'Simulacra': notes, maps, etc.
Notes on my Rome fic 'Simulacra' ( here).
This fic began during a Latin class at university nearly three years ago... Since then I’ve graduated, found my first job, and gone back to university to do an M.A. - all the while, this story has been sitting on my computer, being poked and prodded into some sort of shape. It’s been hacked to pieces, purged and re-written more times than was probably healthy and by now it’s taken its own special place in my heart, (in the words of General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett) “a sort of son. Not a favourite son, of course - Lord no! - more a sort of illegitimate, backstairs sort of sprog. You know, the sort of spotty squit you never really like - but still fruit of my overactive loins”. As a result, all my usual stringent self-vetting processes for quality control have been annihilated. I’m posting now partly because the numerous re-writes are getting completely ridiculous and because, by this point, it could be anywhere on the spectrum between acceptable and making you want to vomit. To be tragically honest, it’s still been simultaneously the most exasperating and the most fun experience I’ve had of writing anything, and I’ll miss it horribly.
The plot, obviously, follows the storyline of Rome pretty closely. Chronologies and historical accuracy were pillaged horribly by Heller & co. in any case, and I’m afraid I’ve jumped merrily onto that bandwagon, playing fast and loose with dates, characters and events. As far as possible, the events I’ve slotted into the Rome storyline are simplified depictions of real historical happenings. All non-Rome-verse characters are historical figures - with the exception of, I think, the Lycians and Brutus’ Velian centurion.
Brutus and Cicero’s relationship here owes pretty much everything to the letters which are collected in Cicero’s Epistulae ad Familiares. Those I’ve included as 6a: Two Letters on the Subject of Antony are half-invented and half translations of real, extant letters (some passages I translated myself - most I owe to Shackleton Bailey). Some other bits - including the quotation at the beginning of Chapter 5 - are entirely my own translations and are therefore PROBABLY NONSENSE. Those of a sensitive nature and likely to take offence at butchery of the Latin language would be well advised to avert their eyes.
I’ve given Cicero and Brutus their real, historical wives, and then conveniently left them pretty much absent from the story as characters. This would be a case of Bechdel Test fail, for which I apologise.
My boyfriend and I love books that come prefaced by maps , and while reading Robert Harris’ Cicero novels I’ve found it very useful to be able to refer to his maps showing the whereabouts of Cicero’s house, the Forum, etc. in relation to one another. With that in mind, here’s a map of Republican Rome c. 50BC, helpfully labelled with all the relevant points of interest such as the Theatre of Pompey where Caesar’s assassination took place, and the Argiletum where Harris sets Cicero’s house in Imperium:
I shamelessly pilfered this map from a University of Texas online tutorial via Google Images, so can’t take any credit for it whatsoever.
Things included here are mostly details which I longed to shoehorn into the main body of the fic, but realised I’d bore even myself to death trying to do so. In case anyone is at all interested, here are a few explanatory notes, etc.
(This section is apologetically subtitled: my research, let me show you it.)
Simulacra (pl.) - simulacrum (s.). Atoms thrown out by objects which ‘initially retain the form of the surface of the object from which they have come, and, if they enter our eyes fairly soon after being emitted... cause our visual experience of the object’ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). According to Lucretius, in his De Rerum Natura, simulacra of the object of one’s desire are liable to cause torment and sexual frustration - for this reason, amongst others, it is best to remain indifferent to love.
People
Africanus, Scipio Aemilianus - adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus the Elder, referred to by Cicero as Scipio Africanus in the Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio), the sixth book of his De re publica. Commanded the siege and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, and opposed the populist reforms of the Gracchi.
Allobroges - Gallic tribe whom Catilina and his supporters attempted to invite into Rome, revealing the extent of their plans to overthrow the Senate. The Allobroge ambassadors passed these details on to Cicero, then Consul, and the conspiracy was crushed.
Atticus, Titus Pomponius - Cicero’s closest friend and most prolific correspondent. Earned the epithet ‘Atticus’ because of his love of all things Greek (for Attika, the city-state of Athens), and had a villa at Butrint, in modern-day Albania. A follower of Epicurean philosophy, Atticus kept out of politics, only intervening when Cicero required help, such as when he left Rome in 49 BC to support Pompey in Greece. He was also a great friend of Marcus Junius Brutus, and is often credited with introducing him to Cicero and fostering the friendship between them.
