orts of the Testacean Mount and the Circus
Agonalis were regulated by the law or custom of the city. The senator
presided with dignity and pomp to adjudge and distribute the prizes, the
gold ring, or the _pallium_, as it was styled, of cloth or silk. A
tribute on the Jews supplied the annual expense; and the races on foot,
on horseback, or in chariots, were ennobled by a tilt and tournament of
seventy-two of the Roman youth. In the year 1332 a bull-feast, after the
fashion of the Moors and Spaniards, was celebrated in the Coliseum
itself; and the living manners are painted in a diary of the times. A
convenient order of benches was restored, and a general proclamation as
far as Rimini and Ravenna invited the nobles to exercise their skill and
courage in this perilous adventure. The Roman ladies were marshaled in
three squadrons and seated in three balconies, which on this day, the
third of September, were lined with scarlet cloth. The fair Jacova di
Rovere led the matrons from beyond 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 between 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 with praise, and the Colonna
regretted the absence of the youngest of their house, who had sprained
her ankle 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 has selected the
names, colors, and devices of twenty of the most conspicuous knights.
Several of the names are the most illustrious of Rome and the
ecclesiastical State: Malatesta, Polenta, Della Valle, Cafarello,
Savelli, Capoccio, Conti, Annibaldi, Altieri, Corsi: the colors were
adapted to their taste and situation: the devices are expressive of
hope or despair, and breathe the spirit of gallantry and arms. "I am
alone, like the youngest of the Horatii," the confidence of an intrepid
stranger; "I live disconsolate," a weeping widower; "I burn under the
ashes," a discreet lover; "I adore Lavinia, or Lucretia," the ambiguous
declaration of a modern passion; "My faith is as pure," the motto of a
white livery; "Who is stronger than myself?" of a lion's hide; "If I am
drowned in blood, what a pleasan