ARTICLE VI. The Sedili of Naples. A FOREIGNER in his rambles through the streets of the more ancient parts of Naples, can hardly fail of being struck with the frequent occurrence of the word Sedili*, and if he carry his researches further he will perceive symbols† and escutcheons carved in the rude and grotesque style peculiar to such productions of the middle ages. These remnants of past times occur, for the most part, in the neighbourhood of covered archways or porticos, beneath whose shelter, during a succession of centuries, a rude warlike nobility were wont to assemble to discuss affairs of civic and even national interest, and to collect from among themselves or extort from the lower orders collette or taxes for the use of the city or the benefit of the ruling sovereign. In later times these unpretending archways were deserted for halls of greater splendour § and convenience, and which even as late as the close of the eighteenth century resounded with the debates of nobles and citizens, until the ancient municipal government, the venerable Sedili of Naples, crumbling under the desolating effect of time, fell before the first blast of the French Revolution, or in the words of the divine poet, "Cadde come uomo morte cade." The antiquity of these Sedili has been a subject of much controversy and investigation among historians of Naples; but the greater part, and those who have dived more deeply into the subject, concur in dating their origin from the very foundation of the city. The attention of travellers in Italy, and more especially in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, has been too much taken up by the historical remains of antiquity to * Literally a 'seat'; the word seggio has the same signification. One of the most striking of these is a basso-relievo of Orion over the archway where the Sedili di Porto used formerly to meet. In ancient times the mariners of the Porto, or Haven of Naples, held Orion in great veneration. Collette rather means benevolencies. § Most of these have been converted to other purposes, and are not easily discernible; the Sedili di Porto, a detached and splendid edifice (the present Sala di Cambio, or Exchange), is however a sufficient testimony of their ancient magnifi cence. bestow on the institutions of the middle ages all the attention they deserve. Nor need we be surprised at this fact, when it is considered how absorbing must be the interest of the classic, and indeed all visitors, whilst contemplating the massive temples of Pæstum, or the domestic wonders of Pompeii. A search, however, into the history of the Sedili will not be without its charm to the classical scholar, since it proves the astonishing fact of a municipal government following the mode and closely resembling the institutions of Athens and Rome, and lasting in nearly its original construction up to our own time. That a form of self-administration,-for such it was, in spite of the abuses of time and the overwhelming privileges of a feudal nobility during the middle ages,-should have traversed a space of more than two thousand years, is a matter of no little wonderment; and the more so, when we consider the shock all institutions must have suffered from the breaking up of civilisation by the invasion of the hordes of the North, and more recently from the iron rule of the various monarchs that have swayed the destinies of the kingdom of Naples. A city so thoroughly Grecian as Neapolis founded doubtless its institutions on the model of those of the mother country, and we may presume therefore that the citizens were divided into classes, something resembling the pparpía of Athens. No records indeed exist of so distant a period; the immense lapse of time that has occurred since Neapolis* was a free city, before the power of Rome first checked the spirit of old Greek liberty, has obliterated every vestige of her form of administration, but the mind without difficulty peoples her streets with a turbulent and busy race, and beholds them gathered in their porticos discussing matters of state importance, or proclaiming with acclamation the chosen members. of the senate. Among the various titles applied to the Sedili occurs frequently in ancient documents that of Toccus, a word that betrays its Grecian parentage so clearly that one *Neapolis was formed by the reunion of three cities. The original one was Falero, which served as the nucleus to the others. Falero was founded by a Greek colony. Parthenope was said to have founded Palepolis, and lastly the Cumeans, of Greek origin, built Neapolis; or the new city in the suburbs of Palepolis; at last the three cities joined in one under the title of Neapolis. feels justified in supposing, not only that there existed places of public assembly in the ancient cities of Palepolis and Neapolis, but that they were called by that "very name." Seats, sheltered at once from the burning rays of the sun and from the occasional torrents of rain that visit southern climates, must indeed have been as necessary for the inhabitants of the Greek cities as the theatres, amphitheatres and public baths. Youth and middle age being passed in the turmoil and fatigues of war, places of this description became invaluable in the eyes of the aged, who could repair to them in the noontide heat with a certainty that similar habits and tastes would lead others there to indulge in that garrulity proverbially so dear to age. The converse of the aged naturally fell on affairs of internal policy, and it is not improbable that they formed the first outline of republican government, and that the early legislators of Greece had rather the good sense to found their institutions on the natural