Catilina, Lucius Sergius - fierce opponent of Cicero and the aristocratic element in the Senate, fomented unrest and plotted to assassinate leading members of the Senate (including Cicero, then Consul) in 63 BC.
Casca, Publius Servilius - distant relation of Servilia Caepionis, one of the conspirators in Caesar’s assassination. Historically, he lost his nerve the evening before the Ides of March and warned Antony about the plot.
Cimber, Lucius Tillius - one of Caesar’s strongest supporters, but motivated by ambition to take part in his assassination.
Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius - served as Consul and Dictator in the fifth century BC. Took up farming due to reduced circumstances before being summoned back to Rome to act as Dictator in order to avert a crisis. Immediately afterwards, he resigned his Imperium and returned to farming.
Dolabella, Publius Cornelius - third husband of Tullia Ciceronis, though greatly disliked by Cicero. Seized the Consulship in 44 BC in the wake of Caesar’s assassination and allied himself with Brutus and Cassius, then changed sides when Antony offered him the governorship of Syria. On his way to take up his position he had the proconsul of Asia, Gaius Trebonius, murdered for refusing to allow him to enter Smyrna. Committed suicide in 43 BC when defeated by Cassius at Laodicea.
Gallus, Gaius Cornelius - a poet and politician, eventually became a supporter of Caesar and later Octavian. Composer of elegiac verse, some of which was in praise of a woman named Lycoris (see Volumnia Cytheris Eutrapela). Later in life he was appointed first Roman governor of Egypt by Octavian, but committed suicide when recalled to Rome in disgrace.
Gracchus, Tiberius and Gaius - tribunes in the second century BC, who were extremely popular with the plebeians and tried to instigate land reforms which would redistribute land from the patricians to the plebs. Both were killed following outbreaks of mob violence and civil unrest.
Harmodius and Aristogeiton - Athenian citizens in the sixth century BC, who killed the tyrant Hipparchus after he tried to seduce Harmodius (Aristogeiton’s lover) and in revenge for rejection drove Harmodius’ sister to suicide by claiming that she was no longer a virgin and was therefore unfit to lead the Panathenaic procession to the Athenian Acropolis. They were afterwards named ‘the Liberators’, a title which was adopted by the assassins of Caesar. Their statues stood in the Athenian Agora as a symbol of democracy’s victory over tyranny, and no other statues were allowed to be put up beside them until 44 BC, when figures of Cassius and Brutus were erected by the Athenians in a declaration of support for the conspirators. As a result of this, after the conspirators’ defeat at Philippi, Athens fell sharply out of favour with Octavian.
Junia Tertia - third and youngest daughter of Servilia Caepionis and her second husband. Half-sister of Marcus Junius Brutus, wife of Gaius Cassius Longinus.
Nicomedes - Nicomedes IV, King of Bithynia 94 BC - 75/4 BC. In 80 BC, the 20 year-old Julius Caesar was sent to persuade Nicomedes to raise a fleet in support of Rome, but stayed at the Bithynian court for so long that he was given the nickname ‘the Queen of Bithynia’. Rumours of a homosexual relationship between Caesar and Nicomedes were repeated throughout Caesar’s career.
Porcia Catonis - daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato, whom Brutus married in 45 BC. Prior to this he had been married to Claudia Pulchra, daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher, who was Consul in 54 BC.
Sempronia - Roman matron implicated in the Catiline Conspiracy by Sallust, painted as a woman of many accomplishments but also ‘wanton, unscrupulous and extremely dangerous’.
Sulla, Lucius Cornelius - appointed Dictator in 82/81 BC, a title which had fallen out of use since the end of the Punic Wars (but which would subsequently be abused by both Caesar and Octavian). Proscribed c. 1,500 senators and equestrians whom he held to be enemies of the state; at least five times that number are thought to have been killed as a result.
