Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/288

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BOMB. 262 HOME. the masterpieces in the Xational Roman Museum of Antiquities are a statue of Hera anil a marble statue of a Kneeling Youth — the latter an original Greek work. Tlie Xational Corsini (iallery, with engravings anil drawings, is likewise meritori- ous. The Collegio Romano contains the impor- taut Museo Kirelicriano, founded in l(i01, with I its extensive pre-historie and ethnographical col- lections. Here is preserved the treasure of Pr.Tneste — gold, silver, and other objects discov- ered in a tomb in 1870. Rome is rich in libraries. Among the impor- tant collections are the Hiblioteea Xazionale Cen- trale Vittorio Emmanuele. with aljout 340.000 volumes; the great Vatican library, containing 250,000 volumes and 2(i,000 manuscripts; the e.- eellcnt medical Biblioteca Lancisiana : the library in the Corsini Palace, with about 70,000 volumes; the library in the Barberini Palace; the Govern- ment's Biblioteca Casanatense (182,000 vol- umes); the Biblioteca Angelica (150,000 vol- umes). The valuable national archives are housed in the cloisters of the Santa Maria di Campo Marzio. Except Milan, Rome is the most important city in Italy for music and the drama. The charitable activities, both civic and Cath- olic, are on a large scale. The 300 organizations under the control of the Board of Charities have property to the value of some ili20.000.000. Of. these organizations 150 give dots to marriageable young women, 11 have other special aims, 55 disperse general charity, the rest are hospitals and asylums. Near the T.ateran is an important hospital for women, with an obstetrical clinic. The large- hospital of San Michele has a Govern- ment working school for children. Popular festivals of interest are the carnival from the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday to Shrove Tuesday, the October festival in the vintage season, the national festival of the Con- stitution on the first Sunday in June, and the anniversary of the foundation of Rome on April 21, The population of Rome in 1881 was 300,467; in 1901, 462,783. Ancient Rome. The first of the ancient city settlements was upon the Palatine Hill {moiis Palatiiius or Palatiuni) . an isolated summit, ris- ing only about 140 feet above the level of the Tiber, and at that time flanked on two sides by marshy pools connected with that river. This first settlement was called Roma Quadrata. being laid out four-square, after the Etruscan rite. The next noteworthy stage in the topographical and political development of the city was that of the inclusion of the neighboring hills (montes) , Ca>lius and Esquilinus, within the city limits, and the organization of the territory as 'seven hill districts' (the Septimontiiim — not to be confused with the so-called 'seven hills of Rome' of later days). Three of the seven dis- tricts were connected with the Palatine — Pala- tiuni. Cermalus (the western corner and slope of the Palatine), and Velia (the outlying ridge running northward toward the Esquiline). Three were connected with the Esquiline — Cispius (its northern summit ) , Oppius ( its southern summit ) , and Fagutal (a western shoulder of Oppius). The seventh district was the Sucusa on the Ca>lian Hill, whose especial duty it was to lend its aid against attacks by the people of Gabii, who dwelt a few miles eastward from Rome. Later a body of Sabines pushed southward from their hill dwellings, seized a well-defended posi- tion on the Quirinal Hill, and had more or less ligliting with their Latin neighbors of the Septi- montium until a coalition was finally ellected and the heiglits of the Quirinal and Viminal hills, with the Sabine settlers, were incorporated within the city, which was now organized into four 'regions;' (1) Kegio tiuciisaiKt (later called Itcgio kluburana) , which included the Cirliau Hill, with the valley and rising ground north- westward around the Cispius, as well as the valley {Subitra) between the montes and colics; (2) liegio Esijuilina, including substantially the three Esquiline districts of the ficpliiiwntium ; (3) licgio ColUna. including the two Sabine colics, Qiiirinal and Viminal; and finally (4) liegio I'liUitina, including the three Palatine dis- tricts of the Scpthnontiiim. Moreover, another motis, the Capitoline, at that time joined by a ridge to the Quirinal, but lying near the Tiber, just across the inlet of the Velabrum from the Palatine, was taken as the common citadel of the connnunity and a common temple to .Jupiter built upon it, while the valley between the Capi- toline and the north corner of the Palatine, just free from the Velabrum inlet at low water, but crossed by a brook, with a number of tributary springs, that rose in the Subura, and subject for centuries (and even now) to frequent inunda- tions from the rising Tiber, was gradually drained and made the common marketplace (Forum) of the community, and the meeting- place of its courts and legislative assemblies. King Servius Tullius was said to have added to the city of the Four Regions a triangular strip of plain behind the Esquiline and to have built a wall which included not only the Four Regions, with the Capitol and Forum, and the new addi- tion to the Esquiline, but also another hill {mons), the Aventine, lying to the south and west of the Palatine and close to the Tiber, But this hill remained for centuries outside the formal city limits (pomocrhim) , the advancement of which from these really prehistoric times did not keep progress with the growth of the actual settlement. About this time also a wooden bridge supported on piles was thrown across the Tiber from tlie open space {Forum Boarium) between Capitol, Palatine, and Aventine, and a fort constructed on the height of Mons Janiculus on the right bank, whence a constant watch was kept for warlike movements on the part of Rome's enemies, especially the Etruscans. Although the pomwrium was not extended, Rome went on adding new territory in the neigh- borhood to her domain, and its organization as 'regions' was replaced by an organization as 'tribes.' of which the first four, the 'city tribes,' were simply the old 'Four Regions.' To these new 'country tribes' were gradually added until the number of 35 was reached. But these tribes finally lost their territorial character and became mere voting classes, to one or the other of which each new Roman citizen was assigned. The popu- lation of the city was probably much reduced by the Gallic invasion and the haphazard rebuilding of the city after its destruction by that enemy left it with those narrow and crooked streets that were its curse for many centuries. But with the cessation of hostilities in the immediate neigh- borhood the agricultural population of Rome spread far beyond its walls on both sides of the Tiber, which was now crossed by two new bridges