tendencies of the citizens than to originate what might have been less adapted to the taste of the community. But whatever obscurity may hang over the ancient form of administration of the Republic, we have the clearest evidence to guide us in a search into the internal government of the city when under the domination of the Romans. These allconquering people experienced probably but little difficulty in fashioning the Greek TÓTо into the Latin curiæ; and the Latin language, which the inhabitants of the surrounding country had already introduced into the city, went far of course to facilitate the change. Inscriptions, references of ancient authors, show us clearly enough that under the Roman rule the citizens were divided into patricians and plebeians, and that the public assemblies were entitled curiæ, and composed of senatus and populus *. These two classes of citizens assembled, according to the quarters of the city they inhabited in their respective curiæ, where they elected the decurions, COMINIO PATRONO COLONI. (Gruteri inscr. totius orbis.) who in their turn chose the senatus. The same system, mutato nomine, was followed up by the Sedili of succeeding ages. The curia indeed changed its name for sedile or platea*; the decurions for capitano, the senate for maestrata, but the form of government was still the same; indeed, through all the vicissitudes that Naples had to undergo from the early days of consular domination, imperial rule, subjugation by the barbarians, Greek and Lombard government, we find records of the existence of the Sedili, modulated probably according to the nature of the ruling power, but still never ceasing to exist. The Goths preserved the Roman laws, and though Neapolis had much to suffer whilst they held possession of the city, little change was made in the form of interior administration t. Not so however under the Lombards; society was doomed, at the period of the Lombard invasion, to undergo a vast change, to which indeed it had been gradually waning from the fall of the Roman empire and the invasion of the Barbarians. The riches and luxury of the Italian cities forming their chief attraction, they attacked them with invincible impetuosity, bringing death and dismay to the hearts and hearths of the inhabitants. Such of these, therefore, who possessed the means and who had wisdom sufficient to foresee the lot reserved for the indolent citizens, enervated by luxury and unable to compete with a rude and warrior race, assembled their followers, quitted the cities, and established themselves in the high places and strong fortresses of the mountains, where little inducement should be held out to the invaders to attack them. And not only the Italians, but many of the more independent of the followers of Alaric and Theodoric, led by the superior beauty of the climate and the general productiveness of the soil, as well as encouraged by the facility of establishing themselves in a conquered country, followed the example the natives had set them, and by that means succeeded in gradually laying the foundation of a government of castellated feudal lords, which wanted nothing *Toccus, Platea, Porticus, Curia, Sedilis, Seggio, were the various names applied to the sedili, according to the fashion of the day. The members also arrogated to themselves different titles, such as Milites, Judices, Senatores, etc. + Cassiodorius, in one of his letters to the Neapolitans exhorting them to receive the president sent by Theodoric, thanks them for their annual tribute. "Honoratis possessoribus et curialibus civitatis Neapolitana. Tributum quidem nobis annuâ devotione persoluistis," etc. but the sanction of the Lombards to become the acknowledged law of the land. According to the system of the ancients, where civic government was established, all free men had the rights of citizenship,—a classification of society that the Lombards utterly subverted, for they divided it into nobles and serfs. Naples, like many cities of Magna Grecia after the division of the Roman empire, fell occasionally under the control of the western, but more frequently under that of the eastern empire. On those occasions the city was governed by a Dux, in the name of the eastern emperors, but he was selected by the citizens themselves*. Indeed, there have not been wanting writers who affirm that this nominee of the senate and Neapolitan people was often independent of the eastern empire, and ruled the city as free from foreign interference as if the ancient colonial republic had been again established. We have a right to infer, at any rate, by the rules of common sense, that the liberty of the city was restricted or enlarged according to the oscillations of the ruling powers in the East, and that it rose and fell in proportion to the facilities possessed by the metropolis of keeping it in due limits. Society in southern Italy, previous to the establishment of the monarchy, was in a state of the utmost disorganization. The restricted power of the Lombards, and consequently of regular government, the growing influence of the Popedom, cities erected into separate republics, or acknowledging the distant sway of Constantinople; in the country, especially in the southern districts, the rule of feudal lords, scarcely removed from brigands,produced a state of anarchy that defied the strongest hand and mightiest intellect to reduce to something approaching order. *The following inscriptions belonging to that epoch are not devoid of interest: Pijssimæ, ac Venerabili Dominæ Hæ Piissimæ, ac clementissimæ Dominæ Constantini, & Aviæ Dominorum Nostrorum, Cæsarum Uxori Divi Constantii Ordo Neapolitanus, et Preserved in the ancient college of L |