. The whole country was like a sea, communication was cut off, and the supply of provisions began to fail. As it was uncertain how long the inundation might last, Clement decided to return to Rome. In those times the Popes did not * Muratori, Annali d'Italia, Era vulgare. Anno MDXXX. * travel in carriages, nor was the same provision made for their personal security as in the present day. Clement and his suite had no choice but to mount their horses, and pick their With great way, as best they could, along the flooded roads. risk both to himself and the rest of the party, the water, as they rode, being up to the breasts of their horses, the Pope succeeded in reaching the city. Here he found all the bridges either broken down by the force of the currentt-as was the case with the Ponte Sisto-or covered by the waters, so that he was unable to reach the Vatican, as he desired. The castle of St. Angelo was equally inaccessible, and the palace of the Quirinal was not then in existence,† so that he was fain to take refuge at St. Agatha on Monte Cavallo, until the waters should return to their accustomed bed.‡ Meanwhile, on the day preceding the night when the flood attained its greatest height, the celebrated Benvenuto Cellini was occupied in his studio with a work of art, the great golden button for the Papal cope,§ the most famous, after the chalice, of all his productions. The rush of waters came, and in a short time his house and studio were surrounded, though not to an unfordable depth. For some hours, during which the inundation appears not to have varied much in height, he remained undecided what to do. He had to provide not only for his own safety and the preservation of the work of art, which was now approaching completion, but for the security of the Papal jewels, which had been intrusted to him by Clement VII. to be reset. Towards evening the river began to increase again, and, uncertain how high it might rise Clement VIII., 1598, was conveyed in a litter from Ferrara to Bologna. "Giaconius Vitæ Pontificum." The present edifice was begun by Gregory XII. in 1574. Muratori, Annali d'Italia. § This so-called button is as large as a small plate, and therefore affords plenty of room for artistic devices. Under the Papal government it used to be brought out with the diadem in legal form, at the commencement of the Passover, on Christmas-day, and St. Peter's, when the Pope himself chants mass.-Note to translation of Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, by Roscoe. F during the night, he resolved to make his escape. "Making the preservation of my life my first care, and my honour my next,* I put all the jewels," says Cellini, "in my pocket, left my work in gold under the care of my journeymen, and, taking off my shoes and stockings, went out at a back window, and waded through the water, as well as I could, until I reached Monte Cavallo." As the night closed in after the escape of Cellini, and it was apparent to every eye that the Tiber continued to rise, "the City," says Bonini, "was given up for lost; for the current did not cease to batter and overthrow the best inhabited and most considerable houses in the city; such as was that in the Strada Julia belonging to Guilano Cesi." A large factory was undermined, and fell to the ground, burying all the people and animals it contained, and the church of St. Bartolommeo, in the island of the Tiber, as well as the Palazzo Gaetani, was completely wrecked. "The silence by which the great expressed their consternation was broken only by the groans and shrill cries of the common people, who implored the succour which none were able to afford; for the city had been so impoverished by the sack three years previously, that it did not possess the ordinary appliances reserved for such emergences, or any means of relieving the poorer classes imprisoned by the waters, and in danger of being drowned, or of perishing by starvation.‡ The next morning, however, the fears of the people were relieved; for the river began to subside, and in three or four days had retired within its bed. But, though the waters retired, "the putrid matters left behind in so many underground places, and the stench which arose therefrom, drew * This seems a strange avowal in one who was so ready to wipe out an insult, real or supposed, with the blood of the offender. Contrast Shakespeare: Mine honour is my life; both grow in one. Take honour from me and my life is done.-Richard II. + Litteræ Principum, t. e. Littera ultima. Dizionario d' erudizione Ecclesiastica. Bonini, "Il Tavere incatenato." Quoted by Moroni in his after them a great pestilence, in other words, evil upon evil."* As soon as his workshop was accessible, Benvenuto Cellini returned, and "finished," he says, "my work with the help of God, and by my own industry, so happily, that it was looked upon as the most exquisite performance of the kind that had ever been seen at Rome." Bonini thus concludes, describing the popular feeling and superstitions of the time: "The outspoken tongues of those days declared that the Tiber had borne in mind the past outrages inflicted on its city, and was enraged at seeing that Charles V. was on his way to the city of Bologna to receive the crown of king of the Romans from that Pontiff whom his armies had kept in the darkness of a dungeon. It foresaw, besides, they said, that the journey of Cæsar could not fail to be prejudicial to the liberties of the Italian republics." "Such were the conceits of men justly irritated by the calamities they had endured." The most extraordinary circumstance connected with this inundation, is the delusion of the writers of the following century with regard to the weather which preceded the inundation, and the testimony of many of these writers to the absence of rain, and, as far as we can gather, of wind. Muratori, we have seen, speaks of violent rains during several successive days. Bonini, on the other hand, informs us that there was nothing in the state of the weather to lead the Romans to expect a flood. Neither Bonini nor Muratori * Muratori, "Annali d' Italia." † Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini.-Roscoe's translation. These memoirs give us a very vivid picture of the manners of the time. In the present day an artist is usually a man of peace; but in those times the meekest men were often driven to fight, and Cellini, fiery in temper and prone to take offence, was par excellence a fighter in a fighting age. He had "slain his man," received absolution from the Pope for the homicide, and was always ready to commit another. The best trait in his character is his frankness. His vanity is often amusing, though it may seem to be in some measure justified by his talents and success. The Tiber should have wreaked his fury upon the invading Germans, not upon the innocent victims of the assault. |