"Within the arched porch, through which we pass into an outer court, we read an inscription telling that here stood the house and oratory (called _cella nova_) of Sta. Sylvia, mother of St. Gregory the Great, whence the pious matron used daily to send a porridge of legumes to her son, while he inhabited his monastery on the Clivus Scauri, or northern ascent of the Cœlian. Within that court formerly stood the cloistral buildings, of which little now remains. The façade is remarkable for its atrium in two stories: the upper with a pillared arcade, probably of the fifteenth century; the lower formerly supported by six porphyry columns, removed by Pius VI. to adorn the Vatican library, where they still stand. The porphyry statuettes of two emperors embracing, supposed either an emblem of the concord between the East and West, or the intended portraits of the co-reigning Constantine II. and Constans--a curious example of sculpture in its deep decline, and probably imported by Greek monks from Constantinople--project from two of those ancient columns."--_Hemans' Mediæval Art._ The interior of St. Sabba is in the basilica form. It retains some fragments of inlaid pavements, some handsome inlaid marble panels on either side of the high altar, and an ancient sarcophagus. The tribune has rude paintings of the fourteenth century--the Saviour between St. Andrew and St. Sabbas the Abbot; and below the Crucifixion, the Madonna and the twelve Apostles. Beneath the tribune is a crypt,--and over its altar a beautifully ornamented disk with a Greek cross in the centre. Behind St. Sabbas is another delightful vineyard, but it is difficult to gain admittance. Here Flaminius Vacca describes the discovery of a mysterious chamber without door or window, whose pavement was of agate and cornelian, and whose walls were plated with gilt copper; but of this nothing remains.[191] To reach the remaining church of the Aventine, we have to turn to the Via Appia, and then follow the lane which leads up the hillside from the Baths of Caracalla to the _Church of Sta. Balbina_, whose picturesque red brick tower forms so conspicuous a feature, as seen against the long soft lines of the flat Campagna, in so many Roman views. It was erected in memory of Sta. Balbina, a virgin martyr (buried in Sta. Maria in Domenica), who suffered under Hadrian, A.D. 132. It contains the remains of an altar erected by Cardinal Barbo, in the old basilica of St. Peter's, a splendid ancient throne of marble inlaid with mosaics, and a fine tomb of Stefano Sordi, supporting a recumbent figure, and adorned with mosaics by one of the Cosmati. Adjoining this church Monsignor de Mérode established a house of correction for youthful offenders, to avert the moral result of exposing them to communication with other prisoners. CHAPTER IX. THE VIA APPIA.