Terentia - wife of Cicero 79/80 BC - 47/46 BC. Extremely wealthy at the time of their marriage, she financed Cicero’s entry into politics, providing the money he needed in order to enter the Senate. Money was just one of the manifold reasons for their divorce, despite Terentia’s unswerving efforts to look after her husband’s affairs and campaign for his return to Rome during his exile in 58-57 BC.
Trebonius, Gaius - murdered by Dolabella during the latter’s journey to take up his governorship of Syria in 43 BC. Said to have been the person who kept Antony occupied while Caesar’s assassination took place.
Tullia Ciceronis - Cicero and Terentia’s eldest child, born 79/78 BC, often affectionately called Tulliola by her father, to whom she was very close. Married three times, lastly to Dolabella; the marriage was unhappy, though they had two sons. Tullia died one month after giving birth to her second son in 45 BC, plunging Cicero into depression and causing him temporarily to abandon politics.
Tyrannicides, The - see Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Volumnia Cytheris Eutrapela - a freedwoman formerly belonging to Volumnius Eutrapelus, she was a mima who became mistress of some of the most powerful men in Rome. Among her conquests were Marc Antony (her role in his life seems to have shared some aspects of the role given to Atia in Rome) and Marcus Junius Brutus. Cicero hated her for her association with Antony, her perceived rudeness to Cicero’s wife, and her loose morals. It has been suggested that she is also the woman referred to in the poetry of Cornelius Gallus as Lycoris, with whom the poet had a torrid affair.
Places
Epidavros - City in the northern Peloponnese, Greece. Site of the birth of Asklepios, the healer, and from pre-Classical antiquity a sanctuary known as the Asklepieion. Famous for a large fourth-century BC theatre, which was extended in the Roman period to seat 15,000 spectators.
Formiae - town between Rome and Naples on the Appian Way. Site of Cicero’s villa.
Mare Nostrum - Roman name for the Mediterranean.
Patara - One of the principal cities of Lycia, on the Anatolian coast of modern-day Turkey. The archaeological remains of the city, including its theatre, have been uncovered and are the subject of ongoing excavations. (There’s also a very nice beach!)
Pythagorios - a completely fictitious town in Roman Greece, where I’ve decided Brutus and Cassius were educated as young men.
Smyrna - city on the Ionian coast of modern-day Turkey, founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. Along with Ephesus and Pergamum, one of the principal cities of the Roman province of Asia.
Velia - town near Salerno, Campania, on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy. Brutus and Cicero met here for the last time in August 44 BC.
Things
Black Stone - the Lapis Niger, a shrine in the Roman Forum. There are many legends attached to the site, including that it is the site of the death of Romulus at the hands of his senate.
Bouleuterion - council house in the Athenian Agora. Cities in Greek territories, such as Patara, typically had a Boule (a council) made up of eminent citizens.
Curia Julia - built in the Roman Forum by Julius Caesar to replace the existing senate house. While work was carried out, the senate met in the Theatre of Pompey in the Campus Martius.
Horaria - granary.
Mima - a pantomime actress. The word carried connotations of promiscuity and prostitution.
Phaedrus - a dialogue by Plato on the subject of love and the art of rhetoric. It’s been suggested that this was a favourite of Cicero’s, as he adopts the motif of characters sitting beneath a plane tree for his some of his own work on rhetoric.
Pontians - the people of Pontus, a region on the coast of the Black Sea, in modern-day Turkey.
Skene - building at the back of the stage in a Greek/Roman theatre.
Theatre of Pompey - built by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) on the Campus Martius between 60 and 50 BC, it was the first permanent Roman theatre. The senate used the curia beside the gardens as a meeting space while the Curia Cornelia, their old senate house, was being replaced by the Curia Julia.
Tullianum - aka. the Carcer, or the Mamertine. Prison beneath the Capitoline Hill in which traitors and high-status prisoners of war were kept prior to execution. In the Christian tradition, this is where the apostles Peter and Paul were imprisoned prior to their martyrdom. It is also the prison in which the Cataline conspirators were kept and executed, an act which ultimately led to Cicero’s exile in 58 BC, and where Vercingetorix was held for five years before his execution at Caesar’s triumph. Now contains a spooky little chapel and is open to the public (though, I think, currently closed for excavations. ETA: on my last visit (April 2012) the Mamertine was part of the 'Christian Rome' tour itinerary and charged for entry).
