ht the vast open spaces around the Lateran were thronged with
men and women and children; against the witches' dreaded influence they
carried each an onion, torn up by the roots with stalk and flower; all
about, on the outskirts of the place, were kitchen booths, set up with
boughs and bits of awnings, yellow with the glare of earthen and iron
oil lamps, where snails--great counter-charms against spells--were fried
and baked in oil, and sold with bread and wine, and eaten with more or
less appetite, according to the strength of men's stomachs. All night,
till the early summer dawn, the people came and went, and wandered round
and round, and in and out, in parties and by families, to go laughing
homeward at last, scarce knowing why they had gone there at all, unless
it were because their fathers and mothers had done as they did for
generations unnumbered.

[Illustration: BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN]

And the Lateran once had another half-heathen festival, on the Saturday
after Easter, in memory of the ancient Floralia of the Romans, which had
formerly been celebrated on the 28th of April. It was a most strange
festival, now long forgotten, in which Christianity and paganism were
blended together. Baracconi, from whom the following account is taken,
quotes three sober writers as authority for his description. Yet there
is a doubt about the very name of the feast, which is variously called
the 'Coromania' and the 'Cornomania.'

On the afternoon of the Saturday in Easter week, say these writers, the
priests of the eighteen principal 'deaconries'--an ecclesiastical
division of the city long ago abolished and now somewhat obscure--caused
the bells to be rung, and the people assembled at their parish churches,
where they were received by a 'mansionarius,'--probably meaning here 'a
visitor of houses,'--and a layman, who was arrayed in a tunic, and
crowned with the flowers of the cornel cherry. In his hand he carried a
concave musical instrument of copper, by which hung many little bells.
One of these mysterious personages, who evidently represented the pagan
element in the ceremony, preceded each parish procession, being followed
immediately by the parish priest, wearing the cope. From all parts of
the city they went up to the Lateran, and waited before the palace of
the Pope till all were assembled.

The Pope descended the steps to receive the homage of the people.
Immediately, those of each parish formed themselves into wide circl