***
This fic began during a Latin class at university nearly three years ago... Since then I’ve graduated, found my first job, and gone back to university to do an M.A. - all the while, this story has been sitting on my computer, being poked and prodded into some sort of shape. It’s been hacked to pieces, purged and re-written more times than was probably healthy and by now it’s taken its own special place in my heart, (in the words of General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett) “a sort of son. Not a favourite son, of course - Lord no! - more a sort of illegitimate, backstairs sort of sprog. You know, the sort of spotty squit you never really like - but still fruit of my overactive loins”. As a result, all my usual stringent self-vetting processes for quality control have been annihilated. I’m posting now partly because the numerous re-writes are getting completely ridiculous and because, by this point, it could be anywhere on the spectrum between acceptable and making you want to vomit. To be tragically honest, it’s still been simultaneously the most exasperating and the most fun experience I’ve had of writing anything, and I’ll miss it horribly.
The plot, obviously, follows the storyline of Rome pretty closely. Chronologies and historical accuracy were pillaged horribly by Heller & co. in any case, and I’m afraid I’ve jumped merrily onto that bandwagon, playing fast and loose with dates, characters and events. As far as possible, the events I’ve slotted into the Rome storyline are simplified depictions of real historical happenings. All non-Rome-verse characters are historical figures - with the exception of, I think, the Lycians and Brutus’ Velian centurion.
Brutus and Cicero’s relationship here owes pretty much everything to the letters which are collected in Cicero’s Epistulae ad Familiares. Those I’ve included as 6a: Two Letters on the Subject of Antony are half-invented and half translations of real, extant letters (some passages I translated myself - most I owe to Shackleton Bailey). Some other bits - including the quotation at the beginning of Chapter 5 - are entirely my own translations and are therefore PROBABLY NONSENSE. Those of a sensitive nature and likely to take offence at butchery of the Latin language would be well advised to avert their eyes.
I’ve given Cicero and Brutus their real, historical wives, and then conveniently left them pretty much absent from the story as characters. This would be a case of Bechdel Test fail, for which I apologise.
My boyfriend and I love books that come prefaced by maps , and while reading Robert Harris’ Cicero novels I’ve found it very useful to be able to refer to his maps showing the whereabouts of Cicero’s house, the Forum, etc. in relation to one another. With that in mind, here’s a map of Republican Rome c. 50BC, helpfully labelled with all the relevant points of interest such as the Theatre of Pompey where Caesar’s assassination took place, and the Argiletum where Harris sets Cicero’s house in Imperium:
I shamelessly pilfered this map from a University of Texas online tutorial via Google Images, so can’t take any credit for it whatsoever.
Things included here are mostly details which I longed to shoehorn into the main body of the fic, but realised I’d bore even myself to death trying to do so. In case anyone is at all interested, here are a few explanatory notes, etc.
(This section is apologetically subtitled: my research, let me show you it.)
Simulacra (pl.) - simulacrum (s.). Atoms thrown out by objects which ‘initially retain the form of the surface of the object from which they have come, and, if they enter our eyes fairly soon after being emitted... cause our visual experience of the object’ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). According to Lucretius, in his De Rerum Natura, simulacra of the object of one’s desire are liable to cause torment and sexual frustration - for this reason, amongst others, it is best to remain indifferent to love.
People
Africanus, Scipio Aemilianus - adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus the Elder, referred to by Cicero as Scipio Africanus in the Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio), the sixth book of his De re publica. Commanded the siege and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, and opposed the populist reforms of the Gracchi.
Allobroges - Gallic tribe whom Catilina and his supporters attempted to invite into Rome, revealing the extent of their plans to overthrow the Senate. The Allobroge ambassadors passed these details on to Cicero, then Consul, and the conspiracy was crushed.
Atticus, Titus Pomponius - Cicero’s closest friend and most prolific correspondent. Earned the epithet ‘Atticus’ because of his love of all things Greek (for Attika, the city-state of Athens), and had a villa at Butrint, in modern-day Albania. A follower of Epicurean philosophy, Atticus kept out of politics, only intervening when Cicero required help, such as when he left Rome in 49 BC to support Pompey in Greece. He was also a great friend of Marcus Junius Brutus, and is often credited with introducing him to Cicero and fostering the friendship between them.
Catilina, Lucius Sergius - fierce opponent of Cicero and the aristocratic element in the Senate, fomented unrest and plotted to assassinate leading members of the Senate (including Cicero, then Consul) in 63 BC.
Casca, Publius Servilius - distant relation of Servilia Caepionis, one of the conspirators in Caesar’s assassination. Historically, he lost his nerve the evening before the Ides of March and warned Antony about the plot.
Cimber, Lucius Tillius - one of Caesar’s strongest supporters, but motivated by ambition to take part in his assassination.
Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius - served as Consul and Dictator in the fifth century BC. Took up farming due to reduced circumstances before being summoned back to Rome to act as Dictator in order to avert a crisis. Immediately afterwards, he resigned his Imperium and returned to farming.
Dolabella, Publius Cornelius - third husband of Tullia Ciceronis, though greatly disliked by Cicero. Seized the Consulship in 44 BC in the wake of Caesar’s assassination and allied himself with Brutus and Cassius, then changed sides when Antony offered him the governorship of Syria. On his way to take up his position he had the proconsul of Asia, Gaius Trebonius, murdered for refusing to allow him to enter Smyrna. Committed suicide in 43 BC when defeated by Cassius at Laodicea.
Gallus, Gaius Cornelius - a poet and politician, eventually became a supporter of Caesar and later Octavian. Composer of elegiac verse, some of which was in praise of a woman named Lycoris (see Volumnia Cytheris Eutrapela). Later in life he was appointed first Roman governor of Egypt by Octavian, but committed suicide when recalled to Rome in disgrace.
Gracchus, Tiberius and Gaius - tribunes in the second century BC, who were extremely popular with the plebeians and tried to instigate land reforms which would redistribute land from the patricians to the plebs. Both were killed following outbreaks of mob violence and civil unrest.
Harmodius and Aristogeiton - Athenian citizens in the sixth century BC, who killed the tyrant Hipparchus after he tried to seduce Harmodius (Aristogeiton’s lover) and in revenge for rejection drove Harmodius’ sister to suicide by claiming that she was no longer a virgin and was therefore unfit to lead the Panathenaic procession to the Athenian Acropolis. They were afterwards named ‘the Liberators’, a title which was adopted by the assassins of Caesar. Their statues stood in the Athenian Agora as a symbol of democracy’s victory over tyranny, and no other statues were allowed to be put up beside them until 44 BC, when figures of Cassius and Brutus were erected by the Athenians in a declaration of support for the conspirators. As a result of this, after the conspirators’ defeat at Philippi, Athens fell sharply out of favour with Octavian.
Junia Tertia - third and youngest daughter of Servilia Caepionis and her second husband. Half-sister of Marcus Junius Brutus, wife of Gaius Cassius Longinus.
Nicomedes - Nicomedes IV, King of Bithynia 94 BC - 75/4 BC. In 80 BC, the 20 year-old Julius Caesar was sent to persuade Nicomedes to raise a fleet in support of Rome, but stayed at the Bithynian court for so long that he was given the nickname ‘the Queen of Bithynia’. Rumours of a homosexual relationship between Caesar and Nicomedes were repeated throughout Caesar’s career.
Porcia Catonis - daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato, whom Brutus married in 45 BC. Prior to this he had been married to Claudia Pulchra, daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher, who was Consul in 54 BC.
Sempronia - Roman matron implicated in the Catiline Conspiracy by Sallust, painted as a woman of many accomplishments but also ‘wanton, unscrupulous and extremely dangerous’.
Sulla, Lucius Cornelius - appointed Dictator in 82/81 BC, a title which had fallen out of use since the end of the Punic Wars (but which would subsequently be abused by both Caesar and Octavian). Proscribed c. 1,500 senators and equestrians whom he held to be enemies of the state; at least five times that number are thought to have been killed as a result.
Terentia - wife of Cicero 79/80 BC - 47/46 BC. Extremely wealthy at the time of their marriage, she financed Cicero’s entry into politics, providing the money he needed in order to enter the Senate. Money was just one of the manifold reasons for their divorce, despite Terentia’s unswerving efforts to look after her husband’s affairs and campaign for his return to Rome during his exile in 58-57 BC.
Trebonius, Gaius - murdered by Dolabella during the latter’s journey to take up his governorship of Syria in 43 BC. Said to have been the person who kept Antony occupied while Caesar’s assassination took place.
Tullia Ciceronis - Cicero and Terentia’s eldest child, born 79/78 BC, often affectionately called Tulliola by her father, to whom she was very close. Married three times, lastly to Dolabella; the marriage was unhappy, though they had two sons. Tullia died one month after giving birth to her second son in 45 BC, plunging Cicero into depression and causing him temporarily to abandon politics.
Tyrannicides, The - see Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Volumnia Cytheris Eutrapela - a freedwoman formerly belonging to Volumnius Eutrapelus, she was a mima who became mistress of some of the most powerful men in Rome. Among her conquests were Marc Antony (her role in his life seems to have shared some aspects of the role given to Atia in Rome) and Marcus Junius Brutus. Cicero hated her for her association with Antony, her perceived rudeness to Cicero’s wife, and her loose morals. It has been suggested that she is also the woman referred to in the poetry of Cornelius Gallus as Lycoris, with whom the poet had a torrid affair.
Places
Epidavros - City in the northern Peloponnese, Greece. Site of the birth of Asklepios, the healer, and from pre-Classical antiquity a sanctuary known as the Asklepieion. Famous for a large fourth-century BC theatre, which was extended in the Roman period to seat 15,000 spectators.
Formiae - town between Rome and Naples on the Appian Way. Site of Cicero’s villa.
Mare Nostrum - Roman name for the Mediterranean.
Patara - One of the principal cities of Lycia, on the Anatolian coast of modern-day Turkey. The archaeological remains of the city, including its theatre, have been uncovered and are the subject of ongoing excavations. (There’s also a very nice beach!)
Pythagorios - a completely fictitious town in Roman Greece, where I’ve decided Brutus and Cassius were educated as young men.
Smyrna - city on the Ionian coast of modern-day Turkey, founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. Along with Ephesus and Pergamum, one of the principal cities of the Roman province of Asia.
Velia - town near Salerno, Campania, on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy. Brutus and Cicero met here for the last time in August 44 BC.
Things
Black Stone - the Lapis Niger, a shrine in the Roman Forum. There are many legends attached to the site, including that it is the site of the death of Romulus at the hands of his senate.
Bouleuterion - council house in the Athenian Agora. Cities in Greek territories, such as Patara, typically had a Boule (a council) made up of eminent citizens.
Curia Julia - built in the Roman Forum by Julius Caesar to replace the existing senate house. While work was carried out, the senate met in the Theatre of Pompey in the Campus Martius.
Horaria - granary.
Mima - a pantomime actress. The word carried connotations of promiscuity and prostitution.
Phaedrus - a dialogue by Plato on the subject of love and the art of rhetoric. It’s been suggested that this was a favourite of Cicero’s, as he adopts the motif of characters sitting beneath a plane tree for his some of his own work on rhetoric.
Pontians - the people of Pontus, a region on the coast of the Black Sea, in modern-day Turkey.
Skene - building at the back of the stage in a Greek/Roman theatre.
Theatre of Pompey - built by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) on the Campus Martius between 60 and 50 BC, it was the first permanent Roman theatre. The senate used the curia beside the gardens as a meeting space while the Curia Cornelia, their old senate house, was being replaced by the Curia Julia.
Tullianum - aka. the Carcer, or the Mamertine. Prison beneath the Capitoline Hill in which traitors and high-status prisoners of war were kept prior to execution. In the Christian tradition, this is where the apostles Peter and Paul were imprisoned prior to their martyrdom. It is also the prison in which the Cataline conspirators were kept and executed, an act which ultimately led to Cicero’s exile in 58 BC, and where Vercingetorix was held for five years before his execution at Caesar’s triumph. Now contains a spooky little chapel and is open to the public (though, I think, currently closed for excavations. ETA: on my last visit (April 2012) the Mamertine was part of the 'Christian Rome' tour itinerary and charged for entry).
***